CHAPTER NINE
History Lesson
"You'd better not be thinking of running off again before we deal with Sigma and Wily, Blues," Rock said, tugging on the golden fabric so it was untidy again.
Blues scowled and dodged away from his brother. "Yeah, yeah…"
"…Running off?" X asked, looking quizzically at his siblings.
"Blues doesn't like to stay put," Roll explained. She checked her boots for mud, then poked Rock into showing her his. "Yesterday was the first time he's come by in a while, and this is probably a world record for his actually hanging around…"
Blues shrugged. "There's a lot to see in the world, X. I want to experience as much of it as I can."
"You have a teleporter," Roll said, with the air of one bringing up a long-standing argument. "You could at least come home at night."
"It's not fun that way."
"Not fun for you, maybe," Roll snapped, "but it's a lot easier on my mind. Remember last summer when you disappeared for three months? I thought you'd died or been captured by Wily!"
"I discovered golf," said Blues shiftily.
"Dang, you're old," Rock teased, while attempting to poke the older boy in the arm.
Blues sidestepped him. "At least I don't get constantly stopped by old ladies and police officers wondering why I'm not in school…"
Dr. Light chose that moment to emerge from the house, preventing further argument. "Welcome back," he said, smiling at the group. "The TV reporters fled the scene after a while and I got worried."
"There was nothing to worry about!" Rock said cheerfully. "We took care of it!"
The doctor's eyes fell on the black-armored robot and the purple wolf lurking at the back of the group. "…And why is Bass here?"
"Things have become… more complicated," said X.
"No kidding," said Bass, folding his arms.
"Don't worry, Father, I'll be keeping an eye on him," Roll assured him. "He won't mess up this house again on my watch!"
"Like you could stop me," Bass muttered.
"…She's got a better gun than both Rock and me, Bass," Blues said.
"Why would a housekeeping robot need a better weapon than a battle robot?" Bass asked, incredulous.
"Yeah, she doesn't even need a gun to beat me up," Rock said, wincing and running a hand over his arm in memory of the broom. Roll grinned at him.
"I have my reasons," said Dr. Light.
"That's a polite way of saying you have no idea why you gave it to her, isn't it?" Blues said.
"Do you know how much hassle it would be to have Mega Man go rescue Roll every time she gets in trouble?" the doctor replied.
"Then why'd you send me today?" Rock asked.
"To save the city, of course."
"So you used Roll as a convenient excuse to get me to go there faster?"
"I'm sure that qualifies as some form of exploitation," Blues mused.
"Oh, be quiet," Dr. Light sighed. "I said Roll might be in trouble, not that she was a bloody damsel in distress."
Roll smiled cheerfully. "Thank you, Father."
"Anyway, Rock, would you mind explaining exactly what happened out there?" Dr. Light asked, glancing at Bass.
"Actually, X promised to explain some things to us," Rock said.
"We should probably go inside," X suggested. "It's going to take a little while."
"Yeah," said Blues. "Breakfast first, bad news later."
------
"I suppose it would be wise to start at the beginning about Sigma," X said a short while later, as he paced the length of the kitchen. Roll had whipped up a batch of pancakes with her newly procured groceries and the family set to with gusto. Bass hadn't eaten much of anything, but gratefully accepted the offered orange juice. Now the whole group sat around the kitchen table, with Treble crouched protectively beside Bass' chair, listening to the two Maverick Hunters tell their story.
"Sigma, and Zero and I, are reploids, with the ability to think and act entirely on our own," said X. "Like all other reploids, Sigma was designed from my blueprints after Dr. Cain found me in a capsule sixteen years ago." He nodded at Dr. Light. "He was originally created to lead the Maverick Hunters into battle and protect the human race... He was very, very powerful. He personally taught me the basics of combat."
"But Sigma eventually became... corrupted," said Zero.
"Yes," X affirmed. "He was infected by a deadly computer virus that is known as the Maverick Virus. It causes Reploids to go insane, killing humans instead of protecting them."
"So that's what you were looking for when you had us scanned?" asked Bass.
X nodded. "That's one fortunate thing about the virus, it can be detected with the right scanning equipment. But we didn't know that back then. Mavericks before Sigma were simply poor souls that had been badly manufactured or overworked to the point of breaking. The virus took the world totally unawares. There was mass panic... no one knew how it had started, how it spread, or how to protect themselves from it. And it only got worse when Sigma went from leader of the Hunters to leader of the Mavericks themselves."
"Worse yet," Zero sighed, "he managed to infect most of the Maverick Hunters before he left. A good portion of our standing forces went nuts the first time he attacked."
"Considering I was one of the last Hunters available," said X, "I went out to try to stop him, with Zero's help."
Zero gave a half smile. "X being X, he succeeded, though with a few... complications... on the way..."
"Mostly in the form of Zero dying," X agreed.
"Yeah... yeah. Not one of my better days, that was."
"Wait..." said Rock, incredulous. "Zero died?"
The blonde shrugged. "Well, yes. But I got better."
"How is that possible?" Blues asked, frowning. The entire family was listening intentily to the story now.
"We're getting to that," Zero answered. "Anyway... X, go on."
"We eventually found Sigma's base and infiltrated it..." said the blue Hunter slowly, "but on one of the upper levels, Vile surprised Zero and knocked him offline. I arrived and we started fighting, but things were looking pretty badly for me, since Vile was in a ride armor and I...well, I wasn't." X lowered his eyes. "Zero came to in time to see me losing..."
"And...?" Rock prompted.
"There was only one thing I could do," Zero said, shrugging. "I jumped on Vile's armor and overloaded my buster. The explosion destroyed the ride armor, but most of myself, as well."
"Without the armor, Vile was manageable..." X continued softly. "But..."
"He had to leave me behind," Zero finished. The others stared at him, and he sighed. "Don't give me that look, I told you I got better. I'm standing here now, aren't I?"
"I went on and defeated Sigma," X continued. "The Maverick outbreak began to subside, and everyone thought things were normal again. As one of the only Hunters left, I was now pretty high up in the organization, though it wasn't the same without Zero. That... wasn't really a good time." He shook his head. "But anyway, things went on like that for a little while, until a new group calling themselves the X-Hunters appeared."
"And they were holding my body parts hostage," said Zero.
"...That sounds so very... disturbing," said Bass.
"You're telling me," said X. "I still have nightmares of carting his severed head around."
"To make a very long story short," said Zero, "X beat them up, got the techies to start reassembling me since he'd kept my control chip, and then went to beat up on Sigma who had reappeared and was behind the whole thing to begin with."
X nodded. "Zero was repaired in time to kill a clone of himself and then run off again, leaving me to fight Sigma by myself for a second time..."
"Zero sounds like Blues Mark II," Rock said.
"Hey!" said Blues. Zero laughed.
X ignored the interruption. "Sigma didn't stop then, either. He continued to organize attacks, always managing to pop up again after being defeated. Each time he's become more powerful and dangerous than the last."
"By my count, there were six more times," said Zero. "And every time he's caused much more damage..."
"Both humans and reploids have suffered greatly because of him," X concluded sadly.
"So if he's here, in the past, and helping Dr. Wily..." said Bass.
X nodded gravely. "This era, and the timeline as we know it, is in grave danger."
"But you and Zero have defeated him many times before, right?" said Rock. "We'll just have to stop him again."
"I'm afraid it's never that simple," X said. "Sigma can be pretty subtle if he desires it. He's effective at planting spies and... well, playing mind games with people."
"...Spies...?" said Blues, and the entire table turned to look at Bass.
"Hey! Don't look at me!" Bass cried, raising his hands defensively. "He tried to slice me in half!"
"No... it wouldn't be Sigma's style to send someone like Bass to be his spy," said Zero, shaking his head. "No offense, but you aren't the right type..."
"...What do you mean by that?" Bass asked hotly.
"Nothing."
"That's what I thought."
"Needless to say," said X, "We have to formulate a plan, and for that, we'll need information. Bass, we need you to tell us everything you know about what Sigma is up to."
Bass shrugged. "I really don't know anything. Other than he's acting like Wily's little stooge, and the old man's buying it."
"Do you think he's using Wily?" Zero asked, frowning.
"Why would he?" X asked. "He's already far more powerful than anything in this age. Sigma's not the type to bow down to anyone. Manipulate them, yes, but never act like a servant."
"But apparently, he is," said Blues.
"That is what worries me," said X. "Why is Sigma doing this? It makes no sense."
"Unless..." Zero trailed off, his brow furrowed.
"Zero?"
Zero blinked. "Huh? Ah, it's nothing. Nevermind." X frowned, but didn't say anything.
"So, what do we do?" Rock asked, breaking the silence. "Any ideas, Father?"
"I honestly don't know, Rock," said Dr. Light, looking thoughtful. "This Sigma is obviously far beyond anything you've handled before..."
"But I'm not alone this time, right?" Rock said. "I've got Blues, X and Zero, and even Bass... I'm sure that if we work together, we can beat anything Wily throws at us!"
Blues chuckled. "Always the idealist, aren't you, bro?"
Rock grinned cheerfully. "Yup! What else can I be?"
"Sane, maybe?"
"That might be a bit much to ask, brother," said Roll.
"Sadly true..." said Blues.
"I can hear you, you know," said Rock.
Roll smirked. "That was the point."
"Ah, the joys of sibling rivalry..." Bass drawled. "So glad I don't have any." Treble nosed against him and he absently scratched behind the wolf's ears.
"As much as I hate to think it, I suppose striking before Wily gets stronger would be wisest," said X, breaking up his sibling's bickering.
"A frontal assault?" Zero cried. "Who are you, and what have you done to X?"
X rolled his eyes. "It's our only choice, Zero..."
"Heh, now there's a plan I can get behind," said Bass, grinning. "Simple and no-nonsense."
"This is madness," Blues sighed.
"What, Proto Man, scared to get into a fight when you can't skulk in at the last second as the deus ex machina?" said Bass, smirking.
"I'm impressed you even know what that phrase means," Blues replied.
"You sayin' I'm stupid?"
Blues shrugged. "You said it, not me."
"He's based on Rock's design," Roll said. "That says it all right there."
"...Don't make me hurt you," Bass growled.
"I'm a lady, Bass," Roll sniffed. "Even you wouldn't stoop that low."
"Believe me, it's tempting."
"Okay, you two," said Blues, standing up. "Quit flirting and let's go before Wily rampages through town again."
"What did you just say?" Roll cried.
"He said 'flirting', Roll," Rock supplied helpfully. "Whatever that means."
"... Big brother..." Roll gave Blues a death glare that almost made him cringe... but only almost. "You can get fast food tonight. I'm not making you dinner."
"Fine by me," said Blues, adjusting his sunglasses. "Spicy chicken sandwiches are always good."
"Not if I blast your face off, wise-bot," Bass snapped.
"Now, now, Bass," said Blues calmly, "I doubt you'd want Roll to have to clean up the mess I'd make of you if you started a fight."
"As much as I want to continue watching this amusing exchange," Zero interrupted, as Roll and Bass began to look murderous, "We need to get going."
"...He's right," said Bass. "Let's go."
-------
Five humanoid robots and one robotic wolf teleported in at the base of Skull Fortress. The installation loomed over them, the white skull glinting madly in the sunlight.
"So... we're just going straight in?" said Zero, looking up at the imposing building.
"Do you have another plan?" X asked.
"We don't necessarily have to go in with guns blazing," said Bass, with Treble winding around his legs. Everyone looked at him.
"Bass? Not condoning violence?" said Blues. "Now I've seen everything."
"Very funny, Proto Man," said Bass. "But seriously, I know that fortress inside and out. There's an entrance around here we can use to get inside without triggering the security systems. And once we're in, I can probably disable some things to make it easier. It'll be much more fun to blast Wily into the ground if we aren't deluged in spikes and disappearing blocks before we reach him."
"I can go for that," said Rock.
"Well, then follow me," Bass said, and directed them towards a dark patch among the rocks to his left. They trooped through a damp passage and emerged in the lower levels of the fortress.
Having Bass along certainly made the trip easier. Since it had only been a day, Wily either hadn't bothered or hadn't had time to change the security codes, so the black-armored robot was able to hack through most of the traps set for intruders. Bass grinned when Zero mentioned this.
"He didn't bother changing them because he doesn't know I know them," he explained, while typing into a computer panel beside a door. "After the thing with King, I decided I'd better learn more about this place. He doesn't think I've ever been down to the lower levels, anyway."
They progressed through the corridors, bypassing many spike pits, jumping puzzles, and security robots. They eventually reached the upper hallways with which Bass was more familiar. Here, there were no more traps to disarm, as Wily wasn't keen on falling into a bottomless pit while heading for the kitchen. After a time, they reached the door to the main laboratory.
"This is it..." said Rock. Bass ignored him and marched up to the doors, kicking them aside.
"WILY! I'm back! Show yourself!" he shouted, entering the room with buster raised. Treble bounded in behind him.
"Sigma!" X echoed. "The game is over! Get out here now!"
"...They don't seem to be here," Zero observed, illuminated in the green glow of his beam saber.
"So we just stormed Skull Fortress for nothing?" said Rock, sounding disappointed.
"Nah, not for nothing," said Blues, looking around the lab. "We can probably... 'liberate' some of Wily's stuff while we're here."
"...Yeah, I didn't have time to grab my PlayStation when I left before," said Bass. "Can we do that?"
"Later, Bass," said X. "We need to figure out where Wily and Sigma have gone, first."
"Where could a psycho Einstein-lookalike and an eight foot tall bald robot disappear to?" asked Bass.
"... The answer should be obvious," said Zero. "If they're not out attacking the world, they've gone somewhere in time."
"He could build a time machine that fast?" asked Rock.
"It's very possible," said Blues, walking to a table filled with scattered devices and examining them. "He already knew how to build the Time Stopper, so it wouldn't be difficult for him to recreate the device, especially considering how quickly Dr. Light did it..."
"Well, I guess the only way to tell for certain is to check his computer," said Bass.
"Which one?" Zero asked, looking around at the many monitors lighting up the room.
"He usually works on his laptop, but he backs most of it up on the mainframe," Bass said, walking towards the largest computer.
"It's password protected," said Zero, looking at the login box that had appeared on the screen.
"Allow me," said Bass, settling into the chair and typing something. The screen blinked and entered a system of menus.
"You know Wily's password?" Rock asked.
"Of course," said Bass. "Wily's a genius, but he's completely nuts. Comes up with all sorts of things that shouldn't see the light of day. I got into the habit of 'editing' his latest plans."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's just say, thanks to me you didn't have to fight eight kitchen-appliance themed Robot masters..."
Bass clicked through menu screens, while the others watched, completely lost. Finally, he said, "Here's his latest entry..." He suddenly frowned. "Damn."
"What's wrong?" Blues asked.
"It's in technobabble," Bass sighed.
"...Technobabble?" X asked, looking at the screen. Sure enough, although the words were in English, one wouldn't guess that from reading them.
"Yeah," said Bass. "Sometimes Wily likes to write his notes after watching Star Trek marathons to after midnight, and, well... despite what Mr. Spock says, logic has nothing to do with the process."
"I never pegged Wily for a Trekkie," Blues mused.
"Yeah, he seemed more the Star Wars type," Rock agreed.
"That would have explained so much," Zero mumbled under his breath. X glanced at him.
"Did you say something?"
"Nothing."
"So can you read it?" Rock asked, leaning over the back of Bass' chair to get a better view of the screen.
Bass swatted him away. "Of course I can't."
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
Bass shrugged. "I dunno, download it and take it to your pop?"
"I suppose that's the best solution," said X.
"Well, now that we've got that taken care of..." said Blues, straightening and rubbing his gloved hands together, "Who's up for a little looting?"
The blue Hunter frowned. "We should probably leave as quickly as possible before Wily's somehow alerted to our intrusion..."
"...You're no fun," Blues sighed.
"...We're not leaving without my PlayStation," said Bass. "I am not having another Sony Man on my hands."
"If you edit Wily's plans, how did he ever get built in the first place?" Blues asked.
"Star Trek night."
"Well, go get your things, then, Bass," said X, forestalling more banter. "We'll follow you."
The black robot and Treble slipped off into the fortress without a word. X glanced over at Blues, who shrugged. X shook his head and placed two fingers to his temple.
"Come on, let's go before he gets too far ahead," he said, walking towards the door, the others obediently following.
The light of X's helmet and Zero's saber faded with their footsteps, leaving only the soft glow of the computer monitors, and the blinking status light on the capsule in the farthest corner of the room...
------
Bass entered his tiny closet bedroom. It appeared untouched, fortunately, and he knelt on the concrete floor and fished around under the bed until he found a tattered backpack. He began stuffing things into it: a box of dog biscuits he'd scrounged for Treble, the few articles of civilian clothing he owned, the PlayStation and its games. It wasn't long before he cleaned the place out. Blues and Rock arrived at the door as he was attempting to pry the blanket out from under Treble.
"This is your room?" Rock asked, looking at the tiny enclosed space with its furniture jammed together.
"Was," Bass replied.
"But it's a closet..." Rock said, noting the label on the door which was crossed out with permanent marker and re-designated underneath, Bass' Room, no old men allowed.
"So what?" Bass snapped. "Treble, get up! We're not staying here."
Treble whined, but stood up, allowing Bass to finish rolling up the blanket.
"I'm ready," the black armored robot said.
"Good," said Blues.
Bass ignored him and exited the closet, the backpack across his shoulders and Treble trotting reluctantly in his wake.
------
Rush bounded through the kitchen door and tackled Rock as soon as the group reentered the house. The boy shoved him away, laughing, as the mechanical canine licked his face. The dog paused, however, when he spotted Treble and Bass lurking behind his master. He began to growl, but Rock chastised him sternly and the animal reluctantly slunk off to sulk in a corner, watching the intruding Wily-bots with an angry glare.
Informed by Roll that the doctor was working, the robots trooped towards the basement laboratory. They heard the sound of a welding gun at the top of the stairwell, and entering the main lab, found the doctor with a blast mask down, soldiering fine connections in a disembodied arm lying on a workbench.
"Dr. Light!" X called, as they walked down the last few steps. "We need your help!"
The doctor jumped, and immediately turned off the gun. "X!" he said, pushing up his mask. "Don't startle me like that! Can't you see I'm busy working on you?"
Blues looked from X to the arm on the table and sighed. "…I really hate time travel."
"I'm beginning to agree," Zero said.
"You're back soon," Dr. Light said, pulling off his work gloves and setting aside his tools. "What happened?"
"Wily wasn't at his fortress!" Rock said. "Neither was Sigma!"
The doctor looked grim. "That isn't good."
"We think they may have gone elsewhere in time," Rock said.
"That isn't good at all."
"We brought back Dr. Wily's latest batch of notes," X said. "It might give some hint of what he's planning next."
"Well, give them here, I'm sure I can figure it out," said Dr. Light.
"Good luck," said Bass.
The doctor took the disk X offered, and headed to the large computer along one wall. The others followed and gathered around him as he accessed the data.
"Can you read them, doc?" Blues asked, as lines of text scrolled past.
Dr. Light stared at the screen. "……I'm going to need a big cup of coffee."
The others looked at one another. Blues adjusted his sunglasses and sighed.
------
Roll brought her father the coffee, and since it looked like it would be some time before the notes were deciphered, she set about getting the household orderly again. At the foremost of this task was dealing with Bass. The Wily-bot stood awkwardly in a corner of the living room, apart from the rest of the family and guests. Treble crouched beside him, glaring at Rush, who was curled around Rock's feet against the opposite wall."All right, Bass," Roll said, unceremoniously grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the stairs. He winced as the movement strained his injury, but the little blonde girl didn't notice his discomfort. "You're going to be here for a while, it seems, so I'd better find you someplace to sleep…."
She herded him along to one of the three guest bedrooms, which had a small attached bathroom. "You'll need a bath, too," she added, wrinkling her nose as she looked at him. He glared back at her.
"I do not."
"You do too. You're horribly dirty. Where did you sleep last night, the woods?" Not waiting for an answer, she bustled over to his bag and began ransacking it, shaking her head at his meager articles of clothing. "This won't do at all," she said. Heading to the corner, she pulled out some clothes from the storage wardrobe there. "You can borrow some of Blues' things, he's about your size… he never wears anything I buy him but at least they're useful now, most of Rock's stuff wouldn't fit you and X and Zero…"
Bass eyed the plain black T-shirt and blue jeans. They seemed harmless, though he loathed touching anything that had belonged to a Light-bot, but he doubted Blues had ever touched them either.
"Now, out of that armor!" Roll commanded, seizing him from behind by the head fins. Bass yelped.
"Hey, woman, what do you think you're—"
"Now, don't talk to me like that," Roll chided, flicking the release under his chin and struggling to remove the helmet. Bass tried to pull her off but he couldn't reach, and a few moments later, she emerged victorious, helmet in hand. Bass glared at her through the dark purple bangs that now fell into his eyes.
"Interesting color there," she remarked, and Bass growled at her. She ignored it and pounced on him again, pulling on his shoulder armor. He succeeded in shaking her off this time, retreating across the room.
"I can undress myself, thank you," he said, edging away from her and towards the bathroom, scooping up the fresh clothes on the way.
"Good," she said, standing up. "I'll be back in a little while, and I expect you to be clean."
"Whatever," he muttered, and the bossy little Light-bot left the room.
Bass had to admit the shower felt nice. He hadn't had them often while living with Wily, as robots don't have the same cleanliness issues as humans. The fortress' showers, aside from in Wily's personal bathroom, which Bass had no intention of ever entering, were cold and industrial, designed to remove caked blood and dirt from battle. The hot water of this shower was very relaxing, and Bass discovered fifteen minutes had passed before he remembered to use soap.
He checked his wound after dressing. The pressure of the shower spray had caused it to bleed again, although the damage had been repaired sufficiently to not cause him to electrocute himself. Binding it up again, he grimaced as he saw the sleeves of his T-shirt did not cover the dressing completely. Hoping Roll would not notice, he left his discarded armor in a pile on the floor and left the bathroom.
Roll returned to find Bass perched on the side of the bed, petting Treble absently. His hair was still damp, but he looked much cleaner and respectable, or as much as a boy with purple hair and warpaint could ever be. He looked up as Roll handed him a pair of sneakers.
"I hope these fit you," she said. "It was difficult finding something decent on such short notice..."
Bass ignored her and pulled on the shoes. They were blue, and so probably belonged to Rock, but fit well enough.
Meanwhile, Roll muttered to herself as she bustled around the room, opening the curtains and wiping away imaginary specks of dust from the furniture. "...everyone and their dog coming to stay, there's not nearly enough things in the pantry, I'm going to have to— Oh! What did you do to your arm?"
Roll had spotted the bandage, and pounced on him before he could yank his arm away. "How did you get this?" she asked disapprovingly, as she unwound the rag. Synthetic blood began welling from the injury again. "This isn't sanitary at all," she said, tossing the rag into the wastebasket. "Did my brothers give this to you? Or did you get it at the fortress? This doesn't look like a plasma burn..."
"It isn't," he mumbled. "Had to remove the tracking device."
Roll stared at him. "You did this to yourself?"
Bass shrugged. "I've had worse. Quit poking at it, I'm fine."
"Bleeding to death is not fine."
"Why do you care?"
"I don't," she snapped. "I just don't want you getting coolant all over my carpet. Come on, Father will fix you."
She dragged Bass unceremoniously from the room, Treble following leisurely behind.