Chapter Two - Inevitable Questions: Not So Many Answers

…

So... what did you mean when you said I can't go home?" Erik asked abruptly. For the last hour after their escape from the crazy cat lady, the two teenagers had been sitting around a small fire in the woods not far from the building they had left. Gaven had insisted they watch the place for any suspicious activity.

"I was kidding about that. You can go home, but I wouldn't recommend it," Gaven answered calmly as he rubbed where Haley's claw had been. Watching Gaven, Erik's hand moved to his shoulder where he'd received his own injury.

"Why isn't there a wound on either of us?" Erik couldn't explain it, but once Erik had transformed the wound itself had disappeared, but he could still feel the pain.

"Phantom pains, it's the cost for the healing that morphing into, or morphing back gives," Gavin answered again adding, "From what I've seen, however, there are limits."

"What about the tear in my shirt? Why didn't that go away?"

"The transformation heals us, but it doesn't fix things."

"Makes sense. Alright, why shouldn't I return home? My parents will probably be worried." Erik asked returning to his original question.

"Now that you've been identified as a Megaman they will come after you until you join them, or your dead, and they don't care what or who gets in the way. That's how that group runs. By going home, you endanger everyone you know, and even those you don't." Gaven reached for some larger tinder to keep the fire going as Erik looked at him in disbelief. He shook away his stunned expression, and thought about what that implied. Everyone around him was in danger just because he was able to pull off some bad Ivyforest film costume change. Erik pondered that for a moment as the fire caught the sticks and flared.

"How could you tell I was a Megaman before transforming?" Erik asked, trying to delay what was eventual going to be said.

"It's an ability all Megamen have; I bet you can already feel the weird vibe coming from me just being here. All Megaman give that vibe, and all awakened Megamen can sense it. Or if you're close to start-up, I guess. Stupid rain," Gaven muttered as he tossed another log onto the fire, aiding its battle against the weather.

"What are we? What are Megamen?"

"Beings who ignore the rules of reality," Gaven said in a low tone, looking Erik straight in the eyes. "That's the best definition anyone can give you. Nobody knows how long our kind has been around, or how it even started. All we really know is that we can change into something like humanoid machines, and fuse our souls with strange powers to become stronger."

"Like what happened there?" Erik asked, nodding at the dark shape of the warehouse.

"Sort of." Gaven scrunched up his face. "I've never had to explain this before, and it's more complicated than that. What you and I did was the base stage, or Soul Release. Soul Fuse is a larger power-up."

"Like Panter Flauclaw," Erik responded.

"Yep, that's a perfect example. All Megamen access one Soul Fuse at activation." Gaven tilted his head to the right, studying Erik for a reaction. "You can avoid it all you like but eventually you have to ask."

Erik was frozen by this statement; it was as if Gaven could read his mind. Staring at the fire for a moment, Erik lowered his gaze to stare at the glowing embers. With his head down he conceded and asked the big question.

"What should I do?"

"Run."

Mental images of needles and test tubes that had been haunting his thoughts vanished from Erik's mind as he looked up at Gaven. "What?"

"Run. That's all you can really do, you just started-up. You have no fighting experience, no idea how to use your new found power, and no idea who you're dealing with. So obviously you can't protect your friends or family if you stay."

"Teach me." Gavin was caught off guard by this response; it was a request, but not a question. Erik sat up straighter and hardened his resolve, his expression was set with determination. Gaven remained silent. "You said I would activate eventually, which means I would be attacked sooner or later anyways, right?"

"True enough."

"I can't run away just to save myself-" Erik was cut of by Gaven.

"I think you misunderstood me. You wouldn't be running to save yourself. Running would protect those around you. The group who attacked us has many more than just three Megamen. It's run by Megamen, and it's not the only group like that." Gaven explained.

"That's more reason to help me," Erik argued, causing Gaven to raise an eyebrow.

"How so?"

Erik paused, remembering the last 'normal' thing to happen in his now upside-down life. School. Normal boring classes about a potential future that was never going to happen. Irony. Applying today's last class to this? Applying normal to insanity? Erik blinked as he came to the realization that he had just come to terms with today's events. Feeling oddly better, Erik smirked.

"How I see it, is that Haley's group, whoever they are, is after you and want you badly. Hell, they sent three people to get you, and one implied that she'd prefer the dead option for retrieval to alive. If you were to train me I could help you stave off their attacks… If I have to run to protect those I care about then fine, I'll run. But if I get stronger there's a possibility we could handle them and I could come back home." Erik finished with a smile, having made his decision and supporting it with logic. However his smile didn't last as Gaven broke out in laughter.

"You're killing me kid! You think you can take on the Corporation… oops," Gaven said halting his laughter, and smacking himself in the face for almost revealing his predators.

Erik caught the slip.

"Corporation? What Corporation?"

"The... ah, the one that's after us. Look, all you need to know is that they're big. Well-funded, well-organized, and well-armed. Not a joke."

"Then why were you laughing?" Erik asked, indignant.

"Because they're not a joke, but you taking them on? That is." Gaven let out another chuckle.

"But you've fought them!"

"I know what I'm doing-"

"And if you train me then I will too."

Gaven paused. Erik's idea did have merit, and he'd been running and fighting for a while now. It would be nice if the Corporation would just leave him alone. And if he had to take the fight to them and force them to stop... "Ya know, you may have a point. Still seems like a joke, but, who knows? Maybe the joke's on them." Gaven started to dousing the fire. "Last chance then; Are you sure you want to do this?"

"What would we have to do?" Erik simply asked as Gaven cleaned his glasses of the soot, and ash he'd stirred up.

"Kidnapping you would be a good option, and I have a few other ideas. Let's go to your house," Gaven said walking to his left away from the condemned building.

"There was a reason I was walking by the warehouse."

"Oh?"

"From here we need to go right to get to my place," Erik responded with a smirk as Gaven pivoted on his heels, pulling a one-eighty fast enough to make his coat snap.

…

"You were to capture one person. One! You've been tracking him since the beginning. Finally you have good news, that you've caught up. You had the element of surprise, SO HOW THE HELL DO YOU MESS THAT UP?"

Kaz and Mark winced as Haley stood her ground in front of the man currently yelling at them. Currently the trio was in a gray room with a big one way mirror to the right of the door. The room was clearly meant for interrogation, but was currently being used to debrief the trio by a shorter brown haired man. The green suited man was most likely in his late thirties. Besides the well-dressed man, and Haley's group were three other people; one sitting at the table, one leaning against the mirror in the room, and one standing opposite the mirror.

"I would normally agree, but you sent someone who becomes unstable against this target. In truth you should blame yourself for such an eroded calculation." The words were said with no fluctuation in tone, and the man's yellow eyes turned from Haley's group to glare daggers at the purple-haired women who had spoken. She looked about Haley's age, and was flipping a coin with amazing speed through the deceptively delicate fingers of her left hand, her right held some folders. Though he was her superior, the women didn't really react at all to the dagger stare, in fact, she didn't seem to care about anything that was going on at all. It was like looking into the eyes of a doll, not expressing any emotion at all. The purple haired woman had the distinct features of her heritage; narrow almond-shaped eyes, a rounded face, and skin the color of burnished bronze, her clothes would suggest that she was a secretary.

"Careful, Mino, people have disappeared for saying less to Mr. Johnny." The relaxed man sitting to the right of where she stood commented casually. He was tipping his chair back and looked to be in his early twenties. His youthful appearance, along with his lazy action gave off a aura of someone who didn't like to dirty his own hands. Like Haley's group, the blonde wore the dark green uniform that was standard for the Corporation's Megamen. Sturdy tan boots that were similar to those used for hiking, and dark green cargo pants with a matching jacket, which he had rolled up at the cuffs, over a black shirt.

"Both of you just shut up, and I didn't build this company up from the ground to listen to such punk talk from the likes of you, Gerald! Or have you forgotten this problem is of your fault as well" Johnny responded, taking in a small breath to calm himself down as Gerald gave a brief moment of announce at the reminder of a past mistake.

"Says the man who made me second in command." Gerald countered, only to push himself to the ground to dodge a thrown knife. A stream of muttered curse words could be heard as he got back up, directed at the being who had thrown the knife, and was currently leaning against the mirror.

The character was completely veiled in a floor-length crimson red cloak with a hood, the face concealed behind a plain bone-white mask. Whether this person was male or female was hard to tell, the cloak and mask completely concealing every feature. Even height and weight could only be guessed, and not accurately. This was Johnny Sigma's personal bodyguard, who usually remained out of sight. Johnny had other bodyguards, but he only used them when this person was unavailable.

"Can we get back to the fact that we have yet again lost Gaven," Johnny said, his tone less tense then before."We can't have him prancing about, especially with the things he knows. This has dragged on for far too long, and I'm weary of the whole mess."

"None of this would be happening if a certain someone hadn't lost to him when he escaped a year ago." Haley immediately tensed up at Gerald's statement.

"She was outclassed, Gaven was clearly stronger." Mino concluded.

Haley was having a hard time maintaining her composure, and knew it was wise to keep her mouth shut, but she still needed to know what Johnny was planning to do, and when she could resume tracking Gaven. "Sir-" She ventured to start, but was cut off.

"Are you still here? You're excused." Johnny said in a haughty tone, waving away the trio in dismissal.

As Mark and Kaz turned to the door, Haley spoke up realizing what Johnny really meant by the dismissal. "Sir, give us another chance?"

"A chance after your last stunt? I don't think so. We will assign someone else to this problem, and you will return to the hunting unit," Johnny said, not caring how Haley felt about the situation even though he knew her connection to it. "I said leave!"Johnny added, his voice more serious. Saluting to her commander, Haley fought to maintain herself long enough to reach the door with her two companions. As the trio left a new person appeared at the door. "Ah, just the man I wanted to see. Let's return to my office."

…

"Nice place." Gaven commented as he looked around the yard while Erik pulled out his keys in a slight daze and unlocked the door. Erik dropped his bag by the door and kicked off his shoes. As he opened the coat closet, he noticed Gaven giving him a funny look from the doorway.

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh." Erik blinked as he realized what Gaven meant. "Habit." He pulled his shoes back on and stepped back outside to wipe the mud off. "Would you wiped yours off too? I mean, I know we're about to wreak the place, but I don't hate my parents. We don't always get along, but I don't hate 'em. This is going to be hard enough on them. I guess-" Erik cut off his rambling as Gaven stepped out and scuffed his boots on the mat.

"I don't get it, but I get it." Came Gaven's cryptic response to Erik's questioning look. Stepping back inside, Gaven snagged a blue umbrella off the hat rack by the closet and started swinging it. "They have insurance, right?" He waited till Erik nodded. "Then they'll be fine in that regard. So, give me the grand tour."

Erik was confused, but showed Gaven around. After four 'What's in here?' chime-ins, which were answered with displaying the broom closet, pantry, linens, and storage room, he let Gaven lead the exploration while he narrated.

"We're lucky your room, and the bathroom are the first two at the top of the stairs." Gaven said a few minutes after the tour had ended.

"Oh?" Erik glanced up from the bag he was packing. Gaven was watching from the doorway, occasionally making a comment or suggestion on what Erik packed, and snacking on some jerky he'd spotted on a kitchen shelf.

"I'll need to wreak the downstairs, but I can stop the ransacking here. It'll confuse any investigators, make them think that whoever did it got spooked and abandoned a robbery halfway through. You should write a runaway note too, word it odd and misspell some words, that'll confuse things more. Anyway, after you're done here, put your bag by the back door, and drag out all those travel bags and suitcases I saw in the storage room, and bring them to the kitchen. Leave me the biggest one with wheels and take another into the living room. Dump all the MuVDs in it, then check the weather report for tomorrow, unplug the TV and set it on the floor." Gaven finished off the last piece of jerky and left the room, descending the stairs and swinging the blue umbrella. A few minutes later Erik was done. After leaving his bag by the back door, he started digging through the boxes in the storage room to get at the suitcases. Following Gaven's instructions, he hauled them to the kitchen.

"You have any manual can openers? We're going to need one if we want to take most of the good stuff."

Erik stopped in the entryway, staring at the mess Gaven had made in the kitchen. Boxes, bags, and cans were everywhere, dumping their contents of cereal, chips, candies, and crackers on the counters and floors. The only tidy area was the island counter, which had a number of select containers. Most of it was canned vegetables and meat or bagged trail mix, there was also a box of granola and energy bars. Gaven paused as Erik picked up a can of soup off the floor.

"Leave it, it's mostly water and there are healthier things we can carry for the same weight."

Erik set the can back on the floor and went to the fridge, grabbing a box of juice. "Can openers are in the drawer to your right." He poked the straw into the box, trusting that Gaven knew what he was doing.

"After you're done with the MuVDs, take all the pictures off the wall and lean them by the stairs. Ah, nice. There are three." Gaven said as he dug around in the indicated drawer. "I'm always losing them."

Erik decided not to respond to Gaven's last comment, and took a duffel bag from the luggage.

A half hour later Erik was standing just outside the door that lead from the house to the garage, listening to the various thumps and crashes as Gaven wreaked havoc on his home. The time had been spent following several instructions that made various degrees of sense, like plugging in his cell phone to the charger so leaving it wouldn't seem odd, and turning all the pockets of the coats in the hall closet inside out. The spare keys to his mom's car had been dropped to the floor and kicked under the edge of the counter, the rest of the keys were scattered by the car itself, along with various tools and a kit from the storage room. Gaven had jammed and left a wire coat hanger in the door, satisfied with the image it created. He had taken a liking to his dad's hovercycle and, after a short argument that ended with a long list of reasons why they had to take something of value, strapped the suitcase with the food to it.

The rain was heavy but there was no wind to alter it's downward path, and the sky occasionally lit up in flashes of lightening, cracks and peals of thunder following that seemed to shake the ground. Gaven appeared in the doorway, wearing a poncho Erik had dug out and still swinging the blue umbrella.

"You look... troubled." Gaven commented, hooking the umbrella onto a box of cords and using to tug the bin off the garage shelf.

Erik watched the contents of the box scatter. "Do we really have a chance? Fighting this Corporation?"

"I'm surprised you're not scared."

"I have my doubts, but I'm committing to this. So be honest; Can it be done?"

Gaven leaned on the umbrella like a cane, facing Erik and responded with an unwavering gaze. "What we are about to attempt is going to turn the world upside down if we succeed. Up till now, I've just been a loose end that they've been unable to contain. I know things that threaten them; otherwise they wouldn't be so desperate to catch me." He spun the umbrella and slipped it under the cords on the hover bike before climbing on himself. "You're just going to have to trust me."

"Just like you're going to have to trust me." Erik said with a weak smile.

Gaven returned the smile, and pulled on a helmet. "Yup. Now open the garage door, so we can get moving."

Erik pulled a poncho over his head, and keyed the opening code into a pad by the door. The rain pounded a steady rhythm as Gaven maneuvered the bike out. The ponchos did their job and kept them mostly dry, and Gaven started up the bike as Erik closed up the garage.

"So where we going?" Erik asked as he pull on a helmet, and climbed onto the cycle behind Gaven. The hum of the bike increased as Gaven pulled out of the driveway, competing with the rain for volume. "First, I'm going to get my bag from where I stashed it after Haley caught my trail. After that, we have a full charge on this bike to get out of here. I don't know how long it will be before someone notices something wrong, but that place will be swarming with authorities as soon as someone does."

"The city council ended up closing the school. I caught it on the TV before I switched channels to get the weather."

"That may buy us some time, but not much." They fell silent for awhile as Gaven navigated the streets of the small town. He pulled over at the park by the school; the same one Erik had last seen his friends.

"My friends will be safe, right? And my parents?" He asked as Gaven climbed off.

"Haley, Mark, and Kaz are the only ones who can identify you, and they have no clue who you are. You could have been traveling with me for all they know. Your friends and family will be safe."

"They saw me at school though."

"They saw me there too, and they know I don't attend." Gaven grinned confidently. "They'll be fine." Without another word, Gaven turned and disappeared into the park to retrieve his bag, leaving Erik with only his thoughts.

…

"Ha!" Haley delivered a jump kick to the stomach of a boxing dummy followed by a volley of fast jabs. Her hair was in a tangled mess from not being tied up during her practice routine. She'd started with it bound, but had lost the tie at some point and hadn't bothered to find a replacement.

"I don't care what he says. I want to be updated with everything that involves Gaven!" she huffed, delivering another powerful kick to the dummy. Jogging on a treadmill behind her was Mark, and Kaz who was laying on a nearby bench, exhausted from his practice round with Haley.

"You know we could get in serious trouble for disobeying, right?" Kaz weakly asked, lifting the towel off his head to turn towards his squad leader.

"Yes."

"Just making sure," Kaz said dropping the towel back onto his head. "I'll talk to Orion, he can keep us updated."

"Haley, this is dangerous, the boss doesn't take rebellious actions lightly." Mark pointed out.

"Do as you're told and you won't get into trouble if we get caught. As long as I get my hands on Gaven, I'll take the blame," Haley responded before delivering a left hook that took the dummy's head clean off. Then with a sadistic smile she said. "He will pay for what he did, and my claws will take his head."

As Haley walked away Mark started talking with Kaz. "I still have difficulty believing what they say Gaven did," the dreadlocks teen said, turning off the treadmill to pick up the dummy's head.

"You think there's something were not being told? Johnny himself, and Gerald too, said they witnessed the whole thing." Kaz pointed out as he got up from the bench, taking the towel off his head again.

"I never trusted Gerald. I know that, if it wasn't for the boss, we would still be in the slums, but they're both very powerful people. Who would argue anything they say, especially with no other witnesses?"

This question got Kaz thinking. "Dude, you're making my head hurt. I think you're over thinking this situation, besides we never knew Gaven like Haley does."

"Your probably right." Mark looked doubtful, but didn't pursue the issue. He picked up his towel and bottle and headed for the showers. "Goodnight then."

Kaz got up and trudged over to the obvious security camera in the corner of the room.

"We are so, so in over our heads." Kaz said to himself before reaching up, and plugging the camera back on.

…

"Pull your hood up, your hair is way too easy to spot."

"Are you going to tell me where we are going yet? We have been on the move for twelve hours, I don't know how much longer I can stay awake." Erik grumbled late afternoon the next day, as he jumped out of the truck they had snuck a ride on. A few towns, and a fair mileage away from his home, they abandoned the spent hovercycle, and helmet's outside a gas station.

Almost face planting, Erik stumbled and fought to keep balance. Gaven, on the other hand was doing just fine. The two had jumped off the truck when it stopped to refuel, and Erik was thrilled to see a hotel nearby.

"A forest and it's been sixteen hours, actually." Gaven said with a smirk. Eyeing his companion Erik paused in the middle of stretching, not sure how to react.

"A forest?"

"The Indigo National Forest to be exact."

"That's about three states away! How, in all of Pangaea, do you plan to get us there!" Erik yelled with what little energy he had left.

"Whatever way I can that doesn't draw attention. Now, enough banter, let's go get some sleep." Gaven pointed towards the hotel and grabbed the suitcase with the food while Erik slowly trekked after him. "Because tomorrow, we start training."