"Hmm. I must say that I'm not entirely for this idea, you two."
Neither Megaman nor Roll were surprised to hear that from Gramps, since it was a dangerous idea at heart. "I understand, Gramps," responded Megaman. "But do you at least see why we want to do it?"
"To get a dangerous pirate off of the streets, yes." Barrell let out another small 'hm'. "At least you aren't wanting to do it for the bounty reward."
"I feel like being bounty hunters would be even more dangerous than being Diggers," Roll said with a shrug. "You might make a lot more enemies that way."
"I'm glad you understand that." Barrett thought in silence for a moment. "Well, we can at least go see their equipment and hear their plan out."
The teens nodded in agreement, content that he was at least considering it. The plan decided, they went about the rest of their Saturday happily. Roll even made a few basic blueprints of ideas for his weapons, though she wouldn't let him peek at them to avoid "ruining a good surprise." Come Noon the next day, they all stood patiently outside while they waited for their ride to come.
It wasn't long before two small airships came into view, the same two that had been present yesterday. The airship with the magnet attached made a beeline for the Flutter, quickly dropping down to grab the left behind storage bin. Once it was secured to the magnet, both airships touched down on the ground and opened their doors, Tron making a playful salute as she came into sight. "Welcome to the Drache taxi service, courtesy of the Bonne family. Barrell, please get into the Servbots ship while Roll and Megaman hop into this one."
"Ee-eek?"
"Uh, and Data can do whatever he wants."
Data promptly jumped onto Megaman's shoulder, who chuckled while boarding the ship with Roll. There was only one proper seat, but the Drache had enough space for them to stand to the side of Tron and lean against the wall. With a moderate whirring of the engine, the Draches took to the sky and vacated the scene.
It took them only some minutes to leave the main island's perimeter, the Draches in no particular hurry as they made their way to a smaller, but much more mountainous sister island. The ships dropped their altitude as they circled the landmass, Tron's eyes lazily scanning the edge until she found a cave entrance. Megaman couldn't help but ask, "So, why set your mothership off the main island?"
Tron took a moment to answer that as she piloted around a stalactite at the entryway. "You'll understand how much the parking might've cost us when you see the ship."
"Does that mean it's submersible?" Roll followed up with a question of her own. "It's the only way I see a large ship making it in here, what with us being so close to the water below already."
"Yeah, it's pretty versatile, though she's been stuck here ever since Servbot #11 accidentally blew a hole in a section of the exterior. Can't afford to have the ship flooded as we try to leave."
Megaman put a fist into his other hand in understanding. "Oh, so that's what the other Servbot meant when he said there'd been an accident."
"Mhm. We're coming up on it now."
Megaman and Roll looked forward as she rounded a bend, and both of them were stunned by the size of the ship. They were approaching from the Port side, and from their position they couldn't see the front or back end of it in the cavern. "Why yes," chirped Tron, "this is a veritable warship. Thank you for asking about it with those mouths hanging open like that."
Two jaws clicked shut.
When Tron pushed a button, a hatch on the side of the mothership opened open, and both Draches flew into it. Rows of little yellow heads waited patiently next to Teisel and another person that they hadn't met yet with a large yellow body. The Servbots touched down first to drop the bin, and once it was safe Tron landed next to it. As they disembarked and stood next to Barrell, Megaman looked to the left to see several more Drache parked in the vehicle bay, as well as a grounded green mech.
Teisel dramatically spread his arms out. "Welcome, new friends, to the Gesellschaft. We'll be your hosts for the afternoon."
Roll giggled as his theatrics. "Thank you for the grand reception. This ship looks amazing!"
"It is, isn't it?" He dropped his arms, but not before gesturing at the person standing next to him. "Everyone, meet our little brother Bon. Bon, this is the Caskett family and Megaman."
Bon raised a metal hand in greeting. "Babuu!"
"Nice to meet you, too," said Barrell. "So, you wanted us to see all these ships you own?"
"That's part of today, yes," answered Teisel. "Tron built all of these herself, so we're plenty equipped to handle fighting a pirate or two; however, that's not the only reason we brought you guys here. We've noticed some… worrying parts about this business and thought you should all know before you answer yes or no to working with us."
Tron gestured inward the ship with her head. "Come on, we've got a big meeting room we can all sit down in. No point standing around here."
They all followed the Bonnes through the ship's hallways. The walls were a soft green, gentle enough on the eyes as they traversed the unfamiliar path. Eventually they wound up in front of a room with an unlit "In Use" sign over the doorway, which everyone began walking through. The table was pretty long, no doubt on account of their massive family, but when Teisel took the head seat and his siblings sat down the right side, Megaman and his family sat down the left opposite Bon and Tron.
After the Servbots had all filled in the remaining seats, Teisel stood back up and cleared his throat. "So, let me begin this meeting by summarizing things as you all know them. There's Suede, his mystery driver, and an unknown third person that talked to him when he was fighting Megaman. This last helper could be the driver or a new person, we just don't know for sure because you and Tron couldn't hear the voice. Am I right so far?"
"Yes," answered Megaman seriously.
"Next, we know that they're after the crowns. Easy enough so far, right? But here's the thing: how did Suede know where the crowns would be?"
"What do you mean," asked Roll. "The banks would be the safest place for them, right?"
Tron stood up slowly, prompting Teisel to sit and nod his head at her. "Right, but how would Suede know they're at the smaller Riverside Bank instead of the larger one on the far East? Any normal pirate would think 'wow, these precious relics must be in the one with the most security!' Except he knew beyond doubt where they were and went straight to smashing the place in."
She crossed her arms. "Megaman, you remember how big that mech was. It stuck out like a sore thumb, especially with that paint job, so how did it manage to navigate through the streets with a bunch of cops already on the way without coming across any of them? And finally, how did he manage to leave right before the cops showed up ? Think back to what we heard him say over the speakers."
Megaman looked at the ceiling as he tried to recall it. "It was 'no, you said I'd have at least five more minutes', wasn't it?"
The gears began turning in his head. "Wait, he had access to police information? Just one of those things by themselves would be him getting lucky, but altogether…"
Barrell let out a small sigh. "There's a mole in the police force. That's a problem, indeed."
"Oh no!" Roll's eyes were the size of saucers. "Are you guys sure? If it's true, then that means Suede will know anything he needs to for his next attack!"
"We're pretty sure." Teisel shrugged his shoulders in a 'what can you do?' Kind of way. "Obviously most of them are hard-working people, but all it takes is one, tiny rat to ruin any of the plans the cops cook up."
Tron stepped to the corner of the room, grabbed a box, and set it on top of the table. Reaching into it, she pulled out a walkie-talkie and showed it to them. "If you agree to work with us to stop Suede, then we'd like all of you to take one of these. We'll all keep our eyes peeled around the island, and if anybody spots him or hears something strange, we radio it in and get everybody together to stop him."
She passed the device to Megaman, who gently wrapped his hands around it. It let out a small blip sound when he pushed the big button on the side, which he then released. "Gramps," he said slowly. "If they're right, the police aren't going to be able to stop him. He'll be one step ahead of them, and somebody might really get hurt next time."
"Yes, unfortunately, I believe you're right about that." Barrell looked Teisel straight in the eyes as he said, "Very well, we can at least keep our eyes out, and Megaman could be of valuable help stopping this pirate. But we still have to be careful! The last thing we need is any one of us getting injured."
"Of course." Teisel gave them all a confident smile. "We'll stop him in his tracks and then all go eat to celebrate together or my name's not Bonne!"
"Yep!" Tron happily gave Roll and Barrell walkie-talkies as well, who took them with determined eyes. "So besides keeping in contact, I want to see if we can upgrade Megaman's weapons. You'll be in trouble if all you have is the small shots you were firing before."
"Oh, I've got some ideas!" Roll reached into a small bag that she brought with her, pulling out some papers and slapping them on the table. "These are just the simple versions, but I included a diagram of how his armor works. Take a look at this part."
Tron leaned over as she separated the pages, mumbling under her breath as she traced the images with her fingers. She stopped on one particular drawing, of which all Megaman could see was a long tube. She softly said, "Wait, this one might be-"
Her gleeful eyes shot up and connected with Roll's. "Roll, grab these and follow me!"
"Right!" With a flurry of movement, the two teens rocketed out of the room and disappeared down the hallway. A Servbot muttered "Wow that was fast!", which Megaman had to agree with. At least the girls wouldn't have any trouble getting along.
"Well," commented Teisel with a grin, "I guess the meeting's over. I must say that I haven't seen Tron so excited in quite a while! She must be happy to have someone to whip things up with."
"Haha, indeed!" Barrell smiled warmly at the door that was closing behind them. "Here's to hoping they'll be friends for a long, long time."
-X-
In the end, the girls spent an hour hiding away from the rest of their families, so Teisel took the time to showcase the bridge of the Gesellschaft. It was awesome to him, getting to see the Servbots fall into place in a demonstration launch (not that they went anywhere, what with the ship still being repaired.) Now the family was getting flown back to the Flutter in the Draches, with Tron smugly telling him to "be excited for what they're cooking up," and Roll only smiling and shaking her head when he asked her to spill the beans.
Maybe the two were getting along too well, he thought with amusement. On the flight back, Data had taken to doing a dance by the front window, which had always made Megaman smile for as long as they'd been together.
"Ee..eek?"
Data stopped dancing and plastered his face to the view, so Megaman, Roll, and Tron all leaned forward to see what the monkey saw. There were two police officers a bit away from the Flutter, and it was clear from their posture that they were on high alert from something. A civilian was talking to one of them, but the conversation stopped as the Draches approached. Tron tried to get to her usual landing spot but the second officer waved her away, so both Draches parked farther from it.
Megaman and Roll hopped out the moment the door opened, running towards the second officer before Roll asked, "Officer, this is our ship, the Flutter. What's going on?"
"Ma'am, I'm afraid this area is off-limits until we can secure the scene. We've received word that a suspicious person was seen going into this ship."
"What?!"
The civilian, an older man in a t-shirt, who was talking to the police a moment ago approached them. "I'm the one that made the call, miss. I was standing on my front porch-"
He pointed across the street, where some small houses sat. "-when I saw a strange guy in a bright, purple suit staring at this ship. I didn't think anything about it at first, but when he turned to walk away I realized that he looked like the man whose sketch was aired on TV just yesterday. So, I went into my house to call the police from the landline."
Megaman's blood began to run cold, but the man kept talking. "When I came back outside, the same suited man was there, but this time wearing a mask over his face and carrying two briefcases. I watched him climb up the ladder, break into the door there, then disappear inside. When he came back out a few minutes later, he didn't have either suitcase with him."
Barrell, who Megaman hadn't registered as having reached them, began to shift his eyes from the civilian to the Flutter in rapid succession. "No…"
The expression of the officer with them softened a bit. "I understand your concern, but until the bomb squad arrives and clears the airship, we can't-"
The flash of light hit Megaman just before the sound did.
BOOM!
The cockpit of the Flutter erupted in flames as a bomb went off, sending shards of glass and metal flying into the open air. Everyone present reeled back in shock, but the officers present recovered quickest and immediately began moving the group as far away as the Draches. Roll seemed to go limp next to Megaman, so he half-carried her back as her eyes remained locked onto the airship. "G-gramps! Megaman! The Flutter-!"
BOOM!
The second explosion must've gone off in the engine room, as the entirety of the ship's hull shook with it. The stability of the Flutter compromised in the most violent way imaginable, it began to tilt to one side. A moment later, the ground shook as the airship landed with a deafening thud, ladder-side up as its interior burned brightly. One of the police began speaking firmly into their radio, telling their headquarters what happened and that they needed the fire service ASAP.
Roll began to cry into Megaman's arms, who could only hold her gently as he watched their home disappear in a blaze. Barrell put his hands on Roll to comfort her, while Tron and the Servbots observed quietly without speaking to them.
Once the fire trucks came roaring in a few minutes later, Tron grabbed the walkie-talkie at her waist, and Megaman turned his head to look at her when he heard the blip sound. "Teisel, are you there?"
"Yeah, I hear you, what's going on?"
"We're gonna need to put Megaman's family up for a while. Suede… he blew up their ship."
"What?! None of you were on-board, right?!"
"No, we're all fine-" Her eyes met Megaman's, and he could see the pity she was feeling in them. "Well, unhurt. Just make sure we've got food and a place for them to sleep, please."
"On it." The conversation ended there, so Megaman looked at the weeping girl in his arms, then Gramps, then back to the Flutter. As he watched their home begin getting doused with the fire hoses, his hands tightened their grip on Roll's jacket.
