Hardman's Bar

By Hadrian Howell (Hardman)

Chapter 13

I knocked on the door of the Light residence again. Why wasn’t the old doctor answering the door? For that matter, why wasn’t Roll? Or Rock? Dr. Light’s Car was in the driveway, so he had to be home. Why wasn’t he answering?

Still hauling Magnetman around on my shoulder, I silently apologized and slammed the doorknob into the house, the rest of the door creaking open in a silent kind of protest. I squeezed through the frame and stepped in. None of the lights were on. Was anybody even home?

What the hell was going on here?

My red teammate stirred on my shoulder, so I set him down. He was still a little unsteady.

“What happened?” he asked after a moment.

“We’re at Light’s, but somethin’s rotten around here…” I said, keeping a wide eye out for trouble.

Magnetman took a look around too. “Aw, man, did you BREAK in here? What the hell, man? You trying to get us arrested?”

I crept further into the house, trying to ignore both my teammate and the sharp pain in my side. “Dr. Light?” I called out in a hoarse whisper. “Are ya home?”

Lights snapped on, overloading my eyes for a split second, and I looked up just in time to see Rock, or rather, Megaman right before he clapped a hand over my mouth. Say what you will about the little blue dweeb, but he’s FAST. And strong.

“AH!” Magnetman yelped, “We’re sorry! I’m not with him! Please don’t hurt me!”

I sighed into Megaman’s hand as he shushed my fellow Robot Master. “Quiet down, you guys.”

“Waf goii ah?” I asked in a muffled voice.

“What?” Megaman asked, taking his hand away.

“What’s going on?” I asked in a hushed tone.

“You guys need to get out of here, fast,” the blue bomber told us, in an urgent tone that sent a chill through some of my more vital support pieces. “I can handle him, but not if he gets you guys too.”

“Handle who?” Magnet asked. “Bass?”

Megaman shook his head. “He calls himself Mesmerman, and he’s gotten control of Dr. Light somehow.”

“Crap, we need to talk to the doc for repairs,” I muttered.

Megaman took the sight of us both in and shook his head. “Try finding Roll, maybe Mesmerman hasn’t gotten to her yet.”

“On the contrary,” a new, cold and high voice cut into the room, “I’ve ‘gotten to’ Roll already, Megaman. And you and your two Maniac friends are next.”

I turned, fully expecting to find what was sure to be Wily’s latest handiwork standing in one of the doorways, but all I saw was Magnetman. “Cut it out,” I said before turning back to Megaman, whose pale expression told me that was a massive, massive mistake.

I seem to be able to only get out half a swearword before I get hit this week. The Magnet Missile, which happens to be my weakness, slammed into my back and stuck for a moment before exploding, sending me down like a house of cards. I have to credit Megaman for avoiding my fall.

I left my mark in the floor and tried to get up again, which proved to be a lot more painful than I’d like to admit. I shifted around to watch as Megaman dodged a Magnet Missile meant for him and slammed a rock-solid fist home into my friend’s gut. Only now did I notice a dull, smoky grey light that clouded Magnetman’s eyes. Apparently Mesmerman was capable of taking over the minds, or at least the bodies, of others.

Megaman threw another punch that toppled Magnetman and kicked him a few times in the side for good measure. The other Mechanical Maniac in the room coughed feebly as the smoke cleared from his eyes.

“ow…” Magnetman managed. I scrambled to my feet.

“I’d ask if yer alright, but that seems kind o’ pointless,” I said, offering him a hand.

“No,” Magnet moaned, “I think I’ll stay down here for a while, thank you.”

I looked at Megaman. “Mesmerman’s handiwork, I assume? Who IS this joker?”

The hero shook his head. “I’ve ran into his victims a couple of times in the last few days, but I haven’t actually seen HIM yet. He keeps possessing humans and robots to throw in my way. He’s the reason Dr. Light is tied to a chair upstairs.”

I whistled low. Magnetman kind of rolled on the floor a little bit. “That… that was horrible. It was like this creeping feeling that you were doing something wrong, but you just couldn’t stop yourself…”

“That’s got Wily fingerprints all over it,” I said to no one in particular.

“That was my first thought too, but if he was one of Wily’s, Wily himself would have made a move by now, wouldn’t he have?” Megaman asked.

“Yeah, that’s more his style,” I considered.

Megaman helped Magnet to his feet. “I think I’m immune to his possession attack, because he tried something on me that didn’t work and he seemed really surprised,” Megaman told us. “I don’t know WHY that is, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

I looked at Magnetman. “I don’t think we’re so fortunate,” I said.

“I’ll find Roll, and try to get her out of Mesmerman’s hands. In the mean time, I need you two to lay low. There’s no telling what kind of damage he’d be able to do if he started taking control of the Teams.”

“Good thinkin’,” I said, “But where do we go?”

Megaman stayed silent for a moment. “I… I don’t know.”

“I’ve got a place,” said yet another voice, one we all recognized immediately.

“Protoman!” Megaman said, giving his brother a big smile.

“Yeah, yeah, good to see you too,” the red robot said. “Look, I know a place they can go to get outside of Mesmerman’s sphere of influence.”

“Oh?” I asked.

“Yeah, grab your buddy and let’s go,” he said.

A little wary of Protoman’s sudden appearance, I helped Magnetman move at a decent speed for the door and we followed him out.

Protoman… always set me on edge. He was a lot like Gauntlet, in that he’d disappear for weeks at a time, but whenever he showed up you were never sure if he was friend or foe. Gauntlet would at least stay in touch with current events, but often times Protoman would return with some skewed view of what was going on and cause even more trouble until he understood fully what was happening.

And his eyes were always covered by those blasted shades. How could we tell for sure he wasn’t being controlled by Mesmerman too?

These thoughts careened through my cranium and slowed my pace to the better part of ponderous as we stole through the night behind Protoman.