"So, you're still not willing to tell me where that weapon is? Your stupid stubbornness is starting to annoy me. And you're not doing yourself a favour unless you are somehow enjoying this situation. Do you? Are you turned on by a girl torturing you?"
The rather young looking brown haired man that was tied up on a chair in front of her was shaking his head.
"What a shame. Guess I'm the only one of us two getting some joy from it then."
The grey haired girl looked down on him with an evil grin on her face, moving closer to her victim and already threatening him by raising her arms again, he could have sworn that he was hearing some humming noises coming from her black gloves, indicating that nothing good was about to happen...
"Who are you?" he asked again, causing her to sigh.
"Aren't we over this already? I'm Elec Girl."
"And you think that you are a robot?" the man asked, still in shock and disbelief, having no clue why this undeniably beautiful young woman wearing a crop top, miniskirt, yellow face mask in the shape of a thunderbolt and those damned dangerous hightech gloves was keeping him hostage.
"Oh doc, you really are slow, aren't you? I'm not thinking that I'm a robot, it's a fact that I am one. You either accept it or you don't but I don't care anyway. All I want to know is where you are hiding the weapon!"
"Which weapon? I have no idea what you're talking about."
The scientist yelled in pain as she was touching his shoulder and some electricity was being transferred from her fingers into his body, like some minutes before.
"Don't play dumb! I don't like that. You don't wanna make me do this again."
"You're misunderstanding things, the Magnet Beam is not a weapon!"
"That's something we can discuss after you've handed this thing over to me."
"I swear I don't know where it is. Please don't electrocute me again!"
"Liar" Elec Girl stated with an expression that showed neither emotion no mercy. "So far I've only been giving you a little taste of what I'm capable of. From now on every time I'm getting bored of you I'm gonna increase the strength of the electric current bit by bit. Unless you decide to cooperate."
For a few seconds she waited for the man to respond but was only greeted by silence.
"I bet you don't have much experience with women", Elec Girl spoke as she came closer and sat on his lap as if she wanted to seduce him, "so let me give you some hugs!"
This time the Robot Mistress touched her victim with both of her hands and with increased power, laughing diabolically while the scientist started crying in pure agony.
"Is it working out for you? You seem to have mastered using the Rolling Cutter?" Dr. Light asked, being relieved that for a change Samus had managed not to accidentally destroy any of the lab equipment or the building or other things so far.
"Yes, and it's really awesome! Nice gimmick that it always returns to you!"
"That's how a boomerang works I guess."
"It may be obvious but compared to the bombs or the Super Arm I have a feeling this weapon is easier to handle for me and it could make quite a difference in future battles."
Mega Girl was excited and she couldn't hide it. Although it was clear that she probably shouldn't be because the three Robot Mistresses left were each tough on their own.
"Good thing you show motivation, I've got some news, but come into the lab first before I give you the details."
Samus said as he suggested and entered a conference room usually built for discussions between the scientists or business partners.
"Take a seat. Things are a bit more complicated this time."
"Aren't they always?"
"Drones have reported strange activities in an electricity plant in Zagreb, Croatia."
"Not to be mistaken with the Zagreb in Central African Republic" Samus joked, "I'm not dumb, you know, I've studied a world map and saved it in my chip."
Light pretended he hadn't taken notice of her interruption and handed out a few pics of a young man in a lab coat.
"This is Dr. Ivica Dvornic, a scientist who has been seen visiting the electric tower a few hours ago, rumors say that he planned to present a prototype of his new invention. It seems that he has been taken hostage during the attack but nobody was able to make it to the top of the tower."
"What was he working on?"
"Unfortunately I don't know. All I can say is that Dvornic has never built any robots. But whatever it is Imu seems to be eager to get it in her hands."
"Wouldn't be good if she gets her will, I understand. So my new mission includes saving that handsome doctor?"
"Yes. I can't tell how far Imu is willing to go, with the Asimov rule being removed we have to expect the worst. And, I'm not lying, I'm really concerned, adressing the elephant in the room, I fear you're going to meet Elec Girl next."
"Which elephant are you talking about?" Samus asked, looking around in confusion.
"That's just a phrase. Elec Girl's power is frightening when used without any restrictions, she'd be capable of doing terrible damage even to robots, if she's frying your electronic parts inside it could be all over for you. Not gonna lie, I'm seriously concerned for your safety" Light warned, sweating heavily at the thought of his favourite daughter getting destroyed, no, getting killed.
"If nobody stops her that doctor won't be saved. I have to go for the rescue, no matter what" Samus spoke with so much determination that it became clear he couldn't convince her otherwise.
Having arrived at the ground floor of the electric tower in Zagreb Mega Girl soon realized that there were some Gabyoall robots patrolling on the platforms above her. She needed to pass them to advance though, so it was no wonder that nobody was able to go up to the higher floors. She shot with her arm cannon at one of those security bots but they were so solid that her shot was just deflected. There were all kinds of different systems Gabyoalls could protect and attack with, to no big surprise this ones worked by electrocuting their targets when touching them as Samus should find out in a way that she rather wanted to avoid.
"Okay, if you wanna have war, you can have war!" she announced, upset about the electric shock she experienced a few seconds earlier, then brought out her Rolling Cutter which effectively destroyed those patrolling bots before the scissors returned back to her.
"That's the way I like it!"
Luckily the harm done to her was only minimal because of the low strength of the electric current those bots were able to produce but she was almost sure that Imu wouldn't hold back when there was an opportunity to see her roasted. It took some big jumps to make it up to the ladder and some more Gabyoalls until she came to a room that seemed empty. However Samus noticed that there were some noises, followed by electric beams coming out of some platforms in intervals of about every three seconds. Having carefully passed them by timing her progression to not get hit Mega Girl reached the bottom of a long shaft. She sighed.
"That's one long ass ladder to climb up, damn doctor, I really hope you will be able to endure whatever they're doing to you a bit longer until I arrive at the top for your rescue."
As usual things couldn't go that easy of course. She hadn't even made it to the middle of the ladder when there were three Watcher bots flying up towards her and another three moving down to her from above. Samus decided to ignore the lower ones and picked up some speed to get up faster. When she was on the same level as the first Watcher there were two eyes popping out from both sides of it, firing two electric beams towards her. Trying to avoid getting hit the blonde ducked while also moving her legs up in panic. This maneuver led to her hanging on the ladder by only one arm. Quickly she used the other one to shoot that robot down but the lower ones were catching up now! It was a hard test of endurance to make her way up while being swarmed by those annoyances and trying to avoid all shots to not get hit and knocked off.
"What's that now? How is anyone supposed to go up there?" Samus wondered, seeing two ladders above but both of them were out of reach. Shit! Was it impossible to move on? Out of nowhere a block popped up above her head, only to disappear again while there was another one appearing, repeating the same procedure. Wtf? Was this a malfunction or was this built intentionally this way? She may probably never find out. Calculating the best plan to approach this situation Mega Girl figured out that she could made it to the right ladder when she timed her jumps perfectly. It was easier said than done and if she had failed she'd have fallen all the way down to the bottom, having to deal with all those Watchers again...
Luckily her awesome robot brain came up with the strategy of counting the seconds how long it took for one block to disappear and so she somehow managed to make her way up without a scary fall. Halleluja! It felt as if there was a great techno soundtrack playing in the back of her head when she left this passage behind. Not that she was very much into techno music but it would kinda fit for this electro themed location.
The climbing continued and continued for several more ladders, Watchers, Gabyoalls and electric beam traps, sometimes placed even on the middle of a ladder, that was when Samus had to accelerate her ascend to make it past those sections without getting fried. An especially infuriating and frustrating experience for her was when after a section with a pile of rubble the ways split again, she chose to take the right path, fought her way all up, only for her to come to the bitter conclusion that this time she really was facing a dead end.
"Can't help to get the feeling someone wants to make me feel so miserable that I want to ragequit" she muttered while descending all the way back to the left side and going to another gauntlet of enemies and death traps. To make it even worse, almost on top of the tower there was yet another Big Eye waiting for her. Samus threw the Rolling Cutter but even this weapon was not able to take out this very strong opponent!
"I hate you. I freakin' hate you" Mega Girl told that metallic jackhammer while using the old tactic of dodging and running, fleeing into a very high shaft that should mark the highest point of the building. If Elec Girl was hiding somewhere in this facility it could only be up there. There wouldn't have been any more need to signal her that she was on the right way, it became obvious by the way this shaft proved to be such a high security area with several electro traps at once, placed so close above each other that it needed almost surgical accuracy to stop at the right points for the beams to go over her head and under her feet at the same moment. Sometimes Samus could have sworn she felt the heat on her soles or on her ponytail.
Dr. Dvornic didn't know why Elec Girl decided to give him a break, maybe she had realized that she was about to kill him if she continued. He was just thankful that this torture had stopped, at one point he had lost all hope to get out of this situation alive. Still breathing heavily he saw a shadow coming from below, entering the control room, at first it was only a scheme to him as he could barely focus on anything, his body hadn't recovered from all the pain and terrible electric shocks, even slight movements proved to be rather exhausting.
"Doctor, hold on! I'm coming to rescue you!" the voice of the approaching person informed him and with a sudden glimmer of hope he fully opened his eyes wide - and looked at the face of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
"I'm dead after all, are you here to introduce me to heaven's gate?"
"No, you're alive, don't worry, I'll get you out of here!" the blonde assured him while she was freeing him from the chair he had been tied up to.
"Be careful! This might be a trap!" Dvornic came back to his senses but it was already too late. All of a sudden she got hit by a hefty electric wave that made her fly several meters through the room and all he could see now was the smug crazy face of Elec Girl who had come out of her hiding spot.
"Nooo! You monster! Why did you kill her?" the brown haired scientist yelled at the Robot Mistress. Samus was damaged badly internally, she could feel that she had lost control of her limbs for several seconds until she finally was able to move and stand up again. She could clearly understand why Dvornic thought that she was dead, an electric currency this high would indeed have been too much for a human. And it was almost too much for her to take, one more hit by this deadly wave and she would be a goner for sure.
"Look who's still crawling, are you sure you want some more? You did well, taking out three of our sisters is more than anyone would have expected from you. To think you could defeat all of us was silly though, by fighting me you have reached the limits of your possibilities. For the sake of Queen Imu's new world order I'm gonna end your existence!"
Something needed to be done very quick as Elec Girl was ominously raising her arms for her final strike. Think, Mega Girl, think! The gloves! The hands! This must be her weak point!
As fast as she could Samus changed her weapon to the Rolling Cutter and prayed that she got the right angle for the scissors to do what she wanted them to do.
Just when Elec Girl was ready to deliver the fatal blow something she used to see on one of her other sisters came flying towards her and in the position she was in she wasn't able to dodge this attack. In shock she witnessed that both of her arms had been cut straight off, falling to the ground as the boomerang returned to it's new owner.
"You had to use you arms to charge and shoot electricity, without them you're not able to do this anymore. It is over" Samus stated in relief, turning the situation around.
"Nothing is over! I can still touch and fry you!" the grey haired Robot Mistress angrily shouted back in denial, came running towards Mega Girl and tried to touch her with the stumps of her arms where still some electricity was coming out.
"Can't you surrender? I don't want to do this!"
Samus felt no other option though than to use the Rolling Cutter again, this time cutting off both legs of her opponent while diving to the side to make sure not to make contact with the high voltage body. With all determination she had Elec Girl came crawling along the floor with no limbs attached to her body anymore. It was ugly to watch how desperate she was still trying to kill her, Imu seemed to have programmed them all to never stop fighting, no matter how bad it looked for any of them, they had to keep trying until death.
"There's no giving up. It will never be over!" were her final words as Samus put her out of her misery.
"Y-You're a robot too?" the doctor asked in shock and disappointment while having watched the whole battle standing in the background.
"Yes, that's right. But I'm not like her. She was abducted and reprogrammed by a very evil person to spread chaos around the world. I'm here to stop her and the others" Samus explained in defense, she could not fully hide her sour feeling about Dvornic's reaction. "Believe me, you can trust me, if I were here to harm you I'd have started to do it by now. In fact part of my mission is to rescue you, so let's get out of this tower."
"Ehm it's not that I'm not thankful or anything, oh my god, trust me, I really am, I've just never seen such human-looking robots like you before, this is something my brains has to get used to first. But thank you very much!"
"Oh, it's fine then" Samus responded more satisfied now and with a smile stretched out her hand towards him. "Come with me if you want to live."
Yeah, she couldn't resist quoting that line from that famous Schwarzenegger movie.
Together they were descending from the tower, the scientist giving her some nervous fascinated looks every few seconds and hoped she wouldn't notice.
"May I ask you one question?" she began another conversation on the way.
"Yeah, of course, what is it?"
"Was your new invention really that important to sacrifice your own life for it instead of telling her where it is? You were willing to die for it?"
"Oh, ehm, no, it was not actually a lie that it has gone missing during the attack. The Magnet Beam is in a room that has become inaccessible during the attacks as there's now a big pile of rubble blocking the whole room. No chance you can enter there anymore. And if she'd found out I feared she would have gotten so angry that she would have killed me instantly."
"I understand. Was that blocked room directly before a splitting path with two ladders by coincidence?"
"Yes, you must have come past it when you made your way up here."
"Then I've got some good news for you. That room might not be as inaccessible as you think it would be."
The scientist watched in awe as Samus used her Super Arm to remove all that rubble that was blocking the entrance to the small room where the Magnet Beam could be found.
"Ah, yes, here it is!" he shouted and put up a device that in length and design looked a bit similar to her arm cannon. "After first glance it looks like it wasn't damaged, maybe it might still work. Do you wanna test it out?" he offered to Mega Girl's surprise.
"You're sure that it's a good idea to let some stranger play around with it?"
"That crazy robot woman and whoever that Queen Imu is were assuming false things, the Magnet Beam is not a weapon" he clarified, "it is a device that picks up magnetic fragments and puts them together to form a platform in the air. Try it out if you wish."
Samus pushed the button on the rather simple functioning device, immediatelly some fragments were doing exactly as he explained and within seconds a platform built from lots of tiny metal parts had been formed in the air before her. She jumped right onto it, feeling enthusiastic and impressed about this before after a short time it disappeared and she fell to the floor.
"Should have told you that it only can last for a few seconds" the doc sheepishly admitted.
"This thing is amazing! It could have helped me out in several bad situations, you've created something mighty useful, doc!"
"Thanks, that means a lot to me. And you can call me Ivica by the way." He blushed.
"Reminding me I haven't introduced myself. I'm Mega Girl but you can call me Samus, Ivica."
"Where are you from?"
"Tokyo."
"You don't look asian."
"Well, I'm a robot.
"Oh, of course. So you were really built at a lab?"
"Light Labs to be precise. Do you wanna come with me, having a look?"
Samus didn't even know for herself why she randomly asked that. To her surprise the doctor accepted her offer. Well, how would the old man react when she was bringing her first guy home to them?