Note: Hello, all!

Shorter chapter in a sense, but not too short, as it just barely fits under the 4k mark! I'm finding 4-5k to be a good length overall, as it helps me pace things out as well. Still, regardless, let me know how things seem to be going in your view overall.

Thank you for reading!

Lost Contact

"All right, where are you, you blonde bastard?" The Maverick hissed as he searched around with his covered optics, still cursing the red Hunter for daring to sully and tarnish his treasure hoard. True, he led him here, but only because he had been cornered! But then the damned Hunter had to go and expose that almost all that he had was fake!

Just as he was going to present it all to Sigma himself as well.

Tightening the grip on his weapon, Goldminer swiftly turned upon the sounds of shifting stones and metal being moved, spotting a particular combination of seemingly iridescent articles from his archives: a triangular headstone and a pair of green orbs situated underneath, horizontally parallel to each other.

"There you are!" The Maverick declared, firing repeatedly at the familiarly shaped stones, his weapon quickly blowing through them, shattering their foundations and having them fall apart.

Despite not possessing a physical mouth, the former criminal mentally grinned in triumph at his well-timed shots, going over to find that, to his dismay, he had just destroyed some of his own gems. At least, the replications.

"Know how I learned the real from the fake?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Goldminer whirled around only to find two more samples in the Hunter's grasp, one gemstone in each hand.

"They absorb and reflect light like actual carbon-based minerals," Zero added. "However," he noted the stone in his left hand, a ruby with a seemingly iridescent glow emitting from within. "They're meant to withstand high temperatures, so, seeing as light travels at the speed of, well, light, I'd say that what's really inside is heat."

"I know what it is!" Goldminer shouted back, aiming his pistol. "No one else needs to know that!"

He fired and Zero tossed one of the glowing stones forward, the resulting shot causing a mild explosion from the contained heat suddenly now having an escape. The shards flew outward, striking Goldminer in the goggles, cracking their surface, and disorienting him enough to allow the red Hunter to get a blow in. Having been knocked back, the Maverick lost his grip and, upon realizing it had slipped from his grasp, immediately went to try and get it back. Unfortunately, a well-timed shot courtesy of his opponent knocked the weapon out of the way, the red Hunter standing above Goldminer, his chest and forehead gems still in place.

"I can't let you leave here knowing what you know," Goldminer growled, although he dared not make a move. "You can't leave here alive!"

"I don't have any interest in your collection, or whatever you call it," Zero remarked. "If anything, from the looks of it, most of it would be worthless."

"They're crafted from actual samples I found!" Goldminer protested. "They're as real as the real thing! Better even in some ways!"

The Hunter didn't understand the other Reploid's need for these things. "Why do these matter to you so much? They're not real!"

"No one needs to know that! In fact, they would NEVER know!"

"Then your wealth would be a complete lie, not that it would do you much good anyway."

"Says you!" Goldminer barked back. "It would solve everything! I would be on top of every other Reploid here on this damned island! Hell, maybe even I'd be considered higher than the council themselves with all of this!"

"Just because of a few shiny rocks?" Zero questioned sarcastically.

"The humans value them," Goldminer retorted. "And those who know how to play the human's game know that's all that matters," he said. "Stuff my kind of people value is more in Sigma's department, but these will be useful in getting there."

"And how would that be?"

Goldminer's vocals began to form words, yet, before he could speak, a direct shot from behind from a high-caliber weapon tore through the back of his helmet, exiting through the front and taking a good portion of his physical CPU with it.

"The hell?!" Zero stammered, swiftly getting out of the way as Goldminer's now lifeless husk fell over, his form twitching slightly as electrical spasms still urged his non-existent consciousness to move, registering damage had been taken.

Turning, he saw a flash in the distant darkness and wasted no time in getting out of the way, another shot blowing through Goldminer's core, a true explosion setting the place ablaze and sending fire and smoke everywhere, the numerous duplicates and copies of the rare gems and metals slowly surrendering to the condensed and concentrated heat. Zero saw the flash again and planned to move, only to find that, instead of himself, the shooter appeared to target the entrance to the small cavern. A small bomb fired at the opening, causing rocks to dislodge and come down, sealing off the blonde Hunter's only means of getting out.

At least, getting out quickly.

That wouldn't kill him.

No, going and picking a fight now would be unwise, bizarrely enough, he was using caution in this case. He dare not stand against Zero, at least not now, not in unfamiliar territory. Still, he couldn't have the red Hunter getting in the way.

This would slow him down just enough, at least until he could reach the true target, although they could only hope that they hadn't found that capsule Armadillo had kept hidden. Goldminer's information regarding that little piece of information was the only reason he lived for so long, the petty criminal having been denied the secret space to store his treasure. Thus, he had to settle for the lower part of the mine.

A point that Goldminer's killer would have to ascend from, for the one he truly sought after was at the very top.

Abandoned Weapons Plant

Wily's Hideout

His red eyes turned to face her, she in turn backing up against the wall, optics of pure blue shifting this way and that to try and find a place to hide. Any attempts at defending herself from him would be useless, it would only be to buy her time, limited as it was.

The order he had received was clear, Wily's word was absolute for all of his machines. And yet…Roll couldn't help but notice that Bass was taking his sweet time doing her in. He hadn't even made a move for her in the slightest, someone as seemingly bloodthirsty and eager to fight as he appeared to have little to no interest in doing what was commanded of him.

At least, a small portion of Roll had hoped to believe that, yet the black and gold robot stepped forward, quickly seizing her wrist due to his superior speed, but instead of being tossed to the ground or even thrown across the room, she was only dragged forward along with her assigned killer.

"H-Hey!" She protested, her life seemingly spared, yet now her world was thrust into a sea of unpredictability. "What are you…?!"

"Quiet," Bass muttered, his enhanced optics scanning the area. "He's still wandering around here somewhere."

The blonde went completely quiet, immediately taking note of the other robot's uncharacteristic precautions. Still, she couldn't help but ask. "…who's he?"

Bass glanced down for a second, ruby meeting aquamarine before his lower lip was bitten down on. "The old man's greatest mistake."

Abandoned Weapons Plant

"And, as far as I know, that's all I can recall for the time being." She answered him, and he in turn responded with a short period of silence before speaking once again.

"And nothing else after that?" Ray B. questioned, steadily growing curious, yet he reminded himself not to get too greedy.

"Aside from that, no," Roll said. "However, with this, I find myself with a new question."

"And that would be?" Her contact inquired.

"For what reason did Bass decide to not end me there?"

Ray B. again went silent. "…well," he began after a few moments. "What do you personally think about it?" He questioned. "What's your theory on his behavior?"

Roll was left uncertain of how to respond, the very prospect of what was put before her not exactly something she was prepared for. Still, if she had to be honest, she wasn't entirely without an answer, although perhaps a singular answer wouldn't be the right way to deliver what she had to say.

"Whatever his motivation, I can at least be sure Rock had something to do with it."

"Most likely," Ray B. admitted. "Although, I'm surprised that you're not jumping to his defense," he said. "You spoke up for Break Man despite the evil he did unto you especially."

"That robot was not evil," Roll stated. "He was…different. And, I'll admit, I never entirely understood him. But, he had a different life compared to Rock and I. Things were incredibly different," she said. "Besides, he eventually realized Rock wasn't made to replace him, and he even saved Kalinka when not even Rock knew she was missing."

Ray B. again paused. He wondered if he should proceed with this if perhaps he was overstepping his bounds, yet he needed to know. If not just for her own sake later. "And what occurred afterward?"

"What do you mean?" Roll asked.

"…" more silence. He had come this far, so he intended to go through with it. Still, the particular events in mind were always difficult to revisit. "…the Dark Men."

Roll parted her lips to speak, yet ultimately was rendered speechless by the sound of a low yet loud hum emitting from her com-link. "R-Ray B.?"

Ray B. didn't respond at first, yet the sound of his footsteps alerted her that he was still there. "If that's your consensus on that one," he said. "Then what's yours on Wily's replacement?"

While she didn't necessarily care for the term "replacement" being used to describe Blues, Ray B. himself seeming to have a slight bit of animosity toward the red and grey machine, she could at least answer his question regarding Bass.

"...I suppose that the conditions regarding my emergence into this new century have left me with some new…methods of thinking," Roll responded.

Ray B. quirked a brow from underneath his shades. "In what way?" he questioned. "Advanced as Dr. Light's programming skills were, all machines after his first were left with a notable amount of…restrictions compared to him," he said, hand then gliding over his chest. "Despite his own handicap that he carried with him."

"...I never understood that about him before," she confessed. "But now, I think I do. Now that I've…" a small pause. "What he was afraid of, being changed if he was operated on, I believe I can understand that fear in a sense. Why he never took Dr. Light's offer to fix him," she said. "Trust was never the root problem. The problem was always the unknown of what could happen."

Ray B. continued, yet he conversed with his "Navigator" in a sense. "And that unknown would be?"

"...whether you'd wake up the same as before," Roll answered. "Even if it's spotty at best, every time Rock went in for repairs…I couldn't help but wonder the same. Even if Dr. Light did everything right, and he had yet to fail, still, there was always the thought, the possibility," she stopped for a moment. "That, when Rock woke up, it wouldn't be the same one from before."

The clothed android listened, nodding his head. "And your…transition has allowed you to realize this?" he asked Roll.

"More or less, I think," she admitted. "Although," she added. "Maybe it's always been there, this…sense of…"

"...dissatisfaction?"

"Hm, perhaps that's a part of it," she said. "Although, I think it was a little more than that."

"Hm?"

"Before I was reconstructed into a Reploid, at least by name anyway," Roll stated. "When Rock had elected to undergo adjustments to become Mega Man, I…" she wondered how she would properly articulate this. "I was fearful for the danger he was going to have to put himself in, yet, at the same time,"

"You wanted to contribute in some way as well, didn't you?"

"...yes," she answered. "...always."

"I knew it," Ray B. muttered under his breath, thankfully low enough so that Roll herself couldn't register it. "But, I'm curious," he continued. "If you've always wanted to do more, then what's different now?" he asked. "Did you simply respect Dr. Light's wishes for you not to involve yourself?"

Roll went quiet. "...well, perhaps," she admitted. "Yet…the simple truth is, that, while I remember his words regarding how he didn't want Rock's future for me," she paused again. "...it was something that…I found myself actually wanting," she continued. "But now, despite my supposed advancements compared to when I was small, that part has remained. In fact," she said. "I think I want it even more now."

Before either of them could speak, Ray B. froze in place, a sinking sensation deep within the space where the gem sat in his chest. Her gem. Her gem which now held the soul she had crafted from him in secret. It was blown apart by Mars, yet enough of it survived, contained in the topaz triangle that once rested on her chest.

It was all that was left of her now.

And one of the few things he could at least trust.

Stepping forward, the robot came to find himself inside a secluded construction room, some manufacturing machines still present, yet there was only just enough to fit perhaps ten to fifteen of them in straightened, parallel rows, each table fitted with some sort of dangerous weapon or projectile being built.

Yet what drew Ray B. was the massive shape that hung on the northern wall, seemingly as if it were a fresh kill and hung up on a meat hook for later. He crept around and to the front of the hanging mechaniloid, eyeing the still and silent behemoth, still not entirely certain as to what it exactly was supposed to be.

Suddenly, a pair of large eyes stared back, gaze piercing through the other robot's thickened shades.

"Ray B.?" Roll's voice called out to him, yet her words were beginning to be drowned out by the ever-increasing sound of activation noises and machinery becoming active once again. "Ray B., what's happening up there? Ray B.?!"

Ray B. in turn said nothing, watching as each operating table rose to functioning status again, their drills and electrified tuners all pointed in his direction. He didn't look back, yet the presence he had been registering, he now realized where it had come from, the eyes of the massive machine it now possessed bathing the room in bright, violet light.

"Ray B.?!"

Communication had died between them.

Armadillo's Chamber

"So, that's it? You simply mean to take me in?" the banded mammal questioned his current adversary, the white and blue Reploid folding his arms, stasis cuffs still in his grasp.

The small Met only stood by, although they began to notice some shifting shapes in the distance.

"Once access has been granted to the upper levels, then they'll be free to release you from the ice," X told Armadillo. "Which is when these will come in." he finished, holding up the cuffs for display. The formerly armored Maverick huffed in response, turning his head. "Pout all you want, but my mind is made up," he said. "If the victor gets to decide what happens afterward, then this is what I choose."

The violet Reploid sighed. "I don't understand you," he confessed. "I don't understand how you could be so unlike us."

X raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"I just told you of how our ancestors went extinct, of how my defeat is crucial to Sigma's eventual demise, and yet you still refuse to take necessary action," Armadillo growled. "I thought you were supposed to be better equipped logically than that, X."

The green-eyed Hunter bit his lip. "We have to keep the peace. That doesn't have to include piling up bodies."

"Why? What mechaniloids did you have no choice but to tear through?"

X went silent.

"This is war, you fool," the former Hunter scoffed. "Casualties are inevitable. And casualties you shall cause, whether you want it or not."

"Then we'll find another way." the smaller of the two Reploids retorted.

"We can't survive in this world together," Armadillo responded.

"Why is it that nobody around here seems to think we could-"

"No, not us!" Armadillo interrupted, X, going quiet. "Although, that is true as well. The roles of you and I have been decided," he closed his eyes for a brief moment. "There's no changing it. No," he sighed. "I speak of what was ultimately the root of both the Robot Recall and the Commander's actions now."

"And that would be?"

"You know," Armadillo said. "It's what you and your creator failed to acknowledge, what got your predecessor destroyed."

"Predecessor? You mean Rock?"

"Who else?" the mammal lowered his head, the only portion of himself that he could move. "He too believed the sentimental lie his father fed him. Yet, ultimately, he too fell prey to its falsehoods."

"And what is that falsehood?"

Armored Armadillo turned his attention to X, his own optics boring into the other smaller Hunter's. "That man and machine can survive in the same world without eventually destroying one another."

Underground Hunter HQ

"Ray B.?! Ray B.?!" Roll called out, trying to reach her contact, drawing a few eyes.

"It's no good," she suddenly heard someone say from behind, turning to see Ai standing above her from her seated position. "We've completely lost any connection to that portion of Abel City at the moment."

"What?" Roll questioned, flabbergasted. "Since when did this happen? And how?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," the other blonde answered. "But ever since Sigma began his campaign, places have been mostly out of bounds until we started going in and taking them back."

"Then what about Ray B.?" Roll questioned, clearly concerned.

Ai sighed. "At the moment, our hands are tied with what's going up at the Zalts Mine," she said. "For the time being, he's on his own."

Having been called away, the red and white Navigator migrated away from the bow-wearing Reploid, in turn burning with worry for both the robot she had been helping guide, but also for her youngest brother who was still up dealing with Mavericks at the aforementioned site.

Still, even if she wasn't blind to X's own problems, her mind was still racing as to the questions she received regarding Bass, the black and gold machine having not really come to her thoughts much until now. What happened after he had taken her to escape was still blank, yet the next available memory was ultimately the one where everything ended the first time.

The figure in red had seen Mega Man, and all she knew was that she couldn't allow her brother to fall into the hands of the monster.

Armadillo's Chamber

"So you believe that it's impossible?" X asked.

"Has the Recall and more current events not already proven it?" Armadillo asked. "Even if you disagree with Sigma's views and methods, he has his mind set in the future," he said. "And he's seen the truth that no one else is willing to accept."

"Why does that have to be the future?" X inquired. "Hasn't the possibility of humans evolving since then ever come to mind?"

"You assume they can."

"Dr. Light is responsible for us all, isn't he? And his time came a century prior to the current age."

"And his destructive equal rose to power during that time as well, of which he would've never gotten far, had it not been for Light's own foolishness," Armadillo directed his attention toward X. "His consistent desire to improve the world was what put it in danger several times."

"Wily was his friend, one he had known for years, decades beforehand," X argued. "And just as much had been lost during their conflicts. Why wouldn't he want it to end?"

The Maverick scoffed. "So, is that your goal then, Maverick Hunter?" he questioned. "You wish to be like your older brother? A hero?"

X bit his lip, averting his eyes for a short moment. "...I was born to make the world a better place."

"No, you were born to fulfill your directive and your directive includes that blaster," Armadillo responded. "And your directive at this moment is the destruction of Sigma and all he plans to do."

"But…"

Suddenly, the Met saw the shadows move once again, and a small flash from afar. It began to speak up, yet its words were cut short as an energy shot tore through its midsection, blowing the small machine in two before the eyes of both X and Armored Armadillo. The Met's halved sections twitched and blinked for a few seconds before going completely still, the torn circuitry and wiring still sparking at their frayed ends, however.

"What the…?!" X began, swiftly looking in the direction the Met had been, yet before he could, the sound of cracking ice met his audio receptors, his buster drawing out instinctively to protect himself.

…even with all he said earlier, he still found himself drawing his weapon.

Yet, to his surprise, it was not to be used on Armadillo himself.

"Watch out!" the banded mammal warned his former comrade, finally wrenching himself free from the confining, cold grip of the icy prison his enemy had encased him in. Yet, still, he was quite weak and knew he had little to no power left.

Yet, with what little he possessed, he could at least do this.

The Maverick lunged at X, succeeding in knocking him back. Yet, in the next few moments, X came to realize that this was anything but an aggressive gesture, for, in the exact place he had been standing, another blast was fired, the same that had killed the Met but a short time prior. The shot tore through Armadillo's red gem atop his head, the surface cracking and components inside desperately trying to assess the damage that had been dealt. His systems never got that far, for the blast itself forced Armadillo to the ground on his stomach, his unarmored back open for view.

He then went still and silent akin to the Met, optics growing dull and faded, signifying that everything inside had ceased to function.

Wide-eyed, X whirled in the direction the shots had come from and immediately saw a figure in the distance, a familiar violet sheen cast over their protective armor, and a sizable shoulder cannon in their possession.

"Bang."

Note: Rest assured, Launch Octopus is next, but there's a bit of setup for things later down the line as well. Also, we'll be seeing more of the humans later too!

Thank you for reading again!