Knight Man shuddered. The shrieking wails of Magnet Man were clear to all of Team 6 - well, actually, to all of Monstropolis radios with decent frequency decrypters and a desire to hear macabre happenings.
" - It's not working! - " Magnet Man screamed into the radio waves. " - My magnets aren't working at all! He's killed the others! I'm the only one left! Someone- - "
The transmission cut off with a snap. The others didn't wonder what happened to him. Even from Team 6's position blocks away, they could all hear the explosion. A plume of smoke appeared in the distance, filling all who saw it with a sense of sick dread.
"Uh, guys?" Wind Man shivered. "Kauffman Tower doesn't have any explosives on it. How did he blow it up like that?"
"Quick!" Knight Man ordered his team, waving his mace through the air. "We've got to keep him in the city!"
"Did someone call me?" Quick Man leaped onto the street beside Wind Man, causing the latter to jump.
"Don't make jokes!" Yamato Man growled as he readied his spear tips. "The army isn't in place yet, and we have to make sure Zero is contained!"
"Hey, don't boss me!" Quick Man said, pointing. "It's not like you need to. Here he comes."
Quick Man didn't need to clarify. They had all seen the pictures of Zero, and they knew that the tall, golden blonde robot jumping towards them was their intended enemy. Or...he wasn't going after them? Zero slashed angrily at everything he could: every lamppost, car, or cute shop logo that stared at him from its place on a shop's storefront. Quick Man winced as he saw Zero, and his normal confidence shook with the slightest of waverings.
"Okay, you guys, we need to think this out." Quick Man hoped he could speak fast enough before Zero saw them. "Don't rush in. We have to all crowd him at once or we'll all die. Blade and Slash are hidden in side alleys, and they'll come in once he sees you. I've got Gemini, Signal, Grenade, Flash, and Ice Man stationed in the buildings around us."
"Huh? You're telling us not to rush?" Blizzard Man exclaimed. "How do you know all this?"
"I fought one of his earlier versions. Be glad you weren't there." Quick Man replied, not taking his eyes away from Zero. "I've done my best to discover a way to defeat him, but now I'm out of time. We'll just have to hope this works. Crap, he saw us. I hope you guys are ready for a fight."
Crap was right. The instant Zero saw them, he paused only long enough to put a scowl on his face and dash in. Yamato Man ordered his team to stay - Quick Man's planning sounded as if it could work, especially with the support coming in from the buildings around them. Knight Man noted with some dismay that Quick Man had disappeared. He said nothing about it, only barking orders for his team to get into place.
"Centaur Man!" he called out. "Now!"
The horse-bot stomped his front hooves on the ground, and at once the air flashed with energy. This flashing rushed at Zero, quicker than the eye could see. Nothing much happened. Zero still charged, heading straight for Knight Man with his saber poised to strike.
"Guh!" Centaur Man tried it twice more. "The centaur flash - it's not working!"
Knight Man didn't respond. He jumped out of the way of Zero's downward slash, only for the backslash to hit him in the chest. Centaur Man galloped to his aid, hoping his hooves could prove more useful than his main weapon. Blizzard Man joined in the fray, going into spinning ball form and flinging himself at Zero. This proved futile. One swipe of Zero's sword bounced Blizz in the other direction, smacking the Canada-bot right into Tomahawk Man. Centaur Man's frantic kicking and stomping were frustrating to Zero, but not nearly frustrating enough.
As hooves started hitting the ground, Yamato Man hesitated. He could now attack Zero from behind, but...he had been a cheating, backstabbing robot for so long, and now this was his first chance to fight honorably for once. He no longer wanted his Wily-bot legacy. Yamato considered for a moment that this was not the time for moral uncertainty, but Zero spun around, assuming the choice for him: a level fight. This pleased Yamato Man well enough; his spear tips shot out and flooded the air. Even better, they proved too narrow for the blonde robot to knock back at him.
So instead of hitting them back, Zero simply absorbed the damage and hacked off Yamato Man's head.
"Idiots!" Quick Man screamed from somewhere no one could see. "Why aren't you attacking? Don't worry about collateral, just kill him!"
As annoyed as the remnants of Team 6 might have been at this, they were soon glad that the robots around them began to fire. The ice slasher sent deadly blades of ice down from the roof of a bank, Grenade Man fired his grenades from a department store, and from the next window over Flash Man fired his regular plasma - he didn't bother trying the flash stopper. Signal Man and Gemini Men were all across the street, hanging out atop the antique shop and the cupcake bakery beside it. The gemini lasers proved to be a hazard to enemy and ally alike, but everyone cheered when Signal Man's yellow light attack, the slowdown shot, fired three times and hit Zero twice.
Blade Man and Slash Man jumped in, ready to put an end to the red menace once and for all. Without his speed, how was Zero supposed to fight? Slash Man laughed mightily, thinking of how lovely it would be to defeat the most fearsome enemy ever built. Still, even with Zero covered in the slowdown substance, Plant Man's vines and Tomahawk's tomahawks were only just barely keeping Zero in place.
But even as Blade Man and his overeager melee companion reached Zero, the latter teleported out. Zero was gone, and for a sick moment everyone could only wonder where he went. Signal Man's remains crashed through the antique shop window, along with a 96 year old chest of drawers. Both shattered when they hit the pavement.
"My face!" Gemini Man screamed. "How dare you!"
Ice Man and the robots on his side of the street fired into the cupcake bakery to no avail. The red teleport beam leaving it clearly was not Gemini Man's. Quick Man reappeared on the street, screaming his head off.
"Into the shop, all of you!" Quick Man shrieked. "He'll be after Grenade and them next!"
It was the most logical presumption. Blade and Slash Man followed him into the mall without question. Tomahawk prepared to follow.
"Tommy," Plant Man gasped. "I can't..."
Tomahawk turned to find that Plant Man could barely walk. His left hand was gone, and smoke was coming out of his legs. Plant Man's petals were turning a sickening, dead brown, and it was all he could do to settle on the pavement.
Tomahawk Man nodded, slapping Plant Man on the shoulder before running off to join the others. It didn't take the Native American robot long to catch up with them, and also with the carnage. It was too late for Flash Man, and already his shiny bits lay strewn all over the floor. Tomahawk tried not to trip over a piece of his body (and he didn't try to guess what part it was).
"W-wow, that feels wonderful!" Grenade Man exclaimed as he noticed the glowing red saber going through his chest. "Thanks a bunch, Zer-"
Zero's punch left a crater in Grenade Man's face and knocked him back through two racks of delicate crystalware. The home appliances department was already in a sorry state, with bedsheets and blenders shredded and scattered in every direction, and the last standing rack of fancy summer dishes was shattered as Zero swung his sword through it to get to Ice Man. The Team 1 robot was scared out of his mind, but still very smart. He hid behind whatever still stood as he fired his icy shots at Wily's masterpiece. For his part, Zero had no problem slashing through the cupboards, the pillars, and the bed displays, all in pursuit of the icy robot. Tomahawk Man started firing his feathers, and Slash Man jumped in from time to time to slash at Zero and disappear.
Needless to say, Slash Man didn't last long. Thankfully for the few survivors, it was long enough for one more robot to come into position. Six wedges of the most boring shade of brick red flew in, dripping with electronic energy. Tomahawk and Ice Man got the idea, and Quick Man joined them as all three attacked Zero with a barrage of weapons, all three of which couldn't be knocked back. The six wedges of Echelon Man flew into place, ready to put the echelon heatshock into action.
No one was ever really sure what happened next. Certainly not Ice Man, who slumped to the floor before he even knew the saber had passed through his head. Tomahawk Man was bowled over and stabbed three times in the chest, and with his fading vision he saw the destruction of five Echelon Man wedges. The sixth wedge smacked right into Quick Man, zapping him with the remnant of its power. Once the that last shock was used up, it fell useless to the ground. There wasn't enough left to bring back Echelon Man.
"Aha!" Quick Man cried.
He truly was his namesake. The daring robot dashed directly by Zero, and though it cost him his right arm, Quick Man was indeed quick enough to snatch up the Z saber and roll out of the way. Quick Man gleefully brandished his prize.
"I've been watching your fighting style." Quick Man said. "I know your moves. I've prepared for this ever since that day in Wily's basement. Come and defeat me, Zero. if you can!"
Quick Man really was more frightened than he pretended to be, but all the same he was more brave than most. He actually managed to stand his ground with Zero giving him the dirtiest look any Wily-bot had seen. It reminded Quick Man way too much of Dr. Wily himself. The Team 2 robot expected Zero to attack, but the angry blonde didn't. Instead Zero looked around the floor. With a nasty smirk Zero reached down into the wreckage and pulled out the remains of Blade Man. He ripped off Blade Man's head, holding the face as a hilt.
Quick Man didn't wait any longer. He shot out three boomerangs and flipped through the air, driving the point of the saber directly at Zero.
Thunk.
Off felt Quick Man's other arm. Zero kicked him to the ground, there amongst the what was left of the microwaves. He shoved Blade Man's razor sharp head into Quick Man's chest. Picking his rightful sword up from the floor, Zero nodded to himself and went back to his prey. He wanted to savor this moment.
Mega Man twitched involuntarily. His wide eyes looked on in helpless innocence as he watched Zero destroy Quick Man. All the thoughts he ever had about how annoying it was to fight the Team 2 robot disappeared out of his mind. All he could think of was how terrible the death was, and if Quick Man had proven difficult for him those years ago, then Zero...
The bomber tried to ignore his sister's worried looks. He had enough nagging at him as it was. It was the worst thing in the world for him to be back in his home lab, sitting there at a computer and staring at the sattelite feed of Zero destroying the city he cared for, and the robots to whom he had promised freedom. Mega Man was careful to watch this on the smaller monitor, so as not to upset his sister. Her worried eyes nonetheless went that way, and Mega Man didn't always notice that they usually stared at him rather than the violence before him. Rock wished she would leave the room, but she had the very legitimate excuse that between Rock's adventures and Auto's tinkering, she never got any cleaning done in there.
"I don't understand it!" Mega Man pounded his fist into the console. "I need to get out there and fight!"
"No, you don't!" Roll immediately scolded him. "You remember what Reyes said! The REA is willing to let Wily-bots be cannon fodder, but you've earned your right to stay out of this one. All they need is for the robots to hold Zero in place until the army can get into position. They don't need you for that!"
Mega Man frowned, looking very much like an angry, angsty teenager. He'd heard all of this before, and didn't appreciate hearing it again. As much as the logical parts of his CPU told him that he should be grateful and accept the fact that he wouldn't be the defender of Monstropolis too much longer if he did have to face down Zero, it just felt so wrong to do so. Normally Rock was never dramatic or ever glorified death, yet it felt more right that he should at least die for Monstropolis, rather than hole up in his lab and hope for the best.
"The entire point of my becoming a fighter was to stop pointless death." Mega Man told her. "This is my city!"
"Yeah, well a pointless death is still pointless if it's you." Roll insisted. "Just obey the order, okay? You're not being a coward, you're just doing what you're told."
Mega Man huffed and went back to the monitor. Roll wanted to make him promise he wouldn't teleport out of the lab, but she got the hint. She didn't want to argue with her brother anyway. He was grateful for that, and set his focus back on the satellite feed. And grimaced. Zero was outside of the department store again, and he'd found Plant Man laying on the street. Mega Man gasped. If Plant Man was still activated and sitting there, it could only mean that his teleportation wasn't working. He couldn't come back to the lab. And now that Zero stood before him, it was too late for Mega Man to rescue him. Mega Man, horrified, could do nothing more than watch.
"Ugh..." the Team 6 robot groaned. "Crap...poor Tomahawk...not you too..."
Zero approached Plant Man as the latter lay there in the rubble of his team. Plant Man looked up with solemn eyes. He wasn't worried; it wasn't as if he was a threat to Zero. His eyes went downward and closed. After a moment, they opened again. Why was Zero just standing there? Didn't he have something better to do? Plant Man blinked. Zero, though now completely unmoving, was five feet closer. And he was grinning.
"Um...crap...uh...hello?" Plant Man sputtered. "So, um, how are you...doing? You don't have to, um, kill me, you know. I serve Wily too. All that good stuff. Yeah?"
Zero grinned. Plant Man tried not to shake. Here he was, helpless before an enemy well beyond his power - hello? There was a blue thing swirling in the air behind Zero. Plant Man didn't dare smile, though he wanted to. The blue thing headed right for Zero's head, and Plant knew a dive bomb when he saw it.
I have to keep him distracted! Plant Man summoned words out of his mouth and hoped they sounded convincing enough. "So Zero, I know where Dr. Wily is being kept, so why don't we go and fetch him so that he can see you take over the world? Don't you know that Master Wily would just love that? So how about it?"
Zero grinned. And said nothing. Only his sword arm moved. It flicked up behind him, slicing through the dive bomb. It burst, but only a little, harmless to the red robot.
"Yarrgh! Ye call that tryin', Landlubber?" Pirate Man snarled. "Allow a master to work!"
Zero turne around, expecting to Pirate Man. Only the robot before him was no pirate at all, and had even fewer subtleties. He did, however, have a lot of propane tanks.
"Hey there, Zero buddy. Do you like PLAYING WITH FIRE?"
Burner Man lit up as he screamed, surrounding himself with a flaming orb. This was dangerous to do, but Burner Man did it nonetheless. He wanted his shell as hot as possible so that the slightest touch would burn Zero. Zero, however, jumped clear over Burner Man, with not so much as one of the hairs on his head getting singed. He landed, ready to rip apart the Team 8 fire robot. This didn't quite work. A more than daring Pirate Man caught Zero's sword arm in his claw, allowing Burner Man to get in a blast of fire.
"Ha har! This be fer Splash Woman!" Pirate Man cried out. "Sure is a true shame ta burn yer lovely little face, Miss Zero! Har har!"
Pirate Man promptly stuck a bomb on Zero's back, then let him loose for Burner Man to set aflame. Only as Pirate Man tried to hop back, Zero snapped around, grabbed his wrist, and flung him right smack into Burner Man. This move flung the bomb from his back, leaving the cupcake bakery to suffer a blast to the display case (and ruining a nice little display of cupcake cakes shaped like summer fruit). Zero was mad, now. He didn't like getting burned in the face, and only Burner Man's speed saved him. Pirate Man wasn't so lucky, and his ruins joined Team 6's in the street. Burner Man didn't last much longer himself, for that matter. He was used to Mega Man or Bass, both of which struggled in defeating the propane-bot. He wasn't used to robots that could cut through his propane distributor with a single slice.
"NO!" Burner Man screamed. "MY PRECIOUS BURNY STUFF!"
Zero was tired of Burner Man's volume. That did not bode well for the lesser Wily-bot. Soon enough he was down as well, no longer able to mourn his loss of flames. Actually, he probably would have approved of the death. The broken hull of himself lay in a pile, burning itself and melting a crater of tar in the street. Zero admired it, staring at it with a smile.
"Alright, enough of that idiocy!" Zero turned to see that Dive Man was approaching him, though of course he wasn't at all surprised. "I'm here to make sure a sane person is fighting for Splash Woman! Come and fight me, Zero!"
The blond robot wasn't impressed, but all the same, destroying stuff was destroying stuff. Zero grinned at Dive Man, easily slashing through the slow moving dive torpedoes fired at him. Dive Man shrank back, now realizing his weakness. It didn't matter if his dive bombs tracked down Zero. If they weren't fast, they weren't any good. And now he was alone. Plant Man sitting there sure didn't count. All the Team Six robot could do was watch as Dive Man made his pathetic last stand. Plant Man attempted to shoot his petals, but got nothing but a broken squeal.
"Arrgh!" Plant Man groaned and facepalmed. He might as well. The noise of the attempted help got Zero's attention, which Plant Man would really rather wasn't on him. Dive Man wasn't there to distract Zero any longer, and now it was only him and Zero. He scrunched his eyes tightly shut, refusing to watch as Zero approached.
It was at that point that Mega Man stopped watching. He had to stop - he felt so sick! Poor Plant Man...and why was Dive Man even there in the first place? The Cossack-bot hadn't even been briefed about Zero, and Mega Man knew for a fact that Dive Man was much less manueverable outside of water.
So is Pirate Man, for that matter. Rock thought. What is it with water-bots these days?
Mega Man turned away from the monitor with a sigh. He'd watched it with the hope that he'd figure out some way to stop Zero or lay some sort of trap for him, but watching the satellite feed had only served to make Mega Man feel uneasy. This time he couldn't be so heedlessly idealistic. As much as he loved Monstropolis, he had to know the limits of his own strength. This he did only grudgingly.
"Ugh, Auto," Mega got up from his chair. "What's Bass' condition?"
Auto was in the room, though Roll was still able to clean because only three of the repair tables were occupied. Mega Man shuddered as he passed Crystal Bot's by; her unconscious grimacing and shaking was just too disturbing to look at. He could only guess (but didn't) what the Zero virus was doing to her mind. Mega Man did look at Treble, where most of his head armor had been removed so that the delicate innards underneath could be repaired. A whimpering Rush lay at the foot of that table, tail unmoving and ears downward. As for Bass, while he was back in one piece, that that piece was remarkably dirty and carbon-scored, besides cracked in a few places. Only his chestplate, a spare that Auto found, was clean and intact.
"He's operational, but not in any condition for fighting." Auto patted Bass' bare head. "Aw, he looks almost nice when he's deactivated. Doesn't he though?"
Rock didn't laugh. "Hm. Don't say that when he's awake."
"So should I activate him?" Auto asked. "I don't really know. Crystal Bot would know...but...eh. I don't know if it's such a good idea to wake him up if he can't do any fighting."
Mega Man thought about it for a minute. He had no idea if Bass would be angrier if he were awake to realize he'd been defeated by Zero and both of his assistants were out of commission, or being deactivated while all this was going on. Mega Man's usual sensibilities failed him. He was angry, helpless, and annoyed. Mega Man glanced once more at the monitor showing Zero's mayhem and decided that if he had to be miserable and stuck in the lab, then Bass could be miserable and stuck too.
"Sure, why not?" Rock muttered. "Sooner or later he'll find out what happened. Wake him up."
"You sure?" Auto asked. "He's going to be mad-"
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead." Rock headed back for the monitor. As much as it tortured him, he wanted to keep an eye on Zero. "Then start working on the lab's defenses. We can't guarantee that Zero will be distracted in Monstropolis for long. If we're lucky, the army will have the non-outward teleport field up already."
Auto glanced at Bass, wincing a bit. Roll walked up to Auto, patting him on the arm. Auto nodded, and he went off to work on the lab. As scary as activating Bass was sure to be, Roll rathered that Auto worked at protecting the lab and Mega Man X. She shuddered, hoping that they wouldn't have to activate X. The government was sure to have something to say about an experimental, possibly dangerous robot that was kept secret from them for years.
Roll gently touched Bass' neck, then immediately jumped backwards. This proved prudent.
"You bastard!" Bass screamed, buster in the air as if to shoot. "Come-"
He blinked. This wasn't the top of Kauffman Tower. This was Light Laboratories. Zero was nowhere to be found. Instead the dark robot found himself sitting up on a repair table, with Roll standing a safe distance away. Bass directed his confused glare at her.
"I deactivated your buster." Roll spoke barely above a whisper. "You can switch it back on now...if you want."
Bass froze for a minute, but then just converted his buster back into a hand. He lifted this hand to his ear, listening as his mind told him all the things that were wrong with him. Finally, Bass sighed and rubbed his eyes. Roll thought for a moment that he might be calm, but she was wrong. As soon as Bass' hand left his face, he was glowering at her.
"What happened?" he growled. "What the hell happened out there? Did I malfunction or something?"
Roll winced, painfully sympathetic. Her pity was obvious, as was her fear. Her lip trembled, and it seemed that at any moment she would begin crying. But no, the girl-bot stubbornly sniffed, forcing herself to remain under control. Shivering, she simply offered him an E tank.
"You delayed Zero long enough for us to get our anti-teleporters set back up." Roll's whimpering came out in her voice, no matter how solemn she tried to be. "If it weren't for you, Zero would have destroyed the lab by now."
The E tank was still in Roll's extended arm. Bass didn't take it; he didn't even notice it.
"WHAT? What the hell? I've been preparing to fight this guy forever!" Bass angrily started making his way off the repair table. "I've been upgraded more times than I can count and I've been studying anti-sword fighting this whole time! What... oh hell, just show me the playback on the monitoring systems. I'll look for myself."
"It's too late." Mega Man called. "I deleted the file already. You really don't want to see it. Just...just trust me on that."
Mega Man turned back to the screen. He didn't want to see Bass' reaction. What he did want was for Bass to ask in his usual furious and sarcastic manner why Rock himself wasn't out there fighting. If he did, then Mega Man would at least feel assured that his rightful place was out there, battling bad guys just like he always was supposed to. But Bass didn't. Mega Man heard the sound of an E tank opening behind him, and that was all.
"Reyes ordered me to stay away." Mega Man said as Bass approached him. He knew it sounded like he was making excuses, but he didn't want Bass to get false ideas in his head. "They want the other robots to distract Zero until the military can get into place and do something about it."
"Eh. Orders for me?"
"...No."
Bass growled and darkened, but said nothing. They both got quiet as they watched the monitor. The satellite systems were still clearly focused on Monstropolis, and well, the city had never looked worse. The metal plating in front of stores designed to keep robots from crashing into them could repel any normal robot; Zero seemed to take pleasure in slashing up each one. Several restaurants on Harris Street were nothing but metal caves filled of shredded wires, seating, and oil fryers - not that you could hardly identify any of that without careful inspection.
It was hard to keep up with Zero's movements. The satellite had lost him and now only caught his aftermath. From what was left of them, Bass could see the top of Top Man's head, tangled in Spring Man's remains. At least he thought it was Spring Man. It might have just been some really torn up industrial coils. Cut Man's scissors, however, were far to unique not to be noticed: they were stuck in the side of a bank with a bit of jagged orange metal still attached on the back. Wherever the rest of Cut Man's body was, no one knew. It might have been behind Centaur Man's.
"Centaur Man's centaur flash doesn't work on Zero." A despondent Mega Man said. "It flashed, but there was no reaction."
"Of course." Bass spat, letting his angry lip reveal a fang. "Of course Wily would make his special little robot invincible to it...is that Solar Man over there?"
Mega Man stared, only growing more grim as he watched. "Yeah..."
Bass lifted an eyebrow, confused by what he saw before him. He bit his lip.
"I...didn't know he could bend that far."
"He can't."
It sounded as if Rock would cry. Bass cringed, hoping that the bomber didn't start. Mega Man didn't cry. He was so mad he could hardly stand himself. Instead of sitting here and grieving, he stood up, kicking away the chair beneath him. He lifted his tight fists, snarling and kicking again at the chair for good measure.
"That's it!" Mega Man said, his voice dark with determination. "I'm going out there. I don't care if it's against orders! I can't let him do this to my city! Zero's doing more damage out there than all of Wily's schemes put together! I'm not going to let others fight and die where I dare not even go!"
"Shut up, Rock." Bass growled. "You can't beat him."
"You shut up!" Rock snapped, getting the attention of the non-fighters in the room. "Haven't I always beaten anybody that ever fought me? How many times have I saved the world? You don't have the right to talk to me like that! Just because you can't defeat Zero doesn't mean I can't!"
Bass snarled with rage, and there might have been a fight right then and there, but Bass knew his status. Instead he did something even worse. Mega Man found himself grabbed by the shoulders and forced to face his little sister, who was interrupted quite pitifully sweeping the floor.
"Look this jerk right in the eye, Roll." Bass forced his words through his gritted teeth. "He wants to go out there and fight Zero. You know what? He can't. He'll get his butt killed in thirty seconds. I fought this guy a bajillion times, and so I oughta know by now that if he gets near Zero, he's DEAD. He can't beat Zero, no matter what he does. It's just not possible. He doesn't have what it takes."
His sister's fearfully wide eyes stole all the determination from Mega Man. Roll's knuckles went white as she clutched the broom. Even before she spoke she already poisoned all of her brother's courage.
"Please, Rock, don't go!" she almost wept. "Everyone knows you're brave already. You don't have anything to prove!"
Mega Man dropped his gruff act. He could only fight his denial so long. Bass was right, Reyes was right, Roll was right...everyone except him! For once he wanted to say something and defend his pride. Rock could think of nothing. He could almost feel the fearful gaze of Roll, and well, as much as he was responsible for protecting people, his first duty was to his family.
"Don't worry Roll...I'm not going."
The girl-bot relaxed. She glanced one last time at her brother, as if waiting for him to uncross his fingers or something. But both his hands were in plain view and uncrossed, so she paused, then continued the swishing of the plastic bristles along the tile floor. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do.
Mega Man bitterly pushed his way out of Bass' grip and turned with an accusing finger to his rival. "That was below the belt, Bass."
"Screw you. If you want to beat Zero, you're going to have to be smart."
"Then what do you suggest, oh wise one?"
"Watch your tone." Bass hissed. "Then get to work on our defenses. Soon enough Zero's going to realize that you're not coming and get bored of fighting idiot-bots. And why the hell am I wandering around looking like a piece of junk? I can't help you like this."
Mega Man folded his arms. "That's...not an option right now. Between all the trouble with the shipping, repairing all the Wily-bots, and what your assistant did to my supply rooms, we don't have what it takes to repair you."
"WHAT? Well, a fat lot of good repairing those idiots did!"
"They delayed Zero and now the army made it to Monstropolis." Mega Man shrugged. "They did something."
Bass growled again, but didn't say anything. Rock was being stubborn, and there wasn't any point to arguing with him anyway. He had better things to do, like check on his technician, for one. It at least would make him feel a little useful. Mega Man followed him to the repair table. Seeing the poor girl calmed Rock down some, but on the inside he was every bit as grim as his gold and yellow companion.
Crystal Bot had a virus. A stupid virus that left her nothing more than a twitching, convulsing robot lying on a repair table. The worse of it was her horrible visage. It wasn't the face of sweet, peppy, annoying Sonata. It was someone evil. Her open eyes moved in anger, furious that she wasn't activated. Her mouth every so often would pull into a snarl, then fade out, then grimace again. There was nothing left of the innocent girl-bot they knew.
Bass leaned heavily on the side of the table to observe his technician. His face was grim, and any reaction stayed inside him. The dark robot stood there a moment, just watching. After a bit, he glinted back at Rock, speaking with considerably more growl in his voice than was necessary.
"What happened to her?"
"Zero did this." Mega Man explained, his voice too exhausted to have much emotion. "That's what we're able to guess. Before this virus took control of her, Crystal Bot showed us her memories of discovering the secret lab. She only saw Zero for a few seconds, but that was enough for him to transmit it to her. We even scanned her right after everything had happened, but we didn't discover anything. We scanned her again after we managed to get her back under control, and we found out it's a virus meant to infect the parts of her mind based on X's technology. It's a safe assumption that this virus was meant to infect X too. In any case, this virus was probably the only reason Zero let her live: she was a part of his plans. He sure hasn't spared any robot or human since then..."
Rock glanced back at the monitor with a heavy heart. His grief-stricken face looked too like it would fall into weeping at any minute, but for the anger in his eyes. Bass nearly gagged. Everything was going wrong, and if he had to deal with one more mopey robot, he wasn't sure what he would do. Bass just gritted his teeth for now. How was he going to fix this? How could this have happened? He was supposed to be the one to take Zero down, impress the government, and get off his probation early. That was the plan. Everything went completely wrong. He owed his life to Mega Man again? Or had one of those Wily-bot idiots pulled him out of the fray? Either way, that alone was the worst thing in the world to Bass, only to be compounded by the loss of his team. Crystal Bot was virus-ridden, Treble was dead, and he himself had been...been...
DEFEATED! The furious robot drove his fist down into the repair table, permanently imprinting it. I'm gonna kill that girly bastard!
He couldn't do it. He knew he couldn't. This was the worst day of his life.
"So...do you know how to fix her?"
Bass glared over his shoulder at Rock, but the question was humble enough. He vent his frustrations with only a sigh.
"Not really. She meant to teach me stuff about computers and crap, but I was always too busy in Russia. I know she's got some kind of self-repair functions...eh, it looks like they're not working." Bass grew suddenly thoughtful. "Huh, I guess I have a shot. Morse code..."
Bass reached down, and much to everyone's shock, he activated Crystal Bot. She opened her eyes, and no one was sure that whether she was smiling or snarling. She groaned a little, trying to say something. Bass leaned over her.
"What was that?"
"I said...DIE!"
Crystal Bot's orbs flashed a brilliant swirl of pink and purple, summoning a blue crystal. Forte was still faster than her. He jumped out of the way, then grabbed her and forced her shoulders down on the table. The crystal formed harmlessly in the air in front of Crystal, not inside Bass' chest as she planned. Mega Man prepared to fire his buster, but Bass shouted first.
"Crystal Bot reset! Five, two-nine-one!"
"Erk!" Crystal Bot's voice caught in her throat. "Oh...um, ha! I don't know what you think you're doing, Bass, but Zero will kill you yet-"
"SHADDUP ALREADY!" Bass roared.
And she did. Instantly her voice cut off, and Crystal Bot furiously pouted. She continued to say horrible things, but since she could only mouth them, it was a lot easier for Bass to ignore them. And ignore them he did.
"Alright, that's better." he folded his arms. "Now activate all your self repair functions and get rid of this virus. Turn back into your normal self."
"Arrgh!" she shrieked. "No! How can you do this? I was going to serve a real champion for once! A real-ll chappmionnnn..."
She fell back down on the repair table with a thud. Her violent twitching continued. The evil grimacing got worse, and her hands reached out to grasp and possibly strangle anyone nearby. This, however, was punctuated with interruptions. An innocence returned to Crystal Bot's face from time to time, temporarily breaking the spell the virus had on her. Of course, it wasn't long before the nasty face came back, but it too fell out again, and the cycle continued.
"What was that?" Mega Man lowered his buster in awe. "You can control her?"
"Apparently." Bass was almost as surprised as Rock. "Wow, it actually works. Someone sent me a transmission in Morse code before I fought Zero. I don't know who."
"Wait, Morse code? Nobody uses that anymore." Mega Man puzzled. "And some random person out there knows something about Crystal Bot that we don't know ourselves?"
"You got me." Bass shrugged.
"Forte-kun..." Crystal's weak voice floated up like a faint mist. "Forte..."
Bass neared her again, this time a little more cautious. There was no need. Crystal Bot's face had relaxed away from the violence, leaving behind a scared girl-bot. Her eyes were no longer blank, and she was able to look at Bass directly. The struggle going on in her mind was evident, however, and she trembled.
"Forte..." she could hardly speak above a whisper. "I am the second mind. The first is shut down, and the third...itt'sss it'ss g-gone. T-taken."
"Can it be fixed?"
"I ddunno. I need...need...more antieess virusss." Crystal Bot gasped. "Distrackt virus. I can isolate it at the third..thrid mind. I th-think..."
"Do that then." Bass nodded.
"Mmmm-kay. Send more anti-ti virus. Forte...'mm sorry." she started to cry, reaching out for his hand. "I was bad and I d-din't listen to you. It's all my fault. I''m sorrreee I alaways mass you up. I do everyfing bad-ad an' get ya in trouble. I'm realliy sorreeyee..."
Bass tried his best to be soothing, and he even took her hand. "Sonata...shut up, okay? Everything is going to be fine. Divert all your power to fighting the virus."
Crystal Bot nodded, shutting her eyes. She settled down and went right back to her self-repairs. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately - Bass didn't know how these things worked) she stopped writhing so much, and the facial expressions calmed. She shook some, but it wasn't as fast and the fight seemed...well, under control. As under contol as a person shaking and shivering could be.
"I don't understand what's going on," Mega Man said, peering over at Crystal Bot. "But if her self-repair functions are going then she has a chance. Roll, get our anti-virus discs again. She should get all the help she can."
"Right." Roll hurried along.
Mega Man took the discs from his sister and started inserting them into the computer pillar beside Crystal Bot. Through the wire plugged into her neck, they accessed her mind and started working their programming on the poor girl-bot's infected head.
"Alright, Roll, I'm going to help Auto check on our defenses." Rock wondered if he sounded as tired as he felt. "Install as many anti-viruses on Crystal as you can. After you're done here, go ahead to the second basement. Lock it behind you, and stay with our future."
Everyone activated in the room knew what he was talking about: Mega Man X and the Dr. Light capsule. Roll nodded, nervously wringing her hands. Getting things set up wouldn't take her too long, Mega Man knew. He just hoped something in there could help their shiny-bot friend.
Well, at least Jewel Man can't see her like this.
Mega Man held back a groan. Jewel Man had volunteered to go fight Zero. There was no telling if he was alive or not. Mega Man was only moderately tempted to send him a transmission to try and find out. Was it worth the risk...? But those thoughts would have to wait. He had to recheck the armor plating for the lab (man it had been so hard to convince Dr. Light to install those!) and try to figure out how he could add to the lab's defenses. Mega Man passed Bass by and left without a word.
That was just fine with Bass. He had even less to do than Mega Man, and he wasn't at all interested in the monitoring system's view of the battle against Zero. He wanted desperately for someone to talk to, but the only person he was willing to trust had had a plasma sword shoved through his head.
I swear I'm going to find a way to make him suffer. No one gets away with hurting Treble...
But how was Treble? Bass decided he might as well check out the dog. Crystal Bot had taught him a little about getting the purple wolf repaired. The only trouble was, if the problem was something simple enough that Bass could solve it, the others would have already tried. Bass turned anyway. It was something to do.
He immediately wished he hadn't. There beside his dog was Proto Man, standing there arms folded with an aura of grim fog around him. The lab was dark enough without Proto Man's melancholy spirit hanging about. As soon as Blues saw that Bass noticed him, the former robot sighed and dropped his eyes.
"I take back everything bad I ever said about the head fins."
Startled, Bass lifted his hand to his head: nothing but hair. Proto Man pointed to the repair table where Bass had activated. On the head of the table, where Bass hadn't even noticed it yet, sat his helmet. Those two large head fins, magnificent, graceful, and so classically indicative of Bass, had a huge melty gap through the middle of them both, running perpendicular across both. It was clearly obvious what Zero's weapon had done. It was also clearly obvious what the saber would have done to Bass' head if those two fins weren't there to interrupt. Bass wasn't sure if he was more grateful for or more hateful of Wily's technical works.
This was the first thing Bass was afraid of for the longest time. It was like getting hit in the powercore with a javelin.
"When the hell were you going to tell me about this?" Bass demanded from Roll.
Roll just nervously lowered her head. "...Never."
"Eh...I guess I don't blame you." Bass focused again on the newcomer. "So what are you doing back here? Haven't made Rock suffer enough yet?"
"Let me make this clear: I hate you. A lot." Proto Man couldn't keep up his tough guy act, and his glinted eyes withered out with a pathetic sigh and some more staring at his feet. "I know I've done wrong, and I have to do what little I can to fix things. I want you to turn me in to the police."
Proto Man's head only went up long enough to gauge Bass' reaction. Bass did nothing but frown and wait for the loner robot to continue.
"I've come to realize things." Blues said quietly. "I've done wrong, and every time I run away I make my problems so much worse. I've been doing it this for years. The trouble is...I know I can't trust myself. I'm too weak to go and turn myself in to the REA. I need someone I know I can't defeat to bring me there and make sure I'm in custody. And I can't...I can't face Rock again." Proto Man dared to look up. "Um...how is has he been?"
"What, since you punched him in the face?" Bass showed no mercy, neither with his words or his accusing eyes. "He cried on and off for a full hour and a half. Tries to pretend he's alright, but he's been mopey ever since."
Proto Man wished Bass could feel the full force of his hate, but that was hard to accomplish under his visor. Bass understood Blues' hate well enough with only his mouth exposed anyway. Not that Proto Man could keep up such an expression for long. It was a hard enough task to even come here. Again, the floor was a much safer view than anywhere higher.
"I guess we're even." Proto Man's voice was thick with bitterness. "I had to witness...and you had to deal with Rock. Please...just help me. I can't do this alone. I'll just run away again and screw everything up. I'm not strong enough to help him fight Zero, so I might as well be in custody."
The dark robot scowled. He had his fill of depressed, dead, and virus-ridden robots. He didn't care about his career that much (if he couldn't defeat Zero, what did it matter he pulled cats out of trees?), but whatever would get him out of that lab was a good idea.
"Fine, let's go." he snapped. "It's not like I've got anything better to do."
"Wait..." Roll finally mustered up the courage to speak, and she went up to a somber Proto Man. Every step she took nearer to him made him more nervous, and though he tried, he couldn't make direct eye contact. It was hard to tell under the visor anyway. Without any hesitation, Roll took Proto Man's hand.
"I just want you to know," she said. "That I'm not ashamed of you."
"Roll...I..." he stammered. "I'm sorry...for everything...it's just..."
"It's okay." Roll reached her arms tightly around his neck. "You don't have to say anything."
Proto Man finally hugged her back, wishing so many things. One of them was that he had spent more time with his little sister. The poor girl had seen very little of her brother over the years, and he had screwed that up. It was too late to dwell on now. Fate had him, and it was only the more inescapable for being his own fault.
"Tell Rock I said I'm sorry."
"I will!" Roll promised. "I'll...I'll always think of you."
"I wish you wouldn't." Proto Man let her go. "Now be good for Rock."
Roll nodded, wondering how she would ever keep herself from bursting out in tears. Auto too was unhappy, and he wasn't going to let the first Light-bot go without saying his goodbye. From his workstation, Auto saluted Proto Man. The latter just nodded, managing something of a smile for the repair-bot.
Funny...I don't really know Auto that well either.
"Let's go." Bass was firm, but there was no cruelty in his voice. "Time to get this over with."
Proto Man knew what he had gotten himself into. He nodded in Bass' direction, and they both teleported out. Roll felt like she hated the both of them. She hated Rock for not being there (not that Proto Man would have shown up were he in the room) and she hated Auto for going back to work. She didn't hate Crystal Bot, but if the tech-bot didn't start operating normally soon, then she definitely would. Roll inspected the computer pillar that Crystal was plugged into. All the anti-virus programs were installed, fighting their way through the jumble that was Crystal Bot's tormented mind. For a moment, Crystal Bot's expression pulled into one of complete and utter misery, before fading out again.
Roll stood back and shuddered. She clutched an arm and sniffed. There wasn't anything more she could do for Crystal Bot. All they could do was hope that somehow her self-repair functions could set her right. For now her part was over.
I suppose it's time for me to go to the second basement.
Roll hastened away to the door, trying not to let the sounds coming from the monitor distract her and make her look. The monitoring systems had finally caught up with Zero, and Roll wasn't willing to hear any of the devastation coming off of it. Against her will her thoughts wandered to the Wily robots. How many of them were still alive? Did any of them actually damage Zero before they died? Would something eventually wear Zero down? Roll sure hoped so. The army was out there, and it just wouldn't make sense if so many fighters were out there and Zero somehow made it out of the city.
Of course, just because something didn't make sense didn't mean it couldn't happen.
Roll's sickening musings kept her from really noticing the trip to the second basement. The first basement used to be in disarray - Dr. Light felt that if it were messy no one would suspect that you could go further down. Without the doctor here, Roll's reasoning took over: why should the basement be any more disorganized than the rest of the house? So now the arrangement of failed robot designs, old blueprints of stuff that didn't work, and a few of both that were red herrings, were all sorted out properly by date, type, and size.
None of them were in the far corner of the basement. The housekeeper-bot lowered her hand over one of the blue tiles until she heard the faintest of sounds. The floor accepted her passcodes. Without warning the floor lifted, revealing a small, circular space underneath. There wasn't too much room in it, only enough for about two people Roll's size to lay in with mild comfort. The outer rim of the circle was all black panelling, with one little button tucked away under the side that could hardly be noticed if you didn't know where it was. The girl-bot knew, and she crept into the circle and lay down. The basement floor closed over her, and once it hardlocked shut, she pushed the button.
This sort of teleportation was always weird. It was closed circuit teleportation, providing a robot with the ability to go to another circle of black metal (what kind of metal was that stuff anyway?) that was specified by the first. This circle, however, was vertical and not horizontal, making it very disorienting for Roll to go from laying down into a standing postion. She never went down to the second basement much, so she never had the opportunity to get used to it. Not that she cared to. Ever since that fateful day she brought Snake Man there, the place was eerie to her, even if all that happened in a timeline she no longer lived in.
Roll shuddered involuntarily, though nothing about the place was particularly frightening. It was just a deep storage room, containing Dr. Light's most secretive technologies, as well as numerous energy pellets and E tanks on sturdy metal shelves. The right side of the room had another closed circuit teleporter in its wall. That led on to the chamber holding the "sleeping" Mega Man X and Dr. Light's mind storage capsule. Roll tried not to look in that direction, though it was hard to look the other way without thinking of the last time she was there. Mega Man had been killed, Auto was dead, the lab was destroyed, and all that remained of Dr. Light's work was in this very room. Roll could still see an impatient Snake Man, her only "friend", digging through the cabinets to find weapons and supplies. She began to wish that he would show up in this universe.
Roll went to go find the rolling chair. While technically robots don't need to sit, she felt like it nonetheless. The rolling chair was a bit hard to find, as someone had stuffed it in an aisle between the shelves carrying energy capsules and armor plating. Yes, this place could use a touch of Roll.
Cleaning...what good will cleaning ever do? Roll plopped down in the chair with insolence, stubbornly folding her arms in rebellion against...something. All I've ever done in my life is clean. I've never helped anyone! How dare I complain when I'm just too weak to do anything!
Roll knew perfectly well that she was being stubborn and that her attitude wasn't going to help her. She didn't care. Why should she? She couldn't do anything, and it infuriated her. A sudden realization hit, and she stood up from the chair, looking firmly upwards. GrimMoody wasn't God, but if she was writing all of this, then Roll wanted answers.
"GrimMoody!" Roll called out, unafraid. No one in the building would be able to hear her from there. "GrimMoody, I want to talk to you! Get down here!"
She waited a moment, but there was no reply. Roll frowned, and she felt like she would cry even without tear ducts. It wasn't fair. Why wouldn't GrimMoody hurry up and answer already? After all, she was the one that sent Roll back into the past to change everything. Roll couldn't do it alone.
"GrimMoody!" Roll tried again, angrier than before. "How dare you? How can you say it was wrong for Dr. K to make us go through the Maverick Wars and the Cyber Elf War when you're doing this to us? You're such a hypocrite! Even now Zero is destroying my home city, and he'll come to the lab as soon as he gets past the army! If you care about us at all, do something!"
Again, nothing. There was no appearance of a nerdy, be-spectacled girl with only a mild grasp of fashion. Indeed, GrimMoody was sitting at home listening to techno. She simply didn't feel like getting up from her dining room table to speak to Roll, though she contemplated getting another slice of her grandmother's wonderful chocolate pie and some milk.
Roll didn't know any of that. All she could see was the storage room ceiling, and it became more obvious by the second that no answer was forthcoming. Roll let out a sob and sank back into the chair. It wasn't going to work.
"I don't understand." Roll found herself talking to the author despite the fact she knew nothing would happen. "You said that I was supposed to go back and change everything and save us all from the wars and from being wiped out. I haven't done anything useful since I got back. How can I change anything? I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing! Why didn't you tell me?"
The housekeeper couldn't think of a solution to her problems, try as she might. It was just too hard to reason to herself logically. Had GrimMoody really given her a purpose in coming back to the past?
So...if she's been writing the story of everything that's happening, she must have given me some sort of clue.
Whatever that clue could be Roll couldn't guess. She just sat in the chair, listening to it creak as she shuffled it further back against the wall. She glanced upward one more time with the faint hope that GrimMoody would come down, or at least say something. Roll finally gave up and began to think of her options.
"So..." she said with a sigh. "I'm supposed to stay down here until Rock comes and gets me. Unless he gets killed..."
Roll did believe Bass when he said that Rock would be killed if he tried to fight Zero. Wouldn't he know? Roll wondered in vain what would happen to her if Mega Man never came to get her. Was she to just shut down and wait out the thirty years for X to be ready to emerge? Would the world even exist as it was before, or would Zero have destroyed it all? Whatever happened, thirty years was far too long to wait for someone to save them. Even if Roll knew how to access the second closed circuit teleporter, she didn't know how to activate X.
Roll's thoughts wandered from there. She found herself thinking of the time she had spent in the future with X and Zero and the Maverick Hunters. It had been hard for her then to think of Zero as a killer. Of course, she had known all along that he spread the Maverick virus. Roll almost laughed at herself - how easily she had brushed his hair, not even once thinking of the destruction he had caused or was capable of. The calm Maverick Hunter seemed nothing like the demented killer in Monstropolis. They looked exactly the same, and yet nothing alike.
As Roll was thinking of this, a memory popped into her head. For no other reason then she had nothing better to do, Roll watched it. It was from the time Bass was training her to fight. Roll sort of liked this memory. The cute fight training outfit she'd designed was pretty adorable.
"You're getting better." Bass encouraged her.
Though his voice was free from sarcasm, Roll still doubted him. This was at least the fiftieth time they were in the training room working on her fighting against a sword bearing enemy, and about the hundred and fifth time Bass' borrowed energy sword knocked her down. Roll grumpily lifted herself off of the floor and started dusting off her embroidered top.
"I don't know how you call this better..." she said. "You keep beating me!"
"Didn't I say you couldn't possibly win against me?" he grinned. "Now shut up and stop complaining. All complaining does is make sure that you definitely lose. You lasted forty-three seconds against me, and that's ten seconds more than last time. I call that better."
"If you say so." Roll tested the energy sword implanted in her arm, blinking it on and off. "Well, no damage to that."
Roll was glad that the training room was empty. Bass at least had the decency to train her while the Maverick Hunters weren't trying to improve their C rank fighters. Roll was very glad that she would never have to face a ranking test. For now, her trainer spared her the embarrasment, and they were the only two in the large gym, and only the mirrors on the walls witnessed Roll's fight clumsiness. Thankfully they were too high up in the Maverick Hunters building for anyone to see her through the windows.
Then suddenly Roll winced. The double doors were opening. The next training session didn't start soon, did it? Roll turned to find that no, it was just Zero. The taller robot glanced around the room, with no outward sign on his face that he wasn't happy to see Bass. Roll was by now very skilled in finding out what Proto Man used to mean by his expressions. She knew exactly how Zero felt about his older brother, and she winced.
"X isn't here?" Zero asked.
"No. Your boyfriend is off talking to Signas, or something." Bass suddenly found his fingernails a lot more interesting than they were thirty seconds ago. "You can find him in the office."
"Hi, Zero!" Roll was chirpy, even if they weren't. "Bass and I are working on fighting sword-based Mavericks."
"Really?" Much to Bass' discomfort, Zero fully entered the room and approached Roll. "Oh Bass, I think I'll test your trainee here."
"Um, no, please!" Roll protested, backing away a couple of steps. "I'm not ready."
"Yeah, well, considering the only time you'll be fighting Mavericks is when you least expect it, I think this is a perfect test." Bass lifted the side of his mouth. "Go ahead, Zero. But get a training saber."
"No, of course not, Bass." Zero glared at him. "Because I'm completely stupid."
"Finally admitting it, I see. Now go on, Roll, get ready. Decide which defense I taught you is the best one for Zero."
As Bass spoke, his brother exchanged his normal weapon for one of the weaker test swords hanging on the wall. Normally Zero didn't like parting with it, but for now he would. It hardly seemed fair to use it anyway. Poor Roll was shivering already at the thought of having to fight him at all.
Zero took a position on the floor about ten feet away from her. "Don't worry, Roll. I'll go easy on you."
Roll nodded, glancing at Bass momentarily. She went into her defensive stance. "Okay, I'm ready."
"Pretend I'm a Maverick coming in to capture you on the street." Zero said, lifting his sword.
Even without his normal weapon, fighting Zero was a frightening experience. Roll hadn't the confidence of a Maverick. But what she did have was a grumpy black and gold Wily-bot watching her every move. She couldn't let him down.
Zero dashed toward her, activating the training sword. It flashed out yellow, meeting Roll's red sword as they clashed. But before Zero realized it, Roll swung around and promptly knocked out the back of his left knee, smacked the sword out of his hand, and had both it and her own at his neck. No one was more shocked than Roll herself. Even as she got Zero down, she automatically dropped the training saber and deactivated her own, fearfully covering her mouth with her hands.
"Roll!" Bass scolded. "If you're winning, don't drop your weapons!"
"I'm sorry! I...I just didn't expect that to work."
Zero was definitely shocked, and as he got up from his downed knee he stared at Bass. "What exactly have you been teaching her?"
"Simple." Bass directed his attention to Roll. "You see, Roll, the important thing to remember about your fighting style is that you look like a wimpy, crybaby girl. That's your advantage. If nobody takes you seriously, then you can surprise them and win easy, even if they're ten times stronger than you."
"Hmph! Thanks a bunch, Bass..." Roll was really starting to not like being trained, no matter how cute her outfit was.
Zero's concern was different. He stared at Bass with the sort of hate reserved for traitors. "You...you trained her to kill me..."
Bass rolled his eyes. "Relax, Sis. If I really wanted her to kill you then I wouldn't risk you finding out her trick. Besides, the day might come that she has to kill you, so I don't want to hear it."
Despite herself, Roll couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Zero. He had to suffer a lot in that timeline, knowing the sort of robot that Dr. Wily made him to be. And then it struck her.
"What am I saying?" Roll exclaimed. "Bass trained me to fight Zero! That's why I went to the future, to learn how! That must be what GrimMoody meant. She wanted me to come back and destroy Zero myself! And because Bass trained me, I know just how to do it! I've only got one chance, but if Zero thinks I'm as wimpy as I look then I can defeat him! I'll just have to find those upgrades."
She knew where they were. It wasn't a matter of finding them, but finding the courage for them. There was one automated machine in the far left of the room, fully equipped to accept computer instructions and repair accordingly. Roll pulled in a breath sharply as her gaze forcefully wandered in that direction. She couldn't see the machine past the shelves, but she knew it was there, waiting for her like fate and calling her like the same. Zombie-ish, Roll got up out of the chair. She hardly even noticed as her legs carried her around the shelves, further and deeper into the basement. Her senses were filled with nothing but the thought of the machine, and what she knew she had to do.
"The author of an atrocious undertaking," Roll whispered. "Ought to imagine that he has already accomplished it...ought to impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past.."
The idea that her family and friends would object dwelled barely on the fringes of her mind, like the outcast of a large city. Any protests that Rock could make were useless. She loved her brothers, she respected Auto, and she accepted Bass. Yet all their possible opinions were infintesimal, too small to be regarded. Roll couldn't even conjure up the words that would surely make up their protests. It was too late. This was her purpose, and she was the only one that could fufill it.
Oh look, those where her hands. They were already ahead of Roll, accessing the upgrades that long dead Crystal Man inexplicably made for her on the automated machine's computer. , and . Was she really loading them down into the execution sequence of the machine? Surely she wasn't initializing the sequence on that little keyboard. She must have been - the confirmation message appeared on the little 21 inch monitor.
Twenty-five seconds until the process began. Roll got up on the table, laying down as peacably as she could. She caught one last glimpse of her right hand. It wouldn't be there when she awoke. The girl-bot tried to avoid trembling at the thought. After all, she had no choice.
"The future already exists."
Roll shut down.
-t-
Auto took out a fan out of habit. He was overheating a little. Nothing serious, but he still pulled out his little fan and waved it nonetheless. He'd been working himself pretty hard getting the lab's defenses up, but now things were settled as well as they could be. The army would do what it could, but it was pretty much an inevitability that Zero would come to the lab. Auto didn't have any way of knowing that for sure, but everyone knew how Wily was. Zero would get there eventually. All they could do was hope that Zero was weak enough from his earlier battles to be defeated here.
A groan sounded from behind him, and Auto turned to find Crystal Bot rising from her repair table. The girl-bot rubbed her eyes, slowly getting to her feet. Auto quickly approached, reaching back with one hand to see if his bazooka was still strapped to his back. It was. He patted it reassuringly, hoping he wouldn't have to use it.
"Feeling any better, sweetie?"
"Ugh, not really." Crystal complained with a pout. "My first mind is back online and I've got the virus confined to my third mind, but it's still there. I've done all I can, but it just won't go away. I...I don't think my memory drives can remove this one..." Crystal Bot took off her tiara and started fingering it. "I don't know if I can be Bass' technician like this. I'm safe for now, but...I'm not as smart. Wah." Crystal stuck out her bottom lip.
"Don't talk like that!" Auto snapped to attention and saluted. "This is Light Laboratories, where anything is possible!"
Crystal Bot looked up, staring at Auto with despondent eyes. "You can't say that when you've never felt it."
"But can you operate normally now?"
"I think so, sort of." Crystal Bot said. "I feel really weird - my intelligence and A.I. are lessened by at least thirty-three percent. I don't think I'll do anything bad, but I'll do a few more systems checks anyway."
"Let me do one!" Auto gently lifted her up and sat her back on the table, hooking the computer's wire back into her neck. "I know how your mind works! Leave it to me! Your second mind is like a normal robot's, so worst come to worst you can just operate with that. Alright, let's get the computer running...ah! You're looking really clean! I'm not detecting any waverings in your program security. Don't hook up to any other computers just yet, but you're looking good so far! I'll let the computer run a complete scan on you, though. Better safe than sorry!"
Crystal nodded. "Okay, I guess."
Crystal Bot started swinging her legs over the side of the table, feeling bored. She noted that Auto was a little extra cheerful - too cheerful. Was Zero destroyed already? Crystal glanced over at the little monitor at the side of the room to see what was happening on the satellite feed. She winced. More minced Monstropolis. Auto probably left it on just in case Zero did something he needed to know about. The wire was only a few feet long, so Crystal Bot couldn't get up from the repair table. Instead she indulged her nervous curiosity by engaging her zoom feature to see the monitor more clearly. The satellite monitoring system wasn't focused on Zero, but some other red robot.
That's funny. Crystal thought. That kinda looks like Roll-chan.
She engaged her zoom even further. And then she choked.
"Auto-kun, it's...it's...!" was all she managed, and her wildly gesturing arms completed the sentence for her.
Auto went over to the monitoring screen. The truth of what he saw before him didn't register. It just couldn't. There was no way in the world that little Roll Light was out there - oh wait, someone red was approaching her. It couldn't be Proto Man...
"GAAH!" Auto screamed. "ROCK, GET IN HERE NOW!"
\\\\\
Author's Notes:
- Merry Christmas, y'all!
- I always try to avoid saying "Bass' face". It's too pun for me.
- In case you missed Afterlife, "Dr. K" is the code name I've given the creator of the Mega Man series.
- In the Mega Man world, anti-viruses are literally anti-viruses. Namely, viruses with the purpose of destroying anything harmful to a given robot. These viruses stay in the system as a permanent part of the robot, activating with digitally brutal intent when a threat pops up. The better ones are even known to trace the origin of a given bad virus and hunt it down on the internet. It's illegal for such anti-viruses to destroy the computers of origin, but oftentimes they do. Naturally, the Zero Virus can't be destoyed in this way, as it travels by a new sort of wave that no scientist currently understands, pretty much proving that Wily could have done really well in making untracible radio waves for the government or something if he hadn't been so evil.
- Crystal Bot's three minds have three different purposes. The first is the base of Crystal's personality, and it's the generally the one that interacts with people and figures out more complex problems she faces. Her second mind is the least like X's and the most like a normal robot, and it has enough personality A.I. to be insecure on its own. Its main purpose is to make Crystal's head compatible with modern computers and robots. Her third mind is the most like X's, about equivalent to a reploid (though less efficient), and it's the experimental computer designed to make estimates, absorb new data, and think more outside the box of normal programming. It takes the most risks, hence its increased vulnerability to the Zero virus. Crystal Bot technically has a fourth mind that does nothing more than act as a virus guard, but the Zero Virus bypassed it entirely. Sucks to be her.
Character Profiles!
=====Tomahawk Man
"Tomahawk Man does not lie."
Good point: Brave
Bad point: Exclusive
Likes: Horse riding
Dislikes: Lies
Tomahawk Man also doesn't like his quote, but a news channel caught a clip of him saying it, and it's now his unintended catchprase. Tomahawk Man is not amused. He almost never speaks in the third person, and he feels like this quote makes him sound like an idiot.
In any case, Tomahawk Man was created specifically for the robot master championship, and while this didn't bother him at the time, it irked him once he became a Wily robot. The other Team 6 robots had homes and family to talk about, but all Tomahawk Man had was a team of American technicians that worked on him. True, he had some good times with them, and they were pretty fun, but Tomahawk Man simply didn't know them as well as he could have, and the only task they gave him, namely to win the contest, he never actually got to complete.
While Tommy didn't mind obeying Knight and Yamato Man when they ordered Team 6 to join Mega Man and return home, he doesn't have the kind of nostalgia they do, and he constantly wonders what he's going to do when he gets there. Nobody plans on having another robot championship any time soon. The last thing he wants to do is join some sort of Native American museum display, even as a tour guide. Trouble is, he doesn't know what he could do instead.
Tomahawk Man never shied from his duties as a Wily-bot, and was the most ready of all the team to accept Yamato and Knight Man as their leaders. He never put too much thought into the consequences of what he did, though he knows in his heart all of his crimes. Tomahawk rarely spoke to anyone outside of his team, giving him the appearance of being shy or something. He's not shy at all, and this can be seen whenever he's hanging out with 6. He's usually the most boisterous of them when they talk together, and always has something interesting to say.
Tom was shut up in the robot museum until some time after MM8, when Wily wanted to restore his robot masters (think the Power Fighters). He has since stayed out of the museum, though was caught again shortly before the events of Okkusenman. After the last Skull Castle was destroyed, he was part of the fateful incident in Canada when Flame Man tried to steal their oil. Tomahawk was damaged, but meant to fight on longer. Only Signal Man got to him first and dragged him back to become a Cain servant. Tomahawk hated that period of his life the most.
=====Plant Man
"This flower is so beautiful!"
Good point: Sensibility
Bad point: Depression
Likes: Sunbath
Dislikes: Honey bee
Y'know, it seems really weird for a plant to not like bees. Bees are good to plants. Huh.
The wiki doesn't say where Plant Man is from, and after checking youtube, the game says he's from "Forgotten Area". What's up with that? What does forgotten area mean? The rainforest? North Korea? Vietnam's jungles? Some distant place in Africa? I'm going to say South America, mainly because in my mind flowers + forgotten area = South America. It's weird how little I think of down there. Everybody thinks about North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia all the time. How much time do we really spend thinking of Brazil and stuff? Can you even name a South American country off the top of your head that isn't Brazil? Let me try. Columbia, Argentina, Chile...well crap. That's all I got. I can think of a lot more African countries. Kenya, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Lybia, Egypt, South Africa, Congo, Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Sao Tome and Principe (sp?), Uganda, Rwanda, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Lesotho, Swaziland, Equitorial Guinea...
Okay, okay, enough showing off. Back to Plant Man.
Plant Man was built a long time ago by someone unknown. He was found in the jungle by Brazillian authorities, and they figured he might as well be put to use in the capital's gardens. Plant Man loved the job, and he especially liked being around lots of people. He liked being freed from the lonliness of the jungle, though often the social troubles of Brazil get him down. It's very difficult for him to cope with this.
However, a break appeared in the form of the robot competition, and Brazil was more than happy to present a representative of their country to the tournament. He enjoyed the attention immensely, and was glad to accept the upgrades necessary to make him competition worthy. And then MM6 happened. Lovely. Plant Man took his conversion to a Wily-bot very hard. He too was captured right after MM6, and was freed from the robot museum for the power battles. He and Tomahawk Man got along very well, though sometimes Tomahawk Man felt annoyed by Plant's obstinate sensitivity.
Plant Man looks forward to going home, and he hopes he'll be accepted. Brazil isn't as stern a country as others are, and Plant Man, even as an evil robot, remained popular with Brazillians. They are likely to take him back with open arms.