Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Metropolis, Mega City, Colorado

May 23, 20XX

"My name is Oswald Richardson, but you can call me Osric, and you're watching Science Forum Live. Today is the last day before the LIT Manual Design Contest, and we have a most special guest." Osric gestured towards the man with the big white beard. "Dr. Thomas Xavier Light, inventor of the modern A.I."

"Thank you kindly for having me here." Dr. Light smiled and bowed his head, putting his hands together.

"Now, Dr. Light, how did you come to get into robotics?"

"I'd be lying if I didn't say my child self just wanted to create robotic companions like in old TV shows." Dr. Light gave a jovial chuckle.

"It was while I attended the Robot Institute of Technology that my ideas had finally become a reality. In 20XX-22, two years into my education, the very first robot I created with independent thought was Auto, or Auto Rightot in a business setting. His design may be primitive, but his brain was anything but. With him, I won first place in the LIT Manual Design Contest in 20XX-16."

"And here we are!" Auto placed a cardboard box on the counter, tearing open the tape using a drill bit in his right hand. "Thanks for helping me with all that, Light!"

"Don't mention it, but it's not as easy as it used to be for me." Dr. Light held onto his back, cringing in pain.

"C'mon, I'm sure it's not that bad!" Auto pulled out a peculiar mechanical part that Dr. Light hadn't seen before.

"You should really ask the others to help you out then. They're better made for heavy lifting than I am." Dr. Light straightened his posture. "I know I've helped you all these years but I'm getting old."

"Aww…" Auto sounded dejected. "It just isn't the same without ya."

"I know, but I still love you the same, my son." Dr. Light patted him on the shoulder.

"Aw, doc!" Auto wiped his eyes as if he were crying, even though he was incapable of doing so.

"After creating Auto, even before getting research into robots with independent thought greenlit, I immediately worked hard to make something never even conceived. An A.I. that aged like a human brain. My first attempt was successful and won me first place yet again in 20XX-8. Eventually, however, he broke down due to a faulty solar core.

"It was a heavy loss to me… But I used the information I had gathered from his growing up to create my two children, Rock and Roll, in a sped-up version of the aging and learning process. In 20XX-2, this new process earned me first place for the third time. I have used it for every robot I created since."

"Dad's home!" Two voices called out. A boy of nine and a girl of eight ran out to greet Dr. Light, running into his open arms.

"Yes, here I am, kids!" Dr. Light laughed and embraced them. "Were you two behaved while I was gone?"

"Yeah!" Rock smiled brightly.

"Wellll…" Roll looked over at Rock.

"Well?" Light looked at his daughter.

"Rock didn't do the dishes."

"Huh?! But I thought that was your chore today!" Rock shot her an accusing look.

"I did 'em yesterday, I already told ya." Roll stuck her tongue out.

"Now, now, no need to start anything. Rock, could you please get them done? For me?"

"Oh, alright." Rock broke out of the hug. "Sorry."

"You apologize too, Roll." Dr. Light shot Roll a stern look.

"Huh? Why?" Roll looked defensive.

"It's clear you told on him just to try and get him in trouble, and to rile him up." Dr. Light gave a small "tut-tut".

"…Sorry…" Roll looked down.

"It's alright." Rock smiled at her. "Besides, the faster I get done, the faster I get to watch Ultra Seven!" Rock dashed off.

"It's always about Ultraman with you!" Roll laughed and followed him.

"What I'm here in this contest to show off is the new industrial robots I have created, the Robot Masters. The first two I made were Cut Man and Guts Man. Despite them having disparate creation dates, they grew closer as brothers than I could ever have imagined."

"Come on, Cut!" Guts Man gripped Cut Man's shoulder.

"No, the job sucks! I'm done! I quit today!" Cut Man sat cross-legged on the grass, with a grouchy look on his face.

"Excuse me." Dr. Light opened the backyard door and approached them. "What's all the shouting about?"

"Heya pops. He had an accident at work again." Guts Man patted the smaller bot. Cut Man was made for cutting wood. Accidents were all too common for him.

"Even if you paid me, I ain't lumberjacking anymore!" Poor Cut Man was an unlucky fellow, with a short temper to boot.

"A bit of bad luck is no reason to quit." Dr. Light scratched his beard.

"My whole life is bad luck!"

"Is there anything we can do, Guts Man?" Dr. Light looked up at the bigger robot.

"Hmm. This calls for drastic measures." The big guy cracked his knuckles. "I'm gonna have to bust out my secret weapon!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Cut Man immediately stood up as if he were going to run away.

"Oh, but I would!" Guts Man lifted the smaller robot by the arms with one hand. Being made for construction and land reclamation meant Guts Man had immense strength.

"Oh no!" Cut Man swung around, but the big guy had an iron grip on him.

"Let's see that smile!" Guts tickled Cut Man using his free hand.

"Pff-hehehehehehey! You freakin' jeheheheheheherk!" Cut laughed, forced to smile.

"There it is!" Guts immediately put his brother down. "Lemme tell you right now. Your bad luck won't last forever. If it's any good for you, I can come to help you out at work when you're having a bad time, if my schedule will let me."

"…you'd do that for me?" Cut Man brightened up a little. Hearing Guts Man's motivational speeches made him feel better.

"Heh… thanks, Guts. You really lifted my spirits." Cut Man's grin widened. "Geddit? Lifted?" Both of the bots laughed together. An inseparable pair they were.

"Ice Man currently works at a zoo and was created for research in the Antarctic, but he's a lot more flexible in his functions as well. He has a particular rivalry with my detonation robot, Bomb Man. Ice's upstanding, do-good personality clashes with the punkish, mischievous Bomb."

"What are you two doing?!" Dr. Light's voice rang out.

"There he is." Ice Man saluted the doctor. "Sorry, sir. I had to use my weapon on Bomb Man to keep him from snooping in places he shouldn't be."

"C-Come on, what harm is there in taking a little peek?!" Bomb Man's feet were frozen to the ground, unable to lift his legs.

The doctor sighed. "It's fine. If you had to. But now we have to get Bomb Man free."

"I'll go get the pick, sir." Ice Man walked off.

Dr. Light looked at Bomb Man, disappointed but not angry. "Why were you causing so much trouble for Ice Man?"

"C'mon, old man! You can't hide anything from me!"

"Hide what?"

"We're getting two more brothers, aren't we?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb, gramps! All that ringing and that crude oil smell!"

Dr. Light pinched the bridge of his nose. "Privacy is dead. Yes, you're going to get two more brothers, but don't tell anyone else. I wanted them to be a pleasant surprise."

"Oh, I could squeal whenever I want!"

"Okay, but that wouldn't be punk rock of you."

"!" Bomb Man made a zipper motion over his mouth and gave a thumbs up. Telling him his actions aren't punk rock works on him like squirting a cat with water.

"Fire Man is a garbage disposal robot. Elec Man regulates the power plant to prevent blackouts and meltdowns. While Fire Man is loud, excitable, and hotheaded, Elec Man usually keeps his cool and has a particularly collected way of speaking. They are in all regards a funny man/straight man duo."

"Oh, you're home early, Elec Man." Dr. Light turned around and smiled.

"Indeed, I am, they said they'd let me so I can mentally prepare for the contest tomorrow-" Elec Man put a few bags down from when he went shopping on the way home.

"YEEHAW!" Elec Man was interrupted by Fire Man almost tackling him. "You ready and rarin' to go, Elec Man?!"

"Fire Man, not so loud!" Dr. Light separated the two.

"Aw, c'mon Doc, he's gotta be as excited as we all are!"

"I am, I just don't barge into people's personal space because of it." Elec Man rolled his eyes.

"Elec Man, what did I say about that attitude?"

"I'm sorry Doctor, I just wish to discuss something with you. Privately. Please." Elec Man tried to be more polite.

"Gee, uh… Sorry 'bout that, bud." Fire Man looked downright remorseful.

"It's fine, I understand you want to show what you're made of to all those people. I can relate." Elec Man thrived on attention. Nothing made him feel more alive than showing off.

"We can certainly talk, but right now, I have important phone calls and paperwork to tend to regarding Bomb Man." Dr. Light rubbed Elec Man's shoulder. "Come see me in an hour. Then we can talk."

"Thank you, father." Elec Man gave a smile, but it had a tinge of knowing sorrow.

"It was an absolute honor having you here, Dr. Light." Osric shook Dr. Light's hand.

"Thank you very much. I look forward to the contest." Dr. Light gave a wistful smile.

"Thank you for recording the interview for me." Elec Man smiled and patted Roll on the head.

"It was Rock's idea!" Roll giggled. "He knew you wouldn't want to miss out on it!"

"I'm finished!" Rock put the last dish in the drying rack, turning around to run but almost bumping into Guts Man.

"Whoa, careful, little buddy!" Guts Man grabbed him and lifted him onto his shoulder. "You know what dad told you about running in the house."

"I know! " Rock gave a nervous smile and dropped down, poking his head into his and Roll's room. "Can I use the TV now?"

"You earned it." Elec Man smiled and moved out of Rock's way. "Go ahead."

"Thanks!" Rock opened a small box full of DVD boxes, pulling out volume 3 of Ultra Seven and placing it in the disc slot.

"Rock, don't sit so close to the TV, you'll strain your eyes," Roll said with concern.

"My eyes aren't like human eyes, I'll be fine!" Rock fidgeted, wrapping himself in a blanket.

"If you say so." Roll sat behind him. "You really love superheroes, huh?"

"Aren't they exciting? I wanna be like Ultraman, fighting monsters and the forces of evil!"

"You gotta get superpowers built into you, you know."

"I can ask dad!" Rock looked sure of himself.

"You could, but would he let you?"

Rock stayed quiet for a bit before he continued, "I don't know." Rock's confidence slowly faded from his face. "I know he always worries about me, and fighting evil can be dangerous. He probably wouldn't say yes…"

"Well, if it'd make you happier, then I hope you can become a hero too." Roll pat him on the back.

"Aww, Roll!" Rock gently smiled.

Elec Man intended to go straight to Dr. Light, but something made him stop in the middle of the main lab. He wished he knew where Dr. Light kept all the records on his programming. Was he programmed with a paranoia protocol? Is that why he feels so crazy?

His musing was interrupted by an arm cannon tapping him on the back. "Wh- Fire Man?"

"Y'need someone to talk to, buddy?"

"Fire, it's-" Elec Man shook his head. "I want this to be between me and the doctor. It's nothing against you."

"I know, but I just wanna help ya! What's wrong?"

After a pause, Elec Man spoke up, "I feel like I'm being watched. Stalked almost. I've been seeing that crow everywhere at work." He leaned up against the wall.

"Is that the real reason ya left work early? You shoulda said something!" Fire Man tried his best to give Elec Man a hug. "How big was this crow anyway?"

"How big-" Elec Man looked confused. "It was bigger than an average crow I suppose."

"I saw a mighty big one at the garbage burnin' plant myself!" Fire Man scratched his head with the barrel of his cannon. "Orange beak? Orange talons?"

"Y-Yes!" Elec Man put his hands over his mouth. "So I'm not just paranoid?"

"I gotta bad feelin' about this, but I don't wanna doubt the thing. Birds are my favorite creatures on this green Earth." Fire Man frowned.

Elec Man turned around. "I'm going to put my talk with Dr. Light on hold. I need to ask everyone something."

Dr. Light put the last of the papers into the manilla envelope. He planted his head on the desk, groaning loudly now that everything was done. He tilted his head so his chin rested on the mahogany before his eyes caught sight of a picture.

A photograph from his college days. Two young men, one with rather well-kept, rounded hair, and the other with spikey, unkempt hair, standing arm-in-arm, right behind an old prototype robot they built together.

A wave of guilt washed over Dr. Light. Should he have told the whole story during that interview? Should he have talked about him?

A knock on the door brought Dr. Light back to reality. "O-Oh, uh, come in!" he stammered.

"Are you finished, Doctor?" Elec Man cracked the door open and looked in.

"Yes, I've finished. You wanted to talk to me, right?" Light tried to smile, but it was still obvious that he was anxious.

"Nervous about tomorrow?"

"No. Well, yes, but something else has been eating away at me…"

"Same here." Elec Man walked over to Dr. Light. "Something's been bothering me since I was going to the power plant. This weird robotic crow had been following me."

"R-Really?"

"That's not all. Fire Man had told me that he saw a big crow at the disposal plant. I felt like it couldn't have been a coincidence. So, just earlier, I was going around asking the others if they too saw it.

"Everyone claimed they saw that same bird before you came home from the interview. Rock and Roll at the park, Cut at the lumber yard, Guts at the construction yard, Bomb at his demolition site, and Ice while he was at his zookeeping job."

"Wait, are you implying that we're being stalked by this thing?!"

"Well, that seems to be the case. It doesn't seem to know where we live, however. But what I don't understand is the who or the why." Elec Man tried to think.

"Okay. Tomorrow, we're going to take precautions." Dr. Light held onto Elec Man's shoulders. "We're going to implement a buddy system at the contest. I have to make sure everyone stays together and if that crow shows up, we should contact someone."

"A most logical course of action." Elec Man turned to exit the room, before facing Dr. Light again. "You keep looking at that photograph. Who is that other guy anyway? Your boyfriend~?"

"ELEC-" Light tried to keep himself from yelling. "Now is not the time for jokes! T-That picture is extremely important to me!"

"And why~?"

"The emotional baggage that comes with it."

"Oh. I'm sorry, then." Elec stepped back. "Goodnight, doctor."

"Goodnight, Elec Man."

Elec closed the door behind him, leaving Light to look back at the picture frame.

A hurricane of emotions blew over Light as he inspected the picture's finer details.

And as he went to bed and tried to sleep, memories came flooding back to him in his dreams.

"Are you kidding me, Tom?!"

"Calm down, Al."

"Of all the things you name the robot, the robot we're supposed to present as a completely serious project, and as a serious step for robotic A.I, you give it one of the seriously stupidest names possible!"

"Rightot's not a stupid name!" Tom got defensive.

"It is too! That's like something you name a little baby robot!" Al gesticulated by bending over and putting a hand palm-down at his knees.

"I suppose you can come up with a better name?" Tom crossed his arms

"Of course! A robot that can think on its own, talk on its own, even act on its own—within reasonable limits. It's a robot with full autonomy! We'll call him Auto!" Al beamed to himself, proud.

"It sounds like a robot for a car dealership." Tom looked mildly disappointed.

"It's definitely better than your name!" Al looked indignant.

"Alright, if you insist, his name will be Auto." Tom shook his head.

"Then let's boot him up and see if we've made any progress!"

The two held each others' hands as they flipped the on-switch. The robot's eyes blinked before it lifted its head to look at the two.

"Heyyy, Dr. Light!"

Dr. Light jolted awake, looking at either side of the bed before seeing that big green robot. "Oh, Auto…"

"C'mon, Doc! You can't oversleep on our big day!" Auto pulled Dr. Light out of bed and stuck him into the bathroom. "Get ready!"

Dr. Light groaned, turning on the sink to wash his face off. "Okay, Light, don't assume the worst will happen. Everyone can make it through this." He pepped himself up, straightened his back, looked forward, and made his way out of his bedroom.

"Doctorrr!" The voice of a certain orange bot rang out as he nearly tackled Light.

"Whoa! What's going on, Cut?"

"Come on, we have a surprise for you!" Cut Man dragged Light down to the kitchen.

"Slow down, you know my legs aren't what they used to be!" Light attempted to keep up with the smaller bot.

"Come on, come on!" Cut brought him into the dining room and sat him down in a chair.

"Good morning, Pops!" Guts Man laid a plate in front of Light. Blueberry pancakes, topped with honey and maple syrup.

"Oh, good morning! How kind of you to do this for me!" The doctor was almost always the one who cooked for himself. Usually, the other bots only made his meals when it was his birthday.

"Today's a special day! We gotta do something special for ya!" Guts turned and shouted down the hall. "Kiiids, are we ready to go when Dr. Light's done?!"

Rock ran out of his room with a loaded backpack. "Morning, Light!" The fact he was able to run while wearing the backpack was a miracle.

Roll followed soon after, but much slower with a glum look on her face.

"Hey, uh, you okay, Roll?" Cut approached his only sister.

Roll shook her head. "I can't find my necklace."

"You mean the one with that fake crystal?"

"I looked in my backpack, I looked in my drawer, I looked around my nightstand, but I couldn't find it!"

"Did Bomb take it?"

"Hey man, I may be a jerk, but I don't steal from kids! Especially not Roll!" Bomb walked in, almost as if on cue.

"Feh, you wanna help find it then?" Guts snickered.

"You bet your sweet ass I will find it!"

Roll's face lit right up. "Really? Thanks, Bomb Man!"

"Anything for my little sis!" Bomb Man immediately marched into the kids' room.

"Bomb really is a good person at heart. Even if he doesn't express it all the time." Light smiled.

"There it is!" That was quick. Bomb exited the room, brushing off his mohawk and the necklace's crystal. "It was under your bed! It must have fallen while you were asleep."

"Thank you so much!" Roll put the necklace on, then bit the crystal. She needed the chew necklace so she didn't have a meltdown going to unfamiliar places.

"Happy to help!" Bomb Man gave her a great big smile.

"For once." Cut Man snarked.

"S-Shut up!"

"Now, now, settle down!" Light had cleaned his plate. "I'm finished, thank you for the food, everyone."

"Then let's go!" Rock made a mad dash to go outside.

"Man, how much can those little legs take?" Bomb was quite shocked he was even able to run.

"He plays a lot of soccer, they're really strong!" Roll took Light's plate and walked to the sink. It was her chore today.

"W-We aren't humans, you know! We don't just build muscle from exercising!"

"Are we taking off yet?" Ice Man stood firmly in front of the van. "Did we do everything we were supposed to before we left?"

"Yup! And I got everything in this backpack!" Rock was getting antsy.

"May I ask why your backpack is so filled?"

"Oh, I got plenty of games and spare clothes to go round!"

"Why do you need so much- Never mind, fair enough." Ice stepped aside. "Go on. I need to wait for the others now."

Rock climbed into the van, and its "guardian" walked, almost marched towards Doctor Light. "Sir, have you found a housesitter?"

"The same one as always, it's Auto." Light smiled.

"Y-You're joking, right? That guy?"

"We work with what we have, and it's been working every time we've had to leave the house all at once. Everything will be alright, Ice, I promise!"

"Now you're just tempting fate!" Ice hopped into the van.

Dr. Light looked behind him, seeing Cut and Guts walk out of the house. "How's everything going now?"

"Elec Man is still getting his makeup all done, he thinks it's going to matter." Guts Man shrugged.

"C'mon, if you were brave enough to wear makeup, you'd think it'd matter as well!" Cut giggled.

"B-Brave enough?" Guts Man stuttered, "I, uh... guess you're right."

Dr. Light leaned up against the van. "I pray that he'll finish up soon."

? ? ? ?

"Take off, Pipi!" A raspy voice called out towards the dim light of his computers. He was an old, balding man, despite being only fifty-one years of age.

This Pipi he was shouting to was a small robotic bird. A prototype attack robot. But as soon as it tried to lift off, it crashed into the ceiling, smashing itself.

"Dammit! I still need to make tweaks to the design. But that's fine! I've still got way more than where that came from! That man will regret- nay, ALL of them will regret not accepting my steps towards mankind's progress, or my name isn't Doctor Albert W. Wily!

"And what better time to strike than today of all days! There will be no trophy waiting for you in this contest, Doctor Light. Only the despair of having all of your robots stolen from you! Nuha! Nuahahahahahahaaa-" Wily went into a coughing fit. "I still need to practice that laugh…"

Chapter Text

Towering skyscrapers stood proudly along the road, the sun helping to emphasize the city's beauty.

"It's been so long since I've been here again!" Rock was staring out the window, looking at all the people and places.

"I haven't even been this far into Mega City before! It's so huge!" Cut Man was kicking excitedly in his seat.

"It's a bit scary, honestly." Ice Man was looking down and twiddling his thumbs.

"Don't worry, if we stick together it'll be fine!" Guts Man patted Ice on the head.

"That's right, we'll be okay!" Dr. Light parked the van right in front of a massive building. "This is the Megadome, the biggest stadium in the country, and where the LIT Manual Design Contest has been held for the longest time!"

"Hoooo-wee! Lookit that! No other place as grand as this!" Fire Man looked on with admiration.

"So many eyes will be on me! Oh, the thought is giving me the chills!" Elec Man twirled around, feeling the need to do these flourishes to accentuate his point.

"It'll be the perfect place to show off our skills! We'll make the work we do look fun and exciting!" Bomb Man fluffed his mohawk a little bit, making sure it was standing up perfectly.

"Alright now, get into pairs, everyone!" Dr. Light clapped his hands together.

"I'm going with Rock, obviously!" Roll patted her brother on the back.

"And I'm gonna go with Guts!" Cut Man hung off of the big guy's arm.

"I'm going to go with Bomb Man and make sure he keeps out of trouble." Ice Man stood beside the punk.

"C'mon, boy scout, it's not like I'm going to hurt people! I'm not that kinda guy." Bomb Man held his hands up.

"And I guess that leaves me with Fire Man." Elec Man crossed his arms and inched his way over to the last sibling available.

"It's gonna be a lotta fun together!" Fire Man chuckled and wrapped his arm around Elec's shoulder.

"Watch the makeup!"

"Settle down, you two. Let's go!" Dr. Light gave everyone an ID badge. "I'll be in the stadium's auditorium if you need me. We still have half an hour to do what we want before the contest."

"Plenty of time to tell the directors how to light the place for my performance!" Elec Man leaned to the side.

"Yes, indeed." Dr. Light led them all to the entrance, and as if he were opening the gates of paradise, pushed both of them wide so all of them could fit through.

"They've entered the Megadome!"

"Good. I expect great things from you." Dr. Wily crossed his fingers. "Find Fire Man and don't let any of the other ones catch you, else the objective will be compromised."

"Yessir!"

"When I appear, make the lights pink, and each time I use my Thunder Beam, make them yellow!" Elec Man chatted to the lighting technicians with a laundry list of directions he had in mind for his section of Dr. Light's presentation.

"Jeez, are you an industrial robot or a straight-up diva?" One of them scratched his head.

"Yes!" Elec Man replied

"Maybe I could suggest-" Fire Man spoke up.

"Not now, Fire Man!" Elec Man interrupted him.

"…A'ight." Fire Man sluggishly nodded.

"Now, I can't afford to have it all screwed up during the show, so we're going to practice it now!" Elec Man clapped his hands.

"It's not going to be easy for us, you know. This ain't America's Got Talent." The other sighed and turned away.

"You've been doing this for most of your lives and you're telling me you can't do a few meager color changes?!" Elec Man huffed.

"I just started yesterday, man…"

"And already your most important task has come! Act like it!" Elec Man stepped onto the center of the stage.

"Er, Elec Man?" Fire Man tried to step up to him.

"Not now, Fire Man!" Elec Man dismissed him again.

Fire Man kept his mouth shut. And shut. And shut. But it seemed Elec Man was going to be at this for a while. Fire Man was getting bored.

If Elec wasn't going to humor him, Fire Man might as well exit the auditorium and go see more of the Megadome.

Fire Man felt at peace looking around the event. Robots and their fans, happily congregating and showing off their love and their tech.

But the one robot that stood out the most to him was a strange black bird that came waddling up to him.

"Hey, I know ya! You're the big ol' crow I saw at work! Howdy!" Fire smiled, squatting down to give the bird a pet on the head.

"Caw, caw!" The bird flapped its wings, looking up at the hothead before leaping up onto his shoulder.

"So, you got any function, bud? Can you talk or anything? Have any special abilities?"

"Caw!"

"A bird of few words. A bird, built just to be that. Modeled off of an ol' pet, I reckon. The simplicity brings a tear to my eye…" He wiped his face with his sleeve before the bird began to peck around in his head. "Hehehey! C'mon now, don't do that!"

"Caw!" The crow hopped off from his shoulder and bounced up and down.

"Had a good ride? Hope I get to see you again!" He waved down at the bird before turning the other way.

The bird waddled under an abandoned table station. "The dummy fell for it! I put the tracker right into his head as you told me to!"

"Well done, Reggae! I knew we picked the right target." Dr. Wily clapped his hands together.

"But I'm curious, what's it for when you already know they're in the Megadome?"

"It's what those who like to play the long game call 'insurance'." Wily sneered as he moved from the computers. "Now, it's time I crashed their little party!"

"You sure this is the place that bird is, Roslyn?" An old, scruffy-looking cop scratched his head and looked around, the "bird" they were looking for nowhere to be seen.

"I'm certain that it is, Gil." A much younger-looking cop pulled out a sketch from her pocket. "That tip we got said it'd be here. We just have to look in the right places."

"Well, so far, every single place we've looked is wrong. And I still insist that whoever designed this thing is a moron. I mean, that's supposed to be an oriental stork?"

"Gil, this is the fifth time that you've complained about the stork thing. Are you okay?"

"No."

"…Didn't think so."

"I don't even like robots and all that junk, so we better find him quickly." Gil was flashing looks at everyone he could, hoping that he'd find at least one person who'd seen their target.

"Oof!" Someone bumped into Gil's leg. When he turned around to see who it is, it was a little kid in orange. "S-Sorry, sir!"

Gil glared down at this kid. "You're that Rock bot Light made, aren't ya?"

"Y-Yeah, why do you-"

"Leave Rock alone!" Roll immediately rushed to Rock's side. "Who do you think you are?!"

"Calm down, miss." Roslyn stood beside Gil. "I'm Officer Roslyn Krantz, and this is my partner, Detective Gilbert D. Stern. We got calls about this particular robot bird and we were wondering if you've seen it." She knelt down and showed the two kids the police sketch.

"Hey, we saw it while we were playing soccer yesterday!" Rock grabbed the paper.

"We think it's following us around, but we haven't seen it here yet," Roll said with a worried tone.

"Following you?" Gil straightened himself out. "What was it doing when you last saw it?"

Rock scratched his arm. "It was just staring right at us for some reason… It gave us bad vibes so we went back home."

"If it's following you guys around, then it has to be here somewhere." Roslyn looked up to Gil.

"We'll have to keep a close eye on Light's bots then. Thanks, you two. You were a big help." Gil pocketed the sketch. "Let's go, Roslyn. The contest starts in five minutes and we need to guard the premises."

"Five minutes?! C'mon, Roll, we better hurry!" Rock held onto Roll's hand and ran as fast as his little legs could take him, not wanting to miss any of his siblings perform.

Ice Man paced back and forth behind the curtains, nervous. He had practiced this speech for a while but didn't expect it to debut here of all places. Bomb Man placed a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder.

"What's wrong? You look like you're gonna be on a date with a shark, dude," Bomb softly chuckled, but Ice wasn't laughing.

"Now is not the time for jokes," Ice Man grumbled, "I just don't know what to do with my speech. I made it easy to understand, to-the-point, but I don't know if the audience will even listen to it!"

"Well, why don't you make it interesting with your Ice Slasher? Like, make ice statues with it. That adds some pizzazz! Anything's improved if you make it pretty!"

"Well, I'll take your word for it." Ice circled his shoulders, trying to loosen himself up.

"You two ready for your big debut?!" A voice came from behind the two Robot Masters. A tall man, with spiky gold hair and a nice suit.

"Hey, you're the mayor, right? Leonardo Dorado!" Bomb Man seemed excited. "What're you doing here?"

"I was chosen to be this year's announcer for the contest!" The mayor grinned. "I've heard of how impressive Dr. Light's robots are, but I never thought I'd get a chance to see it right here in person!"

"Dr. Light's really that popular?" Bomb Man tilted his head.

"He's won the contest every time he's been here so far!" The mayor chuckled.

"Of course, we do know this from the interview yesterday. Auto, the mystery robot, and Rock and Roll." Ice Man nodded. "Do you know who the second robot was?"

"I forgot his name, it was like, Bruise? No, that can't be it." Dorado snapped his fingers. "Uh, Clues? It's been a while since I've seen him or even heard about him."

"Well, Light said he broke down because of his core. It must have ruined his I.C. chip if he hasn't ever come back." Bomb Man shrugged.

"It must be hard, losing a kid." Dorado fixed his collar. "But now's not the time to think of the past! Now's the time to show everyone what you're made of!" He checked his watch before calling out, "One more minute!"

"Alright, places, everyone!" Dr. Light clapped his hands, with the other four Robot Masters standing behind him. "Are you all ready for what's coming up?"

"You bet we are!" Cut Man pumped his fists.

"We're not gonna disappoint you, pops!" Guts Man flexed his arm.

Dr. Light chuckled to himself. "Good, good!" He peeked out from behind the curtains, seeing Rock and Roll sitting right there in the front row. Rock waved and Roll smiled away, flapping her hands. "Everything's going to be okay." Dr. Light told himself as the contest began.

"Ladies and gentlemen, and everyone else! Welcome to the LIT Manual Design Contest! I'm so excited to be announcing! How're we doing?!"

Gil stood in front of the stage, looking over at Roslyn. "I gotta say, I only expected a bunch of people who were probably new to this, but there's a lot of veterans. Dr. Lalinde, Dr. Astil, even Dr. Kouin…"

"Heh, I thought you weren't interested in robots and all that 'junk'." Roslyn snickered.

"S-Shut up, I just had to research them before we got here."

Mayor Dorado clapped his hands. "Now, our first contestant is our three-time winner of this contest, as well as the winner of the golden World Engineer Award! Put your hands together for Doctor Thomas Xavier Light!"

Light walked out and bowed, the mayor handing him the microphone. "Thank you very much for having me here! It's a great honor to be-" His microphone started cutting out. "Huh?"

"Oh, dear." Dorado walked up and took the microphone. "Bummer, h… We jus… …ed and already we have te… …al difficulties!"

"M-Mayor, look!" Dr. Light pointed up at the jumbotron, which was fading rapidly to static, sometimes with a strange man appearing on the screen.

That was Gil and Roslyn's cue to jump onto the stage. Before they knew it, a strange face appeared on-screen.

"Your attention, please! My name is Doctor Albert W. Wily! Don't know me? Why, that's not surprising, considering that Dr. Light stole the thunder that was rightfully mine!"

Gil took a megaphone out of his coat. "Attention, everyone! You have to evacuate! Please do so in an orderly manner! Do not panic!"

"Well, you heard the man, let's go! Go get Rock and Roll, Guts!" Cut Man bolted out the door that was backstage, along with the other Robot Masters, except for Guts Man.

"Right!" Guts Man jumped down, causing a tremor as he picked up his two siblings in the front row. "Sorry, kids, but we have to get out of here!"

"W-Wait, who is this Wily guy?! What's he talking about?!" Rock looked absolutely terrified. But then he looked over at Dr. Light, who looked petrified out of his wits.

"Now, first on my agenda… Dr. Light! I'll be taking your robots!"

"L-Let go, Guts! I'm going to defend you!" Rock jumped down from Guts Man's arms.

"No, Rock!" Guts Man shouted, "You're not strong enough-!"

Dr. Wily came crashing through the ceiling in a flying saucer-type vehicle. "That is to say- huh?"

"If you're gonna take my siblings, you're gonna have to get through me, Dr. Wily!" Rock spread his arms out

"You're joking, right? You're just a kid! You think you can take me on?!" Dr. Wily laughed, "Nuha! Nuhahahahahahahahahahaha! Come then, give me your best shot!"

"ROCK, DON'T!" Dr. Light bolted forward and tried to grab onto his son, but Rock was too fast for him. Rock prepared for a big kick at that machine, and then when he got close enough, Dr. Wily's vehicle sprouted a big mechanical hand and flicked the boy all the way onto the stage. It'd have been comical if the situation wasn't so dire.

"Pathetic. You're powerless before me, boy!" Wily looked over at Guts Man. "You, your strength will be a valuable asset for my plans!" The hand reached over to the big robot.

"Roll, get out of here!" Guts Man put his sister down and tried to punch at the giant hand before it wrapped around him. He made an attempt to bust out of it, but sheer strength, even of his caliber, wasn't working for him. "Let me go, you maniac!"

"Now, where have the other ones gone?"

Dr. Wily floated off in search of Dr. Light's other Robot Masters. Roll got up, tears overflowing, and ran up to Dr. Light. "D-Dad, what's going on?! Who was he?!"

"M-M-My- my children, th-th-th-they're-" Everything was happening all at once. Dr. Light's whole world spun before he collapsed on the stage.

"Sir!" Roslyn knelt down beside the Doctor and felt his pulse. "Oh, thank goodness, he just passed out." She lifted him up fireman style. "Gil, we need to get these kids home."

"Right." He looked over at Rock and Roll. "You two, follow us."

"Al, please, you have to realize why your new tech-!"

"Light, nobody is going to take them seriously if they don't have the firepower to back it up!"

"But the strain ruins their systems, you know that for a fact! We have to at least give them the brainpower and maturity to manage such a system in the first place!" Tom tried to keep his cool.

"He was a fluke! The rest of them aren't going to use it so willy-nilly, just enough to put those who hurt them in their place!" Al pounded his fist into an open hand.

"Why is it always about hurting others with you?! I'm not saying they shouldn't be able to defend themselves, but why is it you think it's the huge determining factor on whether they're respected or not?!"

"It's what's right!" Al swung his head around.

"Might doesn't make right!" Tom got closer.

"LIGHT doesn't make right either!" Al's gaze narrowed.

"Y-You know what?!" Thomas opened the door. "J-Just go! We're through!" His eyes welled up with tears. "Clearly, this isn't working out!"

"Hmph. I'm glad we're in agreement." Albert began to pack everything he needed. All of his belongings, all of his blueprints… Those would be his company from now on.

"And I'm keeping Auto, too!" Thomas shouted again.

"Of course you are! The ideas you like, you take, and the ideas you hate, you refuse to even acknowledge!" Albert stormed right out the door, slamming it behind him.

Thomas briskly walked to his desk, picking up the photograph of the two, and then took a matchbox out of the desk.

He took a match. He lit it.

And he put it out.

He couldn't bring himself to burn it. He made a huge mistake, didn't he? This was going to kill him for the rest of his life.

"Y-Yo, Light?" Auto poked his head out from outside of Light's room.

"Auto, not now, I… I need to be alone."

"Light, wake up!"

Dr. Light jolted awake on his bed, panting hard as he looked around him.

"Y'know, I can't be here to wake you up every time." Auto was standing to his right. On his left, Rock and Roll were holding his hand, absolutely terrified for him.

"We're home. Where's-" Dr. Light sat up.

"Excuse me, Dr. Light?" Gil walked in, pen and notepad in hand. "Call me Detective Gil. My partner Roslyn and I just need to ask you a few questions about this Dr. Wily guy and why he stole your robots."

"So that wasn't a nightmare then? That was all real?" Dr. Light let the tears flow again. "I'm a failure. I should have-"

"No, Dad, you're not!" Rock held his hand tighter.

"Now is not the time for regrets, Doctor. We need answers." Gil looked down at him.

"…Doctor Wily was my college roommate. That's all I'm willing to tell you on our relationship. As for why he's like this, it's my fault."

"Dad, no, it can't be!" Roll rubbed his shoulder.

"We attended the Robot Institute of Technology together. We got along fine, we created Auto together, and my ideas for robots with independent thought was chosen for research by the Robotics Ethics Committee.

"However, it came at the cost of canceling Wily's research. I had even agreed to Wily's research being shut down. Wily did not take kindly to it.

"If I hadn't kicked him out, if I had at least appealed to them to look into Wily's research, maybe none of this would have happened."

"Dr. Light. You put the blame on yourself, but the way I see it, Wily's actions are his own. He's trying to take over the world right now, and we need your help." Gil's eyes showed a bit of sympathy, but more than that, it tried to inspire confidence.

"How could I ever help with this?" Dr. Light shook his head.

"Well," Gil tried to explain, "That robot boy, Rock, he…"

"I want you to upgrade me and make me a fighting robot." Rock looked Dr. Light in the eyes as he said that.

"R-Rock!?" Dr. Light stuttered.

"I know, this isn't a superhero movie. I'm putting myself in danger, I could be destroyed. But innocent people could die! I'm willing to risk my life in order to save those people and my siblings!" Rock held onto Dr. Light's hand, tightly.

"Rock. Do you truly understand the task you're putting upon yourself?" Light's expression grew more serious.

"I do. But I trust you to make me strong-"

"It's not about strength. I'm speaking of your mind." Dr. Light pressed a finger on Rock's head. "You're still a child, Rock. Your mental A.I. is that of an nine-year-old. Any normal child your age would be traumatized to have to kill one of their own. Especially a sibling."

"That's-" Rock faltered but looked up. "It's not killing. Robots can come back. As long as I keep their I.C. chips intact, they'll be fine."

Roll grabbed Light's shoulder. "Please, dad, let him do this! Rock never says these things on a whim, he's smarter than that!"

Dr. Light looked the boy in the eyes and took a deep breath. "I understand. I don't like it, but sometimes, such things have to be done. Please, come with me to the lab."

"Okay, dad!" Rock held onto Dr. Light's hand as they exited his room.

"Roslyn, I say we go back to the station. We've got enough information now." Gil closed his notepad.

"Here, this is what I want to look like." Rock handed Dr. Light a crayon drawing. A rather basic appearance, with blue armor, including a helmet, gloves, and boots, as well as the ability to turn his hands into arm cannons.

"I'll do my best to translate this into my blueprints." Dr. Light put it down next to a sheet of blueprint paper.

Roll looked somewhat somber, tugging on Light's sleeve. "Dad… If Rock is going to be upgraded... Then let me be upgraded too! I'll help put a stop to Dr. Wily's plans in any way I can!"

"I'm afraid you'll have to let Rock do this mission alone. Not because you aren't capable, mind you, but because making the blueprints and the upgrades will take an entire day together, and we don't have much time on our hands."

"Well, at least set up a communication line with him! We can't send him in blind."

"Of course, that's a good idea." Dr. Light laid Rock on a table. "This will require you to shut down while I get everything in your systems in order."

"Right, I'll be fine." Rock nodded.

"Here we go." Dr. Light lifted Rock's hair, pressing on the back of his head in a certain way that caused it to open up, exposing a power dial. Dr. Light slowly turned it down.

Rock's eyes went dull, and he stopped moving.

May 25, 20XX

"Okay, Rock, you may wake up now."

"Mm…" His eyes lit up again as he lifted his arms and looked at his hands. "Whoa!"

"It worked!" Dr. Light gave Rock a big hug and was soon joined by Roll.

"How do you feel, Rock?" asked Roll, "We worked very hard yesterday to try and get everything perfect!"

"I feel fine." Rock got up off the table.

"Now then, Rock…" Dr. Light paused, "Or perhaps, we should give you a new name? It's not original, but maybe Rockman!" Dr. Light smiled.

"Well, that's better than the name I thought of. I was thinking…" Rock blushed. "Mega Man. I know, it sounds silly, like I'm copying Ultraman."

"Actually, that name has a nice ring to it too! Mega Man, the defender of Mega City. It's perfect!"

"Really? Then I'll use that name!" Mega Man brightened up.

"Then from now on, you're a proper Robot Master! You shall be the Battle Rainbow Mega Man!"

"Battle Rainbow?" Mega Man tilted his head.

"Like the flag in dad's room!" Roll giggled.

"Well, kind of." Dr. Light rubbed the back of his head. "What I mean is that you're able to copy the data chips that contain the Robot Masters' special abilities. It's called the Variable Weapon System. With those abilities, your armor and arm cannon, which we'll call the Mega Buster, will change shape and color!"

"Wow… That's so cool!" Mega Man smiled to himself. "Okay! Dr. Light, you should go get some sleep. You deserve it!"

"I'll talk to him over the comm line, that way he can get through without much incident!" Roll put on a headset with a microphone.

"Thank you, both of you. Just call me when you defeat a Robot Master. I'll rebuild them as best as I can." Dr. Light left for his bedroom.

"Now, we've got the coordinates for each of our siblings yesterday, but there's anti-teleportation signals where they are, so we'll have to place you outside their range, and you run to where they are." Roll brought the coordinates up on the main computer. "They're each in different parts of the city or at least in the vicinity of it. We've still yet to find Dr. Wily's base, but that will come after you get back the Robot Masters."

"Who should I get first?" Mega Man asked. Six robots, all with different abilities. It wasn't an easy choice.

"In my opinion, Bomb Man. He's a very predictable guy, and since his bombs go off on a fuse, you have enough time to get away from them before you get hurt."

"Then it's settled. I'm going to get Bomb Man back!" Mega Man stepped into the teleporter.

"Good luck, Mega! I'm rooting for you!" Roll pulled a lever to the side of her, activating the teleporter. "If you need us to bring you back, just say so. The teleportation engine inside you can link to you from anywhere!"

"Alright!" Mega Man stepped into the teleporter, and in a flash, he was taken to his destination.

Chapter Text

Mega Man hit the ground, with a drone piloted by Roll teleporting in after. This was the road to Bomb Man, surrounded by tall buildings with spherical tops, unlike any that Mega Man had seen before.

"This is an old bomb manufacturing facility, it's only fitting Bomb Man's here." Roll spoke through the communication line. "There are multiple Flea-type robots ahead. They bounce everywhere and are absolute pests, so be careful!"

"Right. Let's rock!" Mega Man ran forward, his hand turning into his Mega Buster. Aiming at the Fleas, he fired several blasts of energy at them, taking them out instantly. "What was that?"

"They're Solar Bullets! Compressed balls of solar energy, like what you run on!"

"Nifty." Mega Man jumped across a gap before a bomb popped out and exploded above him, raining down harmful shrapnel. "WAH!"

Roslyn sighed and opened the door, exiting the apartment complex before looking over at Gil.

"Still nothing?" Gil asked.

"Still nothing," Roslyn replied, "I don't want to sound like you, but I swear that some of these people are misleading us."

"I don't blame you. With what's going on right now, I think people are starting to feel like the Emerald Spears are justified."

The Emerald Spears, a notorious anti-technology domestic terrorist group, as if America didn't already have enough domestic terrorist groups. They hate robots the most, becoming overly-paranoid about them replacing humans and taking over the world.

"Well, let's move on. We can't let them get away." Gil cracked his neck before fixing his posture, looking to his side.

A peculiar man walked out of the alleyway. Six feet tall, shabbily-dressed, and scruffy as well. He was rather suspicious.

"Excuse me, sir? We need to ask you a few questions." Roslyn walked up behind him.

"What are you, cops?" The man had immediate aggression in his voice, turning around to look at them. "Piss off- Oh. Oh ho ho." He immediately smiled. "Now you, you are just…" He walked towards the two.

"Please God, I just want to get this over with." Roslyn closed her eyes and reached for her stun pistol, this man was about to come onto her.

Except, he walked right past her and looked up at Gil.

"You doing anything later?" The stranger blushed.

"Yes." Gil was a bit slow on the uptake, thinking that was a legitimate question.

"…Ah. Alright then." The scruffy man turned to go back into the alley but was blocked by Roslyn.

"First, sir, we need to ask you about the Emerald Spears." Roslyn glared at him.

"Oh, those bastards? One of them was pestering one of my robot buddies and I went in to defend him, and then she pointed an effin' gun at my head!" The stranger made a gun motion with his hand to his forehead.

"'She'? What did she look like?" Gil pulled out a paper containing the mugshots of each member.

"She was white, she had orange hair and green eyes. She wasn't remarkable at all; if she didn't almost kill me I would have forgotten her existence." The stranger shrugged.

"Hm. Looks like we got one Simone Miller on our hands." Gil tapped on the paper.

"Of course, it had to be her. Watch as she pulls the 'we used to date' excuse on us again." Roslyn spat on the sidewalk. She and Simone had some "history".

"So, speaking of dates," the man looked up at Gil. "You sure you don't have any free time later?"

"I just said I don't." Gil missed the hint. Again. "Tell me your name and give me your number so we can at least keep in touch if you find any more details relating to the Emerald Spears."

"Alright, alright. My name's Osric Hirono." He wrote his phone number down on Gil's notepad.

"Osric? Like that guy who interviewed Light before the LIT contest?" Gil looked confused.

"He's Oswald Richardson, I'm Osric Hirono. I can assure you, we aren't the same. Just call me Ozzy if you have to."

"Alright, Ozzy. Have a good rest of your day." Gil went back to the police car.

"As good a day as a homeless human could have." Ozzy walked back into the alleyway.

"So did you not realize he was hitting on you or were you purposefully trying to ignore that fact?" Roslyn sat on the passenger's side.

"Wait, he was?" Gil seemed confused.

"Ugh. Romantically-speaking, you're hopeless, you know that?" Roslyn leaned back. "You should really give him the time, you could use a date."

"Excuse-" Gil shook his head. "Never mind, maybe once he comes up with a better pickup line, I'll date him."

"Well, don't hold your breath for that to happen."

Mega Man climbed up a ladder to the next level of the facility. "How much further, Roll?"

"That was just the start of it, you'll have to go up another story before you get there." She turned the drone away from Mega Man. "Look out!"

A few bullets got shot by Mega Man's feet, but he jumped backward. He looked up to see a green robot with a shield and an arm cannon. "What is that?!"

"I think I saw something similar to that thing in one of Dr. Light's blueprints. According to the drone's scanners, it's called a Sniper Joe!" Roll flew the drone higher. "You won't be able to penetrate its shield, so wait for it to shoot before attacking!"

Mega Man watched carefully. He began hopping side-to-side, waiting for the right moment.

The Sniper Joe lowered its shield and shot out three more bullets. Mega Man took a running start and leaped over the bullets, firing as fast as he could before it was taken out.

"You did it!" Roll cheered, "Now, just keep going forward!"

"Bomb Man, please, hang in there." Mega Man looked forward before several missiles with large, toothy grins appeared. "More of these, huh? Easy!" Mega Man fired at one of the missiles, but that proved to be disadvantageous, as it exploded and knocked back the Blue Bomber.

"Mega Man! Are you okay?!" Roll panicked.

"I-I'll live." He got up.

Dr. Wily sat at his computer, looking at the video camera footage of the bomb-making facility. "Who is that robot? And how's that brat getting through Bomb Man's defenses so easily?"

"He looks like that housekeeping robot that Dr. Light had!" Reggae opened his loud beak.

"No, that can't be…" Wily looked closer. "Mother of Tesla! It is that housekeeper! What did Light do to him?! He turned him into a little war machine!"

"Well, to be fair, sir-"

"Reggae, whatever you're about to say, don't." Wily picked up his microphone. "Attention, my robots! You have a new course of action! If you are to encounter DLN-001, neutralize him!"

Mega Man finally got to the final stretch. "Just down this ladder?"

"Yeah, Bomb Man will be in the room at the bottom." Roll piloted her drone carefully. "There's several Octo Batteries down there. You have to time your climbing just right-"

"HUP!" Mega Man threw all caution to the wind as he jumped down, narrowly avoiding every Octo Battery in his way.

"MEGA!" Roll held onto the keyboard. "YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE MY CORE SHORT CIRCUIT!"

"Sorry." Mega Man landed on his feet in the bottom room, looking around. "Bomb Man? Where are you?"

No response. Not even a sound. Except for that ticking noise.

"Huh?" Mega Man looked around, but couldn't see anything.

That was until the bomb dropped from the ceiling.

"O-Oh no!" Mega Man braced himself for the explosion. The bomb's timer went off, and it burst into… confetti?

"Did I spook ya?" Bomb Man giggled as he also dropped from the ceiling. "You don't know how excited I was to see ya, Rock!"

"B-Bomb Man?" Mega Man was confused. Bomb Man was acting like his usual self. Maybe he could reason with him? "Come on, let's go home!"

Bomb Man's smile faltered a bit, and he stayed silent.

"Dad is worried about you. So's Roll. Please?"

Bomb Man walked up and put an arm around Mega Man's shoulders. "Rock, listen. Has dad ever told you the truth of my job?"

"Wait, what do you-"

"I'm not officially part of the demolition crew. Shocker, right? There's a huge vetting process for them to decide if it'd be 'safe' to let me join the crew. And once they decide I'm safe, they have to make a petition to allow me to join officially.

"Then, there has to be a big-ass process filled with legal bullcrap. And even after all that, the mayor, the lawmakers, I don't know frickin' anything about how it works, but they can just veto it, thus meaning I can't do the one thing I was made for.

"You know I love dad, but as a scientist, he's moving along too slowly, ya know? All the red tape we've had to cut through in the past just so I could be built, and the red tape we'll have to cut through now to do what I was built to do, I'm gonna be outmoded by the time I finally join for real.

"I can't wait around any longer. Wily told me I know best how to use my explosives and that's so liberating; nobody telling me how I get to do the one thing I was built for.

"You've always wanted to be a superhero, didn't you? And just how long did it take for dad to finally give you your wish?"

Mega Man tried to keep his cool. This wasn't the Bomb Man he knew. Sure, he talked like Bomb Man and acted like Bomb Man, but deep down, he just wasn't Bomb Man.

"Dad upgraded me so that I could save you and the others. I don't want to make this painful, Bomb Man. Please, come back to us!" Mega Man opened his arms.

"W-What?! No! This is my chance to finally do things my way! Dad can't fight the laws! Nobody's going to let me do anything because I'm a robot!" Bomb Man began to panic. "Humans just want to stifle us! Dad's trying the best he can, but nobody's going to take me seriously unless I make them take me seriously!"

Bomb Man pulled out one of his Hyper Bombs. "You think I'm gonna just let you take away what I wanted for so long?! Then you're going to have to drag my corpse back to Dad first!"

"I- I don't want to hurt you, Bomb Man!" Mega Man backed up with his Mega Buster at the ready.

"The feeling is NOT MUTUAL!" Bomb Man hurled the bomb towards Mega Man.

The bomb nearly hit Mega Man's face, but he avoided it as he shot back at Bomb Man. The punk went for a running headbutt, but Mega Man leaped over him before shooting him several more times.

Mega Man's eyes were starting to go blurry. This wasn't like fighting Fleas or Sniper Joes. He was fighting a family member. He was hurting his own brother.

Mega Man was starting to lose focus. Bomb Man took this opportunity to roll a Hyper Bomb towards him, bowling ball-style.

"Ah-" Mega Man had only been firing mindlessly, not noticing the bomb until it detonated near him. He was flung back into a wall, pain shooting through his body.

"Go home, Rock!" Bomb Man taunted, "Wily gave me the ability to defend my freedom! Dad gave you a costume change and a peashooter!"

Mega Man got back on his feet. The pain brought him back to reality. He had to focus.

In a stroke of bravery, Mega Man charged at Bomb Man and knocked him to the ground, grabbing his wrists and pinning his arms.

"This isn't punk rock of you!" Mega Man blurted out.

Bomb Man's eyes glazed over. That trick still worked on him, it seems.

Mega Man continued, "Hurting others isn't the answer! If you want them to take you seriously, then do what you do as best and as safely as you can, and the mean people can stuff it! I, Dad, Roll, we all believe in you, Bomb Man!" He let go of Bomb Man's wrists, wrapping his arms around his brother.

But Bomb Man threw him off. "Don't you get it?! The 'mean people' decide whether I LIVE or DIE!" Bomb Man took another bomb and was winding up for a big throw at Mega Man.

The boy looked up from the ground. He had no choice.

Mega Man aimed his Mega Buster at the Hyper Bomb, shooting his solar bullet directly at it while it was still in Bomb Man's hand.

The Hyper Bomb exploded in a flash that was much too bright to even be caught on camera. The sound of metal melting and wires being fried were the only sounds that could be heard after the kaboom.

When Mega Man's vision adjusted, he could see that Bomb Man's entire arm had been blown asunder, as well as the left half of his head and chest. What was left of Bomb Man's face was frozen in shock.

However, even with such a powerful explosion, Bomb Man's integrated circuit chip was still intact, protected by an incredibly strong casing, a safety precaution implemented by Dr. Light himself.

Mega Man tried to calm himself down, but… he did that. To his brother.

"M-Mega Man?" Roll had just looked up from the keyboard to talk to him.

Mega Man held onto the hand that remained on Bomb Man's body. "Bring me back to the lab."

Mega Man was teleported back, shivering a little bit. "How do I copy the data chip?"

"Oh, it's simple." Roll dragged the broken bot to the repair table before opening up his wrist, exposing the data chip. "There's a slot in your Mega Buster that you put it in."

Mega Man nodded and did as he was told. Suddenly, his Mega Buster turned into a much larger cannon. His armor turned yellow, orange, and black like Bomb Man himself was, and even had a mohawk sprout on his head. "Whoa."

"I'll go get dad." Roll ran off, leaving Mega Man alone with his broken brother.

"I have to do this," Rock said to himself, "Even if I don't want to, it's better than innocents getting hurt. I said myself, as long as the I.C. Chip is still intact, Dad can bring them back." The pain of maiming his brother was still there, but it was much more bearable as Mega Man talked to himself.

"Alright, let's see here." Dr. Light entered the lab and looked down at Bomb Man. "This looks worse than it actually is. I'll just need to fix his shell and his circuitry." Dr. Light pulled the I.C. chip out of Bomb Man's head. "Plug this into the computer for me, Rock?"

"Yes, sir." Doing as he was told, Mega Man looked over at Dr. Light. "Who do I face next?"

"Our next course of action is to get Guts Man back. He's high up in the mountains right now, so you'll have to be careful."

"R-Right. Careful." Mega Man was never good with heights.

Dr. Light sat down at the computer and checked the I.C. chip's data. It was, for the most part, unchanged, except for two bits:

Bomb Man's loyalty was changed to Dr. Wily, and his roboethics had been changed so that he could defy human orders (save for Wily's) and be able to attack humans without needing to consult another human. Doctor Light had to revert those changes.

The next step was to make sure his kid was alright during the repair process. Putting on his own headset, Dr. Light brought up another program that would allow him to communicate with Bomb Man while his I.C. chip was plugged in.

"Can you hear me?" Light stood up and got to work on repairing Bomb Man's body.

"…Am I in trouble…?" Bomb Man was much quieter than normal.

"No, Bomb Man, you aren't." Dr. Light's voice was gentle and comforting.

"I mean, I said all those things…" Bomb Man sounded like he was about to cry.

"What things? I'm sorry, I was asleep at the time."

"About how you worked too slow, about how I was going to be outdated by the time you got everything about my job sorted out, I was just so mad at the time."

"I sincerely apologize for that." Dr. Light swallowed a lump in his throat. "But I promise, we'll get through it together. I could bring it up with the mayor myself. I just hope everyone understands the circumstances right now."

Bomb Man sniffled. "Dad, when I wake up, I can't wait to hug you."

Dr. Light put his tools down, covering his eyes. "Darn it, Bomb Man, you can't make me cry while I'm repairing you!"

"Alright, I'm ready." Mega Man took a few deep breaths, preparing himself for the tall mountain of terror that he'd have to make his trek through to get to Guts Man.

"Good luck." Roll pulled the lever for the teleporter, sending Mega Man to the next level.

The mountain looked like it was crumbling all around. Fitting, as Guts Man was a robot made for land development.

"This doesn't look too bad." Mega Buster out, our hero ran forward to the big stairs in front of him, with conspicuously-placed helmets. Suddenly, a small face popped out from one of the helmets and shot three pellets out of its mouth at Mega Man.

"Whoa!" Mega Man rolled to the side before shooting at the new robot. However, he hit its helmet, which his solar bullets bounced right off of.

"Metalls," Roll mused, "They're supposed to be helpful robots, but these have been modified to attack."

"Well, these things are less annoying than the Sniper Joes at least." Mega Man waited for the Met to pop out before shooting, instantly taking it out. "This isn't bad at all!" Mega Man gained a little bit of confidence as he jumped up the stairs and took out each of the Mets that got in his way.

"Oh, you haven't gotten to the part where you could fall yet."

"The what?" Mega Man looked ahead before stopping dead in his tracks. Several lifts were moving back and forth across a huge gap.

A fall from this height could destroy Mega Man, and not helping was that two of the lifts sometimes opened up to drop whatever steps onto them down to their doom.

"Deep breaths, Mega Man. Memorize the pattern and jump carefully." Roll encouraged him.

"Right." He tried to keep his breathing steady as he jumped onto the first lift. Easy enough. Then he looked at the second lift, which had a fall in the middle and the end.

He was starting to panic a bit more. "Breathe, breathe." He took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. He had to do this. He couldn't let his acrophobia get the best of him at this crucial time.

"Jump!" He bounced onto the second lift, jumping in time with the points it dropped at. His breathing was like an autumn leaf in the wind.

But the third lift was right under him, and it looked like every other part of it had a drop. He couldn't delay it anymore. He jumped onto the third lift, leaping desperately whenever it flopped down.

At the very end, Mega Man took a big jump onto the next part of the mountain. Finally, he could take a breather.

"You did great, Mega Man!" Roll reassured him, "You just have to keep going from here, no more lethal drops to worry about!"

"A-Alright." Mega Man got up on his shaky legs before sprinting forward. "Let's do this!"

On the streets of Mega City, a lone robot wandered down the sidewalk. Aimless, he ran the strap of his duffel bag between his fingers, looking in storefront windows, and trying to avoid odd stares.

He meandered by an alleyway when he saw something move in the corner of his eye. A stray tabby cat.

"Heyyy!" He called, making kissy noises and trying to beckon the cat closer. It jumped further down.

He removed his duffel bag, intending to follow when a bell sounded from a nearby Electric Pizza. A certain scruffy stranger walked out with three boxes of the stuff, looking rather disgruntled. They tossed a slice into the alley and the cat picked at the cheese, hungry.

"Yo- you know whose cat this is?" The robot asked, putting his duffel bag back on.

"Just a stray, I've checked. I call him Lucky." The scruffy man laid back and pet the tabby.

"Cats always run from me." The robot leaned against the wall with the stranger.

"You gotta feed them and stuff like that, strays will warm up to you eventually. Ferals are bastards and they'll never really get over their wild nature." The scruffy man scratched behind Lucky's ears.

"You know a lot. How long would it take?" The robot asked.

"'Know a lot'? You're giving me too much credit, kid," the stranger chuckled, "I just only have tiny bits of experience from my mom owning cats before she just disappeared."

"Really? Do you know where she is?"

"I wouldn't say she disappeared if I knew. Ever since the day I was activated she was just gone."

"Activated?" The robot's sunglasses hid that his eyes were widening.

"Well, the cat's out of the bag, so to speak." The stranger looked around to see if there were any eavesdroppers. "I'm a robot. Around humans, my name is Osric Hirono. But as a robot, I'm DHN-000 Shoegaze."

"Hirono?" Blues knew that surname, but his mind immediately got distracted by something else. "…Wait, what kind of name is 'Shoegaze'?" The robot tilted his head.

"What's your name, kid?" Shoegaze scoffed.

"…Blues." He put his head down.

"See? We're both robots named after music genres." Shoegaze took one of the pizza slices out of the box and scarfed it down.

"I didn't even know you were a robot at first." Blues adjusted his sunglasses. "What were you made for?"

"I was just made to be as close to a human as I could be. To be my creator's son."

"…I-" Blues opened his mouth but shut it immediately.

"You were made for the same purpose?" Shoegaze looked over at him.

"Wh-"

"You said 'I-' in that 'I'm the same as you' way. Who made you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Blues looked down once more.

"Then I'm not gonna pry." Shoegaze fiddled with his long, wavy hair.

"I should really get going now." Blues picked up his duffel bag and exited the alleyway.

Shoegaze let Lucky onto his lap. "I have a feeling we'll be meeting again. Not like there're many places for homeless robots to go in this hellhole, after all."

What a peculiar guy. Blues briskly walked away. Part of him didn't want to be caught dead with Shoegaze, but the other part of him felt like he's going to be a close ally, even if not a friend.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Mega Man ran under the Big Eye and sprinted to the last corridor. Something like that would definitely end him if it landed on him. "That was close…" Taking out each of the Mets that blocked his way, he made his way to the final door. Nothing but a pile of huge blocks. But Mega Man knew better than to think this was it.

"Guts Man? I'm here to take you home." Mega Man equipped the Hyper Bomb, taking a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself for the ensuing fight.

The blocks rumbled as a big yellow fist punched them all to bits. Guts Man burst out from under the blocks, but his face was not that of a berserker like one would expect, but a face of absolute terror.

"W-What are you doing here?!" Guts Man stammered, "Don't you know that only workers belong here?! Go home before you get hurt, Rock!"

"I don't want you to get hurt, either, Guts Man. That's why I'm asking you to come home with me."

"I can't! Don't you know why I'm here right now?! I don't want to hurt anyone! Dr. Wily gave me orders to neutralize you if I saw you, but I don't have it in me! I don't want to be a killing machine! That's why I'm excavating this mountain! So that everyone can be safe from me!"

"Guts Man…" Mega Man opened his arms. "Dad will make everything better, please, just come home with me and-"

"My I.C. chip is ruined! Pops can't fix me! I'll only hurt him and everyone else if I leave here!" Guts Man stomped up and down, like a child throwing a tantrum. The resulting tremors knocked Mega Man off of his feet.

"T-That can't be true! If that's how you're going to be, I'll have to take you back by force!" Mega Man tried to get up and aim a Hyper Bomb at the big robot.

"FINE! You made me do this!" Guts Man jumped up and landed so hard that a huge chunk of the cave's ceiling fell into his hand.

"W-Wah!" Mega Man fired the cannon. A Hyper Bomb rolled at Guts Man's feet before exploding, knocking the giant back.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Guts Man threw the boulder right at Mega Man, who slid under it before firing another bomb at him. He was a tough robot, but even the Hyper Bomb was leaving noticeable dents in his armor.

"I'm sorry, Guts. It's for the best." He fired one last Hyper Bomb at his chest, the location of his core. In the resulting explosion, Guts Man was blown back into the wall behind him, unconscious.

"It's so much easier with the weapons." Breathing a sigh of relief, Mega Man held onto Guts Man before he was teleported back to the lab.

Chapter Text

Placing Guts Man on the repair table, Mega Man removed the data chip from his arm and inserted it into the slot in his Mega Buster.

His armor turned the same colors as Guts Man's armor, with his helmet extending around his mouth much like Guts Man's underbite. His Mega Buster doubled in diameter with a giant mechanical hand growing out of it. "The Super Arm."

"With it, you can lift very heavy loads with just one hand!" Dr. Light finished repairing Bomb Man's shell before reinserting his I.C. chip.

"Who next?" Mega Man leaned up against one of the tables, with a rather dull expression. Perhaps he had gotten adjusted to his situation.

"Next, you'll have to fight Cut Man. He never liked Rock Paper Scissors. Rock beats scissors, after all." Light snickered and turned Bomb Man's power dial on. "But before you go, come see Bomb Man."

"Oh, right!" Mega Man immediately lit up. He ran over and bounced a little bit, excited to see his brother again.

Bomb Man's eyes flickered open, looking to his side before looking at Dr. Light. "HUGS!" He flipped over and almost tackled his father into a hug.

"Whoa! Easy there, tiger!" Dr. Light patted him on the back.

"It's so good to be back!" Bomb Man turned around and hugged Mega Man. "Thank you so much, Rock! I hope I didn't hurt you too bad."

"Not at all!" Mega Man grimaced, trying to hide the sting of that Hyper Bomb from earlier. "I'm just glad you're okay! Now you just gotta work on Guts Man, right?"

"Yes, him next." Light stood next to the dented behemoth. "Shell replacement should be easy, but it's his solar core that I'm worried about. I might have to replace it entirely."

"I can help out if you need me to!" Bomb Man leaned against the table Guts Man was laid down on. "I promise I won't cause much trouble."

"Of course, Bomb!" Dr. Light smiled and removed Guts Man's I.C. chip to fix his programming. "Just go get me the blueprints and we can get started."

"By the way, where's Roll?" Bomb Man opened up the drawer filled to the brim with robot schematics.

"Right here!" Roll entered the room wearing a jacket. "I'm going to the scrapyard to get rid of the broken parts from repairing you. I might also collect more scraps for that bird robot I've been working on."

"Oh, that reminds me! I have something for you, Roll." Dr. Light went over to the closet and pulled out a broom.

"Uh… why this?" She took it, a little confused.

"It's not just a broom, it's also a concealed energy weapon! Right in the middle of the broomstick is a sword, and the broom's bristles can become a spear blade."

Roll checked, and it was as he said. "Oh!"

"It's dangerous out there, what with Wily, the Emerald Spears, so many other things. I wanted to give you this since I'm unable to upgrade you as of now." Dr. Light went to the computer and plugged in Guts Man's I.C. chip.

"Thanks, Dad! I'll be careful, I promise!" Roll exited the room to go get her bicycle.

Mega Man gave a short sigh. "I wish she was out there fighting with me. We're almost halfway done. If she helped me, we'd have them all saved by now!"

"Unfortunately, it's too long of a process, and we have very little time as it is. But perhaps, when this is all over, we could upgrade her too." Dr. Light picked up his headset.

"That'd be great." Mega Man smiled to himself.

Dr. Light turned to face the computer, speaking into his headset. "Guts Man?"

"Pops? That you?" Guts Man responded in a quiet voice.

"You had been very… to call you hysterical would be an understatement. You were talking about how your I.C. chip was ruined and how I wouldn't be able to fix you. Did Dr. Wily tell you that?" Light scratched his beard.

"W-Well, I…" Guts Man sounded embarrassed. "To be honest, it was because I was ordered to hurt Rock. I'm not the most gentle robot out there, and being told to hurt my own family… I just broke down."

"Are you still afraid of coming back online because of that?" Light leaned forward.

"I mean, I accidentally squished everyone in this house at least once." Guts Man looked away.

"Let me tell you something. Your A.I. is made to mimic a human mind. Humans are flawed. All of them, even me. But that's okay. You can be a bit rough sometimes, but that flaw is what makes you human. We do not begrudge you for that." Dr. Light smiled. "Am I clear?"

"Yeah… Thanks, pops." Guts Man smiled gently.

"Hey, if there are any parts you wanna get rid of, now's the time! I'm not gonna make another trip to the scrapyard until tomorrow!" Roll called from outside as she rang her bike's bell.

"It's time for me to repair your shell, then. I'll see you when you wake up." Dr. Light stood up

"Alright, pops!"

Mega Man was teleported to Cut Man's location. "A lumber facility. Of course. What's the situation?" He trotted forward, climbing up a ladder to the outside.

"Well, there's going to be a lot of climbing involved." Dr. Light took over for the comm line, the drone was now on autopilot. "Just be careful not to fall, and you should be fine."

"Got it." Mega Man jumped over one of the various big blocks strewn about before shooting down the Bunby Helis that flew towards him. "This'll be a piece of cake!"

The scrapyard wasn't too far from Dr. Light's residence. Roll chained her bike to the wire fence along the entrance and picked up the buckets of broken armor and parts using the stick of her broom.

There were so many parts laying around in the scrapyard. Some were rusty from all the time they spent outside, some seemed broken beyond repair, and some were in perfect condition! Roll was excited, but something felt off.

Was that a hand sticking out from one of the scrap heaps?

Carefully, she approached it, her broom in-hand. She poked the appendage with the broomstick and its fingers twitched. Whoever was under there was still alive!

Roll knelt down, shuffling all sorts of scraps out of the way and pulling on the arm of whoever it was in hopes of dragging them out.

But quickly, her emotions turned to terror.

From the fingers, long metal claws jutted out in the blink of an eye, millimeters away from Roll's face. From the refuse, a Robot Master slowly emerged. His armor was entirely silver metal, one of his eyes was pure red.

"My next strike will not miss you." His voice was cold and monotone, his other hand growing its own claws.

"Who are you?!" Roll took her broom in hand and backed off.

"I am designated as Special Wily Number 00A, Barga Man. I was built for the express purpose of taking out all of Doctor Light's robots before they can cause him any trouble in the future."

"I never thought I'd have to use this so soon, but here goes!" Roll was about to unsheath her concealed sword, but then a loud revving noise came from the wall of scrap metal behind her.

"Exterminate her, Special Wily Number 00B Power Man."

A big Guts Man-esque robot burst out from the debris. He had a chainsaw built into one hand, which he immediately swung down at Roll.

"Yyyyikes-" She jumped backward, the chainsaw barely missing her as she swept up dust using her broom.

"Visual capabilities inhibited." Barga Man tried to wave all the dust away, but Roll kept on sweeping before running off.

"Okay, I have to come up with a plan," Roll whispered to herself, "Fighting them both at the same time is hazardous to my health. Chainsaw guy has to go first."

Mega Man stretched out. All that climbing was making him tired. But in no time at all, several scissors shot out at him. He just couldn't catch a break!

"H-How much longer, Dr. Light?" Mega Man ran as fast as his legs could allow him, shooting down several Fleas after he got away from the menacing scissor shooter.

"Just a bit further, there's another series of ladders, and then you'll have to go down instead of up." It was hard for the good doctor to pay attention to the screen while working on repairing Guts Man at the same time, but he was trying his best.

"Hey old man, where do you keep the cores?" Bomb Man was just tossing things out of the closet every which way.

"It's in a box labeled as such, you can't miss it."

"Well, apparently I've been missing it because I can't find it!"

"You'll see it eventually…" Light's patience was wearing thin, but he vowed to never get mad at his children.

"How tall does a lumber facility have to be? My arms feel like they're going to fall off…" Mega Man sat down against one of the walls.

"We can always bring you back, Mega Man. If you need to rest, please, don't hesitate to tell me."

"B-But I have to save Cut Man! I have to stop him from doing anything he'll regret!" Mega Man got up and saw there were even more ladders. This time, Octo Batteries were flying every which way. "I'll be careful, I promise!"

"Okay, but if it turns out you can't handle it, I'll bring you back here."

"Right." Mega Man climbed up the first ladder, shooting down the Octo Batteries that flung themselves towards him.

Roll ran into a path that split in two. She bolted down the right path, trying to see if she could put her strategy into action.

"Okay, let's see." There was a big truck tire. Roll was small, but she was still stronger than a human. She slung the tire around her shoulders as she climbed up one of the mountains of scrapped parts.

Now, she had to play the waiting game.

"We must split up. Search that path, Power Man." Barga Man's voice still had that cold tone to it. The heavy footsteps of Power Man could be heard even from as far as Roll was.

The girl had shuffled all the trash that laid around her so that she could better blend in. She heard those footsteps grow louder and louder. It was her chance! She just had to-

The screech of metal shredding metal pierced Roll's ears as Power Man plunged his chainsaw into the mountain of garbage that she had been laying upon in waiting. It was now or never. Roll forcefully pushed the tire down the mountain, directly at Power Man.

Power Man pulled his saw arm out and swung downward at the tire. It got sliced into two, like a hot knife through butter. Nothing could stop that saw.

But Power Man had not anticipated that Roll would be plunging right at him with her energy sword unsheathed. She swung it to the side, right across Power Man's neck, slicing his head clean off.

"Misdirection never fails!" Roll picked up the metal behemoth's head, opening it up to search for his I.C. chip to bring home with her.

After another round of dangerous climbing, Mega Man tried to run past the next scissor-shooting machine but ended up getting hit square in the shoulder. Hissing in pain, tears rolled down his eyes as he shot down the Bunby Helis that appeared before him.

"I can't do this…" Mega Man's energy was running too low for this. He was almost done for.

"Okay, I'm activating the teleporter, I'll bring you back-" Dr. Light was about to press the button, but he saw something. "Hey, what's that over there?"

"Huh? What are you-" Mega Man was about to go down the ladder, but he turned around and saw a big yellow capsule at the end of a small hallway just slightly below the ladder.

"Just what I needed! An energy capsule!" Mega Man smiled brightly as he ran to grab it. Plugging it into his Mega Buster, he could feel the solar energy recharge him. "I can do this! Don't worry about me!"

"What was that just doing there?" Dr. Light chuckled nervously. "Well, never mind, you're able to keep going?"

"Yeah, I'm going to get Cut Man back, pronto!" Mega Man climbed down the ladder. This was the final stretch before he could get to his next sibling.

Two Flying Shells appeared and tried to shoot Mega Man into the spikes below him, but he dodged each of them like a champ.

Down on the bottom level again, a Big Eye appeared and tried to stomp him down. Mega Man equipped the Super Arm, reaching for the blocks behind him and throwing them one-by-one at the giant fiend. "Almost there!"

Getting past the final corridor, Mega Man stepped into the final room of the facility. "Cut Man! Where are you?" Mega Man looked around, but all he could see were big logs, cleanly cut, placed all around the room.

A big pair of scissors flew in and chopped all of those logs down as the orange boy jumped in. The scissors boomeranged back onto Cut Man's head. This was the power of the Rolling Cutter.

"I didn't want to believe in Dr. Wily." Cut Man spoke sorrowfully. "But he was right. Dr. Light turned you into a machine for war!"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Cut Man?" Mega Man was confused. He knew he couldn't talk Cut Man out of this, but he decided to listen to what he had to say anyway.

"What kind of 'hero' are you?! Destroying everything in an attempt to save the world, that's the very definition of hypocrisy!"

"You've got it all wrong, Cut Man." Mega Man stood tall. "I only attack when I have to. To save my own life or the lives of others. And right now, I'll have to fight you to save you. I don't want to hurt you, but such things have to be done." Mega Man equipped the Super Arm.

"Fine! Even if it cuts me apart, I'm going to make you good again!" Cut Man's scissors snipped rapidly as he jumped back towards the wall. He gripped them and threw them right at the Blue Bomber.

"He really did blind you to morality." Mega Man dodged the Rolling Cutter and picked up one of the two huge blocks laying around. With all his might, he chucked it right at Cut Man. "Rock beats scissors!"

"What the f- AAAH!" It was a direct hit. Cut Man flopped right onto the ground, struggling to get up. "Why'd Dr. Wily think this was a good place to put meeee…?" Cut Man stood up on wobbly legs and tried to focus.

"Sorry, Cut Man, but I gotta get you back to Dr. Light!" Mega Man picked up the second block, took careful aim, and then he threw it right at Cut Man.

"HAH!" Suddenly, Cut Man sprang up into the air. He nimbly dodged that block like it was nothing. "Now who's beating Rock, huh?!"

"Uh… paper?" Mega Man had to come up with a plan quickly.

"Take this!" Cut Man tossed his Rolling Cutter once more. Mega Man tried his best to dodge it as it came at him both ways, but the second time, it grazed his cheek.

Then Mega Man thought maybe he could punch out Cut Man. With all the Rock Paper Scissors metaphors, the rock being a fist, it might be stupid enough to work.

Mega Man de-equipped the Super Arm and looked at his hand. "Looks like I'll have to bust out my special technique!"

"W-What?! No!" Cut Man braced himself. He thought Mega Man was about to pull a Guts Man on him and left himself open.

Mega Man looked at his hand and began to charge it with solar energy using the buster's shooting function. With his hand blocking the bullets, they were contained within his hand, which started glowing yellow and blue.

"Megaaaaa!" Mega Man ran towards Cut Man. "UPPER!" In true superhero fashion, Mega Man called out the new attack's name and gave Cut Man a big solar-charged uppercut.

"DAMMIT!" Cut Man was hit so hard, his head whipped back and caused him to flip through the air before smacking against the wall, knocked out.

"Holy cow, that worked!" Mega Man flexed a little bit. "Okay, let's bring him back!" Mega Man held onto Cut Man's shoulders as he was teleported back to the lab.

"I- Well- Truth be told, I didn't know what would happen if you tried firing your Mega Buster while your hand was in place." Dr. Light had just been staring at the drone's video feed with his jaw agape until Mega Man said to bring him back to the lab.

"Well, stuff like this is meant to be tested." Mega Man smiled and placed Cut Man on a repair table. "Maybe I was just meant to discover my own techniques." He was so proud of himself.

"DUDE, THAT WAS TOTALLY SICK!" Bomb Man plugged in Guts Man's new core.

"I must say, to try new things and go beyond what one's capabilities are thought to be; you're amazing, Mega Man." Dr. Light patted Mega Man on the head.

"Aw, Dad!" Mega Man was beaming.

"Okay, let's get Guts Man online now." Dr. Light closed his chestplate before turning the big robot on.

After Guts Man's diagnostics were finished, he slowly sat up and yawned. "Heya pops." He got up and gave Dr. Light a big hug.

"Good to see you again, Guts Man!" Dr. Light smiled and hugged him back.

"Hey, where's Roll? She'd normally be back by now." Mega Man looked around.

"Maybe she hit the motherload today. That or she's finding nothing but won't give up," Bomb Man snickered.

"I do hope she's okay, though," Dr. Light added, "In the meantime, Mega Man, you did well today. I think you should rest now, your systems are most likely strained beyond what's normal for you."

"I know, but…" Mega Man looked over at Cut Man. "At least let me help you out before I charge."

Roll knew she had to find Barga Man. Even if she could escape right now, she couldn't let that Robot Master hurt anyone else, especially not her family. With Power Man down, this should be a cakewalk for her.

The sound of Barga Man's claws scratching metal rang out. Roll held on tightly to her spear. This was it.

Suddenly, Barga Man burst out from behind a wall of scrapped car parts. He lunged at Roll like a leopard about to catch its prey.

Roll dashed to the side, but it wasn't enough to keep her arm from getting scratched by one of his claws. She clenched her teeth before looking at Barga Man.

"I told you, my next strike would not miss." Barga Man stared her down.

"That doesn't mean you're going to hit from now on!" Roll jumped from side to side, knowing he'd try and challenge that statement.

"Pointless." Barga Man dashed towards Roll in the same side-to-side manner, but that was exactly what Roll wanted. With an enemy so intent on trying to get a hit on her, she thrust her spear forward, getting it through Barga Man's chest.

That should have been the end of it, but Barga Man slowly walked up the shaft of the spear. The blade eventually poked out his back as he tried to swipe at Roll's face.

Roll knew what she had to do. She pulled her sword out, leaving the spear in Barga Man's chest, before swinging it down on his head. It split right in half, revealing the circuitry within, including his I.C. chip.

"And that's that, I guess," Roll hummed and removed her bow, wrapping it around her arm's wound so that no foreign objects could get into it and muddle up her systems. She reached into Barga Man's head and removed his I.C. chip. "I better get home… Everyone must be so worried about me."

"Cut Man? Are you okay?" Dr. Light spoke into the headset.

"I, I tried to h-h-hurt Rock…" Cut Man's voice was shaky.

"Cut Man, please don't worry. You weren't you when you fought him." The doctor tried to comfort him.

"I tried to harm him because I thought he was a bad guy, but I was the bad guy, I-" Cut Man kept on babbling.

"Cut Man, listen to me!" Dr. Light's voice got more serious.

"Y-You hate me, don't you?" Cut Man sounded like he was crying.

"Never in a million years! None of us could ever hate you!" Dr. Light clutched onto the keyboard.

"Dr. Wily showed me the video feed of Bomb Man being taken out. I was convinced I was going to die. He didn't even tell me if Bomb Man was going to be rebuilt."

"Of course. Of course Dr. Wily did that." Dr. Light clenched his fists. "I'll never… I'll never forgive…" Tears started flowing from his eyes. "Oh, who am I kidding? I can never forgive myself for letting Dr. Wily become the man he was in the first place"

"Hey! Dad, if you won't let me blame myself for fighting Rock, I won't let you blame yourself for this whole thing either!"

Dr. Light wiped his eyes off. "Cut Man, I guess it might be hypocritical of the man with the guilt complex to tell you this, but it was out of your control. There was nothing you could do. So don't blame yourself for it. We'd never hate you. Okay?"

"…I love you, dad."

"I love you too, son."

The front door opened up and Roll walked in. "I'm home."

"Ah, Roll, welcome back!" Dr. Light turned around and saw her arm. "Oh no, did you trip and cut yourself?"

"I wish." Roll took out the two I.C. chips she retrieved from the two Robot Masters she fought.

"W-What?" Dr. Light took them.

"You had to fight Robot Masters too?!" Mega Man ran up to Roll.

"Two garbage boys. Called themselves the Special Wily Numbers."

"So Dr. Wily is even making his own Robots to try and cause more harm." Dr. Light closed his eyes. "This is going to be a hard time for us all."

"You need any help?" She looked over and saw Cut Man on the repair table.

"Cut Man's inner workings are all jostled up from taking a huge blow from a big stone block, his head even more so because Mega Man punched him to take him out."

"Well, you got four extra hands to help you out now!" Guts Man gave Dr. Light a thumbs up.

"Yeah, no worries! We'll have him done in no time at all!" Bomb Man pulled out the box of cores from the closet.

"You're all so kind." Dr. Light smiled. "Okay, let's get him finished up."

Dr. Wily kneaded his temples. Yet another unit down.

"Dr. Wily, you said you needed us?" Elec Man had teleported in with Ice Man coming in shortly afterward.

"He's taken down half of us and it's only been one day." Ice Man was twiddling his thumbs nervously.

Fire Man was already there before the two of them came in. He was trying to play guitar and naturally failed because he had no hands. He threw the guitar and torched it, having had enough of trying.

"I think it's about time that I gave you three a proper outfitting." Dr. Wily spun in his chair to face them.

"And what would that entail?" Elec Man leaned on Ice Man's head.

"Please stop." Ice Man couldn't do anything.

"For you and Ice Man, weather control would best suit both of you. For Fire Man, I think a better flamethrower will benefit you more."

"That would suit me perfectly, sir!" Ice Man smiled.

"More firepower. I ain't opposed to that at all!" Fire Man grinned with absolute glee.

"It won't take long, will it? I am in desperate need to show my audience my full potential." Elec Man cartwheeled as he came towards Dr. Wily.

"Not at all! It'll take even shorter than that idiot Light took to upgrade his little Blue Bomber!"

"Upgrade me first! My serial number comes before theirs!" Ice Man came up and saluted Wily, in true kissass fashion.

"Hell no, give them to me first! I'll take down that Mega Man with my own hands!" Fire Man shoved Ice Man to the side.

Elec Man looked over at Fire Man. "You don't have hands-"

"WITH MY OWN HANDS!"

"With your own hands…"

Dr. Wily looked over to Elec Man. "I'm going to assume they'll fight you next. Therefore, you shall be the first to be upgraded. But don't worry. Whether or not Elec Man beats him, we shall reach our goal!"

Chapter Text

Rock feebly tried to get up off the ground. The air around him was filled with soot and embers, burning orange light surrounding him.

Was this Hell?

No, this was his home.

Maniacal laughter rang through the air as a biting cold took over his body, stopping Rock dead in his tracks, tears streaming down his eyes as he had no way to escape his attackers now.

"Pathetic. This is the best you could do against us?" A familiar flamboyant voice mockingly spoke into Rock's ear before he could feel a boot stomp the back of his head.

"W-Why…?" Rock's voice was faint and weak. Unable to fight back, his fate was sealed.

"Doctor Wily's orders were to neutralize you, by any means possible!" The roar of thunder filled the air as lightning bolts blasted from the sky. Rock could feel every circuit in his body get fried by the sheer amount of electricity overloading his systems. Everything went black.

Rock jolted awake. Tears streamed down his face and his breathing was shaky. Was that a night terror? But robots don't dream, do they?

It was ten o'clock P.M., not even close to the amount of time he had to be "asleep" to charge up completely. Roll was still in her charging bed, motionless as a log. What happened to him?

Rock didn't care at this point. He had to strike before they did.

Rock crept out of his room and to Dr. Light's lab. He turned the main computer's volume down significantly before actually powering on the computer.

His last three siblings appeared on the screen. Ice Man, Fire Man, and Elec Man.

Rock shifted into his armor as he began to search for something on the computer. A video box popped up, playing the news.

"My name is Chest, and this is MCNN at 10. As the threat of Doctor Wily's sudden theft and takeover of Doctor Light's robots has been cut in half, the robots that remain are causing even bigger problems. Ripot is on the scene at the power plant. Ripot?"

"Thank you, Chest! So as you can see right behind me, there's a whole light show of a thunderstorm happening at the Mega City Power Plant, but not a single drop of rain! Whatever Dr. Wily did to Elec Man, he's controlling the very weather around here right now!

"The same could be said for Ice Man, who has frozen an entire portion of the city in sheets of ice and snow." A brief video clip of said event played on-screen.

"And in addition to that, the Rolling Metalworks Inc. building that Fire Man is occupying has grown so hot that no human can safely approach it." A clip of that location played next. The camera was blurred from the amount of heat coming from the ground.

"It's gotten even worse. I have to stop them." Mega Man brought up the coordinates that Dr. Light had set up. He had to set a timer for the teleporter to bring him back, as no one else was up at these hours.

"It's time I cut the cord on Elec Man." Mega Man was never this serious before. His core wasn't even fully charged and yet he still intended to go out in the middle of the night and fight his siblings, without anyone even piloting the drone so he knew what to expect.

Feet hitting the ground, Mega Buster out, Mega Man looked up at the platforms he had to traverse through the power plant. "I gotta be quick, I have an hour to do this. I can make it, though." He jumped up, shooting each of the Gabyoalls that slid towards him before climbing up the ladder. There's going to be a lot of climbing again, but that wasn't going to slow Mega Man down this time.

"Screw it." Shoegaze threw away his lottery ticket. Yet another loss for him. So much for those lucky numbers.

The casino was bustling with so much activity that Shoegaze couldn't focus on any one thing for more than a few seconds. But it wasn't important anymore. He wanted out.

Quickly, he walked the opposite direction he came from. With all the people and machines, it was like a maze that he had to navigate. Squeezing between people, he lost his way yet again.

Shoegaze's senses came back to Earth just before a stranger bumped into him.

"Hey, watch it!" Shoegaze shouted.

"S-Sorry, sir, I didn't see you-" The man had a crew cut and looked incredibly out of place here in the casino. Stuttering, nervous, and extremely shy.

"Whatever." Shoegaze shook his head as he walked past the man.

"Wait, sir, can you help me?" The man held onto Shoegaze's sleeve. "I lost my girlfriend and I can't find her!"

"Well, I'm lost too, so she and I both have problems." Shoegaze tried to escape his grip.

"Can you at least try and help?!" The man held onto his sleeve tighter.

"Alright, alright. What's her name?" Shoegaze shook his head.

"Simone." The man looked at him.

Shoegaze swallowed a lump in his throat. "Last name?"

"Miller."

Shoegaze took a deep breath.

"EMERALD SPEARS!" Shoegaze shouted, pointing at the man and bolting in the other direction. He hoped that was loud enough to at least cause some people to panic and prevent whoever this man was from following him.

Now to find the exit.

These were some long ladders. Mega Man looked up and climbed as fast as he could, only to turn around and see strange orb-like robots floating down from above.

Not taking any chances, Mega Man fired his Buster at them, destroying them instantly. But then he looked down and saw that three more had been floating up from below him. Two eye stalks popped out from each end of them as they shot lightning at the Blue Bomber.

"Damn!" Mega Man almost got hit, but he shot down at them, taking them out.

"I'll have to be careful about those." Mega Man reached the end of the ladder, looking up and seeing just a single block in the air that he could jump on. Nowhere near close enough to the edges that he had to go up.

Suddenly, more blocks appeared and then disappeared shortly afterward.

"Easy." Mega Man jumped up just before one of them appeared, then quickly bounced onto the next one. Somehow, his fear of heights wasn't getting the best of him despite how high up he was.

Climbing up another ladder, a bridge of disappearing blocks formed in front of him. He ran across and jumped onto another ledge. This time, it led outside, where the cold night air hit his skin and lightning danced through the clouds.

"Statistics." Mega Man talked to himself as he climbed up yet another ladder. In his vision, it showed his status. How full his weapon gauges were, how much damage his shell sustained, and how much energy he had left. He was in desperate need of charging.

"Damn it!" Mega Man jumped onto one of the small platforms in front of him before turning around. There was an energy capsule just sitting there, across another gap that he had to jump across. "That's convenient." Mega Man smirked to himself before leaping over to grab it.

Plugging it into his buster, he could feel himself feel more awake now as the capsule refilled his energy. "Alright, let's go!" Mega Man jumped gracefully across each of the platforms. He was going to see this mission through.

BANG!

Shoegaze felt a bullet graze his hair, taking off a tiny lock.

"You're not getting away this time!" A voice shouted from behind him, no doubt Simone's. It was burnt into Shoegaze's mind when she pointed that gun at his head.

Immediately, he dived to the side into a row of slot machines before making a U-turn and running south between the rows. If he was lucky, when Simone tries to follow him, she'd expect him to have run further north.

The screams of terrified patrons should drown out the sound of him running away too. He could try and follow them, then blend in with them to get to the exit.

However, he felt something nick the back of his head. A bullet grazed his skin, having been fired from between the crack between two slot machines. Red blood came leaking out the wound.

Blood? But he was a robot, wasn't he?

Shoegaze didn't have time to think about his anatomy. He bolted down the aisle and joined in with a group of people running towards the exit.

"Where'd he go?!" Simone looked down where Shoegaze ran and saw the droplets of blood on the floor. Her own blood ran cold as she walked up to it, touching it with her fingers.

"Did you find him?" Simone's boyfriend ran up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Theo, I- I hit a civilian." Simone shuddered.

"What?!" Theo looked at the blood. "O-Oh no! Harvey's going to be so-"

"We'll just say it was beanie boy who did it. Harvey doesn't have to know."

"But he's our leader! What if he finds out we lied?!"

"Not gonna happen, it's not like he looks at any mainstream news." Simone stood up straight and made a mad dash towards an employees-only exit. "Let's get the hell outta here before the cops arrive!"

"W-Wait up!" Theo bolted behind her as sirens rang out through the night's air.

Mega Man ran along the outside of the power plant. Finally, another place to take a short breather. But something was off. He looked at one of the walls before his curiosity got the best of him.

Equipping the Super Arm, Mega Man punched right through the wall before seeing a little something on the ground. It was some kind of attachment. For his Mega Buster?

Growing even more curious, he equipped the peculiar thing and fired. A beam of light went through the air and froze. It didn't seem like much, but Mega Man tapped his hand on it and it felt solid. This new "weapon" could create platforms for him.

"This is called…" He searched his statistics for weapon energy. "The Magnet Beam. This should come in handy." His confidence grew even more as he made his way up another ladder. This place just went up, up, up. But he wasn't going to let that stop him.

"Elec Man, do you hear me?! That Mega twerp is coming your way!" Wily's voice sounded panicky.

"Huh?" Elec Man was involuntarily activated before Wily spoke to him. "B-But I don't even have my makeup on-"

"Now is not the time to think about your stupid makeup! Look alive and take him out!"

Elec Man tried to hold back a look of sorrow. He always wanted to look his best. "Yes, sir…"

Immediately after saying that, Elec Man pulled out a small set of foundation powder and furiously applied it to his face. "This is an absolute crime. Rock couldn't have waited until the morning to see me?! When I was actually ready?!"

He sighed to himself before applying mascara. "No, Dr. Wily said that none of them cared about me, otherwise they'd be here by now; but this is the opposite, Rock really does care! Yes, that must be it! He loves me enough that he'd come and see me!"

Elec Man lived off of attention. Any time he got to show off, it made him feel more alive. "My precious brother, how it pains me that I'll have to kill you when you come here. But orders are orders.

"How much time do I have?" He looked down at a pocket watch he carried with him. "Enough time for my lip butter, eyeliner, and eyebrows."

The wailing of the sirens came closer to the casino before a multitude of police cars screeched to a halt.

"Everyone, remain calm!" Gilbert's voice was amplified by a megaphone. He came walking out, looking around to see if anyone had sustained injuries. He paced through the crowd, trying to assess the situation before his eyes fell upon a familiar face.

"Ozzy?!" Gil ran up to him and saw his bloodstained hand. "Are you okay?!"

"It's just a scratch, no big deal." Shoegaze's hand had been prodding at the nick from the bullet that grazed him.

"What the hell happened here?" Gil put his hand on his arm and began walking him towards the front of the crowd for medical attention.

"It's that Simone you mentioned. Some guy told me she was his girlfriend and I knew for sure they were after me."

"Girlfriend?" Gil only knew one person who'd even get close to Simone intimately. Theo Payne. "Was it Simone who shot you?"

"Yeah. I'm not dead so that's good and all-" Shoegaze cringed when one of the doctors rubbed the wound with rubbing alcohol; not because he felt pain, but because he had to pretend that it hurt him like a human.

"But why's she after you? I thought she was only after your friend."

"For all I care, they're going after sympathizers as well." Shoegaze's wound was covered with a non-stick pad and bandage. "I don't need to go to the hospital or anything, you can let me go now."

"Are you sure you don't need anything else? No therapist needed or anything?" Gil tried his best to show he cared.

"She pointed a gun at my head and I described it to you like it was just a normal Tuesday. I'm too far gone for a therapist." Shoegaze walked off and spat on the sidewalk.

"Wait, Ozzy-" Gil wanted to go after him, but his feet felt heavy and stayed firmly on the ground. Just who was this guy? "You can come over to my place if you want."

"Eh? Really now? Well, guess it beats the streets." Shoegaze shrugged.

Mega Man was almost there. Sliding under the Big Eye that blocked his way, he saw the last ladder going all the way up. That should be where Elec Man was.

He climbed as fast as he could. He only had five minutes left. And these electric fields that randomly turned on and off didn't help matters at all. But soon enough, he got to the door that was at the top of the ladder and entered the boss room.

"Oh, my precious brother!" Elec Man's voice was so full of joy. "You do care about me! But alas, I must-"

"Cut. The crap. Elec Man." Mega Man immediately equipped the Rolling Cutter. His armor turned white and orange, two blades stuck out the top of his helmet, and he even got goggles that mimicked Cut Man's big eyes.

"W-What? Rock, you've never used such crude language before."

"You could never control the weather before, but here we are." Mega Man shrugged.

"Hey, I'm the sarcastic one here!" Elec Man chuckled. "You're rife with boyish attitude right now. What's going on? Early-age rebellion? Wake up on the wrong side of the charging bed?"

"Let's just get to the point: I'm taking you back to the lab." Mega Man held his Mega Buster out, a pair of scissors pointing straight at Elec Man.

"Any other day, I'd find this kind of attitude from you hilarious, adorable even. But right now… It's pissing me off." Elec Man pointed his finger up as lightning bolts struck all around Mega Man.

Mega Man jumped back, almost getting hit each time, but still successfully dodging them all before throwing the Rolling Cutter right at Elec Man's arm. It sliced clean through as Elec Man gripped the stub in pain.

"W-Why, you little-" Elec Man shot Thunder Beams from his remaining arm. "Is this what you plan to do?! Hurt everyone you care about?! Hurt everyone that still cares about me?!"

"What choice do I have when lives are on the line?" Mega Man tossed another Rolling Cutter at his remaining arm, but it was deflected back at him by a sudden forcefield of electricity that surrounded Elec Man. "Damn!"

"I thought you loved me!" Elec Man cried out, putting his arm stub on the ground and sending several currents traveling along the floor towards Mega Man.

Mega Man screamed in pain, feeling his whole body fry.

His mind went back to that nightmare.

He can't let it end like this.

Mega Man reached for his helmet and threw it straight at Elec Man, the blades at the top stabbing right into Elec Man's head and knocking him back.

With a scream, Mega Man ran forward and fired the Rolling Cutter at Elec Man's neck, sending his head flying off.

This won't be hard for Dr. Light to repair at all, Mega Man thought to himself. He picked up the severed parts and hugged Elec Man's body as the teleporter brought the two back.

Dr. Light's eyes opened up as he tried to move, but he couldn't even arch his back a bit. Dear G-d, what are those noises? They sound like they're coming from his lab, but he can't move at all. He was stuck in a sleep paralysis episode.

The teleporter sounded like it was on. The scraping of metal on that floor rang through the halls, followed by three different thuds.

Dr. Light's heart pounded. Did someone or even something invade his house? Something bad was amiss.

And then he turned his head around. He saw a large figure in the darkness of his room.

This could have been anything. This could have just been one of those sleep paralysis demons that the kids talk about on the internet. But with what he heard from his lab, he wasn't so sure.

"Hhhhhh…" Light tried to cry out, but only faint whimpers left his throat.

"Y-You heard that too, didn't ya, Light?!" The figure spoke.

"…" Dr. Light realized it was Auto.

"I-I'm scared! P-Please, can I stay with you?!" Auto didn't even wait for an answer as he climbed in and held onto the Doctor as tightly as he could.

Dr. Light couldn't even protest, as this sleep paralysis kept him from making anything more than a quiet, tortured wheeze.

The combination of the night sky and the snow and ice all around him made Mega Man cold, but also at peace. He began to slide along the ice below his feet, trying his best not to slip.

That was when he encountered a new robot; a bipedal, green one. It looked easy enough to take on, so Mega Man shot a few solar bullets into its torso.

However, that proved to be a bad idea, as its head and arms jumped out and floated right towards our hero. "Crap!" He slid onto his back and shot up at the head, and it went down in one hit.

"Alright, headshots are effective." Mega Man tried to get back on his feet, but slipped and fell face-first into the snow.

"Soldier, this is the most important moment of your life. You are about to fight the one obstacle between you and saving the world," the general spoke.

"S-Sir, I don't- I'm scared!" the soldier stuttered.

"Fear is a natural reaction to this. You may very well get killed in the process. But remember, even if we die, our message will still reach the masses. Surely, they will carry on our fight, knowing who the real villains are in the end."

"But how can we be so sure?"

"We just have to believe in our cause."

Mega Man climbed out of the freezing water he had to swim through, making himself give off more heat so that the water didn't freeze on him. That took a noticeable toll on his energy. He knew he was in trouble.

Jumping down a hole, he saw two Octo Batteries going up and down, guarding another energy capsule. Mega Man shot down the two adversaries as he went up to plug it in.

"Why are these just laying around? It's like they want me to keep on going." Mega Man said that as if he just thought Wily was stupid.

He jumped down the next hole he saw, into some more cold water. That is, he would have before he used the Magnet Beam to create a platform under himself. He couldn't expend his energy heating himself up again. That's when the disappearing blocks started appearing.

"Oh, joy," Mega Man murmured, "This stuff again."

"S-Sir, I can't do this, I'm afraid-"

"Soldier, do you have no pride in your cause?!"

"O-Of course I do, sir!"

"Then you will go through with this, no matter the cost! This is for a better future!"

Mega Man jumped across each of the disappearing blocks in the next room before making two platforms using his Magnet Beam to skip the rest of them. He didn't have time for these puzzles. The teleporter would bring him back in 30 minutes.

It was then that Mega Man reached a cliffside. A fall from this height would kill him, but the only means of traversing them were platforms that had guns on either side of them, that shot right at him.

He almost felt afraid, but he took out his Magnet Beam again, creating long platforms to run along right across the open air. This thing was his most useful weapon in the whole of his arsenal.

Once he was over the cliffs, he jumped down another hole in the ground, and this time, there were three smaller energy capsules. That was just enough to bring Mega Man's power back up to full. Where did all these energy capsules come from? He didn't care, he was raring to go now.

This was it. The final stretch. Mega Man ran under the Big Eye and into the final corridor, shooting down every Peng that got in his way before he got to the door to Ice Man's room.

There, he saw Ice Man on his knees, holding onto his head as he began to talk to himself, not even noticing his brother. "Sir, is this truly the right thing to do?"

"Soldier, you are about to face death in the eye and you still question your mission?!" Mega Man could see Ice Man's self-dialogue in person now. Ice Man's voice just got deeper all of a sudden, like hearing a piccolo make the sound of an alto flute.

"S-Sir, what if no one takes us seriously when it's all said and done?"

"The icecaps are melting. Arctic species are dying. Humans are destroying the Earth as we speak. They will come to realize that this is their comeuppance."

"B-But won't they hate us?"

"History will vindicate us. It doesn't matter what they say now. Today's pariahs are tomorrow's messiahs."

"So is that what you really think of yourself?" Mega Man equipped the Thunder Beam, his Mega Buster turning into a thunder rod-like design as his armor turned black, yellow, and red with lightning designs all over his helmet.

"…" Ice Man turned around. "Sorry, I must have been talking aloud to myself. Usually, those conversations go on in my head, but-"

"Do you think what you're doing is some sort of messianic duty? Something that people should applaud? Wily's reprogramming must have done a number on you. I have to take you back this instant." Mega Man pointed his Mega Buster at Ice Man, a cold look growing on his face.

"And what will that do?! No matter how much I beg and plead, humans will never listen to me! They'll just keep polluting the world until they ultimately destroy the Earth and all its beautiful creations! Dr. Wily promised me we could stop the world from dying if we overthrow the humans-"

Mega Man immediately shot the Thunder Beam right at Ice Man, causing him to convulse violently before attempting to get back.

"You talk too much." Mega Man walked over and charged up another Thunder Beam.

"S-STOP AND FREEZE!" Ice Man glowed with a strange, cold aura before icicles started falling from the ceiling.

"Crap!" Mega Man dashed backward, the icicles only barely missing him.

"I WON'T BACK DOWN FROM MY MISSION!" Ice Man shot several Ice Slashers through the icicles, hitting Mega Man on the arm and torso with them.

"T-Then I'll put an end to it!" Mega Man jumped onto an icicle and shot right at Ice Man once more.

"T-T-T-T-THE WORLD'S G-G-G-GOING TO D-D-D-D-DIE IF YOU S-S-S-S-STOP ME!" Ice Man shook once again. His circuits had a flaw in them. He was short-circuiting from the overdose of electricity flowing into him.

"And it'll die if Wily gets his way." Mega Man fired off one last beam, and that finished Ice Man off.

Mega Man picked Ice Man up off the ground before the teleporter's timer ran out and brought him back to the lab.

May 26, 20XX

Midnight came. More noises came from the lab.

"T-There it is again! The teleporter's turning on!" Auto had a death grip on Dr. Light.

"Ghh hhh fhh mh!" Dr. Light tried to push Auto off of his face as he heard the teleporter. "We have to go see what it is!"

"B-But I'm scared, Doc!"

"So am I!" Dr. Light turned on a flashlight and quickly made his way out the bedroom door, trying to move as quickly as possible.

"Oh no-" Mega Man heard footsteps from the stairs. He tried to put Ice Man's unconscious body onto a repair table, but a whole body was heavier than a body and two dismembered limbs.

"M-Mega Man?!" Dr. Light could not believe his eyes. "What are you doing?! How are you awake?!"

"How's Auto awake?" Mega Man hoped that would distract him.

"…Wait, how are you awake, Auto?!"

"Well, I don't sleep when I charge! Sleep's for the weak! How else am I supposed to run a shop that's open 24/7?" Auto crossed his arms.

"How did you even get in my house?!"

"You keep an extra key in the flowerpot with the rose-"

"How did you find that out?!"

Mega Man took this opportunity while they were distracted to pull the lever back and activate the teleporter.

"W-Wait, Mega Man!" Dr. Light tried to run up and stop him, but it was too late. Mega Man was off to get Fire Man now.

"Uh- Doc, what's going on?"

"I don't know, Auto! That's what I'm going to find out!" He went into the teleporter's executive file, turned off the automatic teleportation, and then sent the drone into the teleporter after Mega Man.

Mega Man could feel the sweltering heat all around him. Even for a metalworking factory, this was ridiculous. It's like everywhere Mega Man looked, there was molten metal.

"Mega Man!" Dr. Light's voice rang through his ears as the drone teleported in. "Explain to me! How did you wake up?! Please, tell me!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mega Man scowled and walked away.

"Why aren't you following my orders?! Mega Man, you have to stop! Don't you realize the toll this can put on you?! You better come back home this instant or you're in-"

Mega Man cut off Dr. Light's voice by blasting the drone with one of his solar bullets.

Dr. Light was petrified to the bone. Mega Man was never this trigger happy. Something bad was happening.

Something was happening and he didn't even know how or why.

Chapter Text

Dr. Light sweated bullets as he frantically typed away into the computer's console. "Emergency start-up!"

The faces of the four remaining robots in the house appeared on the screen of his computer. "Okay, Bomb Man can't go because the fire would obliterate him." Dr. Light selected Roll, Cut Man, and Guts Man, hurriedly sending them a push notification.

"Alert." Roll's eyes shot open as robotic text-to-speech spoke in her ears. "Emergency action required. Please meet Dr. Light in his laboratory as quickly as possible."

"What-" Roll's eyes darted over to Rock's bed, but he wasn't there. "Oh no!" Grabbing her broom, Roll made a mad dash to the lab, hearing the door of Cut Man and Guts Man's room swing open behind her.

"What's going on?! I just got fixed earlier and already I gotta be woken up?!" Cut Man sounded annoyed but more than that he sounded afraid.

"Rock's not in his charging bed! He's gone!" Roll took a sharp turn, almost sliding into the wall in the process.

"Gone?!" Guts Man lifted Cut Man onto his shoulders, holding on tightly so the little guy didn't fall off.

Dr. Light was shuffling through the closet to get another drone out as the three Robot Masters ran into the lab.

"What's going on, Pops?! Roll said that Rock was-" He saw the broken shells of the two brothers that were brought back. "Missing- oh, G-d!"

"Mega Man's gone rogue." Dr. Light spoke quickly.

"What?!" Cut Man covered his mouth.

Dr. Light took a box out of the closet. "I kept these from Mega Man earlier; being online for too long can strain the core. But you were all inactive long enough for your cores to be relaxed." He opened the box, it was filled with six different blue cans with a big letter E on each of them. "Each of you takes one."

"I always wondered where you were keeping the E-Tanks." Roll picked one of them up and cracked it open.

"They don't grow on trees, you know. I need you all to use them wisely." Light pointed at the main computer screen, with Rolling Metalworks Inc.'s coordinates typed into the teleporter's executable. "With full energy, you should all be able to get through here and save Mega Man."

"Well, let's not waste any time, then!" Cut Man chugged the tank in one go, crushing it against his head before giving a shout and throwing it down. "LET'S GO!"

"Ready!" Guts Man poured the entire tank into his lower jaw before swallowing it.

"Why did you wake me up?" Roll drank her E-Tank in several swigs before putting it down.

"Mega Man had coding in him to drop everything when his siblings got hurt," Dr. Light explained, "For the most part, I disabled that so that he'd be able to fight his siblings. The only one I didn't disable it for was you." Dr. Light looked down at Roll.

"I know where you're going with this. But how do we know he hasn't lost that bit of him too?"

"You were able to fight two Robot Masters without having Mega Man's upgrades. You're strong enough to take that risk. But the real question is are you willing to?"

Roll stayed silent.

The change in temperature could be felt immediately as the trio was teleported to the location.

"It's like a sauna but even hotter!" Cut Man fanned himself. "Man, Ice Man would hate this place."

"We don't have time to complain about the heat, we gotta haul ass!" Guts Man rushed to the ladder. "Come on!"

"Right!" Roll's broom went into spear mode as she climbed as fast as she could, taking out one of the Screw Driver turrets at the top of the ladder. "Hang in there, Mega!" Determination glowed in her eyes.

Mega Man looked around a room full of fire geysers, shooting his Magnet Beam to traverse across them easily. "He really went ham on this place. How much more fire do you need? Such a pain in the ass."

Mega Man kept his cool despite the heat, and he made his way down into the next room. But just as he was about to run to the next ladder going down, he felt the ground shake beneath his feet as he tripped over.

"W-What the hell?! An earthquake?" He held his hands above his head as the ground shook. But this wasn't an earthquake; it wasn't a constant shaking, but a series of shakes that stopped and happened again.

"No, he couldn't have!"

Guts Man carried Cut Man and Roll on his shoulders as he jumped over each of the fire geysers. "There we go! See? This is gonna be easy!"

"B-But we're all gonna get fried if you mess up!" Cut Man clutched onto the big guy as tight as he could.

"Maybe if you shut your yap right now I won't!" He called out as he jumped again. "MEGA MAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"What the hell are they doing here?!" Mega Man leaped into the air before the next tremor came, climbing down the ladder. A sea of fire loomed under him, and more fire geysers sprayed up in an attempt to flash fry him.

The geysers were the least of his worries, as six different robots clad in fire burst out of the molten metal and attempted ram into Mega Man.

"Gh-" Mega Man reflexively activated the Ice Slasher, his armor turning white and blue with a fur trim around his helmet.

He fired at the little fireballs, the ice melting instantly and extinguishing them so he could punch them away. "I still got enough shots to take out my target." Mega Man stumbled from the tremors of Guts Man's jumps as he climbed up the next ladder.

"MEGA MAAAAN!" Guts Man screamed his brother's name as he leaped across several platforms in a single bound.

"B-Be careful, Guts!" Roll held her broom out, knocking away the Changkeys that floated towards them, but not taking them out.

"Look, we're in a hurry to get him, but-" If Cut Man could sweat, he'd be doing it from both the heat and the fear. "Oh lordy lordy lordy-"

"We're going to be fine, you guys! It's no big deal!" Guts Man leaped in front of the ladder and tried to climb up as fast as he could.

"You say that, but-" Cut Man got off of Guts Man's shoulder. "I can't handle taking any more risks!"

"You guys might want to be careful." The drone finally caught up with the three. Dr. Light pointed the drone over to a machine that was pumping glob after glob of melted metal. "This thing will require perfect timing to run through."

"Well, there is another way." Roll looked up. She pointed at a ledge they could grab onto, but it was a bit too high for even Guts Man to reach. "Okay, Cut Man, you get on both of Guts Man's shoulders, and then I'll climb on top of you."

"This better work." Cut Man did as Roll said, taking the scissors off of his head so that he didn't accidentally snip her.

"It's the only way unless you wanna burn." Roll switched her broom to spear mode before getting on top of Cut Man's shoulders. "Alright, Guts Man, jump!"

"Alley-oop!" Guts Man jumped up. The ledge was just barely out of reach.

Roll stabbed her spear into the wall. "Okay, one more time!"

"HUP!" Guts Man jumped again, but this time, Roll leaped off of Cut Man and grabbed onto the spear, spinning around a bit before jumping onto the ledge. "It worked! You two try it now!"

"Nice thinking, Roll!" Cut Man smiled as Guts Man jumped up once more so Cut Man could grab onto the spear and push himself up. "Nice of you to give us a lift. Literally!"

Guts Man leaped up one more time, doing a pull-up on the spear before grabbing onto the ledge, pulling the spear out of the wall, and handing it back to Roll. "Nice job, sis. Where would we be without your brains?"

"Save it, we got a brother to save!"

Mega Man slowly stepped into Fire Man's room as he aimed his Ice Slasher forward.

"YEE-HAW!" Fire Man burst through the ceiling in a brilliant orb of fire. "I can finally let the fire of justice burn m' enemies as I've always wanted! Evildoer, ya better beware-"

"Shut up." Mega Man blasted the Ice Slasher right at Fire Man, the ice melting into water and immediately extinguishing his flames.

"What the?! Ya can't just interrupt someone durin' a dramatic speech! That's underhanded!"

"Welcome to the real world, Fire Man. Come out of your fantasy land and accept the fact you'll never be a hero."

"Never took ya fer the type to give others lip, Rocky bud. I don't like it one bit." His head flame reignited as he pointed his arm cannons at Mega Man. "FIRE!" A giant blast of flame came from his arm cannons, straight at the Blue Bomber.

"Such a loudmouth." Mega Man rolled out of the way before shooting once more, hitting Fire Man square in the chest.

"YAGH! Yer gonna pay fer that, buddy boy-" Fire Man was interrupted by another Ice Slasher hitting him right in the kisser, freezing his mouth shut.

"Finally, some peace and quiet." Mega Man shot yet another Slasher, but Fire Man jumped into the air and then landed on his arm cannons, charging up a big attack, the ice melting off of his lips.

"FIREEEEE!" Suddenly, on both sides of him, pillars of fire erupted from the ground, circling all around the room as Mega Man used his Ice Slasher to extinguish them.

"You think you're such hot stuff, but you're nothing more than a tadpole flopping on land so it can crawl like the frogs." Mega Man shot Fire Man point-blank with the Ice Slasher, freezing his whole upper body.

"S-Shut up!" Fire Man's eyes began to water. "I'll- I'll stop yer evil plans no matter the cost!"

"It's costing you your life and you haven't even stopped me." Mega Man aimed the Ice Slasher right at Fire Man's face.

"W-W-Wait! If ya freeze m' whole head, it'll ruin m' I.C. chip! Ya don't want that, do ya?!"

"…So what?" Mega Man was about to fire his Mega Buster, but suddenly, from out of nowhere, a flying pair of scissors came from behind him and sliced Fire Man's head off. "What the hell?!" Mega Man turned around.

"Mega Man, whatever happened to you, we're going to save you!" Roll brandished her broom. "Right here, right now!"

Mega Man stilled his tongue. He simply reached for Fire Man's arm cannon, pulled out the data chip, and inserted it. His armor took on the same silver and red coloring as Fire Man's armor, with the addition of fire bursting out of the top of his helmet.

"Ahem! Ahehehem!" A raspy voice came from the intercom of the metalworking facility. "Your attention, Mega Man!"

Mega Man turned around towards the speaker. "Yes, sir?"

"Dr. Wily?!" Roll her broom closer.

"Your orders are going to be simple. Kill those who stand in your way."

"…Yes, sir." Mega Man turned around, equipping the Hyper Bomb. "Prepare to die."

Cut Man's pupils shrunk. Guts Man trembled. Roll stood there like a frozen deer. Their brother had been reprogrammed by Wily. But how?

They didn't have time to think as Mega Man tossed the bomb towards them.

"O-OH CRAP!" Guts Man immediately ran to the side. Roll ran in front of him and knocked the bomb back towards Mega Man using her broom, but it exploded before it got close enough. Mega Man seemed shock by that, but quickly resumed with his orders.

"Dammit, there's nothing I can lift in here to throw at him!" Guts Man looked around, panicky.

"Actually, there is!" Roll looked over at Cut Man.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Cut Man dashed over to the big robot. "Let's give him the old fastball special!"

"Oh, that's right, I could have done that-" Guts Man immediately lifted his brother into the air. "Ready!"

"Steady!" Cut Man went rigid and pointed himself right at Mega Man.

"GO!" Both of them shouted as Guts Man chucked Cut Man like a javelin. Mega Man shot a Hyper Bomb at him, but he cut the fuse before it could detonate, and then landed on top of Mega Man with a loud crash.

"Dr. Light! Where's his fuel tank?!" Cut Man looked around Mega Man's body. All of Light's robots had a backup fuel tank in case their core ran out of energy. However, it's not as efficient, being comparable to a human not sleeping at all the night before.

"It's somewhere in his lower right abdomen, just make sure none of the oil leaks into his circuitry!" Dr. Light panicked, trying his best to not faint from this whole situation. His own son, who he had made to save the world, was going to be used against it if they failed.

"Got it!" Cut Man tried to kick Mega Man onto his back, but the blue bomber rolled away, getting back on his feet before decking Cut Man right in the face.

"GYAH!" Cut Man held onto his cheek, a noticeable dent left in it.

"Absolutely pathetic." Mega Man swapped to the Super Arm and picked Cut Man up by the head. "This is the best you guys can do?"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Guts Man roared like a mother bear as he jumped up, going for Mega Man's cranium with a double axe handle.

"Checkmate." Mega Man switched back to the Hyper Bomb and launched one, getting a direct hit at Guts Man's chest.

"GUTS!" Cut Man reached his hand out as he saw the unfortunate robot hit the wall and go unconscious. "You're going to pay for this!"

"How adorable. It makes me sick." Mega Man switched back to the Super Arm and knocked the woodcutter away, sending him flying like a ragdoll. Cut Man landed perfectly, however.

"EAT THIS!" Cut Man tossed his Rolling Cutter, aiming directly at Mega Man's stomach, but this proved fruitless as Mega Man deflected it with his hand, knocking it next to Guts Man's head.

"It's time I test out a brand new toy." Mega Man swapped back to the Fire Storm he had just obtained, aiming at his brother. "I'll incinerate you!" A huge stream of fire came shooting out of the Mega Buster.

"LOOK OUT!" Cut Man got shoved aside, falling to the ground as he saw Roll standing in his place. Cut Man couldn't even scream before he saw Roll get torched.

Cut Man was stricken with terror, but more than that…

Mega Man's stoic, evil expression turned into one of pure fear and sorrow.

"ROLL!" Mega Man ran up to his sister. Her dress was charred black, her skin scorched enough that metal was starting to show. "Roll, are you okay?!" Mega Man hugged his little sister, tears poured from his eyes.

"What are you doing, Mega Man?! Crush them! Destroy them all!" Dr. Wily's voice shouted from the intercom.

Mega Man's eyes glazed over as his programming tried to get itself in order.

CURRENT OBJECTIVE: "Eliminate all who stand in the way of Dr. Wily's goals"

IF **001 hurts 002** OR **001 witnesses 002 getting hurt** THEN **001 will drop all current objectives and help 002**

002 has been injured by 001.

DROPPING CURRENT OBJECTIVE.

"R-Roll, please, say something!" Mega Man shook Roll around, hoping she'd open her eyes. "Roll…! ROLL!"

Cut Man looked over to Guts Man, whose eyes had opened up.

Guts Man pulled the Rolling Cutter out of the wall and gave Cut Man a thumbs up, with Cut Man giving an "OK" sign in response.

The big bot tossed the scissors with all his strength, and with both blades pointing right at Mega Man's back, it impaled him straight through, puncturing his fuel tank successfully. Cut Man leaped over and yanked his Rolling Cutter out, causing the oil to spurt out of the fuel tank.

Roll opened her eyes, staring deeply at Mega Man. "You're an amazing fighter, Mega Man, but you let your guard down too easily."

"Y-You…" Mega Man saw as the last of his energy drained away. With no oil to give him a backup energy source, he collapsed, finally defeated.

Roll got up, cringing in pain as she looked over at her two other brothers. "You know, you two are really good at improv. We didn't even discuss this plan and yet we pulled it off!"

"I was just pretending to be knocked out the whole time!" Guts Man shrugged. "Worked out well enough, I guess."

"That was a big gamble you just did, Roll!" Cut Man shouted.

"I'm just glad it worked!" Roll chuckled before breathing through clenched teeth. "It smarts though."

"Let's get everyone home now." Guts Man picked Mega Man and Fire Man up off the ground as they were all teleported back to the laboratory.

Dr. Light held his head in his hands, the relief in his voice like none other. "It's finally done."

Roll set Mega Man facedown on the repair table, opening up his back to expose the fuel tank. "Now, all we have to do is get repaired, then fix their programming, then their shells. Dad, you can just go to bed. We'll take it from here."

"R-Really? You're too kind, Roll." Dr. Light wiped his eyes. "Okay, thank you very much."

"No problem! Auto, Cut, Guts, you guys help me out!" Roll gave a big smile.

"Oh yeah! Don't worry, I'm a trained professional!" Auto walked to the closet but hit his foot on one of the repair tables. "YEOWCH!"

"'Trained professional' with a million quotes," Cut Man snickered.

Roll plugged in Mega Man's I.C. chip as Auto worked on replacing his fuel tank. Cut Man and Guts Man worked on repairing Ice Man, which would simply require them to ground his shell to remove the static electricity from the Thunder Beam.

Bringing up Mega Man's code, Roll saw more changes were present than the last ones. Not only was Mega Man's loyalty changed from Dr. Light to Dr. Wily, but his emotional capacities were changed. Wily must have thought that his kind, compassionate personality would get in the way of his orders.

"This still doesn't answer how his programming was altered." Roll leaned back and rubbed her temples. "Come on, think…"

"So, uh, why did Dr. Wily wait until Mega Man beat them all?" Guts Man thought aloud. "I mean, if he could command Mega Man to do his bidding, why wait until-"

"Wait, that's it!" Roll snapped her fingers and opened up the Mega Buster, pulling out all of the data chips Mega Man copied. She inserted the Hyper Bomb's data chip into a different slot on the computer and checked it out.

"There's malicious coding that specifically targets Mega Man and slightly impedes his morality." She unplugged it and then plugged in the Super Arm's data chip. "It's the same with this one"

Roll nodded. "Dr. Wily really thought ahead. The data chips worked gradually so we couldn't see his symptoms until it was too late. Either Mega Man would get destroyed or he'd get through it all and become a war machine that combines all the powers of his minions into one vessel."

"Gh-" A grunt came from outside the room.

"Huh?" Roll looked over. "Dr. Light! I told you to go to bed! Please, don't-"

"I'll never forgive Wily." Dr. Light sat up against the wall, curling up. "Turning my son, who fights for peace, into a cold, heartless murder weapon… He isn't some tormented man, he's a megalomaniac. I can't forgive him! I WON'T forgive him!"

"Dad!" Roll hugged him. "It'll be okay. Please, just go back to sleep. You won't be able to get anything done later today if you stay up too late."

"I'm sorry, please just let me talk to Rock before I go back."

"Okay, but it's straight to bed when you're done! And remember to take your medicine when you wake up!"

"I know." Dr. Light rubbed his eyes as he went and put the headset on, beginning to speak to his son. "Rock, are you okay?"

"Dad, I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know what I was doing! I know you must be mad, I d-didn't even know what was h-h-happening to me! I-"

"I'm not mad at you, Rock. I'm happy you're okay. When I wake up later, we're going to be working on finding Dr. Wily as soon as possible. Just remember, I love you with all my heart, son. You are irreplaceable and if I lost you, then I could never see another happy day again."

"Oh, Dad!" The depiction of Rock on the computer began to cry tears of joy.

"Now, I'm going to go back to bed. Tomorrow, we can look forward to a better day, hopefully."

"Right! Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, son." Dr. Light removed the headset as he walked back to his room.

"Alright, we got Ice Man drained of static electricity, let's get his I.C. chip in order." Guts Man handed it over to Roll as he ejected Rock's I.C. chip and reinserted it into his shell.

"And let's give them both a charge so they can help us!" Cut Man held two E-Tanks in his hands as he poured them into the mouths of Mega Man and Ice Man.

"Well, that's one way to get things done faster." Roll put the headset on and began to talk to Ice Man. "Hey, bro?"

"Roll?" Ice Man looked nervous.

"How are you feeling, Ice Man?"

"I'm sorry for everything I've done. Mega Man can tell you about what happened, but I thought what I was doing was the right thing. I did so much more damage than any of my other siblings have done, I froze an entire part of the city…"

"We live in Colorado, Ice, it's just another day here," Roll laughed, "I'm sure it'll all go away. I mean, next month is June, summer's coming!"

"I hope it'll be as easy as you say it is." Ice Man still had a pessimistic view on this.

"Come on, let's get you online and we can fix your other brothers."

"Right. Thanks, sis."

Next was Fire Man's chip. Mega Man had woken up and looked over at the computer screen, shifting out of his armor.

"Can I talk to Fire?" His eyes were slightly damp.

"Go on." Roll gave Rock the headset.

"Fire Man-" As soon as Rock started talking, he wept. "I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, don't cry, bud." Fire Man's voice was calm and understanding.

"But I said all those things! I tried to kill you, Fire Man!"

"Neither of us were ourselves when we fought. I could hear it in yer voice and I saw it in yer attitude. I knew this wasn't the Rock I knew. I forgive ya, brother. Please, find it in ya to forgive yerself, too."

"I-" Rock sniffled loudly.

"Heh, this was s'posed to be a therapy session fer me, now I'm tryna cheer you up. Rock, when I'm on, I'm gonna hug the sadness outta ya like I'm wringin' the water out of a washcloth!"

"O-Oh," Rock sniffed again. "Fire Man, you're an amazing brother. I hope you become a hero."

"Yer an amazin' hero yerself, Rock! I'd give you a thumbs up, but you can see I ain't got any." He laughed to himself.

"Heh… I can't wait for you to get repaired." Rock cheered up immensely.

"Same here!" Fire Man's image on the computer waved as his I.C. chip was ejected and swapped with Elec Man's I.C. chip by Roll.

"I'll let you take this one, too." Roll smiled.

"Thank you." Rock looked over to the computer and spoke as Elec Man's image came up. "Elec Man?"

"You cared enough to talk to me?" Elec Man's voice was quieter than normal, but it was still obvious he was overjoyed.

"You've been saying that kind of stuff a lot. I mean, it's true, but what's brought it on?"

"W-Well, I'll admit, I almost fell for Wily's lies. When you were coming to retrieve me in the middle of the night, that was the only thing that brought me back to reality. I'm so happy you forgive me!"

"Of course I do! You're important to me and everyone else in this house! We all love you, Elec Man!"

"Oh, Rock!" Elec Man sounded like he was about to cry. "I love you all too!"

"Okay, it's high time I start repairing you now. I'll see you when you're up." Rock looked over to the tables, Ice Man had awoken.

"Rock, you were always my favorite brother." Elec Man's image smiled. "Thank you."

"Thank you too." Rock wiped his eyes as Elec Man's I.C. chip was ejected. That was it for the therapy sessions. Now it was time to fix them all.

Chapter Text

"Hey, what's this?" Cut Man saw a glowing light in Fire Man's head, pulling it out and inspecting it. "How'd this not get melted? The putty as well!" He opened his fingers, but the gummy glue stretched with them. "Uh-"

"Huh?" Roll grabbed it with her thumb and index finger, then tried to pull it away from Cut Man, but the sticky stuff stretched without any sign of breaking.

"Well, it looks like I'm in a sticky situation!" Cut Man giggled and tried scraping the stuff off with his scissors.

"Ugh." Roll… rolled her eyes.

"Pffhehehe! Good one!" Guts Man was amused by Cut's lame puns.

"I've never seen anything like this." Roll used a toothpick to get the rest of the putty off of the light.

"Maybe it's dangerous!" Auto held up a hammer.

"Maybe, but we won't know until-" Roll immediately swiped the light as Auto brought the hammer down on the desk. "Stop, you'll wake up dad."

"Sorry." Auto went back to repairing Fire Man's shell.

"I have a bad feeling about this thing, but…" Roll plugged it into the computer, immediately greeted by a firewall.

"What do we do about it?" Rock looked over Roll's shoulder.

"I'm going to hack it. I can't just let its bad juju do its work without it coming down on Wily's head." Roll opened the drawer.

"You don't know how to hack, dear-" Elec Man tried to interject.

"Not yet." Roll pulled out a small, blank-covered book from the drawer.

The morning had come after what felt like an eternity to Roslyn. Another canceled date, another lonely night. But now it was time for her to get to work.

Switching into her uniform, Roslyn lazily sprayed herself with deodorant and dry shampoo so she didn't smell like tears and finely-aged wine. She took a cold bottle of water from the fridge and chugged it down to wash the taste of Satan out of her mouth.

Exiting her apartment, Roslyn strolled to the parking lot, sighing as she entered her car. She checked her phone and saw she had drunkenly crytyped to Gil. Again.

"I- I really need to stop drinking entirely," She said to herself, dropping her phone into the passenger's seat and taking off. How many times has she said that to herself after every failed date now? She lost count.

Arriving at the police station, she cracked her neck and mosied on in, seeing Gil had already beat her there.

"Did you see the news or were you too drunk?" Gil leaned up against the desk.

"Shove it, the news app notified me." Roslyn took her phone out of her pocket and checked the said app, walking to the locker room with Gil at the same time. "Emerald Spears attacking at the casino, right?"

"The Emerald Spears are starting to go after robot sympathizers. Simone is also working together with Theo Payne."

"Of course, of all the people, it's always with that guy." Roslyn shook her head, trying not to go off on another rant. "Do we know their whereabouts?"

"Unfortunately, they got away after shooting Ozzy. He's staying with me now but I don't know how safe that's going to be. If they find out, I'll basically have a target painted on my front door."

"Man, if he were a robot, he'd be in trouble, but he might not have to worry so much about bullets. He could just get fixed up at a mechanic and he'd be fine as long as his I.C. chip was intact." Roslyn stretched as she collected her stun pistol from her locker.

"If he were a robot I'd have kicked him out at this point." Gil scowled.

"Gil, you couldn't trust cell phones when they were first invented, look at you now." Roslyn rolled her eyes.

"That's different-"

"You'll come to accept robots eventually." Roslyn fixed her collar as she stepped out of the locker room. "I'm going on patrol. Maybe I'll run into your potential boyfriend along the way."

"And for the record, Ozzy bleeds red blood," Gil gumbled.

"Really now?" Roslyn pretended to be shocked. "That's nice." She finally exited.

Gil walked in the opposite direction that Roslyn did. He couldn't help but wonder where Ozzy even came from. Maybe there was a file with his name on it that could explain.

"Password?" A slot in the door opened up, eyes peeking out.

"Devonshire," Simone whispered.

"Welcome back, soldier." The door opened up, a man in a green uniform with a gas mask stood to the side.

Simone walked inside, seeing Theo standing in front of the laptop that they were given. The leader of the Emerald Spears was on-screen, through a video call.

"Status report," the leader spoke simply.

"The current target's gone with the wind. We last saw him at the casino but he knows the names of some of the members." Theo looked nervous.

"That's not good at all." The leader scratched his chin.

"Harvey," Simone spoke up, calling the leader by his real name, "We're going to need more members to go on patrol around Mega City."

"Actually, speaking of members, one of our covert agents told me he has some important information regarding the LIT Manual Design Contest." Harvey leaned backward. "You're all going to have to relocate if you want to talk to him, but that's how we relay information."

"No problem. Tell us who it is and we'll be on it." Simone listened carefully.

Shoegaze banged his head on the vending machine. The one time he needed an E-Tank dispensed for him and it won't come out. He may run on solar energy, but it's still not enough to keep him from just passing out in the middle of the day.

"Come on you son of a-" Shoegaze kicked the machine hard enough to dent it, and that was enough to get the E-Tank out. "Finally."

"You know, people can die from doing that stuff to vending machines." A voice came from behind Shoegaze, a very familiar one at that.

"Whatever, Blues. As long as my I.C. chip's intact, I'll be fine." Shoegaze popped it open, slurping it down as he shook his head.

"And it'll probably cost you an arm and a leg." Blues snickered.

"Not if I go to Dr. Light, he does repairs for free!" Shoegaze swigged from his E-Tank.

Blues went quiet, eerily so. Shoegaze stopped drinking for a moment to check on him.

"You good-"

"Don't rely on Dr. Light." Blues cut Shoegaze off, folding his arms.

Shoegaze leaned against the vending machine, hoping for an explanation. When Blues didn't give any, he asked.

"There a reason, bud?"

Blues sunk into his scarf, not wanting to answer. He paused to take a deep breath before continuing.

"I don't want you to get screwed over for something another mechanic can do." That was truth-adjacent. Blues didn't know of any other mechanics that could do something like that besides Wily, and the whole 'world domination' thing he was doing probably kept him super busy.

"I mean, he seems trustworthy, though. Why do you have beef with him? The poor guy's been going through a lot recently-" Shoegaze twirled the can around a little bit.

"Oh, I didn't know that! I live under a rock!" Blues snapped sarcastically, "Of course I've heard, Shoegaze."

"W-Well, what did he do to- Oh my god." Shoegaze stared forward.

"What?" Blues looked up, on edge.

Right in front of the two stood Roslyn, who had been looking from Shoegaze and to the E-Tank.

"U-Uh, hey, girl! How've you been, girl?!" Shoegaze was on the verge of screaming.

"So, uh, you're…" Roslyn looked at the E-Tank again. "Actually a robot?"

Shoegaze was about to turn tail and run, but he dropped the E-Tank. "Well. Shit."

"Hoo boy, if Gil finds out, he's not gonna be impressed, buddy." Roslyn looked to the side.

"The hell does that mean?!"

"Well, you see, he's not the biggest fan of robots."

"Alright, my first mistake was falling in love with a cop, now I'm in love with a robophobe?!"

"Hey, he didn't trust toasters when they were made because he thought the bread disappeared and was replaced by toast. He'll warm up to you. Probably."

"So I fell in love with a technophobic cop, who turns out to be a dumbass on top of it all." Shoegaze kicked the ground. "I knew my weakness for big guys would be the end of me!"

Blues winced, trying to keep a straight face. "That's rough, bud."

"Hey, Shoey." Roslyn came up with that nickname on the spot. "Your secret's safe with me. If I couldn't tell by looking, Gil can't either. That and you're right, he's not bright at all. He'll fall for at least one or two lies."

"Alright, as long as you're right about him warming up," Shoegaze grumbled.

"Other than that, he has concerns about you staying over because of the Emerald Spears targeting you and all." Roslyn put a hand on his shoulder.

"You know anyone else who'd take me in?" Shoegaze asked.

"Dr. Lalinde would! She's equally as capable as Dr. Light." Roslyn smiled.

"Well, I'll stay at her place too. Anything would beat Dr. Light for me." Blues looked to the side again.

"No, seriously, what's your deal with-" Shoegaze looked over to him.

"Don't. Worry." Blues cut Shoegaze off again. "Let's go. Thank you, miss…"

"Roslyn Krantz!" Roslyn gave them a thumbs up. "If there's anything else that you need help with around here, I'm your gal!"

Gil chugged down his coffee, the aspirin sliding down his throat and hitting his stomach. His head was pounding for some reason. He wasn't actually taking Roslyn's little joke seriously, was he?

He knocked on the door. "Marcellus?" Marcellus Stafford was in charge of keeping track of the legal documents of everyone in the city, both human and robot.

"Yo, you need something?" Marc opened the door, his bright demeanor unchanged by Gil's troubled looks.

"I need to see if there're any documents for a certain Osric Hirono."

"No problem! Lemme check!" Marc walked over to the cabinets, his finger hovering over each one. "H, H, H- There!" He pulled the file out. "Hirono, Hirono," he repeated.

"Is there anything there?"

"The only Hirono we got is Dr. Elizabeth Hirono, but she's been missing since this year." Marc put the file back.

"A relative of hers perhaps?" Gil scratched his head. "Regardless, if he doesn't have a file, we'll need to register him with the police station."

"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go!" Marc turned and went to exit the room.

"Uh, Marc?" Gil stopped him before they left. "I'm just asking for a friend, is it legal if a roboticist were to make a robot capable of bleeding like a human?"

"Wh'kinda question is that?" Marc chuckled nervously. "I guess if they run on oil they'd bleed that, but are you talking about like, bleeding blood?"

"Yes." Gil drank the rest of his coffee before throwing the cup away.

"I dunno if it's illegal, but what kinda maniac would design a robot to do that?" Marc put his cap on. "Not even Dr. Light did that with his kids."

"I guess." Gil shook his head. He's becoming too paranoid for his own good.

"You do have proper roboethics programmed into you, right?" Roslyn asked Shoegaze, "Otherwise, I might actually have a problem with covering your secret."

"Yeah, don't worry…" Shoegaze looked to the side.

"Mm…" Roslyn realized she touched a sore spot. "Well, we'll talk about it inside, because here we are!" Roslyn rang the doorbell of Lalinde's residence. "The good doc's a member of Geoworks International, she built a Robot Master designed for stopping earthquakes!"

"No bull? She can just, like, stop 'em?" Shoegaze's eyes widened.

"Crazy, right?" Roslyn's head turned from Shoegaze to the door as it opened up. "Good morning, Dr. Lalinde!"

"Oh, Roslyn." Dr. Noele Lalinde stood with a small glass of water, looking at the two strange robots with the officer. "Are these the two you called me about?"

"The name's Bruce. Nice to meet you." Blues held his hand out to shake.

"'Sup? I'm Shoegaze." He kept his hands to himself.

"Nice to meet you both." Lalinde shook Blues' hand, glancing over the two robots. "Bruce… Is it me, or do you seem familiar?"

"Dunno what you're talking about, this is the first time I've met you in person." Blues kept his face as straight as possible, Lalinde keeping quiet for a bit.

"…Maybe it is just me, sorry. My memory was never that good." Lalinde rubbed the back of her head.

"No, it's fine!" Blues was hoping that was the case.

"You want to stay for a bit while I show them around, Roslyn?" Lalinde asked.

"Actually, I'm on patrol, so I can't-"

"Roslyn, come in?" Gil's voice came in from the other end of Roslyn's walkie-talkie.

"Hold on." She picked it up. "Roslyn speaking."

"I'm with Marcellus right now, we're looking for Osric Hirono. As it turns out, he doesn't have any documents on him, so we're going to need to fix that soon."

"You're in luck, I'm with Ozzy right now."

After explaining the situation and chattering for a little bit, Roslyn put her walkie talkie down and looked at Shoegaze. "Well, this might be dubiously legal, but Gil told me you bleed human blood. Is that right?"

"Yeah," Shoegaze responded simply. "I don't know everything about myself other than my creator, but last night I learned I had a faux circulatory system. Whose blood it is, I'm not sure."

"Who was your creator anyway?" Dr. Lalinde led the two robots and Roslyn into her house.

"I guess I'm not gonna dodge it anymore. My creator is Dr. Elizabeth Hirono." Shoegaze's face grew melancholic.

"Dr. Hirono… I knew her in college." Lalinde nodded. "I don't know anything about her that you don't know, but I heard she had been missing since New Year's this year." Dr. Lalinde stood with a hand on her chin.

Shoegaze tried to think more, only knowing the broad strokes of his creation. "I was made to be her child, so if she gave me this blood, I can only assume she wanted me to blur the line between man and machine."

"Did she give you any orders before she disappeared?" Lalinde asked, "Any reason she did?"

"When I was activated, my roboethics simply told me to survive. Obeying most human orders that don't expose me is just part of that." Shoegaze clenched his fist. "She left me alone with nothing else. I'm going to find out why she disappeared. I need answers."

Dr. Light slowly trotted downstairs. It was time to face today head-on.

Fiddling with the lithium pill in his fingers, he entered the kitchen, where he was immediately greeted by the robots that had been brought back and repaired.

"Dad!" Rock gave him a great big hug.

"I missed you!" Ice Man joined in.

"Good t' see ya, doc!" Fire Man wrapped his arm around Dr. Light's shoulders.

"Father!" Elec Man almost squeezed Dr. Light from sheer happiness.

"Oh, you guys, it's so good to see you all!" Dr. Light's face immediately lit up. "Just let me take my medicine and I'll be set for the day!"

"By the by," Elec Man followed Dr. Light as he went to get some form of sustenance. "Roll opted to stay up all night in your lab even after our repairs were completed. She even plugged her charging cord into the wall socket rather than go to her charging bed."

"Oh dear, I hope she isn't straining herself." Dr. Light took an apple. "I know she's a hard worker, but being active for too long will strain her core."

"She's been up all night trying to see what this light in Fire Man's head was. I've never seen her so focused, she's been going through firewall after firewall so she can see its coding."

"I'll have to see this for myself." Dr. Light made his way to the main lab, and like Elec Man said, Roll was sitting at the computer. "Roll, are you okay?"

"Oh, Doctor! I'm fine. Did you sleep well?" Roll had just gotten through another firewall, the light was starting to blink again.

"What is that?" Dr. Light looked down at the light.

"That's what I'm going to find out," Roll snickered.

"Where'd you even get the knowledge to hack? I can understand fixing and engineering, but-"

"I read it in this book here!" Roll showed Dr. Light the blank-titled book. "You always had this, one of those 'trade secret' books that very few people have."

"Roll, I told you not to go through my belongings without my permission." Dr. Light crossed his arms.

"But this is different." Roll opened the book back up. "One of the sections was getting through a robot's firewall if they were ever implemented. I applied the same logic for this thing."

"I should have guessed. Being a robot, you can take in information on a subject and literally do it by the book. It's quite unlike how most humans work." Dr. Light bit into the apple he was holding. "I suppose I'll let you go this time. As soon as you find out what it is, tell me so I can decide what the next best course of action will be."

"No problem!" Roll smiled at him and turned her attention back to the computer, her fingers typing away as fast as mechanically possible.

"You'd make an amazing roboticist, Roll." Dr. Light smiled as he walked back into the dining room.

"Thanks, dad." Roll was proud of herself. She's always wanted to hear those words.

"Aaaand there we go!" Marcellus took a droplet of blood into the reader. "We have a type! O Positive!"

Gil looked over at the screen. "And that's that."

"Congrats, you're officially a human being." Roslyn chuckled and gave Shoegaze a bandage.

"C'mon, don't say it like that, you sound like an alien!" Shoegaze laughed, "So, now that that's done, when you get my documents all written down, whaddya say I treat you to pizza?"

"That your idea of a fancy dinner?" Gil snickered.

"Hey, pizza's good no matter where you get it from!" Shoegaze got defensive.

"I'm kidding, sure, why not? I've got nothing to do tonight anyway." Gil turned around. "Thanks a lot, Ozzy."

"I should get back on patrol." Roslyn turned around. "Y'know, I told Gil he could use a date. Glad he listened!"

"You're the real MVP here, Roslyn." Shoegaze gave her a smile.

Blues had been fiddling about with the buttons on the main computer in Dr. Lalinde's lab. That whole thing with Shoegaze's documents was so boring to him that he needed something to stimulate himself.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't do that." A sudden voice snapped Blues out of his trance.

"W-Whoa, don't scare me like that." Blues turned around. Standing there was a girl with a green cardigan, a white underdress, and long brown hair.

"Pardon me, I just don't want you pressing something that could cause unneeded trouble." She led Blues away from the computer. "You're Blues, aren't you? Doctor Lalinde told me about you before you came here."

"Yup, that would be me. And you are?"

"My name is Quake Woman. But right now, you may just call me Tempo." Her voice was quiet and reserved as she held her hand out. "I hope we can become speedy acquaintances."

"Nice to meetcha, Tempo." He gripped her hand, but when Tempo shook, she damn near yanked his arm off. "Wh- God, you're strong…"

"I was built this way. It's mandatory when your occupations are petrology, mineralogy, and preventing earthquakes."

"Oh, so you're that robot Roslyn mentioned. How do you do it, anyway? Stopping earthquakes, that is."

"That would be thanks to my special ability, the Quake Drill." Tempo's left hand shrunk back and then turned into a metal drill. "It used to just be for drilling rocks and minerals open, but it was later upgraded. I can give you a live demonstration if you desire."

"Nah, I'm already convinced." Blues swiveled his head around it. "Man, all that power in one drill and it's still way more compact than I'd expected. How'd Lalinde do that?"

"Now, that is a whole other story."

"Haha! No firewall is too tough for me to crack!" Roll pumped her fist. Now was the time to see what exactly was going on.

The first thing she saw was an executable file simply titled "linkup". Naturally, she had to see what that was. Double-clicking it, a loading bar popped up before disappearing when it was full. A new executable appeared called "tracker".

This immediately raised red flags for Roll, but she clicked on it. What popped up was a map with a red dot blinking on a certain spot.

This was Light's lab. The light was a tracking chip.

Roll took the light and unplugged it. This was terrifying. Dr. Wily had bugged Fire Man and now that the chip was in their house, he knew where they all were.

Roll had to do something about this. She started towards Dr. Light's room, trying to think of a plan. She couldn't stop Wily from knowing their address, but she could find a way to make it come back and bite him in the ass.

"Dad?" Roll peeked in, holding the tracker firmly in her hand.

"Roll? Is everything alright?" Dr. Light had a bunch of crumpled papers around his desk.

"I could ask you the same thing." Roll tilted her head.

"I can't figure out where Dr. Wily's hideout is!" Dr. Light grumbled, "No matter how I calculate it, there doesn't seem to be any correlation between it and where he sent the Robot Masters. The police and military personnel I've contacted are having the same trouble finding him too."

"Well… He won't be having any trouble finding us." Roll shook her head.

"Don't tell me-" Dr. Light's day was getting even worse.

"Exactly." Roll showed Dr. Light the tracker. "Dr. Wily has our location. But I was able to crack it, and now it's linked up to our computer. I uploaded it to your cloud save as well."

"What are you planning on doing, Roll?" Dr. Light asked.

"I'm going to let him capture me." Roll looked him in the eye.

Light's face twisted in horror. "R-Roll, no, you can't!"

"But we have to do it! It's the only way we can find him!" Roll held onto Dr. Light.

"I can't let you get in his clutches! What if he-" Light was on the verge of tears.

"DAD!" Roll gave him a firm shake. "If you could trust me to save Mega Man yesterday, then please, trust in me to do this!"

Dr. Light was stunned but began to speak again. "I'm sorry. You're right. You're a very capable girl, you wouldn't be putting yourself on the line for nothing. Now, how do we go about doing this?"

"First, we have to get everyone in a safe place, either the bunker or out of the house entirely. I plan on keeping this a secret from Cut Man, Bomb Man, and Fire Man. I don't want them doing anything rash."

"You're making them out to be more impulsive than you think-" Dr. Light stopped speaking before resuming, "Get everyone downstairs. There's something I have to show everyone."

"Right!" Will this plan work? The same thought echoed through their minds. Perhaps a miracle will happen. They just have to see.

Chapter Text

"…" Rock stayed quiet as Roll explained the plan to him. "Are you sure about this?"

"What, you think I'm doing this to look cool?" Roll shook her head.

"What's Wily going to do to you when you get to his hideout?"

"Thinking about that won't get us anywhere. Right now, Dad wants us to go downstairs to see something."

"Okay." Rock got up and held his sister's hand.

"Don't you trust me?" Roll gave Rock a serious look.

"I-" Rock wanted to say yes. But his fear overtook him.

"Come on, let's go." Roll led him towards the basement door. She was afraid as well. She didn't even know how much time they had left. Dr. Wily could be at their home any minute now.

Down in the basement, the two looked over at the large bunker door. Locked by a code, made of ceramic titanium like Mega Man's armor. It could take a lot of punishment before cracking. But from one of the rooms right beside it, Dr. Light whistled for the two to come in.

"There's our stop." Rock walked in. "What'd you wanna show us, Dr. Light?"

"You'll have to wait for everyone else." Dr. Light had set up a curtain in the back of the room, wiping the sweat off of his brow and looking over at Roll.

"I told Guts, Elec, and Ice, the other three are still in the dark," Roll explained her end, "But why here? Other than the bunker being nearby."

"There are two very important robots I have been working on in this room. You're going to get two new brothers." Dr. Light had a curtain set up in the back of the room.

The two kids gasped, almost with glee.

But the realization hit them.

"That's right. If Dr. Wily finds them, he may very well steal them just like he did with the others." Dr. Light's expression was glum. "I've been meaning to introduce the two of them to you and the rest of your siblings, and I don't want it to be a swift goodbye."

"Then we should tell everyone that Wily's coming! They have to know it's an urgent situation!" To say Rock was antsy was an understatement.

"I don't know how they'll react, especially these two. Whether they'll go with me or try and fight back on their own is a mystery, and making you have to fight more of your siblings is the last thing I want." Light put a hand on Rock's shoulder.

"…I understand." Rock nodded.

Bomb Man popped in, causing Rock to force a smile.

"Heyyyy, what's up, old man?" Bomb Man had the biggest grin on his face. He knew exactly what he was there for. But he kept his mouth shut because the good doctor had already told him squealing wasn't very punk rock.

"Move it, big boy!" Right on his tail, Cut Man shoved him out of the way of the door and entered, right before Guts Man followed.

"That wasn't very nice, Cut!" Guts Man looked down at his brother. "Say you're sorry."

"Why? He was in the way!"

"I'll have to bust out my secret attack if you don't." Guts Man gave him a smirk and wiggled his fingers.

"Crap, s-sorry!" Cut Man reeled back

"Is that sinceeeeere?" Guts gripped the smaller robot by the sides and lifted him.

"Y-Yes, I'm sorry!" Cut Man tried to wiggle out of that iron grip.

"Eh, it's fine." Bomb Man snickered and patted Guts Man on the back.

"Well, all's forgiven." Guts Man put the little guy down.

"And don't freakin' try it again in the future!" Cut Man was obviously miffed, but his round face and cartoonish features just made it circle back into adorable.

"Can't make any promises." The big robot laughed to himself.

A minute later, all of the Robot Masters had gathered around. No sign of Dr. Wily storming the house yet. Perhaps they'll be able to escape the house entirely before it's too late.

"My children, I am proud to announce…" Dr. Light had a huge smile on his face. "That we are getting two new additions to the family!"

"Say WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Bomb Man pretended to be surprised, exaggeratedly at that.

"New siblings?!" Fire Man had to force himself to keep his head's flame extinguished.

"Now, I proudly introduce to you, DLN.'s 00A and 00B, Time Man and Oil Man!" Dr. Light swung the curtains open and moved over to reveal the two new faces before activating them.

One was clad in purple armor with bells and an alarm hammer on his head and a clock on his chest

The other was pitch black and grey with a red scarf covering his mouth, a long tube ending in a nozzle for a left arm.

"Ayyyyyy, wassup, y'all?!" Oil Man stretched his arms out and looked at Time Man, who was looking down almost as if he didn't want to be there. "Look alive, bro."

"H-Hello." Time Man's voice was quiet and had a hint of sorrow in it.

Roll started flapping her hands, a bright smile on her face. "Welcome to the family! I'm so happy to meet you!"

"What's the matter, babyface? Someone clean your clock earlier?" Cut Man chortled at his own pun.

"I… what?" Time Man didn't get the pun.

"Ain't y'all a fresh sight, huh? I'd offer t' shake yer hands, but as ye can see, I'm fresh out." Fire Man snorted.

"…Hmhm…" Time Man chuckled, but his mouth stayed shut. That joke he understood.

"See, you're warmin' up already!" Oil Man wrapped his arm around Time Man's shoulder.

Dr. Light stood to the right of Time Man. "Now, Time Man is just a prototype right now."

"Like I needed to be reminded," Time Man muttered under his breath.

"But he's a huge first step into time travel research! So far, he's able to slow the flow of time down, but as I work on improving him, he might be able to stop it entirely!"

"Wow! Even just slowing time sounds like it could have amazing applications in medical fields!" Ice Man was excited at the prospect.

"It could?" Time Man blushed a little and held his hands behind his back. A bit of the sorrow in his eyes lifted.

"And I'm just a simple dude," Oil Man spoke for himself, "I'm a fill-up robot! If you're runnin' low on power and gotta use your backup power source, I've got a special oil blend just for y'all! Though, that means I can't run on oil myself."

"He can fill you up if he isn't mucking about and doing skating tricks on his oil puddles, that is." Time Man gave a bit of snark.

"Hey, man, don't be hatin' just 'cuz I'm rad!" Oil Man crossed his arms.

"Welcome aboard, you two!" Guts Man gave both of them a great, warm embrace.

"Now ya better be careful 'round me, Oil Man. I don't want ya gettin' torched." Fire Man backed off a little bit.

"Of course, I ain't stupid!" Right after saying that, Oil Man accidentally stepped on his scarf and tripped over, falling flat on his face.

"Oof. Are you okay, deary?" Elec Man went up and helped the newbie up off the ground.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, thanks, bro." Oil Man looked over at Rock. "This the little hero you been tellin' us about before they came in, Light-daddy?"

"Yes, I am!" Rock ran up and hugged the new Robot Masters himself.

"Nice to meet ya, Mega Man!" Oil Man patted his head.

"It's a great pleasure." Time Man needed the pressure, the amount of noise in the room was getting him overstimulated.

"Now, then, I have another announcement." Dr. Light grabbed everyone's attention again. Dr. Wily hasn't struck yet. Maybe they had enough time to go elsewhere. "I'm going to go see a friend of mine and I was wondering if any of you would like to come."

"Which one?" Rock's arms started swinging back and forth as he tried to look like this was still a normal special occassion.

"Doctor Lalinde!" Light smiled and put his hands together. Lalinde didn't live too far from their house.

"So is it gonna be like a sleepover?" Bomb Man looked like a child with the wonder on his face.

"Yes, we will be staying over for the night! If you're willing to come over, then please, pack what you need!"

"Man, just took our first steps in this house and already we're goin' to another one. Not that I'm complainin'!" Oil Man stood there. "Well, Time and I ain't got any belongings except for our chargin' cords! Let's do it, bro!"

"If you insist." Time Man didn't like it, but it seemed like everyone else was going and he was afraid of looking rude.

Doctor Lalinde picked up the phone in her office. "Hello? Oh, Light, it's been a hot minute."

By sheer coincidence, Blues had been outside the office and stopped dead in his tracks. Why was Dr. Light calling Lalinde? Had he been found out?

Blues tried to keep his breathing steady as he planted himself against a wall outside of the office. He listened in on the conversation and tried to hear if there was anything of note.

"Oh, I'm sure it would be enjoyable. What time are you coming over?"

Coming over. Blues took a mental note of that. That's going to be his cue to leave.

"Just 'soon'? I guess it's not too long a drive, but you'll have to be more specific than that- one o'clock? Alright, sounds good to me."

Please don't mention him, please don't mention him, PLEASE don't mention him.

"Oh, I'd love to see your new robots! You know, I actually-"

No, no, NO!

"Not much time to talk? Well, I hope to talk more with you when you get here."

Blues kept his mouth shut as Lalinde hung up the phone. Making his way down to the front halls, he reached for the knob but was interrupted suddenly by someone.

"Going out, Blues?" Of course, it had to be Shoegaze. "You're gonna have to buy your own pizza because I'm not letting you mooch off of what money I got-"

"Now's not the time for jokes." Blues stepped out and made his way to the sidewalk.

"W-Wait, hold up, what's going on?!" Shoegaze gave chase, it was clear something was wrong.

"Doctor Light is coming over to this place! I can't let him see me! If he does, I'm through!"

"What the hell is your problem with him?! Did you do something to him?! You're always speaking of him like he's some horrible guy- Oh my god." Shoegaze stared ahead once more.

"What is it this time?!" Blues looked in Shoegaze's direction but saw nothing at all.

Shoegaze seemed to be thinking harder than he normally would be. "Does this have to do with what I said when we met? That you were also made to be like your creator's child?"

"W-What?!" Blues looked confused, but also like he's been found out. "That's not it! I-"

"You were made by Dr. Light!" Shoegaze gave chase once again.

"Okay, first off, you didn't even know if I was going to say someone made me so I could be their child in the first place, you just assumed that's what I was going to say." Blues tried to deny the truth. "Secondly, you're using that point that you don't know is true and trying to connect it to another point that you literally just thought of now!"

"But am I wrong?! You can't keep lying to me forever, bud! The day you and I met, it was destined to be that your bullshit is my bullshit, and vice versa!"

"Fine! Do you want the truth?! Yes, Dr. Light created me!" Blues began to walk towards the city while he explained to Shoegaze part of his past.

"He made me with free will and I don't want to lose that! All his robots have their loyalty set to him and they have coding — 'roboethics' in them that forces them to listen to humans. I lack all of that. That's what made me more human than other robots.

"But after I was shown at the LIT Manual Design Contest, the lawmakers said that robots HAVE to have loyalty and said coding. They said that without them, I have the 'potential' to become a criminal. It's always about 'potential'.

"Dr. Light had told me before that my solar core was faulty and that- and that I had to get repaired." Blues tried not to cry, but it was getting harder and harder for him. "B-But after that whole thing, I couldn't trust him; I was afraid that he'd reprogram me.

"Do you get it now? I- I don't want to lose that! Being able to think for myself, having full control of my actions, it's what keeps me liberated. If Dr. Light got rid of that part of me, I would only be a slave just like the rest of them."

Shoegaze was stunned silent. Even if he correctly assumed Dr. Light made him, nothing prepared him for what he heard. "Buddy…"

"Please, tell Lalinde to say nothing of me. I can't stay with her until he's gone." Blues wiped his eyes down with his scarf.

"But where are you going to stay? On the streets again?" Shoegaze held his hand out. "I mean, I could let you stay with me and Gil for the night."

"Well, considering his attitude towards robots, I'll have to say no." Blues made some distance between himself and Shoegaze once more.

"Dude, you gotta stay somewhere! I can at least try and convince him to have you over!"

"You're too kind, you know that, Shoey?" Blues chuckled.

"Come on everyone, let's go!" Dr. Light put on an expression of excitement to hide the fact he was dreading what was to come. How much time did he and everyone else have? He just had to see.

"So what's Lalinde like?" Bomb Man leaned up against the van, combing his mohawk to perfection. "She nice?"

"The nicest! But she's not very expressive."

Roll walked over to Dr. Light and pulled on his coat a little. "I can't find my necklace again. You guys can go on ahead and I'll get there on my bike." Her plan looked like it was going without a hitch.

"Oh, you're sure, Roll?" Dr. Light responded.

"I wanna find it on my own this time. I'll be fine, promise!" Roll ran back inside, waving at them. "Have a safe trip!"

"You too when you find your necklace!" Dr. Light waved back.

"Man, it just don't feel right to leave her alone." Oil Man poked his head out the van's window.

"Your intentions are pure, Oil Man, but Roll can take care of herself."

"C'mon, I gotta at least help!" Oil Man climbed out and ran towards the house.

"Please, she'll be just fine! We have to go soon!" Dr. Light was going into panic mode. This wasn't how it was supposed to go!

"I can get to Lalinde's place myself, too! My Oil Slider ain't just for showin' off!"

"That's not-" Dr. Light couldn't stop Oil Man from going into the house. That was when Time Man stepped out of the van.

"Do you need me to go and retrieve him, Doctor? It usually falls on me to keep him from doing something stupid when he's alone."

"…Rock, could you help Time Man with Oil as well?" Dr. Light looked over at the blue bot. He knew he could defend them if the need arrives.

"Yessir." Rock stepped out of the van and stood alongside his newest brother. "What's the Oil Slider like, anyway? It sounds like fun." Rock tried to hide his fear.

"You'll get to see it in action soon. If Light and the others have to leave this instant, we can ride on it with him." Time Man held onto Rock's arm as they went inside together.

Praying for the best, Dr. Light went into the van and started it up, pulling out of the driveway.

Roll held the necklace in her hand as she cut the string using a pair of scissors. Wrapping the tracker in the super-sticky putty, she attached each snipped end to it, making the necklace whole again. "He won't suspect a thing."

Roll then painted the putty black so it would look like part of the necklace. The dried paint would keep it from sticking to her and her clothes. Biting down on the crystal and flapping her hands, she closed her eyes, preparing herself for Wily's arrival.

"EY, ROLL! YOU NEED HELP?!" Oil Man yelled out and tried to find his sister, swinging open to door to her room but seeing no one. "ROLL?!"

"Oil Man, Dr. Light wishes for you to just drop it." Time Man called out as well.

"Bruh, I can't just let a girl do things on her own without even offerin' to help her out! That just ain't gentlemanly!"

"Since when were you a gentleman?" Time Man snickered.

"Ah, shaddup!" Oil Man shoved his brother and then opened the basement door.

"That's what I thought." Time Man followed him.

"C'mon, let's go!" Rock pulled on Oil's scarf.

"Boy, just lemme do my thing!" Oil proceeded, he didn't give a single care about what they were saying.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Roll ran out of the room she had been hiding out in.

"Oh, hey, ya found it!" Oil Man rubbed the back of his head.

"See? She can do it herself!" Rock tried to drag Oil Man out with him.

"Y-You two shouldn't be here! You should have gone with Dr. Light!" Roll yelled to her new siblings.

"What are you on about?" Time Man walked up to Roll. "Please, calm down."

"You guys have to get out of here as quickly as you can! Dr. Wily's-"

A myriad of explosions could be heard from upstairs. One after the other, like thunder and lightning, they struck the house.

"T-Too late!" Roll grabbed onto her broom. "Rock, please, keep Time and Oil safe, I'll go ahead!" She removed the head of the broom, unsheathing the spear's blade.

"R-Right!" Rock shifted into his armor, his hand retracting to reveal his Mega Buster. Several Crazy Razies ran down the stairs, which Mega Man shot in the head immediately.

"I'll go upstairs, I might be able to distract them from coming down too!" Roll sliced her way through several robots that got in her way.

"You two, get to the bunker!" Mega Man called back to Time and Oil, but Time Man was shivering and curled up, covering his ears. "W-What's wrong?"

"He's havin' a meltdown, the noise is just too much for him!" Oil Man wrapped his nozzle arm around Time Man, squeezing as tight as he could before lifting the purple bot off the ground. "I'll get him there myself, I think Dr. Light said there's an escape route under one of the beds when he was explaining this stuff to us!"

"Okay, I'll hold them back!" Mega Man took aim, not going to let his resolve be broken.

"C'mon, Time, it'll be okay." Oil Man set his brother down and hugged even tighter. "That feel better?"

Time Man sniffled and nodded. The pressure really helped him out when he was overstimulated, and since the noise wasn't as bad as it was earlier, he was able to uncover his ears.

"Alright, you know the code for the bunker? You think faster than me."

"Technically, I think the same speed as you. Just in slowed time." Time Man slowly rose, rubbing his temples and ringing the bells on his head as a purple tint covered his surroundings.

"Zero, five…" Time Man pressed each button. To him, he was going at his own pace, but to Oil Man, he was typing faster than any normal person would. And at that moment, the bunker door opened up. "There, let's go!"

"Awright!" Oil Man jumped in and pulled the door shut. "Now where's that trapdoor?" Oil Man tried to flip one of the beds over but struggled. "Help me out here, bro?"

"With pleasure." Time Man stood right next to his brother, and while he struggled, they were able to uncover the hidden door. "These beds were made to be lifted by Guts Man, I swear."

"Tell me about it!" Oil Man lifted the door and jumped down into the underground path. "C'mon!"

Time Man turned around and closed the trap door behind them. "It's dark."

"Well, that's what our eyes are for, right? We got special eyes!" Their eyes had lit up, letting them see through the dark like their eyes were flashlights.

"Still, he could have at least put a trail of lights down here-" Time Man stopped dead in his tracks. "Do you hear that?" The sound of marching boots rang through the halls.

"D-Don't tell me." Oil Man shivered. "They found the other end of the escape route?!"

A whole troop of Sniper Joes ran down the halls, aiming and blocking their way.

"You have a plan, Oil?" Time Man stood behind his brother.

"I always got a plan!" Oil Man sprayed a glob of oil onto the ground. "Let's show 'em how my Oil Slider works! Hop on!"

The brothers hopped onto the puddle, and they slid ahead and barrel right through the robots that blocked their way. "YA-HOOOO!"

"W-Wow, that actually worked!" Time Man laughed.

"Hell yeah, nothin' can stand in our way!" Oil Man hopped off of the slider and let it hit the last Sniper Joe right in the face. "Right over there, it's our way out!"

"We're going to make it!" Time Man smiled. The two of them ran on over to the ladder leading up. The halo of light shining through the trapdoor's crevices grew stronger the higher they climbed. This was it. They were free.

Time Man climbed out of the hole. Right in the middle of the forest by the road.

But they had no time to celebrate as they were stared down by two menacing silver robots.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THOSE!" Roll stabbed right through the shield of one of the Sniper Joes, grabbing the two I.C. chips from its hand.

"I can't let him get his hands on these." Roll flipped them around. "SWN-00A" and SWN-00B". It would be best if they didn't come back to fight another day.

She turned around to tell Mega Man to escape, but she was blocked by several Mets, which shot the spear right out of her hand. Roll screamed in pain and held her wrist, kicking a chair at the Mets before going to retrieve it.

"Roll, what happened?!" Mega Man called from the basement. His programming couldn't let his sister go unharmed if he could help it.

"Did Time and Oil get to the bunker, Mega?!" Roll was less concerned about herself and more worried about their well-being. If they were taken by Wily, that would also be a big problem.

"Yeah, they should have gotten out by now!" Mega Man ran up and held Roll by the shoulder. "Let's get out of here-"

"I finally found you, you brats!" A familiar voice rang out as a flying saucer came floating down from the sky. "It's unfortunate that Light nor his other robots were here. But I'll take what I can get!"

Two familiar-looking robots jumped in, carrying the unconscious bodies of Time Man and Oil Man.

"B-Barga Man and Power Man?! But how?!" Roll looked at the two.

"They don't have any personalities right now, but they still follow my orders. Do you know how painstaking it is to try and recreate an entire I.C. chip?! So you best give the two you stole from me back or else I'll have them destroy you both with no mercy!"

"Gh…" Mega Man stood back, before aiming right at Wily's capsule. But Roll immediately stopped him.

"Take me with you. Just leave Rock alone." Roll tossed her spear to the side, held her hands out, and showed the I.C. chips.

Mega Man stopped in his tracks. This was the part of the plan he dreaded. Losing his sister. "R-Roll, please…"

"Don't you trust me, Mega?" Roll's voice was quiet and stern.

With much grief, Mega Man stood down.

"Now that's a compromise I can accept! Come now, I shall take you and your two new brothers to my lair!" Wily's capsule opened up as the two personality-less robots carried her two brothers into it.

Roll turned back around and gave her brother a big hug, stealthily whispering into his ear. "I don't know what's going to happen to me, but I know this will be the most help that you get."

Mega Man tightly hugged her back. "You're so brave, Roll."

"Okay. Take me away." Roll broke the hug and walked onto Wily's capsule.

"So long, you stupid blue brat!" Wily's capsule closed before taking off to parts soon to be unveiled.

Chapter Text

Mega Man held his head. He knew he had a mission, but none of this felt real. His home was destroyed, his youngest brothers and his sister were taken from him, right before his very eyes.

A banging on the front door of his desolated house snapped him out of his trance. A familiar gravelly voice rang out. "Police! We're here to help!"

"Gil?" Mega Man ran to the door and swung it open. "Gil! Roslyn!"

"What the hell happened to this place?" Gil's normally stoic composure was faltering.

"We got calls reporting multiple explosions and… Oh god…" Roslyn was appalled that anyone would do this to another person's home.

"It was Dr. Wily's fault, but now's not the time to talk! We have to get to Dr. Lalinde's house right now!"

"That damn Wily! If only we knew where he was hiding out!" Gil opened up the backdoor of the police car. "Get in!"

"Right!" Mega Man had the flames of bravery burning in his eyes as they took off.

Dr. Light had stationed himself outside, staring intensely at his phone as the police car parked in front of Lalinde's residence.

"Doctor Light!" Mega Man ran out and held onto his father. "D-Dr. Wily, he- Roll, Time Man, Oil Man…"

"I was hoping for the best, but unfortunately, nothing is certain. However," Dr. Light showed Mega Man his phone. "Roll's plan is working. We'll be able to save them."

"Where's he going?"

"That's what we're going to see. Please, follow me." Dr. Light held onto Mega Man's shoulder.

"We're coming in, too. We've been struggling to find out ourselves." Roslyn briskly walked towards the entrance, turning to see Gil hadn't been following her. "Come on!"

"I've had enough of robots for one day." Gil shook his head.

"Gil, you're a grown-ass man, so quit bellyaching and get a move on!" Roslyn dragged Gil into the house herself.

"THAT BASTARD!" Cut Man punched the wall before clutching his hand. "Owwww…"

"Don't let your rage cloud your judgment." Dr. Light worked on uploading the tracking executable to Dr. Lalinde's computer.

"Dr. Light, please let us help Mega Man!" Ice Man stood right beside Dr. Light. "We can't let this atrocity stand!"

"I'll let you fight with him, but before anything else, I need Lalinde's help so I can have everyone upgraded to be more fit for combat."

"You'll only have to worry about the first three." Elec Man smiled and patted his father on the shoulder. "Wily already upgraded me, Ice, and Fire."

"Wily did half of our job for us, it seems." Lalinde entered the room with bundles of blank blueprint paper in her arms. "My teleporter is the latest model, so the coordinates can instantly link up. Where's Wily now?"

"He's at- what the?" Dr. Light switched the map to a satellite view. "This place is the Castle Brothers Robot Manufacturing Plant!"

"Come on, you're not chickening out, are you, Tom?" Albert snickered.

"What? No, I'm not! This is such a prodigious facility, though, I'm worried about screwing this up." Thomas fidgeted slightly.

"It's just a job shadow, it's not like we have to set an example for ourselves." Al patted Tom on the back. "We'll do just fine!"

"I hope so." Tom looked down.

"You know, I can't hold your hand through everything." Albert's fingers wrapped around his partner's hand. "I'm not going to be there every time you're nervous about something. What are you going to do when I'm not there and you have to face it yourself?"

"I-" Thomas was stumped. As much as he didn't want to admit, he could barely even function without Al.

"I knew it." Giving Tom a quick peck on the cheek, Al let go of his hand. "You have to teach yourself to not be so damn hopeless, you've got to stand up tall, have a little confidence in yourself."

Tom felt the blood rushing to his cheeks, shaking his head to snap out of the brief trance he went into after that kiss. "Y-Yeah, thank you."

"Now come on, the CBRMP awaits us!"

"It was shut down a long time ago because of unforeseen circumstances, and the building sat abandoned ever since. Dr. Wily and I had gone there before we split up," Dr. Light explained.

"So it's important on a personal level for both of you." Roslyn patted Mega Man on the shoulder. "Knock 'em dead, kid."

"I have a feeling it won't be as easy as sending Mega Man to the plant." Dr. Lalinde put the blueprint sheets down before going up to her computer and quickly inserting a few lines of code into the console. A huge green circle appeared around the area of Dr. Wily's base. "As I thought, it's a dead zone for our teleporter."

"H-How did you do that?" Dr. Light looked up in awe.

"I use this teleporter for sending Quake Woman to stop earthquakes. Finding dead zones lets me know where to send her quicker." Dr. Lalinde typed another line of code, and then two blue circles appeared in two areas further from the plant. "And there's what's causing our dead zone."

"Why do you have that, too?" Gil was getting suspicious.

"Not every dead zone has an innocent cause." Dr. Lalinde's voice was cold and matter-of-fact.

Dr. Light spoke up, "The signals causing the dead zone are coming from an old clock tower and an abandoned oil rig. He's really unsubtle about this. Oil Man should be weak to Fire Storm, but Time Man, I'm not so sure what his weakness is."

"Well, I'm going to find out. Send me to the clock tower first!" Mega Man stepped into the teleporter.

"Are you sure, Mega Man?" Dr. Light held onto his son's shoulders. "You're a brave boy, I know that, but not knowing his weakness is risky."

"I'll just use what I have until I find out. No big deal." Mega Man smiled.

"Alright. I'm proud of you, son." Dr. Light smiled. "Good luck."

Mega Man looked around the inside of the tower. The methodical ticking of clockwork echoed throughout. If it weren't for his current mission, it'd be relaxing.

"Just up ahead there are two Shield Guards followed by a Shotman." Dr. Light's drone teleported in. "The Shield Guards are invulnerable from the front but vulnerable in the back."

"Got it, but I don't have time to wait!" Mega Man quickly switched to the Hyper Bomb. "I'm going to try something out!"

Running up ahead, Mega Man shot two bombs out of his Mega Buster, right at the Shield Guards' fronts, and shielded his eyes when they exploded. Out of the smoke, the shields were completely decimated.

"Behold, a peeled Shield Guard!" Mega Man shifted back to his normal solar bullets to take them out.

"I implore you to never call them that again," Dr. Light groaned.

Within the Castle Brothers Robot Manufacturing Plant, Dr. Wily brought the captured Robot Masters to a makeshift prison chamber, originally meant for testing robots.

"Welcome to my humble abode. It's not much, but it will serve its purpose." Dr. Wily escorted his three captives into three different cells. "Barga Man, Power Man, stand guard for me."

"As you wish, sir." Barga Man bowed down, his original I.C. chip reinstalled.

"I-If I break out, I swear I'm gonna beat ya-" Oil Man kicked at the glass barrier before clutching his foot. "GAH, DAMMIT!"

"Why? Why must I live with these incomplete powers?!" Time Man held onto his head, openly weeping. His Time Slow wasn't enough to defeat the two Robot Masters who took him and his brother.

"You are of particular interest." Wily walked up to Time Man's cell. "No doubt Thomas has used you to attempt building my time stopper model. I'm sure he won't mind if I borrow your configurations. Just some friendly bartering."

"What? Yours? That can't be, I'm- I'm Dr. Light's robot, the blueprints are his-" As if only being able to use a fraction of his power wasn't enough, now he was a poor man's version of an existing blueprint? He just couldn't accept that.

"Of course you say that! Thomas NEVER credits me when I do something right!" Wily screamed, "He only gives me credit for all of his SCRAPS!"

Time Man covered his ears, the noise getting way too much for him. "Prove it to me. Show me how much you've actually accomplished compared to Dr. Light!"

"Don't listen to him, bro!" Oil Man shouted at him. "He's probably just pulling it out of his ass so he can get you on his side!"

That was what drew Dr. Wily over the edge. Reaching into his pocket, he locked eyes with Oil Man and unfolded several blueprints. Time machines, buster designs, even an entire Robot Master with the working name of "Light Man" could be seen on each of these blueprints. "Proof enough, my boy?"

Time Man looked Wily in the eye and quietly, he begged, "Please, give me this power."

"Time, no!" Oil Man punched at the glass. "Don't you know what he's gonna do to you if you agree?!"

"Ever since I came into this world, I was a failure! I couldn't even slow time equal to what Dr. Light expected! If this will help me finally fulfill my true purpose, give it to me!"

"NO!" Oil Man cried out.

"I can upgrade you, my boy! I'll show you what true genius is!" Dr. Wily smirked and opened the cell door for Time Man.

"Give it to me, then! Give me your word, your promise! I don't care what happens to me! I want to be more than just a series of disappointments!" Time Man began tearing up again.

"TIME!" Oil Man shouted.

"You're in for a treat!" Wily ushered Time Man out of the room, letting Barga Man and Power Man guard the two remaining cells.

"G-Goddammit! Why won't he listen?!" Oil realized something. "Roll, you haven't said a thing this whole time…"

Roll was staying quiet, biting down on her necklace, and searching for something under her skirt.

"There," Roll quietly spoke to herself as she pulled off a piece of duct tape on her leggings, revealing a sharp piece of scrap metal and a bicycle chain. Now to put her plan into action.

Approaching the glass barrier, Roll swang the scrap metal as hard as she could. It was the right shape and thickness to work as a glass breaker; that was what Roll hoped.

And that was what Roll got as it shattered enough for her to punch more holes in it and jump out.

"Prisoner has escaped." Barga Man unsheathed his claws, and Power Man's chainsaw revved. There was no way to split the two up this time.

Roll had to think fast, but just like the first time they fought, she had to take care of the chainsaw guy first.

Ducking under Barga Man's first lunge, Roll tossed the scrap metal into Power Man's left eye. Of course, Power Man didn't even flinch, but his vision was still impaired. Power Man swung down onto Roll's head, or so he thought he would.

Butchered depth perception meant his aim was off. Roll used this to her advantage and used the bike chain to whip at his other eye, smashing it and completely blinding him.

Power Man went into panic mode. He flailed about, swinging his chainsaw at nothing and hitting nothing. Roll sprinted towards Oil Man's cell and gave a whistle, luring Power Man so he would swing his saw right into the glass and shatter it.

"Roll, you too damn smart for Wily's bull," Oil Man chuckled, "Where'd you even get that stuff in the first place?"

"Basement. I'm working on a bird robot, didn't Light tell you?" Roll jumped onto Power Man's back to try and remove the piece of scrap metal. Barga Man came charging towards her, but she backflipped right off the bigger robot, resulting in Barga Man slicing Power Man's head off.

"I won't let you escape, not like-" Barga Man was about to go into a monotone rant.

"Geronimo!" Oil Man came sliding right into him, jumping up and kicking him square in the face. "Let's get outta here!"

"Right!" Roll took the piece of scrap metal from Power Man's decapitated head before they busted out the door.

"Here," Dr. Wily laid Time Man down on an operation table and held onto his head, trying to find a power dial or other similar switch. "Are you nervous?"

"Y-Yes, I am. But this is what will make me whole." Time Man wiped his eyes off.

"There." Dr. Wily found the dial. "I can hold onto your hand until you're powered off if you wish." His voice had no malice behind it, no ill motive could be heard; Dr. Wily genuinely wanted to help this robot.

"Yes, please." Time Man held on tight.

"Alright, here we go." Slowly, everything started to dim, before complete darkness entered Time Man's view.

"This place is a maze, the hell are we even?" Oil Man sighed and kept his oil nozzle aimed in front of him.

"Don't ask me, we entered this place from the ceiling so I can't even backtrack." Roll kept the scraps on-hand. If only she had the weapon Dr. Light gave to her.

"I'm bouta just start opening doors and see where that'll take us." Oil Man fidgeted with his scarf a little bit.

"Well, can't hurt to try that big door at the end of the hall first." Roll cracked her knuckles before the door opened automatically.

Behind that door was a metal walkway, hanging above a massive room with all sorts of strange weapons and deactivated robots.

"Man, he's really been busy, huh?" Oil Man poked at a giant yellow robot of a rather slimy consistency.

"Don't touch anything! They could be dangerous." Roll checked for anything else she hid under her skirt. "The only other thing I have is a half-empty box of fireplace matches." She removed a piece of tape on her leggings, taping the scraps in the matchbox's place.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Oil Man looked over at Roll, practically grinning under that scarf.

"Arson?"

"Arson!" Oil Man began to squirt his oil onto everything in the room.

"Thought so." Roll opened the box and pulled out a match, attempting to light it, but struggling. "Come on you dang thing!"

"Lemme try." Oil held his hand out.

"If you wanna blow yourself up, sure!" Roll gave a fake smile and looked like she was about to hand it to him before going back to trying to light the match.

"Damn, you really gotta do everything yourself?" Oil Man crossed his arms.

"You trying to help me landed you here!" The hostility in Roll's voice was apparent.

"I ain't knew Wily was coming! Maybe y'all shoulda told me!" Oil Man argued.

"Be honest, Oil, would you have gone with Light or would you have tried to play hero if you knew before he struck?" Roll glared at him.

"I-" Oil Man scratched his head. "Hmph…"

"That's what I thought." The match's tip ignited as Roll held it up into the air. "Okay, I'll count down to one, and as soon as I throw the match, we're turning around and hightailing it."

"My Oil Slider will speed us up on the double!" Oil Man gave a thumbs up and sprayed one more puddle on the ground. "Ready!"

"Okay. Five. Four. Three. Two. One!" Roll threw the match down directly onto one of the oil-stained machines.

But where was the fire? There was supposed to be flames! The match had been mysteriously snuffed out.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." A familiar voice came from behind Roll as she was knocked to the ground by a fist flying right at her face, dropping the matchbox.

"ROLL!" Oil Man turned around and saw his brother. "T-Time Man, what the hell are you-"

"I'm finally complete. I can fulfill my purpose! It was all thanks to Doctor Wily for succeeding where Doctor Light failed!" Time Man had tears streaming down his face, with genuine glee in his tone. "I owe that man my life. And that is why I must stop both of you!"

"You're outta your goddamn mind, bro!" Oil Man went to punch him, only for his nozzle arm to be tied up around his normal arm the next instant after he saw Time Man's bells ring. "W-What the hell?!"

"This is more than the Time Slow… This… This is the Time Stop!" Time Man dragged Oil Man over to Roll and then tightened the nozzle arm around them. Improvised binds.

"Let me go, you-!" Roll tried to reach back to her leggings, but Time Man's bells rang and the next moment, "W-Where did-"

"Are you looking for these?" Time Man was holding the scraps in his hands now.

"You're doing an amazing job, Time Man!" Wily called down from the metal walkway. "And as for you two, I'm going to have to do speedy work to keep you from causing any further trouble for me." He climbed down the ladder. "Especially you, girl. You're the biggest threat right now, and you haven't even had your REAL weapon with you!"

"M-Mega Man…" Roll closed her eyes. She didn't want to surrender to them, but against a robot that can do anything within frozen time, there was nothing she could do. "Please, hurry!"

"Take your time, Mega Man, the pendulums require very precise jumps to get by." Dr. Light's eyes looked left and right with each pendulum that appeared.

"I don't have time for this! I have to hurry!" Mega Man jumped over one pendulum, landing on a platform that started to count down. When it reached one, Mega Man jumped to the next, and it exploded. He had to repeat this process several times, but with how much time this wasted, he was starting to panic.

"Just calm down, breathe, and you'll get through it," Dr. Light reminded him.

Mega Man jumped to the next bomb platform, the pendulum just barely hitting his head.

"Up ahead, there's a ladder. That's the last one you'll have to climb!" Dr. Light tried to encourage Mega Man.

Mega Man nodded and jumped on the last platform before reaching the ladder. "Just behind this door?" Mega Man wiped his brow as he threw a Hyper Bomb at the Sniper Joe that blocked his way.

"Yes, Time Man's arena should be there. I still don't know his weakness, however."

"I'll find out, no problem!" Mega Man smiled and opened the door in front of him.

Behind the doors, it was an empty arena. The sun was shining through the clock of this olden clock tower, giving it a rather beautiful if trippy inverted look. But where was Time Man? He should be around here somewhere-

"You're early for your appointment." Suddenly, Time Man's nonchalant voice came from right behind Mega Man.

"H-Huh?" Mega Man immediately spun around to see his brother. Where did he come from? "What appointment, Time Man?"

"Oh, joy! By being early, you have given us an extra 0.3 seconds!" Time Man's bells rang before he instantly popped up in front of Mega Man's face.

"A-AAAH-" Mega Man fell back, gripping onto his chest like he was about to short circuit. "What's going on!?"

"Your little mind probably can't comprehend, but Doctor Wily has given me exactly what I wanted. His time travel research fell into the wrong hands, Doctor Light was not equipped to give me my true function."

"Time Man, I know Light said you were a prototype, but Wily's just using that to manipulate you!" Mega Man only tried to reach Time Man out of pure instinct by now.

"Doctor Light stole his research and can't even be bothered to try and apply it to me correctly! Wily finally allowed me to accomplish my purpose! My abilities are finally perfected, with the ability to stop time!"

"S-Stop time?" So that's what was going on. Mega Man shuddered a little bit.

"That's right. I'm almost tempted to humor you by only using my Time Slow because you couldn't possibly stand a chance within the realms of frozen time." Time's bells rang again, and the next moment, Mega Man suddenly found himself getting tripped.

"WAH-" Mega Man fell flat on his face. "Ow!"

"But, I don't have the time to just toy with you. Prepare to die!" In another instant, Mega Man found himself shot full of arrow-like blasts. The Blue Bomber screamed in pain as he tried to figure out what weapon to use.

The bells and hammer…

Mega Man switched to the Thunder Beam, panting and standing up on shaky feet.

"Go ahead, push your luck! Nothing is going to help you!" Time Man's bells began to ring again.

Mega Man took aim and fired. The Thunder Beam seemed to be unaffected by the Time Stop. The next moment, Time Man was hit, jittering around as his bells and hammer sparked with electricity.

"W-Why you!" Time Man's bells rang, but time only started to slow down. The excess electricity was disrupting his abilities too!

"That's his weakness!" Mega Man aimed the Thunder Beam again, but Time Man was still moving disorientingly fast.

"When I get my hands on you, I'll ground the static in my body with your CORPSE!" Time Man was slowly losing it now. He jumped up into the air and began to shoot down at Mega Man, his hands glowing as he threw out more clock hands.

"I'll get you back, Time Man! No matter what!" Mega Man fired off two more beams, which went straight for the bells on Time Man's head like they were thunder rods.

Time Man nearly shrieked, clutching his head as he spasmed from the static overload in his body.

"I'm sorry, Time, but this is for your own good!" Mega Man switched back to normal and slowly stepped towards his brother, opening his arms up.

"I PROMISED HIM, I WOULD TAKE YOU DOWN!" Time Man rammed into his opponent, knocking Mega Man to the ground. Time Man dug his fingers into Mega Man's cheeks, electrocuting Mega Man and draining the static out of his own system.

"T-T-T-T-Time Man!" Mega Man tried to lift his arms but failed.

"I owe him my life for making me perfect!" Time Man's bells began to ring. He had to finish this off with a Time Stop.

But Time Man's face twisted with fear.

"N-No…! Why isn't anything stopping?!" Time Man looked at everything. The clock was still ticking. The cogs were still turning. Mega Man was still breathing. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!"

"Time Man?" Mega Man stood up and tried to get closer.

"No! GET AWAY!" Time Man fell back and held his arm out in a desperate attempt to keep his brother away. "MY TIME STOP! YOU BROKE IIIIT!"

Mega Man stopped. Time Man was wailing with sorrow, tears coming down his face in streams.

"I- I was finally able to d-do what I was made to do! Now I'm back to where I started! Am I cursed to always be this way, to always be useless until the day I'm scrapped?!"

Mega Man knelt down and embraced Time Man, hugging him as tight as he could. "Shhhh. Don't cry, it's okay." Mega Man rubbed his back. "You're not worthless. Not even close."

"Y-You're just saying that!" Time Man's voice was still incredibly shaky. "I- I abandoned all of you because he gave me what I wanted! I let him tamper with me without even reprogramming me…"

Mega Man tried to hug his brother as hard as his body could allow. But this new information was terrifying. If Wily could drive a robot to follow him without changing their loyalty, what else was he capable of?

"I'm sorry. I hurt you, I hurt Oil, I even hurt Roll…"

"You hurt-" Mega Man almost snapped, but caught himself.

"W-Wily told me to do it. I'm sorry. Whatever abuse you want to heap onto me, I deserve all of it…"

"No, Time! That's not it at all!" Mega Man pressed his forehead onto Time Man's. "I forgive you. I'm happy that you're able to come back."

"Please take me home…" Time Man embraced Mega Man back.

"Don't worry, we'll be there soon." Mega Man gave Time Man a gentle smile.

Chapter Text

“Dr. Light!” Mega Man held onto Time Man as they were teleported back to Lalinde’s lab.

Wordlessly, Light walked over and hugged the purple bot as tightly as he could. “I’m sorry, my child. I know I couldn’t give you what you wanted-”

“P-Please, save Oil Man and Roll. That’s the only thing I want…” Time Man was still shaking like a leaf.

“I will, don’t worry!” Mega Man turned around to go to the teleporter, but he seethed in pain before being stopped by Dr. Lalinde.

“Not with the damage you sustained.” Lalinde held onto Mega Man’s shoulder. “We’ll need to get you repaired before anything else.”

“B-But I have to hurry…” Mega Man's mind was truly one-track, and that track was saving his family.

“Don’t worry, Rocky boy! I’ll take yer place!” Fire Man stepped forward. He’d give a thumbs up if he had hands.

“R-Really?” Mega Man shut his eyes and beamed. “You’re a life-saver, Fire Man.”

“Hey now, it’s nuthin’. If anythin' happens, then they can send ya in if ya wish!”

“Selfless like a true hero.” Dr. Light activated the teleporter. “Good luck out there, Fire Man!”

“Yee-haw!” Fire Man jumped right in there. He was ready for anything.

“Rrrreally cookin’!” Fire Man belted out a catchphrase before he hit the deserted, sandy ground, before speaking up again, “Th’ catchphrase needs some work.” Fire Man aimed both his arm cannons in two different directions.

“C’mon out, evildoers!” His Fire Storm mercilessly blasted across the terrain as it hit two cacti, burning them to ash and revealing two Mets under them.

“W-Wow. How did you know they were there?” Dr. Light was in shock.

“C’mon, lookit the smog in the sky! Ain’t no plant of any kind growin’ here! That, and they were too cartoony to be real!” Fire Man snickered and jumped across a few huge pipelines jutting out of the ground.

“This place is gonna be easy peas-EEEEEK!!” Fire Man slipped on a particularly oily patch of ground, his head torch setting it all alight. If he weren’t fireproof, he’d probably have failed immediately.

“Oof. Just be careful, Fire Man.” Dr. Light covered his eyes from the second-hand embarrassment.

“Got it, daaaaad.” Fire Man’s head spun, but he emerging from the fire no problem.

Time Man sat down by one of the operating tables, still trembling from earlier.

“You need me to give you a hug, buddy?” Guts Man sat down next to him and rubbed his back.

Silently, Time Man nodded. Guts Man cracked his knuckles and bearhugged the little guy, feeling Time Man's shivering meltdown finally subside.

“Now let’s get down to business.” Lalinde looked over at Mega Man, who was deactivated and laid down on a table. “Tempo, do you mind helping Ice Man and Elec Man with repairing their brother?”

“Nn.” Tempo only grunted in response as she equipped her drill. “First we remove the armor and see just how deep the injuries go.”

Dr. Lalinde faced the three unupgraded Robot Masters; Cut, Guts, and Bomb. “As for you three, the upgrades will have to cover your weaknesses.” Lalinde sat down. “Now then, for-”

“I don’t have any weaknesses to cover! All you gotta give me is bigger bombs!” Bomb Man smiled and laid down on the table.

“Is that it?” Lalinde looked up at Cut and Guts.

“I mean, all he does is throw bombs. It's flawless. Not like my ability.” Cut Man shrugged. “I can only throw one pair of scissors at a time, and I’m left open!”

“And my abilities only work if there’s anything for me to throw in the area! Even if I could throw Cut Man at everything, that puts him in danger!” Guts Man griped.

“Then we’ll start with Bomb Man since his upgrades will be the simplest.” Lalinde took out a blueprint.

“Uh…” Gil opened his mouth but shut it. He looked a bit antsy.

“What, you wanna help with the robots you’ve had enough of for one day, too?” Roslyn snickered.

“Shut up, the more hands they have, the faster they get done, right?” Gil grumbled.

“Well, I only have the bare minimum knowledge of robotic anatomies, like the I.C. chip and core, so I can’t do anything big.” Roslyn walked over to the wounded Mega Man.

“Then I’ll help with upgrades.” Gil cracked his knuckles.

“Pfff, what could you do? What do you know? You don’t even like robots!” Cut Man sneered.

“…Lalinde, let him throw two scissors. We could also upgrade his legs so he can jump higher and off of walls.” Gil stared Cut Man in the eyes.

“Hm, being a lumberjack robot, that could have good applications both inside and outside of battle.” Lalinde nodded.

“Can you, uh, give me like, big, big fudgin’ scissors too?” Cut Man looked up at Gil with those big ol’ eyes.

“That, I can do.” Gil looked over at Guts Man. “As for you, other than the obvious block generation, we’ll give you the ability to spawn Metalls. They can take care of anything too fast for you to throw blocks at.”

“I like that idea-” Guts mumbled. He had a soft spot for Mets.

“Wow… Where’d you get the smarts to think about this stuff?” Roslyn laughed.

“It’s personal.” Gil shook his head, a trace of sorrow could be seen behind his dark blue eyes.

“FIIIRE!” Fire Man blasted another puddle of oil, dodging the Changkey that a Hothead tossed at him before kicking the bigger bot off the edge. “Didn’t Wily tell ya not to fight fire with fire?!” Climbing up another ladder, he saw yet another Hothead. “Jeez, how many o’ these things were put in this place?”

“If I were Wily,” Light speculated, “I'd have deployed them assuming it’d be Mega Man coming out to fight; he's not fireproof like you.” Dr. Light’s drone went ahead of Fire Man. “Two Screw Driver turrets and an oil puddle are coming up next.”

“Poor Oil would get blown to smithereens if he stepped foot out here!” Fire Man climbed up, dodging the bullets that were shot at him before using his Fire Storm to burn one of the turrets and the oil puddle under his feet. The next ladder was an outside area where he caught sight of a three-story tower. “This the final stretch?”

“Yes, you’ll face Oil Man on the topmost floor of that tower.”

“Awright, that’ll be easy-” Fire Man looked before he stepped this time. “…peasy, lemon squeezy!”

“Yeah. So, just don’t bring Bruce up to anyone there. Alright?” Shoegaze paused. “…Thanks, Lalinde.” He hung up. “Nothing to worry about anymore, dude.”

“Epic.” Blues popped out of a nearby trash can, a cat leaping off of his head. “No, come baaaaack-” He reached out but knocked himself and the trash can over. “Damn-”

“You didn’t have to be in there, you know.” Shoegaze adjusted his visor beanie and picked Blues up off the ground.

“Just practicing for my potential future if Dr. Light found out.” Blues pulled on his scarf and started biting down on it.

“Dude, you can just go to the next city or something if that happens.” Shoegaze unzipped his jacket and pulled the collar of his shirt out. “Why does it have to be so hot?”

“Hm?” Blues stopped biting down on his scarf so he could talk. “I got a hoverboard if you want to feel the wind, dude.”

“Wait, a hoverboard-” Shoegaze almost forgot about how Blues was carrying that duffel bag with him everywhere. “Is it in there?”

“Yeah, here!” Blues unzipped the bag and pulled it out, the hoverboard unfolding in thirds and locking into place.

“oH-” Shoegaze fell back. The hoverboard was shaped more like a surfboard than a skateboard…

“C’mon, we can both ride on it at once!” Blues set it down on the pavement and hopped on.

“G-Give me a minute-” Shoegaze put his hand on the car next to him, trying to get back on his feet.

“Don’t hurt yourself, man.” Blues was about to ignite the hoverboard’s engine but immediately, Shoegaze dived down and covered his head. “Dude, what the-”

“Emerald Spears, right across the street, duck down and shut up!” Shoegaze looked under the car he was just leaning on. “I-It’s them! Those’re Simone and Theo!”

“Huh?” Blues looked out from behind the car, he saw the two that had been chasing Shoegaze exiting a convenience store. He knelt and whispered to Shoegaze, “Them?”

“Yeah.” Shoegaze had his phone out and was dialing Stern’s number.

“Let’s go after them.” Blues picked up his hoverboard.

“What?!” Shoegaze tried to keep his voice down. “We’ll get shot!”

“But we’ll find out where they’re hiding out, too. Imagine how Stern would react when we, no, you find their base! …And I wanna draw dicks on their walls.”

“Alright, you got me!” Shoegaze crawled onto the hoverboard. “Let’s go.”

“Yippee-kay-yay.” Blues turned the board around and ignited the engine. “Let’s do it!”

“Leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone-” Fire Man ran past the Big Eye and dived into the door to the final corridor. “Phew, I’m beat.” Fire Man laid on his back.

“You’re right there, Fire Man! Just behind that door now-”

“I know! Hoo, I dunno how Rock does all that runnin’. Other than bein’ made for it, I guess.” Fire Man kicked himself onto his feet and walked into the arena. There were a lot of pipes and… half-pipes?

“YAAAHOOOO!!!” A scream came from the air as Oil Man came shooting out of one of the pipes with his Oil Slider, pulling off a Christ Air backflip before landing in the arena perfectly. “The hell? Where’s Mega Man?”

“Oh, he’s a bit occupied with bein’ broken right now, so I’m just fillin’ in!” Fire Man pointed his arm cannons at Oil Man.

“Hey, if ya wanna fill-up, you’re gonna have to look elsewhere! Don’t make me hafta hurt ya, ‘cuz fire’s not allowed here!” Oil Man got angry.

“Tell that to all the Hotheads I done had to go through!” Fire Man shrugged. “Fire seems totally acceptable here!”

“Wait, whaddya MEAN Hotheads?!” Oil Man did a double, no, a triple take. “Damn old man just puttin’ fire bots in a place that’s finna blow up if the wrong area gets blazed!”

“Now then, why don’cha just come quietly, you clearly don’t want no trouble!” Fire Man stood tall.

“Nah, man. I got my own orders to follow!” Oil Man squirted an oil puddle onto the ground. “IT’S SHOWTIME!”

“Fine! Prepare to get smoked!” Fire Man took careful aim at the ground and shot into it, causing several waves of fire to shoot out on either side of him.

“OH-” Oil Man immediately got burnt, the flames erupting from under his Oil Slider and setting him ablaze. “SHIIIIIIT!”

“Man, it just feels unfair havin’ to do this, but we gotta deactivate that anti-teleportation field.” Fire Man walked over to the charred Oil Man. “C’mon, let’s get ya fixed up at the lab.” He tried his best to carry his youngest brother without any hands to do so with before he was teleported back.

“Well done. For your first time out battling, that was almost flawless.” Dr. Light went to grab Oil Man.

“Don’chu touch him! He’s still burnin’ hot and I think we could use an extinguisher before he gets worse!!” Fire Man ran with him towards a repair table.

“R-Right, Ice Man!” Dr. Light ran behind Fire Man and stopped at the doorway to the repair bay.

“Got it!” Ice Man got to work, blowing his Ice Slasher right on Oil Man. “There!”

“Repairing him’s gonna be hell and a half.” Fire Man wiped his brow. “I need a rest, all that running’s left me drained.”

“Go on, you’ll need to be at peak energy if we’re going to have to storm the plant.” Dr. Light patted Fire Man on the shoulder. “How’s Rock doing?”

“We’re done with him.” Tempo turned up Mega Man’s power dial before closing his scalp.

“Nn…” Mega Man squinted before his eyes opened. “Thanks for th- WAH!” He rolled off the table when he saw Oil Man right next to him. “W- Oh! That means Fire Man won! We can raid Wily’s base now!”

“Once the repairs are done, it will happen. The upgrades are just about finished, however.” Lalinde put Guts Man’s helmet on his head. “There. Just throw your helmet down and a Neo Metall will come out.”

“What’s so Neo about them anyway?” Guts Man tested it out by throwing his helmet onto the ground. Another helmet immediately replaced the one on his head.

“They can walk. That’s about it.” Lalinde shrugged.

A small Met popped out of the helmet on the floor, two yellow shoe-like feet following.

“O-Oh my gosh!” Guts Man held his hand out. “A little friend!”

The Met stepped onto his hand and Guts Man put it back on his head.

“I love it so much!” Guts Man seemed pleased with his new powers, the Met withdrawing into the helmet and disappearing. “They’re going to be so much help in the construction yard too!”

“Hey, where’s Gil and Roslyn?” Mega Man looked around.

“Someone called Gil about two members of the Emerald Spears,” Elec Man sighed, “Honestly, the world we live in is such a horrible place.”

“So it’s our job to make it better!” Mega Man smiled innocently.

“Yeah. That’s right.” Elec Man smiled. “We’re all ready to help you in that endeavor, Mega Man.”

Shoegaze tried to steady his breathing and keep his voice down as he and Blues stopped right around the corner where the two Emerald Spears members parked.

“I'm close to this warehouse.” Shoegaze kept himself quiet, hearing them slam their car doors getting out. “It’s covered with graffiti, you can’t miss it.” Shoegaze took a marker from Blues’ bag.

The two robots heard the creaky, rusty doors of the warehouse open before slamming shut. That was their cue to run to the front and start vandalizing the walls.

“Is it really necessary to do this?” Shoegaze was still skeptical.

“It’s necessary for me, it was my destiny to vandalize the meeting grounds of terrorists.” Blues curtly nodded.

“O-Okay.” Shoegaze tried not to think about how seriously he was taking it.

“We’re here, open up.” Simone approached a door to what was meant to be an office.

A click signified the door was unlocked. Theo took the knob and opened the door for his girlfriend. “Ladies first.”

“What a gentleman you are,” Simone chuckled and kissed Theo on the cheek, taking a seat at the desk where their informant sat. A balding old man who was wearing a cloak to hide his identity. “I never expected you to be the one to deliver this info to us. A senator of Utah-.”

“The walls have ears,” he simply replied.

“Right, whatever.” Simone shrugged. “What do you have for us? And make it quick.”

“Lilium Belfry is going to be attending the LIT Manual Design Contest’s redo.” He got up. “There is nothing more for us to discuss. We must be going.”

“Hold up, hold up, Belfry?! The president?!” Theo blocked the senator’s way. “Who told you this? How do we know this information is reliable?”

“They are after me for having this information. That’s proof enough.” The senator hurried past Theo, trying to open the door.

“Who?!” Simone grabbed his shoulder, but the senator ignored her and opened the door.

On the other side, they were greeted by four mysterious figures in black suits, with all manner of weapons.

“Put your hands up and we won’t do anything drastic.” The frontmost one, six feet tall flat, pulled the hammer back on the revolver they held in their right hand.

“Secret Service.” The senator backed up.

“What did he tell either of you?” The tallest one, seven and a half feet tall, had a clear shot at Simone and Theo with how he towered over everyone in the room with an assault shotgun in his hands. 

“Well, the answer that’d let us live would be a lie, so…” Simone held her arms out, two smoke grenades slipping out. She pulled the pins and threw them on the ground. “Come on, Theo!” She grabbed Theo’s hand and jumped out the window in the back of the office.

The two of them landed on top of a storage pod. Two loud crashes from the smoke grenades rang out the window, followed by several smaller, faster bangs.

“T-The senator-” Theo sputtered out, ringing in his ears.

“He’s gone.” Simone didn’t seem to care. “Let’s focus on ourselves.”

“I-I don’t want to die!” Theo curled up and let go of Simone’s hand. “Go without me, please!”

“I’ll bust you out later then, scaredy-cat.” Simone jumped off of the pod and ran across the concrete floor, trying to get to the entrance before they caught her.

A shout came from behind the broken window, a shorter woman dropped down with a laser sword unsheathed, right next to Theo. “Hands where I can see them!” She yelled as she pointed it at his face.

“P-Please…” Theo whimpered, looking up to see a more lithe agent leaning out the broken window with a sniper rifle and attempting to aim at Simone.

“She’s zig-zagging,” xe called out to xer partners, “I can’t get a good shot. After her!”

“We made sure everything is in order, right?” Dr. Light reinserted Oil Man’s I.C. chip. The talk with Oil Man wasn’t so interesting, he just seemed a bit mad about Fire Man frying him up.

“The shell, the core, his circuitry, even the diesel blend you made just for him are all successfully replaced.” Tempo nodded curtly.

“Then it’s time.” Dr. Light turned the power dial to on.

“Mmmmmmm…” Oil Man gave a big yawn, accidentally closing his mouth on his scarf before spitting it out. “Blech! Oh, ‘sup doc?”

“Oil Man!” Time Man immediately embraced his younger brother.

“T-Time, you’re alright!” Oil Man wrapped his arms around Time Man, giving him that patented nozzle arm hug.

“You too! I'm sorry for what I did, I didn’t-” Time Man tried to speak straight, but the emotions got in the way.

“It’s a’ight, bro. Don’t worry.” Oil Man gently smiled.

“I missed you so much.” Time Man cuddled up to him.

“I missed you too.”

“I know you just woke up, Oil Man, but we have important business to tend to.” Dr. Light gestured for the two to follow him.

“Yes, sir.” Time Man immediately followed.

“Really? A’ight, I guess.” Oil Man shook his head to wake himself up.

In the main room, Mega Man was mentally preparing himself for what was to come. This was his biggest challenge yet.

“I’m ready.” Cut Man gripped the sides of his head. “I want that castle to be in ruins! I’m gonna show up and end everything! I’m gonna-” He growled and kicked at the coffee table.

Guts Man put a hand on Cut’s shoulder. “We’re all going to work together. We’re all gonna save Roll and defeat Doctor Wily.”

“I’m ready for duty.” Ice Man stood by and saluted.

“Let’s blast that place to the ground!” Bomb Man rolled one of his Hyper Bombs along his shoulder like a basketball.

“The flames of justice burn in us brighter than ever!” Fire Man crossed his arms, his head flame growing again.

“He’s going to regret ever crossing us.” Elec Man sparked with tranquil fury.

“I’m going to make amends to all of you. I may not be able to stop time as of now, but my Time Slow should suffice.” Time Man encouraged himself.

“Oh, uh, we goin’ to Wily’s hideout? Like, right now?” Oil Man stretched out to make himself more awake. “If that’s the case, then let’s whoop some ass!”

“Mega Man. You’re ready, aren’t you?” Dr. Light patted his son on the back.

“More than I’ve ever been.” Mega Man smiled and stood tall. “Activate the teleporter.”

“Right!” Plugging in the coordinates, Dr. Light looked at all of his children. “I’m so proud of you, my children.”

“Thanks, dad.” Mega Man turned to his siblings. “Is everyone ready?”

“YEAH!”

“Alright! Let’s rock!”

Chapter Text

This is it. This is the beginning of the end. We’ll save Roll and make Wily pay for what he’s done.

The CBRMP had several different Big Eyes guarding the premises. Tough enemies right off the bat.

“I’ll take care of them no problem!” A Guts Block spawned in Guts Man’s hand.

“I’ll slow them down.” Time Man stood beside Mega Man and crossed his arms.

“Thank you all so much.” Mega Man wiped his eyes. He had to focus now. “Come on!”

The group charged forward. Time Man’s bells rang, signaling the slowing of time for the Big Eyes. With Time’s help, Guts Man could get a direct hit on each one. Mega Man himself equipped the Super Arm and reached the outside wall of the plant.

“Come on, help me out with this!” Mega Man tore the wall open, throwing chunks of it every which way as he did so.

“Of course, darling!” Elec Man’s Thunder Beam shot right through the walls, revealing the interior. “Fire geysers.”

“Ice Man, you know what to do!” Mega Man switched to the Ice Slasher.

“I’m on it!” Ice Man joined Mega Man in freezing each geyser shut, creating makeshift platforms to get up to the next ladder.

“Oy, Doctor Light! You visited this place a long time ago!” Cut Man spoke to the drone following the group. “That means you know stuff about this place, right?”

“Well, it was so far back, and Wily must have made modifications to this building so I can’t give an accurate description even if I tried.” Light eyed the spike pits strewn about that his Robot Masters carefully jumped across.

“So get ready for anythin’, right!” Fire Man nodded.

“I don’t remember any details about the building you’re in now, but I do remember a long bridge connects this one and the other side of the plant. That should be at the very top of this one.

“Got it!” Mega Man threw a Rolling Cutter at several incoming Fleas. Two of them dropped energy capsules, which he picked up. “Let’s save these for when we need them.”

“Yeah, this’ll probably be an all-nighter!” Oil Man bumped into Guts Man before he realized everyone had stopped.

“The path splits from here.” Bomb Man jumped up the higher path. “I can go check this way and see what’s there. Guts, Ice, and Fire can go with me, and Rock, Cut, Elec, Time, and Oil can go the other way. We’ll catch up with each other sooner or later, depending on where and what either path leads to.”

“Oh? You’d let li’l ol’ me go with ya, Bomb?” Fire Man smiled. Bomb Man was normally averse to Fire Man, so this seemed particularly kind.

“I thought you didn’t need a boy scout to keep you out of trouble.” Ice Man snickered.

“Don’t be a wiseass, Ice.” Bomb smiled nonetheless. “See you guys, then!”

“Alright, stay safe!” Mega Man used the Super Arm to pull out chunks of the wall to go down the path his group had.

IF ***001 is sighted*** THEN ***terminate***

IF ***003-00B interferes with termination of 001*** THEN ***terminate***

IF ***shell is damaged significantly*** THEN ***no mercy***

IF ***001 is terminated*** THEN ***vessel will self-destruct***

Hearing the sound of sirens, Shoegaze felt it a good time to stop hiding in the garbage can and pull out the hoverboard. He was immediately greeted by the sight of Simone swinging open the passenger door of her car to get to the driver’s seat.

Immediately, several gunshots hit the car door and a window, but the car’s engine started. Simone’s head raised as she floored it out of there. The police car was rounding the corner and gave immediate chase, but just as quickly Shoegaze saw two mysterious people drive after Simone on hoverbikes. Two more stood back, one with a laser sword up against Theo’s neck and the other trying to aim at Simone’s car with a sniper rifle.

“This is a fustercluck, who are you two and those other-” Shoegaze stepped out of the can, but his question was interrupted by the sniper’s gunshot.

“Dammit- You’re spoiling my focus. I missed the wheel by a millimeter.” Shoegaze could inspect the finer details of this stranger. Long box braided hair, brushed off so it’s all hanging off the right side.

“Sorry-” Shoegaze unfolded the hoverboard. “I’ll be off then.”

“Don’t get involved unless you want the Emerald Spears to kill you.” The one with the sword, with short afro hair and piercings all around her face, pointed the sword at Shoegaze.

“Sorry, I’m not stopping here.” Shoegaze threw the hoverboard down and took off.

“Dammit, get back-” The woman couldn’t do anything with the terrorist in one arm and her sword in her other hand.

“Let him go, Aretha.” The sniper lifted xerself off the ground.

“But- Ramerra, he’s gonna-” Aretha spoke frustratedly.

“We're far behind and I missed. We should follow him just so we don’t lose the other terrorist.” Ramerra threw down a disk, which unfolded into a hoverscooter. “Cuff the whiner. Let’s go.”

“Fine,” Aretha sighed and threw down her hoverbike, kicking Theo to the ground and cuffing him before sitting him in a sidecar. The cowardly man didn’t do a thing to protest for fear of fatal repercussions.

“Hup!” Cut Man was making all sorts of noises as he wall jumped through a room they climbed into with no visible way of climbing at all.

“Man, why can’t we do that?” Oil folded his arms.

“Don’t worry, I got this!” Mega Man smiled and equipped the Magnet Beam. He blasted it into one of the walls and jumped onto the resulting platform. “Tadaaaa.”

“That’s-” Dr. Light’s voice came from the other end of the drone. “That’s the Magnet Beam! Where did you find it, Mega Man?”

“Oh, it was just behind the walls of the power plant where I went to fight Elec Man. How’d you know about it? I don’t think you’ve ever seen me use it yet.”

“I remember making a blueprint for it back in my college days! You know, when I was with Wily. I couldn’t find it after he left me. So he must have stolen the blueprint and created it but hid it away for some reason.”

“Well, good for us, because we couldn’t reach Wily without it! Except for Cut and Guts.” The Magnet Beam’s platforms helped the remainder of the Robot Masters get to the next room.

“C’mon! Up here, slowpokes!” Cut Man shouted down from the next room up.

“Well, you heard the man.” Mega Man jumped up and reached the ladder.

“That’s the last area before you can get to the bridge. Just be careful. There’s something fishy about that empty room up ahead.” Dr. Light’s drone followed the five Robot Masters.

“He’s right, it’s quiet.” Mega Man looked around.

“Too quiet.” Time Man stood beside the Blue Bomber.

Suddenly, Oil Man let out a bloodcurdling scream, “BEHIND UUUUUUUUS!!!”

Several globs of yellow slime flew in from the door, soaring through their path in a seemingly random pattern.

Elec Man tried his best to dodge each one, but a clump hit him smack dab in the face, smearing his makeup.

“How dare you! ” Elec Man fired a Thunder Beam at one of the clumps, but it didn’t seem to take any damage. The yellow slime spun around and came together, creating a tall, bipedal robot(?) with a singular eye on its face.

“BUMOOOO!!” It started to scream out. “Bumo! Bumomomomomo! Bumomomomomomomomo! Bumo!!”

“NO! YOU SHUT UP, BUMO BOY!” Elec Man fired his Thunder Beam directly at the thing’s eye, and that seemed to do the trick, as it stumbled back and held onto it.

“My drone’s scanners tell me that this is called the ‘Yellow Devil’. It’s made up of a shape-memory alloy, and you seem to have found its weakness real quick.”

“Yellow Devil, Shmellow Devil!” Elec Man growled. “This thing’s going to PAY! I spent AN HOUR getting this makeup right!”

The Yellow Devil began to separate once more. Elec Man yelled out to Time Man. “Slow it down!”

“Right!” Time Man’s bells rang, the pattern at which each piece of the Devil became more predictable now.

“Oil Man, spray an oil puddle on the ground it’ll stand on before it reforms!”

“Gotcha!” Oil Man sprayed it all down.

“Mega Man, you help me take it down!” Elec Man charged up his energy, small bolts crackling across his armor.

“Uh, right!” Mega Man was a bit nervous as he dodged the different parts of the Yellow Devil, but this plan should work out.

“Ready!” Elec Man leaned back and spread his arms out as if his life depended on that pose.

And when the Yellow Devil stepped onto the ground after reforming, it fell back. “BUMOOO!!”

“ENERGIZE!” The bolts on Elec Man traveled through the metal floor, up the walls, and into the ceiling, converging above the Yellow Devil, before multiple lightning bolts pierced its eye. “NOW, MEGA MAN! FINISH IT OFF!”

Taking no chances, Mega Man sprang up and pointed downward, firing one last Thunder Beam.

Smoke burst out of every crevice in the giant gooey robot before it imploded, each piece crumbling in on themselves before they violently blew up.

“That’s the price you pay… for messing with my makeup!” Elec Man sat down and began to weep. “Now I have to clean the rest of it off…”

“You still look pretty without it, Elec.” Mega Man put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Am I really?” Elec Man sniffled.

“I never lie.” Mega Man gave him a reassuring smile.

“That’s is why you’re my favorite brother, you always speak your mind.” Elec Man pulled out a small package of makeup wipes.

“Oyyyyyy!” A gravelly voice came from behind the door.

“They’re here!” Oil Man turned around to see the other half of the group had made it. “What’d y’all find?”

“We got a big ol’ energy capsule!” Fire Man laughed and held it above his head. “And that’s in addition to all the little capsules we got from the Fleas we had to fight!”

“W-We have to set a priority list over who gets recharged with the energy capsules when night comes.” Ice Man was panting, unzipping his parka and groaning. “All the fire, it’s still so hooooot…”

“So, where do we go next?” Bomb Man looked around the now-empty room. “Is it another dead end? Please tell me it’s not.”

“There has to be an exit somewHEEEEEERE-” Oil Man stepped in a certain spot on the floor, which collapsed under him.

“Oil! Are you alright?!” Mega Man ran over to the hole in the floor. “Look, sunlight!”

Oil Man groaned and got back up, rubbing the back of his head. “Hey, this is the bridge Light-daddy mentioned!”

“You two have one. Last. Chance.” Dr. Wily briefed his two serious, yet rather incompetent SWNs. “You may have been able to take out Time Man and Oil Man the first time, but they’ve escaped. Do not mess this up.”

“Understood, sir.” Barga Man bowed down.

“It’s not enough that you understand. Giving you the tools to succeed was the first step. The second step is separating you two since evidently, you only get in each others’ way.”

“S-So we have to get across here?” Guts Man seemed a little nervous. Like Rock, he wasn’t good with heights at all. A bit troublesome when most of the bridge now consists of holes and platforms that they have to jump across and risk falling to their destruction.

“Hey, don’t worry.” Mega Man stood by the big guy. “My Magnet Beam can help out if you’re too scared.”

“Thank you…” Guts Man embraced his brother, following right behind him with every platform he made to fill each gap.

“I can help too!” Ice Man spat his Ice Slasher at the incoming Bladers, freezing them in place. Strangely, they stayed in the air, making even more platforms to jump off of.

“Well, see y’all on the other side!” Oil Man went ahead on his Oil Slider, jumping on top of icy platforms and performing tricks like this wasn’t an urgent situation.

“Oil, don’t rush ahead!” Time Man shouted and ran after him. “That’s how we got in trouble last time!”

“Stop bein’ such a worrywart, man!” Oil Man laughed and did a kickflip off of his Slider, the boosters on the soles of his treads seemed to keep the oil from just splattering everywhere.

“That looks like fun!” Mega Man chuckled and equipped the Oil Slider himself, his armor turning the same colors as Oil Man’s with a point at the top of his helmet, even getting a red scarf that matched his new brother’s.

“Gotta practice before you can become a true master like me, Rocky!” Oil Man leaped off his Slider when he got to the other side of the bridge.

“Doesn’t look too hard!” Mega Man squirted a puddle onto the ground and jumped on, but handling it was a bit tricky. He flailed about trying to balance himself before Elec Man grabbed Mega Man off of it.

“I think you’ll have to take his word for it, sweetie.” Elec Man placed Mega Man on the ground.

“C’mon, you guys, y’all are so sloAAAAAAAAAAAH-” Oil Man stepped forward only for the floor to collapse under him.

“Not again!” Mega Man ran forward and shouted into the hole. “Oil Man! Are you okay?!”

“Y-Yeah, god, I think my ass is cracked…”

“Isn’t it already cracked?” Cut Man laughed and jumped down.

“Guess we got nowhere else to go but down.” Bomb Man shrugged and jumped down with Cut Man.

The room through the hole was massive but had no visible exits to speak of. It was almost like an arena of some sort.

“Stay on your toes, everyone! I got a bad feeling about this!” Ice Man stood at the front of the group, ready for anything.

But he could not anticipate that the threat would burst out from right under him.

Sparks flew from the stubs where his arms used to be, spasming as he felt his circuitry overload and short out. Ice Man tried to hold still to see what could have possibly done this to him. But immediately, a silver boot kicked his face in, sending him flying.

“ICE MAN!” Mega Man ran forward and aimed at whoever it was that burst out.

“Doctor Wily has commanded me to neutralize you. I will not falter. I am SWN-00A, Barga Man Mk. II.” The robot was silver and yellow, with claws that sparked with electricity, and his voice was rather monotone.

Time Man trembled in his boots. One of the robots who took him and Oil Man out, and now his powers have been boosted with electricity.

“Everyone, you gotta protect Time Man!” Oil Man ran forward.

“Right!” Mega Man ran to the side and fired away with his normal Mega Buster.

“Pointless.” Barga Man’s claws deflected every shot. He moved faster than anything Mega Man has seen before, jumping from side-to-side before gashing Mega Man’s cheek with a forward lunge.

“Gh!” Mega Man swiped a twitching finger along his wound before equipping the Oil Slider again. “I gotta do something to insulate the flow of his electricity!”

Oil Man slid up right next to Mega Man. “I discussed a plan with Bomb and Fire, now it’s my turn to tell you what to do. Left foot in front of the right one, Mega!”

“Huh? Oh, right, the Slider!” Mega Man nodded and squirted the puddle onto the ground before hopping on in the position that Oil Man told him to get in.

“Turn your foot forward so that it’s straight with the puddle, not sideways!” Oil Man rode towards Barga Man, shifting his weight and turning his “board” to dodge the robot’s shocking claws.

“O-Okay.” Mega Man leaned forward, going a bit faster, getting the hang of it.

“When you ride into him, jump off!” Oil Man leaped off his Slider and hit Barga Man in the back of the head, but Barga Man didn’t seem too fazed.

“Alright, I can do this!” Mega Man placed his right foot on the ground and pushed himself forward. Bending his knees, he jumped up off the ground, straight into the claws of Barga Man. But he leaped off of the Oil Slider, giving himself another vertical boost and dodging the slashes.

“Fire in the hole!” Oil Man shouted out.

“You got it!” Fire Man aimed. Against an oil-covered opponent, his Fire Storm was even deadlier.

“Here goes nothing!!” Bomb Man used the brand new upgrade, throwing a huge Hyper Bomb at Barga Man. When the flames hit their enemy, he was completely set alight.

And when the bomb hit the fire, it detonated, completely decimating Barga Man.

“We did it!” Mega Man looked around the smokey room, picking up an I.C. chip off the ground. “Wow, this is still just fine.”

“Ice Man sure isn’t, though.” Cut Man picked his dismembered brother off the ground.

“I-I-I-I’ll be okay.” Ice Man was still jittering with excess electricity. “J-J-Just take me b-b-b-back to the lab. G-G-G-Go on without m-me.”

“Ice Man…” Mega Man nodded. “Alright. You did well.”

“If I were a betting man, I’d say Ice Man isn’t going to be the only one we’ll lose.” Elec Man walked over to the crater the Hyper Bomb blew in the ground. “This way, let’s go!”

Roslyn leaned out the window with her stun gun and a microphone attached to the police car’s loudspeaker. “Identify yourselves!”

The mysterious strangers ignored her. Rapid-fire gunshots from the big man with the beard and the sound of denting metal and popping tires signaled the end of the chase as Simone, in a last-ditch effort to get away, tried to turn a corner, but crashed into a telephone pole.

Simone swung the door open and made a break for it, but the police car sped up and braked in front of her.

“Put your hands up, all of you!” Gil got out with Roslyn and aimed at the three people in front of themselves.

“No need.” The one with the revolver pulled out a badge. “Secret Service.”

“Huh?” Roslyn lowered her aim, followed by Gil. “I’m so sorry, we didn’t know.”

“It happens. All you need to know is my name is Orlena.” Orlena holstered their weapon. They were almost alien, with skin like onyx and an angular body like they were comprised of polygons. “LeBron, restrain the terrorist.”

“Got it, chief.” LeBron grabbed Simone’s arms. “You’re going to tell us all what we want to know or else-”

Suddenly, Roslyn thrust her hand forward into Simone’s mouth and yanked out a tooth that had seemingly come loose. “A cyanide pill. How original.”

“B-Bitch!” Simone growled.

“Not even we caught that.” LeBron’s eyes were covered with sunglasses but even Roslyn could tell they were widening.

“You got potential, Officer.” Orlena gave a small grin.

“Really?” Roslyn immediately blushed and rubbed the back of her head. “Thanks, I-”

“Heyyyy!” A familiar voice called out.

“Huh?” Gil cocked his head. “Ozzy?! I told you to stay away from-”

“Who do you think vandalized the warehouse just so you knew which one it was?” Shoegaze laughed as he folded his hoverboard.

“I’ll pretend we didn’t hear that.” Gil smiled. “But you were a big help to us. Thanks.”

“Aw, no problem-” Shoegaze was then knocked on the back of the head by Aretha, who had just parked. “Ow!”

“Stay out of our business, civvie.” Aretha groaned. “You’re only out of trouble because Ramerra said you’d lead us here.” She picked Theo up out of the sidecar. “Hey, coppers, put him in the back, it’s safer and more secure-”

“I’LL KILL YOU, BEANIE BOY!” Simone tried to get out of LeBron’s grip but ended up falling as she flailed her legs. “I’LL SMASH YOU TO PIECES! YOU HEAR ME, YOU ROBOT BASTARD?!”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Gil stared at Simone as LeBron handed her wrists over to Roslyn to cuff them.

“I told ya this would happen. They’re becoming so paranoid that they’re accusing civilians of being robots.” Roslyn wished Simone wasn’t right for once, but Simone is the one making an ass out of herself.

“What lie did he feed you? A robot friend or something?” She spat in Gil’s direction. “He’s not who he says he is!”

“I’m more inclined to believe him than a terrorist.” Gil swung the door open and threw her in the back of the police car.

“This isn’t over, our soldiers know where you’re taking us and they’ll-”

“Simone, please, it’s not worth it,” Theo said timidly as he was placed next to Simone. Simone reluctantly closed her mouth, but not before growling like a cat.

“So, since that’s over,” Shoegaze spoke in a sultry tone, “How about that pizza-”

“Go take a shower first, stinky,” Gil snickered.

“Right. Of course.” Shoegaze sniffed himself. “Ick-”

“NOT AGAIN!” At the end of the next segment they went through, Oil Man fell into another hole in the floor trying to grab some small Weapon Capsules.

“Oy vey.” Mega Man hopped across the gap and grabbed them himself, plugging them into his buster and recharging the weapon he had the least energy for, the Magnet Beam.

“Izzis place old or jus’ sabotaged?” Fire Man jumped down, with the others following.

The area under the hole looked just like Barga Man’s arena. Another battle was soon to come.

“I remember Roll saying their names,” Mega Man began talking, “If the last one was Barga Man, then the other one is Power Man.”

“So that was his name? He shoulda been named Saw Man. He had a chainsaw on his hand!” Oil Man stretched, grunting in pain from landing on his rear again.

“W-Wait, really?” Guts Man looked nervous.

“Yeah, he kinda looked like you too!”

“…In what regards?” Now Guts Man looked bothered.

“He was big, he got a helmet, and he got a big underbite like yours!”

“Why would Wily just copy me like that?!” Guts Man pounded his chest a little. “HEY! COME ON OUT AND FIGHT ME!”

“Damn, you sure ain’t flattered.” Oil Man chuckled nervously, but it was cut short by the shrieking of something cutting through the wall behind them. “Here he comes!”

Power Man Mk. II came bursting out. His chainsaw was aflame, with his armor being painted red in certain parts to match this.

“Aw hell.” Oil Man looked at Time Man. “Y-Your turn to protect me, right?”

“You and Bomb Man should stay in the very back. Help him get away if he gets too close.” Time Man nodded.

“Thanks, bro.” Oil Man ran off.

“I won’t let him touch either of you!” Mega Man switched to the Ice Slasher, but he didn’t anticipate he’d get toppled over by Power Man, who ran right past him. “W-What?!” Power Man completely ignored Mega Man and sprinted towards Oil Man and Bomb Man.

“A-Ah, hell!” Oil Man sprayed down an oil puddle to try and slip up the big robot, with him and Bomb Man running in opposite directions.

“HEY! You and I got business, buddy!” Guts Man rushed at the new fiery robot. Power Man had stopped in front of the puddle to try and get around it, but Guts Man knocked him over and spawned a Guts Block to lift with his Super Arm.

“Yeah, get him, Guts Man!” Mega Man cheered on, taking aim at the chainsaw and firing an Ice Slasher at it in an attempt to extinguish it.

“Take this!” Guts Man wound up and threw it head-on. But, this opponent wasn’t going down without a fight. Power Man rolled out of the way, causing both attacks to miss, and when broken chunks of the block flew at him, he slashed at each one, cutting them clean in half.

“Drat!” Now Guts Man was trying to dodge the flaming chainsaw himself. He swung side-to-side, ducked and jumped, but even his tremors couldn’t stop Power Man from gashing his arm before running past him. “HEY!”

Power Man was still focused on Bomb Man, the easiest one to destroy between him and Oil Man.

“Grrr! Take this!” Bomb Man rolled the bomb bowling-ball style, tripping Power Man up as he tried to regain his footing.

“TIME’S UP!” Time Man used that moment to activate his Time Slow, giving Bomb Man time to run and himself to get in a few attacks. It was short-lived, however, as Time Man was then floored by Power Man’s boot to his chest.

“T-Time-” Bomb Man staggered, instinctively reaching back as if he could save Time Man. A horrible mistake to make in the heat of battle as Power Man could finally get a clean break towards Bomb Man, burning chainsaw held aloft.

“LOOK OUT!” Suddenly, Bomb Man was knocked to the side, with Elec Man now in his place. Elec Man was struck in the shoulder, his arm coming off with one clean motion. But this allowed Elec Man to grab Power Man by the face and bring the voltage up to 11.

A field of electricity burst out from Elec Man’s body. Power Man’s chainsaw started to cut through Elec Man’s waist, but he just wouldn’t quit!

“AS LONG AS I AM HERE, YOU WILL NOT LAY A HAND ON HIM!” Elec Man’s hand yanked down and completely pulled Power Man’s lower jaw off of his face before Power Man finally burst into flames himself. Elec Man slowly crawled away on his one arm. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Much messier than my average performance.” Elec Man looked up at the ceiling.

“B-Bro.” Bomb Man stood back up on unsteady feet.

“Just go on without me, I can be repaired.” Elec Man shut his eyes.

Mega Man nodded slowly, reaching into Power Man’s smoking head to retrieve his I.C. chip. “Thank you so much. We won’t let your sacrifice be in vain.”

“Hmph. Two of them down. That’s progress, but still not enough.” Dr. Wily held onto his head. “Reggae, get in the machine.”

“You mean that machine? I thought you were going to use it to fight Mega Man yourself!”

“I’m going to need something much bigger, much more flexible in its attacks if I’m going to fight the blue boy and any potential ally who joins him if they get that far.”

“So is it still the Wily Machine?”

“To you and them, it shall be the Reggae Machine. Go! Fight them off before it’s too late!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Chapter Text

We have to keep going. No matter what happens, no matter the cost, we’ll stop Dr. Wily.

Making their way down, there weren’t many obstacles. The Octo-Batteries and Blasters notwithstanding, it was smooth sailing now.

“I reckon we’re almost at ground level now.” Fire Man’s voice broke the monotony.

“We’ll have to go all the way up again to get to Wily.” Mega Man’s voice was low as he climbed down a ladder into another room.

“Hey, we’ll get to him in no time, don’t be so down in the dumps!” Oil Man looked around the last room. “Man, it’s all disco up in here!” The room’s walls consisted of squares that blinked all sorts of colors.

“I wonder if we can renovate this place after we beat Dr. Wily, this could make a sick dance club!” Cut Man had this almost childlike bewilderment for this room.

“I don’t think that’s what we should be worried about right now!” Guts Man shouted as the whole place shook.

A wall opened up to reveal a huge flying machine with a big red cannon in front and an orange glass windshield over the cockpit. The flying saucer Wily piloted was attached to the top. But inside the cockpit wasn't Wily.

“HAHAHAHAHAAAA! I won’t let any of you pass through in one piece! Wily entrusted me with this machine, the Reggae Machine, to take you down!” That crow?

“You! You're that stalker crow!” Mega Man stood tall.

“W-What? I’m a stork!” Reggae got a little miffed.

“You really weren’t just a bird after all.” Fire Man looked hurt. “I thought I could trust ya, bird. You must've put the tracker on me. That just ain’t very nice.”

“The fact you could trust me in the first place was just pure naiveté! Wily picked you for a reason!” Reggae cackled, grabbing the joysticks on the control panel with his talons.

“I can't be mad at ya, though.” Fire Man wiped at his eyes. “Of all the creatures on this Lord’s green Earth, I love birds the most. I don't wanna fight ya.”

“Aww, such a sentimental man. It brings a tear to my eye…” Reggae cruelly echoed Fire Man's words. “And bile to the back of my throat!” The cannon fired huge cannonballs that came flying out in an arc. When they landed, they knocked back several of the Robot Masters.

That was Fire Man’s breaking point. He dashed forward before aiming up at the machine. “FINE! Violence the only thing y'all understand? Then violence I bring! FIRE!” He shot at the cannon, which proved effective.

“W-WAH!” Reggae shook around, cracks forming on the windshield. “W-What are you-”

“I've had a long day, Wily destroyed my house, I had to smoke one of my own brothers, then watch two more of ‘em get mangled, and now you're bein' a rude, punk-ass bird? No! I won't have it, you goose-necked sumbitch! I ain't got no more patience!”

Fire Man used his Fire Storm to propel himself like a rocket before sticking his busters into the cannon’s barrel. “My kindness was a gift and you spat on it, so I’m takin’ it back! TASTE THE FLAMES OF JUSTICE AND KNOW THE WRATH OF THE LIGHT FAMILY!” Charging them up, Fire Man blasted into the cannon and was harshly flung back by the resulting explosion. The cannon was broken now, as was the cockpit protecting Reggae.

“MAYDAY, MAYDAY!” Reggae tried to control the machine, but with the damage that it sustained, the cannonballs that shot out were spiraling out of control.

“We got you now!” Cut Man leaped up high and threw his two Rolling Cutters into the cockpit, slicing the joysticks off so that Reggae was unable to even move the machine.

“This is the end!” Mega Man equipped the Thunder Beam before aiming into the cockpit, right at the control panel of the machine. With everything inside the cockpit disabled and blowing up, Reggae had no choice but to fly away.

“TELL WILY WE’RE COMIN’ FOR HIS HIDE NEXT!” Fire Man yelled out at the cowardly stork, who didn’t even look back or had any smarmy quips.

Mega Man took this time to hug Fire Man. “I’m so sorry he said those things, Fire Man-”

“N-No, Rocky, it’s fine. I hadn’t let my temper fire up like that in a looooong time, that’s fer sure.” He shook his head. “We gotta get going, can’t keep little Roll waiting, can we?”

“You’re right.” Mega Man walked ahead. Behind the wall that had opened up, there was a hatch in the floor. “Looks like we’ll have to go through here.”

Damp, humid, and cold, it’s only going to go down further and further from here.

“Wily didn’t cut back on the Octo-Batteries here, that’s for sure.” Time Man looked around, shivering a bit.

“Ain’t they technically called Adhering Suzies?” Oil Man asked.

“I acknowledge they have a real name, but given that it’s a stupid name, I’ve elected to ignore it,” Time Man responded coldly.

“Be nice to the Suzies, y’all.” Fire Man jumped down one of the pits, avoiding each Adhering Suzy that flew at him. “I have a feeling this won’t end well fer me.”

“Little too wet for you?” Cut Man chuckled.

“I can’t use my Fire Storm when I’m wet! The only thing I can use is my little fireball satellite thingy that hovers around me each time I shoot, y’know?”

“Well, there isn’t any water to be seen here. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about it.” Guts Man jinxed it, judging by the sirens that are going off and the low rumbling in the distance.

“Ay-ay-ay." Mega Man looked behind the group. A giant wave of water came heading towards them, sweeping them up and taking them for a ride in the current.

“DAMMIIIIIT!” This was Fire Man’s worst nightmare. Not being able to properly use his Fire Storm meant he was effectively useless.

“Hold on, everybody!” Guts Man wasn’t at the full mercy of the current unlike everyone else. He was able to run in front of the group and put down a few Guts Blocks so that they had a place to get their footing back.

“Thanks a lot.” Mega Man got onto his feet after being rolled by the current.

“Ahhh, hell-” Oil Man was a bit dizzy, but he soon got it together. “Y’know, I got a neat trick for situations like this!”

“Really? I wanna see!” Even now, Mega Man still had that sense of childish wonder.

“You know how oil floats on water? Watch this!” Oil Man shot out a bubble of oil, which floated upwards before he kicked his feet into it. He was sliding upside-down!

“Wowww! I wanna try!” Mega Man followed Oil Man’s lead, imitating his movements before floating up to the ceiling with him. Sliding at the top of the place was useful for avoiding the Pengs and Killer Bullets that were flying below.

“Easy does it!” Oil Man did a flip on his Slider. In no time, the duo made it to the end of the hall, leaving the others in the dust.

Unfortunately for them, the current wouldn’t let up. Even when they wanted to stop to let the others catch up, they were pushed into a room with a gate on every side.

“I got a bad feeling about this.” Oil Man looked at the big blocks situated in the corners of the room. “But we’ll live.”

“FO-REIGN. EN-TI-TIES. DE-TEC-TED. SCOUT-ING. A-RE-A.” A loud mechanical voice came from the gate in the ceiling as a peculiarly-designed robot appeared, with a big bubble around it.

“Oh no.” Mega Man stood tall as the gate closed behind the two Robot Masters. Fortunately for them, the drone that Dr. Light piloted was able to get through in time.

“Both of you! That was careless!” Light scolded them, but they could hear he was gravely worried.

“S-Sorry, dad.” Mega Man looked up. “What is that thing?”

“That’s a CWU-01P, a water purification robot. I wouldn’t get my hopes up about it being harmless, judging that this is Wily’s fortress now.”

“EN-TI-TIES. NOT. UN-DER. WILY’S. CON-TROL. IF. NOT. UN-DER. WILY’S. CON-TROL. THEN. EX-TER-MIN-ATE.”

“I think the BBC’s gonna sue.” Oil Man laughed dryly before the big robot began charging towards them.

“Eat this!” Mega Man ran to the corner before picking up one of the big blocks with his Super Arm and destroying the purification robot instantly. “Ha! That wasn’t so hard!”

“E-LI-MIN-ATE.” Mega Man spoke too soon, as another one appeared in its place.

“Save some of the blocks, Mega, I got an idea!” Oil Man fired several globs of oil at the robot, watching them float up towards it before the bubble shield was disrupted for him to kick it in the giant glowing eye. “Heh, my thesis was correct. My oil makes its bubble shield weaker!”

“DE-STROY. DE-STROY.” A new one popped out and its eye was glowing brightly.

“That ain’t good.” The two Robot Masters ran in different directions as a huge laser beam swept across the room. The ceiling above fell apart, chunks of debris falling into the arena.

“WAH!” Oil Man held onto his neck before falling onto his rear and kicking. “M-My scarf! It’s stuck! I’M STUCK!!”

“I’m coming, don’t worry!” Mega Man equipped the Oil Slider and made his way towards the CWU-01P. He jumped into it, the slider doing more damage to the bubble shield than the oil globs alone. “Got ya!” He landed next to Oil Man before equipping the Super Arm and picking up the piece of ceiling that was trapping Oil Man.

“T-Thanks, bro.” Oil Man took a breath of relief before he yelled out, “Here it comes!”

“No problem!” Mega Man tossed the chunk at the robot, finishing it off.

Another one popped out, getting to the center like the last one before firing the laser around the room.

“Is it me or are they getting faster and faster?!” Oil Man dodged the laser, making sure that he didn’t get caught on any ceiling fragments again.

“No trouble for me!” Mega Man picked up another piece of debris and tossed it right into the eye, destroying it.

“Nice shot- LOOK OUT!!” Oil Man tackled Mega Man as the whole ceiling collapsed. Three more CWU-01P’s fell into the arena, each one faster than the last.

“Looks like it’s time for me to bust out a weapon I hadn’t used yet.” Mega Man equipped the Time Slow. His armor turned purple, bells and a hammer grew on his head, and his buster a big watch.

“Time’s up!” The bells on Mega Man’s head rang, slowing everything around him down before running towards a few pieces of debris. Equipping the Super Arm, he threw them at each of the enemies in the room.

And just like that, their bubbles burst, and they were done for.

“Phew.” Mega Man flopped back onto the ground. “I’m running out of juice.”

“We better start charging up once we get outta here.” Oil Man looked at the door to the room open up as the rest of the Robot Masters ran in.

“Wow, you two must have been busy.” Guts Man looked around the room as the water started to drain. A ladder suddenly slid down from way high up. That was their way out.

“It’s like Wily’s inviting us in.” Time Man's voice was wrought with suspicion.

“Well, anything to help us save Roll! Let’s go!” Guts Man lifted Mega Man off the ground and pushed him to the front of the group.

“W-Whoa! Right, let’s go.” Mega Man held onto the ladder and climbed up as fast as he could. It was way too tall…

“What a thrill~” Cut Man started singing to ease the tension.

“Aw, please stop…” Bomb Man groaned. How many times did he hear Cut Man sing that song whenever ladders were involved?

“F-Forgive me, sir, I was useless.” Reggae placed his head on the ground.

“Next time you ought to shut your beak. But no matter, I still have one more weapon before our drastic measures have to be taken.” Wily held eight I.C. chips in his hands. “Now, let's see how they can handle themselves.”

At the top of the ladder, Guts Man placed down each of the energy capsules that they had collected along the way. Looking out the windows, it was nighttime. They couldn’t use sunlight to charge up anymore. 

“Alright, once we clear this area, we’ll need to divvy up the energy capsules and see who gets charged. Mega Man will obviously take the large one.” Guts Man looked over at Oil Man. “Oil Man is also a high-priority bot since he doesn’t have a backup fuel tank and he can refill our backup fuel tanks.”

“Fine by us.” Fire Man was able to burn again now that they were out of that cursed floodgate area.

“The rest of the priority list will go from who has the lowest charge to who has the highest by the end of the next battle. With that out of the way, we ready?”

“Yeah!” The rest of them said in unison.

“Then let’s go!”

Higher up the building, not much was there to stand in their way. This was a breather.

That was until they encountered an enormous door, sealed tightly with no obvious way to unlock it.

“Alright, who’s going to catch our hands this time?” Oil Man tugged at his scarf. As soon as he said that, eight saucer-like objects were floating down from the ceiling that opened up from the bottom. Colorful pillars of light shined within them.

“Something’s coming! Be careful!” Dr. Light’s voice came in.

“But what?” Mega Man shifted through each of his weapons as if preparing himself to use any one of them at any moment.

Figures formed in each of the eight saucers, and they all looked way too familiar.

“What the?!” Mega Man shouted. Those were copies of his siblings!

“Man, these guys are wack. They don’t even have the right colors for us.” Bomb Man didn’t take this seriously.

“We already know who’s weak to what, right?” Guts Man stepped forward, spawning a Guts Block to lift.

“Yeah… You’re right!” Mega Man nodded. These weren’t his real siblings, so this might be easier than when he actually had to fight them. “Let’s go, everyone!”

The two copies that could pose the biggest problems would be Time Man and Ice Man. Anything that could inhibit the group’s speed while enhancing the other side’s needed to be taken out immediately.

“Alright, aim for the one you know is weak to you!” Mega Man dashed towards the Copy Time and Copy Ice, firing a Thunder Beam in their direction.

“You know, I’m grateful to my original self.” The Copy Time rolled out of the way, letting Copy Ice get hit. Unlike the real Ice Man, he didn’t spasm from getting hit at all.

“Huh?!” Mega Man stepped back, confused.

“He’s got smarts, so I have smarts too!” The Copy Time’s tone of voice was cocky, confident.

“Such an unpleasant fellow! Mega Man, silence him at once.” Time Man didn’t know who he should get now that it’s come to light that maybe their weaknesses were all switched up.

“Hey, if I’m unpleasant, you’re unpleasant too!” Copy Time suddenly appeared behind the real Time Man. He had a functioning Time Stop.

“L-Let go!” Time Man shook around but was firmly kept in place.

“Time Man!” Mega Man couldn’t shoot the copy. He’d end up hurting both of them. This conundrum left him open to Copy Ice kicking him in the back of his head.

“Nice job, smartass!” The copy of Guts Man picked up a block of his own and lifted it above his head, about to cast it at Time Man.

“N-No!” Time Man needed more… time to think of a plan. He used his Time Slow, just to give himself more room to brainstorm.

But when his bells rang, Copy Guts immediately dropped his block, right on top of his own head.

“That- that’s it! He’s someone with a strict schedule, so of course, he’s weak to the clock!” Time Man smiled to himself and escaped from Copy Time’s grip.

“Damn shame we gotta take them out.” Guts Man chuckled and lifted his copy off the ground by the head. “These parts are just as top-of-the-line as mine! He could work with me!”

“What?! H-Hey, hey, wait a sec!” Copy Guts tried to struggle out of his grip.

“We aren’t some toys you can just take from-” Copy Time tried to protest before jolts rushed through his body. Mega Man had gotten back up to hit him with the Thunder Beam. It seemed just as effective as on the normal Time Man.

“So not all of them have different weaknesses.” Mega Man had to think. Which ones are the same as before, and which ones are different this time around?

“Look out!” Suddenly, Cut Man knocked Mega Man over. A Hyper Bomb flew past their heads, rolling away before it exploded.

“Tch! This is easy! Any old idiot can just toss bombs around.” The Copy Bomb bounced another bomb in his hand.

“Maybe,” Mega Man equipped the Rolling Cutter. “Let’s cut his fuse then.”

“Hey, good idea!” Cut Man’s scissors started snipping rapidly. “Choki choki choki!!” The scissors suddenly grew in size before the two threw them in unison, cleaving the copy clean in half. “Eaaaaasy, huh?!”

“Don’t let your guard down just yet, pardners!” Fire Man rushed to their side, ice encrusting his body for obvious reasons. The copy of Oil Man was smoldering as Copy Ice came dragging his body to try and bludgeon his opponents. 

“O-Oh no!” Mega Man stood beside his freezing brother and equipped the Fire Storm himself, hoping his head’s flame could help melt it off. “We should find out what that one’s weakness is.”

“Maybe pollution oughta do it!” Oil Man came sliding towards the copy of Ice Man before he was whacked with his own copy. “OR NOT- GAH, CRAP!” Oil Man quickly pounded out a small flame that had started on his scarf.

“I think I got it!” Mega Man switched to the Hyper Bomb. “That boy scout attitude of the normal Ice Man can’t trump Bomb Man’s punk lifestyle!”

Blasting a Hyper Bomb at Copy Ice, it detonated and blasted both the robots into smithereens. “That leaves two more!” Mega Man looked around. The copy of Elec Man and the copy of Fire Man. “I think I already have an idea of what Elec Man could be weak to.”

“Barga Man coming to mind for you too?” Oil Man stood back up. “Gotta stop that flow of electricity!”

“Alright, time to finish this!” Mega Man equipped the Ice Slasher.

Oil Man began to slide straight towards Copy Elec. Mega Man took this opportunity to jump off of Oil Man’s back, giving himself a vertical boost to aim directly into Copy Fire’s head.

In one fell swoop, Mega Man fired three Slashers into Copy Fire’s head, giving him a lethal case of brain freeze, while Oil Man clotheslined Copy Elec and started dragging him behind his Oil Slider, insulating the electricity and giving him severe road rash.

“Alright! That’s that!” Mega Man brushed his hands off.

“Wait!” Guts Man looked around. “Where’s the copy of Cut Man?”

“Huh-” Mega Man didn’t have time to think as an ice statue dropped right on his head from out of nowhere. “Owwww…”

“Nyah-nyah!” A taunting song came from Copy Cut’s lips. He was poking out of a black hole in midair before he retreated.

“W-What in the-” Cut Man looked around. “Is he literally cutting holes in the fabric of space or something?!”

“That’s so unbelievably stupid, but that has to be the case.” Time Man spoke. “If Dr. Wily has the technology to make a fully-functioning time stopper, who knows what else he’s capable of?”

“And so what if he can?” Guts Man pumped his arm before spawning a Guts Block. “Time Man and I are a deadly combo for this kind of thing!”

Time Man only smiled in response. Being able to help everyone despite his limits made him feel accomplished.

“Over heeeere!” Copy Cut popped out of another slit in space before retracting.

Time Man simply closed his eyes so he could charge up the energy to slow time. A Rolling Cutter came at him, but he sidestepped it before his bells rang

Guts Man picked up the block and took careful aim. Copy Cut popped out again and had two glowing balls of energy in his hands.

“NOW!” Guts Man chucked the block harder than he’s ever done in his life.

“Not bad for a meathead!” Copy Cut threw the two projectiles at the Guts Block as quickly as he could in slowed time, and they both hit the block dead-on, destroying it before another block came at him and hit him square in the face, knocking him into the void of nothing.

“Now it’s all done.” Guts Man brushed his hands off and looked over at Time Man. “You alright, buddy?”

“I’m- I’m fine, it’s…” Time Man’s eyes were drooping.

“I see, you’re running out of energy. You must be on the backup source now.”

“We better hurry up then!” Mega Man looked over at the huge door in front of them. Steam sprayed out the middle of it before it slowly opened up. This has to be a big fight. Something to top what they just fought.

But through the steam, the silhouette was small, petit, feminine…

“E-Everyone!” That voice, could it be?

“Roll!” Mega Man smiled brightly.

“ROLL!” Time Man shoved Mega Man out of the way to embrace his sister, tears immediately started overflowing. “I’m so sorry for hurting you! I shouldn’t have listened to Dr. Wily! You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me!”

“Oh, Time Man, don’t worry about it. I’m so glad you’re all here!”

Mega Man walked towards the two, the steam starting to clear up. Mega Man could see everything clearly now. He could see all of Roll’s features, her red dress, her strawberry blonde hair, her purple bow…

Purple bow? Isn’t it green?

“T-Time Man!” Mega Man called out, “Get back! That’s not-”

Shank.

“Ah-” Time Man found a shard of scrap metal embedded in his backup fuel tank before Roll yanked it out, spilling the remaining oil and causing Time Man to deactivate.

“Did you really think that you’d save your sister that easily?” The Copy Roll smiled like a crocodile, her teeth were noticeably sharper than the real Roll’s teeth.

Two saucer-like objects descended from the ceiling. One hovered over Mega Man, the other hovered over Copy Roll before a beam of light surrounded both of them.

Copy Roll changed before their very eyes, into a perfect copy of Mega Man himself.

“It’s a bit underhanded to just go around stealing other robots’ arms, isn’t it? Then again, being a copy of you, I must be the biggest cheat of them all!” Copy Mega Man sneered.

“Yer a lowly thug, ain’t ya?” Fire Man stepped forward, burning hotter than normal. “Wearin’ our sister’s face to get close to us and now you copy-”

Fire Man was interrupted by a sudden Ice Slasher being shot onto his mouth.

“Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie? Or are you gonna bite?” Copy Mega had a venomous bite in his voice.

“I won't forgive you for this!” Mega Man was never this angry before, but being tricked into thinking that his sister was safe only to have one of his siblings taken out pushed him over the edge.

“Oh, so you think you can beat me? Snowball’s chance in Hell!” The copy snapped his fingers, the Mega Buster coming out with a rather intense glow.

“Just try me!” Mega Man immediately shot at the clone with three Solar Bullets.

“Alright, then.” With that simple response, the Copy fired back with a much bigger, bluer Solar Bullet that swallowed up Mega Man’s shots.

Mega Man’s eyes widened. This blast, this supercharged solar missile flew at him with frightening speed.

This was the end, wasn’t it?

Chapter Text

BANG!

Everything happened in one fleeting instant.

A flash of light blinded everyone in the room. Fragments of metal and limbs flew every which way.

Mega Man couldn’t even scream as Fire Man’s head dropped in front of his feet. In Mega Man's stead, Fire Man took that blow.

“Snowball’s. Chance. In Hell.” Mega Man’s copy smugly repeated itself.

"BASTARD!" Cut Man leaped into the air, Rolling Cutters drawn. "You’ll pay!" He tossed one straight towards the copy and the other in a horizontal arc at his ankles.

"Eat this!" Guts Man generated a Guts Block in his hand, winding up to throw at wherever the copy ended up.

The Copy backflipped away and dodged both of the Rolling Cutters, equipping the Time Slow and activating it before switching to the Ice Slasher and firing wildly.

As soon as the purple tint in the air touched Guts Man, he dropped the block right on his head, like his own copy.

“Guts Man!” Mega Man turned around and ran towards the big guy while he felt gusts of freezing air rush by him, Slashers nearly missing him.

“W-What’s going on? This didn’t- didn’t happen with the real Time Man, I think my core’s going to explode!” Guts Man’s head shook around in a panic as he was struggling to lift the block.

“Too bad.” Suddenly, they found the Copy standing on top of the block, lifting it above his head with his own Super Arm before the Time Slow ended. The Copy fell feet-first onto Guts Man’s back.

Mega Man, in a fit of desperation, clocked his Copy in the face, but it didn’t seem phased as it swung the block at the Blue Bomber, knocking him onto his back before the Copy wound up to drop the block on top of him.

“Get away from him!” A scream from Bomb Man preceded a Hyper Bomb being thrown at the Copy. Taking it by surprise, the Copy was blown over from the resulting explosion, and the block became bits.

“Lucky shot.” The Copy rolled away to a safer place, a hand on the metal floor as it scraped up a chunk with his Super Arm to create what seemed to be a temporary barrier.

“That's all you got? Bomb Man taunted, another bomb materializing in his hand before he tossed it to destroy the barrier.

“Try me.” The Copy chuckled. He jumped out quickly, shooting a pair of scissors out of his Buster in the blink of an eye.

It cut the fuse of the Hyper Bomb.

And it cut down Bomb Man’s mohawk.

“M-MY ‘DO!!” Bomb Man shrieked, jumping back and holding his hands up in the air. “You’ve done it now!!”

“Bomb, no!” Mega Man shouted out, running towards his Copy as it equipped the Fire Storm and tackling it.

Raising his fists, Mega Man brought them down upon the Copy’s face, battering and bruising its shell.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!!" Mega Man, in a fit of desperation, tried to reach his Copy whilst beating it down, even if it was a futile effort. "You don't have to do this! You could do good with your powers! You don't have to be a tool for destruction!"

"You mean like you are?" The Copy only smirked in response.

Mega Man's eyes glazed over. His face twisted with all sorts of emotions. Sorrow. Self-doubt. Fear of himself. It gave the Copy enough time to kick the boy off of him and equip the Thunder Beam, about to immediately pull the trigger.

But just as a bolt shot out at Mega Man, a glob of oil blocked its path.

“NOW, CUT MAN!” Oil Man screamed.

Cut Man came up from behind the Copy and in one swift motion, snipped its head off before stamping down on it and shattering it to pieces. “Mega Man! Are you okay?!”

“Mega!” Bomb Man lifted Mega Man so his brother was sitting up. 

Mega Man looked at the oil on his hands, muttering over and over, "I'm more than that. I'm more than that. I'm more than that." He repeated that to himself, his vision going blurry. "I'm… more than that…" He realized he was crying. He couldn't even reassure himself as he looked towards his remaining brothers. "I AM more than that… Right…?"

“You are, bro!” Cut Man rested his forehead on Mega Man’s.

"You must be low on energy. You can't be thinking straight right now." Guts Man pulled out the Energy Capsules he had been storing. "You all take these and go without me."

"W-What? But Guts Man-" Mega Man stuttered.

"If you all share these without me, you'll each get to full charge. Besides, I’m kind of dented from its full weight and more being placed on my back." Guts Man gave a reassuring grin, taking Time Man's body and Fire Man's pieces into his arms. "I'm rooting for you all. Make me proud."

"But Guts-" Mega Man looked down, cheeks still wet with tears.

"We got this far, didn't we?" Oil Man gave Mega Man his patented nozzle arm hug. “You can get through anything thrown at you, man.”

"Y-Yeah." Mega Man closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have listened to that guy.”

"Bud, don't worry about it!" Bomb Man took Mega Man's helmet off and ruffled his hair. "Just charge yourself up, worry about yourself!"

"Darn it, Bomb, you’re messing it up!" Mega Man's spiked hair started to loosen up, curls forming.

Dr. Wily wasn't fazed this time. He knew it would end up coming to this.

“Reggae.” Wily’s voice was cold. “Activate her. Now.”

“Yessir!”

“Mega Man?” Dr. Light’s voice came in through the drone’s communicator. “Are you feeling any better?”

“I think.” Mega Man held onto his arm.

“I should have said earlier, but you aren’t just made to destroy. Even as Mega Man, you can do more than just that. But also remember that outside of Mega Man, you’re a kid with dreams, a purpose, and a loving family. You’re the little big brother to your linemates, the little stepbrother to Auto, and a son to me. Don’t ever lose sight of that.”

“Thanks, dad.” Mega Man wiped at his eyes.

A metallic screech rang out, echoing through the entire robot manufacturing plant.

"W-What was that?!" Cut Man covered his ears.

"Ack! Good thing Time Man isn't here to hear that." Oil Man chuckled nervously.

“It’s gotta be huge if it’s that loud.” Bomb Man’s fingers ran through what remained of his mohawk.

Mega Man didn’t speak up. All he felt was a feeling of impending doom. The many bronze statues of Guts Man didn’t help matters, it felt as if they were all staring at him, ready to watch him fall.

The door in front of them had Dr. Wily’s insignia on it. Mega Man froze, still shaken from the last battle. This was going to be even worse for him, wasn't it?

The door slowly raised, as if the gates of hell were opening. The room was vast, yet empty, the only light being the dim mercury bulbs on the ceiling. Yet another huge door stood at the end of the room.

Once the four Robot Masters were in the arena, the door closed behind them. Static came from a speaker on the other end of the room, linked up to an intercom system.

"If only I had programmed you differently back then! It would have been genius! It's the biggest mistake I've made in my life!" Wily’s voice came from the speaker.

"Your biggest mistake was crossing us!" Cut Man yelled back.

"Wily, please, stop it." Wily was only human. Perhaps Mega Man could talk some sense into him? "We can still make amends-"

"What do you mean 'we'?! Do you not know who's at fault for this in the first place?!" Wily shouted him down.

“Dr. Light making rash decisions doesn't justify everything you've done!” Mega Man shouted back, “Are you going to deny any responsibility on your end?!”

“This is his just desserts! So what if what I do is wrong?! The world rejected my progress, including Light, they still keep robots down because they can’t fight back to prove that they should be taken just as seriously as humans!”

Mega Man stepped forward. "If you're not going to listen, I'll cut to the chase: give Roll back to us or else!"

"You want her back? I'll give her to you!" On the other end of the room, the door was unlocking. "Roll, dear, your brother wants to play!"

However, before it opened, something banged several dents into it before bursting out from behind it. A twenty-foot-tall red and green metal behemoth, with a sword that was more than half its height; it could cleave everyone in the room with no effort. Its shield was the length of its entire body. To top it off, it had two faces; one where it should be, covered by a mask and visor, and one on top of its head with the detail of a porcelain doll that looked like…

Roll.

“Behold, Hyper Roll!” Wily shouted.

Mega Man’s vision blurred again, his whole body felt too heavy to move from the sheer despair he felt. All he could do was stand there, staring teary-eyed at the thing his sister had become.

Hyper Roll ran towards Mega Man, sword held aloft over her head before she swung it vertically, down at Mega Man.

“BRO!” In that instant, Oil Man clotheslined Mega Man out of the way, the sword missing the both of them, but the resulting shockwave knocked them away.

Mega Man was shaken back into reality as he fell on his back.

“D-Do you want to save Roll?!” Oil Man held onto Mega Man’s shoulders. “We’re gonna have to beat this giant! Don’t start pussyfootin’ around just because it’s Roll!”

“I-” Mega Man got up on shaky feet, Hyper Roll running towards him once more. She seemed more intent on killing Mega Man than anyone else.

Mega Man tried to run off again, but Hyper Roll’s shield pounded into the ground, launching Mega Man upwards with the terrain it pushed up. That porcelain doll face resembling his sister stared at him with cold, soulless eyes.

Mega Man stared back at it. His fear turned into rage. Rage at Dr. Wily. How could he turn an innocent robot into this?

Mega Man knew what he had to do. He switched to the Hyper Bomb, for nothing was immune to a bomb to the face. He aimed square at that fake doll face and fired.

The bomb detonated, causing Hyper Roll to stagger backward and shriek. She flailed all around, her sword swinging every which way. Bomb Man tried to dodge, but he got bisected at the waist.

However, Bomb Man's head and arms were still attached to his torso, home to a robot's best friend, the core. He was able to roll out a few bombs of his own. "Cut! Catch!" He threw three of them out towards Cut Man, who caught each of them before jumping off the wall to drop them onto the beast's head.

Hyper Roll's visor was cracking, a shard falling off to reveal a single glowing eye.

“S-STOPPPPP!” Did she talk?

“Roll?! Are you in there?!” Mega Man called out.

“LET! ME! GO!” She was fighting from the inside, but not for long. Hyper Roll stabbed her sword into the ground, dangerously close to Mega Man.

“Incoming!” Oil Man slid up behind Mega Man, jumping over him before leaping off his slider. Before dropping down, he shot several globs of oil into Hyper Roll’s eyes, blinding her.

But a lack of vision didn’t mean a lack of danger. Hyper Roll kicked Oil Man so hard, that the wall he hit had a crater left in it. A noticeable dent was left in Oil Man’s chest, which caused his core to short out.

Hyper Roll’s posture changed entirely, dropping her sword and shield before getting on all fours. Her visor and mask began to crumble, revealing a face that was nothing but wire and sharp teeth. She was like a wild animal.

She charged towards Mega Man like a bear about to catch its prey. Mega Man, rather than running away, ran forward before rolling under her, which allowed him to get behind her. He looked at anything that could be a potential weak point.

Several white wires were jutting from her arms to her shoulders, as well as four on her helmet. Maybe that was the key?

"Cut Man, help me with this!" Mega Man took the initiative for his plan, equipping the Rolling Cutter.

"Just gimme the word!" Cut Man ran beside Mega Man.

"I'm going to try and get the wires on the shoulders, you get the ones on her head!" Mega Man watched as Hyper Roll turned around and got into a position like she was going to pounce, her maw opening wide to reveal that she had several more rows of sharp teeth.

"Well, we better be careful, she's going to fight us tooth and nail." Cut Man's pun at an inappropriate time just got a groan from Mega Man in response. “Sorry, sorry. Get ready, here she comes!”

Hyper Roll came charging towards them, this time attempting to swipe at them with her hands made into claws. Mega Man ducked under her hand while Cut Man leaped into the air, onto her head, clinging onto one of the wires for dear life.

Hyper Roll began to shake her head side-to-side in an attempt to fling Cut Man off, distracting her long enough for Mega Man to throw a Rolling Cutter at her right arm's wire. Immediately, it went limp, causing her to fall over to the side. Cut Man snipped one of the wires on her head, grabbing onto the green bow that decorated her helmet.

Hyper Roll pushed herself back up using her left arm, pulling on her limp right arm and tearing it off. She swung it down, using it as a club, and the resulting shockwave sent Mega Man flying back, his head whipping back against the ground. It was a good thing he had a helmet.

"Mega Man-!" Cut Man's grip loosened, allowing Hyper Roll to swing her head down and fling him into the ground. He let out a cry of pain, struggling to get back up as Hyper Roll looked down at Cut Man, her severed arm held high as she was about to crush him.

The Rolling Cutter that Mega Man threw hadn't come back to him yet, but it was about to. Hyper Roll's left arm suddenly went limp as well, causing her to drop her right arm right next to Cut Man.

"Talk about good timing!" Cut Man jumped onto the severed arm and used it as a platform to get onto Hyper Roll's other defunct arm. She flailed around, trying to shake him off once more, but he had a tight grip this time.

"Cut Man, you might want to watch out!" Mega Man equipped the Super Arm and ran up to the sword that Hyper Roll left behind. "I'm going to see if this will work!"

"Well hurry up-!!" Cut Man tried to climb faster, but Hyper Roll's arm, flopping all around, hit a wall, crushing him between two layers of cold metal.

"CUT!!!" Mega Man swung the sword at her remaining arm. Hyper Roll's metallic shriek rang out through the arena as sparks flew from the stumps.

The metal giant dove down and tried to bite at Mega Man, her teeth gnashing as her berserker instincts grew yet more intense. Mega Man knew what he had to do, running up to Hyper Roll and then leaping onto her head, just narrowly avoiding getting chomped.

Hyper Roll's head shook around once more, trying to fling Mega Man forward so she could bite down on him. Mega Man hung onto her bow before waiting to let go and land on her back. Taking this moment to carefully aim, he flung the Rolling Cutter at the last three wires.

Hyper Roll scooted herself to a wall to try and stand upright, screeching even louder as she tried to get back onto her feet. Her helmet started cracking apart, the wires holding her head together falling off to reveal a giant core.

The rest of her armor fell off as well, revealing circuitry and two more cores on her shoulders. And in the center of it all, her chestplate crumbled, revealing the real Roll was plugged into her, wearing armor similar to Mega Man's.

"ROLL!" Mega Man tossed another cutter at the six wires plugged into Roll, sprinting over to catch her as she fell. "Roll! Are you okay?!"

"M-" Roll's body barely moved, but she was conscious. Her eyes fluttered open and she opened her mouth to speak. "Me…ga…"

"Roll, it's okay now… You're safe." Mega Man embraced his sister.

"I'm sorry for worrying you all." Roll gave a weak smile in return. "I'm… glad that I was able to help you all find Wily's hideout."

"You're braver than I'll ever be, that's for sure."

"Don't talk like that. You're braver than you think you are, Mega. You got this far and you had to fight me. That had to take a lot of willpower."

"Hhhgh." Cut Man fell onto the ground from where he was on the wall. "R-Roll, could you at least help out with the recently destroyed instead of being dramatic?"

"Oh?" Roll looked at the destruction she had caused. "Oh."

"Just take your time." Bomb Man had been dragging his lower half to the center of the room. "Could you bring Oil Man over here?"

"S-Sure." Roll stood up, still trying to get adjusted to her normal body after what she had to endure.

"Mega Man, come in?" A feminine voice spoke in place of Dr. Light's voice.

"Doctor Lalinde?" Mega Man looked over at the drone.

"Your father fainted when Hyper Roll appeared. I've been making sure he didn’t have a heart attack so I couldn't pilot the drone up until now-" She was interrupted by a voice that came from outside the mic's range. "He's waking up. He should be back soon."

"I hope he’s alright," Mega Man said, relieved. It took a lot to get Dr. Light to pass out.

"W-What are you saying- Light, you can't go there yourself!"

"H-Huh?!" Mega Man's expression turned serious.

Suddenly, Dr. Light's voice cut in. "I'm going there. I’m going to talk with Wily. Personally."

"N-No, dad, you could get hurt!" Mega Man was scared now.

"I know that. But I know I won't get hurt on your watch." Dr. Light sounded sure of himself.

Mega Man only sighed in response. Maybe Light was right, but to what extent?

Roll and the rest of the Robot Masters were teleported out, and in their place, Dr. Light came in, wiping his forehead with a tissue. "Let's go. We don't have any time to waste."

"You're right. We have to put an end to all of this." Mega Man nodded.

"The authorities are heading towards your location as well." Dr. Lalinde's voice came in again. "In case anything happens to the drone and I can't teleport you and Light back to my lab, they should be able to bring you back to Colorado."

"Thanks for the info." Mega Man nodded. Before he went forward, he turned to Light and hugged him. "Thank you, dad. For everything you've done for me."

"And I want to thank you for everything you've done for the world." Dr. Light embraced his son and smiled.

Tears flowed from Mega Man’s eyes again. But this time, it wasn’t from despair nor anger. It was from fulfillment.

This was the highest floor of the CBRMP. With Dr. Light by his side, Mega Man walked down the hallway to the final door.

The lights had all been mysteriously shut off, and the lack of light pollution meant the sky outside the windows was starry and clear. The moon hung high above, the finishing touch on this dramatic final battle.

The door opened automatically. Wily was inviting them to their dooms. This time, Mega Man was prepared for what would come next: Dr. Wily himself.

"Come on out, Al." Dr. Light spoke calmly, but with conviction.

Footsteps could be heard from the catwalk above, Dr. Wily was glaring down at Dr. Light with all the intensity of the sun.

"Don't you DARE call me that like we're still buddies!" The venom in Dr. Wily's voice was something fierce.

"After all these years, I never thought I’d be able to talk to you again." Dr. Light's eyes looked damp. "I know there's no way to avoid what's going to come next, so let me just say something I should have, long long ago.

“I'm sorry for everything I've done. I should have seen the merits of your ideas." Tears went down Light’s cheeks. "I should have told everyone else to see the potential in them as well. I should have listened to you. Not doing any of that is my biggest regret, and if I had treated you better, you never would have gone down this path. I can never forgive myself."

Dr. Wily white-knuckled the rails of the catwalk. "Yes. You should have taken me seriously. I'm glad we agree. But your apology is too little too late. "

Dr. Light wiped his eyes. “You’re right. This is why I’m not afraid to say that more than I can't forgive myself, I can't forgive you.

“You steal my robots, my children, you cause havoc across Mega City, you tried to brainwash my son, and you turned my daughter into that monster. I know what I did was bad. But what you've done in a two-day span was atrocity after atrocity that I would never stoop down to.

“Now, I'm going to pay you back for the damage you've done." Dr. Light stepped back behind Mega Man. No doubt this place was going to become a warzone. “Mega Man, it’s you now.”

"Why don't you show us your final trick, the last weapon you have up your sleeve?" Mega Man's hand retracted, his Mega Buster coming out.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Wily jumped off the catwalk, his UFO floating in to catch him. "Behold, the ultimate combat machine, Wily Machine Number 1!" The saucer floated backward before resting itself in the cranium of a skull-shaped tank, and it introduced itself by shooting a cannon blast at the drone. There goes their escape route.

“But I’m afraid you won’t live to tell everyone else about it! Nuha! Nuhahahahahahahaaaaaa!”

“Hmph. Is that so?” Dr. Light glared at Wily. “Then, a proposition. If you beat my son, then you can finally get your revenge… and take my life. But if my son wins, you will answer for your crimes.”

“Tch, acting brave now, are we? That’s only if your little war machine wins.”

“I’m. Not. A war machine.” Mega Man stepped forward defiantly.

“Oh, right, what else are you? His son? Auto’s stepbrother? It must be SO NICE to just start a NEW FAMILY!! ” Wily gripped onto a Copy Chip, plugging it into his control panel before firing several fireballs in Mega Man’s direction.

“This is going to be a piece of cake!” Mega Man ran forward with the Ice Slasher equipped, shooting at the cockpit like with the Reggae Machine. That proved effective, judging from Wily’s reaction.

“Gh! Don’t think it’ll be easy forever!” He plugged in a different Copy Chip. “Time Slow!” Bells began to ring as the arena turned purple. Mega Man staggered as the Wily Machine came closer to him before firing off a cannon blast point-blank.

Mega Man clutched onto his chest, but he wasn’t down yet. He equipped the Thunder Beam, firing several blasts to disrupt it before shooting the cockpit.

Wily swapped in another Copy Chip, the Thunder Beam. Mega Man had to think fast. Rolling Cutter or Oil Slider? He tried dodging one of the beams, but his core temporarily shorted out, leaving him open to electrocution.

“What’s the matter?! You were talking big just a second ago!” Wily cackled and taunted Mega Man.

“HA!” Mega Man shouted out as he threw a Rolling Cutter at the cockpit, cracking the glass.

“Oh, that gives me an idea!” Wily swapped in another new Copy Chip, and he began to fire his own Rolling Cutters.

“N-No-” Mega Man looked around the room for any blocks he could toss at Wily, but nothing. In this distraction, he got a few cuts on his arms and one on his right leg. “T-Then how about this?!” Mega Man took a deep breath. He had to break out that special technique that he used on Cut Man.

Mega Man ran through a flurry of cutters, ducking and jumping, but seething in pain from his injuries. “Mega!” His fist glowed blue. “Upper!” His gashes had sparks shooting out as he did that, causing him to scream out. That punch worked but it wasn’t as effective as it could have been.

“Stubborn kid, aren’t ya?! Looks like I’ll have to blow you away to put you down!” Wily swapped in yet another new Copy Chip.

Mega Man knew where Wily was going with that. He had to do something before he could use any of his Hyper Bombs. Quickly switching to the Fire Storm, Mega Man dashed forward and stuck his Mega Buster inside the cannon.

“W-What are you-” Wily couldn’t finish that as flames filled the cannon.

The bombs inside began blowing up themselves, shaking the Wily Machine up and causing it to not only break down but completely fall apart.

Mega Man panted and backed up, his injuries still stinging. He was running out of energy once more. “Give it up, Wily! I broke your quote-unquote ‘ultimate’ combat machine!”

“N-No, this can’t be it! Work, damn it!” Wily slammed on the control panel, before pulling out a hammer and starting to whack it. “WORK!!”

“Do you really think that’ll-” Mega Man walked up to apprehend Wily, but was suddenly knocked back as several mechanical spider legs shot out from the bottom. The Wily Machine pushed itself out of the wreckage before the legs fell off, leaving the machine hovering in midair.

“T-This isn’t over!” Wily panted, his hands were starting to get more shaky on the controls. “I’ll prove to the world my genius, and you won’t stand in my way!”

“Y-Your machine is about to fall apart!”

“SO ARE YOU!” By some twisted miracle, the cannon was still able to shoot. Hyper Bombs came shooting out towards Mega Man.

Mega Man ducked and ran under them, the explosions still rocking him even if he wasn't in the blast radius. Mega Man didn't have time to attack before Dr. Wily switched the Copy Chips. Ice Slashers came firing out, hitting Mega Man in the leg and freezing it to the ground.

"I won't lose to you!" Mega Man, in a fit of desperation, equipped the Hyper Bomb. He tried to take careful aim, but his wounds made it difficult for him to keep his buster arm steady. Wily took this moment to back his machine away from Mega Man. It grew two new spidery limbs, this time with ends that resembled drills.

"GO, GO!!" The Wily Machine charged like a raging bull.

Mega Man couldn't escape as the machine's arms rammed into him with the force of a truck, his frozen leg still stuck to the ground as he was flung to the side like a ragdoll.

With a loud crash, Mega Man rolled across the ground, completely limp.

"…Ha! Haha! NUHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!" Dr. Wily laughed like a maniac. "I DID IT!! I TOOK THAT STUPID BLUE BRAT OUT!!" He cackled and guffawed, howled and roared. "I guess if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself!!"

Dr. Light turned his head, trying not to cry seeing his son in the condition he was. But he saw Mega Man's finger twitch. He knew what he was doing. Dr. Light nodded to himself as he faced Dr. Wily.

"So you beat him." Dr. Light's expression was resigned. He backed up against the locked door, looking up at Dr. Wily. "I'm willing to uphold my end."

"Huh?" Dr. Wily looked at Light with confusion. "You're not even going to run? You're just going to let yourself die?"

"You destroyed my son. I have no way to escape. Why should I struggle?" Dr. Light gave a sorrowful grin. "And besides, it's my retribution for what I did to you anyway."

"What? What are you trying to pull?!" Dr. Wily's hands shook on the joysticks.

"Do it. Finish your dream. Prove to the world your superior genius."

Dr. Wily shook his head, his thumbs on the triggers. He could push them at any moment. But he didn't. His eyes grew puffy, his breath shaking like an earthquake. He couldn't bring himself to do it, could he?

"Well?" Dr. Light didn't look surprised. He knew Dr. Wily still had goodness inside him. He couldn't kill anyone, not even his mortal enemy.

How he wished that wasn’t the case. How he wished to go back.

To when they were still together.

"Shut up…" Tears streamed down Dr. Wily's cheeks. "Shut up…!"

Mega Man took aim. He looked inside the cockpit of the Wily Machine for something, anything he could still shoot. There was a button attached to one of the walls inside of it, encased in glass. And if there's anything that could be pushed to finish anything, it was a big red button.

“This is the end!” Mega Man said aloud as he fired three solar bullets at that button. One to break the glass, one to clear it, and one to hit the button.

“W-WHAT?!” Dr. Wily swung around to look at the robot he thought he destroyed. He swung to face Dr. Light, who had a knowing expression on his face. And then he swung around to face the button that had just been pushed.

“Self-destruct initiated. Five, four…”

“LIGHT, YOU BASTAAAAARD!” Dr. Wily jumped out of the Wily Machine as it exploded behind him, sending him flying towards Dr. Light.

“Looks like I’m the winner after all.” Dr. Light looked down at Dr. Wily.

“N-No, it can’t be, I- You- Mega Man-” Dr. Wily crawled back, trying to get away from Dr. Light, but he felt cold metal grip his shoulder. Mega Man had also crawled over to keep him from getting away, even with just one leg.

Dr. Wily shrieked and jumped away before he got on his knees, hands in the air. He quickly bowed down with his head on the ground. “I’M SORRY!!”

“W-What?” Those were words that Dr. Light never thought he’d hear from Wily.

“Y-You were right! I was wrong! I took it all too far no matter what you did! I’ll- I’ll pay for my crimes in full! I’ll do the time! I’ll make reparations! I’ll do anything to make up for what I did! Just please, please forgive meeeeeee!” Wily cried like a baby as he looked up at the two, his hands clasped together as he begged and pleaded.

“I’m not the one you should be telling that to.” Dr. Light looked up at the skylight, several lights flashing through as it shattered.

“Doctor Albert W. Wily!” Gil came sliding down on a rope, stun gun at the ready.

“You’re under arrest!” Roslyn slid down after, carrying the cuffs.

Chapter Text

Thanks to the heroic actions of Mega Man, peace has once again been restored.

Even the nefarious Dr. Wily seems to have had a change of heart and is now ready to work for a peaceful tomorrow.

Megadome, Mega City, Colorado

May 30, 20XX

Dr. Light instinctively looked from behind the curtains once more. Only this time, Rock and Roll weren’t there in the front row. It was President Lilium Belfry herself; her First One, Professor Moustapha Gombey, the head of the Robotics Ethics Committee, sat beside her.

“ALRIGHT, PLACES EVERYONE!” Elec Man clapped his hands. “This is going to be bar none the most important event of our lives! Do NOT mess it up!”

“Calm down, Elec Man-” Time Man was interrupted by more yelling.

“What do you MEAN calm down?! We are doing this in front of the PRESIDENT! If we mess up, we may as well be embarrassing ourselves in front of the ENTIRETY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THEN SOME! ”

“Well, you screamin’ about it ain’t really inspirin’ confidence,” Oil Man scoffed.

“Don’t you ever take things seriously?!” Elec Man stomped up to him.

“Sometimes.” Oil Man shrugged.

“Then take THIS seriously!”

“Everyone!” A boyish voice rang out. Mega Man had stepped out from backstage. “Let’s do our best! We’re Doctor Light’s robots after all. We can’t be beaten!”

Everyone seemed to relax as Mega Man spoke. He was so cheerful and calm that it was infectious.

“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Someone else stepped behind the group.

“Roll!!” Mega Man smiled brightly, his hands flapping a little. “You're ready?”

“I'm not going to let stage fright get the best of me.” Roll knocked her head and stuck her tongue out. “Dad gave me these gifts and I won't just hide them!”

“I'm so glad!!” Mega Man's smile got even wider. The camaraderie between the two was so infectious that everyone else in the group seemed to be getting more confident.

“Well, no time to just stand around, we got a minute left until the contest starts!” Roll began to glow, armor forming over her dress. “Let’s rock and roll!”

“YEAH!” They all shouted out together. They were going to make everyone proud.

“You’re sure nothing bad’s gonna happen this time, right?” Gil looked over at Roslyn. They stood in front of the stage once more, watching for suspicious activity.

“I mean, unless if Dr. Light somehow made even more enemies than he’s letting on, I’m sure we’re going to be fine,” Roslyn chuckled.

“What about the Emerald Spears? What about Simone and Theo?” Gil hurled more questions Roslyn’s way.

“Orlena’s taking good care of those two. I’m sure their information didn’t leak out before today.” Roslyn brushed a bit of hair out of her face after mentioning Orlena.

“Are you absolutely-”

“You’re just trying to find an excuse to get out of here and ‘investigate’ so you can see Ozzy, aren’t you?” Roslyn teased Gil.

“N-No-” Gil turned as red as a beet.

“I’m just kidding, lover boy.” Roslyn snickered.

“Screw you.” Gil looked away, grumpy now.

Blues stood on a hill and whistled. Shoegaze was so absorbed in that damn contest and he needed to find a place to get his mind off of Dr. Light.

Maybe he should have told Shoegaze the entire story? No, that would probably have complicated it even more than the short version.

He took both solace and anguish in the fact that maybe Dr. Light forgot about him, with Blues’ individuality still intact. Maybe Light didn’t care about him anymore. Hell, he’s already got ten children to replace Blues.

But that was the thing, wasn’t it? That Blues was easily replaced. Who would want a broken, defective robot such as him?

“Bruce?” Tempo came up beside the lone wolf, her expression more solemn than stoic. “Are you okay?”

“Hunky-dory, thanks for asking,” Blues came off abrasively.

“Sorry I asked, then.” Tempo couldn’t read faces, but she could read tone. She turned to walk away.

“N-No, Tempo, I’m sorry,” Blues sighed. “I just… have you ever felt alone? So crushingly alone, despite knowing you have friends?" Blues pulled at the grass. "Or outdated, in a sense. Purposeless. Nothing you do will ever really matter and it hurts."

“Bruce…” Tempo held onto his hands. Even though they didn’t talk with each other too much, she hated seeing him like this. “I don’t think I could truly understand how that feels, but I will try everything in my power to help you overcome those feelings.”

“You’re too kind to a lost cause like me.” Blues looked away.

“You’re not a lost cause. As long as you need help, at least one person out there can help you.” Tempo held onto his hands tighter. “You’re going to get better.”

“What, you trying to make a promise?” Blues dismissed her.

“I’m making a threat.” Tempo picked up on Blues’ sense of humor.

That seemed to make Blues’ attitude turn around. “…Alright, if you say so. Just one more thing…”

“What is it?” Tempo looked at him.

“My real nane is Blues. Can you keep that a secret for me?”

“…of course.”

Dr. Light went on to win first place in the LIT Manual Design Contest once more, making it his fourth win in a row. Not only did he demonstrate his new line of industrial robots, but he also showed the first steps into time travel research — which earned him a Nobel Prize in Physics — as well as a new era of heroes that can protect the world from ruin. He plans on creating more Robot Masters in other fields of work he hasn’t touched yet.

Cut Man’s job as a timber-felling robot is the same as always, though his bad luck seemed to be letting up. He even found a coworker in Wily’s SWN-00B, Power Man. Minus the flaming chainsaw this time.

Guts Man continues his jobs in land reclamation and construction, making steady work of rebuilding the Light family’s home. The Neo Metalls help him out with carrying tools and supplies, even lunch for his crew.

Ice Man is now a well-known environmentalist and found work outside of the zoo. His true purpose of Antarctic research has come to light, and he has a reliable crew with him as they research weather and animal populations.

Bomb Man’s good luck didn’t stop at the demolition crew greenlighting his hiring. He’s also a part of Guts Man’s land reclamation crew, his Hyper Bombs coming in handy for blowing up bedrock.

Fire Man’s life is just about the same, with a stable job of disposing of garbage. However, you can bet on him coming to the rescue if evil’s afoot, with the combat-oriented abilities that had been built into him.

Elec Man still works at the power plant as normal, but he has been making visits to Mega City’s boutique on his days off. He’s considered picking up a side career in drag, the rush of the audience giving him a high like no other.

Time Man has been made a member of the Chronos Institute of Time-Space Research, a research laboratory for those who want to apply the two main subjects to their lines of work, run by Doctor Shou Kouin. Time Man works as a surgeon and is slowly but surely reaching his true potential, with upgrades to his Time Slow.

Oil Man is the one who has the most simple life out of all of the Light robots. He just refuels robots and supplies oil for machinery and spends his free time at the skate park with all the other “hip” kids.

And as for Mega Man? The never-ending battle he fights isn’t going to be over until all the forces of evil are beaten.

Lucky for him, he doesn’t have to do it alone. He finally has an equally mighty partner in his sister Roll. Or, perhaps she shall get a new name too?

Chapter Text

May 27, 20XX

Dr. Noele Lalinde’s Laboratory, Mega City, Colorado

“The day we upgraded Rock, you said you wanted to be upgraded as well, Roll.” Dr. Light had both hands on Roll’s shoulders. “But are you sure you’re up to the challenge? Mega Man broke under the pressure several times, so I want to make sure you understand how difficult it truly is.”

“Especially since just yesterday, you were thrown into a suit of armor that linked up to a monstrosity. One that overwrote your mind.” Dr. Lalinde rubbed one of Roll’s shoulders. “Are you sure you’re mentally well enough to be operated on again?”

“It’s what I wanted from day one of this battle and I won’t let what Wily did sour my wishes.” Roll sniffled but immediately regained her composure. “Rock wanted it too, right?”

“Yeah, I did!” Rock nodded, his fingers crossing and squeezing. “Remember how Roll was really good with that sword-spear-broom-thingy you gave her, Dad? She took down two Robot Masters even without upgrades! She's perfect!”

“Then can you think of a design, Roll? Like Rock made his own, I want you to be reborn as who you want to be.” Dr. Light stood back up, fixing his posture.

“Mmhm!” Roll nodded, taking a piece of paper and a pencil and scribbling down a quick design.

“Well, this is a bit more extravagant than Rock’s.” Dr. Light looked at the details.

While the general design was similar to a red and pink Mega Man, there was a red streak down her torso armor with six white buttons, a red skirt, pink and black shorts underneath, and a green sash around her waist. Her helmet also had an antenna on each earpiece and a bow like the one she wears.

“It’s completely doable, but are you sure some of these won’t get in the way? Especially the sash and the skirt.” Dr. Lalinde erred on the side of practicality.

“I’m sure!” Roll sat back on the repair table.

“Well, who am I to say no?” Dr. Light patted Roll on the head. “If you ever want to change something about yourself, you can always ask me.”

“Mhm!” Roll laid back. “Okay, I’m ready now.”

“Then let us begin.” Dr. Light opened up Roll’s scalp, reaching for the power dial. “You’re not scared, are you?”

“I trust you, dad.” Roll smiled gently.

“Good.” Dr. Light turned the dial down. Roll’s eyes dimmed before she went immobile, ready for what's to come.

May 28, 20XX

Roll stirred, rolling to her side and falling off the repair table with a squeak. She was luckily caught by Guts Man, who set her down on the ground. “Quite the ‘Hello, world’ you just gave us,” he chuckled.

“Ehe, silly me.” Roll brushed her hair out of her face, looking at her gloved hand and then the rest of her body. “Wow! It’s exactly how I imagined it!”

“That's good to hear, everyone here put their all into it.” Dr. Light came up behind Roll, lifting her off her feet and twirling her.

“Ahhh!!” Roll laughed as she was now facing Rock, giving him a big hug. “Thank you, guys!”

“You're going to ask her, right?” Dr. Light looked over to Rock.

“Yeah!” Rock broke the hug. “What's your new name going to be?”

“I had it in my heart for a long time now." Roll smiled. "I wanted something to match your name but not be exactly like yours. Like we're two sides of the same coin. Since you're the Battle Rainbow Mega Man, I wanna be…

“The Rainbow Warrior Mighty Woman!”

“You do know all your functions and why you have them, correct?” Dr. Lalinde had led Mighty down to the second basement floor.

“Yeah, they’re in my databank.” Mighty Woman nodded. “Rocket boots so that I can jump higher and get in close, pouches on my sash which holds tools and other stuff, and my earpieces’ antennae can pick up stray signals.”

“You’ll have to learn to make good use of them. You’re a born strategist and think on the fly.” Dr. Lalinde used a keycard to open the metallic door in front of them. “Quake Woman, are you ready?”

“Nn.” Tempo had been inside the training room before Mighty Woman arrived. Now that everything was ready, Tempo made her transformation. Rather basic, functional armor, not unlike the average Robot Master, in addition to her hair being pulled up into pigtails.

“Don’t hold back just because this is just training. You will have to put your abilities to more than just good use.” Quake Woman was strangely calm for the situation.

“R-Really? I won’t have to break you, will I?” Mighty Woman seemed hesitant.

“If you’re afraid, then stop short of me, and I’ll return in kind.” Quake Woman’s hand withdrew before her drill came out.

Mighty Woman nodded and activated the Mighty Buster. A sword made of solar energy shot out of the barrel in place of a solar bullet.

“Engage.” Dr. Lalinde spoke from the sidelines.

The two robots charged at each other. Mighty Woman went for an overhead swing, but Quake Woman quickly spun to the side and thrust her drill towards the side of Mighty Woman’s chest before stopping short.

“Don’t start with such clunky, telegraphed attacks,” Quake Woman said before going back to her starting position.

“R-Right,” Mighty Woman stood back before they dashed at each other again. This time Mighty Woman used her rocket boots to launch herself to the side before swinging her sword up to the back of Quake Woman’s neck and stopping.

“Smart move.” A grin almost came upon Quake Woman’s lips as they moved back again.

“Uh, hey, what tools do I have right now?” Mighty Woman looked at Dr. Lalinde.

“You can check for yourself.” Dr. Lalinde tapped her head. “It’s all in your databanks. Check what you have and call on what you need, but do mind that most of them aren’t infinite. You’ll have to resupply them on your own.”

“Right.” Mighty Woman’s statistics screen came up in her vision, with only three tools so far: a USB drive, an industrial-grade laser cutter, and three bundles of bang snap fireworks.

“The tools spawn in whichever pouch you choose and dematerialize when you don’t need them. It’s spatial manipulation technology similar to the teleporter.” Dr. Lalinde explained.

“Nifty!” Mighty Woman chuckled. “Okay, I’m done messing around with this stuff. I think it’s about time we get back to training.” She pumped herself up.

“Then let’s.” Quake Woman’s other hand retracted into a Quake Drill as well, both of them whirring before she dashed forward into a roll.

Mighty Woman was caught off-guard but jumped over Quake Woman with a front flip before boosting at her in an effort to headbutt her.

Quake Woman caught Mighty Woman and fell back, performing a Tomoe throw in hopes to get Migthy Woman on the ground.

But this was what Mighty Woman wanted. She reached to one of her pouches, unbuckling it so it dumped one bundle of bang snaps around the vulnerable Quake Woman.

“Wh-” Quake Woman couldn’t even respond as the flashes of the exploding fireworks and the loud cracks they made caused her to retract and grab her ears and squint her eyes.

Mighty Woman ran forward with an overhead slash, the time it took Quake Woman to recover was enough time for her to swing down and stop short of Quake Woman’s head.

“That was just underhanded!” Quake Woman shook her head.

“Okay, but say I was fighting a bad guy, would the fairness be a factor in how I win?” Mighty Woman tilted her head.

“Why treat me like a bad guy just because we’re training?! I can’t take loud noises!” Quake Woman looked rather angry, unusual for her.

“O-Oh, I’m so sorry!” Mighty Woman went forward and hugged Quake, causing the latter to flinch. “Time Man has the same problem, I should have-”

“Please let me go.” Quake Woman quietly pushed out.

“Sorry-” Mighty Woman had a look of guilt on her face.

“Don’t think it’s because she’s mad at you. She’s just naturally averse to being touched by people she doesn’t know too well.” Dr. Lalinde stepped between the two. “In any case, that test did show me you’re still a fully capable strategist; just remember to think before you attack.”

“I understand. Thank you both for letting me train here.” Mighty Woman shifted out of her armor.

May 29, 20XX

“Three, two, one!” Cut Man called out.

Guts Man tossed a few logs into the air, followed by two Rolling Cutters from Cut Man halving two each on their boomerang path. Cut Man, however, did not anticipate that one of the halves would fall directly on his head, causing him to fall back and miss catching his cutters as they planted themselves in the dirt.

“Broooo, c’monnn,” Oil Man groaned, “One day away and y’all are already going rusty?”

“Don’chu ‘y’all’ us like Elec Man’s included in that statement!” Fire Man grumbled aloud.

“That’s kind of you, dear, but I don’t pay it any mind.” Elec Man snapped his fingers, wondering how exactly his dance should go.

All the while Roll was sitting in the background.

She had the confidence to get the upgrades, the competence to use them properly, and the support from her family.

But as quickly as it all happened, a fog was starting to cloud her mind. Self-doubt has appeared.

Was she truthfully fit for this? How would everyone else perceive her new role?

“Mighty?”

Roll snapped back to reality as she heard the voice of her brother.

“Rock- don’t, you can still call me Roll.” Roll blushed and rubbed the back of her head.

“Sorry, thought I'd get you more used to your new name.” Rock looked in the direction of their siblings. “I was wondering, everyone else is doing something to spice up their presentation, so why don’t we do something together?”

“Huh?” Roll scratched her head. “Really? I mean-” She looked away, not wanting to unload the baggage she had.

“Tacky for heroes to do that?” Rock chuckled, “Yeah, that was what the other half of me was thinking, but I think it’ll be fun.”

“Well…” Roll rested her chin on her knees, hugging her legs closer to herself. “I’m just, y’know, I don’t really wanna deal with messing up in front of everyone-” She cringed as Cut Man had another log half hit his head. “Guys, maybe you should do something else? Dad would appreciate it if he didn’t have to do short-notice repairs.”

“Huh?” Cut Man got up off the ground. “Ah, yeah, maybe. Guts, go get a tree, I’ll chop it down while it’s in your hands!”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to take a tree inside!” Guts Man shrugged.

“Well, just cut it down, shave the branches and stuff, and we can just turn it into a bigger log for my bigger scissors!” Cut Man smiled.

Roll shook her head. “They really make me afraid sometimes.”

“You gonna swoop in and save them from themselves?” Rock laughed and laid back in the grass. “But, anyway, we don’t have to do anything fancy, but I’d just love for us to both be side-by-side, like equals.”

When he said that, Roll went back to her thoughts.

Did it truly matter what anyone else thought about this new role of hers?

She took a good, long look at herself and thought, why is she starting to doubt herself at the time that matters most to her family?

She got this far already. She already made it known she wanted this. She was going to keep it that way.

“Rock?” Roll said aloud.

“Hm?” Rock turned his head.

“Let’s do our best together.” Roll smiled at him.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way!” Rock smiled back at her.

May 30, 20XX

Megadome, Mega City

“Now, for our last contestant, let’s once again greet our three-time winner, Doctor Thomas Xavier Light!” Mayor Dorado stepped aside for Dr. Light, shaking his hand and smiling.

Mighty Woman tuned out every noise, even her father’s brief speech. She tried to clear her mind of all the worries and distractions.

“Without further ado, I present to you all, my Robot Masters!” Dr. Light bowed.

“Wish us luck!” Cut Man ran forward with Guts Man following with a huge tree trunk, shaved of all its branches.

Mighty tuned out Dr. Light’s exposition about her linemates, but couldn’t help but be mesmerized by Cut Man’s movements, from him chopping the log in eight in two flicks of his hand to using his Rolling Cutter to cut the pieces in half before they fell on the ground.

Mighty kept watching, from Ice Man using his Ice Slasher to erect a great sculpture of a polar bear, to Bomb Man using his Hyper Bombs as fireworks filled with calcium and copper chloride rather than the typical TNT, to Fire Man and Elec Man’s dual performance where the Fire Storm was the pyrotechnics and the Thunder Beam was the star of the show.

The finishing touch on her siblings’ performance was Time Man simply walking on-stage as his Time Slow was activated, catching Oil Man as he slid in.

Now it was Mega and Mighty’s turn, but Mighty Woman hesitated. Even though she’d put on a face of confidence for her siblings just before, she found herself glued to her spot.

“Hey.” Mega Man placed a hand on Mighty’s shoulder. “Let’s do our best. Remember?”

“…Yeah.” Her smile returned, stepping out onto the stage with her brother…

Federal Prison, ????

"And the winner of this year's LIT Manual Design Contest isssss," Mayor Dorado hyped up the audience, "Dr. Light!"

Dr. Wily paused the recording and leaned onto the table, his hand covering his eyes. Of course. Of course, it had to be him again.

He intended to turn it off, but he immediately stopped when he saw the president and her First One step onto the stage. What could they possibly want with Dr. Light?

"Doctor Light. It’s a great pleasure meeting someone of your achievements." President Belfry shook his hand firmly, her voice cool and collected.

"I should be the one saying that about you, Mrs. President." Dr. Light was visibly nervous, but he tried his best to keep calm.

"Moustapha always told me you were an amazing student," Belfry recalled, "Straight A's, on-time at all times, well-mannered, and most importantly, ambitious."

"And Professor Gombey was the best teacher I could have asked for during my time at the Robot Institute of Technology," Dr. Light waxed nostalgic, "He was helpful, supportive, and cared for his students' well-being. I don't think I could have made it through my years in the institute without him. In fact, I don't think I'd even be alive right now if he wasn't there for me."

"I remember full well, Thomas." Professor Gombey placed a hand on Dr. Light's shoulder. "I sat next to you during the day you brought your research to the Robotics Ethics Committee, rooting for you the whole time. The prospect of robots with independent thought was exciting to me; the possibility of making companions who were more than just tools, but friends, or in your case, children, was revolutionary at the time. It's still strange to see how normalized the concept is nowadays compared to back then."

"But, sometimes I still have regrets about that day." Dr. Light's expression darkened.

"You shouldn't. Even if you weren't there, I'm sure that Doctor Wily's research would have been rejected for how dangerous it was." Professor Gombey held onto his shoulder tighter.

"There is one thing that I'd like to thank Wily for." Dr. Light closed his eyes.

"Oh? And what's that?" Gombey asked.

"I wouldn't have been inspired to protect the world if it wasn't for him. Through my creations, I hope that I can inspire people to keep our Earth safe and fight those who would want to harm the innocent. When we all come together as one, for a single righteous cause, we can-"

SMASH!

Dr. Wily smashed the TV screen with his chair. He's heard enough.

"They still talk about you like you aren’t there." A deep voice came from the darkness beyond Wily's vision. "They’re out to get you. You're not going to let that stand, are you? Prove to them that you're not someone they can keep down forever."

Chapter Text

June 1, 20XX

FBI Field Office, Denver, Colorado

"Now, I don't wish to pressure either of you into this. You are completely free to refuse our offer." The tall figure sat in front of Gil and Roslyn, handing each of them a contract. "However, it would be a sight for sore eyes if you did take it."

"I wish that I could, but leaving my position to become a federal agent? I don't think I could do that to Mega City, or the station." Gil's eyes were focused on reading over the contents of the contract.

"You act like taking this means you won't see home again." The figure chuckled. "Don't worry. Your base of operations will be held in and around Mega City. I wouldn't want anyone to be deprived of the two who led the charge on arresting Wily while Dr. Light's robots fought valiantly."

"But this still means our time at the station is over, right?" Roslyn spoke since the first time she had been brought to this place, "Are there any arrangements for our replacements?"

"Officer Stafford will take place as the detective. I'm sure you have no objections to this?"

"Of course not." A small, if subtle grin came across Gil's lips. "Marcellus may be a bit long-winded but he's a smart man, he knows the city like the back of his hand."

"Is it settled then?" The figure leaned forward, revealing his pale, wrinkled face.

"It's settled for me at least." Gil glanced at Roslyn. "You gonna join me?"

"If it means we're making the lives of everyone in the country easier by taking down the Emerald Spears, then how can I refuse?" Pen in hand, Roslyn signed the contract.

June 2, 20XX

M.C.P.D., Mega City

"Never thought we'd get this far, eh?" Roslyn packed up the belongings that were at her desk in the police station.

"Never in a million years." Gil looked wistful as he turned in his badge, replacing it with the badge the FBI had given them. "Gonna have to get used to not being bound by this place's schedule now."

"That means y'all ain't coming in anymore?" Marcellus stood by the door, almost heartbroken by all this. They were probably his closest companions during his time in the station.

"Oh, don't be a baby, Marc. We're still working in the city, you might catch us." Roslyn held her hand out, balled into a fist.

"Yeah, but it just ain't gonna be the same no more." He bumped his own fist into hers. "I mean, now I'm the detective! I gotta fill those shoes properly! And Gil's got some bigass shoes-" Marc trailed off, losing track of the metaphor.

"You'll do fine, don't you worry." Gil placed a hand on Marc's head.

"Aw man, y' messed up my hair!" Marc pulled away.

"Pff, sorry." Gil kept on ruffling it, much to Marc's loud protests.

June 3, 20XX

FBI Satellite Field Office

Roslyn waited patiently for the woman at the front desk to finish her phone call, her eyes glued to the cup of coffee in her hand so as not to make everything feel awkward. Gil had not arrived yet, which almost felt peculiar. She's always the one who slept in.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the woman said as she hung the phone. "You must be one of the recruits."

"Yeah, but my buddy cop isn't here yet." Roslyn let out a low chuckle. "Should we wait or should I go right now?"

"You can go ahead, down the right hallway, there's an elevator at the very end. Scan the badge you were given and press B2."

"Alright." Roslyn tilted her head, whispering to herself, "Come on, Gil." She took a moment to sip her coffee before picking up the pace.

"Mornin'." Almost as if on-cue, Gil had walked through the door and briskly walked towards Roslyn.

"I was getting tired of waiting, asshat," Roslyn insulted him but in a friendly jab type of way.

"Yeah, I know, sorry. Private matters." Gil was smelling peculiarly strong of cologne.

"Well, I'm not going to ask." Roslyn had a few ideas. All of them involving "Ozzy". But it wasn't her place to talk about that in public

The elevator ride was strangely quiet. Roslyn thought the two would have made more quips than they have on the way down to Floor B2.

"You nervous too?" Roslyn sighed and leaned up against the wall.

"Was the silence too deafening?" Gil rubbed his temples. "Yeah. A bit."

"This shouldn't be too unlike what we were doing as police officers. Right?" As Roslyn finished her sentence, the doors opened.

"Welcome." The figure that had interviewed him stood in front of them. "Follow me."

"Nothing else to do." Gil nodded and let Roslyn exit the elevator before him.

"I don't think we've caught your name yet." Roslyn looked up at the strange man.

"That was intentional. I can't have you saying it in public when you're not even a member. My name is Sariel Black."

"That's ominous." Roslyn chuckled nervously.

"Thank you, I chose Sariel myself." Sariel led them down the halls. "If I remember correctly, you two were also the police officers who had chased down Simone Miller and Theodore Payne while Secret Service was also on their tails, correct?"

"We haven't seen Secret Service for a good bit. Not after they took them in." Gil looked around at every monitor, thinking he might accidentally break something.

Sariel sat down at one of the computers. "Unfortunately, their allies have extracted them and their whereabouts are unknown. Those bastards are slippery."

"Look forward to another lovers' quarrel, Roslyn," Gil said flatly.

"WOULD YOU-?!" Roslyn smacked her hand over Gil's mouth.

"You and Simone have a bit of history, I presume?" Sariel turned to look at Roslyn.

"We went to the police academy together. She had engaged in numerous offenses including forfeiting non-criminal possessions, brutality, and would have murdered a man if I hadn't stepped in and tased her. I reported her after the fact, then she dropped off the face of the Earth. Next thing I knew, when we were called to stop some Emerald Spears activity, she was with them!" Roslyn huffed, not wanting to think back too far.

"Was your relationship intimate-"

"I will actually kick both your asses if I have to explain," Roslyn growled.

"Sorry, sorry." Sariel almost looked amused. "But, you know, it's that attitude you took against injustice even within the law itself that made me want you to join in the first place."

"I, uh-" Roslyn rubbed the back of her head. "Is it that special? I mean, after all that defund-and-reform stuff President Belfry did, I felt my attitude was much more common."

"Unfortunately, there're still a few rats in the system. But inevitably, the law will flush them out." Sariel smiled to himself. "I think we've lingered here for long enough. Let me show you around the place."

Using his badge, Sariel unlocked a door, which opened up to a rather spacey room. A testing range with several robotic dummies greeted them with glass cases protecting an array of weaponry unavailable to the public.

"This is our first stop, the armory. The most important part for fresh recruits is getting themselves associated with the equipment." Sariel unlocked the cases, allowing the two recruits to inspect the weapons themselves.

"These aren't your ordinary stun guns, I can say that." Gil rubbed a hand along the barrel of a rifle-like weapon before his wrist was abruptly gripped and pulled away by a huge bear of a woman.

"Stay. Away." Her husky voice got the point across.

"And you are?" Gil was more confused than anything.

"Xavia Tyler. I lead the development of these weapons. Don't. Touch them. The ones over there," she pointed to the weapons rack to their left, "are fine. But these could explode if you look at them wrong."

"Thanks for the tip, I guess." Gil went to pick up one of the smaller guns.

"Oh yes, that one's an improved stun gun for use against humans." Tyler seemed to enjoy talking about her technology. "Unlike a normal taser, this one can paralyze the target and just the target without hurting them. It instead forces the spinal cord to send signals to the brain to make the person freeze."

"Really?" Roslyn looked impressed, taking it into her hands. "How does that work?"

"That'd be another thousand words in this chapter and I don't think any of you have all the time in the world to be bored." Tyler gave a knowing wink.

"Now that Tyler mentions it, we should get going." Sariel gestured for Gil and Roslyn to follow him once more.

Behind the next door Sariel led them to, it was yet another spacious area, but it had a downstairs area as well, where there were not only terrestrial vehicles but aquatic vehicles and subaquatic vehicles.

"You could probably tell by now, but this is our garage." Sariel looked over a railing, down to the lower level.

"How do you even get the water stuff out? We're nowhere near the ocean." Gil tried to look for an answer with the naked eye.

"Teleporters." Sariel gave the universal answer.

"…Right. Hey Roslyn, how come we never got a teleporter at the station?" Gil scratched his chin.

"It was an old building and I don't think the layout would budge, y'know?" Roslyn didn't want to sweat the questions of the past.

"Not with that attitude." Two voices simultaneously spoke from behind the group, headed for the stairs. Both of them were dressed up in blue button-up jumpsuits and visor caps.

"Ah, the twins." Sariel smiled. "These are our lead mechanics."

"Yo, my name's Hariq Aghnia." One of them waved.

"And I'm Tajmid Aghnia." The other tipped his cap, a stoic tone in his voice. "Good to see new faces."

"When Sariel's done giving you the tour, we could use some field testing! We got new motorcycles brought in!" Hariq was more energetic, twirling his wrench in his hand for an added flare.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll decline." Gil only ever rode in sidecars, Roslyn was the one who drove.

"I'm on my own then," Roslyn snickered and held her hand out, "I'd love to!"

"That's the spirit!" Hariq shook her hand with the force of a seesaw in a hurricane.

"Whoa! Hard to believe you two are twins, you're so different!" Roslyn held onto her elbow.

"It's nice of you both to give your introductions, but we should get going," Sariel spoke up.

"Ah, see ya then!" Hariq slid down the stair's railing, Tajmid following on foot.

"Our last stop is going to be our technology hall," Sariel explained, "Now, Gil, I know of your distaste of robots but try and keep that on low while you're here."

"Yes, sir…" Gil groaned. As he stepped forward, Sariel gripped his arm while Roslyn unknowingly kept walking without them following.

"We still remember what you did. For your sake, you best acknowledge that you don't smell of roses when you go in there." Sariel let go.

Gil stayed silent, his stoic mask breaking down as he tried to keep himself from breaking down.

"You remember everything, yes? Then let's go." Sariel walked forward to a confused Roslyn.

"What was that about?" Roslyn looked to Gil.

"It's nothing." Gil lied and briskly trotted ahead.

"M'kay." Roslyn was completely unconvinced, but pushing seemed to make things worse.

"Now, I bring us to the heart of our field office." Scanning his badge once more, the doors parted to reveal a much more busy scene. Other agents were there to grab equipment before they went out on a given mission. Unfinished robots laid upon the table, waiting for the day they'd awaken. Roboticists discussed blueprints upon whiteboards, asking questions, and answering them.

"From here, I'll let you two explore the area yourselves. After all, what good will holding your hand all the time do?" Sariel turned around.

"Oh, thanks, sir!" Roslyn smiled. "I dunno what to say, I'm just in awe!" Roslyn smiled and knocked Gil on the side.

"A-Ah, yeah, right." Gil had been in a trance until Roslyn talked to him.

"No, seriously, what's going on?" Roslyn was getting more bothered by the second with every question in her mind.

"I don't want to talk about it." Gil shook his head and proceeded to the door that was straight ahead of them.

"You can't just keep it bottled up, though. You're going to stress yourself out and you already got enough gray hairs on your head." Roslyn grabbed his sleeve.

"I get it, I'm an old curmudgeonly man with the spirit of a French movie star's depressing starring role. But some things are best left buried under the dirt." Gil grumbled and pressed a button beside the door, attached to a speaker. "Y'ello?"

"Come on in." A voice on the other side spoke through the speaker.

Gil took his badge and scanned it, the door opening into some kind of office. There were multiple computers laid about the place that only one person obscured by a big chair was working with.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Gil spoke up.

"Nah, it's fine, I always got time to associate with the rookies." The person turned around in the chair. A woman, tall, lithe, wearing a lab coat and dhuku sat there. "My name is Professor Xaliima Yusuf."

"So you're in charge of the tech hall?" Roslyn looked around the room with intrigue.

"Uh-huh." She grabbed a tablet and wrote a few notes down. "I'm the reason everyone's so busy in this area as well. Who do you think is the one in charge of greenlighting weaponry and obtaining the vehicle parts?"

"Not at all tough for you, I take it." Gil seemed to keep his distance.

"You know it ain't fair to just speak the answers before the question's asked!" Professor Yusuf laughed.

"We'll let you get back to what you were doing." Gil let the doors open once more, allowing Roslyn to go ahead of him.

"Alright. Thank you very-" She was interrupted by a siren sounding from her computers. "Ah, jeez laweez!" She turned around and put on a headset. "What is it, Director?!

"…WHAT?!" She looked like she was panicking before she picked up a microphone and linked it to the intercom. "Attention, this is not a drill! A high-class prisoner has escaped from the federal prison! All agents, report to the dispatch room!"

"Finally, something interesting!" Roslyn gestured. "Come on, Gil!" She was a few yards away.

"Right, let's get going!" Gil ran where all the other agents were running, to the west door of the tech hall.

Federal Prison, ????

"You two are?" The guard in front of the prison looked confused.

"New Agent Trainees. First time out on the field." Roslyn showed her badge, along with Gil.

"Oh, you're those cops from Mega City that Sariel recruited? I knew someone said something about that. Understood." The guard put his radio microphone up to his mouth. "Let them in."

The doors opened up, letting the two enter the prison where everything was helter-skelter. Agents patrolled in case the escapee was still in the building, while others confusedly chattered amongst themselves.

"You two, over here!" The voice of Sariel called out. When the two located him, he was accompanied by the warden and two guards. "There you are."

"Ajax Albright. Sariel told me about you both. You were the ones who arrested Dr. Wily, right?" The warden gestured for them to follow him.

"Don't tell me, he-" Gil held his head.

"Unfortunately, I am telling you he escaped. And we don't know how. I had actually asked Sariel to let you two investigate." Ajax scanned his photo I.D., the only thing that could unlock high-class cells, and opened the door.

"Right off the bat, there's no sign of forced entry or damage." Roslyn looked around. "Everything seems in place. Not even the air vent is broken."

"Were there any guards at Wily's cell?" Gil looked to the warden.

"They've been with me this whole time." Ajax pointed to the two guards.

"Did either of you see or hear anything?" Gil sat down on the bed that used to be Wily's.

"No." The first guard rubbed the back of his head.

"Are you absolutely sure? " Gil looked him in the eye.

"Well, I heard Wily just shuffling around in his cell before he just disappeared. I think I heard him say 'Reggae'…"

"Reggae?" Gil looked confused before looking up at the sun shining in his eyes. There he saw it. A window.

"SHIT!" Gil punched the wall. "Roslyn, we dropped the ball! We didn't find that robot bird during our investigation of the CBRMP!"

"O-Oh no," Roslyn remembered now. That stork.

"So this bird must have taken him and teleported out." Sariel groaned. "We have to start searching immediately. But we can't let the public know about this."

"What?!" Gil went up to Sariel. "But they have to be aware so they can-!"

"Do you realize that it could just be more fuel in the fire for our current operation?!" Sariel looked up at Gil. "Imagine if the Emerald Spears takes the news of his escape and rallies people to their cause; the citizens of America will try and fight back against robots that didn't even do anything! It will be the collapse of all technological advancement!"

"And you're saying the alternative is better?" Gil argued, "I hate the Emerald Spears more than anyone but who's Wily going to steal from this time?! Or worse, what's he going to make himself? Civilians need to prepare for the trouble!"

"You two!" Roslyn had to get between them. "This is Mega Man and Mighty Woman's job. As soon as Wily rears his head, they'll take care of it."

"Do not rely on just two robots to get the job done." Sariel gave a stern look at Roslyn. "Who knows what Wily will fight back with this time."

"But it's our best option. To keep both the public and the other robots safe," Roslyn huffed.

"We'll just have to see about that." Sariel looked up at the window.

Elsewhere

"So how do you like this place? I made sure it was nice and big for you!" Reggae sneered as he rode on Wily's shoulder.

"I don't know how you were able to find me, but thank you. So much. I never gave you enough credit for having the brains where it mattered most." Dr. Wily sat down at a chair in front of an extensive array of monitors. "You saved my blueprints, didn't you?"

"Yeah!" Reggae waddled up and spat out a USB drive. "Here!"

"…Thank you." Wily took it with mild disgust before plugging it in. "I'll show them. I'll show them all that I'm the superior roboticist. You can't hold me down forever and then talk about me like I'm not there!"

Chapter Text

June 8, 20XX+1

“Good morning.” Dr. Light gave a smile to the people who pulled up to interview him near the construction yard.

“Hiii! So good to see you!” Two girls exited the car, one a human with a video camera, the other a robot with a microphone.

“I’m Victoria Damson!” The human placed the camera on its tripod.

“And I’m Plum!” The robot twirled her microphone. “Thank you so much for accepting our interview!”

“It’s no big deal.” He scratched his head, his kids having their somewhat dangerous fun made for good background noise.

“I never thought we’d get this far-” Plum quickly calmed herself down, looking over to Victoria. “Okay, I’m ready!” 

“Alright, let’s get this camera rolling!” Victoria gave a thumbs up. “Three, two, one.”

“Today is the Roboticists’ Wired Conference!” Plum piped up. “And 277.0 The Mirabelle is on the case with a special live interview, out in the wild!”

Gil closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, turning the radio down. “RWC… It’s like they’re just putting up signs for the Emerald Spears saying ’Hey, over here!’”

“Why’re you complaining? Makes our job of sniffing them out easier.” Roslyn chuckled and steadied her aim. The testing range made her feel at home.

“Makes our job-?!” Gil looked exasperated. “This was supposed to be my off day, a nice little date with Ozzy, but no! I just know there’s going to be trouble! Why do robot people even hold events anymore?!”

“You don’t know it. You just feel it.” Roslyn pulled the trigger of her stun gun thrice. “Bullseye!”

“Roslyn, if this is going where I think it’s going-”

“You do care a bit about robots and roboticists, yes.” Roslyn couldn’t help herself.

“I’m so damn sick of you.” Gil held his head in his hands.

“Come on, don’t be like that.” Roslyn holstered her stun gun. “You’re so sensitive, you know?”

“Would you shut the-”

“That’s not quite a bad thing.” Roslyn interrupted him. “It shows you don’t sponge up the crap people say.”

“…Thanks.” Gil stood up. “I oughta get ready in advance, it’s going to start at 12.”

“I’ll come with ya, then. Wouldn’t be right without me,” Roslyn chuckled.

“That’s all for today’s interview, but stay tuned for our full-length report on the RWC! This is Plum, 277.0 The Mirabelle!” She winked before Victoria stepped up to Light, accidentally leaving the camera rolling.

“We can’t thank you enough for this.” Victoria shook one of Light’s hands with both of hers.

“I’m glad to do this for small stations like yours.” Light turned and called out to his kids, “Time to head home!”

“Loud and clear, doctor.” Elec Man stood up, brushing himself off and gesturing for his siblings to follow.

“Hold on, we were about to see if I could Oil Slide up the support beam!” Mighty Woman looked at the beam Guts Man had planted in the ground.

“You tested your Rolling Cutter, Super Arm, Ice Slasher, Hyper Bomb, Fire Storm, Thunder Beam, and Time Slow, and only the first and last one had nothing wrong happen.” Elec Man crossed his arms. “You can suffer the consequences of your actions at home, Mighty.”

“Fiiiiine.” As soon as she stepped out of the gulley, she was just plain Roll again.

“Come on, I’m not saying this to be mean.” Elec Man grinned and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Mhm.” Roll looked away.

“What’d happen if you fell and dirtied your poor hair? That’s more time you need to get ready later,” Elec Man snickered and ruffled her hair before making a break for Light’s van.

“I can take care of myself, Elec!” Roll shouted and chased after Elec Man.

“Oh I know, but you’re still my cute little sister!” Elec blew a kiss before sliding the van door open and rolling in.

“Aaah, you’re such a jerk!” Roll said with only half the irony.

“So where’s it being held?” Shoegaze’s outfit could arguably be considered fancy, really stretch the definition and then squint at it hard enough. Just a peacoat and a pair of slacks, plus some no-brand leather shoes.

“I hope you won’t be bothered by old people screaming about robots as background noise,” Dr. Lalinde chuckled as she braided Tempo’s hair into an updo. “But it’s being held at Edogawa Labs for Medicinal and Technological Progress.”

“Damn, a place that’s within the city? Well, he’s in for a pleasant surprise then.” Shoegaze folded his peacoat’s collar.

“You don’t give up.” Tempo’s tone of voice was flat. Shoegaze couldn’t tell if that was bitterness or indifference.

“Is that jealously I hear in your voice?” Dr. Lalinde wrapped a bow around Tempo’s neck. She could tell.

“N-No.” Tempo looked away.

“Mother knows best, dear.” Lalinde kissed her on the head.

“Mom-” Tempo couldn’t muster the strength to keep protesting.

“By the way, have either of you seen Bruce? He’s been a ghost most of this morning.” Shoegaze shook up a pocket-sized bottle of cologne before spritzing himself on both shoulders.

“He told me he was out for a hike.” Dr. Lalinde finished getting Tempo ready.

“Another one, huh? Not like I was expecting him to come over with us.” Shoegaze was probably the only one that Blues told his story to, and yet questions remained in his mind.

“Do neither of you ever worry about him?” Tempo asked aloud.

“Oh, all the time,” Shoegaze said bluntly.

“I’m sure he can take care of himself, if he’s in trouble I’d know.” Dr. Lalinde reached to her pocket and pulled out her cellphone. “Don’t forget that I’ve linked distress signals to my phone.”

“Yeah, right, let’s hope that he uses it.” Shoegaze pulled his beanie over his head.

“Oh, dear…” Dr. Light opened up drawer after drawer but whatever he was looking for, he just couldn’t find it.

“Doctor Light! We’re ready!” Rock called as Roll ran in dragging him behind her, but they stopped short of the front door when they saw Light was in a pickle. “What’cha looking for?”

“I must have misplaced the blueprints for Pikopiko-kun and the hologram system, I can’t find them.” He went to the lab’s main computer, opening up a menu for the built-in printer.

“We’ll look for you, don’t worry!” Roll offered.

“No, I don’t think we’ll have enough time. Printing new sheets is quicker.” Several sheets of blueprint paper slowly slid out of a slot on the computer’s base. “I appreciate you wanting to help, though."

“What’re these?” Rock poked another roll of blueprint paper. It uncurled, revealing a design for a female Robot Master with the features of a honey bee.

“You see, Honey Woman isn’t Honey Woman anymore. He’s Hornet Man now,” Dr. Light explained.

“Oh! You mean like Splash Woman isn’t Ocean Man anymore?” Rock got it almost immediately.

“Sort of, but Splash Woman can be either Splash Woman or Ocean Man. Hornet Man isn’t considering changing back at all. So I’m going to hand over this design to someone else at the RWC so they can make use of it. And speaking of older designs,” Dr. Light opened another drawer and pulled out a few more blueprints.

“Weather Man, Plasma Man, Space Man…” Roll looked at the other three that were pulled out. “Hard to believe these were what Tornado, Plug, and Galaxy used to be. You haven’t even finished Galaxy Man and already he’s way different than his blueprints!”

“I respect my robots’ decisions to change who they are, but these designs shouldn’t go to waste. I think of this the same way I think of donating baby clothes. They’re no use for who they used to be for, but someone else can make use of them.” Dr. Light folded the blueprints, placing them within a briefcase and gesturing the two to follow him.

***

“Didn’t even break a sweat.” The two stolen blueprints were placed upon the desk.

“Well done, Quick Man. I knew trusting you with this task would yield results.” Dr. Wily unfolded them. “Let’s see how Dr. Light feels about having his original blueprints appropriated for my gain!”

“Are you still bitter about the Time Stopper?” Another Robot Master suddenly appeared behind Wily. “You have the right to be, but…”

“I suppose it’s not good to dwell on it. Especially since I’ve created you, Flash Man.” Dr. Wily made his way to the main computers and took the blueprints with him.

“Why all this waiting? Why can’t we just go in and slaughter them already? Destroy their house again maybe?” a robot in red armor groaned, leaning over a railing.

“The objective isn’t senseless massacre and pillage,” a peculiarity among the robots, one with a merged head and torso, spoke to the red-clad berserker with a formal tone, “If we do not observe the two fighting robots’ abilities, then Wily won’t be able to adjust our abilities to properly counter them. You of all people should understand, seeing that you hate losing.”

“‘Hates’ losing?” A robot built in the shape of a Zippo lighter fanned himself down. “Metal Man’s the sorest of all the losers on the planet, Air Man.”

“Shut up, Heat Man!” Metal Man rolled his eyes.

“Be quiet.” A stern reprimand came from quite a big robot covered in wood armor. “Crash Man is sleeping. He’ll get cranky.” He gently stroked the smaller robot in his lap with a petting motion, an orange-clad robot with drills in place of hands.

“Mm…” Crash Man stirred, but didn’t wake up.

“Wood Man, you can’t just keep validating the freak’s behavior,” Quick Man spouted dismissively, “He has to act like a grown-ass man if he’s-”

“Quick Man, how many times have we told you?!” The last robot, despite his serious tone and humanoid appearance, hopped in like a frog. “He’s not hurting anyone! In fact, forcing him to stop would only hurt him-”

“It’s creepy, Bubble Man. What’s his mental A.I. supposed to be? I’m pretty certain it’s grown-up, and yet he acts like he’s five!”

“Quick Man.” Dr. Wily gestured to the mouthy bot. “Enough.”

“…Yes, sir.” Quick Man glared at the sleeping Crash Man.

“What is your plan, anyway?” Metal Man broke the awkward silence. “Like, how are we going to analyze them?”

“Through security camera footage. Yet more infiltration, or perhaps my ‘confidant’ has gotten the job.” Dr. Wily turned back to face the computers.

“But why would they need to show off, to begin with?” Quick Man wanted more than anyone else in the room to know what Wily was on to.

“You’ll see quite soon.”

“You shouldn’t keep a lady waiting, you know,” Dr. Lalinde joked.

“Sorry about that, a bit of traffic,” Dr. Light explained, “Unfortunately, Time Man will be late; he has to do an urgent operation for a child*.”

“Oh, bless him,” Lalinde responded softly, a hand on her chest.

“Gh-” Tempo let out a grunt as Rock ran up and hugged her. “H-Hello.”

“I’m happy to see you here!” Rock beamed even when Tempo tried to break the hug as politely as she could.

Roll had walked ahead of them and looked up at the building they called ELMTP. “It’s so huge!”

“The tallest building in Mega City,” Dr. Lalinde exposited, “I suppose we shouldn’t loiter out here, I lost Ozzy after he went looking for Gil in the crowd.”

“Oh, to be young and in love.” Dr. Light placed his hands on the shoulders of his kids. “Maybe one day you two’ll-”

“Don’t let him pressure you,” Tempo interrupted Light, “If neither of you ever fall in love that’s still fine.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry about that.” Dr. Light nodded. “Guts Man and Ice Man never had a crush in their lives and that’s perfectly normal.”

“Could you tell me about the others, dad?” Rock walked forth with everyone.

“Maybe later, if they’ll be alright with that,” Dr. Light answered gently.

“Welcome, welcome!” At the entrance lobby, the group was greeted by an elderly woman with a floaty voice, a cane in one hand. “Ah, I knew it was only a matter of time before you two appeared!”

“Doctor Rosa Green, then?” Dr. Lalinde held her hand out and Dr. Green shook it. The latter’s hand seemed to tremble no matter how firm Lalinde held it.

“Oh? Who are you?” Rock looked up at the new face.

“I used to run my own laboratory, but I’ve merged with Edogawa Labs.” Dr. Green patted Rock on the head. “I create bionic prostheses for organs and limbs.”

“You make robotic parts for people? That’s so cool!” The boy rocked back and forth on his feet.

“You can definitely say that.” Dr. Green averted her gaze for a moment. “Doctor Edogawa wanted me to pool our research and save, or at least improve, the lives of both humans and robots. Being told that I have that kind of genius, it's so hard to describe the joy it brought me.”

“Awww!” Roll went beside Rock to talk with Dr. Green. “She sounds so kind!”

“Speaking of the doctor, you’re all here to discuss and exchange ideas, aren’t you? Edogawa is waiting on the 40th floor. I’m sure some friends are excited to see you again, Thomas.” Dr. Green slowly, shakily walked away, using her cane to keep herself from falling.

“I hope to see you there.” Light nodded in response. “Well, let’s find an elevator.”

“If your friends are there, dad, I hope Dr. Astil’s there! We haven’t seen him since last year!” Rock held onto his father’s arm and seemed even bouncier.

“A year isn’t so long compared to other friends we haven’t seen.” Dr. Lalinde sounded pensive.

“Really? Like who?” Rock turned his head.

“Do you still remember Mikhail, Thomas?” Lalinde asked.

“Oh, yes,” Light responded as he pressed the elevator button.

“Who’s Mikhail?” Roll asked.

“It’s a big doozy. Are you sure?” Dr. Light looked down at his kids.

“I can take it!” said Rock.

“Doctor Mikhail Sergeyevich Cossack,” Dr. Light began, “He went to the Robot Institute of Technology along with me and Lalinde at the bright young age of 13.” Dr. Light typed 40 into the elevator’s computer. “He was incredibly talkative, but he kept all his problems bottled up inside and did everything alone, project or not.”

“Cossack and I were there for Dr. Light when he went to get your A.I. models greenlit,” Lalinde interjected, “We all graduated together, and after that, he went back to Russia. But, that was when things got troubling.

“He started saying things that we adults call ‘worrying’ to put it lightly. As we grew older, he would ghost us for weeks or even months at a time before coming back to leave a rant about the latest abuse of power his country has engaged in. And then, six years ago, he went completely silent.”

Rock and Roll looked distraught on behalf of the two doctors, not sure what to say.

“If I had to speculate,” Lalinde continued, “The government of his country found out about what he was saying and now he’s a political prisoner, and that’s being generous.”

“D-Don’t say that Lalinde, you’ll scare them even more!” Dr. Light reprimanded her.

“But is she wrong?” Tempo flashed Light a cold look. “Rock and Roll already know the world is cruel after having to deal with Wily, don’t they? Villains aren’t just mad scientists with robots, villains can be politicians or authorities abusing their positions of power for their own ends.”

“Your kids haven’t stumbled upon the Lilium Belfry discs you have? I remember you told me that one of your bots listened to the whole thing, who was it again?” Lalinde kept going.

“It was Blues. How did you forget? That was when we were still in the Robot Institute.” Dr. Light looked at Lalinde, a dark look in his eyes.

Lalinde stayed silent. Eerily so, as if gears were finally meshing in her head. Even Tempo seemed to get antsy.

“My memory really is shot.” Lalinde shook her head. “It’s been like that since I got out of high school.”

“Sorry, I’m not condemning you,” Light sighed, “I should be more considerate of that.”

The elevator door opening was equivalent to a collective sigh of relief. As they exited, they were greeted by a rather packed room, though a lot of the groups of scientists were in their own little circles.

“Ah, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.” A woman walked up to the group, she looked less like a roboticist and more like someone in her Sunday best. A deep plum hat, a pure red trench coat and belt, and a bellbottom jumpsuit that was yellow with a hint of green. Somehow, the clashing colors worked together.

“Dr. Edogawa!” Dr. Light smiled and held his hand out. "I've seen you on the news before, Hayley. I honestly never thought I’d be talking face-to-face with someone of your caliber."

"You flatter me, Mr. Nobel Prize," Dr. Edogawa joked, her handshake firm and steady.

"No, I'm serious! I don't have the smarts you do; not only can you physically repair an I.C. chip, but you can restore all the data within it as well! How do you do that?" Dr. Light was intensely curious.

"If you're a patient man, I could teach you myself. But it’s not instantly mastered. There are a lot of twists and turns, dangers and such-" Edogawa stopped herself. "Sorry, I could go on, but I'm sure there are more pressing matters?" She eyed Dr. Light's briefcase.

“Oh, right!” He smiled. “I’m sure our own little bubble is waiting for us?”

“That little bubble also happens to be the one I’m most interested in.” Dr. Edogawa gestured. “I know which one it is because I know one of your robots when I see them."

“Look what the cat brought in.” From the building right across from ELMTP, a woman in a green uniform and gas mask looked into the 40th floor through a pair of binoculars.

“Hotel Alfa Romeo Victor, come in. Everything is in place.” The man next to her spoke to the leader through his walkie-talkie.

“Hmph. It’s about time that we finally stepped onto the field. Alexander, Theodore, let’s move out now.”

“I told you, Greenleaf, just call me Xander.”

Theo gave a grunt, making sure he had a full clip at Xander’s request.

“And what did I tell you about the weaponry, man? We’re saving the people from themselves using our words, not killing them for wrongthink.” Harvey glared down at Theo with a stern eye.

“I- Y-Yes sir-” Theo placed the gun on the ground before Xander picked it back up.

“If we’re confronted with lethal weaponry, how are we going to fight back?!” Xander shouted at his leader, “Sure, whatever, go on about your pacifism and love for human life, but don’t be stupid!”

“Whatever, man, but don’t shoot unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Harvey slightly opened the door out of the locker room. “Coast is clear. C’mon.”

Chapter Text

“Rock! Roll!” A familiar voice called out to the kids, among a group of five people with t-shirts for a certain Polar Conservation Fund.

“Ice Man!!” Rock and Roll called back simultaneously and embraced their brother.

“It’s about time you saw me with my crew!” Ice Man lifted the two off the ground and squeezed them before putting them down. “We finally got that teleporter connected to our homes, took it long enough!”

Dr. Edogawa walked up to Ice Man, smirking. “Legacy model teleporter I presume? You know, I’m always willing to work my magic at little to no cost for those working to make the world better.”

“Wait, just like that?” A look of surprise stuck on Ice Man’s face.

“If I could, I’d donate all of my technology to your cause,” Dr. Edogawa laughed as another person popped up to join the bubble.

"Light!" A big man, somehow even bigger than Light, gave the doctor a bear hug. His two arms easily lifted him off the ground.

"Whoa! Hello to you, Pedro…" Dr. Light's face went blushy.

"Dr. Astil!" Rock ran up and hugged his leg. "It's been so long!"

"Yeah, between the botanical garden and the United Nations, I've got very little free time. But! I've decided to cut my workload in half!"

"Really? How?" Rock looked even more excited.

"Olá!" A decidedly higher voice came from behind Pedro. Another Robot Master waved to Rock. He was a few years older than Rock, with four petals surrounding his head and red hair flowing from under his helmet.

"You made a robot?!" Rock ran over to see. "Hello!"

"You must be Rock, right? My name is Plant Man, I run Dr. Astil's garden now so he doesn't have to worry about it while he's away doing research."

“My daughter’s a big fan, let me tell ya.” Pedro rubbed the back of his head.

“I thought he reminded me of someone!” Roll leaned forward to inspect Plant Man’s hair. “How’s Anetta, anyway?”

“She’s enjoying summer break so far!” Dr. Astil patted Plant Man’s head. “Her Pop’s taking care of her while I’m here.”

“The only one we’re missing is Dr. Kouin but he’s arriving late with Time Man.” Dr. Lalinde sat down with Tempo by her side. “I think we ought to start now, they can’t take that long.”

“Hold on.” Dr. Edogawa faced a different elevator, opening to reveal Dr. Green. Behind her were the two FBI agents, Gil and Roslyn, as well as Shoegaze.

“Here I am, pardon my tardiness.” Dr. Green slowly made her way to the table while the other three exited.

“I lived, b-” Shoegaze was about to swear in Lalinde and Tempo’s direction but Gil shoved him and pulled him back in two swift motions. “Sorry.”

“Roslyn convinced me to stay here after we kept the elevator open for Rosa.” Gil shrugged. “I guess listening to whatever garbage you all have in store will be fun.” Gil pulled out a chair and sat on it backwards.

“…And who’s the everyman?” Dr. Edogawa asked with a hint of a negative emotion that one couldn’t pin. “This room is currently reserved for roboticists and security only.”

“Osric Hirono. My boyfriend.” Gil held his hand out just so Shoegaze could grip it for a bit.

Dr. Edogawa’s face went blank and after a pause, she only nodded in response. “I suppose I’ll allow it.” She looked over to Shoegaze. “You have horrible taste in dating spots, honestly.”

“Hey, Roslyn’s idea, not mine.” Shoegaze felt mildly uncomfortable, but nothing bad was being said.

Edogawa turned to Roslyn and redirected her statement. “You have horrible suggestions for dating spots, honestly.”

“I know, that’s why I can’t keep a girlfriend,” Roslyn joked.

“I have a few new pieces of tech to show, as well as old designs for Robot Masters I worked on.” Light pulled out each blueprint and laid them out on the table. “The robot designs are for me to give to anyone who wants them.”

Dr. Lalinde was immediately drawn to the only female design out of all of them, “Honey Woman”.

“You know,” Lalinde spoke up, “I had been interested in making a sister for Tempo.”

“Huh-” Tempo's eyes widened if just a teensy bit. This was news to her.

“Surprise!” Lalinde mustered a little bit more excitement in her voice and picked up Honey Woman's blueprint and rolled it up. “I'll be taking this, please and thank you.”

“Hey-” Pedro was about to object but stopped himself. “Well, I guess Plant Man can pollinate the flowers himself…”

“I’ll give it to you when I’m done, cranky-pants.” Lalinde pinched Dr. Astil’s cheek like he was a child.

“Okay, mom.” Dr. Astil took it with a little snark.

“If you're giving them away, then I'll take what could be useful to me.” Dr. Edogawa's finger pointed around. “Weather Man and Space Man seem like a good investment of time and resources.”

“Having your lab in the tallest building in the city helps for their functions too.” Dr. Green pulled the blueprints closer to her and Edogawa. “I'm sure Meddy will love to have two more siblings!”

“Doctor Green. We've been over this.” Dr. Edogawa stared her companion down. “This isn’t about family, this is about knowledge and progress.”

“Still, she'll appreciate having some more company.” Rosa was taken aback, though her expression didn't show it.

While that was unfolding, Rock turned around with his chair, the squeaks each time it scooted on the ground not going unnoticed by the table.

“What are you looking at, Rock?” Ice Man asked, “Still waiting for Time Man to get here?”

“Somebody’s coming.” Rock eyed the opening elevator, six people entering the premises.

“Really? Who?” Dr. Light also turned around to face where his son was facing.

And then they heard the clicks.

“I suggest you don’t move.” A voice came from behind Roslyn as she felt cold steel press up against her back.

“Simone?!” Gil swung around to face the two ladies.

“It’s an Emerald Spears ambush.” Roslyn’s tone of voice remained calm despite the compromising situation they’ve been put in.

The three that stepped forth were Harvey, Xander, and Theo. The other three no-names were there to keep the other roboticists in check.

“It’s such a pleasure to see a bunch of idiots group up where it makes our job easier,” Xander mouthed off, “Even the faker is here!” He pointed at Shoegaze. “We can kill two birds with one stone!”

“Leave. Him. Alone.” Gil immediately put his hand at his holster but stopped when Simone pressed the gun further into Roslyn’s back.

“Mr. Gilbert D. Stern, look at you.” Harvey spread his arms out. “You used to hate robots so much! Now look at what you’re doing, you’re dating them!”

“Shut up you goddamn maniac,” Gil growled, “Whatever acid you’re tripping on, he’s just human! Do you remember that bullet your little girlfriend shot, Theo? That was Ozzy you hit! I’m not forgiving you for that anytime soon!”

“What?!” Simone and Theo simultaneously looked at Shoegaze, confused.

“Yeah, I, uh, still have the scar.” Shoegaze rubbed the back of his head. “Can I go now? Please? You’ve thoroughly ruined my date.”

“…Harvey, do we trust him?” Theo nervously looked toward his leader.

“Does bleeding red even mean a damn for a robot?” Xander rebutted, “What’s his type anyway?”

“O Positive,” Gil remembered that time he and Marc had to make Ozzy’s files.

Xander paused. “Huh.” He didn’t even seem fazed by the possibility they were targeting a human citizen all along.

“We’re sorry for all the trouble we caused you, man.” Harvey held his hand across Xander’s body and making him lower his weapon. “We’ll let you go.”

“You better, asshat.” Shoegaze made his way from the group.

Only for him to quickly spin and kick Theo across the back of his head, swiping the gun out of the terrorist’s hand as he twirled to the ground.

“Theo!” Xander tried to break Harvey’s grip and aim, but Shoegaze already had the gun to Harvey’s head.

Shock overtook Simone, making her freeze long enough for Roslyn to disarm her and unload the gun.

“You know, you’re good at pointing empty guns at me and acting intimidating.” Roslyn tossed the already-empty magazine and the gun itself across the room. “But Simone, we’re already through and this isn’t the bedroom.”

“You ragtag team of idiots! ” Xander screamed, “I told you, LOCKED AND LOADED! ” Xander didn’t care if Harvey was going to die at this point, he tried to aim and shoot at someone.

That was Rock’s cue to run forward and punch Xander in the stomach, causing him to reel over long enough for him and Roll to transform.

“Come quietly or there will be… trouble!” Mega Man made sure his Mega Buster had about as much power as a punch for the human targets.

Harvey looked like he was surrendering, but then he pulled Shoegaze in front of him and disarmed him, taking the gun and dumping the bullets onto the ground.

“THIS IS A-TEAM, WE’RE ROUTED!” Harvey screamed into his walkie-talkie, “REQUESTING BACKUP ON FLOOR 40!”

“Agent Roslyn speaking!” Roslyn called home base. “We have an Emerald Spears situation at Edogawa Labs! We need immediate backup!”

“Dr. Kouin, you need to stay here.” Time Man unbuckled himself and rolled out of the car, assuming his Robot Master form. As human civilians and unfortunate robots were running out, he saw the cause.

“What the?! One of Light’s bots?!” An Emerald Spear goon stumbled back.

“Well, it’s not human, so open fire on it!” Another aimed.

“Time Slow.” Time Man was amused at the complete lack of logic they had.

To himself, he was just running up to them and decking them in the face. But to everyone else, he had come up to the gunmen in a flash and hit them like a train.

“I came here to let Kouin show off my Time Slow schematics, but now I’m doing a live demonstration.” Time Man felt comfortable enough to joke at a time like this. “Come on! I’ll take all of you in no time at all!”

Several more minions were about to fire, but someone else came running up behind them.

A woman with a beam sword ended up on the other side of the enemies.

And when she sheathed it, they all fell.

“The 40th floor is still where Light and the terrorist leader are,” she spoke.

“W-Wait, did you just- Are they- Who are you?! How do you know that?!” Time Man stuttered.

“Aretha. Secret Service. Now shut up and help me out here while the security bots take care of the rest.” Aretha made a break for an elevator which had several Emerald Spears mooks blocking the way. She made quick work of them as well, pointing for Time Man to go first. “Come on!”

“O… Okay!” Regardless of Time Man’s current feelings on this individual’s methods, he had a father to save.

As the two entered the elevator, another person made it in right before the doors closed.

“What the?” Aretha backed up into a corner. “Sir, do you realize what kind of situation this is?!”

“Why else do you think I’m following you guys?! I was born for this!” The man was in some sort of costume. It was familiar, yet it was incredibly off as well.

“…Sir. You are a Mega Man cosplayer,” Time Man stated, “You’re doing non-fiction cosplay!”

“And?! I, Hugh Mann, still have ways to fight!” The man held up a ray gun in his hands.

“That was made for Diggers to blow up boulders! You’ll make the whole building collapse if you shoot it willy-nilly!” Aretha tried to retrieve it from Hugh's hand.

“I’m a sharp shot, please, don’t worry yourself, citizen!” Hugh tried to keep a smile.

“Did you not see me cut down the terrorists in front of the elevator?!” Aretha reached for her sword. “Forfeit it. Now. ”

“Over my dead body!” Hugh barked.

“Your wish will come true as soon as that elevator opens to reveal an Emerald Spears battleground,” Aretha hissed.

“Stop!” Time Man got between the two. “I- I need quiet…”

Both of them went silent just to help Time Man recover.

“Eiyah!” Shoegaze thrust his fist forward, only for it to get caught by Harvey.

“You think I’m helpless just because I want to protect humans?” Harvey flipped Shoegaze behind his back, reaching out to help Xander recover from Mega Man’s attack.

“Mighty, a little help!” Mega Man, preoccupied with several enemies, called out to one of the few who could fight back, only to see Mighty Woman was surrounded.

Mighty Woman switched to the Rolling Cutter and twirled, a pair of scissors in each of her hands. Every weapon in the baddies’ hands was cut in half before she busted through them with the Super Arm, punching them across the room.

“Keep it up, Mighty!” Ice Man shouted out to her.

Several more gunmen ran up to Mighty Woman. She switched to the Ice Slasher, an icicle shooting out of her Mighty Buster. When she swung her arm, a cloud flew off of the icicle, freezing their weapons and their feet in place and rendering them harmless.

“Behind you!” Dr. Light called from under one of the tables.

“Huh?” Mighty whipped around. Yet more thugs showed up and aimed at her. She put her hands up in the air as if surrendering.

After misleading them, Mighty Woman switched to the Hyper Bomb. A bomb-like boxing glove appeared at the end of her Buster. When she punched the ground, the resulting explosion launched her into the air and allowed her to switch to the Fire Storm without interruption. 

“Let’s turn up the heat!” She shouted a one-liner as she landed, spraying her Fire Storm in the direction of several groups of enemies. The enemies weren’t stupid, they ran away as fast as they could so they didn’t burn.

That was what Mighty Woman wanted. When the Emerald Spears grunts were all close enough to each other, she switched to the Thunder Beam. A stun baton shot out of her Mighty Buster, charging up before firing a singular huge beam of lightning at the entire group, knocking them out.

“You can’t keep a natural-built strategist down!” Mighty Woman called out, but she immediately felt a gun press to the back of her head.

“Strategize for this,” Xander’s finger was twitching on the trigger, but as soon as he tried to pull it, he felt shaking under his feet throw his aim off.

Quake Woman was using her drills to send vibrations over to Xander’s location. As she looked up at Mighty Woman, she said quietly, “Sorry I can’t do anything more, but it helps.”

“Thanks!” Mighty Woman used this opportunity to disarm Xander and snap the gun in two.

“You think that will help?!” Xander put his fists up, swinging at Mighty Woman’s face.

“No, but this will.” A new voice called out from the back as someone ran in between the two opponents.

“Time Man!” Mighty Woman called joyfully.

“Sorry that I kept you waiting this long,” Time Man sighed.

“Everyone, remain calm-” Aretha stepped out of the elevator, seeing the amount of Emerald Spears soldiers that had been taken out. “Oh. Well, I see your bots took good care of this.”

“GIVE UP, EVILDOERS!” Hugh Mann ran out of the elevator with his ray gun at the ready, aiming at a table and firing as an intimidation tactic.

“DUCK!” Gil shouted out to everyone in the room.

When the blast hit the table, every piece of it flew out at every angle. Splinters of wood shot out through the room, indiscriminately targetting everyone.

Mega Man, Mighty Woman, and Time Man each activated their individual Time Slows, knocking down every splinter that was about to hit them or an innocent.

“Look out! Plant Barrier!” Plant Man jumped in front of several roboticists and activated his own special ability, several petals flying around him to block the splinters.

But not everyone was as lucky.

A single scream rang out through the floor.

“MY EYEEEEEE!!!” Xander shrieked out, his left hand covering his left eye.

Harvey trembled, but immediately ran to Xander and took him by the arm. “Tactical retreat!”

“You’re not getting away!” Mighty Woman shouted out, switching to her Oil Slider to boost towards them. The oil shot out of the boosters on her boots, she was about to grab onto Xander.

“Don’t touch him!” Theo screamed as he swung a chair down on Mighty Woman, hitting her and causing her to wipe out. She was on track to hitting Roslyn and Simone.

“Crap-” Roslyn tried to catch Mighty Woman, allowing Simone to roll out from under her and get up.

“This way!” Harvey crashed through the 40th-floor window with Xander on his back, Theo and Simone following.

“What?!” Aretha dashed over to the window.

Harvey, Theo, and Simone each pulled out a grappling hook and shot them at three of the flagpoles out in the front of the ELMTP building. That allowed them to get on the ground without any harm and started towards a getaway vehicle in front of the building across the street.

Even the FBI agents that had appeared in front of ELMTP via teleporter weren’t any match for Harvey’s strength knocking them all out of the way.

It’s all over. An attack thwarted with no civilian casualties. Rock and Roll stood outside with Dr. Light, with Quake Woman holding onto Dr. Lalinde’s arm.

“The government is working hard to put an end to the Emerald Spears,” Orlena had appeared to reassure everyone. “One day, you can all walk the streets without fear.”

“Everyone’s not hurt, right?” The new detective, Marcellus Stafford, approached the crowd of everyone who had been on the 40th floor.

“If it weren’t for the Robot Masters, we’d have been dead.” Dr. Green’s floaty voice seemed even shakier.

“It was quite the spectacle they put on, I’ll tell you that much.” Dr. Edogawa pulled out an e-cigarette, taking a hearty puff. “Even the everyman helped.” She cocked her head towards Shoegaze.

“Ah, Ozzy!” Marc smiled and walked up to Shoegaze to start yet another miscellaneous conversation.

Roll looked up at Dr. Lalinde, pulling on her sleeve. “Will everyone be okay?”

“I doubt every one will. But I’m certain they’re all grateful to us.” Dr. Lalinde smiled down at Roll. “You were impressive. I can see upgrading you was the right choice.”

“H-Hehe… Thanks!” Roll started flapping her hands.

“O-Oy, what are you doing?!” Another voice called out. Hugh Mann had been cuffed and was being dragged to the police car.

“Hey, Officer Montana, not too rough now!” Marc shouted to the officer who dragged the cosplayer. “Uh… You listening, Bianca?”

“It’s simple,” Bianca explained angrily, “What would have happened if it wasn’t Xander that got hit by a splinter?! You’re under arrest for public, reckless endangerment!”

“GOD DAMN IT, HUGH!!” Yet one more new face showed herself. Her outfit was also rather familiar… a red body cut dress that stayed right where her thighs started.

“Hm?” Bianca looked over to the woman. “Who are you?”

“I’m Maya Rollins, I’m his boss, and I have been looking all over this stupid city just to find him! And now he gets into this crap?!” The woman groaned and covered her face.

“Uh-” Rock and Roll were looking at this scene unfold with bewilderment and mild discomfort.

“Huh?” Maya immediately glared at them. “What are you looking at?! Is it how I’m dressed? Do you think I'd dress like a little girl? I’m not joining in on Hugh’s cosplay fantasies, trust me, sweetpea,” She went on and on, “I’ve been rocking red dresses before even you,” she pointed at Roll, “Maybe you need to stop hogging my style!”

“O-Okay, we get it!” Roll backed off.

“Anyway, what’s the bail money going to be like?” Maya went back to what she perceived as a bigger problem. “I have all the Zenny you need.”

As Dr. Light walked his two kids away from the chaos, Ice Man waved them down, leaning back against their van.

“Let’s go home. Those two deserve to rest after today.” Ice Man opened the door.

“Yes, of course.” Dr. Light walked to the driver’s side.

“I should get back to the Chronos Institute. I’ll be home tonight. Promise.” Time Man smiled gently at his younger siblings.

“See ya later then.” Rock hugged Time Man.

“Later!” Roll pressed her forehead on Time Man’s before stepping into the van.

Chapter Text

“Was getting the security camera footage supposed to be this easy?” Quick Man looked suspiciously at the dubious email address bearing the local-part “u.n.owen”.

“I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.” Dr. Wily smirked, opening up the video footage to analyze the two heroes.

“Who was that ‘confidant’ you mentioned earlier, anyway?” Quick Man tapped his foot.

“I replicated an ELMTP security robot, the ‘got the job’ part was my little joke about planting it among their ranks. But if this was the plant, it'd have been through an employee’s email.” Dr. Wily stared intensely at what the cameras recorded.

“I don't trust this at all.” Quick Man felt a pit in his stomach.

“But it brings us closer to our objective nonetheless.” Dr. Wily turned around to face Quick Man, as well as any other robot that happened to be present.

“Mega Man is the same as always,” Wily explained, “But this ‘Mighty Woman’… That girl, Roll, was intelligent, cunning, and dangerous. These upgrades let her combine her brains with power on par with Mega Man. Her fatal flaws, however, are her willingness to run headlong after a target and her lack of range without certain special weapons.”

“Hmph. No matter how smart she is, she’ll be no match for us when you give us our final tweaks.” A cocky grin was upon Quick Man’s lips.

“That is correct!” Dr. Wily cackled to himself, walking away from his computers to complete the errands at hand.

June 9, 20XX+1

“All done!” Rock called out after folding up the last set of laundry.

“Me too!” Roll placed the last dish in the drying rack.

“Thank you, both of you.” Dr. Light turned around to see his two kids walk up to him.

“What’cha working on?” Rock asked.

“Oh! I felt maybe I should give you two some extra abilities through data chips.” Dr. Light showed them his progress. “They’re simple transportation items. Item-1 is a hovering platform, Item-2 is a hoverboard, and Item-3 grabs onto walls and slowly crawls upward.”

“A hoverboard?!” Rock looked excited. “Oh man, I so want that!”

“That’s what I thought you’d say.” The doctor smiled at him and patted him on the head. “Oh, can’t forget that allowance now.” Dr. Light knelt over, handing Rock and Roll 1500 Zenny each. “Don’t go using it all on gashapon machines again.”

“Okay!” Rock folded the two bills and put them in his pocket. “We’re heading out now.”

“Take care and stay safe,” Dr. Light responded, hugging them both.

“We will!” When the hug broke, Roll ran to open the front door.

“Race you to the scrapyard, Roll!” Rock dashed out ahead of her, going to retrieve his skateboard from the garage.

“You’re on!” Roll followed suit, grabbing her bicycle from up against the garage wall.

“Timberrrrrr!” Cut Man called out with his hands around his mouth. When the tree crashed to the ground, he shaved the branches and sliced the trunk into quarters. “Like that, Power Man! You can’t just keep quiet when a tree’s falling!”

Power Man, as always, kept quiet watching Cut Man before sawing down a tree himself.

“…Okay, maybe if no one else is around, you don’t have to yell ‘timber’. But it’s fun!” Cut Man chuckled, “Have some fun!”

Power Man tilted his head.

“Come on, don’t be so wooden with me!” Cut Man laughed but stopped when he heard several trees fall in quicker succession than should be possible.

Once, twice, thrice, it went on until the ninth time, and then a circular sawblade landed in the ground by Cut Man’s feet.

“Wah?!” Cut Man jumped back, clinging onto Power Man, who seemed unfazed as always.

“Hehe. Impressive, right?” A figure clad in red armor stepped out from behind the trees. “My Metal Blade’s certainly more than your little safety scissors.”

“Someone’s head is too big for his helmet, huh?” Cut Man grumbled.

“Denial's a bad look!” The stranger spread his arms out. “I'm everything YOU should have been!”

“At least watch where you throw your stuff, you coulda killed someone!” Cut Man shouted back.

“That’s the idea,” the berserker gave a low sneer before another sawblade appeared in his hands. “This is for the prototype, from Metal Man with hate!”

Cut Man barely had time to turn around before he saw the sawblade go straight through Power Man’s neck, decapitating him.

“That was for my kicks and giggles! This one, on the other hand, is Dr. Wily's regards!” Metal Man threw one more after.

Cut Man felt his head split open. His hands reached up as the last signals his I.C. chip sent to his body before he fell to the ground.

“Hm?” Blues looked over at the robot that Dr. Lalinde and Tempo were working on, seeing the name that was attached to the blueprint.

“Need something… Bruce?” The doctor turned to face him, trying not to bring up what she heard yesterday no matter how much she wished to. The hesitation in saying his name gave it away, however.

“Who is she?” That was all he could muster.

“This is Vesper Woman, she’s going to be this household’s new member as soon as I finish up her shell,” Dr. Lalinde said with a smile, fixating the plating on her chest.

“Mom took a few liberties with the design and what her function is going to be.” Tempo seemed nervous herself, though not about the origins of her design.

“That’s- that’s cool.” Blues began to panic. He felt himself get light-headed and walk backward, accidentally bumping into Shoegaze.

“Uh, hey, I know she’s based on Light’s blueprints,” Shoegaze whispered to Blues, “But she won’t hurt ya, dude.”

“Wh-Why is-” Blues sharply whispered back.

“Lalinde just wanted a sister for Tempo, that’s literally it,” Shoegaze sighed.

“Alright, she’s ready to be activated.” Dr. Lalinde stood back, switching her on using the main computer.

“Mmm…” The new girl opened her eyes, sitting up and stretching. “Good morning! You’re all quite the welcoming party, I’ll give you that.”

“I- I-” Blues turned tail and ran off immediately.

“What’s his deal?” Vesper Woman watched.

“He gets melty over change, he’ll adjust to it,” Shoegaze spoke truth-adjacently.

“Aw, that’s too bad.” Vesper Woman stood up, looking over to Tempo.

“I hope I can be a good sister to you, Vesper Woman.” Tempo bowed her head.

“Please, no need to be so formal, call me Cadenza!” She patted Tempo on the head.

“I really am sorry that Bruce hasn’t taken a liking to you yet, but-” Tempo looked away.

“I understand perfectly! Mom told me about you guys when my A.I. was completed; the bear said your boyfriend’ll come around anyway.” Cadenza pinched Tempo’s cheek.

“B-Bear?” Shoegaze knew what she meant, but was still surprised.

“He’s not-” Tempo stopped herself, she almost seemed a bit mad. “He’s not my boyfriend, we’re close acquaintances.”

“Aww, I’m just kidding!” Cadenza chuckled.

In a remote skatepark within Mega City, a crowd of kids gathered around a lone Robot Master. Three of the kids, by the names of Donovan or "D.H.", Simi, and Angelo, acted as impromptu “announcers” for this event.

“C’mon, man! Show the newbies what you got!” D.H. placed a boombox on the ground and inserted a Dead Kennedys disc.

“Alright, three, two, one!” Oil Man jumped onto the oil puddle he sprayed into the transition. He slid up the vert, performing three backflips in a row before going down.

The reactions were immediate: some kids covered their eyes for fear of a wipeout, others were screaming in awe. On the way to the next vert, Oil Man did a front flip on his Oil Slider, going into a handstand before flipping forward in midair and bringing the slider back to his feet.

“Hey, watch out!” Simi called to Oil Man.

“Huh-” Oil Man looked around as he moved to the next transition. But in mid-air, something went wrong.

A strong bluster of wind suddenly caused Oil Man to spin out of control. This wasn’t any other strong wind. It was an unnatural cyclone, battering him from the center and tearing his scarf apart.

When Oil Man hit the ground, he saw the culprit.

“It disgusts me to see your type still exists.” A big robot with a wind turbine built into his torso stepped out from the woods that stood over the skatepark.

“Tch! The hell’re you?!” Oil Man stumbled to his feet, grabbing onto his arm, which had been dislocated from the fall.

“Air Man.” He stuck his chest out. “I’ll cut to the chase. You were outmoded since the day you were conceptualized. A robot for such a filthy source of energy? Bah!  I’m here to put an end to-”

Air Man was interrupted by a skateboard hitting him in the side.

“GET AWAY FROM OIL MAN!” Angelo ran down and began beating on Air Man.

“Angelo, no!” D.H. yelled from the top of the transition.

“Do you truly think I’d waste even an ounce of my energy hurting a human child?” The fan in Air Man’s chest began to whirl, sending out a strong gust that caused Angelo to get blown away without harming him.

“Now, where was I?” Air Man looked back to where Oil Man was, but he was gone. He had run away while Air Man was distracted.

“A-As long as I’m here, I won’t let Oil Man get hurt!” Angelo ran back up to Air Man, wailing on him once more with closed fists.

“Hmph. You’re a clever boy. I’m sure your parents are proud of how smart you are.” Air Man climbed to the top of the transition, scanning the area to find his target.

“I win!” Roll cheered as she chained her bike to the wire fence of the scrapyard.

“No fair, you got a headstart!” Rock crossed his arms, hoisting his skateboard under his right one.

“Maybe put your skateboard on the wall instead of under the workbench then!” Roll pulled her lower eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at Rock. She twirled back around, looking around in a pile and pulling out a cone-shaped piece of metal. “Oh, this will be great for the bird’s beak!”

“Stinks about the first one.” Rock kicked the ground, looking at a mountain of scraps.

“I mean, that was just a concept build, who said it had to be perfect the first time you make one?” Roll shrugged.

“What’s that hand?” Rock pointed at the scrap mountain.

“OH!” Roll ran over and tapped it with the end of the cone, a robot shooting out from under a pile of scrap. “Hello, Barga Man!”

“Have you any occupational suggestions for me yet?” His voice was as monotone as ever.

“Well, uh, not yet.” Roll shook her head.

“I can wait, do not worry.” Barga Man laid back in the scraps and closed his eyes.

“You sure?” Roll frowned.

“I am positive. But I appreciate you trying to give me a new purpose, DLN-002.” Barga Man dragged the scraps on top of himself again.

“I’m happy to try and help! See you another time!”

“Farewell.” Barga Man sunk back.

“Well, the city?” Roll asked.

“Might as well, we are just ‘out’.” Rock placed his skateboard down on the ground again. “C’mon!”

“Just up ahead, the ice is thin.” One of Ice Man’s crewmates stood beside him.

“Thanks, Devontae.” Ice Man looked around. “Where’s it safe to walk?”

“A little more to your left, the ice is thicker. Kinda like a bridge” Devontae directed, looking at a small radar in his hand. “Heh, there’s a lot of fish under the ice too.”

“As they’re wont to be.” Ice Man went in the direction that Devontae directed him. “Just try not to slip.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re the one who’s completely slip-proof.” Devontae made sure to walk carefully by putting his full weight on whatever foot he put forward. “Hm? Hey, there’s something else under the ice.”

“What is it?” Ice Man asked.

“It’s a humanoid, looks like a diver. They’re right under you now-”

Explosions erupted from under the ice around the Robot Master. Two arms burst from the shattered ice and grabbed onto Ice Man’s ankles, dragging him underwater.

Ice Man came face-to-face with this diver, but before he could do anything, the diver shot him with a bubble and completely encased him. Ice Man punched and kicked, but the bubble didn’t burst. He was trapped.

The diver condescendingly balled his right hand into a fist and pumped that fist forward.

Ice Man recognized that was the divers’ sign language for danger or a hazard, but he couldn’t see what the diver was talking about until it was too late when he came face-to-face with a sea mine. Slowly, Ice Man could only drift towards it until he made contact…

Shoegaze leaned up against the wall, looking down at Lucky. Lalinde had allowed the stray tabby to stay in the house, a very welcome addition.

As Shoegaze got down to stroke along the cat’s back, Lalinde spoke up from a workbench.

“Has Bruce ever told you about a faulty solar core?” Lalinde asked Shoegaze.

“Why?” Shoegaze looked confused to hide the fact he was panicking.

“Dr. Light had a robot before Rock and Roll. He broke down long ago, or so he thinks. His name was Blues… ring any bells?”

Shoegaze took a long, exasperated exhale. “Is this about that time I told you not to tell anyone else while Light was here?”

“I met Blues in 20XX-19 when he turned three, and I got to occasionally see him all the way until graduation. Of course, he looks much different now.” Dr. Lalinde faced Shoegaze, letting Lucky trot away. “He tricked me with that thinly-veiled nickname because of that. But since Dr. Light told me that the robot he lost was Blues, I can’t keep quiet anymore.”

“If I tell you what I know, will you promise not to touch him or say anything?” Shoegaze brushed his sleeve.

“Shoegaze, I’m already on legally dubious grounds hiding your identity, now I have Dr. Light’s missing robot who has a malfunctioning solar core and no roboethics! Not only am I committing a crime by hiding his programming, but it just isn’t right to hide Dr. Light's first child from him!”

“Huh. Well, guess I ought to warn him then.” Shoegaze walked out of the conversation.

“Shoegaze!” Dr. Lalinde shouted towards him.

“He's my friend. I can't just betray his trust like this.” He stopped in front of the door, glaring towards Lalinde. “Sorry, but I won’t be coming back as long as I have a choice.” With that, he exited the house.

“Get back here!” Lalinde chased him, but the door was shut right on top of her. Stumbling back, she held onto her aching head before running back to swing the door open. Shoegaze had already run into the forest, disappearing from sight. “Damn it!”

“Danger! Danger! High Voltage!” Elec Man felt excess voltage drain into himself as he walked and sang around the power plant. An otherwise boring job was yet another time for him to show off. “When we touch, when we kiss!”

“Uhm, Mr. Elec?” One of the security guards nervously spoke to Elec Man via radio. “There’s an interloper in the power plant, we need you to take care of him.”

“Interloper? Why can’t you do it yourself?” Elec Man shrugged before looking behind him.

“Well, you see, he’s really fast, and he’s coming your way!”

“Huh?” Elec Man’s eyes widened as he turned back around, seeing what the guard was talking about if just for a split second.

But Elec Man hadn’t enough time to do anything. This speedy stranger ran right past Elec Man, holding aloft a giant boomerang.

Elec Man stood in stunned silence.

“Rokkotsu o akete…” The murderous stranger sang to himself as well, “Watashi no suupu o nomu no…” He withdrew the boomerang into nothingness.

As soon as it was gone, Elec Man’s head came tumbling off his shoulders.

“Ii kara chokusetsu kuchidzuke de…” The stranger bolted off without even looking back at Elec Man.

Rock and Roll made a pit stop at the charging station outside the city. Rock went to where he always did at times like this: to the gashapon machine in front of the charging station’s convenience store, freshly filled with Ultraman toys.

“I hope you didn’t forget what dad said.” Roll pulled on Rock’s sleeve.

“Yeah, I know.” Rock inserted the Z500 bill into the machine and got back 20 quarters. “Alright, let’s go.”

The automatic doors of the convenience store opened, a familiar jingle causing Roll to look in its direction.

“Hey, if it isn’t R&R!” Dr. Astil was walking out with Plant Man, carrying bags of juice and water.

“Hey! You haven’t gone to the airport yet?” Roll smiled as Rock grumbled at getting a toy he already had.

“Nah, we stayed the night at the hotel.” Pedro looked over to Rock. “Are ya winning?”

“I already have Gijera…” Rock handed the capsule over to Plant Man. “You want it?”

“Aw, thanks!” Plant Man smiled and took it in his hand.

“So what’s the big secret, anyway? Your big mission now that the RWC is done?” Roll poked Dr. Astil on the side.

“I’m actually going to the Amazon, I'm sure you heard the news?” While he was responding, Dr. Astil opened the trunk of his car to pack away the refreshments.

“Those ruins that were revealed by the earthquake, right?” Roll nodded. “Lanfront Ruins?”

“I’m part of the survey team going there to investigate!” Astil continued, “This discovery could literally be history-changing; everything there’s said to be of Mayan design!”

“Mayan?” Roll interjected with shock.

“Of course, that sounds crazy; Maya civilization lived in modern-day Mexico and Guatemala, nowhere in South America. If this whole thing isn’t a shenanigan-”

“Ah!! It’s Ultraseven!” Rock cheered as he held a capsule in the air. “I finally got him!”

“Really?” Roll looked over. “Congrats!”

“Looks like a good place to fold, eh?” Dr. Astil patted Rock on the shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Rock put the capsule in his pocket, putting his skateboard down. “I’ll see you again!”

“Guess I better get going too, huh?” Roll smiled. “We can talk about it when you visit again, goodbye!”

“Adeus!” Pedro waved goodbye.

“Alright, we’re just going to build a tunnel through the mountains, right?” Bomb Man rolled an unlit bomb across his arms into his left hand.

“Mhm, just don’t get too carried away, I’m sure you can leave it at one and I’ll be able to use my fists to get through.” Guts Man placed the blueprint on the table. “With that in mind, let’s get going.”

“Yessir!” Bomb Man saluted with his hand making an L shape.

That was when the shrieking of drills pierced the air. The two Robot Masters didn’t waste any time in trying to see who was responsible for it.

There stood a robot drilling into the mountainside with surprising efficiency. He was cackling like a child, making noises imitating his drills as well.

“Excuse me, uh-” Guts Man stepped forward, but Bomb Man stopped him and walked forward himself.

“Kid, we appreciate the help, but this isn’t a place where you should be.” Bomb Man carefully stepped forward.

“Ehhh? But daddy told me to do this!” The robot responded with a giggle.

“Daddy?” Bomb Man came closer. “Who is your daddy then?”

“It’s a secreeeeet!” The robot placed a drill over his lips.

“Really? I’m good at keeping those,” Bomb Man snickered. He seemed to enjoy his little talk.

“Come closer then.” The strange robot tilted his head.

“M’kay.” Bomb Man approached the bot and leaned forward, only to find a drill embedded in his stomach.

“Gotcha!” The robot continued by shooting the drill out, sending Bomb Man flying towards Guts Man.

“HEY!” Guts Man caught Bomb Man in his arms, running forward to restrain the enemy.

“…Boom!” That was the last thing either of the Robot Masters heard before the other end of the embedded drill blinked three times before exploding, leaving a crater in the ground and pieces of Guts and Bomb scattered across the place.

“Detective Stafford.” Two cops stood aside for Marc to get into the crime scene.

“The hell happened here?” Marc leaned over, looking at Cut Man’s split head with a sense of mild disgust.

“This isn’t any ordinary hit-and-run.” Officer Bianca stood beside Marc as she handed him one of the circular saw blades in the area in a plastic baggie. “I dusted it for fingerprints, but nothing.”

“Good eye, Bianca. I doubt any human can just throw these around and get these results.” Marc held his head in one hand. “This is probably Dr. Wily’s doing. Just a hunch.”

“I think that’s what we’re all thinking.” Bianca turned around to speak to the other officers. “Send them to ELMTP for repair.”

“Yes ma’am.” They walked back to the police cars.

“We’ll find you soon, Wily. I swear it!” Marc stood up with his fist to his heart.

*

“An organ transplant, correct?” Time Man exited his office, shifting into his civilian form and making haste.

“We’ve just administered the anesthesia and we’re ready to go.” Maxi gave him the rundown. “Sharise was able to stabilize him, but his heart and lungs are in horrible shape.”

“That’s all I need to know. I’ll be ready to begin-” Time Man stopped talking as he heard his coworkers speak from inside the operating room.

“H-Hey, what are you doing here?!” Serek shouted out to someone.

“Can’t you see what this is?” Ness chided, “You need to lea-”

A bright flash shot out of the door and filled Time Man’s vision. When he could see again, everything was sparkling as if covered in glitter.

He looked over to Maxi to see if they were okay, but his face twisted in horror when he saw that they were frozen.

There’s no way, he thought. But he was immune to time flow alteration as per Wily’s modifications to him years ago. It had to be that.

Time Man snuck up to the operating room and looked from behind the door to see another robot doing his job for him with peak precision and protocol in the frozen time, ending with him suturing the patient shut.

Time Man stumbled back, causing a grunt of curiosity from the mysterious robot.

Time resumed. There was a moment of silence, only the pulse oximeter breaking it.

“There. In no time flat.” The robot exited the operating room, flashing a sinister grin towards Time Man.

“Y-You’re- You’re Light Man!” Time Man remembered the schematics for the Robot Master that Dr. Wily showed him during that fateful year ago.

“Oh, you’re so, so close. I have a new name now.” He stepped towards Time Man. “It’s Flash Man.”

“What does Dr. Wily want with me?!” Time Man knew what was going on immediately.

Flash Man’s expression went eerily gentle. “I’m going to make it simple. Wily sent me here to offer you one last chance at being the robot you were meant to be.”

That immediately sent Time Man over the line. His hands glowed as he thrust them outward, throwing out as many arrow-shaped blasts as it could.

Flash Man growled, knocking all the blasts away with one swipe of his arm. “Then you’re nothing but broken tech.”

“LEAVE TIME MAN ALONE!” Ness ran out of the operating room with a scalpel in her hand, aiming for Flash Man’s throat.

Another flash went through the building. “I bid adieu.” Flash Man punched Ness in the stomach. Time Man could only watch as Flash Man’s buster charged up, a rapid-fire barrage of solar bullets assaulting Time Man and even hitting Maxi in the arm and side.

Roslyn ran towards the site of the explosion, leaving Gil in the dust as she looked around. “FBI! What happened here?!”

“Oh, thank god you came!” The team leader walked up to Roslyn from the crater. “It all happened so fast, but I saw it.”

“Speak up!” Roslyn held him by the shoulders.

“T-There was this robot drilling into the mountain while we were working… Guts and Bomb were trying to talk him away, but he shot Bomb Man in the chest with a drill and then detonated it.”

“Did you see where the robot went?!” Roslyn kept shouting.

“No! We all ran away too! For all we know, he didn’t even go in any direction!” The team leader sweat nervously.

“DAMN IT!” Roslyn let him go and screamed towards the sky.

“Roslyn.” Gil walked towards her, lifting her on her feet. “I understand how you feel about this. I want to be like this too, but this isn’t how agents conduct themselves.”

“I-I’m sorry.” Roslyn pressed her head into Gil’s chest before regaining her balance. “We have to hurry. If we don’t, who knows what Wily’s going to do.”

“You’re right about that.” Gil rubbed his temples, looking down at Guts Man’s head, which had landed in the center of the crater. “Damn shame.”

“Uh, excuse me?” A small lighter-shaped robot tapped Fire Man on the shoulder. “My name’s Heat Man, I’m a new fire robot and I was wondering if you could give me some pointers.”

“Hm?” Fire Man turned around. “Aww, ain’t you the darndest little guy? It’s no problem at all! All you gotta do is do what you do as best as you can!”

“Really? Well, I dunno what I wanna do.” Heat Man pressed his fingers together. “What do you do?”

“Well, all I do is burn garbage. It’s a low-effort job, but it’s mine!” Fire Man crossed his arms.

“Can I see how you do it?” Heat Man looked excited.

“Well, how can I say no?” Fire Man turned around and sprayed several bags full of combustible garbage into ash. “There we go!”

“Amazing!!” Heat Man clapped. “Can I try burning some garbage too?”

“Sure, little buddy!” Fire Man turned around. “You can start over there and-”

Fire Man couldn’t finish that thought as he felt something crash through him with the force of a meteor. The last thing Fire Man saw before his head lost the last of its electricity was Heat Man laughing like a maniac.

“Man, I AM good at burning garbage! Can’t wait to get started on the rest of this shitty world!”

“Okay, you ready?” Roll held a racket in her right hand and a birdie in the other. Mega City’s Titanium Park was the place where they go to play sports.

“Yup, let’s go!” Rock stretched out.

“Here goes!” Roll threw the shuttlecock into the air and swung her racket as hard as she could.

“WHOA!” Rock nearly jumped to the side to knock it back. “What’s with the rocket power moves?!”

“I play this game to win, you know that!” Roll laughed, hitting it back with an underhand swing.

“Then I won’t hold back!” Rock swung his racket with all the force he could muster, knocking it high into the air.

“Uh, Rock?” Roll looked up. “Where’d the birdie go?”

“I swear it was up in the air a moment ago…” Rock looked up and saw a tree branch overhead rustle. “Uh, Cut Man? This is funny, but enough of this.”

“He’s at work, you know that-” Roll was interrupted by a figure leaping out of a tree, sliding along the net before landing on the court in the blink of an eye.

“This is yours?” It turned out to be a robot. Red armor, a yellow V on his helmet as well as his chestplate, Rock looked enamored.

“Wowwwww…!” Rock almost had a twinkle in his eyes. “You look like a superhero!”

“Really now?” The robot handed the birdie back to the boy. “I heard you’re a little hero yourself, Mega Man.”

“You’ve heard of me?!” Rock flapped his hands faster than he thought he could. “I- I am Mega Man, yeah! But you can call me Rock!”

“Uh, who are you, anyway?” Roll looked suspicious.

“Me? I’m Quick Man, I guess you can figure out what I do.” Quick Man snickered.

“Can you tell me a bit about yourself? Please?” Rock looked excited to meet someone like Quick Man.

“Ah, what the heck, I got almost all the time in the world with speed like this.” Quick Man give a toothy grin. “Sure! But why not after your game?”

“O-Okay!” Rock turned to Roll, still stimming. “He’s so cooool…”

Roll frowned but didn’t want to burst Rock’s bubble. Maybe she was being too careful for her own good. Quick Man didn’t do anything, did he?

“Haah, haah…” Oil Man ran through the trees in the park. He was far from Air Man by now, but how much longer could he keep up that pace until he got back out to the city?

He jumped and sprinted through the forest, snapping branches under his treads, almost tripping on roots, but keeping up a consistent stride.

That was all cut short when he felt multiple stabs in his calf and his nozzle arm get cut clean off. He screamed in agony, falling over to see several leaves had been shot into his leg.

“Such a disgusting sight you are.” Oil Man could hear the heavy stomps of his assailant. Closer and closer they came until a boot was firmly planted on Oil Man’s head.

“Y-You think that you’ll get away with this…?” Oil Man shivered, trying to sound more confident than he was.

“It doesn’t matter if I get away with it. Only that Dr. Wily proves to the world that he shouldn’t be buried.” The giant wooden robot pressed his foot down harder on Oil Man’s head.

“So that’s what this is about, huh?” Oil Man let out a laugh. “When Rock and Roll find out that he’s pulling this type of crap again, they’ll be on your doorstep ready to raise hell.”

Without another word, Oil Man’s second assailant crushed his head.

“We’ve got yet another one of Dr. Light's Robot Master coming in!” A girl in a nurse’s uniform ran into Dr. Edogawa’s office.

“Another one?” Dr. Edogawa scratched her chin.

“Y-Yes ma’am.” The timid girl looked up at the doctor. “He looks like he’s been purposefully maimed as well.”

“This is bad…” Dr. Edogawa sat down. “Medicine Woman, contact Dr. Light immediately. I have a horrible feeling.”

Chapter Text

“He what?” Tempo's pupils shrank, her hands balling into fists.

“You made Blues a promise, didn't you?” Doctor Lalinde helped her daughter out of the desk chair. “We’ll have to get him back.”

Tempo felt something welling up deep down. She hasn't felt this kind of anger before. “And Shoegaze is trying to keep him away, why?”

“He got away before I could even explain properly,” Lalinde clarified, taking Tempo's hand and leading her out of her room. “I’m willing to take the blame for that.”

“No, Doctor, it-” Tempo flinched when she heard footsteps coming from beside them.

“You’re going to need help, you know?” Vesper Woman remarked, her armor already on. “I can give some aerial surveillance.”

“Cadenza?” Tempo looked at her, then back at Lalinde.

“You can call me Vesper Woman now,” Vesper chuckled.

“I knew I couldn't just let you do this on your own.” Lalinde patted Tempo on the shoulder. “Just promise me you'll both stay safe.”

“Don’t worry your pretty old head, doc,” Vesper Woman responded, “I’ll make sure Tempo doesn't trip, I’m her big sister after all.”

“…Don’t patronize me,” Tempo grumbled, her armor phasing onto her body as she opened the door outside.

“Darn…” Rock groaned as he let his arms swing absentmindedly by his side. “You beat me again.”

“Told ya already, I play badminton to win! And tennis, and baseball…” Roll flexed her arms like a bodybuilder. “Give me something to swing and I’ll win at whatever it is you want me to do!”

“I’m still better at soccer, though! And kickball, and football, and-” Rock stopped himself, looking at the robot who now accompanied them. “Sorry, you said you'd tell us about yourself?”

“Ah, yeah,” Quick Man responded; he seemed to have been staring into space until Rock addressed him. “Well, even with all this time I had to rehearse, I can’t stretch it out. My creator’s a recluse who doesn’t want me casually dropping his name everywhere. My purpose is-” Quick Man placed a hand on his forehead. “It’s just to keep on running. Essentially field testing myself. I kinda have to if I wanna see if my specs are reliable and my vision doesn’t distort at top speed.”

“Really?” Rock tilted his head. “There’s gotta be more than-” Rock stopped abruptly when he caught sight of something. “H-Hey, look at that robot!”

“Huh?” Roll saw who he was talking about. A robot with both shining gold and navy blue armor sat a ways from the exit of the park, looking like he was meditating. He held a spear in one hand as his other hand rested on his knee. He was like a futuristic samurai.

“He’s so coooool.” Rock started flapping his hands again, he was excited to talk to this robot as well. The robot’s eyes open and look over at the group, causing Rock to flap harder.

“R-Rock! Roll! Where are you two?!” Dr. Light suddenly came in through their communication lines, his voice nothing short of fearful.

“Dr. Light?” Rock stopped in his tracks. “We’re in Titanium Park, what’s wrong?”

“Dr. Wily has returned. You two need to make haste to ELMTP, now! And don’t approach any strange robots on your way!” Dr. Light immediately hung up.

Rock was immobilized with shock, Roll shaking him by the shoulder to snap him out of it. The boy looked over to Quick Man, who seemed to be distant, and shot one last glance at the samurai, who stood up and approached.

“S-SORRY!” Rock ran away, with Roll following shortly after.

“…Why did he just tell me to stand down, Enker?” Quick Man asked, agitated, “I could have beheaded them at any moment, smashed their I.C. chips, and our objective would be complete!”

“Wily-sama’s machinations aren't for us to fully grasp,” Enker responded, “And besides, they’re my responsibility until I’m destroyed.”

“Bullshit!” Quick Man snapped, “He knows the best course of action is to get it over with quickly, but he goes for the most obtuse, roundabout-”

“Light’s robots being destroyed wasn’t unnoticed,” Enker explained calmly. “You heard the boy talking to Dr. Light, didn’t you? Yes, killing them here would have been simple and we could get away easily, had they not gotten the transmission.”

“B-But-” Quick Man seemed outright distressed.

“They would be prepared to fight back if we attacked them just now. And you know what my Mirror Buster can do to you if I aimed in just the wrong place… right?”

“…right.” Quick Man growled before taking off, his original position an afterimage.

Marcellus stood outside Edogawa Labs with Bianca, the last Robot Master was wheeled into the place for repair.

“We wouldn’t have found him if it weren’t for those kids.” Bianca sat down on the marble steps, sipping out of a water bottle she mixed juice powder into.

“The poor kids shouldn’t have to be exposed to that kinda violence so young,” Marc sniffled, holding back tears for those who would be impacted, but immediately composed himself when he saw Dr. Light moving as fast as he could towards ELMTP. “Doctor! You remember me and Officer Montana, don’t ya?”

“W-Where?! Where are my children?!” Dr. Light walked past them towards the front door.

“They’re inside, sir.” Bianca got up and held onto his shoulder. “Don’t worry, their I.C. chips are completely intact. Somehow.”

“Who did Wily use to kill them?!” Dr. Light kept on shouting.

“Calm down, sir!” Bianca held onto his other shoulder. “This situation is stressful for all of us, but we can’t get anywhere through blind panic.”

Dr. Light stopped himself, holding onto the wall as he felt himself lose balance.

“They’re in the process of extracting the memories from their I.C. chips,” Bianca continued, “Repairs are coming along smoothly as well. Your robots- er, children, couldn’t be in better hands.”

“We got FBI and Secret Service on the case too!” Marc added, “They’ll be searching ‘round the whole state to find who we’re after!”

“H-How did he-” Dr. Light turned around to the front to see Rock and Roll speeding towards him.

“What happened?! Why here?” Rock was also lobbing question after question.

Marc knelt in front of Rock and held him by the shoulder. “Is it okay if I tell them, or should they see for themselves?” He asked Light.

“P-Please, just tell them now so it doesn’t hurt as much when they see it.” Dr. Light held his head between his hands.

Dr. Edogawa plugged each I.C. chip into the repair room computer, bringing up the latest memories of every Robot Master. She shook her head once or twice, the senseless destruction seeming to get to her.

“Doctor?” Dr. Green opened the door. “The rest of the Lights are here.”

“Let them in.” Dr. Edogawa turned around, standing next to the automated repair table with the easiest to repair, Elec Man.

Rock slowly entered and was followed by Roll and Light.

“Why did Wily do this? Didn’t he-” Rock tried to get the words out, walking up to the broken Elec Man and holding his hand. “Didn’t he say he was going to be better?” He sounded like he was going to cry.

“Life is never as simple as that.” Dr. Edogawa turned back to her computer. “Just be thankful Elec Man will recover real soon. Your other siblings weren’t so lucky.”

“What?!” Roll stepped back.

“I won’t be going into detail. Please, though, look at these. You’ll need to know your opponents.” Dr. Edogawa rolled her chair out of the way to let the important portions of the recently destroyed’s memories play.

Rock held onto Dr. Light as tightly as he could. It was so difficult to watch.

It was unnerving to see Cut Man watch as Power Man was cut down before Cut Man himself suffered the same fate, to see Oil Man torn apart by a cyclone and running away only to get eliminated by a boot crushing his head, to see Ice Man struggle to get out of the bubble he was trapped in before suddenly catching sight of a sea mine, for Elec Man to be caught off guard and cut down by…

“N-No, that- That can’t be right!” Rock ran forward and let the tears flow. “Quick Man?!”

“You know him?” Dr. Edogawa looked down at Mega Man. “I suppose Quick Man does fit as his name.”

“I- We met while Roll and I were playing badminton, he watched us play and he encouraged me, and he walked with us and he wanted to talk with us! Why?! How could he do this?!” Rock held onto Dr. Edogawa’s coat and cried into it.

“Poor kid…” Dr. Edogawa stroked his head.

“But if he was Wily’s bot, why didn’t he attack us?” Roll pulled Rock away to hug him herself.

“Either that wasn’t in the cards yet,” Dr. Edogawa paused before continuing, “Or Dr. Wily had another Robot Master made to take you both out.”

Both of the kids thought back to that robot they saw in the park, the samurai. Did they escape certain doom by chance?

“Should we continue?” Dr. Edogawa looked back at the computer.

“Just so we know who we’re up against.” Roll turned Rock around just an inch before he faced the computer once more.

“If it’s too much, don’t hesitate to tell me to stop.” Dr. Edogawa played back the rest of the memories.

It wasn’t any easier. Seeing the childish bot shoot Bomb Man in the stomach before detonating it on both him and Guts Man was one thing, but seeing Time Man’s insecurities once again prayed upon by one of Wily’s robots and said robot assaulting humans drew Dr. Light over the line this time, only compounded by Fire Man's trust being exploited to kill him.

“That MONSTER!” He almost lunged toward the computer before being stopped by his kids. “How dare he!”

“D-Dad!” Roll grabbed his arm. “Please, think of your blood pressure!”

“We’ll get back at them! I promise!” Rock tried to sound strong for everyone in the room.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Dr. Edogawa typed into her computer. “We only just got the faces of the assailants. Now they have to be found.”

The repair table pinged, indicating that Elec Man’s head has been firmly reattached.

“Something to mitigate the despair?” Dr. Edogawa unplugged his I.C. chip and reinserted it through the back of Elec Man’s head.

His eyes fluttered open, light filling his vision before he jerked up and screamed, “THAT STUPID KIDS MEAL TOY-LOOKING MOTHERF-”

“HEY!” Everyone in the room shouted in unison.

“Ah- Excuse me,” Elec Man chuckled coyly.

Blues ran faster than he thought capable. His trust in Dr. Lalinde was wearing thin. He didn’t even know if he could trust the new robot in his midst. He cursed his paranoia, but could never shake the feeling off.

Then he felt jolts strike through his circuitry. It started in his chest and spread out throughout his body. He couldn’t even move as he faceplanted into the ground.

His solar core was getting closer to permanent ruin from how much he’s exerted himself.

Part of him felt fine with this outcome. He wouldn’t have to suffer in this world that wanted to get rid of what made him himself. He could die how he was born: free, unbound by the “roboethics” that kept a robot from being truly independent.

After his core stopped sparking and his body was capable of moving again, he wanted to start running again to cause yet another malfunction. Anything to rid him from this coil of misery. He dashed forward but immediately stopped when he saw something he felt he wasn’t meant to.

He came face-to-face with a robot sitting upon a wooden throne, surrounded by animal-like helper robots. Blues recognized the animals as a Robbit, a Kukku, and a Friender, but didn’t know anything about the man on the throne.

Blues was taken off-guard when the man asked him, “What brings you here, young one?”

“Just waiting to die out here.” Blues was too honest about it. “Who are you?”

“My creator calls me Wood Man.” Wood Man stood up and cupped Blues’ cheeks. “Why do you so brazenly seek death?”

“Please stop touching my face.” Blues pushed Wood Man’s hands away. “I’m already on my last leg. My solar core is dying, the way I’m programmed was designated illegal, I’m pretty sure the person who took me in is onto me. What else can I do except just accept I can’t live in this world?”

“Can you not be repaired?” Wood Man asked obliviously.

“And risk getting found out?!” Blues swung his arm to the side.

“Then how about you come back with me, to my master?” Wood Man held his hand out.

“H-Hell no!” Blues backed up, intending to escape.

“My creator would never do something so cruel as altering your I.C. chip, no matter if your very existence is an affront to the laws that man created to keep you down.” Wood Man’s voice was stern, powerful, serious.

“…I’m listening.” Blues slowly walked forward.

“If I’m still alive, seek me out once more.” Wood Man turned Blues around and let him through the bushes. “For now, however, you cannot stay here. This is a battleground, and your fragile body couldn’t possibly handle the hell that will descend upon this peaceful forest. Go back from whence you came. The stars promise you will remain in this world as yourself so long as you have patience.”

“Wait, what do you mean? What are you doing here?! Who are you, Wood Man-”

“Go.” Wood Man only repeated himself once and pushed Blues away, a Friender now blocking Blues’ way back to seeing Wood Man.

Blues clenched a fist and slowly made his way back to Lalinde’s lab. He dreaded what he would have to face back there.

“BLUES!” Not the friendliest greeting, but Blues was more willing to take Shoegaze over anyone else in that house. “You were, uh, kinda right to not trust Lalinde anymore.”

“I- what?” Blues held onto Shoegaze’s coat, doing his best to hide his most recent malfunction.

“She learned who you were from Dr. Light,” Shoegaze relayed the information.

“So I’m out of a home again.” Blues shouted into the woods. “DAMN IIIIIT!” He turned back around, speaking in a normal voice again. “What do we do now?”

“Well, one, I’m going to have to be your bodyguard.” Shoegaze pulled away from Blues.

“Dude, don’t, save yourself.” Blues was capable of walking on his own once more.

“I already told you, since the day we met, your bullshit is my bullshit and vice versa.” Shoegaze's brow furrowed.

“And I’m full of it. I hope you realize that.” Blues shrugged.

“My guy, you’re on the hinge of dying, and unfortunately, I do this moron thing that people with high emotional capacity can do called ‘caring’,” Shoegaze grumbled.

“Then learn to do a core replacement, you bum! You’re the only guy I know who won’t do anything to my I.C. chip!” Blues shouted at him.

“Well, I’d ask Lalinde, but we ran away, so you're SOL!” Shoegaze took his beanie off and smacked a tree with it just release the leftover tension. “Life is just one heap after another.”

“Well, we’re walking it together then.” Blues shook his head.

“So are you going to tell me why you just ran all the way out here only to turn back around?” Shoegaze made sure that little detail didn’t slip.

“Gh, I might as well say.”

“Status report.” Sariel sat in front of the main computer, depicting a map of the United States just in case their reach had grown farther than they anticipated.

“This is Orlena, you won't believe this.” The Secret Service agent sent back a photo of a tall structure made of pipes, along with its global coordinates. “Crash Man made his residence here. Calling this a skyscraper would be an insult, this is a spacescraper if you will.”

“You found out his name?” Sariel asked.

“Right here.” Orlena sent another picture of a piece of yellow construction paper with “KRASH MANz home :)” written in red finger paint, taped to the front door of the fort. The R looked like a hastily written-over L just to hammer home the peculiarity.

“I'm sorry to interrupt, sir,” Hariq Aghnia came in through the line, “But Tajmid found something with our stealth drones! It's an air fortress!” Another picture was sent to Sariel. There was a distant figure in the said photo of the air fortress, resembling Oil Man's first attacker.

“That’s Air Man alright.” Sariel nodded. “If anyone has found anything else, speak up.”

“Xavia Tyler here. I found a fortress in the preserved forests around Mega City. I managed to infiltrate, but I kept myself hidden from the Robot Master, whose name I just learned was Wood Man.” Tyler produced a picture of her own, showing Wood Man conversing with a lone robot boy.

“This picture is worth over four hundred words.” Sariel nodded to himself. “What did you hear?”

“I dropped in during the middle of the conversation,” Tyler explained, “But Wood Man told the boy it was going to be a battlefield and to find him if he’s still alive after all this. The fact Wood Man told him to get away says more about Wily’s motives than anything else. This isn’t about taking over the world anymore. This is about Wily getting revenge on Light and nothing else.”

“That explains why they haven’t murdered innocents yet…” Sariel thought back to Time Man’s memories and how Flash Man had assaulted a human doctor and a nurse but didn’t kill them.

“Ramerra coming in.” Yet another Secret Service member. “LeBron and I are certain we found where Quick Man is. After locating and following him via aircraft, we uncovered a trapdoor out here in the Rocky Mountains. We don’t know what’s under it, but we’re trying to get it open.”

“Keep up the good work.” Sariel encouraged xer, turning around and speaking away from the microphone. “‘This is Mega Man and Mighty Woman's job.’ I hope you were right, Roslyn.”

“We’ve just gotten an update from Dr. Edogawa.” Professor Yusuf made herself known on the line. “Mega Man and Mighty Woman encountered a potential ninth Robot Master. We do not know his name nor possible whereabouts yet.” She sent a picture from what was extracted, the gold and navy samurai.

Sariel turned back around, one glance a the picture showed this wasn’t just any Robot Master. “I have a bad feeling about this. As soon as we find the last four, we must direct our full attention to this new face.”

On the 60th floor of ELMTP was Dr. Edogawa’s “office”, comprised of in-progress robots and an abundance of medical tools and computers, and a convenient teleporter. It was here that Dr. Edogawa allowed Rock and Roll to stay while Dr. Light had driven home with Elec Man to continue working on Items 1-3.

“Cut Man and Power Man have been repaired, ma’am. I’ve plugged in their I.C. chips for you.” Medicine Woman entered and bowed, letting the two Robot Masters in as well.

“Thank you, Medicine Woman.” Dr. Edogawa smiled, the coordinates and pictures of the four revealed Robot Masters on the main computer.

“Cut Man!” Rock hugged his brother as if his life depended on it.

“You can’t keep us down forever, you should know that already, Rock!” Cut Man laughed and lifted Rock off of his feet.

“But it must have been so scary!” Rock wiped away the tears in his eyes.

“Oh yeah, it was.” Cut Man looked over to Power Man, who scratched his neck to communicate how it felt.

“Quiet, everyone! Listen to this.” Dr. Edogawa brought up an emergency news update. “The other four Robot Masters have done a hostile takeover of four separate areas. Metal Man took an industrial processing plant, Bubble Man took the water filtration plant, Flash Man took the crystal mines, and Heat Man took the waste disposal center.”

“Bubble Man would be the diver, right?” Roll looked up at the computer.

“He announced himself over the intercom according to this.” Dr. Edogawa rolled her eyes. “They love making an impression.”

“Well, let’s make an impression of our own.” Roll shifted to Mighty Woman, holding her hand out to Rock. “Come on, Mega. We can’t lose to them”

“Y-Yeah.” Rock let go of Cut Man and shifted to Mega Man, looking up at the computer screen. “We’ve never seen them before, nor do we know what they’re capable of…”

“It’s a difficult decision, I’m certain.” Dr. Edogawa looked down at the two. “I will do repairs for either of you if your shells are damaged.

“Thank you, Doctor.” Mega Man stepped toward the teleporter first. “I’m going to take out Metal Man.”

“And I’m going to fight Air Man.” Mighty Woman stood beside him.

“Good luck, both of you.” Dr. Edogawa linked the teleporter up to the coordinates they needed in an instant. The heroes stepped forth, into the teleporter, Mega Man first and Mighty Woman second, sent to their destination in a flash.

Chapter Text

As soon as Mega Man landed, he found he was moving forward on a conveyor belt. A rather inconvenient place for someone to spawn on top of immediately.

“Do either of you read me?” Dr. Light’s voice came in through Mega Man’s communication line. “I’m speaking from our home and viewing your progress through your eyes.”

“Dad!” Mega Man couldn’t be happier to hear his voice. “I hear you loud and clear!”

“I can hear you too!” Mega could hear Mighty Woman speak as well, as they were sharing the comm line.

“That’s good,” Dr. Light sighed with relief, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you much about the areas you’re in, but I’ll be able to speak about the enemies you will face.”

“Well, that’s good, because…” Mighty Woman stopped in her tracks, a giant machine like the head of an oni teleported right between the gap she intended to boost her way over.

Dr. Light deafened Mega Man on the comm line to speak to his daughter, with a slight joy to his voice. “Oh, that’s Goblin! It used to be the leader of a robot circus! Its horns are one thing, but it also constantly spews Petit Goblins, or simply Gremlins, out of its ears.”

“Ewww, and I thought flicking earwax under the bed was bad!“ Mighty Woman hopped on top of Goblin, swatting away the Gremlins with her Mighty Buster before landing on top of another platform, after which another Goblin spawned in front of her. “Uh… didn’t you say it was a circus leader?”

“I never said they only made one shell ever.” Dr. Light shrugged.

“Fair!” Mighty Woman proceeded, jumping across this Goblin and avoiding the Gremlins, repeating the process three more times until she was at a dead-end. Only several robots attached to hovering platforms over a sea of sky were in her way.

“Goro-model weather data robots.” Dr. Light nodded to himself. “These were modified to attack, those lightning bolts aren’t for show. Let’s dub these fighting versions ‘Kaminari Goro’.”

“I don’t think they’ll mind if I hitched a ride!” Mighty Woman took the time to use the contents of her sash pouches to her advantage. She pulled a rocket firework out, lighting the fuse using the heat of her solar blade before placing it in her Mighty Buster’s muzzle. She aimed at one of the Goros and let the rocket shoot out into its mouth before detonating in a dazzling array of colors.

“Problem solved!” Mighty Woman hopped onto the platform that was left behind and used it to slowly make her way to the next section of the air fortress.

Mega Man dodged the last of the presses, not being able to contemplate why they need to have spikes and are hung by chains. He jumped down to another portion of the factory, relieved to see that there weren’t any conveyor belts so he could move at his own pace.

But that relief was short-lived as he felt something nick the heel of his boot before he quickly jumped back.

“W-What?!” Mega Man looked at what just damaged his shell, seeing a drill popping out of the ground before launching itself to the ceiling and drilling through that.

“Mole brand boring drills? Wily must be going down the cost-effective route,” Dr. Light mused, “Regardless, be careful! I’m detecting that there’s so much more than where that came from.”

“Right!” Mega Man made a break for it, narrowly avoiding more of the Moles, having to shoot down some of them so he didn’t have to break his pace.

“Hup!” Mega Man leaped to higher ground before he caught sight of more conveyor belts. “Darn it, I hate these things!” He ran across the first one in a hurry, dodging more of the Moles that shot out of the ground and ceiling before bunny hopping across one that sent him back to get across it faster.

After a few more jumps across the conveyor belts, he dropped into a lower level of the factory, hopping across yet another backward conveyor belt until a huge cog dropped in front of him followed by a small clown-like robot.

“Pierobot?” Dr. Light tilted his head. “He’s part of Goblin’s circus, one of a comedy duo.”

“Really?” Mega Man let that childish reverie show again as he shot down the gear that Pierobot rolled towards him on. Pierobot fell off and hopped to the side while Mega Man gave it a wave goodbye. “At least I don’t gotta shoot him, he’s adorable.”

“Yes, quite fortunate. He plays the straight man to Blocky’s funny man.” Dr. Light went on about the circus bots as Mega Man shot down yet more gears and spared yet more Pierobots before he got off to a place without conveyor belts. “Oh, speaking of Blocky! He’s right up ahead.”

“Oh, that one?” Mega Man looked at a stack of blocks, with eyes placed upon one of them.”

“Yes, I remember whenever Pierobot smacked him in the face he’d scatter everywhere,” Dr. Light chuckled, “Fine slapstick.”

“Thanks for the tip!” Mega Man shot Blocky right where the face was, causing all of the blocks to shoot forward. Mega Man dodged each of them and jumped over Blocky’s “head”.

After contending with Scworms shooting out at her, Mighty Woman jumped across two more Goblins before she felt the wind blow her backward. Only it wasn’t the wind, but a sumo wrestler-like robot with a fan propeller in its stomach.

“According to the scanners, that one’s named ‘Matasaburo’,” Dr. Light couldn’t help but feel acrophobic just from watching, “There’s more than one ahead of that one.”

“Thanks.” Mighty Woman resisted the wind, using the rocket boosters in her boots to shoot forward and slash the Matasaburo across the neck, its head popping off and its fan deactivating. Mighty Woman climbed up a few platforms, about to make a daring leap to the next one only for a Pipi to fly square into her face and drop its egg, releasing its Kopipis which also flew into Mighty Woman to attack her.

“Get off of me!” Mighty Woman swatted around, getting the babies off and running forward to the next Matasaburo. However, she was interrupted by another Pipi egg falling out of the clouds above her head.

“It’s impossible to see through the clouds, you’ll need to be careful and listen closely to your surroundings!” Dr. Light warned Mighty.

“R-Right!” Mighty Woman took out the Kopipis that flew at her with one fell swipe of the solar blade, making sure to listen closely for more Pipis flying in the clouds as she ran towards the other obstacle, using her rocket boots to go against the wind once more.

This time she listened, hearing a Pipi piercing the cloud above her and dropping an egg. Mighty Woman used this to her advantage, kicking the egg right at the Matasaburo’s propeller and clogging it up with the Kopipis that hatched from the egg.

“GOAL!” Mighty shouted out, “And Rock said he was better at soccer than me!“

“See anything down there?” Vesper Woman asked Quake Woman via comm line, her thin wings carrying her high above the treetops.

“Negative,” Quake Woman flatly responded, “But I doubt it's just us four residents around here.”

“You’re right about that,” Vesper Woman added, seeing four different Monking robots posture and shout at her from the trees. “Let’s hope Bluey and Shoey aren't getting torn apart.”

“Right…” Quake looked down, carefully navigating through the trees.

“You said you made Shades a promise, right?” Vesper Woman simply sniped the rogue robots from the air, her Sting Shot making quick work of them.

“I-” Quake Woman closed her eyes before continuing her search and explaining.

She told Vesper, verbatim, what Blues told her. How he felt alone despite having friends. How he felt like nothing he would do would amount to anything.

“I don’t know why, but I was moved. I don’t think I’ve burdened myself with anyone else’s problems until then.”

“Awww, you really do care!” Vesper Woman teased.

“And for the record,” Quake continued, “I wasn’t making a promise. It was a threat-”

A loud shriek rang through the woods.

“That was Shoegaze,” Quake raised her voice, yet it didn't sound less stoic. “Let’s go.”

“You’re both getting close to the Robot Masters.” Dr. Light’s tone was grimmer this time as he watched the action from their perspectives.

“What’s wrong, dad?” Mega Man jumped over the Springers that quickly rolled across the floor towards him before opening a door to an empty corridor.

“I need you two to do me a favor. Do not put the enemies’ data chips into your Busters until Dr. Edogawa does a thorough check. I don’t want a repeat of what happened to Mega Man in his first battle.”

“Okay, we promise we won’t.” Mighty Woman ran past the last of the Pipis before getting to the corridor before Air Man.

Mega Man, however, hesitated to enter the battlefield. He sat down, removing his helmet as memories came flooding back, those of when he fought his brothers. He remembered what he turned into because of Wily’s cunning, but then he shifted his focus to how he was able to bring his brothers back to Light’s lab to get them repaired and reprogrammed to once again be themselves.

“What’s wrong, son?” Dr. Light asked, “I know Metal Man may look like the dentist of the future, but I’m sure you’ll-”

“We won’t be able to bring back these Robot Masters, will we?” Mega stared at his helmet as they talked.

“I’m afraid it’s as you say.” Dr. Light’s leg nervously bounced. “Besides… After Wily had reprogrammed your brothers to be what he wanted, I couldn’t possibly do the same with his. I want to show I’m above his tactics.”

“But what about Barga Man and Power Man?!” Mega Man looked confused.

“Wily actually consented to their reprogramming, perhaps to lure us into a false sense of trust.” Dr. Light looked down at his keyboard. “He doesn’t seem to be interested in taking them back either, judging that Metal Man hadn’t made an effort to collect Power Man after breaking him.”

After a long pause, Mega Man only nodded and put his helmet back on with a new sense of understanding. He walked towards the door to Metal Man’s arena, preparing to do what he had to.

“SYA!!” A scream rang out as Metal Blades nearly hit Mega Man.

“Metal Man!” Mega Man called, his Mega Buster aimed in the direction the blades came from. The enemy revealed himself, falling onto the conveyor belt that they both stood upon. “Why is Wily doing this?!”

“Tch, wouldn’t you like to know?” Metal Man asked contemptuously, “All you gotta know is this: I’m an improvement of Cut Man, I don’t putz around, and I’m not afraid to permanently break you.”

The conveyor belts activated. Metal Man ran in place as he tossed several Metal Blades at Mega Man, who rolled under them before rapidly firing at Metal Man.

“That all you got, huh?!” Metal Man leaped all the way to the other side of the room, tossing a Metal Blade at Mega Man in midair.

Mega Man tried to dash away, but the conveyor belt changed directions and brought him closer to the Metal Blade, which made a gash along his right arm. He screamed in pain, switching his Buster hand to the left and firing off once more.

“You think your little peashooter will kill me?!” Metal Man laughed. “The only things that can cut through this armor are my own Metal Blades! I’m not weak to ‘Rock’ unlike your pussy brother!”

Mega Man saw red. He ran as fast as he could towards Metal Man, who tried to leap away once more, only for Mega Man to jump after him and grab onto his legs.

“What the-” Metal Man was caught off guard as both of them dropped like stones.

“DON’T! CALL HIM! THAT!!! ” Mega Man began wailing on Metal Man, swinging his fists across Metal Man’s face to disorient him. After a pummelling, he brought his buster out again and began firing on Metal Man at point-blank range.

“Y-You little-” Metal Man felt the shots dent his mask, spawning another Metal Blade in his hand so he could slash Mega Man while they were still close to each other.

Mega Man grabbed onto Metal Man’s wrist, trying his hardest to retrieve the blade from it. Metal Man got it up to Mega Man’s neck, but Mega Man backed up and let go of Metal Man’s arm, causing him to embed the blade in the ground.

Mega Man stood up and stomped on Metal Man’s hand while it still gripped the blade, making his enemy scream in pain and let go.

“YOU ROTTEN PIECE OF-” Metal Man gripped his hand, which had been cut deeply from that move. That was the moment Mega Man took it out of the ground and swung the blade as hard as he could, down into Metal Man’s head.

“H-” Metal Man tried to muster a few final words. “How… ironic…” As his head split open, his shell began glowing brightly.

“Mega Man, get away from him!” Dr. Light cried out over the comm line.

“Huh-” Mega Man’s rage subsided as he realized what was going on. When the conveyor belts stopped, he ran as fast as he could before Metal Man’s entire shell detonated, leaving almost nothing behind.

Mega Man’s eyes glazed over as he looked towards where Metal Man used to be, seeing only two chips still survived: the data chip containing his special ability and the I.C. chip.

He went to pick both of them up, but when he least expected it, the I.C. chip disappeared, having been teleported out of the area.

“So, you have come.” Air Man turned around, gazing upon his opponent with intensity. “Dr. Wily has not overlooked you, Mighty Woman. I’ve heard no end to your resourcefulness and your strategic approach to battle.”

“Huh? Really?” Mighty Woman was almost flattered. “Well, I- Wait, that’s not important!”

“Oh, but it is. As formidable as you are, I know your weaknesses as well.” Air Man’s fan started blowing as fast as it could, stronger than any of the Matasaburos she had encountered. “Can you feel the storm? It’s coming!” Air Man’s buster arm thrust forward, multiple cyclones shooting out in a wild pattern that Mighty Woman couldn’t possibly dodge.

However, Air Man didn’t count on Mighty Woman being able to nullify the cyclones with a swing of the Mighty Buster.

“Amazing! You can cleave through my Air Shooter!” Air Man sounded almost gleeful. “I knew you would be a worthy opponent!”

“That flattery won’t get you anywhere!” Mighty Woman used her rocket boots to propel herself through the powerful wind that Air Man shot out. However, a pattern was a pattern.

Air Man backed up and jumped through the air to the other side of the arena, right behind Mighty Woman, and blustered her with his Air Shooter, several gashes formed on her arms.

“Why you-” Mighty Woman swung her Mighty Buster at Air Man, a mark went along his chest but missed his core.

She had to think of a better plan, something that would catch him completely off-guard.

Mighty Woman stopped resisting the wind, letting herself tumble to the other side of the arena before Air Man did another leap.

“Is that all you got, huh?!” Air Man shouted at her as he activated his fan with her behind him, intending to suck her in and behead her using his propeller. “I expected more fight in you than this, but I see now that you can't defeat me!”

Mighty Woman gave a knowing smirk and reached into her sash pouch.

In her hand, she held a Pipi egg that she had caught on her way to the arena. She tossed it onto the ground, freeing the Kopipis which got sucked into Air Man and clogged his propellor.

“W-WHAT?!” Air Man turned around as Mighty Woman cleaved his buster arm off. She went in with a flurry of slashes, turning his shell into a piece of modern art and finishing with a downward slash between his eyes.

“I let my guard down…” Air Man fell to his knees. “You, you were one step ahead. Just as I expected…” Air Man’s halves fell to either side, his shell glowing before self-destruction as Mighty Woman hopped back.

His I.C. chip remained on the ground before it disappeared. Only his severed buster remained, which Mighty Woman opened up to obtain his weapon data chip.

“Welcome back.” Dr. Edogawa turned to face the two heroes and held her hand out. “The data chips?”

“Here.” Mega Man handed Metal Man’s weapon data chip to the doctor, his tone distant after that experience. “I let my anger get the best of me…”

“You have every right to feel whatever emotions you do.” Dr. Edogawa tried her best to comfort Mega Man as Mighty handed her Air Man’s data chip as well. Dr. Edogawa inserted them into her main computer and brought up their consoles. “The antimalware hasn’t set off, generally a good sign. Medicine Woman, could you tend to their wounds real quick?”

“Yes ma’am!” Medicine Woman ran in and showed them to two empty repair tables. “Here, both of you lay down!”

“Thanks, Meddy.” Mega Man gave a slight grin and did as he was told.

“Ahh, you- you called me Meddy?” She blushed, stroking her hair out of embarrassment.

“Did I do something wrong?” Mega Man looked over to her.

“No! Not at all! It’s just… only Dr. Green calls me that.” She looked away, making sure her voice was low enough that only Mega and Mighty could hear her. “Rosa’s the closest thing to a mom I’ve ever had. Dr. Edogawa wants our relationship to be purely business, but… She just doesn’t understand. It’s nice to have friends, but I want more than that. I want a family.”

“Mighty and I could be your family if you want.” Mega Man held his uninjured arm out to Meddy as his right arm was being repaired.

“Yeah, it’s okay!” Mighty Woman grinned, but couldn’t hold a hand out as both her arms had been scratched up.

“R-Really? I- Thank you so much!” Meddy held onto Mega Man’s hand, nearly moved to tears.

Dr. Edogawa turned from the computer with the weapon data chips in her hand. “Nothing is amiss with them. My assumption: Wily thought the same trick wouldn’t work twice.” Dr. Edogawa placed them down on a tray, along with two other data chips. “I duplicated the Metal Blade and Air Shooter so that both of you may use them.”

“Thanks, Doctor.” Mighty Woman’s armor was fully patched up, the cuts were shallower than anticipated.

“It’s nothing.” Dr. Edogawa turned back to her computer, awaiting something.

“Get away from me!” Shoegaze lifted several rocks and tossed them at one of three Frienders that cornered him against a cliffside. However, it was a futile effort. The wolf-shaped robots converged, growling with their tails pointing over their backs.

“You must be regretting this stunt, aren’t you?” Suddenly, a voice called out, the sound of a drill whirring.

“Q-Quake?!” Shoegaze shouted, “Please, help me!”

It isn’t like Quake could threaten to leave Shoegaze to his destruction if he didn’t divulge Blues's location. That’d only make Blues feel justified in running. Quake Woman quickly stabbed her drill into the ground and let it rip, fissures quickly travelling under the Frienders.

The ground under them split, causing the Frienders to fall underground before the fissures closed back up. Shoegaze fell to his knees, catching his breath as Quake Woman approached him.

“So Dr. Lalinde sent you, huh?” Shoegaze groaned, “I'm not telling you where Blues is. I’m not letting him-”

Quake Woman grabbed Shoegaze by the collar. “Do you really believe Lalinde would actually go through changing his coding?”

“And how do you know Lalinde isn’t lying to you about not wanting that?” Shoegaze inquired.

Quake Woman's stoic façade cracked, flinching as her grip tightened. “S-She wouldn’t lie. She promised me she’d tell me the truth since-”

“Parents promise a lot of things they don’t hold,” Shoegaze retorted, “I should know. Dr. Hirono promised to be there for me before my activation in her notes.”

Quake Woman's hand quaked itself, looking like she was about to drop him.

“Don’t listen to him!” Another voice bellowed from the sky. Vesper Woman swooped in and grabbed Shoegaze in Quake Woman's place, knocking him against the wall of the cliff. “You’re going to tell us where Blues is!”

“Or else what?” Shoegaze defiantly responded.

“Blues is going to die beyond repair without the doctor’s help. What other reason do you need?!” Vesper Woman only just joined in and already she was getting sick of it.

“I’m worried about that as much as you are. But I don’t trust it to be Lalinde’s job regardless.” Shoegaze put his fingers up to his mouth, tongue pressed behind his front teeth, and started whistling. The sound pierced the air, echoing through the trees.

Quake Woman recognized that melody. That was Blues’s whistle. Shoegaze must be using that to tell Blues to find a place to hide from afar.

“Vesper, let’s go. We can’t rely on him.” Quake Woman turned and ran back into the woods.

“Fine.” Vesper Woman glared at Shoegaze, Sting Shot at the ready. “But you’re coming with me to search for him.”

“Just don’t expect directions,” Shoegaze snarked, “Not even I know at this point.”

“Ah, Dr. Light!” Dr. Edogawa brought up a video call, Dr. Light showing up on the screen.

“Item-2 has been completed! Get your busters ready!” He sent the data over to Dr. Edogawa’s computer.

“What kind of a silly line is that?” Dr. Edogawa leaned back and laughed, the almost casual nature of what was going on made it hard to believe that they were in a serious type of situation.

“Item-2 is the hoverboard, right?” Mega Man looked excited like he did when he first heard of it from Light. “Can’t wait to see it in action!”

“Just let me download them real quick…” Dr. Edogawa plugged in two blank chips.

“What’s the next course of action then?” Dr. Light got more serious.

“I’m going after Crash Man next.” When Mega Man’s arm and boot heel were fully patched up, he inserted the Metal Blade and Air Shooter chips into his buster.

“I’ll go after Bubble Man then.” Mighty Woman rolled her shoulders in preparation. “I’d say he’d be a change of pace, but if Air Man can make the wind cut me, who knows what those bubbles can do.”

“Alright, download complete.” Dr. Edogawa handed the chips containing Item-2’s data to Mega and Mighty.

“I didn’t have time to get the kinks ironed out,” Dr. Light continued, “So a word of warning: you can only stop Item-2 if it crashes into a wall or if you switch to a different special ability. Good luck, both of you. I shall try and properly develop the other two items with what little time I have.” Dr. Light left the video chat.

“Good luck,” Dr. Edogawa said once more as she activated the teleporter.

“See you on the flipside.” Mega Man stepped in first.

“Catch you later.” Mighty Woman followed.

Chapter Text

“Hey, can you hear me?” Meddy looked down at Time Man, who was now fully repaired.

He didn’t open his eyes, however. He was holding back tears after what he had to endure.

“Dr. Zaman Light?” She addressed him by his civilian name, hoping to elicit a reaction from him.

That seemed to do the trick, but at the cost of Time Man’s sorrow becoming fully apparent.

“Why do you think I deserve to be called such?” Time Man stood up and went to the exit.

“Doctor, I know what happened is a sensitive matter to you, but-” Meddy followed him hastily.

“I’m a prototype,” Time Man started, “A broken prototype. And now I’ve been obsoleted.” He let the door automatically open. “All I can do is wait to be decommissioned because the world doesn’t need me anymore-”

Time Man felt a sharp smack to the face from one Jun Kouin when he turned back around, Shou Kouin and his other colleagues from the Chronos Institute also there to greet him, but in warmer fashion.

“The first thing I hear from your mouth after we learn you made a full recovery and it’s stupid garbage like that?!” Jun shook her head, but beneath the anger, her face held sorrow. “We celebrated your anniversary yesterday! You’ve made so many friends, you saved so many patients, you even gained my respect! You think we’d just abandon you over this?!”

That reality check stopped Time Man right in his tracks.

“Time Man,” Dr. Shou Kouin stepped up to Time Man and held him by the shoulders. “No matter what stage you’re at, no matter how many breakages you suffer, you are not broken. No individual should ever think they are ‘broken’ beyond repair.”

Time Man let his tears go again, resting his head on Dr. Kouin’s chest and letting it out.

“Secret Service was able to disrupt the anti-teleportation field surrounding the fortress,” Dr. Light explained as Mega Man was teleported to one of the higher floors of the pipe fortress, “But you’re going to have to climb the rest of the way to get to Crash Man.”

“Don’t know what else I expected,” Mega Man groaned, jumping up to the second ladder and climbing as fast as he could before the Tellies that shot out of the pipes got to him.

At the next set of ladders, Mega Man didn’t take any chances, equipping the Metal Blade. His armor went black, red, and yellow, topped off with a saw blade, yellow spikes on the helmet's earpieces, and a mask over his mouth, mimicking Metal Man's armor.

The young bot threw three Metal Blades at each of the Tellies that got close to him. It was almost liberating that he didn’t need his Buster to use it, meaning he doesn’t have to waste time switching hands. He could tell this would be the most relied-on weapon in his arsenal.

Up to the next level, it looked to be a short run over to another ladder, but Mega Man stopped when he saw familiar helmets strewn about the place.

“Mets, huh?” Mega Man twirled a Metal Blade in his fingers. “I can take care of this.” But as soon as he walked up, the Met sprung up and shot a spread of pellets before trying to run into Mega Man.

“What?!” Mega Man took it down effortlessly but was left shocked. “They’re Neo Metalls!”

“Wily must have gotten them now that they’re on the market.” Dr. Light drummed his fingers on his table. “I’m just surprised that Metalls that walk weren’t thought of before Guts Man had them.”

“That is kinda weird.” Mega Man mused as he dodged the rest of the pellets shot at him, climbing up the ladder and seeing the next one out of reach. The only way up was a platform that went in a rectangular path. “Well, at least this won’t drop me…”

At the water filtration plant, Mighty Woman came face-to-face with a giant robotic frog, which spat out three smaller frogs at her. Not taking any chances, she equipped the Metal Blade, her armor also mimicking Metal Man, but the Metal Blade itself manifesting as a chainsaw out of her buster.

With a running start, Mighty jumped towards the frog, slicing it in two and taking out the smaller frogs in the process.

“Kerogs, huh?” Dr. Light tapped his chin. “It isn’t from the circus this time, but it’s still part of an underwater carnival.”

“Spitting out tiny versions of itself wasn’t part of its gig?” Mighty Woman wondered why Wily appropriated so many circus and carnival robots, but no one had the answer but him.

“Definitely not, that would be annoying!” Dr. Light shuddered when he imagined. “It was accompanied by a crab bot, Claw.”

“Kerog n’ Claw,” Mighty Woman said to herself as she boosted over the next two Kerogs she saw, not wanting to waste her time with them. She skillfully jumped over the collapsing platforms into the lower levels of the plant, where she encountered three different snail-looking bots.

“These should be easy enough-” Mighty slashed one with her Mighty Buster, but the shell almost launched itself into her chin and the robot itself sped up and tripped her onto a lower platform.

“Be careful! Tanishi go into emergency mode when their shells are taken off!” Dr. Light warned her.

“I wish you told me sooner…” Mighty Woman felt another Tanishi run right into her head, causing her to roll off that platform onto the lowest one, right before where the water is stored. “Good thing I have a helmet…” She jumped down into the water, slowly sinking and jumping over the other Tanishis that blocked her way like she was on the moon. “Good thing you made our armor with buoyancy in mind.”

“I implore you to watch how you jump, however,” Dr. Light warned her as she went deeper. “Sea mines are everywhere, and just up ahead, there’s a deep-sea exploration robot called an Ankou. It’s been modified to shoot Shrinks out of its mouth, but it can’t move due to what I can only deduce to be cost reduction.”

Mighty Woman ran forward and saw what he was talking about: a giant robotic angler fish shot shrimp robots out of its mouth three at a time. She went in for a kick, knocking a Shrink right at its lantern, which seemed to do the trick.

“It’s like a beached whale but underwater.” Mighty Woman couldn’t help but feel sorry for the thing getting its necessary parts removed due to budget constraints. She went in with her Metal Blade, putting the Ankou out of its misery by slashing the lantern on its head right off.

“Keep going forward,” Dr. Light explained, “But be wary of the filtration robots. They’re smaller versions of the CWU-01P that Rock fought before. These are M-445 models, and they are spikey.”

“And were modified to focus on me because I’m the only foreign object here.” Mighty Woman went forth, punching one of the filtration robots away so she could have some breathing space in this claustrophobic environment with literal death over her head.

“Watch it- Ow!” Shoegaze cried out in pain, Vesper Woman pulling him around by his hair.

“Hush,” Vesper Woman responded, “If you’re going to give us directions, be quiet.”

“You’re the one pulling- OW!” Shoegaze yelped.

Quake Woman stared at the two with disbelief. Vesper Woman was being mean to be mean, and Shoegaze's repeated whining wore down her nerves more than she wanted to admit. It was about time she removed herself from the situation.

“I’m going ahead,” Quake Woman spoke up, “You two take your time, we can catch up later.” With that, Quake Woman broke into a sprint and left them behind.

“Huh? Wait, Quake!” Vesper Woman tried to run after her, but her sudden movement caused Shoegaze to topple over, right on top of her. And he wasn’t budging. “Quake, a little help?! Quake Woman?! Tempo Lalinde, HELP!”

Quake Woman simply ignored Vesper's pleads. She only had her sights set on finding Blues, and neither her sister nor Shoegaze would slow her down.

Mega Man saw the sky get darker as he climbed higher. “I’m going past the Kármán line now. Will gravity be an issue?”

“Doesn't look like it, the fortress has some type of gravity field at this level.” Dr. Light's scanners picked up that something was flying straight towards Mega Man. “Watch out, Pipis incoming!”

Mega Man looked to his right, seeing the infernal birds swoop in and drop their eggs, releasing the Kopipis all at once. Not wanting to be hindered, he equipped the Metal Blade and threw three of them towards the swarm, eliminating them in an instant.

“I almost feel bad, this weapon is busted.” Mega Man continued climbing, watching as stars filled his surroundings. He paused, entranced by the beauty that surrounded him before continuing towards the final stretch.

Several robots fell in Mega Man's way, rapidly yanking on a string that was wrapped around them before letting go, the propellers on their heads spinning around and lifting them into the air.

“The scanners call them Fly Guys,” Dr. Light explained, “Their underlying schematics are of pogo stick-like toys; Wily modified them into robots.”

“He’s resourceful, I’ll give him that.” Mega Man watched as several Fly Guys moved in to crush him, but Mega Man used his Metal Blade to destroy the enemies once again. “Fighting Metal Man really was the best way to start!”

“Don’t come to rely on the Metal Blade too much,” Dr. Light gave a short lecture, “I’m sure one or two enemies are completely immune.”

“Yeah, I’ll accept that when it happens.” Mega Man had a joking tone in his voice, but it still gave away he was getting a bit cocky. Opening the door to Crash Man, he walked through the corridor, hearing the sound of a music box. That piqued his curiosity.

Quietly, he entered Crash Man’s room. He looked around at the scattered scenery. Several stuffed animals with tears and holes in them, none of them looked deliberate. He saw a little book, Daisy-Head Mayzie, with a hole drilled in the cover and bite marks at the corners of the pages.

Mega Man looked back up, seeing his target in a little corner of the room. Crash Man laid curled up, suckling on one of his drills with the music box beside him still playing. The whole scene was miserable. Mega Man couldn’t fully grasp the depth of what Crash Man felt, but he immediately knew that Crash Man just wanted to be a kid.

“Hello?” Mega Man held a hand out to Crash Man, wondering if he’d respond.

“Mnyeeee…” Crash Man’s eyes opened. They seemed more red and puffy as if he was crying beforehand, yet the Robot Master still put on a smile. “Ah! Hello, friend!!” He stood up, leaning into Mega Man’s personal space.

Mega Man backed up a bit, but still tried to put on a happy face for him. “I’m Mega Man, you must be Crash Man?”

“My friends call me Crashy!” Crash Man tilted his head, his grin revealing sharp teeth. “I’ve been waiting for you to come here! Now we can play!”

“Play?” Mega Man looked curious, if hopeful. “What are we going to play?”

“Let’s play tag!” Crash’s drills whirled and clashed against each other, sending sparks flying.

“U-Uh… You’re it!” Mega Man ran away, thinking of how to approach this battle.

“I’m it, I’m it!!” Crash Man started by jumping into the air and shooting one of his drills at Mega Man but missed. Still, the explosion reached far enough to hit Mega Man and knock him over.

“Th-That’s not fair!” Mega Man cried out as Crash Man landed over him, trying to stab him with his drills.

“I said we play tag, I make the rules!” Crash Man thrust a drill at Mega Man’s head but missed when the Blue Bomber rolled to the side to dodge it.

“Fine, then I’ll play by your rules!” Mega Man switched to the Metal Blade once more, throwing it at Crash Man’s chest, but something went wrong. The blade completely bounced off of Crash Man.

“Hehehey! That tickles!” Crash Man stepped back.

Mega Man got back on his feet, lucky that he learned what Dr. Light said was right the easy way. The only other weapon in his arsenal was the Air Shooter… Could that work?

“I’m still it!” Crash Man lunged towards Mega Man, still trying his best to strike Mega Man in either his core or his head.

“I won’t let you tag me!” Mega Man’s armor turned indigo-blue, black, and yellow, with his helmet imitating Air Man’s upper half. His Mega Buster morphed into a cannon that looked like a jet plane turbine and fired three cyclones not unlike what Air Man was capable of.

“AIEEEE!!” Crash Man got swept up by the cyclones, which rattled and scratched him until he fell to the ground. His armor was dented and marred, the glass of his visor cracked as well.

“Crashy…” Mega Man held a hand out, wondering if he could get through to him. “I’m sorry, but could we play something safer-”

“Don’t call me that like you really give a damn.” Crash Man’s childish voice and mannerisms disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“C-Crash Man?” Mega Man looked startled by the transformation.

“You’re lucky your A.I. even got to ‘grow up’ from infancy to nine years old, even if the process was sped up. I didn’t get that. I never got to be a kid. I was born a soldier whose only purpose is to kill. Do you know how it feels?! Not having a childhood?!” Crash Man shivered and cried, more vulnerable than one would expect.

Mega Man couldn’t respond, stunned silent by this sudden bout of forthright venting.

“Just take the shot, kid. You got a mission, don’t you?” Crash Man stood up, spreading his arms out.

Mega Man closed his eyes, nodding and bringing his buster up.

“Goodbye,” Crash Man whispered as Mega Man shot him one final time with the Air Shooter, breaking his shell wide open before he self-destructed.

Mighty Woman finally made it out of that treacherous underwater trip alive. She ran and jumped across the platforms, avoiding the Claws that came down from the waterfall and snapped at her. The last doors before Bubble Man stood before her, opening up and leading her to yet more submersion.

Mighty Woman entered the underwater arena, the ceiling had yet more sea mines. Taking note of that, she equipped the Metal Blade as Bubble Man made his way in, swimming faster than Mighty anticipated.

“So you finally came! I should let you know I also fight with my wits!” Bubble Man landed on the floor of the arena, eye level with Mighty.

“You’re a lot dorkier-looking than I expected.” Mighty Woman tilted her head.

“Yeah, I get called ‘dork’ a lot.” Bubble Man crossed his arms. “Doesn’t bother me, though.”

“But enough of the small talk.” Mighty Woman swung her buster arm, revving the Metal Blade. “I’m going to defeat you for what you did to Ice Man.”

“Heh, but you have to get close to me first!” Bubble Man sprung up through the water, kicking his legs to send himself backward, and shot out several jets of air at Mighty Woman, tipped with bubbles.

“Grr, try me!” Mighty Woman swiped the air jets away. Immediately, she felt something sting her arm when she ran forward.

“Of course, a bubble on its own won’t do a thing to anyone. But my Bubble Lead grants greater electronegativity to the hydrogen bond acceptor to create a stronger hydrogen bond in my bubbles! Combine that with sulfuric acid and this isn’t your grandma’s bubble soap!” The nozzle on top of Bubble Man’s head shot out a few bigger bubbles that seemed to bounce around the place.

“You talk big and use big words, but can you keep it up?!” Mighty Woman switched to her Air Shooter, activating it with a punch. One huge cyclone shot towards Bubble Man and sent the bouncing bubbles back towards him.

Bubble Man swam back further, but he couldn’t outswim the Air Shooter nor the bubbles. Regardless, he took it in stride. “Tch! Didn’t even feel a thing!” Bubble Man was substantially distracted by that move, realizing too late that Mighty Woman got closer to him and was about to swing down on him with the Metal Blade.

“YIPE!!” Bubble Man crossed his arms and let the bubble gun on his head blow an even bigger bubble, which burst and sent the two combatants flying away from each other. Mighty Woman got the brunt of the damage, gritting her teeth as she felt the acid eat away at her shell.

“Give it up! I can keep swimming away no matter how much you use your rocket boots!” Bubble Man shot several more jets from his buster.

“Oh yeah?!” Mighty Woman dodged the jets this time, jumping high enough that she almost touched the sea mines on the ceiling before switching back to her default Mighty Buster.

Out of one of her sash pouches, she pulled out the lantern of one of the Ankous she took out earlier, fitting it into her buster. By activating her Mighty Buster with the lantern in it, she caused it to overload and let out a blinding flash.

Bubble Man shouted out and covered his eyes, trying to recover and see where Mighty Woman was. But she was gone from his sight.

“Ahem.” Mighty Woman cleared her throat behind him before slashing the air tank on his back with her Metal Blade.

“WHAT?!” Bubble Man felt it nearly hit his circuitry, quickly kicking back. “W-What have you done?!”

“If my hypothesis is correct,” Mighty Woman spoke in terms she’s heard her father talk in before, “That tank is what gives you the air to blow bubbles. Without the air, you’re only just squirting water into the water!” She bolted towards him with her rocket boosters.

“W-WAIT!” Bubble Man tried to swim away, but the water that entered his tank went to his arms and his head, weighing him down. “Don’t kill me! I’m sorry for what I did to Ice Man! I-I’ll give you a million Zenny if you let me go!”

Mighty Woman ignored him.

“Two million Zenny!” He cried out as he was backed into a corner.

Yet again, his words fell on deaf ears.

“Three million Zenny! Take it or leave it!”

“Leave it.” Mighty Woman thrust the Metal Blade into Bubble Man’s chest, shredding up his circuitry and core. She used her foot to push him off when his shell glowed before self-destruction.

Mega Man was teleported back to the lab. He had not taken substantial physical damage but was emotionally destroyed after what he had heard from Crash Man.

“Ay, Rock.” Mega Man’s head jerked up to see Oil Man speaking to him, Time Man there to greet him as well.

Mega Man didn’t say a word, only walking up to Oil Man and embracing him, Crash Man’s data chip still in hand.

“Hey, bud, it’s alright.” Oil Man wrapped his nozzle arm around Mega Man, giving him that patented squeeze hug he gave Time Man.

“Say, where’s Mighty Woman?” Time Man looked around. “I would expect her to be-”

Mighty Woman came through the teleporter sopping wet and her face red and itchy from the sulfuric acid, even a few holes formed in her armor. “Hey. Sorry that I took so long.” Mighty Woman went onto the repair table, clearly looking like she had a bad time, but not as bad of a time as Mega Man did.

“Mega Man?” Dr. Edogawa walked up to the boy. “I know the battle you endured was a lot to take in, even for a child that’s been through hell and high water in the past.”

Mega Man kept quiet once more, soon breaking from Oil Man’s hug and walking off, taking a seat in a chair away from the group. Silently, he took his helmet off, staring at it without a trace of joy.

Quake Woman’s first mistake was running off without a plan. Sure, she had short-term relief from the clownish behavior, but without the sole lead, she had no hope of finding Blues.

She leaned back against a tree, trying to think of why she was going to such lengths to begin with. She never cared to try and help anyone else to this level in the past.

Was she even doing the right thing? Shoegaze said himself, she doesn’t know what Lalinde was going to do if she succeeded in bringing Blues back to the lab.

What made Blues so special to her to begin with? Did he view her with the same kind of caliber? He was rather willing to be her friend, and he readily opened up to her about his feelings. Maybe it was his friendship that changed her.

Blues…

That’s it! Shoegaze whistled Blues’s tune as a sort of distress signal. Perhaps she could use it to get closer to him?

Quake Woman pressed her tongue behind her front teeth, puckering her lips and exhaling out her mouth. She tried to whistle the first half with a slightly off tune like she heard from Shoegaze.

…

And then she heard the second half, off in the distance, completely on-key. That was her cue. She followed the music, whistling again every so often to make sure Blues was still there.

For once, a subtle grin was upon her face.

“Dad?” Mega Man finally spoke up, talking to Dr. Light through the comm line.

“Yes, son?” Dr. Light answered him.

“Do you know why Dr. Wily wouldn’t give Crash Man time to grow up?” Mega Man took his armor off temporarily, feeling a pit in his stomach.

“Dr. Wily must have wanted his revenge to be swift. The process of quickly aging a robot’s A.I., even nowadays, can take upward of a month or two depending on how old they are meant to be. People are capable of just setting a number and letting it be, but it’s inadvisable depending on what the robot’s personality and purpose are if any.

“You know how much I love Auto, but he was rather immature and peculiar while Wily and I were still in the Robot Institute of Technology, despite me modeling him off of a mid-twenties human mind. He still has a bit of that eccentricity left in him, but he was given the time to adjust to the world and learn. He was never made with a sole purpose such as destroying another robot either.

“Crash Man’s personality, combined with being thrown into a world where he’s only been told to destroy without being able to adjust, must have led to him regressing in age to cope. He wants to go back to a childhood he never had. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.” Rock nodded. “Can I ask something else? It’s somewhat related.”

“Go ahead.” Dr. Light listened.

“Could Roll and I grow up too?” Rock looked at his hand. “I’ve held onto nine years old for such a long time. If I get older, maybe I can grow as a person as well. Maybe I won’t be scared all the time. I could get braver. Does that make sense to you?”

“Yes, perfect sense, I just- I never thought I’d see the day you’d ask.” Dr. Light sounded like he was getting emotional. “I’m sorry I never told you sooner, but I was actually thinking of sending you and Roll to school if that’s okay with you.”

“Really?” Rock tilted his head.

“Yes!” Dr. Light sounded excited. “Actually, growing up while you’re in school would be perfect! You’re going to have human peers who will age and grow as time goes on, so by letting you and Roll age, you won’t have to be left behind!”

Rock, for the first time he got back, smiled. “Yeah… I’d love that. Thanks, dad. You heard all that, Roll?”

“Yeah, I did.” Mighty Woman’s skin was repaired, the armor was almost done. “I love the idea! Actually, I always wanted to have more human friends that aren’t just old people,” Mighty Woman joked

“Hey, I’m old too!” Dr. Light retorted, Rock laughing at what transpired.

“Not to be a party pooper, but…” Dr. Edogawa spoke up, taking the data chips and their copies out of the computer.

“Right.” Rock stood up, turning back into Mega Man and obtaining the Crash Bomber and Bubble Lead. “I’m going after Flash Man, for Time Man and the people of Chronos Institute!”

“Heat Man will be next for me.” Mighty Woman stood up as her armor was now fully-repaired.

“Then make haste.” Dr. Edogawa set the coordinates for the teleporter.

Time Man swung around to face his younger siblings. “Be careful, both of you…”

“Tear them apart!” Oil Man shouted.

“We’ll see you both later.” Mega Man entered the teleporter for the third time.

“You two stay safe as well.” Mighty Woman made her exit shortly after.

Chapter Text

Marcellus got closer to the scene of the crime. It looked like any normal case of property damage at first glance, but then he heard a splash, followed by his shoe getting wet. “Huh? Ah, dammit!” He stepped back.

“Well, I guess that’s the weird part of this one.” Bianca sniffed the air. “It’s soapy…”

“First it was a rubber ball, then it was a metal ball, now this? What next, a fireball?” Marcellus felt it was all the same culprit, but that was just a hunch. How exactly could he prove it?

“So you are struggling to figure it out?” A monotone voice spoke from the other side of the broken window.

“Huh?” Marcellus looked up. “Oh, you’re the garbage boy from the scrapyard.”

“Barga Man,” the robot reminded him. 

“What’re you doing here?” Marc asked, “You here to be a plot convenience?”

“In a sense. I saw a suspicious robot run into the scrapyard, just as the sirens rang into this suburban area,” Barga Man recounted.

“And why didn’t you stop them with your claws?” Marc crossed his arms.

“I am not programmed for vigilante justice, only self-defense,” Barga Man responded flatly.

“Damn!” Marc jumped out the broken window. “Bianca, let’s go! We gotta get to the scrapyard before the bot gets away!”

“Right, sir.” Bianca exited the crime scene through the house’s front door.

Marc reached for his walkie talkie, briskly making his way to the police car. “Hey, uh, Ms. Tyler? That thing you said about Wily only caring about Light this time around? Welllll, that hypothesis might be contested…”

Mega Man ran through the entrance of the crystal mines. When he tried to stop to look around, his whole body slid along a floor of quartz and caused him to fall, right in front of a Shotman.

“Oh no oh no oh no-” Mega Man rolled along the floor to dodge the small cannonballs that the Shotman shot. He took the time it needed to change its firing angle to fire as many Solar Bullets as it could take before breaking. “This is a mine? How is anyone capable of working in here on ice physics?!”

“If I recall, Diggers have cleats specifically for traversing across this kind of terrain without slipping,” Dr. Light explained as best as he could, “You’ll just have to put up with it and be careful.”

“R-Right.” Mega Man moved along, avoiding the other Shotmen and making his way through the mazelike layout of the cave of crystal.

“I’m also detecting some areas of the quartz are weaker than others. This could be a job for one of your new weapons.”

Nodding, Mega Man switched to the Crash Bomber, his armor turning orange and white and a glass visor shielding his eyes. He fired the drill into the wall and got back, the explosion clearing his way and showing him a path down.

“Flash Man is deep within the mine according to the report, so the only way from here is down,” Dr. Light explained more.

“Thanks, I’ll hop to it then.” Mega Man was about to make that leap but stopped when he heard several explosions from the bottom of the pit. “Huh?!”

“Get back, fiends! I’ll show you to mess with Hugh Mann!” Mega Man recognized that voice.

“T-That human! He’s in trouble!” Mega Man jumped down, landing with a clang and witnessing what had gone on. The remains of Sniper Joes were scattered about the place, with broken Dachone model robots smoldering in random places as well. As Mega Man was observing, Hugh Man slid backward on the quartz close to him. The two were being approached by said Dachone model, which was being piloted by a Sniper Joe.

“Begone, evildoer!” Hugh fired the ray gun in his hand, which was on its way to hit the machine armor directly but was interfered with a spray of machine gunfire.

“Get back!” Mega Man ran ahead of Hugh Mann and equipped the Air Shooter, firing cyclones that cut the armor down to size. The Sniper Joe jumped out to attack Mega Man but was stopped with a Mega Upper as it fell down the next pit.

“M-Mega Man!” Hugh Mann got up and bowed down. “I never thought I would ever fight alongside my idol! It’s such an honor to-”

“You aren’t fighting with me. You’re getting out of here now before you get killed!” Mega Man backed up.

“What?! Do you not see the ones I already destroyed?!” Hugh Mann looked dejected.

“I see them, and all the shattered quartz. You need proper breathing gear or your lungs will get slashed up by the dust.”

“O-Oh yes, I forgot in the heat of the moment!” Hugh Mann put a respirator upon his face. He had neglected to even get rid of the cosplay he was wearing.

“Now this is goodbye, I have to go fight Flash Man.” Mega Man jumped down the next pit to go deeper into the mine.

“W-Waaaait!!” Hugh Mann, despite all the warnings, followed Mega Man using a grappling suction cup, sliding down the pit without having to jump.

Mighty Woman felt the heat swelter around her. “This is where metal waste goes, right?”

“And it’s all recycled, as you can probably tell.” Dr. Light sent Mighty Woman a few pointers. “I know a bit about this place since this is where Fire Man works. The security robots are Telly models, like what Mega Man encountered on his way to Crash Man. No doubt they were reprogrammed to target you.”

“Right, I’ll be careful.” Mighty Woman jumped over a broken bridge across the molten metal, a Fly Guy falling in her way before she quickly disposed of it using the Metal Blade. She hurried along as more started falling through the garbage chutes, accompanied by Tellies shooting out of the walls.

It was almost mind-numbing, except for the changing terrain. Mighty Woman got nervous, having to land on small platforms with more precision than she’s had to use thus far. Below her, more molten metal awaited.

She jumped onto the last platform, but one of her feet missed it, causing her to slip off. She would have fallen into a burning hell if it weren’t for her rocket boost saving her, letting her grab onto the next platform and climb up.

After two minutes, she made it to the end of that level, avoiding the Springers and climbing to a lower floor. The next obstacles that met Mighty Woman were blocks that appeared and disappeared in a pattern.

“This is easy, no problem.” Mighty Woman jumped, landing on the first block. Taking another leap, the next one appeared under her and she landed on it perfectly. She skipped the last two blocks by boosting to the ledge, sliding down the next ladder chute.

Another floor with more Tellies shooting out of the wall and yet more appearing blocks. Mighty Woman didn’t bother with most of the Tellies, waiting for blocks to appear and boosting over the pillars that they were against when she could. At the last two pillars, she didn’t even need to bother with the blocks, because there were weak points within the pillars that she could destroy.

“Crash Drill time.” Mighty Woman’s armor transformed. The drill at the end of her Mighty Buster whirled, piercing the pillar and busting a hole in it. She held the broken portion aloft, throwing it at the next pillar and smashing it so she could get through.

“You’re almost there, Mighty Woman!” Dr. Light encouraged her. “Just another set of blocks and you’re in the clear.”

“Another set?” Mighty Woman looked around, kicking away a Springer that shot towards her. “Where would that-” Immediately, blocks started appearing above her in a linear path. That is, it was linear until it reached a pool of molten metal, then they started appearing sporadically.

“You know what this calls for, don’t you?” Dr. Light gave her a hint.

“Oh, yeah! It’s about time I used this thing!” Mighty Woman switched to Item-2, her armor simply turning red and white with no extra details. Placing the hoverboard down, she stepped onto it, the rockets activating and riding her across the molten metal without her having to worry about stepping in the wrong place.

Mega Man got used to the slippery quartz by now, using it to his advantage to rush by the Sniper Joes in their Dachone armor. He wanted to conserve his energy for one of the Robot Masters that he personally held a grudge against.

But just as Mega Man made it to the door to Flash Man, he heard several explosions behind himself. Turning around to quickly face it, he saw several familiar ray gun blasts take out the Joes, followed by Hugh Man jumping onto the elevated ground and striking a heroic pose. “I won’t let them interfere with you, Mega Man sir!”

Mega Man, however, entered the corridor without a word, hoping that the problem would go away if he didn’t humor the dangerous behavior. “Dad, how do I explain to him?”

“Just take Flash Man out quickly before he gets hurt, that’s my only advice.” Dr. Light sounded nervous for the man as well, but something else ate away at him. “You don’t have any lightning weapons to interfere with the Time Stopper. What could work?”

“Just like with Time Man, I just have to find out.” Mega Man’s voice was low.

He remembered when he fought Time Man, how he broke his newest brother’s ability and it couldn’t be repaired by anyone except Wily.

Wily tried to prey on that once again.

He has to be stopped.

The arena was just as uneven and slippery as the rest of the mines. Mega Man stepped onto higher ground, looking around the arena and having a feeling about how his opponent would make his entrance.

“Sending a child to fight his wars?” Flash Man suddenly appeared right behind Mega Man, who whipped around and fired as fast as he could, only to see nothing. “Tch, no matter how good you are at fighting, Dr. Light’s ideas are just the depths of depravity!” Flash Man seems to have taken drama class to have that level of fake concern in his voice.

“Don’t act like you’re any better.” Mega Man turned around to see Flash Man. “I won’t let anyone manipulate or blackmail my siblings ever again!”

“Oh, you saw that exchange me and that prototype had?” Flash Man purposefully instigated Mega Man. “Or, wait… he was complete, wasn’t he? We completed him. But then he was broken. You broke him.”

Mega Man went in rapidly firing, only for Flash Man to disappear again.

“Did I strike a nerve there?” From right behind Mega Man, Flash Man kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him over and even sending his helmet flying.

“You hurt Dr. Dohman and Nurse Matsumoto!” Mega Man spoke the names of those injured in the crossfire.

“Who was who again?” Flash Man asked, sincerely indifferent, “One was simply self-defense, another was just unfortunate collateral damage. Be happy that I didn't kill them despite my capabilities!”

Mega Man rolled across the ground, switching to the first weapon he could think of, the Metal Blade. He went in two in each hand, hoping to slash his opponent in two.

But with one more flash, Mega Man felt himself get shot with what felt like the force of a million solar bullets. This was all too familiar. All too much like when he fought Time Man.

“What a pity, you can’t exploit what you could with your poor broken brother~” Flash Man’s grin went from ear-to-ear. “Now, I believe, is the time we bid adieu. ” Flash Man pointed his buster at Mega Man’s head lifting the boy by the neck.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!!” Mega Man heard that voice yell out again. Flash Man let go of Mega Man in a panic before the boy heard a loud crash send the other robot away.

“Hugh…?” Mega Man tried to get back up to his feet.

“Get him!!” Hugh yelled at him, Flash Man still tried to recover from the force of the plasma that hit him.

“R-Right!” Mega Man turned around and resumed his offensive, tossing as many Metal Blades as he could at the prone robot.

“W-What in the-” Flash Man couldn’t even belt out a one-liner as he was sliced limb-from-limb by the flurry of saws. Even when his shell was self-destructing, they kept on coming until he exploded, his weapon data chip landing in front of Mega Man.

“You did it!” Hugh Mann cheered. “I’m so sorry that I interfered, but-”

“It’s fine, Mr. Mann.” Mega Man picked up the chip, giving the human a sincere smile. “You saved me. I owe you one.” 

“I… I…!” Hugh bowed down. “Thank you so much!” When he got back up, his normally slouchy posture was now tall as can be. “I never thought I would be praised by-”

“HUGH MANN, I AM GOING TO $@#%&*$ KILL YOU!!!” Yet another person entered the arena, riding on a Sniper Joe’s shield with its head on the end of a metal staff she carried. One Maya Rollins came in and grabbed Hugh by the collar.

“H-Help meeee…” Hugh looked expectantly at Mega Man.

Mega Man simply flashed a peace sign and was teleported out.

Mighty Woman had opened her shell to expose the mechanical endoskeleton underneath just to let the excess heat drain out. She was ready to get it over with as she rolled right into the arena with the Bubble Lead equipped, her armor changing to look like the scuba gear that Bubble Man wore complete with a mask covering her eyes and mouth, even flippers.

“Hooah…” Mighty was greeted by the lighter-shaped robot leaned up against a wall. “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”

“I’m going to punch you if you don’t stop.” Mighty backed away.

“I’m not flirting with you, you’re like, eight, and I’m like, twelve!” Heat Man looked aggravated. “I think the dial on my back is wonked, could you take a look?” He turned around, the dial turned all the way down.

“…Is this some kind of trick?” Mighty Woman looked suspicious.

“It isn’t if you want a fair fight. Or are you too chicken?” Heat Man snickered.

“I’m not chicken, you’re a turkey!” Mighty looked offended at the notion that she was cowardly.

“Then come on, turn it up, please! I seriously can’t handle it anymore-” Heat Man’s head pressed up against the wall, accidentally closing his lid on himself.

Cautiously, Mighty Woman walked up to him and placed a hand on the dial. A glance at Heat Man showed he was rather distressed. Maybe he was being genuine?

As fast as she could, Mighty turned the dial to the right and ran away, right before Heat Man surrounded himself in fire and laughed.

“THAT’S the stuff!” He stretched out, cracking his knuckles before his fire was briefly extinguished. “Alright, Little Miss Mighty! I hope you’re prepared for every degree of Centigrade this fire in me burns with! 12,000, baby!”

“That’s just wrong,” Mighty Woman groaned.

“I SAID I’M NOT FLIRTING WITH-”

“No, I mean, literally, that’s wrong,” Mighty Woman spat out facts, “12,000 degrees Celsius is hotter than the Earth’s core or the surface of the sun. You would have completely vaporized Fire Man down to the I.C. chip if what you’re saying was true.”

“I- uh-” Heat Man was astonished she was calling his bluff in such detail at a time like this.

“It wouldn’t even be fire anymore. It’d be plasma. The hottest a fire can be is 3,000 degrees Celsius, from an oxyacetylene torch.”

“How do you know all this-”

“Furthermore!” Mighty Woman interrupted him, looking like she was about to say something, but she immediately swung her Mighty Buster. A bubble wand shot out, sending three bubbles towards Heat Man and splashing him down.

“What the- PFFF, PLEH!!” Heat Man sparked and spat out the water that got in his mouth. “ALRIGHT! You wanna play dirty?!” Heat Man closed the lid over his head before launching himself towards Mighty Woman, wreathed in 3,000 degree Celsius flames.

Mighty Woman rolled to the side, launching yet more bubbles when he showed his face. The sparks and crackling along his shell showed it was taking a toll.

“W-Why d-d-d-d-didn’t Wily make m-m-me… waterproof…” Heat Man collapsed on the ground, shell glowing before self-destruction.

“I really just spent more time explaining science than fighting him, huh?” Mighty Woman looked disappointed, picking up the weapons data chip that was left behind.

Mega Man shut his eyes and let the repair table do the work for him. This was going to take half an hour compared to the relatively minor damages he’s taken before.

“You really just left a man to die back there.” Dr. Edogawa couldn't help but laugh.

“His problem for invoking her wrath, I know that much from being with Roll.” Mega Man wanted to laugh, but it would mess with the repair process.

“Well, on the bright side,” Dr. Edogawa changed the subject, “Dr. Light started ironing out the bugs in Item-1 and 3.”

“Yeah, I was actually wondering when they’d be done…” Mega Man drummed his fingers on the table, about the only thing he could do.

“Hey, I’m back-” Mighty Woman walked in, relatively unscathed, just overheated. “M-Mega!”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Mega Man huffed, “The same thing happened to me when I fought Time Man. Just go fight Wood Man, and I’ll get Quick Man when I’m ready.”

Mighty Woman kept quiet, understanding how Mega Man felt more wronged by Quick Man than any of the other Robot Masters despite the very short meeting.

“You might want to wait for Dr. Light to finish up with the other two Items first.” Dr. Edogawa pat Mighty Woman on the shoulder. “He told me it was important that he gets them to you bug-free.”

“If he says so.” Mighty sat down, cocking her head towards the computer screen waiting for her father to show up.

Marcellus stepped out of the police car, making his way to the scrapyard entrance before catching sight of Gil and Roslyn. “Hey, if it isn’t the FBI! Is it really that bad?”

“If it’s Wily’s bot, then we have a really good chance of finding his location.” Gil held a plasma gun in each hand.

“We have to find out what’s with those I.C. chips first.” Roslyn carried a two-handed cannon, ELEMENT unsubtly etched onto the side. “If they just teleport away, then they have to have their own teleportation engine attached to them.”

“We’ll help you out then.” Bianca backed up against the fence. “On your mark?”

“Yeah, three, two-” Gil was interrupted by the sound of a scooter horn.

“Huh? Didn’t you block this place off?” Bianca looked down the road.

“I thought that was your job!” Roslyn argued.

Chaining the scooter to the wire fence was a familiar green and blocky robot. “What’s goin’ on here? Is there a criminal?!”

“Auto?” Roslyn tilted her head. “What are you even doing here?”

“Roll would normally be in the scrapyard right now, so I decided to fill in because I haven’t been in this arc the whole time!” Auto’s hands went to his hips.

“Alright, first the plot convenience line, now this? That’s one too many meta jokes to have in a single chapter- oops.” Bianca realized she raised the count to three.

“Maybe I can help you guys!” Auto held his right hand up, which turned into a welding torch.

“Well first, be quiet when you’re with us.” Marcellus put a finger over his mouth.

“Oh, okay-” Auto gave a thumbs up.

“Second, no.” Marcellus looked over to Gil. “On your mark?”

“Let’s just roll.” Gil gestured, the four authorities made their way into the scrapyard, without Auto.

“Huh? Heyyyy, that’s not faiiiir!” Auto crossed his arms, pouting against the fence.

Quake Woman made an attempt to compose herself. There was quite a bit of nightshade bushes in this neck of the woods. And they just so happened to be where Blues’s whistling came from.

Slowly, she crept up to the bush that moved the most, if only slightly. This was her chance. All she had to do was try and talk to him.

Her hands slowly reached in front of her, palms facing away from each other as she parted the leaves.

“Blues?” Quake Woman whispered.

There was a piercing silence.

“…Damn…” Blues removed himself from his hiding place. He didn't seem frightened or confused, but rather, he looked resigned.

“Blues,” Quake Woman began, “I-”

“I know,” Blues interrupted, “You and Lalinde are onto me. Big stupid shocker, I’m Light’s defective little boy, a prototype that just happened to be successful enough to pass as a finished product.”

“And I’m taking you back.” Quake Woman held her hand out. “Please. You can’t keep going on with that core.”

“You know I can’t do that, Tempo.” Blues let his hands ball into fists before unclenching. “And… you know why.”

“Blues,” Quake Woman started again, “I know you're scared. I know you don’t want to lose yourself. But I promise you, Lalinde wouldn’t-”

“Didn’t Shoegaze go over this with you?” Blues abruptly asked, “Because judging from your strategy, you found him.”

“Lalinde would never lie to me!” Quake Woman’s immediate hostile reaction took Blues off guard. “Sh-She promised me! She said she would be truthful after- after…” Quake Woman recoiled, not elaborating further.

“It’s easier to lie when it’d save your own ass,” Blues continued, though this time he seemed to be cracking if just slightly. “What happens if you take me back and when it’s all through, I’m forced to take orders because that’s what robots have to do according to the law?”

“I-If you think Lalinde truly is lying to me, then I’ll replace your core myself!” Quake Woman stepped forward.

Blues stayed silent.

“I promised you!” Quake Woman’s armor faded away, letting her guard down to show Blues she was serious. “I promised I’d do everything in my power to help you! So please, let me keep that promise!”

Blues held onto his chest, slightly shivering, which was starting to grow heavier and heavier yet.

“I-” Blues stuttered, “I- I- I’m sorry, but… I won’t get fooled again! I know better!” He swung his duffle bag in front of him, pulling out his hoverboard and activating it, the jets against the dirt creating clouds and blocking out Tempo's vision.

Tempo held her arm over her eyes, trying to keep the dust out of them. Her armor phased back onto her body, but by the time she was able to look again, Blues was a good ways away. She had no choice but to start running again.

It was a long, long chore to navigate the scrapyard, with how needlessly mazelike it is. Broken cars, robot shells, all sorts of debris still piled up like rusty mountains.

“This robot has a thing for throwing balls through people’s windows, so I think we oughta watch our heads.” Marcellus looked up into the sky. “Man, and just when we thought Wily wasn’t going to make it everyone’s problem.”

“What did you expect? I didn’t trust he’d keep it simple since the moment the slaughter started.” Gil looked around a corner. “There’s some sort of dead-end up ahead. I’m not expecting good things, but that might just be where our target is.”

“I got it: we lure him by pretending we don’t expect it. Ha, good thinking, Ros.” Roslyn smiled and went ahead, unconsciously flicking the dial on her element cannon. None of them knew what exactly this target would be like.

Once they were all gathered in the dead end, it looked to be a sort of makeshift stadium, complete with a shoddy scoreboard overlooking the whole situation.

“Humans?! Coming to fight me?! You’re way out of your league!” On top of the scoreboard, a lone robot stood. He seemed to be of a rather human-but-not-quite design, with a puffy afro on top of his head and a sports uniform.

“And you are?” Gil shouted up at him, everyone aimed at him.

“Me? I’m SWN-00C, Kickball Man!” In Kickball Man’s hand, he held a rubber ball.

After a long silence, Marcellus burst out laughing.

“Really?! Of all the stupid ideas I’ve heard, this is-” His laughter interrupted him. “KICKBALL?! What are you, in elementary school?!”

Kickball Man didn’t take kindly to that.

“KICKBALL IS A MAN’S SPORT!” Kickball Man’s entire aesthetic changed, his hair and colors now evoking fiery wrath as he kicked a fireball at the group.

Marcellus ducked down to avoid getting burnt. However, his hair wasn’t spared.

“M-My ‘do…! My hair!!” Marcellus felt at the bald spot that was made.

Chapter Text

“MY HAAAAAAAIR!!” Marcellus wailed towards the heavens, his perfectly-tended afro scorched into something akin to the hair of Larry Fine.

“Not so funny now, is it?!” Kickball Man’s body turned silver, kicking several metal spheres towards the humans that stood against him.

“Watch out!” Gil rolled out of the way and fired fast as he could, aiming to break the scoreboard and force Kickball Man to their level.

“Tch! Is that all ya got?!” Kickball Man dropped another ball, ready to kick it towards one of them, but was struck by a lightning bolt. Kickball Man fell off the scoreboard into one of the makeshift bleachers.

“This is what I got.” Roslyn set the dial on the element cannon to electricity. “Just because Mega and Mighty aren’t here doesn’t mean we can’t find a weakness and exploit it!”

Kickball Man rolled out of the seating area, a noticeable dent in his side causing him to move awkwardly. “S-So what?” He switched back to his normal mode, juggling three rubber kickballs before shooting them towards Roslyn. She rolled to the side, but they bounced back off one of the walls of scrap, back towards her.

Three shots of plasma popped each kickball. Gil holstered one pistol, ran towards Kickball Man, and grabbed him by the wrist, taking him to the ground with a hip throw and aiming his remaining pistol towards the robot’s head. “Say goodbye, you piece of scrap.”

“NOT!” Kickball Man laughed as his armor turned a rather typical yellow color. Gil couldn’t get away in time, his downed opponent creating a ball of electricity right up against his chest. One of the oldest tricks, an electric attack from up close.

Gil convulsed and shook before being thrown back by his own body seizing up. He felt his heartbeat go irregular, gasping for air as he saw the approaching SWN. He closed his eyes, ready to meet his fate at the hands of what he looked down upon.

“Y’know, you brought this upon yourself!” Kickball Man hissed, “Wily told us to not kill unless threatened. You could have avoided this encounter if you-”

In the middle of his speech, a bullet flew clean through Kickball Man’s head, ending the encounter.

“Hurry!” The mystery helper revealed themself as Orlena, who ran over to Gil and sat on top of his stomach, pulling open his coat so they could see his chest clearly.

“Right!” Roslyn made a mad dash to the self-destructing robot, kicking him away from the group so no one got hurt in his blaze of glory.

“Okay, here goes.” Orlena balled their right hand, shooting a hammerfist to the center of Gil’s sternum. Checking his pulse, they were relieved to see it had gone back to normal.

“T-That hurt,” Gil grumbled and backed up against the wall when Orlena dismounted him.

“It’s a precordial thump,” Orlena explained, “Be thankful it worked because it can only be attempted once.”

The sound of a teleportation engine echoed through the junkyard. Kickball Man's I.C. chip was gone now.

“If only we could catch it before it's too late...” Orlena got off of Gil, looking into the distance. “This won’t be the last of them. At least, that’s what I’m forecasting.”

“None of us expected otherwise.” Roslyn looked up to meet Orlena’s gaze. “Do they teach you first aid in Secret Service?”

“I can’t divulge secrets, but I can tell you I went to medical school.” Orlena looked to the side, apprehensive.

“Oh wow! That’s impressive!” Roslyn looked excited. “How’d you join-”

“I can’t give my entire story in the line of duty,” Orlena said sternly.

“Sorry, I just barely know you,” Roslyn whined.

“I’ll tell you what I want when I’m ready.” Orlena looked over to the police officers. “You two, be on the lookout.”

“Y-Yes, ser…” Marcellus put his coat over his head, not wanting to be seen with his hairstyle destroyed.

“Just shave the rest of it, you baby,” Bianca chided.

After obtaining the other two Items from Dr. Light, Mighty Woman set foot into the vast preserved forest that Wood Man had made his residence. Trees stood tall along a path that went straight ahead, guarded by Battons that hung from the branches and covered themselves with their wings.

Bolting ahead, Mighty Woman ran past the bat-like bots, which unfurled their wings and went to swoop into her. She rolled on the ground to dodge them before jumping back onto her feet, narrowly avoiding a Robbit which almost landed on top of her. Further ahead, another Robbit blocked her path and opened fire on her with a carrot-shaped rocket.

“Hup!” Mighty Woman deflected the rocket into the sky with her Mighty Buster, knocking the Robbit out of the way without destroying it.

“No one is going to wrong you for breaking any of them, Mighty.” Dr. Light didn’t feel so good about her just avoiding them and potentially having a swarm chase after her. “I know they’re forest surveillance and anti-poaching robots, but-”

“I waited for you to give me the items, I’m making up for the time I wasted!” Mighty Woman ran through a bundle of bushes, discovering a ladder leading underground. “Uh, sorry for shouting at you.”

“You’re under pressure, I’ll let you shout as much as you need.” Dr. Light understood his children’s feelings. “Deeper underground, there are three different Friender model robots. They’re meant to prevent forest fires, but all of them have been modified with fire breath.”

“I’ve got an idea.” Mighty Woman dropped down the next ladder she saw, switching to the Time Stopper. Her armor went black, blue, and yellow, her hair disappearing into her helmet to simulate Flash Man’s baldness. As soon as a Friender was about to leap into her path, she activated the Time Stopper and ran under it, avoiding it as well as the next two altogether.

“Oh! Good thinking!” Dr. Light understood what Mighty Woman did as soon as the Time Stopper ran out of energy. “When you climb back up you’re going to be  high above the ground. This section of the forest is patrolled by Monking model anti-poaching robots, and I highly recommend you destroy them unless dismemberment is a good alternative to you.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Mighty Woman has heard some horror stories about how strong apes can be. As much as she didn’t want to waste time, she had no choice if she wanted to preserve herself. Switching to the Crash Drill once again, she climbed up the last ladder out of the underground and ran towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

Mighty Woman looked out the tunnel, seeing she was above the trees and jumping onto a branch. She was immediately confronted by a Monking swinging under her but caught her balance on the shaking branch, which didn’t break despite the weight of two robots put upon it. Despite her swift recovery, she couldn’t react fast enough to the Monking leaping on top of her with intent to pull her apart.

This didn’t phase Mighty Woman, however, because as soon as the Monking tried to pull her buster arm off, she switched it and drilled into the Monking’s stomach, lifting it above her head with all the strength of Guts Man. Jumping to the next branch, Mighty Woman caught sight of several Pipis flying overhead.

“See ya!” Mighty shouted, throwing the Monking into the Pipis, smashing them to pieces. “How much further, Dr. Light?”

“The cliff face directly ahead has a safe passage to lower ground as well, just past that will be Wood Man’s arena,” Dr. Light explained, “You can tell what his weakness is off the bat, I presume?”

“You kidding me? I’ve been laying off on using it so I don’t burn the forest down!” Mighty Woman almost laughed. “You worried I won’t take him down?”

“What I’m worried about is you wasting weapon energy. Wood Man’s leafy weapon doesn’t use actual leaves, but thin sheets of ceratanium shaped and painted like leaves.”

“You mean like my armor, right?” Mighty made it to the other cliff, going through the passageway Dr. Light mentioned and climbing down the ladder. “I think I know a way to deal with it! It’ll blow you away, trust me.”

“BLUES!”

That name was shouted over and over again, unconsciously. Quake Woman could only run fast enough to keep Blues in her sight, but could never catch up.

Why did Blues only ever run? Tempo even told him she’d keep him safe. She told him she would be the one to fix him without anyone interjecting.

So why?

Quake Woman stopped, hand retracting and her Quake Drill shooting out in its place. She had to take drastic measures, as much as she hated the thought of hurting Blues.

Getting to the ground, Quake Woman stabbed her drill into the ground and let it rip. Vibrations shot through the earth, cracks forming as the soil loosened up. The path that she had been chasing Blues on now became an obstacle course.

The tremors uprooted the trees, they were dropping here and dropping there, but they all ended up missing Blues. He wasn't a slack at maneuvering his hoverboard. But he didn't anticipate a tree falling right in front of him.

Blues crashed his hoverboard, the crash flinging him right through the leaves to the other side. Was this it for him? No, he had to think fast and observe his surroundings.

There were a few bushes he was able to crawl through, quickly, but he stopped when he saw where exactly he was now.

Blues saw Wood Man glancing in his general direction, but seemingly oblivious to Blues’s presence. A look of rage was upon Wood Man’s face. No doubt he heard all those trees being felled.

Wood Man wasted no time in stepping off his throne and leaping out to see who was daring to desecrate this forest sanctuary. Blues tried to turn and look as quietly and with as little movement as he could.

“You!” Wood Man shouted, “Who are you to not only trespass on my territory, but harm the beautiful life that brings life to all of nature?!”

“Huh?” Quake Woman looked confused. “Y-You couldn’t be-”

“I’m giving you a thirty second headstart! LEAVE!” Wood Man roared, his Leaf Shield circling him and shooting at the enemy robot, but purposefully missing as a warning shot.

“N-No!” Quake Woman crouched on the ground. “Please, I- I have to find Blues!”

“All the more reason for you to leave!” Wood Man came closer to her.

“You know him?! Then, please, tell me where he is!” Quake Woman pleaded.

“Not even I know at this rate.” Wood Man’s hand wrapped around Quake Woman’s neck, but he didn’t squeeze just yet.

“He ran in this direction! You have to be lying!” Quake Woman tried to shout him down.

“Ten.” Wood Man counted down his headstart’s timer… That made Quake Woman struggle out of his grip and run away.

It was over. Wood Man marched back to his throne, obliviously passing Blues before sitting upon his wooden throne.

Wood Man looked over to a Robbit hopping beside him, chittering away. “So Mighty Woman draws near,” he said with a stoic tone of voice.

“M-Mighty Woman?” Blues didn’t mean to speak. But that name…

“You.” Wood Man glared where Blues was. “Get away from here. I already told you that-”

“I’m not leaving until you give me an explanation.” Blues popped out from the bushes. “You’re Dr. Wily’s robot, aren’t you? This battle is to take over the world, isn’t it?”

“And if I am Wily’s robot, does that mean my offer is null?” Wood Man continued to speak calmly, trying not to scare Blues away.

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Blues turned to leave.

“Why do you run away from your salvation?” Wood Man asked downheartedly, “You escaped from Dr. Light, you escaped from that girl, but now you run away from-”

“What?” Blues whipped around. “How the hell does Wily know about me running away from Light?!”

“Wily heard of the falsehood that you broke down from Dr. Light’s interview that fateful year,” Wood Man exposited, “He was brought to tears over it. When you came to me, he put two and two together. Now he wants to save you, Blues.”

“I don’t need BOTH of my asshole dads wanting to reprogram me into a slave to his will!” Blues clenched his fists.

“Wily loved you like you were his son!” Wood Man raised his voice. “I meant what I said when I told you my master would never take away your independence!”

“Really? If I never ran away from Light, would he have left me alone when he took the other DLNs, or would he have tried to take me too?!” Blues raised his voice as well. “How do I trust he’s not going to turn me into his weapon as he did with Dr. Light’s robots- no, like he always wanted to when he and Light were still together?!”

“He never wanted to ‘turn you into a weapon’! The world is a cruel place to be, you know that firsthand! He simply wished for you to have the tools to fight back!”

“Then why did he reuse those designs MEANT for me to mass-produce Sniper Joes?! WHAT ARE THEY IF NOT WEAPONS?!” Blues screamed at the top of his lungs.

Wood Man couldn’t respond.

“Hey, Wily, I know you’re listening to this too,” Blues pointed straight into Wood Man’s eyes. “All I have to say is this: If you truly love me like your son, fuck off. I had little faith in you as-is, but what you’re doing destroyed the last of it.” With those parting words, Blues turned tail and ran away, picking up his hoverboard along the way but not riding it.

Wood Man didn’t attempt to stop him. He simply stood there with a look of guilt upon his face, sitting back on his throne and closing his eyes once more. “I’m sorry, master.”

Mighty Woman slid across the ground, right under a Kukku that pounced at her. Rolling back onto her feet, she went through the wooden door to Wood Man’s arena, stretching out so she wasn’t so tense. This fight was going to be easy, she hoped.

Stepping into the battlefield, Mighty Woman caught sight of the massive Robot Master upon his throne, meditating while the wind blew through the trees.

“I have failed.” Wood Man spoke to no one in particular.

“Whoa, uh, calling it already? In my favor?” Mighty Woman held her hands up, mildly uncomfortable. “That’s depressing.”

“I was not referring to the battle we are about to have.” Wood Man stood up and banged his chest with his fists. “Although you are a gladiator in your own right, I will not falter! You shan’t, you can’t defeat me!”

“Yeah, uh, Air Man had the same strategy: flatter me yet claim undefeatable-ness.” Mighty Woman wasn’t amused. “It was tried the first time-”

“Enough banter!” Wood Man held his arms out, his Leaf Shield activating and circling his body.

“Fine!” Mighty Woman ran towards her opponent, Air Shooter equipped. Thrusting her buster arm forward, the cyclone that shot out blew away the leaves around Wood Man’s body, some of them stabbing into his throne, and others floating into the air and coming down.

Wood Man didn’t seem fazed, leaping high into the air with the intent to crush Mighty under his weight. He almost succeeded, but Mighty Woman’s rocket boosters shot her back at the last moment.

Mighty Woman knew what to do. Switching to the Atomic Fire, her armor going red, yellow, and brown with a lid like a lighter’s attached to her helmet. Swinging it down over her face, flames enveloped her body.

“Take this!” Mighty Woman crouched down, her rocket boots propelling her straight through Wood Man, smashing him into burning bits and scattering his limbs about. His head was teleported out, his shell not needing to self-destruct after being so thoroughly broken.

“His weapon chip is still in one of his arms, right?” Mighty Woman went to retrieve what she needed.

“Yes, like always.” Dr. Light’s voice seemed slightly subdued. “Mighty Woman, are you feeling okay?”

“Are you worried about my state of mind or something again?” Mighty Woman rubbed the back of her head, picking up one of Wood Man’s arms and opening his wrist. “Well, to tell you the truth, I feel something that I don’t know the exact name for.”

“Would you call it ‘vindictive’?” Dr. Light tried to navigate Mighty Woman’s emotional state.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Mighty Woman pulled the weapons data chip out of Wood Man’s arm and dropped the limb on the ground. “I’m scared of feeling this way…”

Dr. Light nodded. “Wanting revenge is completely normal for someone in your position, but it’s all too common for someone to go a bit too far in its name. I don’t think you’ve done anything extreme today; you defeated every Robot Master without being excessive. Just don’t let vengeance consume your every thought.”

“Yeah. I won’t. Thank you.” Mighty Woman stood in the center of the arena, letting herself be teleported back to Edogawa’s lab.

“Mega Man’s repairs are almost complete!” Meddy said joyfully, stepping towards Mighty Woman as she came in through the teleporter. “We’re almost ready to send him after the last Robot Master.”

“Quick Man.” Mighty Woman looked at the last set of coordinates on Edogawa’s main computer. “Mega Man, you’re ready, right?”

“More ready than the last battle, that’s for sure,” Mega Man laughed, having much more room to move now.

“You seem to be feeling well about it.” Dr. Edogawa spoke up from her computer. “But is that actually so?”

“D-Doctor,” Meddy stuttered and looked nervously at her creator. “I don’t think you should-”

“Medicine Woman, if he doesn’t go in with a clear conscience, it can spell disaster. I’m doing this because I care.” Dr. Edogawa sat down next to Mega Man’s repair table. “Tell me how you truly feel, young man.”

Mega Man looked away from Edogawa for a few seconds and kept his gaze averted when he turned his head to face the ceiling. “It doesn’t feel good, but it was dumb of me to just trust him for the sole reason he was nice to me. I have to do this for my family, for Mega City, even for Wily himself.”

Dr. Edogawa simply nodded, her almost pushy exterior now having a tinge of sorrow. “You still have a good enough heart to be willing to forgive Wily. Never lose that.”

“I’d sooner be scrapped than be a jerk antihero. That’s the most boring kind of comic protagonist!” Mega Man huffed.

“He’s got to be feeling better now if he’s circled it to superheroes again,” Mighty Woman chuckled.

Blues kept running as fast as he could. He already knew his core was on its last leg and won’t be able to take it. It didn’t matter to him anymore.

He doesn’t know his original creator’s motives, the one he stayed with until now is intent on handing him over, and the villain wants Blues for his own. Blues couldn’t risk it anymore. He would rather die today as Blues than live forever as someone else.

He didn’t even see Shoegaze on the path he was running. Maybe that was for the best. After all, in Shoegaze’s own words, he does this moron thing called “caring”, and Blues didn’t want to burden him anymore.

He felt a burning in his chest, his core was becoming overloaded. What exactly was this flaw in his core? This core he had was a replacement, yet it was faulty.

He just didn’t know.

That’s why he ran away all the time. Because of uncertainties: what Dr. Light would do to him in the process of repairing his core, whether or not Lalinde would go through with changing his programming, whether or not Wily actually cared for his well being or was simply saying things to try and earn his trust.

Whether or not Tempo truly meant what she said.

No. She did mean it.

But it was too late to regret what he was doing in the name of the unknown. He already felt sparks shoot through his system, his very circuits burning away, his movements becoming sluggish, and paralysis slowly making its way through his body.

Even with his sunglasses, the light at the end of the forest became blinding. He held his hand out, moving through tree after tree to see where he ended up.

When his vision adjusted, he saw it. A familiar house.

Blues unknowingly ran back to Lalinde’s residence by pure accident. How he conveniently ended up back where he started after running through the forest with no sense of direction, he didn’t know.

Blues fell to the ground, his gaze fixed to the sky. He couldn’t even acknowledge his surroundings, only feeling the subtle vibrations of multiple people running towards him.

Dr. Lalinde was the first one he saw, her expression a mixture of sorrow and anger. She went to grab Blues by the arm, but she immediately jumped back and held onto her hand, her face twisting with pain. Was Blues burning up that much?

The next thing Blues saw was Quake Woman picking him up in a one-person lift. For once, her stoic exterior was completely fractured. Tears streamed down her face, she was shouting something at Blues. It almost felt like a fleeting vision, but he could hear her voice.

“Please don’t die! You can’t die! Blues!”

Blues didn’t feel in control of his own body, but he responded, “It’s too late.”

Quake Woman shook her head, shouting at him more, but Blues didn’t catch all of it. Almost instinctually, he turned his head and saw Vesper Woman sans armor, who was watching this all in terror. She just came into existence today and already she was witnessing someone’s death.

“Tempo, please,” she tried to reassure, “W-We can still save him… Right?”

“Hey…” Blues spoke to the unarmored bot, “I’m sorry we couldn’t get to know each other better, Vesper.”

Vesper Woman just closed her eyes and looked away, holding back tears. “Please… Call me Cadenza.”

Blues could only nod in response before even his neck was paralyzed.

“…Heh. I guess I really am close to a human. I lied to everyone, even myself.” In his last moments on Earth, Blues’ life flashed before his eyes. “Lalinde, in my duffel bag, there’s something that I need everyone to see.”

“What?” Lalinde quickly opened up the bag, which somehow still hung onto him, finding it cluttered with clothes and his hoverboard, but within that mess, she saw a USB cable.

“Plug that into Tempo,” Blues muttered as his own arm opened up to reveal an outlet, with a blast of heat coming out as well. “I might as well show her everything before I… And then she can give it to you all. Shoegaze isn’t here, and he deserves to know the whole story.”

Chapter Text

September 28, 20XX-22: Birth

Two years into my creator’s education at the Robot Institute of Technology, I was created. I was innocent. Curious.

I remember it all so vividly.

“I’m just trying to come up with a solution to Auto’s quirks. Maybe if we take an A.I.’s age one move at a time, it will mature properly for its final age.” Thomas held out a finger, which the tiny robot grasped with bewilderment.

“I suppose that’s a solution.” The stranger leaned in. “Heh, the baby’s got your eyes.”

“Albert, don’t go saying things like that! You’ll convince her that she has two fathers!” Thomas laughed.

“Don’t act like you didn’t think of me when you made her, dork!” Albert ruffled Thomas’s hair. “Does she have a name?”

“Hmmm… ’Blues,’ I believe, would be the best fit for her.” Thomas stroked the infant robot’s cheek with his finger.

“What’d I say? Dork. ” Albert rolled his eyes.

20XX-21: 1 year old

No robot ever has a true conscience to develop, even when it can make its own choices. Even if it was made to react to life events and its personality changes accordingly, it’s ultimately just code. Despite my limitless potential, I was still just an imitation human, no matter how “close” I seemed.

“Heyyy, sweetie…” Albert reached a hand into Blues’ crib, as if giving a peace offering.

Blues simply laid there and stared at him, not even with bewilderment.

“Eh? What is it? You want a toy or something?” Albert didn’t quite understand how babies thought. “Well… I got one but he isn’t meant for such little hands to handle.” Al turned around before presenting Blues with an action figure. “Eh? Look, he’s a robot like you!”

Blues stayed unresponsive.

“Well, fine, if you wanna be like that… I guess you won’t care if I… Put it here?” Wily placed the action figure on the window sill. “Eh?”

Blues’s head tilted to the side, dozing off.

“…Aw…” Wily cooed.

20XX-20: 2 years old

But even so, I valued that coding in me. The ability to change, even if it’s 0s and 1s calling the shots, and the ability to make my own choices.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Auto exclaimed as he hurriedly approached Blues. “Don’t do that!”

Blues bit down on his own hand as he turned his head towards the big robot.

“No, no, no,” Auto whispered and gently moved Blues’s hand away from his mouth. “Try this instead.” Auto leaned in and wrapped a yellow bandana around Blues’s neck.

Blues hadn’t a clue what was happening, but Auto seemed happier when Blues bit down on the bandana instead of his hand.

“There, that’s a lot safer.” Auto rubbed Blues’ head.

20XX-19: 3 years old

When I was three, my dad let me meet his classmates in order to help me get used to being around other people.

They were special people. And down the line, one would at least give me the ability to question my dumbass decisions even while I still go through with them.

“Don’t worry, sweetie…” Thomas pat Blues on the head. “They’re nice people.” It didn’t do much to cull Blues’s nervousness, but it was a start.

When Thomas opened the classroom door, Blues was greeted with the sight of two new faces: a much younger, lithe boy, only 18, and an older, bigger, yet more gentle man wearing a lab coat.

“Ah, good afternoon, Thomas!” The big man waved. “We were just having a conversation.”

“Not really anything interesting,” said the boy, “Especially since you…” His gaze lowered to the child next to Thomas. “Have… a kid with you…”

“I’d like you both to meet Blues!” Thomas lifted Blues into his arms. “Blues, this is my classmate, Mikhail, and my teacher, Professor Gombey!”

“I need you to clarify, why do you have a kid, and why is she named Blues?” Mikhail seemed weirded out.

“Oh, uh, she’s a robot!” Thomas explained, “I’ve been testing another way to approach my new A.I.”

“…Could have said sooner.” Mikhail came closer to Blues, holding out a hand. “Welcome to the world! It’s awful.”

“Mikhail, that’s for saying to adults, not kids.” Professor Gombey also approached. “In all my years of being here, I never thought I’d see a robot so realistically imitate a human. Except for the red irises, I guess.”

“Oh, that is an error. I’m still working on it.” Thomas smiled, looking down at Blues, who seemed to be adjusting to both of them, even holding his hand out in response to Mikhail. “See? They won’t hurt you!”

“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting,” a new voice entered the classroom, “I came to turn in the assignment with Eliz- oh! Who’s that?”

“Ah, Ms. Lalinde!” Professor Gombey called. “Light has something very special he wanted to show.”

“If Blues is okay with two more people coming in,” Thomas responded. He cared about Blues’s comfort above all.

“Blues?” Noele tilted her head. “That feels like more of a masc name…”

“Noele, it’s a music genre,” Mikhail condescended, “It’s inherently unisex unless it was like, ‘Manly McMannington Music’, which at that point I’d have taken Light to the front of the campus and publicly executed him.”

“Mikhail,” Professor Gombey scolded again.

“Sorry, mom, ” Mikhail groaned.

“So… Can we come in?” Noele asked.

Blues slowly nodded.

“Yes?”

Blues nodded faster.

“Alright, understood. Come on, Elizabeth.” Noele stepped forward, with a different woman following. Blonde hair, white jacket, gray t-shirt… She was someone who would blend in with a crowd. And yet, there was something distinct about her in Blues’s mind.

“Oh, she’s so precious I could eat her up!” Elizabeth leaned forward, her face a bit too close to Blues for his liking. “I’m Elizabeth Hirono! Are you Mr. Light’s daughter? Who’s the mommy? Or daddy or renny, I don’t judge! Are they married? They better be!”

“Elizabeth, control yourself…” Thomas lifted Blues away from Hirono. “She’s my ‘daughter’, yes, but not in the traditional sense…”

Thomas explained to Elizabeth what he already had to the others, that Blues was to see if his A.I. “aging” can help develop personality and maturity, among other things.

“She’s… a prototype, you can say, but-” Thomas stopped when he saw Elizabeth’s face grow gradually more somber.

“Your child is beautiful, but… why are you trying to make robots act human?” asked Elizabeth.

“Well… I want humans to form bonds with them rather than see them as tools,” Thomas politely explained.

“That’s very noble, it’s just that… Humans are such irrational, emotionally-driven creatures,” Elizabeth stated her perspective, “A normal machine can’t potentially make choices driven by their feelings or the biases forced upon them from birth. And be honest, do you really expect humans to not program their own biases into a robot’s A.I.?”

“Well, that’s why there are safety nets to be put in the laws and such.” Thomas shrugged.

“Do you have safety nets programmed into your robots?” Elizabeth asked.

“Why, yes, Auto has what I call ‘roboethics’, but… Blues doesn’t have them. I want to raise her like a normal child, maybe take the results and use it to make any other robots’s personalities more stable.”

“Nurturing her, I see…” Elizabeth nodded. “I’ll be honest, I’d love to debate and workshop with you about it. I think your idea is truly, truly interesting.”

“Really now?” Thomas smiled. “I look forward to it, then!”

20XX-18: 4 years old

When I became old enough to understand my memories, I used to not agree with Hirono suggesting I was irrational.

But… in the end, she was right.

As my A.I. “aged”, everything became confusing and nothing was simple, but I grew to understand myself.

“What’s the matter, my daughter?”

Blues was looking in the glass at some suits when Thomas asked him that question.

“New clothes?” Blues asked.

Thomas gave Blues a warm grin. “Of course.” Thomas lifted Blues up off the ground. “What would you like?”

“Not dresses!” Blues exclaimed, squirming in Thomas’s hold.

Thomas chuckled, “You don’t like dresses anymore?”

“No.” Blues averted his gaze.

“Aww, no worries, we’ll find something else for you.”

“And a scarf?” Blues sounded hopeful.

“Come now, Auto can knit that for you.” Thomas patted Blues on the head.

20XX-17: 5 years old

It was finally time for me to come out. I had no idea how much my father and I had in common until then.

“Why am I a girl?” Blues cocked his head to the side.

“Well… Because...” Dr. Light tried but failed to come up with a simple answer. “I’m not sure, actually, seeing as you were created from a neutral mold. I must have projected it onto you… Why? Is something wrong?”

“I don’t wanna be one.” Blues looked up at his creator expectantly. “Can I be something else?”

“Why, yes!” Thomas exclaimed, scratching his head, “Sorry, I’m just surprised you figured it out so young.”

“Is it weird?” Blues tilted his head.

“Normalcy is relative,” Dr. Light explained, “but it’s rare for someone to figure that out as a child. Heck, for me it wasn’t until two years after I graduated high school.” Blues’s hand was held by Light. “Would you prefer to be my ’son’ instead?”

Blues nodded before he received a warm embrace from Thomas.

“Then you’re my son,” Thomas said sweetly, “Would you like a new name as well?”

“Blues is still okay,” Blues responded.

20XX-16: 6 years old

The year 20XX-16 was the last time I believed the world wasn’t a cruel joke. That was the day that would set the tone for the rest of my life.

Blues crept into Thomas’ room, assuming he was alone at home for the time being. His gaze was drawn immediately to the one thing that had always piqued his interest: a vintage CD player. He knew there was a CD he wanted to listen to all the time.

It was in a jewel case, with the name “Lilium Belfry” written on it in permanent marker.

He fumbled with the CD before inserting it into the drive, closing the player, and pressing the play button. He began to wonder if she was a musician. Her name did have a lovely ring to it.

When it played, however, it wasn’t music. It was a speech.

“If someone claims that the effects of all of our years of being beaten and broken, shot and killed, don’t matter anymore, it only demonstrates how blind they are, PERIOD!” The righteous anger in her voice immediately spoke volumes.

“If we don’t keep fighting back, the years we spend debunking the myths and lies they spread about us will never be over! But, once again, many of us in this day and age are still too brainwashed to even retaliate, to say we hate them for what they did— No, what they continue to do to us!”

Blues was perplexed by what he had heard. Who were “us” or “we”? Who exactly were “they”? All he knew was that Lilium was talking about bad people bringing down people who didn’t deserve it.

He kept listening, hearing words that gave him a bad feeling in his stomach. Was he always aware that those words meant bad things? Is it because Lilium employs them in a negative manner? He couldn’t stop listening in any case. Lilium’s tone of voice commanded attention and respect; that was her most effective quality.

“Blues?” Albert’s voice jolted Blues out of his reverie.

“U-Uh-” Blues immediately turned the CD off before turning around.

Albert sighed and walked over to the CD player, ejecting it before replacing it in its case, a finger over his lips to tell Blues to be quiet. When Thomas and Auto entered through the front door, he took Blues’ hand and walked him out of the bedroom, putting on a fake smile. “Guess who got the good news!”

“Yup, your big brother won first place in the LIT Manual Design Contest!” Auto hugged Blues as tightly as he could, and Blues returned the hug with a smile.

“Congratulations!” Blues encircled Auto’s neck with his arms.

“Goodnight, son.” Thomas said, planting a kiss on Blues’s forehead.

“G’night.” Blues rested his head on his pillow and plugged his charging cable into the bed.

“I hope it’s okay with you if I stay with Blues for a little longer.” Albert took a seat next to Blues’ charging bed.

“Don’t keep him up too late; a boy needs his sleep,” Thomas cautioned as he walked out of the room, leaving the two alone.

“How are you feeling, Blues?” Albert asked as he drew in a little closer.

“Why didn’t you tell dad?” Blues asked.

“Because I didn’t want you to get in trouble for learning the truth about the world,” Albert sighed, “Prejudice, tyranny, and violence rule. It’s not fair that you had to learn that at such a young, innocent age.”

“But why’s it have to be that way?” Blues sniffled and extended his hand to Al.

“It doesn’t. ” Al rubbed his thumb along the back of his hand. “This world has the potential to be so much better.”

Blues only grunted in response, averting his gaze and biting his blanket.

“Do you want to be seen as more than a target yourself, Blues?” Al inquired.

“Huh?” Blues looked back at him.

“Robots are only seen as meager tools by the general public. Tom created Auto and you with independent thought in order to break down those barriers and create robots that are more than problem solvers or machines that perform menial tasks. He wants them to be friends, family, and companions.

“However, paranoia and conspiracy drive some people to attack robots. You must demonstrate that you are just as strong, if not stronger, than humans, and show that you are more than just something to throw away. You must become revered, a hero, even!”

Al locked his gaze on Blues. “Hear me out, and then decide whether or not you want to participate.”

20XX-15: 7 years old

Wily continued to chat with me, getting to know me better. He memorized what made me tick like the back of his hand. He was like a second father to me. I was a complete moron.

Blues was always apprehensive about entering the basement. The stairwell was dimly lit, and the only cushioning was cheap carpeting. Still, he walked down slowly, clutching the railing as if his life depended on it.

He passed door after door until he came across one that had a sign hanging from it with Albert’s name on it. Blues reached for the doorknob, but remembered his manners, pulling his hand back to knock first. Soon after, Albert answered the door.

“Perfect timing, Blues!” Albert quipped with a grin, opening the door wider for Blues to enter. “You’ve arrived just in time to witness the gateway to heroism!”

Blues fidgeted with his scarf. “What is it?”

“It isn’t yet ready for use on a robot of your model, but it will give you an idea of what your upgrades will entail.” Albert took a strange-looking mechanism with a large red and blue gear on either side of it in his hands. “This is the Double Gear System,” he explained. “It can push a robot to new heights and endow it with superhuman abilities.”

“Really?” Blues held the mechanism in his hands, making sure he didn’t drop it. “How does it work?”

“It’s made to be attached to your core and sends signals to the rest of your body through the Power Gear or the Speed Gear.” Albert took the Double Gear System from Blues’s hands and spun it around so the gears were facing away from his chest. “For the time being, the Speed Gear can only improve reaction time, but my goal is to have it improve your movement speed as well.”

“Wow, that’s awesome!” Blues grinned, his hands flapping around.

“I’m glad you’re interested!” Albert replaced the mechanism on the table. “You’ll get this, as well as some more permanent changes to your current strength! But for the time being, I’ll need my privacy to work.”

20XX-14: 8 years old

What happened in 20XX-16 led up to all this. Everything I knew would change for the worst. Why didn’t I stop myself?

“Come on, Blues,” Albert spoke to Blues gently. Thomas had allowed him to do Blues’ monthly checkup today.

“Not yet!” Blues exclaimed. As Auto put the pressure on him, Blues stared intently at the Jenga tower, unsure which block to pull.

“Blues,” Albert sighed.

“Fine…” Blues pulled a block away, making sure he didn’t make the tower fall.

“All right, then, see ya!” Auto waved, the tower falling after Auto pulled a block. “DANG IT!”

“Jenga!” Blues cheered. As Albert led him into the basement lab, Blues stuck his tongue out at Auto.

When they were out of earshot of Thomas and Auto, Albert asked Blues, “You’re ready to have the Double Gear System implemented, aren’t you?”

“I think.” Blues gazed down at the floor as he walked down the hallway, into the laboratory.

“I know you’re a bright youngster. You’re aware that this could be dangerous, right?” Albert placed Blues on a repair table.

Blues pleaded, “I know, but I wanna be a hero.”

“Then it shall be done. Do not tell anyone, not even Auto or your father. They’ll be terrified of your newfound power because it’s something they won’t comprehend.”

Blues believed in every lie Albert fed him.

He would forever curse his younger self’s naïveté.

20XX-13: 9 years old

Every time I was going to get a checkup after, Wily would remove and hide the Double Gear System away so we wouldn’t get caught.

That was until my body finally paid the price for what Wily did to me. I pushed myself beyond my limit. I ruined my core.

“Where you goin’, Scarfy?” Blues heard a voice taunt him in the alleyway as someone grabbed his scarf. Three hoodlums stood in front of him, looming over him to intimidate him.

“Home.” Blues took the ends of his scarf back, turning back around to continue.

“Hold up, you’re gonna bump into us and not even apologize?” Another one snickered.

Blues growled, “You grabbed onto me, but I don’t care.”

“So you wanna be smart, huh?” The third person took a step forward. “Rude little kids need a pummeling.”

“That’s okay, I don’t need anything.” Blues clenched his fists.

“Tch, you keep running your mouth but you ain’t got a single muscle on your-” The third boy was interrupted by Blues, who grabbed his head and slammed him as hard as he could into the ground. That was without the Power Gear being activated.

“W-What the?!” The leader and the second thug backed away, the third boy trembling as he stood up, his nose bloodied and crooked.

“You wanna have a go or are you scaredy-cats?” Blues extended his hand, feeling his insides heat up as the Speed Gear was activated.

“W-Why you?!” Blues was charged by the leader, who swung his fists at his head.

“B-Bro, don’t!” The second one shouted out.

Blues bobbed and weaved in time with the leader’s punches, narrowly avoiding them all.

“W-What the hell are you!?” The leader screamed and went in with a tackle.

“I’m the hero.” The Power Gear was activated, and Blues grabbed the hoodlum by the collar and spun him around before tossing him to the ground.

“B-Bro!!” A whimper came from the second thug, who ran away on his own.

“I’m sorry, but-” Pain shot through Blues’s body, and static electricity crackled on his shell. “Gh…” Blues disabled the Double Gear System, trying his best to keep on running home so he wouldn’t be late.

20XX-12: 10 years old

My malfunctions were undetectable at first. I’d simply lose focus or space out for a few moments. But one day, while running around the house, I collapsed.

“Blues?!” Thomas yelled as he dashed towards Blues. “Blues! What’s wrong?! Speak to me!”

Blues whimpered weakly as he reached out and grabbed his father’s collar. “D-Dad…”

“What the hell is going on?” Albert ran in, only to witness he had wrought.

“Blues is burning up!” Thomas turned Blues’ head so that they made eye contact. “Can you tell me where it hurts?”

Blues sputtered, “M-My chest-” before screeching in pain.

“Don’t say anything else,” Thomas said as he took Blues in his arms and walked towards the basement door. “Albert, open the door!”

“R-Right.” Albert hesitated before turning the knob.

“Don’t worry, Blues, you’ll be fine...” Thomas whispered to his son, “Password: Shut yourself down, and I’ll fix whatever’s causing this.”

“Y-Yes, dad…” Blues closed his eyes, slowly drifting off until he felt nothingness.

Blues awoke with his pain gone and a much-reduced burden on his chest. Even though he was alone, he could hear an argument in the next room. He’d heard those sounds before, but never to the harsh degree he heard them now.

Thomas walked in a minute later, his anger still visible in his eyes, but he tried to soften his expression so as not to scare Blues.

“I had to replace your core. That thing was causing irreparable damage to it.” Thomas sat in front of Blues. “Why didn’t you tell me Wily did this to you?”

“He said you wouldn’t let me get the Double Gear System if you knew.” Blues’ tone of voice was shaky. “He said you wouldn’t understand and… I wanted to be a hero.”

Blues told Thomas everything, about how he learned of the world’s cruelty, how Albert told him he, too, could be a target, and how he wanted to prove himself.

“Didn’t humans fight—don’t they STILL fight—to be seen as something more than just targets?”

Thomas held Blues’ hand. “Yes, but this isn’t the same at all. I built you simply to show that robots are capable of more than what they are now. Even with all my talk of people seeing robots as more than tools and such… Your path is in no way comparable to the hundreds of years of so many humans suffering for being different. Your path is instead a stepping stone to advance society, and helping humanity as a whole, maybe even acting as a way that we all come together. Does that make sense?”

“I…” Blues wept as he hugged Thomas and buried his face in his shoulder. “I’m so sorry…”

Thomas rubbed Blues’ back and warmly responded, “It’s not your fault.”

20XX-11: 11 years old

The Robotics Ethics Committee chooses RIT students whose research is ahead of its time to present for possible patenting. As a result, my father was chosen to present my A.I.’s model. However, Wily was also chosen to present his Double Gear System after it became public knowledge.

“And because of all that happened, I strongly believe Albert’s research must stop!” Thomas held onto Blues’ shoulder. “Doesn’t that make sense to everyone?”

“Rrgh… Light!” Wily shouted, “We can’t build a future on your empty optimism!”

Blues has never seen tempers fly like this before, happy that he had headphones to cancel all the noise.

“Thomas is absolutely correct.” Professor Gombey smiled and nodded. “It’s a risky game to play with that kind of technology. Wily is proposing a manual overclocking mechanism that has the potential to harm both the user and others.”

“Tch, and what would you know, Professor?!” Wily rose to his feet, the Double Gear System clutched in his hand. “You were always biased towards Light! Everything he did, you glorified and shilled-”

“You think I’m ’biased’?” Gombey was almost amused. “Then why don’t we ask those who are more neutral?”

“I agree with Light.” From beside Wily, Noele spoke up.

“Y-You too, Lalinde?!” Wily stepped back.

“I don’t have a great memory, but the stunt you pulled was potentially illegal if the robot’s ’testing phase’ wasn’t in a controlled environment, according to the lawbooks I’ve read.” She glared daggers at Wily.

“T-That’s ridiculous!” Wily exclaimed, “You’re acting as if I let the Blues run amok and hurt people!” Wily nearly shouted. Blues kept his mouth shut as Wily looked over to Mikhail. “Don’t you have anything to say, Cossack?! You’re the absolute last person I’d expect to dismiss this concept!”

“Pff, I’m just here to watch the world burn.” Mikhail leaned back in his chair. “If I had a case for your idea, it’d probably be buried under everyone else’s cases for Light. And using his boy for your faulty tech without parental consent? Pardon my language, but that’s what the kids call ’Kind of a dick move, buddy.’”

“WHAT?!” Wily was about to lunge at Cossack when he stopped himself. “You’ve all done nothing to contemplate my side of the story! You’re all blocking me at every turn of of-”

“Mr. Wily, control yourself.” From his seat, the chairman of the Robotics Ethics Committee spoke up. “Does anybody else have anything they would like to say?”

One person did raise her hand.

“Ms. Hirono?” The chairman gave her the go-ahead.

“If I may preface my statements,” Elizabeth started, “I don’t believe either side’s ideas are inherently flawless. Nor do I believe they are completely harmful.

“Light and I had been discussing all the possible ways that giving a robot humanlike independent thought can go wrong. I always say, humans make terrible decisions on their own; their emotions, their biases, their naïveté, all are factors. Wily’s actions firmly proved that point- I’m still talking, Albert.

“However, Light’s idea is also the solution to an immortal problem: Asimov’s Laws. The full range of human experience is too much for simply three, broad rules: they mean different things in different contexts. Asimov himself wrote those rules failing. But a human mind knows context, and with that abstract thought, the laws can be followed almost flawlessly.”

“Onto Wily’s Double Gear System. Yes, it’s a manual overclocking system. Yes, the side effects are apparent. But it’s a prototype, meant to be improved and built upon, and there’s something that could be said about the purpose it serves: to make robots faster, stronger; the applications for such tech is possibly limitless.

“However, my praise for it can only go so far, because of the man who created it. Maybe he had a point in doing what he did: he wanted to make a hero out of Blues, because in a world that sees robots only as tools, would they treat a robot that thinks for itself on the level a human can any different? It would be a wakeup call to show humans that robots could be even more than jobs that humans already took for granted when it was other humans working them.

“That all falls to pieces when he went about it in such a way that it becomes crystal clear what his intentions really were: power. By making these experiments covert, by manipulating a child into going through with them for the purpose of a heroic fantasy, he showed that what he desired wasn’t for all of humanity, but was for himself. In layman’s terms, a glory hog.

“Wily has shown he can’t be trusted with his own idea, but in an ideal world, both Light and Wily would have their visions realized. Together, they could have shown the true potential of robotics to be a force of good. But, unfortunately, this is not that ideal world.

“Truly, humans are irrational, emotional creatures…” Elizabeth finished talking.

Everything was silent for a few moments.

“It seems the committee is in agreement, and you have a right to feel dejected, Mr. Wily. However, we’ve heard both sides of this story, and one of them doesn’t smell like roses.

“And so… The department chooses Thomas Xavier Light’s research into robots with independent thought.”

“Thank you, everyone…” Light sat down and held onto Blues’ hand. “You hear that, son? The world is ready for you.”

“Why?! WHY ARE YOU FOOLS SO BLIND?!” As he stomped off, Wily threw the Double Gear System to the ground, smashing it to bits. “One day, Light! One day the world will know I was right all along!”

The shock in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“I’m so sorry it had to come to this,” Thomas sighed as he picked up the shattered mechanism.

“Don’t take blame for things you didn’t do.” Professor Gombey stood by Light’s side. “So, who’s going to try to reason with him?”

“It won’t work…” Thomas stared off into the distance.

“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?” Blues pulled on his father’s sleeve.

Thomas stayed quiet, before responding with a simple, “Perhaps.”

“But why?” Blues asked, distressed that Auto was keeping him from entering the campus house.

“It’s- it’s about you,” Auto explained, “But you shouldn’t get involved right now.” The boxy robot lifted Blues into his arms and carried him away.

“But why?!” Blues tried to wiggle free from his grip. “Let me go! Dad and Wily are-”

Auto sighed, “Exactly.”

“Huh?” Blues was perplexed by that response.

“It’s going to be too noisy for you.” Auto kept Blues from falling down, one arm acting as a seat and the other cupping the back of his little brother’s head.

Blues understood where he was going with this somehow. But he didn’t like it one bit.

“Wily’s not going to listen, is he?” The energy in Blues’ voice, whatever was left of it, faded.

“I don’t think so.” The sound of the door swinging open drew Auto’s attention. Thomas stood in the doorway.

“J-Just go! We’re through!” Thomas’s eyes welled up with tears. “Clearly, this isn’t working out!”

“Hmph. I’m glad we’re in agreement.” Wily’s voice was faintly heard by Auto. The bigger bot walked Blues and himself to the side of the house, hoping Wily wouldn’t notice them.

“And I’m keeping Auto, too!” Thomas shouted.

“Of course you are! The ideas you like, you take, and the ideas you hate, you refuse to even acknowledge!” On the way out, Wily slammed the door.

The two robots remained silent, waiting for Wily’s footsteps to recede before entering the house again.

A blueprint was on the ground. Perhaps Wily had dropped it.

While Auto went ahead to check on Light, Blues picked the blueprint up and unfurled the paper.

The robot on the blueprint looked so much like him… No, that scarf, the shades on the helmet, that was supposed to be him. This was what the next step would have been if Wily’s research was chosen instead.

Blues shuddered, folding it up and walking over to Light’s door.

“I think Dad needs some alone time,” Auto spoke softly.

“But I need to talk to him about this…” Blues showed the folded-up blueprint to Auto.

“Well, make it quick? I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do in this kind of situation…” Auto stood aside, allowing Blues to open the door.

“Hm?” Thomas turned to face Blues, lifting his head. “Son, it’s- I’m sorry, but-”

“I know.” Blues handed the blueprint to his father. “Please keep this in a safe place. Don’t let anyone take it.”

“What?” When Thomas unfolded it, his expression darkened further.

“I don’t want to become what Wily wants me to become.” Blues stepped back.

After a moment of silence, Thomas nodded and slid it into his desk.

20XX-10: 12 years old

The rest of my dad’s semester was a nightmare for him. Even so, he kept his grades up, didn’t skip class, drop out or anything. I’m jealous how he can keep going.

“And when I finally get home, after all this, I’m going to propose to him,” Hirono said of her plans, “And if that goes through… Joshua and I will be together forever.”

“I hope that goes well!” Lalinde cheered, before looking around. “Hey, I don’t see Wily anywhere.”

Mikhail sneered, “Probably doesn’t want to be in the same room with us anymore.”

Thomas sat down with his hands on his brow, not wanting to hear that name spoken anymore. After 14 years, he was finally graduating, but at what cost?

Blues stood in the corner, now a background character to those dressed in a cap and gown. Nonetheless, he felt compelled to act. 

Blues approached Thomas and sat down next to him. “So this means you’re a doctor now?” he asked.

“Huh?” Thomas’s expression slightly lit up. “Oh, yes.”

“What’re you gonna do now?”

“Well… I’m going to move back to Colorado with you and Auto, then I’m going to open my own laboratory. But before I take on any more projects, I want to see you mature.”

“How long will that take?” Blues’s legs swung back and forth.

“In my eyes? I think you’re almost there.” Thomas cupped Blues’s hand in both of his.

“Mm…” Blues didn’t feel like it was a good thing he was this close to being completely “mature”. But after everything that happened, he might not have had a choice in that matter. He had to grow up so young after being taken advantage of and witnessing such a messy falling out.

What made him believe Wily’s lies in the first place?

September 28, 20XX-9: 13 years old

After spending most of my life in California, Colorado was always an oddity to me, but I was able to adapt. It also helped that I was in a nice home. I was able to relax a lot more and, for the most part, never overworked.

My 13th birthday was when we first properly celebrated it. Intense college work and such kept that kind of thing from happening in the past.

G Minor, timescale 4/4.

G-B♭ B♭~C B♭ C~D, G-B♭ ♭D C B♭-G♭ G

On the hillside, Blues whistled to himself.

He whistled that little loop again into the sunny sky before trailing off, his head cocked to the right where his maker stood. “Oh. Heya.”

“What a lovely tune.” Dr. Light took a seat on the grass beside his son. “Is it from anything?”

“I thought of it myself,” Blues explained, “I wanted to write a song, so I just strung notes together in my head until it sounded good.”

“So the creative process goes.” Light held onto Blues’ shoulder. “I’d be interested to hear how it turns out once you’ve finished it.”

“Really? Heh, thank you.” Blues smiled. “It’s a deeply personal song, so… If I ever finish it, I’d love to play it for you.”

“Gladly!” Light patted his son on the head before checking his watch. “I oughta check on Auto real quick. He’s hard at work, you know.”

“Yeah, don’t want him whacking his thumb with a hammer,” Blues laughed.

“Happy Birthday, dear Blues~” Dr. Light sang as he placed a cumbersome object wrapped in canvas onto the table. “Happy birthday to you!”

“Wow, I-” Blues snatched one of the ends of the wraps. “What is it?”

“Unwrap it and find out!” Auto clasped his hands.

Blues unwound the wraps and threw it all onto the ground. There he saw the surprise underneath.

“I designed and built this hoverboard all by myself!” Auto stuck his chest out, hands on his hips. “I made it to be durable, maneuverable, and, most importantly, foldable for easy storage!”

Blues snickered, “I can get durability from it, but this thing’s huge! Doesn’t scream ’maneuverable’ to me.”

“You’ve never heard of longboarding?!” Auto shouted, “You sweet autumn child!”

“Longboarding? Guess that makes sense. Thank you very much.” Blues folded the hoverboard, hauling it to his room for that convenient storage Auto mentioned.

20XX-8: 14 years old

This was the most important moment of my life. Finally, I was presented at the LIT Manual Design Contest. Everyone in the world who saw me knew my name.

“I’ve been experimenting with not just a continuation, but an evolution of Auto’s A.I. for fourteen years and counting; like a child I’ve been raising from birth, Blues has learned a lot throughout his lifetime, and is a more mature, adjusted robot as a result.” Dr. Light’s speech seemed to last an eternity to Blues. Despite all of the maturity Dr. Light claims Blues gained, he still felt like a bored child in need of stimulation.

“He’s, uh... He is a robot, isn’t he?” The host knelt in front of Blues and gazed at him.

“He is, Hans,” Dr. Light said with a grin.

“Are you sure?” At this point, Hans was just teasing, pinching Blues’s synthetic skin.

“P-Please stop-” Blues withdrew his arm.

“Sorry!” Hans stood up and laughed. “Well, folks, you heard it here! He deceived me. We’ve got something that, without a doubt, passes the Turing Test!”

November 15, 20XX-7: 15 years old

Everything should have turned out better for me. Life was perfect, aside from my new core acting up. But then that bastard came to our house.

“I think my core is faulty…” Blues sheepishly mumbled.

“Wait, really? You’re not collapsing again, are you?” Auto almost laughed, trying to keep the panic at bay.

“It was just paralysis,” Blues clarified, “It didn’t hurt.”

“Is that so?” Dr. Light asked, opening the lid of the teapot on the stove. “It might take some time to figure out what’s wrong, but it’s not too late to repair it rather than replace it entirely.”

“So when can we-” Blues heard the doorbell ring, scooting out of his chair. “I’ll get it.”

“Thank you,” Dr. Light responded.

Blues expected it to be business as usual. A package, a friend of Light’s, maybe a door-to-door salesman or something.

When Blues opened the door, he was greeted by a tall man dressed in military garb. He’s certain he’s seen this man on TV before… Wasn’t he a general in the Armed Forces?

“Oh, hello there.” The man lowered his gaze to Blues. “Is the doctor home? Can I enter?”

“Of course, I’ll go get him.” Blues made some space. “He was actually making some tea if you want any.”

“Ah, no,” the general responded, “but thank you.” He stood in the door frame, waiting for Dr. Light to arrive in the main hall as well.

“Hello, sir.” Dr. Light extended his hand to the man. “General Bugle?”

“Correct. Do you know why I’m here?” Bugle entered the house and followed Dr. Light into the living room. “We wanted to make you an offer; you might be interested.”

“And what would that be?” Dr. Light inquired.

“Let’s get to the point. It’s money to help you enter the military-industrial complex. I’m not going to sugarcoat it: things are going to hell in a hand basket.”

The room fell silent. Blues was leaning against the wall, debating whether or not he should get involved.

“I- Sir, that’s terrible, and you have my condolences, but I’m not interested in that type of research.” Dr. Light seemed disconcerted.

General Bugle dropped a certain detail like a bomb, “2 million Zenny a month. 24 million a year.”

Dr. Light shook his head. “The money is appealing, but what would I be creating?”

“Something to cut down on the human toll.” General Bugle’s to-the-point attitude persisted. “But a robot that only knows how to kill won’t do.”

“Well, my A.I. is available on the market.” Dr. Light was perplexed.

“Let me finish.” General Bugle cleared his throat. “We understand that Blues is being raised like a human, thinks like a human, makes decisions like a human, and so on. In two more years, he’d be eligible to join us. He’s someone our younger recruits could relate to. It would be possible for him to be a soldier—a damn good one at that—with the right modifications, and that will boost morale, give them someone to aspire to be-”

Blues was now fully engaged in the discussion.

He responded in the only way he could think of.

“Yeah, shove it.”

The two adults in the room swiftly looked towards Blues.

“Excuse me?” Bugle’s brow furrowed.

“Mind your manners, Blues!” Dr. Light chastised him.

“Don’t I make decisions like a human?” Blues shrugged. “I decided to tell him to shove it.”

“Do you know who you’re talking to, kid?” Bugle rose from his seat and approached Blues.

“I’m looking at an oil company representative who wants to sell soldiers like they’re produce,” Blues argued. “You probably have no idea what I’ve been through, and I don’t blame you: Dr. Light never likes to talk about it. But someone already attempted to make me a weapon once.

“Actually, I think I would retain more dignity if that person succeeded in making me a weapon. You, on the other hand, want my father to turn me into a weapon so that you can further brainwash the kids you recruited, who are just barely adults and are already putting their lives on the line because they can’t afford to live in the homes they need.

“It won’t matter if you come back later and try to coerce, extort, intimidate, or do whatever to us; my response, OUR response, will be the same. Shove. It. And if you keep trying, it’s not gonna be pretty.”

Once again, the room went silent.

“We clear?” Blues finished.

“Well…” General Bugle grumbled, “Your answer, reasons, and disdain are duly noted. I’m sorry we weren’t able to reach an agreement, but I wish you a pleasant day.”

“Buh-bye.” Blues crossed his arms.

As another air of deafening silence loomed, General Bugle nodded and exited the house.

Blues closed his eyes and whimpered, “I really did it now, huh?”

Dr. Light sighed, hand upon his forehead. “N-No, Blues, it’s fine.”

“I don’t want to become a weapon.” Blues shivered.

“I know, Blues. That is the absolute last thing I would want.” Dr. Light held his hand out, which Blues gripped tight.

“Are we going to be okay?” Blues asked.

Dr. Light answered, “I’m sure we will…” but he was definitely uncertain.

Chapter Text

November 16, 20XX-7

Just the very next day, nothing turned out okay.

“This is an outrage!” Dr. Light screamed angrily to himself as he stormed out of his room and stomped down the stairwell. Blues paused as he approached the turn, pondering what had enraged Dr. Light of all people.

Blues was aware that Light didn’t appreciate him snooping around in his room, but he felt compelled to see if he could assist in any way. Blues was too good-natured for his own good in that regard.

As he slid through the door, he noticed an open envelope on his father’s desk. That set off alarm bells, but he moved closer and noticed a piece of paper beside it. Against his instincts, he picked it up and read it carefully.

He couldn’t stomach it.

“We believe DLN-000 Blues has the potential to be a threat to human society if he is capable of defying human orders of his own volition. We ask that, like Auto before him, you implement coding that requires him to obey humans within reasonable limits.”

That was all Blues had to read.

This was happening because of him.

Blues stood motionless, having to decide what to do, and fast. If he stayed, he’d undoubtedly cause heartbreak for Light when he has to destroy what made Blues “Blues”.

Blues flipped the letter over, taking a pen in hand to write his final message to Light.

“I’m sorry.”

December 4, 20XX-7: 15-year-old body, now unaging

Yes, running was a poor choice, but how else could I save my father from having to erase my identity? I tousled my hair up so it wouldn’t be in the spikes that everyone at the Manual Design Contest saw me with. I threw my hoverboard, clothes, and entire packs of E-Tanks in an old duffel bag and exited through my bedroom window, and I ran as far as I could into the forests.

I lived off of solar energy and small sips of E-Tank fluid, annihilating plant matter into energy just to further conserve my Tanks, trying to make plans to escape elsewhere but finding hurdles every which way.

Blues felt directionless no matter where he went in the woods, but sometimes he ended up in populated areas. Today, he made it to a rail yard on the farthest outskirts of Mega City.

Blues sauntered by one of the empty train cars, wondering if he could overhear anything in this environment. As long as it wasn’t back to the inner city, he hoped to hear the destinations of the trains.

Blues was knocked out of his thoughts by a scream that echoed through the air. He was now on his toes when he heard the roaring of several motorcycles. Against his better judgment, he ran towards the commotion.

Blues peered around the corner from behind one of the crates to see what was going on. Three people, two parents and a child, were surrounded by a trio of bikers armed with makeshift weapons.

“Y’all picked a baaaad place to get lost!” A biker with a matted, messy hairstyle wielded a chain and twirled it like a lasso.

“P-Please, take whatever you want from me, but leave my wife and child out of this!” whimpered the defenseless man.

“What’s the matter?” A shaved-headed biker held a pipe up to the man’s chin. “You worried because they’re more important than you?”

“Aw, quit screwing around; you know what we want!” The last one, balding and sporting a green ponytail, clenched his fists. “Empty the wallets and pass the chick!”

Blues couldn’t bear to listen anymore. Unzipping his duffel bag, he pulled out the hoverboard Auto made for him.

“Hey, y’all hear something?” The green-haired one perked up before he turned to see Blues throwing his folded hoverboard right at his face.

The folded slab of metal landed a direct hit, and then yet another blow to the top of the biker’s dome when it automatically unfolded.

“W-What?!” The other two bikers jumped back in surprise, allowing Blues to sprint over and reclaim his hoverboard, swiveling around in an attempt to hit the other two, but to no avail.

“Run! All of you!” Blues shouted to the victims.

“You’ve got some balls, kid!” The shaved biker exclaimed and attempted an overhead swing, but Blues’ hoverboard acted as a shield, blocking his pipe.

“Leave them alone, or ELSE,” Blues growled and bashed the biker back.

“Grr, or else what, you’re going to Ollie us to death?!” The crazy-haired biker swung his chain around Blues’ neck, getting a tight grip on it. Blues, on the other hand, was unconcerned. Instead, he gripped the chain and ignited the hoverboard’s engine, stepping on and gripping the side tightly as it took off, dragging the biker with him.

When Blues turned around, he rode right up to the skinhead, who attempted to sidestep the board only to be caught by Blues’s arm, which smacked him across the head with a clothesline.

“Had enough?” Blues’s hoverboard came to a halt, untangling the chain from his bruising neck.

“J-Just what the hell are you…?!” The man with the chain attempted to stand up, wrapping the chain around his hands and raising them to punch at Blues, his arms red from road rash.

“A kiss goodnight.” Blues dove as soon as he saw the enemy come in swinging, sliding between his legs and tripping him before recovering and putting him in a sleeper hold.

“That’s enough.” Blues felt a cold steel barrel press against his head. The first biker regained consciousness. “What’s the matter? Can’t board your way out of this one now? Let the man go and I’ll just beat you unconscious.”

Blues whispered coldly, “Pull the trigger.”

“W-Wait, what?”

“You better pray this kills me,” Blues kept going, “Hope to whatever you believe in that I keel over.”

“What in the Sam hell are you on about, kid?!” The man’s grip became increasingly shaky.

“Are there bugs in your ears?” Blues let go of the sleeper hold, the matted-haired one unconscious now. When Blues turned to face the last biker, he held onto the barrel of the gun and pressed it right up against his forehead. “Or do you need some help?”

The biker’s trigger finger twitched, and he screamed out, “I’M NOT SCARED OF YOU-”

WHACK!

The green-haired biker toppled over. Behind him was the mother, clutching the pipe that the skinhead had dropped.

Blues attempted to approach her but cried out as he felt his core malfunction. He overexerted himself.

“A-Are you okay?!” The woman bent down and held onto Blues’ shoulders, but he pushed her away.

“Don’t touch me please,” Blues started, “I should be the one asking you that. Are you alright? Is your husband? Your son? ” Blues unconsciously emphasized that last one.

“They’re fine.” The woman motioned to her husband and son, who were slowly approaching the area. “B-But what was-”

“Worry about yourself and your family. I ride alone.” Blues picked his hoverboard back up. The last thing he wanted was to be on the news for being a hero.

“At least tell us your name…” The woman persisted.

“Call me Jack, because, in the grand scheme of things, I’m jackshit.” Blues made a U-turn to leave but came to a halt. Maybe he was being a little too harsh? “You want to help me? Do you know where any of these trains are going?”

“Well…” The man finally spoke again. “I shouldn’t tell you, but I guess we owe you something. My friend works here, and he told me that his train is leaving for Monstropolis. I can even point you in the direction of the train.”

“Thank you.” Blues clutched his chest once more. He couldn’t keep pushing himself as hard as he was.

20XX-6

And yet no matter what, I always found myself in situations where people were in danger. I was always pushing myself past the limit, and my core would continue to break.

“You, grab my hand!” Blues shouted, reaching out to a mountain climber dangling by a snapping rope.

“I’m sorry, what?!” The man looked at Blues’s comparatively petite frame. “K-Kid, I-”

“Do you want to die?!” Blues screamed at him.

The man complied then, and just as the rope snapped, he swung an arm and grabbed Blues’s hand.

“Alright, up you go,” Blues grunted and pulled the man up onto the cliff, who grabbed on with both hands out of fear.

When it was over, Blues’s core shorted again.

20XX-5

But I never stopped. I could have stayed out of every situation I encountered, but something inside of me kept urging me to help those in need, especially the children.

“Shh, it’ll be fine...” Blues whispered to the crying infant as the smoke rose above his head, holding her low to the ground. It was time to put his plan into action.

Blues threw all the sheets out of the dressers, tying one to the bedroom doorknob, tying them until he had a rope long enough to escape the burning building. Next, Blues removed his scarf and wrapped it around himself, lifting the baby and nestling her in the improvised holster.

“Okay, we’re going now, shh, shh…” Blues tried to calm her down once more, clinging to the blanket rope and slowly climbing his way down to the ground.

Feet hitting the concrete, Blues turned to face a firefighter who ran his way. “Find her parents. My work here is done…” He spoke quickly.

“Yes, sir!” The firefighter lifted the baby from Blues’s scarf.

“T-Thank you-” Blues clutched his chest once more, the pain was coming back.

20XX-4

It wasn’t because of “roboethics” that I had to. It was the goodness in my heart.

Blues screamed, “GO!” as he pried open the emergency exit in the back of the bus. Chaperones and children flooded out the back as the robot leaped out of the way. “Is that everyone?! Are you all okay?!”

“H-Hey?” One of the kids looked around. “Where’s Tina?!”

“Tina?” Blues looked back into the bus, catching sight of a child collapsed on the ground, her glasses broken from being knocked off her face. “O-Oy! You, there!”

The girl’s eyes opened, teary and distant.

“You, Tina, right? Hurry!” Blues called to her, stepping into the back of the bus. But something wasn’t right. He heard cracking and rumbling. That was only bad news.

“I said hurry!” Blues shouted out. He couldn’t risk running in and shorting out while carrying her, or they would both go down.

“Come on, Tina!!” Another kid shouted to her.

“You can do it, Tina!” Yet another called her name. Soon, everyone there was shouting for her. The girl got to her feet, stumbling against the seats and making her way to the back of the bus.

“That’s it, you’re doing great!” Blues held his arms out, mustering the most encouraging smile he could, but that’s when things got worse.

The portion of the bridge the bus crashed into was starting to fall away.

“TINA!” Blues jumped out, grabbing onto the bus’s bumper as it started to lean nose-first towards the water. The girl shrieked and clung onto one of the bus’s seats for dear life.

“Grab on!” Blues used one hand to pull his scarf off, whipping it in Tina’s direction. Cautiously, she grabbed onto it, climbing it as fast as she could.

Blues visibly sparked, but he still had a vise grip on the bus. Tina reached and pulled herself out, wobbling before running towards the rest of the passengers.

“I- I can’t-” Blues wished he could have stayed with those kids to comfort them. But all the strength he used to keep that bus from falling caused him to go completely limp, taking the plunge with it.

Blues opened his eyes. By some baffling miracle, he had washed up on a riverbank. He even had his scarf and duffle bag with him, though they were both sopping wet like he was. Brushing his long, dripping hair out of his face, he saw a rabbit-shaped robot approach him.

“Good morning,” greeted the little robot, “Robbit-model, number 147. Are you lost?”

“Where am I?” Blues tried to push himself back to his feet, his wet hair sticking to his back.

“Currently, you are in Mega City’s vast preserved forests,” the Robbit responded.

“And how many miles until I reach the rail yard?” Blues was too exhausted to be exasperated. He took a step forward but has now taken two steps back.

“Approximately twenty northwest.” The Robbit responded.

“Thank you.” Blues lifted his duffel bag and lazily placed his scarf back on his neck

20XX-3

Sticking to the wilderness, my diagnostics still could not pinpoint the cause of my core malfunctions. The effects, however, were plain as day; my charge was stuck at 50%.

As Blues whistled his usual tune upon a hillside, a bird landed on the tip of his hiking boot. This is the only place he felt he belonged now; in the wilderness, where everyone still thought he was dead.

His hair had gotten long enough to hide Auto’s handknit scarf from the back and side. His bangs were starting to fall in front of his very eyes. Maybe that was good. He’d be unrecognizable on camera.

Blues’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a train horn, the bird taking off. How the memories of his time in Monstropolis filled his head as he watched the train pass by. Could he ever go back after saving all those people? What if the law would catch up to him there?

He tried thinking of possible ways he could make himself more unrecognizable. Maybe he could pretend to be a girl, he had three, maybe five years experience before he came out. If all else failed, perhaps he could book it to Willamette-

Once again, his thoughts were drowned out by noise. Horrible, harsh, blunt noises. Shrieks and bangs of metal plating scraping across the Earth. Before Blues knew it, the train had derailed.

Blues was frozen as his systems tried to fully absorb what had happened, but immediately after it set in, he broke into a sprint towards the crash.

What am I doing? he asked himself in his head. His systems would only fry harder if he did this, yet he didn’t even care. That sort of suicidal intent on helping others, was it really okay?

That didn’t matter. He was in front of one of the passenger cars now, which had tilted on its side. Jumping on top, he ran up to one of the doors, thrusting both hands into it and pulling it off its hinges, shouting, “Everyone! This way!” before tearing away the second door. He already felt his core heating up, but he ignored it like he already did so many other times.

He went to the next car over and ripped the doors away, shouted to everyone, rinse and repeat. Sparks flew through his circuits, his body growing hotter and hotter. Still, he went on without rest.

Even when he was gasping, even when his cooling system forced him to breathe out the extra hot air and inhale cooler air, even when it tried to lock up his movement so his core would stop exerting itself, he tirelessly gave people the opportunity to escape and get help for those who could not.

And when he got to the conductor’s car, he finally gave way, collapsing and blacking out.

This was too familiar.

Every word from others who saw Blues was gibberish in his ears now. His body was numb to outside stimuli, but he still felt people touching him and immediately pulling back their hands at how hot he was.

Blues’s systems stabilized once more. As he pushed himself back up, he saw the crowd of people gathering around him, confused by this anomaly of a child.

“I’d love to stay, but I have to go.” Blues made his voice higher than normal, not exactly girly, but not exactly boyish either, hoping that if anyone was recording him, he’d be unrecognizable.

“Wait!” The conductor called out. “Tell us your name!”

“Jack,” Blues responded with that name again, unzipping his duffel bag and reaching for his hoverboard. “Jackshit. Don’t follow me. Don’t try to find me. I’d rather die than be known.”

“Why, kid?” The conductor asked, “You’ll be a hero!”

Blues cringed. Wily told him that enough times. “Yeah, no. If anyone asks, I-”

“Don’t you have friends?” The conductor interrupted, “Don’t you have a family? ”

Blues paused, but then threw his hoverboard on the ground, stepping on and taking off without looking back.

20XX-2

“Don’t you have a family?”

Those words kept echoing in my mind. Even though I had all the time in the world, I was never truly prepared to go back.

Before I knew it, yet another year passed, and the next one was coming soon. The last of my hoverboard’s charge ran out from escaping those people.

And I was going to test the waters.

Blues was just as scared of going home as he was all those years ago. After all, why would it be any safer now?

But he had to know. He had to at least try.

It was back through these woods again. If he could go back home again, he wouldn’t miss them. Even if it turned out he developed some sort of wanderlust, he knew the woods too well to derive any sort of enjoyment.

But there it was. The light at the end of the clearing. The clouds covering the sky seemed so gloomy. Perhaps it was an omen.

As Blues got closer to the edge of the forest, he saw Dr. Light’s house. In the five years, Blues had run away, it hadn’t changed a bit. There was such nostalgia in seeing it again, oh how he wished to be back.

But there was something distinctly unfamiliar that he saw.

Who were those two in front of the door?

Blues hid behind a tree, trying to make them out. Men in black suits, wearing sunglasses and earpieces. Never a good sign.

The black sedan parked outside wasn’t encouraging either. These two must have been feds.

One of them knocked on Light’s door, both of them crossing their arms behind their backs as they awaited the doctor. When it opened, the men backed away, now facing down Dr. Light. Blues noticed his father looked defeated. That was strike two in Blues’s mind.

“Good morning, Dr. Light,” said the one on the right, “We’re sorry to disturb you, but we’ve been given orders to do a thorough investigation of both your house and the memories of any robots that might be living with you.”

Dr. Light looked back at them, glaring daggers.

“One, it’s 5 A.M. The day hasn’t even started and yet you decide to bother me yet again. Two, come back with a warrant,” Light was about to close the door before the one on the left stopped him.

“Sir, it’s important that you-” The left-hand man began to speak, but was immediately interrupted.

“He’s not here!” the doctor snapped, “Every year since my son disappeared, you’ve been doing this, and the fact hasn’t changed, he’s gone!”

“Sir, calm down.”

“‘Calm down’?!” Light couldn’t help but almost laugh. “Do you think I’m somehow faking all the trips to the therapist’s office, all the medical paperwork, and the time I had to be hospitalized, just so I can somehow hide my son for five years straight?!

“You people are the ones who haven’t dropped your petty grudge against a fifteen-year-old child—he was a child! —for lashing out against your precious military boy, as if every kid on social media doesn’t do that! Do you make their opinions illegal too?! Or do you somehow think he was a threat because he was a robot? A robot without a violent bone in his body?

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to wake-” As Dr. Light tried to close the door, the right-hand man held the door, sliding a tablet out of his tuxedo.

“I do believe you should view this.” He turned the tablet on. “This video was taken last year.”

Light shut his eyes, letting a few tears roll out before he opened the door wider, only to continue speaking.

“That hoverboard was made by Auto,” Light started. “That is my boy. But look at his condition in that video and tell me he survived into this year.

“At that stage of core ruin, the core would be liable to explode and burn him from the inside-out unless he could turn off. He may very well be out there, but at this point, he’s scorched.” Dr. Light simply closed his eyes, letting all his tears run down his cheeks.

“Dr. Light?” The left-hand man tried to get his attention.

“I tried to tell myself it was inevitable, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be now. And now, I mourn. If after all this, you still wish to investigate my house, I will only repeat myself once, come back with a warrant. ” Dr. Light finally closed the door on both of them.

Blues stood still, hearing the two feds enter their car and drive away. This whole thing he walked in on only encouraged him to run away and never look back. This is the worst possible outcome, and the dice of life rolled it for Blues.

20XX-1

Dr. Light has to have been screwing with those two guys. The state of my core was in no way comparable to what he said, even when I was burning up.

Maybe my core malfunction wasn’t the kind he anticipated.

In any case, I ran as fast as I could, not caring about the consequences my core would suffer. I didn’t care. As long as I was away from Mega City, I would be safe.

I sprinted away for what totaled four or five days without rest because I couldn’t risk them searching for me in the forest. I didn’t even try to go to any cities, because I couldn’t trust they weren’t looking in other places for me. I’d occasionally short out until my overheating shell melted the snow around me into a slurry.

And I eventually ran somewhere I didn’t think I would end up. My charge was stuck at 40% now.

Blues’s eyes opened, unsure of how far he had run this time. Yet again since that day, he asked himself why. Why were they still harassing Light about him? Why couldn’t they just let go of him?

Getting up, Blues looked around at where he was. This was the lavish countryside between Mega City and Monstropolis. So unfamiliar to him.

Not too far off was a field, and in front of it stood an old house that the snow began to cover. Off in the distance, obscured by the snow, was a silhouette, walking in Blues’s direction. He wanted to make it out, but it was starting to turn into a blizzard.

Blues couldn’t think straight, but he brushed his hair away from his face so it went down his back, his bangs still covering his eyes. Maybe without the sunglasses, they wouldn’t know it was him, and he could pull off that disguise.

The next step was… He couldn’t think of one, because his core was still shorting from the marathon he ran, collapsing right in front of the house, though at least he wasn’t overheating.

Not long after, Blues heard a cry of shock.

“H-Hey!” The silhouette turned out to be a woman, from that voice. “Are you okay?! Say something! Oh no, oh no…” Within a minute, the woman began dragging Blues through the snow, until he was brought to the warmth and safety of the house he had seen.

“Hey, are you awake…?”

Blues opened his eyes. His bangs had been brushed out of the way, showing his entire face. Looking up, he saw a woman, with graying hair and an aged face, like a grandmother. Something about her was familiar.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, Blues…” The woman spoke.

“H-Hirono…?” Blues could see it now. She still had that peculiar air around her. “How did you know it was me…?”

“You’re the only one I know with naturally red eyes,” she chuckled. “And please, call me Doctor Hirono. I did graduate with your father after all.”

“Here I was, about to pretend to be a girl to disguise my identity,” Blues snickered.

“After going so long saying you were a boy? Then again, identity is a weird, ever-changing phase, not a mere slider, but a color wheel.” Hirono helped Blues off the couch.

“I guess I’ll unpack my ‘hex code’ later.” Blues stumbled a bit before gaining his footing. “Small place you got here. Humble. Very ‘you’.”

“I feel like we should cut the small talk and get straight to the elephant in the room.” Hirono looked down at the boy. “Why are you here?”

Blues was taken off-guard, backing away from Hirono.

“I don’t mean to alarm you,” Hirono explained, “It’s just that there are many reasons that a child runs away from home. Some mundane, some alarming. I don’t want to make any wrong assumptions about any of the parties involved.”

“Why should I trust you?” Blues got defensive, as if he were a cat, cornered and hissing. “Maybe you were buddy-buddy with my dad in college, but that was way back when! You barely talked in the three years he moved back to Colorado, and maybe things have changed in the six years I’ve been gone. You can prove me wrong if you returned his messages before now.”

“…It’s true. I still haven't returned any emails even now. But I have my reasons.” Dr. Hirono averted her gaze.

“That’s what they all say!” Blues retorted. “Give me one good reason why I should trust a ghost!”

Hirono closed her eyes, reaching into a pocket on her skirt. Pulling out a phone, she turned it on and showed him a video.

A video from the train derailment, and the mysterious hero who was strong enough to pull the doors off.

“You’re a hero, Blues. And a hero doesn’t run away unless there’s a villain out there capable of killing him.”

Blues was stunned.

But he took a deep breath.

And then he let it all out. Everything that happened on that day in 20XX-7. About General Bugle. About how he was now considered a threat. It still weighed heavily on him even after getting it off his chest.

Hirono only nodded along with what he was saying but was listening. “Why not go back? Can he not hide you?”

“I don’t know how long he could, and I don’t know how he could disguise my lack of roboethics if I couldn’t hide. I saw those men in front of his house a few days ago, still interrogating him about me and demanding a search of the house. If they caught him red-handed, what would they do? We’d both be done for.”

“And…” Blues swallowed a lump in his throat. “What if he moves on from me?”

Dr. Hirono simply nodded. There were many things she could say, but only one thing came through. She took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled before she finally responded.

“I never truly moved on from Joshua.”

“Joshua?” Blues recognized that name. “Your fiancée?”

Dr. Hirono walked past Blues, picking up a book from the coffee table. A photobook almost filled to bursting.

When she opened it up, Dr. Hirono showed Blues the years after she graduated.

Pictures of her proposing to Joshua. Her marriage. Their everyday life. Everything seemed so beautiful…

And then, it ended with a picture of a gravestone. The name engraved on it was “Joshua Josephson”.

Blues looked up to see Hirono quietly weeping. 

“You’re right to be scared of returning to Thomas under the given circumstances. But he thinks you are finally gone forever. Even if there’s sufficient time to grieve, it’s not a linear or even permanent process.

“Losing someone you love hurts like nothing else. Whether it be a friend, a partner, or a family member. If you went back and at the very least, gave him a sign you were still alive—say, a letter—even if you want him to dispose of it to keep himself safe, he can at least not suffer from the thought you’re gone. And then, perhaps, he and you can find a way.”

Blues shivered, chills running down his spine.

Hirono… You’re such a mysterious woman. But you helped me.

“…I’ll go back. At least, when it’s safe to do so. I promise I will.” Blues wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

Those words got Dr. Hirono to smile again. “Keep that promise, young man. When this blizzard passes, I think it’d be about time you gave him true closure.”

“I could use a haircut first…” Blues half-joked.

“I’ll give you one! I can let you stay and charge before you go too.” Hirono patted him on the head.

“Thank you. So much…”

It was finally time that I left for home. A fully-charged hoverboard, a dumb, smaller pompadour, and a letter for my dad.

I didn’t need to run and hurt my core further. This time, I was ready to appreciate the scenery around me. Maybe a hoverboard trip or two wouldn’t hurt, but no rush.

It took about a week and a half to get back.

The sky seemed to be clearing up today, the white snow on the ground shining as the sunlight shone down. Perhaps this, too, was an omen. But this time, it was a good one.

Blues saw that same clearing, leading to that same house, with no strange cars or strange people out in front. It was safe to approach now.

Blues took the letter out from under his scarf, the most sincere smile on his face in years. This was the moment he’s been waiting for. There was the red mailbox right beside the door; he just had to leave it in there and…

He couldn’t help but wonder what’s changed since then.

Blues came closer to the house, circling it to find a good place to look indoors. It’s been so long, everything must have been nicer. A quick peek couldn’t hurt, would it?

Closer to the back-west side of the house, Blues saw an open window, six feet up the wall. Chitchat from several different voices could be heard, none of them Light’s. Did he have guests over?

Blues reached up to the window’s edge, pulling himself up to look inside. Seven different figures faced an eighth one. Only two of them, a boy and a girl, looked entirely human. The rest were either weird and non-human, or they were in some type of armored getup.

“I’m so sorry to keep you all.” Blues recognized that voice as Dr. Light’s, and immediately lowered himself when he did.

“I know you’ve all been waiting for me to complete your new sibling,” Light continued, “and I’m terribly sorry for the delays in doing so. It’s just that not too long ago, something was weighing on me, and… it still is. I don’t want to burden you all with it, you’re not therapists and-”

“You don’t have to apologize to us, dad!” A young boy’s voice piped up.

“Your well-being comes first, and we’re here to help in any other way we can!” A girly voice chimed in as well.

“Rock, Roll…” Dr. Light’s voice seemed to grow happier. “Thank you so much. Now, without further delay, meet your new sibling! DLN-008, Elec Man!”

…

Blues, quietly, walked away.

Eight of them.

Eight new children.

All of them are happy with their father.

And their father is happy with them.

Without him.

No, he couldn’t have forgotten him, he was still mourning him. He didn’t say anything to them, but he was still mourning regardless.

What is it, Blues? Does he want to forget about you or does he still care? Pick one and stick with it.

Blues’s fingers slowly curled around the envelope, harder, harder, until his hands were on the verge of pulling it apart.

But he couldn’t bring himself to do the deed.

He simply placed it in his duffel bag and walked away from the place he used to call home.

Off in the distance, he saw that city. Mega City.

What the hell, no one would recognize him with this haircut. Or at all. Maybe he can stay as a drifter.

Why? Why are you not even going to leave the letter?

Do you think you’re just giving him false hope? That you’ll die before it’s safe to come back?

Are you afraid some outside force will find it even though you asked Light to get rid of it?

Are you afraid that he’ll think the letter itself is fake? That he won’t put his faith in it?

Why, Blues?

Why are you such an irrational, emotional thing?

…Perhaps, it’s because of your humanity.

20XX

That’s the end of my story. A circus of irrational, emotionally-driven decisions made while the full picture eluded me, and still eludes me to this day.

Every passing day I kept doubting if I could keep my promise to Dr. Hirono. I could have gone back and stayed with her before she disappeared, yes, but if those people found out about my presence, then not only would I be scrapped, but she would be dead meat too.

I gradually slipped away from the positive thinking I wanted to have. I sometimes still told myself that those other robots were proof that Light didn’t care about me, that he was an asshole who replaced me, that I myself was replaceable. Sometimes those lies would work on me for a few fleeting moments and I’d feel less guilty for my stupid decision to not come back.

But I knew deep down. My dad still loved me. My dad still missed me. He would gladly take me in, preserve my identity, and repair me.

But no one would be safe if I came home.

At least I could lie to everyone with a straight face that I was running from danger instead of my salvation.

Blues wandered down the sidewalk. Aimless, he ran the strap of his duffel bag between his fingers, looking in storefront windows, and trying to avoid odd stares.

He meandered by an alleyway when he saw something move in the corner of his eye. A stray tabby cat.

“Heyyy!” He called, making kissy noises and trying to beckon the cat closer. It jumped further down into the alley.

He removed his duffel bag, intending to follow when a bell sounded from a nearby Electric Pizza. That was when he saw…

“BLUES?!”

20XX+1

There was Shoegaze’s voice. Blues wished he didn’t have to see him in this condition, but such is the world. He can’t control a thing.

“I’m sorry it had to end this way, buddy.” Blues closed his eyes, not wanting to see Shoegaze’s pitiful expression.

“Y-You dumbass. You goddamn idiot. Y-You- you…” Shoegaze couldn’t keep himself from bawling through the insults he hurled at Blues. Blues didn’t respond this time.

“Blues, can you hear us?!” Quake Woman shouted, but Blues stayed quiet.

“Blues!” Shoegaze shook Blues by the collar, only to jump back from how burning hot his shell was.

“Shoegaze, please, it’ll be fine.” Dr. Lalinde sounded uncertain. “If I find a way to turn him off, his core will stop burning and then-”

“And then you can modify his I.C. chip without his consent?! Get rid of Blues’ independence?!” Shoegaze whipped around and shouted Dr. Lalinde down. “Is that what you want?! Blues doesn’t have it in him to be a criminal, so why should he have his freedom taken on a possibility?!”

“I-” Dr. Lalinde shook her head. “I never wanted that! Even when I said the way he was programmed is illegal, I couldn’t just lobotomize him… I wanted to give him back to Dr. Light so that neither of them would have to suffer!”

“W-Wait!” Quake Woman realized, “Blues has an emergency shutdown password! It’s in his memory, it’s-”

“Nante awarena kōkeideshou,” a voice none of them knew spoke from the sidelines.

“Huh-” Quake Woman whipped around and stared the stranger down. A robot in gold and navy armor like a samurai marched towards them with a spear in his right hand.

“It’s high time you handed Blues over, isn’t it?” The samurai twirled his spear.

“GET AWAY!” Shoegaze ran towards the new face with fists raised.

The golden robot didn’t even flinch as he grabbed Shoegaze by the arm and threw him to the ground.

“Step off!” Vesper Woman ran in front of Tempo and Blues as well, her armor phasing onto her body as she stuck her arm out. “This black and yellow getup isn’t just for show!” Her hand retracted, Sting Shot readied before she shot it at the robot.

“Hmph.” The robot raised his spear. A barrier of energy wreathed itself around him, not only blocking Vesper’s attack but completely neutralizing it. Pointing his spear at her, the barrier converged at the tip and launched as a projectile, blowing Vesper Woman out of the way.

“N-No!” Quake Woman looked to the robot in her arms, holding him tighter than before.

“Just let me go,” Blues whispered to her, his voice crackling with static as his very voicebox deteriorated. “I’m on death’s door as-is. What could he possibly…” He stopped mid-sentence, his body going limp.

“B-But I can’t just-” Quake Woman stood like a statue before the enemy took Blues from her hands.

Blues let out one final whistle. G Minor, timescale 4/4. G-B♭ B♭~C B♭ C~D, G-B♭ ♭D C B♭-G♭ G… That was his swan song.

“Shut yourself down, and I’ll fix whatever’s causing this.” In the blink of an eye, the assailant teleported away, along with the dying robot.

“Blues…” Tempo’s armor was still burning hot to the touch from how long she held her friend in her arms. As the heat died down, she felt herself grow weak and collapsed to her knees.

“BLUUUUUUUUES!!!” Tempo screamed into the heavens as if she were begging the angels to bring him back.

Chapter Text

“So Blues knew Hirono.” Shoegaze shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking through Blues’s memories now that Tempo had shared them. “This is a different house than the one I woke up in, but nothing that tells me why she disappeared.”

“Can you see anything else?” Dr. Lalinde asked.

“There’s a lot of blueprints lying around this house, I’m certain one of them is mine, but still not a hint.” Shoegaze slid down to the ground, Lucky approaching him before laying in his lap.

“Well, can’t say we didn’t try.” Cadenza looked over to Tempo, who still looked despondent. “Sis? It’ll be okay. I mean, why take a dying robot without fixing him?”

“And what if Blues isn’t ‘Blues’ anymore when he comes back?” Tempo responded, the distance in her voice growing.

“Well…” Cadenza couldn’t answer.

“Shoegaze,” Dr. Lalinde spoke up again, “Look into Blues’s memories from today.”

“Right, hold on.” Shoegaze closed his eyes, Lucky putting his muzzle in his face and sniffing. He was quiet for several minutes, nodding to himself as he saw Wood Man begging for him to go to Wily. “Can we even trust him…?”

“What was that?” Lalinde asked.

“That Robot Master, Wood Man, tried to take him back to Wily. He said that Wily wouldn’t even think of changing his personality. But for all we know, that could be a lie.” Shoegaze looked distressed himself.

“…If Wily wanted Blues to give him total obedience, I feel like he would have altered Blues’s programming back in the RIT.” Dr. Lalinde took her glasses off. “Then again, that’s just me hoping things aren’t different this time. Hoping he has some semblance of goodness in him.”

“Why do you even hope anymore?” Tempo blurted without even thinking.

“Because sometimes, it’s all we can do.” Lalinde looked over to Tempo. “I know it’s hard, but please. For me.”

Tempo rocked in her seat but slowly nodded.

“Do you need to rest?” The doctor made her way over and hugged her daughter.

“Yes,” Tempo whispered.

Touching down in the Rocky Mountains, Mega Man scanned his surroundings before catching sight of the two Secret Service agents, Ramerra and LeBron. The duo had gotten the trapdoor open with the help of two high-level plasma cutters, but even with their combined strength, they struggled to lift the door off the entrance.

“Having trouble?” Mega Man asked.

“You got a solution, Megster?” LeBron asked in response.

“If it works for Roll, this might work for me.” Mega Man switched to the Crash Bomber, drilling it into the side of the thick ceratanium door before chucking it to the side with ease.

“Thanks, kid.” Ramerra wiped xer brow, looking down into the hole that they unveiled. “There’s a ladder. You first then?”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Mega Man carefully stepped on, climbing down into the hideout of the final Robot Master, with the agents following him.

“Did the emergency shutdown password work, Enker?”

“Yes, Wily-sama.”

“How are Blues’s systems?”

“It’s a miracle his I.C. chip and Memory Circuit Board have survived. However, he requires a full replacement for his circuitry. The root cause of his malfunctions wasn’t the core itself, but rather the main cables that connected it to his extremities.”

“Yes, while I get on that, replace his core with something even more powerful. It’s about time he upgraded to nuclear power.”

“Are you certain, sir? It’s more perilous for him to have than a solar core. If it gets damaged in just the right way, catastrophe wouldn’t even begin to describe it. Compounding that, we’re unsure if he’ll even be willing to stay with us, and if he decides his lonesome is preferable, he won’t have access to regular checkups-”

“Enker. Worry not. Proper insulation and cooling, as well as a more powerful shell, will be the first step. The second will be gaining his trust.”

“Yes, of course, forgive me.”

“Now, we must work like there’s no time. I have no faith in Quick Man winning at this rate, and though we prepared this castle better than the facility, we cannot tell how long it will take them to find us. We must remain as diligent and cautious as all get-out if we want to beat that blue brat and his red rascal sister.”

When Mega Man reached the bottom of the ladder, his footfalls rang with the sound of impacting metal. “What is this place?”

Ramerra was second to fully descend, pulling a scoped pistol from the inside of xer tuxedo jacket. “An underground lab it seems.”

LeBron was last, opening a metal case to assemble his signature assault shotgun when he reached the ground. “Wily made this in one year? In addition to that pipe base that Crash Man was in? Air Man’s fortress too?”

“Well,” Mega Man thought aloud, “He can build a fully-functioning time stopper, right?”

“That’s true…” Ramerra mused, “Stopping time can be used for more than just destruction. It’s just a shame Wily doesn’t apply it in any other fashion.” Walking over to a huge computer on the left-hand side of the laboratory and turning it on, Ramerra plugged a USB into it, several command prompts popping up before disappearing.

“Anything useful?” LeBron looked over.

“Whatever Wily has installed on his computer, it sure hides his location better than we could even hide the federal prison from his bird…” Ramerra smacked the deck of the terminal out of frustration. “All I could unlock on this computer were videos of his other Robot Masters biting it. Analysis purposes, perhaps?”

Mega Man shut his eyes as that conversation went on. There was still an ounce of hurt in his heart for what happened over this day. And yet he still didn’t know why it had to happen to begin with.

But he didn’t have time to dwell on it. His gaze shot over to a ladder that led to the next level down. He heard the rapid thumping of metallic boots running up the wall.

“He’s coming!” Mega Man shouted, readying his Buster as the agents aimed at their enemy as well.

A red blur shot up, landing before it sped over to the agents and brandishing a boomerang the size of a sword. Quick Man’s face didn’t have that air of smugness that one would expect. He was bored.

The agents opened fire, but it was futile. Every bullet they shot was either deflected or cut in half as the enemy robot swung his boomerang faster than they could see. The barrel of Ramerra’s pistol was cleaved off, while LeBron’s shotgun was diced to pieces.

“You’re both lucky Wily told me not to waste my energy killing either of you.” Quick Man wrapped each of his arms around both their necks, knocking both of them out with a sleeper hold. That horrible toothy grin came upon his face again. “Heyyy, Rocky ol’ buddy! Nice of you to drop by to visit!”

Mega Man’s face twisted in anger as he started recklessly shooting at Quick Man, but Quick Man was able to swiftly dodge out of the way before getting into Mega Man’s personal space. “What’s wrong, pal? Did I do somethiiing?”

“S-Shut up…!” Mega Man’s eyes grew damp. “Mighty and I destroyed the rest of your line! You’re going to be next!”

“Then catch me if you can!” Quick Man sped back towards the ladder to the lower levels, only this time, he jumped straight down. Mega Man couldn’t even keep up on foot, but he knew it would be the same as always: he’d fight him in an arena, where neither of them could run.

Mega Man jumped down after him, the location now indistinguishable from the average death course he runs through. He dodged the curvy pipes that the Scworms shot at him before jumping deeper down. Suddenly, Quick Man’s voice came over the intercom.

“You know, I thought you and your little sister would have been next when Enker and I had you both right there in the park,” Quick Man spoke over the underground lab’s intercom. “I could have popped both your heads off in one fell swoop. I could have ended it. But… Wily told me to wait.”

Mega Man tried to ignore him, only focusing on getting through this treacherous course, but he heard something just barely graze him as he dropped down. Laser beams, bigger than any he’s seen before, shot through holes in the walls. Mega Man had to be quick himself, jumping down only to be greeted by more lasers almost vaporizing him as he fell.

“Enker said it was because Dr. Light called you and that’d mean my sneak attack would fail,” Quick Man kept talking as Mega Man avoided every beam, “But… That was a lie and we both knew it. I know it was because the old man was getting cold feet right in the middle of our massacre.” Quick Man’s smug tone was starting to fade.

Mega Man finally had a safe spot on a platform with a single Springer, which he took out with a few shots of the Bubble Lead. Taking this moment to recuperate, he went deeper, now in a room consisting of uneven terrain. To make matters worse, the lights suddenly went out, leaving Mega Man to navigate with limited visibility.

“I should have killed you both then and there, but…” Quick Man scoffed, “Roboethics dictate I need to obey Wily. How ironic. I have to follow the rules instilled into me while breaking the law.”

Mega Man finally regained vision. However, that light came from a Hothead, which reached into its head so it could toss a Changkey right at Mega Man. The boy swiftly jumped back, equipping the Air Shooter and taking out the Hothead in one shot; though, in turn, the room went dark again.

“We could have won,” Quick Man kept going, no sign of shutting up anytime soon, “But that old man, that senile dumbass ruined it all the moment he told me to let you two get away! And now here you are, with one or two weapons almost tailor-made to kill me- NO, SHUT UP, WILY!” The sound of bangs and the crunching of metal exploded from the intercom. “SHUT! YOUR! MOUTH!”

Mega Man was able to see again thanks to another Hothead, but just a few seconds after went back to seeing darkness with another shot of the Air Shooter. Still, he tried his best to navigate through the dark until the lights went back on, leading to the next way down. Almost immediately, he was thrust into an onslaught of lasers coming from either side of him, which he narrowly escaped only to be bombarded by yet more waves of them.

***

“Oh, but it’s not just Wily, everyone around me is a stupid asshole!” Quick Man’s rant soon devolved into his petty grudges as Mega Man dodged every barrage, “Metal Man bites, but he barks just as much and gets himself bitten in the process; Air Man is a holier-than-thou honorable warrior wannabe; Bubble Man is a wimpy little geek that tries to bribe his way out of everything; Crash Man’s a goddamn PSYCHO; Flash Man’s a dramatic creeper; Heat Man’s a whiny, lying little brat; Wood Man thinks acting like Air Man makes him hot shit too; and Enker just straight-up enables Wily’s dumbass decisions! Why?! Why are they like this?!”

Mega Man finally escaped from certain death, with only two Sniper Joes riding Dachones to contend with where he landed. Nothing the Air Shooter couldn’t fix, the cyclones cutting the Dachones down so that only the Joes remained. Mega Man simply passed them, not wanting to risk taking damage fighting them. This was between him and Quick Man.

Mega Man walked into the last safe room before the arena, finally getting a break from Quick Man’s horrible voice. He took one minute to savor this silence, knowing he shouldn’t delay much longer. This was the last one he had to fight.

Mega Man stepped through the door into the arena, looking over the uneven terrain to see Quick Man curled up with his back to the arena door, a dent in the side of his helmet where his earpiece was. That must have been what that banging on the intercom was.

“H-Hey?” Mega Man reached his hand out, hoping Quick Man would listen to him.

Quick Man curled up harder. “I don’t want to lose. My whole purpose revolves around destroying you, and yet I don’t have a chance. I’m just going to be a disappointment to Wily.

“That’s already what I am to my linemates: somehow I knew it would come to this, this nightmare scenario where I don’t even have a chance at winning. I tried to preemptively snuff out any hope they had in me by becoming a horrible, horrible person. But Jesus Christ, I’ve crossed several lines in the process.

“I should never have even thought of talking about Crash Man like that, just look at me; I’m more of a ‘freak’ and a ‘psycho’ than he could ever be. He didn’t deserve that kind of verbal abuse being dumped onto him like that. Hell, I shouldn’t even rag on my other linemates when I’m just as mouthy, just as standoffish, just as much of a coward as the ones I shout about.”

“Quick Man…” Mega Man stood like a statue, holding back tears. Was he truly feeling sympathy for this devil? “You don’t have to be like this. You have more of a purpose than just trying to kill me. I could take you back to Light, we could help you find something to be your passion or even just a hobby, we-”

“You’re going to drop everything just because I’m giving you a sob story?” Quick Man tried to put that snarky mask back on, but it was unconvincing. He sounded lost. As if he felt he could never be redeemed.

“Yeah, I guess I am.” Mega Man looked away. “You’re hurting. Just look at your helmet. You broke yourself just so you could talk without Wily telling you to stop. That shouldn’t be something a robot feels like they should do under any circumstances.”

“It doesn’t negate my other orders, unfortunately,” Quick Man gave a sorrowful chuckle and stood up. “I still have to fight you no matter how much I delay it.”

“Then I guess I have no choice.” Mega Man closed his eyes, Mega Buster at the ready, without any special weapon equipped.

“Dr. Light?” Mega Man spoke through the comm line for the first time since he got to this place, this time through text communication, “Turn off my pain receptors.”

“Wh-What?” Dr. Light stuttered through voice communication, only audible to Mega Man. “Are you certain? Pain is there to tell your mind-”

“I know,” Mega Man sent another text before Dr. Light finished, “It keeps me from getting careless. But I might have to get a little bit careless if I want to beat Quick Man.”

“…Be careful.” Dr. Light obliged, Mega Man’s interface soon flashing a message confirming that the receptors were deactivated.

Mega Man and Quick Man remained motionless for what felt like forever, staring each other down with regret in their eyes. The first move had to be made.

“Let’s go!” Quick Man leaped high into the air, over to the other side of the arena, shooting three boomerangs from a launcher mounted on his wrist. Mega Man jumped over the boomerangs and fired his Mega Buster, landing a few successful shots on Quick Man. However, boomerangs being boomerangs, they flew right towards the Blue Bomber.

Mega Man was able to dodge two of them, but his left arm was grazed by the third. He didn’t even pay attention to it. All Mega Man was thinking of was his next move.

“Come on!” Quick Man shouted, “You think you’re too good to use anything other than that peashooter?! Fight as if your life depends on it!” Just then, he lunged at Mega Man with his melee boomerang forming in hand.

“Now!” Mega Man whipped back around, hand charging up as he went in with a Mega Upper, hitting Quick Man square in the chin just as he was about to swing at Mega Man’s head. The attack launched Quick Man backward, but just as he hit the ground, Quick Man rolled back onto his feet and dashed towards Mega Man. With a leg sweep and a straight punch, Quick Man sent Mega Man flying in turn.

As Mega Man careened through the air, he glimpsed the wall he was on course to collide with and planned accordingly. Crash Bomber equipped, he shot at the wall, the bomb drilling into the metal and arming. Switching to Item-2, he spawned the hoverboard and turned to face away from the bomb, leaning forward so the board took the brunt of the explosion’s force and launched it forward like a missile.

“Over here!” Quick Man called as he landed in front of Mega Man on the board, swinging away at the boy. Mega Man speedily dodged as many strikes as he could, but soon suffered several cuts in his shell: one on his cheek and several more on his right arm and left leg. But it didn’t slow Mega Man down as he retaliated by thrusting his fist into Quick Man’s stomach, disabling the taller robot so he could jump backward off Item-2 and switch to the Mega Buster, getting a few quick shots at Quick Man’s face.

Quick Man fell when Item-2 disappeared with Mega Man’s weapon switch but still managed to take aim and fire a singular boomerang. Mega Man ducked under it as it came from behind, but as he ran forward to jump over the boomerang, it split into three, each one aiming to cut deep into one of his limbs. Mega Man had to think fast…

Mega Man, instead of jumping, got on the ground and spun on his head, his legs kicking out as if he were breakdancing. Each of the boomerangs stabbed into his boots, just above where the ankle joint was. As the thickest part of the boot, it easily stopped them before they hit any connective circuitry. Mega Man pulled the boomerangs out with one hand and threw them back at Quick Man, but the other robot easily deflected each one.

“Quit screwing around! If you’re going to beat me, just do it! ” Quick Man screamed at Mega Man, dashing up to the Blue Bomber and punching him square in the chest. Mega Man’s vision briefly blanked from the disruption of his energy flow, but he remained conscious; that didn’t change the fact that Quick Man was beating him like a speed bag. All the swift strikes hitting every part of his body caused Mega Man’s shell to dent, but still, with his pain receptors disabled, his brain wasn’t preoccupied with his breaking body, but with how he could use Quick Man’s obliviousness to his advantage. He didn’t know of Mega Man’s disabled pain receptors, after all.

“TAKE THIS! ” Quick Man jumped into the air, drop-kicking Mega Man with both legs and launching the boy to the other side of the arena, across the uneven terrain. Mega Man saw he was going to land behind a section of raised ground that he could completely hide behind, and planned accordingly. Just before he hit the ground, he switched to the Crash Bomber, and as he landed, the drill at the end of his Mega Buster stabbed into the ground, arming the bomb. That’s when he turned back to normal and laid on top of it, hiding it away from plain sight.

“Come on,” Quick Man scoffed as he quickly jumped across the arena, landing in front of Mega Man and lifting him up off the ground by the neck, glaring him in the eye. “Quit bullshitting me. Surely you got more fight in you than that!”

Mega Man looked unresponsive, just staring back.

“Speak up, you little twerp!” Quick Man spawned the melee boomerang in his right hand. “Or are you content with being just a wall decoration?!” Quick Man stepped forward, but suddenly flinched when he stepped on something that wasn’t meant to be there…

“Three…” Mega Man kicked Quick Man upside the head, the other robot letting go of his neck. “Two…!” He switched to the Leaf Shield, his armor turning brown and green and taking on a treelike quality before ceratanium leaves circled his body. “ONE!”

BANG!  

Mega Man was launched back by the explosion into the wall behind him, but the Leaf Shield kept his body from taking the brunt of the blast. As the dust and rubble cleared, Mega Man climbed back to the top of the “hills” the metal floor was built into, looking around for Quick Man’s body.

Soon, Mega Man caught sight of his enemy. Quick Man's right leg had been blown off, and the rest of his body was burnt and marred from the explosion. Quick Man laid limp where he was, but it wasn't exploding as the rest of the Robot Masters had.

Mega Man slowly approached, waiting for Quick Man to self-destruct…

But in an instant, Mega Man felt something stab into his abdomen, Quick Man right in front of him with a smaller boomerang in his hand.

“I can play pretend too,” Quick Man whispered as he wrenched the boomerang out of Mega Man’s side, sparks flying and the oil from his backup fuel tank spilling out. Mega Man’s vision began to blur, his body growing weak, causing him to fall to his knees. Quick Man dragged himself to the side and switched from the smaller boomerang to its larger melee version, holding it to the back of Mega Man’s neck.

“Were you trying to somehow be fair to me earlier? Is that why you were holding back?” Quick Man lifted the boomerang over his head.

“I-” Mega Man couldn’t think, his solar energy almost depleted and no backup fuel to keep him awake, thankful that he didn’t feel how he looked.

“If there’s one thing I hate more than fighting an uphill battle, it’s being pitied. At least you got serious in the end. But, what’s it matter? For you… It’s game over.” Quick Man let out one last shout as he swung down.

Everything froze.

Mega Man stumbled away, having switched to the Time Stopper in the nick of time and activating it. There was no way Mega Man could fight properly in his current condition, he had to think fast before the Time Stopper ran out of energy.

But what was going on with Quick Man?

Quick Man’s eyes were glitching out, crackles of electricity jumping across his armor. Even his shell was twitching within frozen time, teeth clenched. There was nothing about this that wasn’t horrifying and uncanny.

Quick Man’s chest started glowing, a hole exploded right in the center where his core used to be, and as the Time Stopper deactivated, Quick Man muttered one last line, “Took you… long enough…” Crumbling to the ground, the rest of Quick Man’s shell self-destructed, I.C. chip shooting into the air and teleporting away, leaving only the weapon data chip behind.

Mega Man made his way over and picked the data chip off the ground with sluggish movement. “The real battle’s just beginning, right?” he muttered to no one before he was finally teleported back.

Mega Man was barely conscious when he got back, only regaining lucidity after ten minutes on a repair bench. His eyes wandered, noticing Roll sitting beside him on the other repair bench. She was out of her armor and her face said it all, she was worried sick for Mega Man.

“You’re okay, right?” asked Roll.

“I’m not dead, so…” Mega Man shut his eyes.

Roll got up, walking to her brother’s side. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

“I just wanna go home,” Mega Man sighed.

“We’ll be home after you’re repaired.” Roll gave him a comforting smile.

“Are the other four repaired yet?” Mega Man inquired, referring to Guts, Ice, Bomb, and Fire.

“Hmmm.” Roll turned around. “Do you know, Meddy?”

“It should be around ten to fifteen more minutes,” Meddy responded, standing next to Dr. Edogawa.

“Are Ramerra and LeBron okay?” Mega Man couldn’t help but worry even if Quick Man said he couldn’t kill them.

“They regained consciousness after your earlier exchange with Quick Man,” Dr. Edogawa joined in, “Which took about… six seconds? Regardless, they aren’t hospitalized.

“Now is the time we start looking for Dr. Wily’s hideout.” Dr. Edogawa removed two data chips from her computer. “Here. This is the Quick Boomerang.”

“Nn…” Mega Man nodded. 

“I’ll set a course for you two to be teleported home once you’re repaired,” Edogawa continued, “Then I can bring you two back here tomorrow.”

“I wanna wait until the rest of my brothers are repaired,” Mega Man answered.

“Oh, but of course, we can wait as long as you need.” Dr. Edogawa patted Mega Man’s head.

“And I want dad to drive me home instead,” he continued.

“Really?” Edogawa’s brow furrowed, “It’d be faster to just teleport you back.”

“I just want to feel normal for once today…”

Everyone in the room went quiet.

“If that’s what you wish, then go ahead and call Dr. Light then.” Dr. Edogawa went back to her computer, Meddy staying beside Mega Man to oversee the repairs.

…How was he activated?

Blues sat up, noticing he was laid on some kind of repair table. Behind it was a computer monitor, only showing a blank sky blue screen. Blues felt dread crawl through his body, looking every which way for an exit, only seeing one mechanical sliding door at the other end of the room.

Before he was able to get over there, Blues heard a raspy voice clearing its throat coming from the computer speakers, but didn’t even turn to look. He knew who it would be. And he knew what was going to happen.

“Your attention, please!” Dr. Wily called over the intercom. “Blues, please, turn around and face me.”

“Go to hell,” Blues hissed, continuing to the door.

But not even after a second, he stopped in his tracks and realized what he just said, what he just did. He defied human orders, not just any other human’s, but Dr. Wily’s orders.

“I wasn’t lying about keeping your free will intact.” Wily’s voice was tinged with drear. “But, you had every right to be distrustful of me. I’m not going to pretend-”

“Just shut up and get to the point,” Blues growled, “What the hell do you want from me?”

“Nothing,” Wily responded, “I saved you from death, gave you a new core, and I don’t need you to repay me in any way.”

“…What’s your game here, Wily?” Blues glared at him.

Wily looked away before clearing his throat. “Do you have anywhere to stay?”

Blues thought about Light and Lalinde before shaking his head and responding, “Not without putting myself or anyone else in danger. But it’s not like you’re looking out for other people’s safety anyway.”

Wily brought his hands to his face, rubbing his temples before continuing, “I doubt you wish for that to remain the case. You can’t keep on running forever.”

“And you’re the last person I’d trust with a solution,” Blues spat, “Not after what happened. Don’t pretend you forgot.”

Wily flinched. “I- I never intended for your core to malfunction! …technically it was the cables attached to the core, but that’s not important!”

“That is not the issue and you know it!” Blues tried to make himself look bigger. “I was a kid! You talked me into testing your garbage tech because-”

“Because of the type of people who outlawed you!” Wily interrupted. “They didn’t see you as a life, but a burden to their status quo! The power I wanted to give you would set the record straight, put them in their place, let you fight back!”

“Would you quit with that ‘fight back’ garbage for one second?!” Blues outright shrieked, “They wanted to force me to have roboethics because they thought I had the potential to be a threat to humanity! It was them fearing I’d be violent that-”

“No,” Wily’s voice lowered, “It was because you stuck it to General Bugle with your words.”

“Wh-” Blues stopped talking.

“I may have snooped around in your memories while I was repairing you,” Wily said casually, “It truly was a sorrowful sight for me.”

Blues tugged his hair, biting down on his scarf as he quietly shed his tears. When he could speak again, he didn’t have the energy to even perform aggression. “Maybe I should go back to Dr. Light. Maybe if I told him you were rooting around my systems again, he’d finally get over his regrets and-”

“Doctor Thomas Xavier Light, who willingly replaced you with eight other robots?! I heard that he’s almost finished with another line of eight more!” Wily dropped all pretenses of being friendly.

“MY DAD STILL MOURNED ME!” Blues punched the screen Wily was on, but only managed to briefly distort the picture before it returned to normal.

“Maybe the same way one mourns a pet fish!” Wily scoffed, “He didn’t even say your name during his interview before the Manual Design Contest! He could have at least paid your memory proper lip service if he thought you were gone forever!”

“SHUT UP!” Blues wanted to retort, but his mind was getting cloudy with sorrow and rage.

“Don’t act like you don’t resent everyone else in that household!” Wily pushed, “They are getting more love than you ever had from the public while Light bent over backward for the law and programmed them without the free will you have!”

“Shut up, shut up …!” Blues’s body quaked, curling up with his hands over his head.

“Is this what you want to be?” Wily asked, “Relegated to the margins of robotics history? Phased out in favor of machines that shut up and obey?”

Silence was all that responded as Blues wept.

“We can help you.” Blues recognized the voice behind him as the samurai that brought him here, Enker. “If you are willing to let us.”

Blues only lifted his head so his voice would be clear, not even facing the one behind him. “And how can I guarantee this won’t end with me burning to death?”

“It will not be by Wily’s hand that we will give you the means,” answered the samurai.

“We’re home,” Light called into the house, Rock following him from outside. The drive had been quiet for the most part, but it gave Rock some semblance of comfort. “And we brought some-”

“Welcome back!” Cut Man called out, making a mad dash to see the rest of his family. “Guts, catch!” he called as he leaped at Guts Man, who was carrying two paper bags.

“Wait, I’ve got fragile cargo!” Guts Man instinctively tossed the bags into the air as Cut Man leaped right into him and grabbed on like a monkey.

“I got ’em!” Bomb Man raised his arms over his head in a bid to catch them as they fell.

“Me too!” Fire Man did the same, despite his lack of hands.

From behind them both, Ice Man ran up and spat his Ice Slasher at them, freezing and suspending them in midair. “There. That should help you both.”

“…What’s the physics behind that, anyway?” Bomb Man asked as he stood under one of the bags, catching it once it unfroze, with Fire Man following suit.

“Well, you’ll probably have to ask-” Ice Man paused. Maybe it was best not to talk about Wily at this point in time when Rock would like to briefly forget. “Rock, Roll, why don’t you two go put your new toys away?”

“Sure.” Rock took the bag from Bomb Man’s hand. “You’re always surprising us with what you get, Roll.”

“And you never fail to meet our expectations,” Roll chuckled as she took the bag held in Fire Man’s arms.

“Yeah, I know,” Rock gave a little smile as he looked inside the bag on the way to his room. An Ultraman Jack action figure, as well as several kaiju that he fought. “I got all the toys that Ultra Seven had to offer, so…”

“Hey, that’s a good thing, that means we’re gonna go further through our DVD collection!” Roll wrapped an arm around Rock’s shoulder.

“Yeah, guess so. Still, I dunno how anything can top all the memories I’ve had with it…” Rock looked to the side as the two entered the bedroom, looking at the bookshelf that he put all his action figures and gashapon toys on, taking the toys out of their packaging and onto the fourth shelf.

“Well, of course you don’t know if anything will top it; that’s how nostalgia works, doesn’t it? You’ll have memories that are new now that you’ll look back upon fondly in the future as well.” Roll took her own toys out of her bag: Japanese Spider-Man toys. Rock’s love of tokusatsu must have been rubbing off on her.

“Right…” Rock looked further down the bookshelf, to the bottommost shelf. It was almost completely empty, save for one item…

Rock Light’s Photo Diary! Top Secret!

“Nostalgia…”

Chapter Text

Thoughts coursed through Blues’s mind as he looked at the ground, not a single one positive.

Even if he had agreed to follow Enker, this could very well be a fatal mistake.

But how else could he get close to Wily? Blues couldn’t just leave this place. Even though he was given a choice and had the freedom to do so, he didn’t even have a clue where in the world this castle was.

This madness had to stop, and going through this might be the only way to achieve peace.

“I assume you are familiar with this?” Enker spoke up, causing Blues to jolt back to reality.

Looking up from the ground, he saw a suit of armor displayed upon a strange mechanical podium, painted mostly in a somewhat dark, slightly unsaturated reddish-gray color, with the gloves, boots, and helmet being a pure scarlet.

“Unfortunately, yeah.” Blues remembered fully well.

He recalled that the blueprint Dr. Wily dropped so long ago, which he had told Dr. Light to keep safe, depicted this exact armor. The pit Blues felt in his core grew deeper.

Enker took the helmet off of the armor and handed it to Blues—it was almost like a motorcycle helmet. A white crest was painted above the visor’s black-lensed face shield, and a mouth vent would hide the rest of Blues’s features. If it weren’t for the lattermost detail, it’d have looked too much like the helmet of the Sniper Joes.

“There will be no lengthy process to build the armor into you,” Enker explained, “The armor will integrate into your systems as soon as you put it on.”

Enker gestured to the armor, which slowly opened up, like a beast waiting to consume Blues.

Blues stood there with his helmet in hand. “And… I’ll keep my free will?”

“Your distrust is natural, but I assure you, you will still be as free as the day you were built.” Enker gestured again. “You still may turn back now, if you wish. It’s not too late.”

Blues, however, still stood like a statue.

He didn’t think the past would be back to haunt him in the form of that horrid blueprint.

The memories all came flooding back to him; Wily’s manipulation of his younger self, the malfunctioning of his core, everything he had to endure…

He was dead set on getting the upgrades when he was following Enker. But now, seeing that glimpse of his past…

No matter how much he wanted to believe Wily truly wanted what was best for him, there was just no way he could bring himself to go through with this plan.

Blues took one step backward.

And then another.

And then-

“Hurry it up, you’re wasting everyone’s time!” A voice shouted from behind Blues, laced with dramatics and smarm, and in a split second…

FLASH!

“…Flash Man,” Blues heard Enker sigh, “That was unnecessary.”

“What else were you going to do?!” That slimy voice shouted more, “If you’re going to push the narrative that he NEEDS the upgrades, then you might as well push him to get them with a bit more urgency!”

Blues looked down. He could feel the armor meshing into his systems, and the weight of the helmet was upon his head. He didn’t do this. Not on his own.

“Y-You…!” Blues choked out.

“Hm?” Flash Man glimpsed over to the boy. “Pardon?”

“What did you DO TO ME?!” Blues suddenly bolted over, gripping Flash Man by the neck with one hand as he felt his other hand turn into a buster. He didn’t even know how he did it; it was purely instinct.

“Gh-” Flash Man flinched, staring down the barrel of certain death. “H-Heh, you’re getting the hang of this already.”

“DON’T PLAY GAMES WITH ME!” Blues screamed, his buster charging up an energy blast… Once again, he didn’t know how his body even worked, but he was still pulling out all the stops.

“Blues!” A voice shouted from behind Blues. That voice. “Calm down! Put your weapon away!”

Blues whipped around, now aiming at Dr. Wily with nothing but hatred in his heart.

“I’ll kill you…!” Blues growled, sluggishly dragging his feet along the ground as he stared Wily in the eye. “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you, I’ll-”

But as Blues brought the barrel of his buster to Wily’s head, he saw the old man staying stoic.

Blues realized what he was doing.

He was still defying Wily’s orders.

“…I’m sorry, my son…” Wily held his arms out. “I didn’t tell Flash Man to-”

“Save it, old man,” Blues interrupted. His buster disappeared, along with the rest of his armor. “…How do I get out of here?”

“You have a teleportation engine inside of you, stronger and more versatile than anything on the market.” Dr. Wily tapped the side of his head, signaling Blues to check his sunglasses. “You can pick anywhere in the world to go, no matter where it is, without even needing to pre-link to the coordinates.”

Blues lifted his hand, pressing a tiny button on the rim of his sunglasses. His global coordinates popped up in the lenses, followed by a map of the Earth. “Anywhere, you said?”

“Anywhere,” Wily repeated.

Blues nodded.

There was one place he needed to go…

June 10, 20XX+1

As morning arrived, Rock exited sleep mode and stretched out on his charging bed, his eyes opening up and seeing darkness before he realized something was covering his face. His photo diary.

Rock quietly flipped through the diary, glancing over the pictures, reading over the events of each of those days in the past. Sometimes he flinched from these, but otherwise, he had a nostalgic smile on his face as he looked through it all.

All these memories he had that faded into a computer equivalent of the subconscious now revived vividly in his mind.

He remembered the times in the past when he pretended to be Ultraseven, wearing a red and white cap on his head as his older siblings pretended to be kaiju that he would fight.

It stung somewhat to remember it, after what happened when Wily first attacked, but he never felt those memories were tainted.

There were times when he would talk to the neighborhood kids, always ending with him infodumping about Ultraman, hoping that they would be able to find the same joy in it he did.

Most of them weren’t exactly big on it. Some of them were more into cartoons. But there were three kids that came around and ended up sharing that interest with him.

He saw their names written a lot in the diary. Bobby, Ramone, and Janet.

But, all three of them eventually moved out of the neighborhood.

They were eight when Rock first met them, then they turned nine, then ten, then eleven before they left.

But Rock always stayed the same age, nine years old.

By now, all three of them are much older. They probably don’t have the same childish nostalgia Rock has nowadays.

Do they even remember the good times they had with Rock, or was all of that replaced by Rock’s newfound status as Mega Man?

Suddenly, Rock heard Roll’s voice from the charging bed opposite of his, “You finally found that old thing?”

“Uh-” Rock froze before closing the photo diary. “I never lost it.”

“Don’t be embarrassed!” Roll comforted, “I think it’s cute! I always loved reading through it after you put in more pictures.”

“I-!” Rock flushed, holding his diary closer to his body. “You-! Don’t! Read! Through my stuff! Without my permission! And don’t dote on me like you’re the older sibling, that’s my job!”

“Yeah, but between you and me, I think everyone sees you as the baby of the family,” Roll teased.

“I’ll show you ‘baby’, come here!” Rock brought his free hand into pinching position, aiming for Roll’s cheekbones, but she ducked out of the way before weaseling her way to the bedroom door.

Roll shouted, “You’ll have to catch me first!” before swinging the door open and running out.

“You’re on!” Rock bolted out after her.

“You’re certain we aren’t being tracked?” Dr. Light laid his mail upon his computer desk, his main computer in a video call between himself and Dr. Edogawa.

“Your house is still intact, no?” Dr. Edogawa asked. “You haven’t even changed addresses. If Wily was intent on destroying it again, it’d have happened yesterday alongside the destruction of your Robot Masters.”

Light sifted through a few envelopes before conceding, “That is correct… I just can’t understand why Wily is doing this, yet not even going all the way.”

“If Quick Man is to be believed,” Edogawa speculated, “Wily still has a voice in his head telling him this isn’t the way. But, he probably knows he’s in too deep for him to avoid the consequences if he were to stop now, so he’s trying to tell himself to keep going.”

Light was quiet for a few seconds as Edogawa turned her chair away from her web camera, taking a hit from her electric cigarette.

“I said I could never forgive him,” Light said without thinking, “And yet, I wonder if he could get better.”

“I’m not going to do a whole ‘love can fix everyone’ speech,” Edogawa answered, turning her chair back to the camera. “But maybe if he was able to get help—and let’s face it, he desperately needs it—he could be reformed.

“Even if that were to happen, he isn’t entitled to forgiveness from anyone, ” Edogawa reminded Light, “Not even from the rest of your family. Not even from you. ”

Light only nodded in response as he looked at a strange envelope that didn’t seem related to the rest of his mail.

“But, if you do choose to forgive him when the time comes that he becomes a better person,” Edogawa kept on going, “That’s your prerogative. Just hope to G-d he doesn’t do something after that makes you regret giving it to him.”

Light didn’t even gesture in acknowledgment. He simply opened the strange envelope and unfolded the paper that was inside.

“Light?” Edogawa tried to catch his attention.

Light’s eyes grew wet, his hands trembling at the paper’s contents.

“Doctor…?” Edogawa tried to nudge him verbally.

Light’s fingers curled harshly on the sides of the paper, his hands quaking even harsher.

“Doctor!” Edogawa saw something when Light’s fingers curled. “On the back of that paper! Look!”

Light snapped out of it, turning the paper over as his teary eyes widened. “C-Coordinates…?”

When Light turned the letter around, Edogawa immediately muttered something under her breath. “That letter-”

“What?” Light looked up from the paper.

“Light!” Edogawa shouted, “Send those coordinates over to me! Now!”

Blues stood up from the ground. Dr. Light read his letter and saw the coordinates for Wily’s base. All that commotion he heard from the open window was his cue to leave.

But as he did so, he couldn’t help but overhear more of what was going on inside.

“You can’t catch me!” The voice of a young girl entered that room. Blues recognized it immediately.

“Roll?” Edogawa piped up from the computer. “Perfect timing! Is Rock there too?”

“Huh?” Roll looked up to the screen. “Why do you-”

“I got you now!” The voice of a boy came in just then.

“EEK!” Roll screamed.

“Rock! Don’t pinch your sister like that!” Dr. Light shouted.

“I’m not hurting her!” Rock talked back. “I’m just giving her the pinch treatment like grandma would!”

“Quit treating me like a baby!” Roll protested.

“You called me the baby first, this is my payback!” Rock laughed.

“Both of you.” Dr. Light said in a harsh tone. Silence followed.

“Sorry, dad…” Both of the kids apologized.

Blues couldn’t help but smile. Even with what they were going through, they still found time to be children in the end. At least they were able to have something Blues couldn’t.

Did Wily know Blues would do this if he kept his free will? Maybe that was the point. To create a reason for it to end at last.

“Good luck, Mega Man, Mighty Woman,” Blues whispered before he teleported away.

Edogawa’s lab was bustling with urgency.

“You guys didn’t bring your siblings this time?!” Meddy cried out in shock.

“Dad’s making some minor upgrades to them right now,” Mighty Woman answered, “And we aren’t going to just wait for them to be finished before Wily sends more goons to Mega City. Mega Man and I will be enough for now!”

“You’re both so brave…” Dr. Green smiled.

Through the doors to the lab, Orlena and Ramerra of Secret Service entered.

“Alright, Doctor,” said Orlena, “You said that you got the coordinates for Wily’s base?”

“Yes, Dr. Light got them out of a strange envelope in the mail.” Dr. Edogawa brought up her computer’s world map program.

“How are you so sure these coordinates mean anything?” Ramerra voiced xer suspicions.

“A strange letter lands in Light’s mail pile, with these written on a piece of paper? It can’t be a coincidence, they have to mean something!” Dr. Edogawa typed the coordinates into the map, her fingers tapping away faster than they ever have before.

Despite all of the noise, Mega Man was sitting on top of a repair table, reading through his photo diary of bittersweet nostalgia once more.

He didn’t know why he brought it with him to Edogawa’s lab; perhaps he just needed something to soothe his nerves before he went out into another dangerous final battle.

But Mega Man had a smile on his face; remembering all of what happened in this diary gave him comfort.

Maybe after this, I can make new memories that are just as valuable, he thought.

“What is this?” Edogawa groaned, knocking Mega Man out of his nostalgia.

The map scrolled to the location of the coordinates, all there was on-screen was a barren desert.

Orlena stepped closer. “Zoom in.”

Edogawa nodded and did as they told her.

“Closer,” Orlena ordered.

Edogawa zoomed in further.

“I think I see something…” Orlena squinted their eyes. “Closer.”

Edogawa went in further, now seeing what Orlena saw. The barren patch of desert was of lower fidelity than the surrounding desert. The pixels of every crack in the ground were more jagged around the edges.

“Wait, I know this trick!” Ramerra exclaimed, “This is location-masking technology, the same that certain branches of the government use! It’s made to fool satellite imaging into not updating a certain portion of land, though this version seems to be cruder judging by the artifacting when viewed from up close.”

“So those coordinates did mean something.” Orlena looked over to Ramerra. “You think we can work your hacking magic on this?”

“Let’s see.” Ramerra pulled a USB out of xer pocket. Edogawa moved out of her chair so that xe could take over on the computer. Plugging in the USB, Ramerra cracked xer knuckles and went to work, staring intensely at the screen.

“Yes, there, I found something,” said Ramerra, “There was an email sent from within this building to these coordinates, local-part ‘u.n.owen’. If I can hack into the path this email was sent, I should be able to… There!”

The fake picture of the empty desert disappeared, now showing the full extent of Wily’s base. It was a castle, though there wasn’t much to say about it from a top-down view. One thing was certain, however, it was huge.

“Much further than I could get in Quick’s underground lab!” Ramerra cheered to herself, “And with some of this, and some of that…” Xe typed in more and more strings of code, until, “The anti-teleportation fields he put throughout the desert are deactivated! The castle itself is still shielded, though, so Mega and Mighty will have to go in through the entrance.”

“Well, it’s only polite to knock instead of barging in through a window.” Mega Man’s hand changed into his Mega Buster, yet he still carried the diary in his other.

“Yeah, we’ll get through his castle no problem!” Mighty Woman pumped her arms, before realizing what Mega Man was holding. “You might wanna put that somewhere safe.”

“I can hold it for you!” Meddy offered.

“Thank you, Meddy.” Mega Man let Meddy take the diary in her hands, the teleporter activating next to them.

And as he turned to the teleporter, he shouted, “Don’t read it!” Before he jumped into the glowing light, with Mighty Woman jumping in after him.