Hey guys, Fernacus here and against my better judgement, I'm writing another crossover. Granted this has been in the works for quite a while before I started writing Weyland Yutani Reports. This is what I considered my redemption fic after the fics I wrote in the past way back when I was in community college were horrendous for my taste.
Because I now have multiple stories, I'm going to shoot for monthly updates now so please be patient until then. Thanks again for taking an interest and let's begin.
*I don't own Transformers or the Mega Man franchises
It all began when he decided to make the first conscious choice to change the same normal routine he had been doing since he came online. D-16 was a Reploid and while he could think and feel like a human, it still felt to him like he wasn't truly as free as he was told he was. Ever since the Eurasia disaster and the Nightmare Phenomenon, the Federation had been hard at work at restoration efforts to make the planet habitable again.
The moment he had been activated, he was assigned to be a miner and for a time he was proud of the work he had done. As of now, he no longer had the spark for it. The sheer monotonous labor wore on his processor and although he had his friends to ease away the stress, D-16 was tired of it all.
Waking up from his slumber, D-16 rubbed his optics before getting up from his metal couch and checked the clock above his door. He had an hour left to get ready for his shift. D-16 simply washed off the dirt and dust from yesterday and grabbed his pickaxe from the wall before heading out.
Kaon was one of the few cities that had survived the Eurasia disaster along with Abel and Iacon. It was once one of the leading industrial cities in the world but was now reduced to a former shell of itself. The infrastructure was falling apart despite reassurances from the Federation they would send aid. There were Maverick cases occurring more commonly in Kaon than in the other cities. D-16 could tell from the very air itself that if nothing was done soon, something was going to happen, and it would not be pretty.
He walked through the streets and saw Reploids of all shapes and sizes going about their day. Some returning from the Energen mines and others opening up their businesses. D-16 greeted some of his fellow miners like Impactor and Broadside as they passed by him. A few humans were walking around but due to the pollution in the air, they had to wear exo-suits. The latest in human technology that was designed to protect its wearer in any hostile environment, even in the vacuum of space.
D-16 got on the train that would take him to the mining outpost located on the outskirts of Kaon. As the train sped forward to its destination, D-16 looked out the window to see the sun rising from the horizon. A vibrant array of bright colors illuminating the night sky to herald the new day never failed to mesmerize his optics. It filled him with a sense of hope. The hope that once the planet had recovered, D-16 could become whoever he wanted to be beyond being a simple miner. He wanted to be free, as free as the warm sunlight shining on his chassis.
"Arrived: Mining Outpost C-12"
He was swiftly brought back to reality by the automated voice announcing he had arrived at the outpost. D-16 sighed and got out in time to see Rumble running up to him looking panicked. The little Reploid with a black and red color scheme was usually with Frenzy, who was blue and purple, so where was he? The twins would normally be smashing rocks with their piledrivers by the time he arrived.
"Dee Dee, you're here! Oh thank god, you gotta help quick!" Rumble grabbed D-16's hand and attempted to pull him. He hated that nickname they had come up with since they met but it was clear something bad must've happened. The bigger mech placed his hands on their shoulders and crouched down to look at him in the optics.
"Rumble, slow down! What happened?" D-16 spoke in a calming manner. It was clear Frenzy was in trouble but to what extent he had to know first.
"There was a collapse in one of the tunnels, Frenzy and a few others were in it when it happened!" Rumble explained urgently.
"Have you contacted the Rescue Bots yet?" D-16 asked.
Rumble nodded. "They said they were on their way but it's taking too long! Dee, you know your way around the tunnels better than anyone here and you're the best miner too so you gotta save him!"
D-16 glanced at the pickaxe in his hand and without having to think, he was walking with a purpose while Rumble followed him towards the entrance to the mines. A crowd of miners had formed since the incident and security guards were keeping them at bay until the Rescue Bots arrived. As he made his way through the crowd, D-16 paid little attention to the point where he ignored the guards' warnings to stay back.
"Hey no one's allowed to go into the mines now! Are you both crazy!?" One of them shouted and tried to stop D-16 but his faceplate was met with a metal fist in response. The rest of the guards wisely decided to let D-16 and Rumble go after that display. They had never witnessed such behavior from any of the miners like this before.
As Rumble guided D-16 deeper into the tunnels, D-16 could tell from the structural integrity that if they didn't find Frenzy or any other survivors soon, they would be trapped themselves. He remembered how he tried to warn his superiors this would happen from the recent earthquakes they've been having but he was told not to worry about it. D-16 hated it when he was right.
"It's here! This is where it happened!" Rumble pointed out.
The two Reploids had finally made it where the collapse had occurred, and D-16 immediately went to work to dig Frenzy out of the rubble. He could feel his energy reserves draining from the amount of power and speed he was using with each swing of the pickaxe. Rumble couldn't even help him with his piledrivers without making the whole situation worse than it already was. The tunnel began to shake profusely and before any of them could react, the ground below their feet collapsed and the two fell into the darkness.
D-16 was still holding onto the pickaxe in his hands as he and Rumble were fast approaching the bottom of the cavern with numerous stalagmites waiting to take their sparks with their pointed ends. He angled his body towards Rumble and once he had grabbed ahold of them, D-16 embedded his pickaxe at the nearest rock wall to try and slow their descent. The pickaxe broke from the strain of having to support the weight of both Reploids and the sheer amount of rock it had to carve through after a few seconds. They landed with a thud with D-16 having shielded Rumble with his body from the brunt of it.
"Damn thanks, Dee Dee," Rumble expressed his gratitude to the larger mech. "I thought we were goners there."
"Think nothing of it." D-16 groaned before getting up and looked around their current surroundings. The damage he suffered from the fall was thankfully not as severe as it could've been due to his quick thinking. At least they didn't land on the many stalagmites that were scattered around them.
"Hey, do you think we'll find Frenzy here?" Rumble reminded D-16 of their original goal.
"Hmmm, he had to have fallen here if he was right where the tunnel collapsed and if he did…" D-16 didn't finish his sentence and Rumble sadly also came to the same conclusion as he did.
"No, you're wrong! Frenzy's as tough as he's forged!" Rumble refused to entertain the thought of Frenzy having been deactivated from the same fall they had recently gone through. It caused him to run away from D-16 in a fit of anger and determination to find his brother. D-16 ran after Rumble and caught him in time before he did something foolish.
"Listen to me, Rumble. There's no easy way for me to say it, but you need to be ready for that possibility." D-16 took no pleasure in stating the harsh reality they were facing in regard to Frenzy.
"But Dee-" Rumble tried to refute D-16 but the mech simply shook his head in response.
"I care about Frenzy as much as you do but the chances of him still being active are very slim. You need to accept that if we're to leave here." D-16 ended the discussion without any further debate.
The pair silently trudged on through the cavern with the only source of light coming from atop their chassis. Rumble let out a gasp before running towards whatever caught his optics.
"Rumble!" D-16 chased after him and before he could chastise him again, his optics widened in shock.
It was Frenzy and he was heavily damaged just as D-16 had predicted he would be. His chassis had been pierced by a stalagmite he had unfortunately fallen on top of. His frame had numerous tears in it exposing some of the wiring inside along with dried fluid marks indicating he was leaking profusely from the damage he had suffered before they found him.
"Oh no, Frenzy!" Rumble tried his best to wake their sibling up but Frenzy laid on the ground unresponsive to their efforts.
"Come on, get up already man!" He pleaded for them to do anything but the more he tried to shake Frenzy, the more of what D-16 had warned him started to sink in his processor.
"No," Rumble's voice cracked as he lowered his helm down. "Not like this, man. Not like this…"
"I'm sorry, Rumble." D-16 comforted the little mech by placing a servo on their back. Before they could mourn any further, a faint sound came out of the fallen bot's mouth.
"S-Still kicking here." There was no doubt about it. It was Frenzy and he was somehow still online!
"Frenzy!?" Rumble was beyond relieved to hear their voice, "You son of a glitch, you scared us!"
"W-Where are we?" Frenzy couldn't move due to the stalagmite still stuck inside him. At best, the only movement he could make was turning his helm around to face D-16.
"I'm not sure," D-16 placed his servo underneath his chin as he tried to figure it out. "This underground cavern was never discovered before we started mining for Energen crystals."
"Then are we trapped here? I don't want to end up rusting away into scrap metal." Rumble was very keen on getting out of here with Frenzy's life on the line.
"Hmm, this cavern may have an exit point somewhere, but I'll have to go deeper to find out." D-16 took out a container of Energen crystals from his personal storage space and gave it to Rumble.
"Stay here with Frenzy until I return." D-16 was about to leave when he felt his hand being grabbed by Rumble.
"You better or I'm kicking your aft." The bigger mech smiled and nodded in response to his friend's threat. He knew Rumble didn't mean it and served to only strengthen his resolve to find an exit.
As he ran through the cave, D-16 began to notice how the cavern walls were slowly getting smaller and more cylindrical the further he went. It wasn't until he saw pieces of metal panels that he realized this was no ordinary cave they had fallen into. It was a tunnel and tunnels would usually have an entry point somewhere.
This was it, this was their way out of here! D-16 ran even faster, hopeful that his search was not in vain. It was quickly dashed away and was replaced by a sense of bewilderment of what he found instead.
"What the frag?" D-16 whispered to himself as he stood in front of what appeared to be the entrance to an underground bunker. It was not at all what he had been expecting to find. He approached the dilapidated metal gates with caution, unsure if it had any defense systems installed to protect itself from intruders.
D-16 picked up the nearest rock and threw it, expecting something akin to a turret to come out and shoot at it. When nothing did, D-16 took his chances and walked up to it only for a blue light to come out from a hidden camera atop said gates. It began to scan him from helm to pedes before going out and the gates slowly opened after what must have been ages since they last did.
'Huh, wonder what that was about?' D-16 thought as he walked inside the now open bunker. The interior revealed itself to be a workshop and it was clearly meant to have one occupant due to how small it was.
He walked up to the table with the computer monitor and wiping the dust away in front of it revealed a virtual keyboard dimly lighting up the room in a faint blue hue. More of the workshop was revealed to the Reploid which included a metal cabinet with two drawers, a bookcase once filled with books but had since deteriorated, and a bedroom. A 3-D printer was sitting next to the desktop table and, to D-16's surprise, it was in working condition despite how old it was.
He turned on the computer and typed frantically as he began to design and upload schematics for medical tools for him to use for Frenzy. Once he was done, D-16 immediately had the 3-D printer get to work on printing them out. He now had time to investigate the workshop further and D-16 started with the cabinet. Opening the top drawer revealed a set of metal tubes and upon grabbing one, he twisted the cap off and took out a blueprint.
It showed a diagram of what appeared to be a boy in blue. He was wearing a helmet and the left half of his body revealed he was robotic in nature along with an arm cannon. There was a serial number at the bottom of the blueprint that read:
DLN-001: "Rock"
D-16 decided to open more of the tubes and revealed even more blueprints for items that seemed to be related to this Rock. Apparently these were meant to help Rock in whatever he was programmed to do. If he didn't know any better, he would say this Rock character was designed to be a warrior meant to fight in wars past. There was also the fact that he looked like X, the legendary Maverick Hunter himself.
Out of the corner of D-16's optics was a metallic photo frame sitting nearby the monitor. Carefully picking it up, it showed a group photograph of an old man in a lab coat along with the same boy from the blueprint who now sported spiky brown hair. This time, he had no armor on and was wearing a blue shirt and black shorts. A girl whose blonde hair was tied up in a green hair ribbon wearing a red dress was standing to the right of the old man. There were three others in the photograph such as one person wearing shades and a yellow scarf. A dog in red metallic armor was sitting near the boy in blue and a large green and yellow robot with big red optics.
They were all so happy in this photograph and turning the frame around revealed words had been written on the back of it:
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile"
Just who was this man? Who were the others in this photograph? Questions that would have to be answered later as D-16 placed the frame back where he picked it up.
Before he could investigate further on the matter, a beeping sound came from the 3-D printer indicating it had finished printing out the medical tools. D-16 grabbed them along with the blueprints he found before leaving the workshop. As he ran back to where he left Rumble and Frenzy, D-16 kept thinking back to what he had discovered.
Did he stumble upon something related to X's past? And who was Rock? A prototype or an early predecessor? If Frenzy's life wasn't on the line, D-16 would've gladly tried to solve these mysteries.
Rumble was nervously pacing around, waiting for D-16 to come back with help. The sound of heavy footsteps brought his hopes back up. It was D-16 but he was alone?
"Dee? I thought you were going to get help?" Rumble stood back and watched as D-16 brought the medical tools he had just printed out.
"I did, but I ended up finding a bunker instead." D-16 began to work on Frenzy and with his small stature, he would have to be extra careful if he wanted to stabilize him.
One of the harsh realities D-16 learned in this line of work was how little anyone cared about the wellbeing of others. If you were rendered incapable of performing your function, it was straight to the scrap heap. He had to learn how to repair himself and even with his acceptable skills, some of the injuries he sustained over time necessitated a visit to the only medic located in the seedier parts of Kaon.
"A bunker? Here underneath the mines?" Rumble wasn't trying to sound like he didn't believe D-16 but it certainly was a strange coincidence.
"Yes and from what I discovered, it used to belong to a robotics expert. I was very fortunate they had a functioning printer to get these tools." D-16 scanned his optics around Frenzy's frame and so far it looked as though he had done a sufficient job. Now all that was left to do was to wait for help to arrive.
"So what else did ya find, Dee?" Rumble's question was answered when D-16 pulled a blueprint of what appeared to be some sort of beam turret. There was a name for it that was titled, "Magnet Beam", that was located on the bottom right of the blueprint.
"Huh, I bet if you showed this to Scrapper and his crew, they could easily build this." He gave it back to D-16 who placed it inside his storage space.
"Perhaps, but it won't do us any good if we're still stuck here." D-16 was tempted to go back to that workshop and see if there was anything else he could possibly use to get them out of this situation.
All of a sudden, they heard and felt the very cavern they were in shake violently. D-16 turned his helm upwards to see debris falling from the ceiling. He shielded Rumble and Frenzy with his frame as the ceiling collapsed and a huge hole to the surface was formed.
"Hello!? Is anyone down there!?" A young male voice had called out to them from above.
D-16 looked up to try and see who it was but was instead greeted by the shadow of what appeared to be a small sphere floating down towards them. He was able to see what it really looked like, a drone with a yellow paint job and a big blue optic to act as a camera.
"Heya! Name's Bumblebee and this is my Backup Emergency Equipment System, or B.E.E.S. for short." The drone had a small extendable claw at its bottom to which its user used to give D-16 and the others a friendly wave.
"Are any of you in need of repairs?" Another male voice came through the drone. Compared to Bumblebee, it sounded older and gruffer.
"Yeah, my brother Frenzy! He needs it the most!" Rumble pointed out and the drone floated over to assess the damage he had suffered.
"Hmmm, who was responsible for these recent repairs I'm seeing?" The older voice called out and D-16 stepped forward.
"It was me." The mech answered, gaining the drone's full attention directed at him.
"You did a commendable job to where we can safely move him to a more secure location, but you're very lucky that stalagmite didn't offline him the moment he made impact."
"So what now? You're going to get us all out of here right?" Rumble was more than eager to get out of here along with D-16 and Frenzy.
"You're currently a hundred feet underground from the surface," The voice explained. "Prowl and Jazz are trying to get permission to bring a landing platform from city officials."
"Oh come on, that could take forever!" Rumble believed their rescuers were wasting valuable time when they could be getting this stupid rock out of Frenzy.
"Believe us, we're just as frustrated as you are but please be patient with us." The voice tried to comfort Rumble.
The Surface
Ratchet remained silent as Rumble started to shout profanities at him to show how "patient" he was before thankfully the other mech that was with him pulled him away.
"Could you at least send down some E-crystals until then?" The mech asked.
"Sure and what's your name?" Bumblebee answered with another question.
"D-16 and the one you spoke to earlier was Rumble." D-16 spoke back.
"Alright, I'll get you guys your E-crystals in just a sec!" Bumblebee ended the drone's live feed and piloted it back up to the surface.
"Phew! Good thing D-16 was there with that guy. I bet he and High Tide could have a swearing contest together." Bumblebee chuckled but before he could leave, he checked on Ratchet first.
"Are you alright?" The small and yellow Reploid hoped that Rumble didn't get to the old medic.
"I'm fine, Bee. I just didn't expect this to happen right at the start of my shift." Ratchet looked around to see where the rest of his team members went. "Where's the captain and Bulkhead?"
"The last time I saw them, they had to talk to the foreman once we came here." Bumblebee answered.
"Hmmm, alright then, I'll get the ambulance ready before Prowl and Jazz get back." Ratchet left Bumblebee to his task. But little did they know, they had just met a Reploid who would play a huge role in their lives and change it forever.