7.1 - GAMMA,
Slightly bemused, he would deny it if asked, Bryan kicked back in the lab chair that he had commandeered. Wily had basically kidnapped him once again but somehow had forgotten about this fact leaving him behind.
Nobody had done anything about it so he completed his homework in peace before moving onto something else. That something being hacking into Wily's cell and trying to figure out what the German was up to this time.
Just as he was taking a sip of water and wondering what Light was doing with an elevator the big prize came into view. The resulting spit take came from seeing the absolutely giant robot the elderly man was hiding underneath his lab.
A few more coughs and sputters later the cyborg was back to looking at the scene in disbelief.
"How did he… when did he have the… where did the resources… how, just how?"
Still in disbelief he listened in on the conversation for a few more minutes before finally shaking off his shock. Right, Ra Moon, the cluster frack that resulted in his current state as a Cyborg, reasonable response to make a giant robot.
Blinking a bit more he suddenly had a sinking feeling and quickly started pulling up security logs. Where did he put that, where, where, where, there!
Quickly looking over the logs he winced upon realizing that Wily had forgotten about his medicine once again.
Bryan had never been more grateful he had installed that tracker program into the systems as a precaution. Getting the German to take those pills was a pain, and he was dreading having to get them refilled once they ran out.
That said he quickly stood up and checked his bag for supplies. He had never tried to escape before and didn't fancy his chances this time around either.
Whelp, here's to hoping his negotiation skills are up to par and the Robot Masters are willing to let him go visit Wily in person. It shouldn't be that hard and if needed he could always call the old man just in case it jogged something in their mind.
7.2 - Bryan's Horizon,
He had been left alone for a few days as Wily had some business to take care of and the various Robot Masters had left for their jobs or hobbies. Simultaneously Tarkin was sort of offline after a rather disastrous attempt to take over Proto despite his warnings.
Bryan, as much as he wanted to, was unable to get his robotic companion up again due to complications in their codes. It was probably something to do with whatever Break did to stop the takeover but until the analysis was over he couldn't tell exactly.
Unfortunately it looked like he had another… ten hours left until the whole thing was cleared due to the quirky nature of the foxes drives.
Not exactly pleasing but he put up with the damn thing and trudged onwards with the few physical repairs needed. Then he completed them and was left watching the computer where he slowly started spacing out from sheer boredom.
He tried music, that failed, videos, they failed as well, and various games, he was more interested in scanning their codes or making such simple things.
Thus Bryan found himself alone with literally nothing else to do and slowly going insane from lack of stuff to do. Not exactly a good thing but thankfully for everyone he wasn't interested in world domination like his mentor.
His morals might have been screwy though so it probably wouldn't be a surprise to those who knew him that he started hacking. Nothing too big, he had no real targets, but at some point the Cyborg started playing Poltergeist with various companies by moving around various computer files.
That however sort of grew boring as well and he went on a form of autopilot in his antics where he did who knows what. No, seriously, he had no clue what he did with those files and codes in that vegetative state before his eyes settled upon a camera looking in on the Holo Chambers.
He rarely if ever utilized the things as most of the programs involved with them were combat based and thus not something the bots wanted him to participate in. That said there were still a few things that it could be used for and if he was really interested he could potentially upload his own program into it.
Which could potentially explain how he somehow got into his current mess and nursing his injured arm while a redhead pointed an arrow at him.
Wincing in pain he was sincerely glad that she got him on his still remaining flesh arm and not the cybernetic one. It was his offhand which was good but that did nothing to the fact that he couldn't turn said simulation off.
"Who are you, what are you doing here?"
On the bright side he could still access some things such as the settings, not that he could change them, and look at a few stats. Such as the fact he accidentally uploaded a game to the compiler program in the computer used to help Wily fill in holes in his plan.
Which was really not a good idea as many of the programs used to set up the various NPCs and enemies were getting an upgrade. Oh and the main character got a flushed out personality using the two games as a base and the notes he accidentally stole for the in development third game.
He really hopes someone comes and stops the program from the manual controls outside the chamber eventually. Or barring that the program he utilized to keep Wily fed would kick in and help him survive the mess with actual food.
Bryan then had to deliberately keep his eyes under control as he realized the two games had sort of meshed with the training programs to give them adaptive difficulties. Thus meaning he would have to stick to in-game weapons if he didn't want to escalate things too far, great.
For now however, he had one rather angry female to deal with who might kill him if she thinks he was with the raiders.
"The names Bryan… and would you believe that I'm not exactly here of my own will?"
Resisting the urge to chuckle he watched as the bow wielding female narrowed her green eyes at him. A few minutes later she seemed to reluctantly lower said weapon but noticeably didn't put it away.
"Judging by your get up… yes. Still, don't tell me why you're in Nora Lands… Bryan?"
Wincing at her tone of voice he contemplated what to do before glancing at his arm and sighing in defeat.
"Names a name, pretty sure yours would be strange back home. As for the why… I can't say anything but boredom was mainly my driving motive."
The blue clad female still looked at him wearily, clearly suspicious, but reluctantly put away her weapon. He looked at her for a moment before hissing in pain as his wound throbbed and looked down to see a bit of blood dripping out from between his fingers.
Pulling the hand back he could tell it wasn't that bad and after a moment of contemplation he sighed in defeat. Seconds later he had torn his clothing and was busy bandaging his wounds as the redhead watched him.
"Something on your mind Red?"
The woman bristled for a moment before grumpily speaking to him.
"The names Aloy, not Red, and I'm just wondering what is up with your clothes."
Looking up at her Bryan contemplated what to say before letting out a long sigh and glancing out of the cave. A storm was brewing and unfortunately leaving was not going to be possible soon enough.
Stupid realism on the Holo Chamber and stupid him for not double checking what he was doing with the programs.
On the bright side his boredom was possibly going to be taken care of for however long it takes to get out of this situation. Now as he glanced back at Aloy the cyborg knew he would have to do something and well, he had nothing better to do for now beyond playing along.
"That is a long story Aloy and relates to things you might find hard to believe."
As if to challenge him she raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms over her chest, and proceeded to frown at him with a raised eyebrow.
7.3 - Time travel in Reverse,
He had no idea how it happened but Doctor Light had contacted Doctor Wily about a double presentation. The good doctor wanted to present his new Light Steel for plasma production and then have Wily attack to try and steal them to show off the defenses.
In turn the German would be able to test his new military tech in a live but relatively safe manner without wasting more of his own resources.
To think many people thought these situations were random circumstances like he did until getting caught up in it all. While, mostly, they have been increasing since his arrival and subsequently making Wily take his meds more often than not.
Then, just as things were getting good and the second wave was going to be unleashed, everything went pear shaped. A portal appeared unleashing two robots of unknown make but unbelievable power beating off both Rock and Bass at the same time.
Bryan then had an uneasy feeling as what appeared to be an older Mega Man appeared out of another portal and fought on par with the other two. Thus leaving him to somehow be pushed out of the Skull Craft by none other than Wily with instructions to get to Thomas' Lab, and help the man figure out how to stop them while the Mad Scientist played distraction.
So here he was walking up the pathway to Light's primary residence and absently messing with his key chain trying to find the correct key. It wasn't exactly easy as one would think as about 80% of the keys he had were to unlock his sorta-mentors' various fortresses.
The second he got into the front door however he paused upon noting the unknown Megaman like bot in the living room, watching TV? No, they were watching Rock play a game on the TV and judging by the smell in the kitchen, Roll was getting ready to prepare a meal.
Doctor Light wasn't present but Bryan wouldn't be surprised if he was in the lab working on something. In fact it was such a peaceful scene that his brain stalled for a few seconds just trying to process this before he finally spoke.
"What is going on here? Don't we have two murder bots to track down and return to their proper time?"
Rock and Roll barely reacted to him but the much taller version of Mega Man whipped around fast enough in shock. In fact, the cyborg could swear he actually heard grinding metal coming from them with how fast they turned around.
He simply raised an eyebrow at them bemusedly as they just stared at him before hearing the fembot's voice from the kitchen.
"Dad's tracking them and Wily but wanted to give a care package to our baby brother after finding out how much was seemingly lost between our era and the one he woke in. Just head to the lab Bryan and I'll call you when supper's either done or come when the two of you find something."
A roll of his eyes, not necessarily a pun but he recognized that it could be, and walked in without a care of the still shocked bot. One who he could tell watched him the entire time in what could be some form of train wreck syndrome as he passed.
He'll probably get something more about this situation from Light such as why it seemed the newest was in shock at the sight of him.
Either they knew his older self and weren't expecting to meet a younger version, or he had left an impression that lasted who knows how long with potential consequences they had to clean up. Bryan really hopes it's the former but depressingly thought it most likely the latter with how everyone's luck is around here.
7.4 - Crisis point 5XW,
A giant flash of light in the sky midday, mildly concerning but not outside the possibilities or newsworthy. Odds were split on Alber, Thomas, or Mikhail doing something they shouldn't have with minor but still notable chances of Noele being the culprit and/or some other random scientist.
Bryan's money was still on the main three if only due to how much he's been drawn into their antics. Today however was one of his self appointed days off so the cyborg pretty much ignored the event as he drove on.
The Network exploding with messages was normal and he ignored the large cluster of text with practiced ease. It looked like it was more full than usual but he didn't even deviate from his path at the chaos in his peripherals with how common it was.
Taking a sharp turn he smiled softly at the sudden bark of anger behind him as Tarkin overshot and collided with a tree. Revving the engine of his dirt bike he glanced back at the fox and sped on down the path with no real care as his fox attempted to chase him down.
Him suddenly being called on his internal phone of all things caused the cyborg to swear violently and almost lose control before swerving to a stop. Thankfully they left a message he could listen to even as he attempted to find out how in hell he suddenly had an internal phone that could be called.
Tarkin came up to him with a whine as he finally found Blue's code in his system connected to his new number. That it came with a cheeky note mocking his security and notes on the update made by said 000 Unit was just icing on the grumpy cake he now had.
He then cursed out various deities without care of what bad karma it might accumulate for him doing so. Hey in Bryan's experience he has encountered numerous things from the weird, to bizarre, and eldritch nightmare, so what if he was a scientist, he's seen things that taught him not to tempt fate.
With that done he turned the bike around and gunned it in the general direction of where he needed to go. A push of a button hidden within the handlebar later and said two wheeled vehicle left the ground as it became a hoverbike, its speed increasing at the same time.
Tarkin had managed to hop on just before he took off and soon enough he was flying through the air at relatively unsafe speeds. Thanks to his unique nature however this wasn't as dangerous as a regular human doing it but it still felt rather uncomfortable.
Not that it mattered as his eyes flashed red from rage, his day off, HIS DAY OFF FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SEVEN MONTHS! Ruined due to somebody deciding they wanted to mess with Space/Time again and making it his problem.
Nearing the sight he got closer to the ground and flipped the bike back to land mode as he sped on towards the gathering group. Hitting a small impromptu ramp, which looks like the remains of a Skull Craft, he managed to jump over the group who let out a collective shout of shock/surprise/rage and landed in a controlled skid.
When Bryan finally stopped almost everyone was just staring at him with a notable set off to the side who were just amused/nervous. Eyes sweeping across the entire assembly he noted with despair that Bass was correct and indeed an Event, with a capital E, was happening.
Five, count them and weep in despair, five additional copies of Mega Man were staring at him, mouths agape in shock. With each group he could spot another copy of various people he knew, Roll, Blues, Doctor Light, Bass, Doctor Wily, support bots of Various makes, and each one supported various looks.
"Alright, which one of you fools decided it was a good idea to mess with Space/Time and created this mess?"
A gesture towards all of them signified what he meant as he looked at the five groups, the sixth he mostly ignored as he was technically part of them. They all looked at him with various members either scoffing, (Wily, Bass, and Blues) rolling their eyes in annoyance, (Roll unsurprisingly), confusedly (Mostly Rocks but a few Lights as well), or affronted, (Notably two Lights).
One of the affronted Lights stepped forward and spoke to him while gesturing to the group he belonged to.
"Why do you expect us to be at fault and not these ones? At that point who are you to even question us to begin with?"
Raising an eyebrow at the Thomas Light, so not like the one he's used to with that attitude, he glanced at the group and spoke with a deadpan voice.
"Unlike all of you, everyone in this world has collectively agreed to leave the Space/Time Continuum alone after one too many Events. Events mind you, that I had to be the one to clean up because for some reason I seem to be the only one competent in that area who won't make things worse before they get better.
"As for who I am… I'm Bryan Wily, this world's first cyborg and Wily's semi-unwilling adopted apprentice/keeper. Annoy me and I'll show you why exactly I'm the last person everyone wants against them."
Glaring at the one who had spoken, Bryan was satisfied as they took a step back when he activated his Buster. The whine it let out and the fact that Tarkin seemed to have activated his own Master Weapon and created an ethereal shadow around themself with multiple tails.
The fact it made the fox appear as a rusting skeleton with sparking wires, a suspicious oil dripping off of them that almost looked like blood, flickering eye lights, a glitchy voice box letting out a staticky growl, and what might appear to be actual organic bones held together in a horribly broken mess by various wires, screws, and metal beams might have helped.
Seriously, that form looked like somebody tried to create a Fazbear Anamontronic in real life out of an actual living being, and succeeded. Actually, he wasn't looking but he could feel the telltale static tingle of said hologram being made to encompass him as well.
A ping from his Bass hit him containing a photo with a caption that it was unfair how he looked like nightmare fuel right now. Without looking away from the group he balled up his human hand and smacked the robotics fox in the head to get them to stop.
Really, making it look like his skin peeled back from his face to expose the metal underneath alongside exposing his prosthetic limbs? At the very least Tarkin didn't reveal how messed up his internal organs were, what with him missing one lung, both his kidneys, half his liver, and part of his stomach, let alone how scarred his heart was and the pacemaker to keep it stable.
Did he mention the stainless steel sternum replacement, the robotic lower quarter of his vertebral column, and the ball/socket combo that became his left leg bones connecting to his hip?
Yeah, Bryan knew he was a mess and after figuring a few things out he was going to try and come up with a synthetic tissue that could be used to replace his current robotics parts. If done right it would encourage new cell growth that would consume it and give him a perfectly normal human body back.
Still a few years off but he did have a few promising leads in his research and a few that had yet to be proven but might still be viable.
Not the point though, once he got his point across to the rather surprised group the Cyborg safely depowered his buster and got off his bike to stand next to his own group. Part of him was honestly curious how the groups were going to distinguish themselves without such obvious differences until things were solved.
Though he also made a point to keep an eye on the various groups as well, who knew what surprises the multiverse was going to throw at them? Now standing next to his group the cyborg looked at the various other groups who were nervously looking at each other before one of the Rocks sighed and started waving.
"Dad's German and Wily's Japanese in our world if it's any help."
Everyone blinked creating a disturbing plink sound as they just looked at the Rock in question who indeed had German features unlike the vaguely Japanese every other version had. Bryan however didn't say anything as his eyes tracked the two aggravated Lights, ethnicity was rather minor to him right now.
No, instead he was wondering if there was a possibility that Wily and Light might have swapped roles in another world. Or they had a version where the man's more dark traits were closer to the surface such as him going rather command heavy on his creations.
7.5 - Oh look, more time travel in reverse -
Bryan winced as he ducked behind and helped brace Break Man's shield with his one remaining good arm. His cybernetic one however was completely ruined from about half way between his shoulder and elbow.
This was, thankfully, the only damage he had received but had basically taken him out of the fight that was happening. Not that he wanted to be involved in it, the teen prefers being in the background when events like this happen and leaving it to the big names.
Sharing a glance with the white and red RM unit in question he sent a signal word over a private channel. A signal nod was his reply and carefully the two of them stood up, still behind said shield, before slowly backing away.
When a stray shot came their way from, what was his name again, Vill, Vale, Vile, right Vile, the two braced and managed to bounce it away from themselves.
Blinking in bewilderment the cyborg carefully peeked over the thing and noted that it wasn't damaged at all.
"Break… What the hell is this shield made from?"
Said bot in question also peeked over the top and glanced at the surface as the two continued to slowly back away. He noted that not even the coating was warped by the heat of the shot before shaking his head in disbelief.
"I have no frakken clue kid. Hell, I doubt even Wily would know and he's the one who made the damn thing."
The two by now had edged away from the cleaning said fight was taking place mainly between X and Vile as Rock attempted to keep the one known as Spark Mandrill distracted. Keyword was attempted as the little blue robot was just sort of just acting like a particularly annoying bug.
Actually, as Bryan glanced at the Light bot in question he had to hold back a snort of amusement at the sight of them sporting numerous bruises while acting like a particularly feral kid. At some point the Blue Bomber had actually attempted to bite the brown animal like Reploid, as he learned these future robots called themselves.
In fact, Spark Mandrill was starting to adopt a particularly fearful look as Rush joined the fight and both master and support unity were attempting to bite his neck. Seriously what the heck was Light putting into his primary fighter bot if he was acting like this, and how was it working?"
By now the two of them had managed to back up roughly to the Skull Craft where Wily was keeping a careful eye on the situation. He was just glad that the two had the mind to try and get out of the line of fire and leave the whole thing to the hero.
Then there was a sudden flash of light that caused everyone to pause and look over at the sudden appearance of another portal. Less than a second later a red blur shot out of said portal at speed and Rock just barely managed to pull Rush away as it collided with the animal bot.
At that point the fight was definitely one sided as a new Reploid with long blonde hair quickly made a difference. Mandrill was quickly beaten into the ground and Vile was now on the defensive as X started tag teaming with the newcomer with an ease that could only be experienced from countless hours of working together.
Without wasting a moment however both Break and Bryan scrambled into the Skull Craft which Wily maneuvered to safety the second they were confirmed inside. Then the two just joined him to watch the fight unfold with morbid curiosity, uncaring of Rock off to the side next to the remains of Snake Man and some other bots nobody could be bothered to remember.
"Is that… is that an actual Light saber?"
"Yes… yes it is…"
"Uh… we won't be sued for copyright infringement will we?"
Break, Wily, and Bryan spoke absently as they watched the fight even as the lasts questioned lingered in the air. Not that the former two cared about the Cyborgs question, they were evil and such paltry matters didn't concern them.
That however didn't matter as all three of them were united in recreating the iconic weapon now that they had concrete evidence it worked in the real world. Hell, like it would be hard to fake Force powers in general either, targeted Gravity Control would go a long way to making something similar to Telekinesis possible.
At this point however Vile snarls, tosses the battered and badly beaten Spark Mandrill in front of him and fires his shoulder mounted cannon at the bot in question. The end result was basically the death of the animalistic Reploid shocking the two good ones, and giving them enough time to escape.
All three just look at each other as the red Reploid starts letting out a rather impressive string of curses that they privately start taking notes of. X just sighed in fond annoyance at his companion as Rock slowly approached and Wily quietly lowered the Skull Craft as they listened in.
"Hey Rock, this is Zero, my best friend in the future. Zero, this is my older brother Rock."
The red Reploid, Zero was their name huh, stopped cursing to actually look at the Robot Master and blinked. A moment of starting later he spoke and somehow missed X freezing as Wily, Break, and Bryan got out of the vehicle.
"You… are ridiculously precious and I want to wrap you in bubble wrap just to keep you safe."
Ignoring this the Cyborg looked on curiously as once again the older looking Mega Man just continued to stare at him. Taking a step to the right the Reploid followed his movement, never leaving him out of their sight for a moment.
"Uh, is you friend alr-"
Bryan never finished as Zero was suddenly gone, just plain gone, from his position with not even a hint of how. Nobody said anything as their eyes moved to the opposite side of the clearing and across a river to the nearest tree.
How they knew where to look nobody would be able to tell but looking at the sight of the Reploid tightly clinging onto a tree branch was something else. In fact the blonde appeared to be blinking as if he was trying to work out what happened himself.
Slowly Rock, Wily, and Breaks eyes moved over to the bewildered Cyborg who looked back at them and shrugged.
"I have no clue what just happened."
7.6 - Who let Tarkin drive?
Looking at a series of papers the trio of humanoids barely paid any attention as a fox and wolf sat in the driver seat and shotgun respectively. Being lost in Space/Time trying to find one's way home was tiring on a good day let alone dealing with whatever they saw during that mess.
The human, cyborg, and robot were still shaken from the last timeline and the mess the Zombie Virus created. Not that the support bots weren't any different, they just had the luck of having more animalistic minds to deal with the added stress.
To think both Wily and Thomas had sacrificed themselves to seal a hidden vault containing over 10,000 souls underground to wait out the infection. A desperate hope that the zombies would starve themselves out and humanity could one day blossom again.
All three definitely made a silent promise to themselves to look at the scientists who caused that mess in their world and deal with them at a later date.
Now however all three were going over the notes on the Time Skimmer in an attempt to figure out a way home. Not that any of them thought it would help really but anything and everything was on the table at this point.
All three of them were sick of this stupid road trip now and just wanted to go home, now, and damn the consequences. The fact that Bass, of all bots, put aside his more war bot tendencies to focus on this task showed how serious he was.
Most tended to forget that for all his battle lust and rude mouth the black robot was technically the same class as Rock. Sure it rarely came up but when the mood struck him he tended to gravitate towards the Lab to bother either of the scientists.
Getting back on track though the three of them were going over the notes and ignoring the fact that Tarkin and Treble were technically driving. Unfortunately however the wolf had basically lost the coin toss leaving the fox as the one in charge of actually navigating.
Even worse, due to how focused Bass was on the notes the purple robot was unable to alert him to the orange foxes plan. Thus grumbling the wolf watched the fox carefully navigate the forces between and drive the Time Skimmer.
It was only when they suddenly came out of the Space/Time continuum that the three humanoids noticed something was wrong. Blinking they looked at the companion bots before slowly glancing up and around the sudden room their vehicle had appeared in.
Numerous people were looking at them in obvious shock, a tall dark figure was just looking in their general direction as if unsure of what to do, and there was a cuffed female standing next to him looking on in disbelief. Moments later the human next to them was blankly looking at the orange form of a giant fox who was giving them a vulpine grin.
The three humanoids in the craft blinked and noticed that the dome was open but unable to explain when it happened. Seconds later the three recognized the scene and two of them looked at the third with a deadpan look.
The individual in question let out a long tired sigh in response and pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking.
"Really Tarkin, really?"
Eyes moved to the giant canine and human in response as the obvious military failed to be effective in this case. Said human blinked for a moment before frowning as he also realized the lack of action of the military personnel.
"That's Grand Moff Tarkin to you intruder."
"Wasn't talking to you, Moff. I was talking to the droid."
Another pause at the instant rebuttal caused everyone's eyes to swivel to the still grinning fox who let out a bark and partly fell apart before pulling themselves back together. Judging from the wagging tail they were happy regardless of what was happening.
Suddenly however they jumped up and gave the Moff a lick on the face before bolting back to the ship and entering.
By the time anyone could react the craft had vanished leaving the incredibly confused group and the irate military officer behind. A moment later however the lights flickered as power all across the station suddenly cut off to emergency generators.
Back in the Time Skimmer however Wily let out a sigh and proceeded to reach over the seat and pull the fox into the back. Once there he sat on them and his apprentice notably did nothing to help his own bot out from this new situation.
That done Bryan and Bass exchanged looks before glancing at Trebil still in the front seat and slowly edging to the controls. Mutual agreement later they said nothing before going back to looking over the notes alongside the German.
Odd incidence aside they just wanted to get home and forget this whole adventure even happened.
7.7 - Bryan's Robot Masters Pt1,
After his first run through in world domination, one he detested, people had been rather on edge around Wily's apprentice. Bryan in turn just ignored them and continued on his way like nothing had happened beyond grumbling in irritation wherever it was brought up.
The local area where Light lived however just got over the situation faster as that was where Wily and the cyborg made most of their appearances. In this case the residents of the city were just plain used to the ongoing struggles and didn't bother to react any more to their presence.
Even the police didn't bother to react nine times out of ten unless either one were actually committing a crime. Most of the time it was Wily, or one of his creations, doing the deeds anyways with Bryan reluctantly doing his best to mitigate things.
The rare few times the cyborg almost got in trouble with the law were only mitigated due to the fact that he was too frazzled to alert authorities about another incident. Then there were the even rarer blue moon incidents where everyone was reminded that for all the good he did the teen was still technically part of the Wily Faction.
Thankfully for everyone involved Bryan was only given a few fines to deal with due to the fact it was his creations going out of control. The Roomba Invasion was still being felt even three years later as the semi-sentient cleaning bots just kept popping up in the oddest of locations.
To this day nobody knows what the kid had done to those bots as they somehow seemed to never run out of power, or why their numbers never seemed to decrease.
Thus when everyone saw the cyborg running around holding a tracker of some kind looking rathered frazzled they alerted the police. Who just looked at the kid and noticed Tarkin running around with a bunch of smaller bots containing various sized containers, before deciding to contact Thomas Light for help.
One thing led to another and Rock was trying his best to keep up with the rogue cyborg who was running around like a headless chicken. It did not help that at some point it looked like the entire city had somehow turned against him leaving the Blue Bomber just a whisker behind them.
At one point Bryan had even somehow managed to literally run over the Robot leaving a rather distinctive shoe print on their face. Or maybe it was the robot equivalent of a bloody nose from said shoe accidentally hitting said nose.
Thankfully for Rock the bleeding stopped rather quickly but he still had to wash said red coolant off his face. Ignoring this however he took a quick turn around a building into the more industrial part of the city before slowing down and coming to a stop just beside the cyborg.
For a few moments both of them just stared at the sight in front of them incomprehensibly before turning to look at each other. The Robot Master was suddenly having flashbacks to the Bryan War at the mere sight in front of him.
"Bryan…"
"Yes Rock, you're not seeing things."
"What is going on here?"
For a moment the cyborg was just looking at Rock before letting out a tired sigh and slumping in defeat.
"You… long story short, the Robot Masters I made were rushed and rather shoddily made for the ugh, Bryan War, so I wanted to flush them out a bit more. Give them actual intelligence, flesh out their respective weapons a bit more than originally, and properly themed minions."
Nodding absently in acceptance, the bots were rather lackluster from what he remembered, the blue eyed bot thought that threw a bit more.
"In that case, how did upgrading them lead to… this?"
Gesturing towards the scene in front of them Rock watched as Bryan looked at the device in his hand and swore under their breath. They looked up at him for a moment before glancing at the scene in front of them and wincing.
"Err… In order to get them done as fast as I could I sort of made them empty shells for Tarkin to puppet around at will. That uh, kind of backfired rather spectacularly as you can see and the bots in question got away with rather… unstable weapons."
Mega Man looked at the cyborg for a moment, slowly turned to look back at the scene in front of them, before repeating said turn to look back at his sorta friend.
The street, almost every vehicle on it, the sides of the buildings facing said street, were all covered in black goo. This basically created a trail presumably leading to a good sized skyscraper that was basically half covered in said goo with green crystals growing out of the side.
"What… the… frack…"
There really was no other way to phrase that statement because things were definitely not going to be normal.
"Yeah… the other seven are sorta loose somewhere else in the city but the odds of me being able to do anything about them now? If this is anything to go by then I doubt I'd be able to do much before being overwhelmed by them."
Rock had nothing to say to this, he literally couldn't say anything about this, what else could he say about this?
Instead he ran through that conversation again and tried to pick things up from it he could have missed. Eventually however he came to another fact that made him pause trying to figure it out.
"Unstable Weapons?"
Bryan winced at the question the robot let out and glanced at the street noting the distinct lack of people. He was going to be in trouble regardless of what happens after today so it really didn't matter what he said, not that the cyborg really liked it anyways.
"Yeah, unstable… I sort of took apart the restriction codes amongst other things and wasn't able to put them back in before the bots escaped. The uh… weapons were sorta under an artificial growth map to gauge what they could do under the right conditions which wasn't taken out when they retook them so…
"Every second that ticks by they're sorta evolving with new capabilities but no real restrictions imposed on them.
"Whatever happens after the battle don't make a copy of them and seek me out immediately so I can fix it. Heck, I'm not even sure they can survive this unchecked evolution if it's kept up for too long."
Rock couldn't help but wince at this admission as he looked back at the scene in front of them. Looks like he's going for round two, electric boogaloo version with Bryan's creations.
"What are you going to do in the meantime and what could you give me about them?"
Looking at the cyborg the Robot Master saw that they were looking at their device again before pausing and looking up at the street. Looking as well he noticed what looked like vaguely black blobs slowly making their way towards them.
"Err… Rock, I'm going to be busy trying to track down the rest of the escapees for the time being. As for uh, this one in particular?
"Their weapon was mostly supposed to be a capture and restrain type of putty they could shape into crystals. Now however… whelp looks like it's a hostage situation and I really need to be somewhere else less I become assimilated and make this an even bigger mess than it is now.
"Bye!"
Without a word Bryan quickly turned tailed and fled leaving Mega Man to look on at the scene in increasing horror. Those were humans under the goo and they appeared to be struggling against whatever was moving their bodies against their wills.
The robot really wanted to curse right now but quickly put that on hold as he ducked a sloppily aimed punch. It was also at this time that he realized this sort of situation was just the type that Wily enjoyed so much.
Right, Bryan was part of that group no matter how much he liked them as a friend. Obviously he was going to cause something right up that alley whether intentionally or not.