MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Two

"How come Mega Man hasn't come back?" Roll fretted. This was the worst part about staying behind instead of going with her brother-the endless wait she had to endure before he came home.

"I don't know, Roll. He's not close enough for my tracking signal to pick up…but I can't imagine why he would go so far away!"

"Eddie should have come," said Eddie sadly. Dr. Light gave him a sympathetic look.

"Eddie, none of us expected him to simply disappear when he took Rush out for a test run." Dr. Light ran his hands over his face, which had grown sallow as the hours progressed. "I should have kept a better track on them…"

"I'm going to go find them, Dr. Light," announced Roll as she grabbed Eddie. Before the man could so much as raise his hand to object, the girl strapped herself into her hovercar and flew out of the lab.

Dr. Light stared at the retreating car until it disappeared.

#######

"MEGA MAN!!" yelled Roll as loudly as she could through the speakers. Eddie groaned and tried to cover his hearing sensors, but Roll didn't quiet her voice.

"MEGA MAN, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Eddie wants Roll to quiet down," Eddie whimpered. Roll only gave him a look before taking another deep breath.

"MEGA MAAAAN!!!"

#######

After what felt like years later, Roll landed and Eddie could take a break. His body ached and he could still hear Roll's shouts echoing in his head, making him dizzy. The only thing that kept him from complaining was the look on Roll's face.

It was obvious she was going though more pain than he ever would.

"What should we do, Eddie?" she asked him dispiritedly, staring at the controls of the craft. "We've looked everywhere…"

Eddie didn't even want to mention it, but he had to.

"Eddie and Roll haven't looked in the Badlands…"

Roll's head jerked up, and she stared straight into Eddie's incredibly large eyes.

"You don't think he would be dumb enough to go there, do you?"

She paused for a moment.

"Yeah, he would. C'mon, Eddie-let's go see if we're right."

Eddie groaned, but settled back down in his seat. At least Roll will not yell anymore, he thought.

"MEGA MANNNN!!" Roll shouted, making Eddie flinch and sigh. So much for no yelling.

He tried to squish himself into his seat, hoping it would help blot out her calls.

"MEGA MAN!!!IT'S ROLL!! ANSWER ME!!"

Eddie groaned again. Nothing would block out Roll's yells-the only way to end them was for Eddie to find Mega Man all by himself. Then Roll would be quiet and they could go home.

The two robots were on the edge of the Badlands, and getting deeper into it by the minute. Eddie shivered unconsciously, but kept looking. After all, the sooner he found Mega, the bet-

Suddenly, Eddie saw a long, deep gorge in the ground. It didn't look like it was natural.

"Roll!" he said when she took a breath. "Eddie sees something down there!"

Roll stared out the window and eyed the gorge.

"I hope that isn't…" she began softly, and landed near the site.

The two walked out of the hovercraft and down the narrow slope. At first there was nothing but dirt, but then she saw pieces of red metal that glinted and glittered in the sunlight…and twisted metal bits of leftover robot…

"No…" she whispered, and picked up one of the larger pieces. It was the transmitter that allowed Rush to transform into any creation Mega Man needed. She recognized it because she had helped build it.

It was one of a kind.

"No…"

Eddie and the remains of Rush forgotten, Roll raced to the deepest part of the hole, praying, hoping she didn't see-

-crushed little bits of blue armor, mangled bits of grey metal, green and red wires left in the dirt, tiny bits of tan, plastic skin-

"NO!!" she screamed to the air. "NO, NO, NO!!!"

She fell to her knees, Eddie beside her. "This-this wasn't supposed to happen, Eddie-he-Rush's enhancement wasn't supposed to-this…"

She screamed.

#######

"Did you hear something?" asked Mega Man suddenly. Protoman looked up from his tools and cocked his head at the blue robot.

"No, nothing."

"Funny…I thought I heard someone…"

Mega shrugged it off and waited for Protoman to bring back whatever it was he was looking for.

"What are you doing, Protoman?" he asked finally, growing impatient.

The red robot paused. "I'm just putting my tools away. After this I'm going to take you to my room and talk with Dr. Wily. You're gonna stay in my room, you got it?"

Mega only nodded, and waited for Proto's guiding hand. Protoman stared at him for a moment, then shook his head and got up.

"Okay, Rock, let's go."

Proto led the robot up the stairs and deeper into Skull Castle, carefully talking him though it as he tried to think of a story for Wily.

"Here's another step…good…that's it…good…there's about twelve more…good…"

"Protoman!" yelled an obnoxious and accented voice. Proto groaned and shifted his brother so he could turn to the source's direction.

"Cut Man," Protoman growled, glaring at the robot angrily. Of all the robots to first see Mega… "What are you doing here?"

"I was…hey, who is that? He looks familiar…"

"Don't you remember, Cut Man? This is Rock, Dr. Wily's lab assistant." he emphasized each fact, trying to make Cut Man follow the lie. "He got damaged in a lab accident, so I repaired him myself."

Cut Man frowned. "But Protoman, Dr. Wily doesn't have-"

Proto groaned again. Why did Wily make the 'bots so stupid?!

"Sit down, Rock," said the red robot quietly. Mega nodded and sat down, balancing himself with his good hand.

Proto grabbed Cut Man and led him about twenty feet away, out of Mega Man's hearing range.

"Cut Man, play along with this," he hissed. "That's Mega Man, and I'm taking him to Wily, understand? Don't mention this to anyone, especially Mega Man. He lost his memory, and I don't want an idiot like you jogging it back-not until we take over the world and I can beat him to a pulp. Got it?"

"Oooh," said Cut Man loudly. "Okay, I won't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?" asked Mega, confused. Proto smacked his head and glared at Cut Man, who looked away, abashed.

"Nothing, bro," he said, and walked back to the blue robot, helping him up as he got closer. "Absolutely nothing. Look, here's another step. Good…one more…"

Proto gave one last glare to Cut Man as he continued walking, nailing the 'bot to the wall with his eyes.

"Don't tell anyone," he hissed, though he knew Mega would probably hear him this time. Cut Man nodded, a hint of fear in his big, stupid eyes. All the Robot Masters knew when to listen to Proto and when to not, and this was definitely one of those times when one listened and listened hard.

"I'm confused, Protoman," said Mega as he limped up the last step. "What is he not supposed to tell?"

"Ah…nothing, Rock, really. It's a thing between him and me."

"Okay…but it doesn't have anything to do with me, does it? It sounded like it did."

Proto blinked, and gave his brother a sideways glance. "You heard all that?"

Mega nodded. "Some of it, yes…wait, did I do something wrong?"

"No…you have better hearing than I thought you would, that's all. Anyway, here's the room."

Proto opened the door to reveal a small, spartan room. The only furniture in it was an old desk of Wily's, a creaking chair, and a worn cot. Proto winced, and was glad his brother wasn't able to see this. It was embarrassing enough having the twerp living in his room at all, and if he actually saw how threadbare it was…Well, Proto would just have to destroy him on principle.

"Okay, you're going to sit on the cot. You can lie down if you want to, but don't leave, got it? You might trip on something again, and you remember that."

Mega nodded fervently and sat down on the cot, wincing as his bad foot hit the metal frame.

"I'll stay here, Protoman," he promised, rubbing the injured limb ruefully.

Protoman paused.

"You can call me Proto if you want," he said finally, then walked out the door.