Chapter 13: Emergency Repairs
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"Mega Man, Mega Man, come in!" Roll cried out over the microphone, having done so the last few minutes, desperately hoping her brother would respond. She had just heard Doctor Light's distressed call out to Mega and had pulled up the feed for herself on the monitor in the lab, the visual feed a static screen with no signs that Mega Man was conscious.
"Roll…" Auto watched the robot girl from a short distance behind her, standing next to the mechanical pets. Beat rested atop Auto's head while Rush and Tango on each side of him, looking on with concern as they watched Roll's increasingly desperate calls for Mega Man. The green mechanic bot was unsure how he could help, just looking on at the blond as she repeated the call for her brother.
"Auto, Roll." Doctor Light said, standing in the doorway between the lab and the rest of the house. His voice caught both of their attention as each turned to the doctor. "The signal is lost, there is no visual indication of Mega Man. That being said, I'm still getting a signal from him out in the field. We might be able to get down there to retrieve him for repairs if we're careful."
"Doctor Light, send me!" Auto volunteered, saluting for the Doctor, wanting to do his own part to help. The salute startled Beat as the metal bird flapped off his head and floated idly nearby.
"No, me! Let me go and get him Doctor!" Roll countered, wanting to be the one to retrieve her brother. The housekeeping robot stood in between Light and Auto, arms open as she tried to assert herself for the sake of the mission.
"...I don't want to risk either of you getting hurt. But if I have to send one of you in, Roll, can you promise me you will not take any chances?" Light relented, not wanting to see more of his creations get damaged by the invaders. The Doctor knew that the approaching army was heading their direction and he had to act fast if he wanted to rescue his robotic son.
"I'll do what I can, Doctor!" Roll said eagerly as she ran for the teleporter. Auto sighed, disappointed as he was once again passed up for an opportunity to be sent into the fray, before he felt the Doctor's hand on his shoulder. The green machine looked up and locked eyes with the robotics scholar, his red metal eyes looking at the bearded man.
"Auto, I don't want to send you in because I know how vital you are for what else we need. We can't stay here, it's not safe with that army approaching us. Get the pets and get the mobile lab ready to go. As soon as we find Mega Man and get him home, we need to get some distance between us and those invaders. If you can, call Proto and let him know as well if he doesn't already, please." The Doctor asked, as Auto realized just how vital he was for the Doctor's plan.
"Y-You got it Doctor Light!" Auto replied, as Light nodded, moving over to the main lab computer, typing out the commands to launch Roll to the site Mega Man was last seen.
"Ready to go Roll? Remember, get in and out, I can't have both you and Mega Man get hurt." Light asked, as Roll nodded, giving a smile to show she was ready. Light nodded back and pressed the button to launch, as the teleporter revved to life, warping Roll out of view. Doctor Light quickly brought up the visual feed from Roll's internal cameras as it appeared on the monitor before him, Auto scrambled behind him to get the mechanical pets moving.
"Doctor Light, can you hear me?" Roll asked, having made a touchdown in the area. The female machine looked on in horror at what she saw, the underside of the highway having been plowed through by the invaders. The construction site was in complete disarray, wooden pillars splintered into pieces, metal fencing melted and mangled, and so on.
"Loud and clear Roll. Any sign of those invaders?" Light asked, a touch of worry to his voice as Roll looked around. As far she could see, no one had stayed behind in the area, no traces of those skeletal knights or lizard creatures that Mega Man had seen.
"Negative, I think we're safe for now…Now where is Mega Man…?" Roll immediately started to move, her metal feet moving with little thought from her as instinct took over to find her brother. Her vision flicked back and forth as she darted around the area, checking under rubble and searching for signs of the blue bomber. "Any traces of his signal, Doctor?"
"Let me check Roll, just a moment…" The Doctor replied, having pulled up a radar ping to search for Mega Man's signal. Pressing a button to activate it, Doctor Light saw a map of the area appear before him, a radar ping being emitted over it. Roll's position pinged back almost immediately, as Light scanned the map for any other pings. "Come on Mega…Come on…Rock…"
Finally, a second ping emerged on the map, as Light breathed a huge sigh of relief. "I've got his signal Roll" He announced, as Roll cheered, elated to hear they had found her brother. "His position is close to you, there should be a pile of wood nearby?"
"I see it!" Roll shouted, darting over to it, a large pile of debris in front of her. The wooden foundation had been torn clean through, pieces of planks and pillars smashed and splintered, forming a large pile of rubble. The robotic housekeeper started getting her metal hands dirty, tossing away parts of the debris to dig into the wood pile. "C'mon Mega, I'm getting you out of here…" She said to herself, furiously lobbing broken planks away.
Doctor Light watched quietly through Roll's vision, waiting with baited breath for any signs of his robotic son. "Come on…" He said, hand curling up into a fist from anxiety. As this was happening, Auto had taken to moving the robotic pets out of the lab, making their way to the Doctors portable lab.
Portable Lab was a bit of a generous term, at best it could be described as a technologically advanced RV with a small built into it. Auto quickly got the vehicle open and had Rush, Tango and Beat get in, as he scrambled to grab some of the doctor's supplies as well to load up for their escape. The green machine hurriedly carried boxes of scrap metals, gears, the doctor's laptop, and an assortment of other tools inside the rv, almost tripping several times.
"I gotta get this thing all set for when Roll gets back" Auto said to no one, setting down another box. As he turned to get out of the back and grab more, his vision caught a glance at the pets, who all seemed to be observing him, worry on their three faces. "It's going to be alright guys, we'll find Mega Man and bring it home, I know it!" Auto said, trying to comfort them, but he was just as worried as the others. Turning his attention back to getting supplies, Auto made his way out but nearly stumbled over something as he was getting out.
"Ack! What was…" Auto trailed off as he looked down at what he'd tripped over, the small red capsule robot Eddie, who was looking up at Auto with concern. The small bot was often tasked with sending items to Mega Man when he was in need, usually able to track his location. "Whoops, sorry Eddie. Though you should get in with the others, we'll need to leave soon!" Auto continued, picking up the little robot and helping him into the RV before getting back to work.
"Doctor, I haven't found anything…" Roll said dejectedly, having slowed her digging in the rubble. The robot felt increasingly scared that she wouldn't be able to find her brother at this point, fear starting to override common sense in her circuitry. Just as she was about to put an end to her search however, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "Is…Is that…?" Excitement taking control back from the fear in her metal heart, Rolls digging increased to a frantic pace as she hurriedly dug towards the faint glimmer of blue she saw within the wreckage.
"Mega Man!" Roll cried out as she finally managed to push aside enough of the rubble, her brother becoming clear in her vision. The female bot teared up seeing the super fighting robot like this, his head facedown in the debris. The blue bomber's helmet was cracked, a few bits of the outer shell missing, as more cracks in his armor were visible down his back and along the rest of his body.
Roll reached over for Mega and grabbed a hold of him, pulling with as much strength as she could, as his blue clad body was slowly dragged out from under the pile. After a few minutes she was able to get him free as the rest of the debris collapsed in on itself, giving Roll a chance to look over Mega's body. Much to her horror, his left arm had been blown off, sparks occasionally emitting from where the metal limb was severed, his right leg having suffered the same fate. Roll felt tears start to fall from the sight of Mega Man like this, as she tried to check her brother's eyes, opening the blue bots eyelids to find the eyes were dimmed. A sign he hadn't been completely destroyed as they were not blacked out, but he was not conscious.
"Doctor, I got him, I got him!" Roll cried out, hugging her unconscious brother tight as she began to sob into his shoulder. Doctor Light held back a few tears of his own as he watched his robotic children reunite, but he was still aware that not only was Mega Man severely damaged, but not all of him had survived the surprise attack.
"I see him Roll. But we have to get him back here. Hold still, I'm activating the command to bring you home." Light said solemnly, enabling the teleporter once more as Rolls' vision disappeared from his computer screen. Turning to face the teleporter, Light finally breathed a sigh of relief as Roll and Mega Man materialized inside the machine, the Doctor walking over to the two.
"Great job Roll, I'm proud of you" Light praised, as he used a hand to wipe away her tears from crying. Giving her a moment to recollect herself, the doctor picked up the damaged body of Mega Man to carry. "Now, we need to get out of here. Auto should have most of my supplies set in the Portable Lab, let's move."
Roll nodded as she hurriedly followed the Doctor out of the lab and into the garage. There they found Auto waiting for them, a hand resting against the side of the Portable Lab as he waved the two into the back. "C'mon, we gotta get a move on you tw…Is that?"
"It is…" Light replied, as Auto froze up seeing Mega Man's battered body. "Auto, can you drive? I need to get my laptop up and running to look for any more signs of interdimensional activity, and so we can get repairs going for Mega Man."
"Right away Doctor!" Auto replied, saluting. "You just leave that to me!" The green bot ran for the driver's seat as Roll climbed inside the Portable Lab, the Doctor following suit before setting his robotic son down on a long metal table for repairs. Taking a second to close up the back doors and secure them, Doctor Light gave the signal to Auto that they were all good, as Auto revved up the vehicle's engine and opened the garage doors.
"Doctor, can you repair him?" Roll asked, a hint of worry to her voice as she watched Doctor Light lay out his repair kit and supplies on another table beside Mega Man. The Doctor looked over at her and stared for a moment before giving his reply.
"I'll do everything I can, Roll. I may not have all the parts to have him 100%, but I should be able to get him back online with what we have here." he explained, making Roll sigh in relief. However, before he got to work, Light looked down to the end of the vehicle where Auto was. "Auto, what's the hold up? Why aren't we moving? We have to get out of here before that army reaches our location!"
"Erm…Doctor, you might wanna see this." Auto explained, his hands on the wheel but having not moved the vehicle at all. The Doctor made his way over to the front, looking over Autos shoulder and out the front windows to see what was the problem.
Standing directly in the way of the group's vehicle was a familiar red and gray clad robot, a red and white helmet with black shades over his head. A yellow scarf was wrapped around his neck, while a large red shield was raised with one hand, red arm cannon held straight up with the other arm as he stared down the group.
"Proto Man?"
