Hardman's Bar

By Hadrian Howell (Hardman)

Chapter 8

“Mayor’s off his nut, looking for this arsonist. Says everywhere that’s been hit is a place he frequents.”

“I never see that guy in MY bar,” I said.

“Yeah, but he taxes the hell out of you, I bet. With your joint gone for the time being, he’s probably sweating bullets trying to figure out how to fund the new statue of him he wants to put in the park.” Turbo shook his head sadly. “How did that ego maniac ever get elected Mayor?”

Junk scoffed. “The rest of his opponents got assassinated, remember?”

Turboman threw up his hands. “Then why didn’t any of US run?”

“Laws against that kind of thing,” I put in. “One o’ the City ordinances states that any persons or robots with any link to Albert Wily cannot run for public office. That’s why Dr. Light hasn’t been elected Mayor yet.”

“Or Megaman,” Burst nodded.

“I hate our mayor.”

“You and everyone else, Turbo.”

Getting nowhere fast, I decided to end the conversation and go have a chat with the owner of the Diner myself. “I’ll see you guys later, I’m gonna follow up on a lead I just remembered.”

“All right, then Hardman. See you later, and good luck,” Turbo nodded, waving goodbye. “We’re pretty much done here anyway. Drastic Measures!” He barked, turning to the other three robots. “Transform and roll out!”

“Why does he always say that? He’s the ONLY guy that can transform!”

“I can kind of fall apart.”

“That doesn’t count.”

Leaving Drastic Measures behind, I took a long route to the home of the Diner’s manager and owner. I needed to get there well after Slash and Freeze had left. He looked a little pale, but otherwise unoccupied when I knocked softly on his door.

“You own the Diner, right?”

“yes…?”

“Look, don’t be scared, I’m a friend of Needlegal’s.”

“Oh, lord, you’re that massive blue drunk thing! You nearly ate me out of business!”

I sighed. I hate it when people remember the old me and immediately think I’m incapable of changing. “That’s in th’ past, sir, so it doesn’t matter. I need ta know something, and this is important.”

He checked his watch, which I took as a cue to move on. “Ya had a safe on site at the Diner, right?”

“Yes, yes, fire proofed and insured.”

“Was it empty when ya checked it after th’ fire?”

This elicited a raised eyebrow. “How did you know that?”

“I run Hardman’s Bar, and when my place got burned down, my cash went missin’ too.”

“Ah, my condolences then. Having trouble rebuilding the place, are you?”

“Somethin’ like that. Just one more question, about Needlegal.”

“Hm?”

“Model employee, right? Trust her with anythin’?”

“Well, of course. She was my best waitress. Always helpful.”

“She know the combination to the safe?”

The little man in the doorway narrowed his eyes at me. “Drunkman, if you are suggesting that my best employee stole every penny I had out of that safe, I shall have to ask you to leave. She would never do a thing like that to me, even if she had the means to!”

As the door slammed in my face, which I might add was a new and different experience for me, I could only say, “My name’s Hardman…”

And I really couldn’t believe Needlegal could do a thing like that to me, either. Could she?

Aw, crap. I hate days like this. Especially when days like this turn into weeks. The last time we all started not trusting each other, we all nearly got killed. The LAST thing the Maniacs needs right now is another bout of dishonesty and tension.

As I walked aimlessly in a general northerly direction, I made up my mind to talk to Needlegal later today and express my concerns that she was being framed for the arsons. Well, the thefts of the money at least.

Wait, did she know the owner at Terri’s too? Come to think of it, I’d never even heard of the place before today. This bore some looking into as well…

As I arrived, eventually, at the site of the latest crime, Topman and Snakeman had already beaten me to it. They were having a lively discussion with none other than the back-from-the-dead Eskimo, Gary.

Gary, also known as Iceman, is the leader of the oldest and arguable strongest Megaman Team, the Sinister Six. Not long ago, the original Gary was killed, but he'd managed to copy himself into the pieces of his Transmetal armor, which the rest of his team later discovered and downloaded into a clone body. I tried not to ask, because that whole ordeal seemed REALLY confusing to me, but today, however, Gary wore no smile on his face, and he traded no jokes with Topman like he usually did when they met. One of the byproducts of Gary’s death and rebirth was that he became a bit more serious about his duties to both his team and his city.

“I guess I’m just the late guy today,” I said, lumbering up to the others. Gary gave me a smile and a wave.

“What’s up, Hardman? I heard about the bar. That’s rough.”

“Yeah,” I shrugged. There wasn’t much I could do about things as they were. “Say, Gary, do you know why the Mayor’s callin’ in all the different Megaman teams on this arson thing? I mean, Drastic Measures, the Mechs, AND the Six? Isn’t that a little… I dunno, extreme?”

“Drastic Measures is involved too?” Topman asked me. After I nodded he rolled his eyes. “Oh, THIS is going to be expensive.”

“Word on the grape vine is that Cossack’s Comrades are getting in on it too later tonight,” Snake told me. “This is starting to look like a circus.”

“Or a big trap.”

“By the way, Snake,” Topman cut in with a grin, “I like how you called all those old ladies who invited you to tea the ‘grape vine.’ Classic, man.”

“Shut up,” Snake said, obviously at his wits end with dealing with Topman.

“I gotta agree with Gary on this,” I said, trying to bring the conversation back to the matter at hand. “This smells like way too much of a setup.”

“I’m not disagreeing with you,” Top nodded, “but until we catch this arsonist or the Mayor shows his hand, we don’t have much to go on.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true,” Gary said. “Aside from the method used to burn the places down, nothing links any of the buildings that have been targeted except that they all serve food in some manner or another.”

I could think of another connection, but I didn’t want to bring that up right now. I started kicking around the wreckage, looking for where a safe might have been, or the remains of a safe, at least.

“So how come I never heard o’ this place while it was still standin’?” I asked aloud.

“We didn’t want you to come tear it down yourse-OOF!”

“Wow, Snake, that’s a bad case of Elbowinyourgutticus. You should get that checked.”

“Shut up,” Snake coughed.

“Seriously though, Hardman, it wasn’t exactly popular. I mean, Needlegal and I were down here for Karoke night a few days ago, but other than that it’s pretty unremarkable,” Top shrugged.

“Oh, how’d Needle hear about it?”

“I think she knew the owner.”

I groaned inwardly. Someone was painting a wonderful picture of Needlegal behind bars. Thankfully, I seemed to be the only one so far to put this much together.

But why hadn’t the other teams thought about chasing the money angle? Were they THAT blinded by the mirroring methods of burnination that none of them considered the places might have been burned down to cover up a theft? And why was the Mayor jumping the gun on this so fast? Was he concerned for his own safety, his financials, or something else?

Something was really rotten about this whole thing, but it didn’t change the fact I needed to talk to Needlegal, and as soon as possible.