The Megaman War:
Part 1 - Whistle in the Wind
By Hadrian (Hardman) Howell
Chapter 11: Renegade
Dr. Wily watched the news with increasing glee.
Four buildings destroyed, an undetermined number of people dead or buried, the police powerless to stop the seemingly invincible Gutsman, and Megaman had yet to appear...
Oh, it was going to be a good day.
Dr. Light watched as the battery light went from its recharging yellow to its full power green. Rock immediately started putting the Armor on.
What he’d seen out there with Roll hadn’t been pretty. The screams of the dying and the shouts of the over-taxed rescue workers had filled the air, accompanied by the rumble of falling buildings and the blare of numerous sirens. The streets had been choked with clouds of dust and debris, and he and Roll had been forced to hold their hands over their mouths in order to keep themselves from inhaling lung fulls of airborne dust. The disaster that had befallen the city was incredible, but through all of the carnage, Rock had heard something call his name.
Or, at the very least, Megaman’s name.
Dr. Light kept going over equipment, trying to figure out what Rock would need out there. He’d removed the A.B.J., as the low visibility out there would make it dangerous to use. He’d also decided against the Sonic Explosion Putty, since enough stuff was falling to pieces out there anyway.
One of the Buster class rifles and the metal cylinder from Rock’s previous adventure was already clipped to the belt. Rock had figured he’d need the rifle when he heard... whatever that was shout its challenge. There was also a pack of flares, for marking things in the gloom that had descended upon the city. With those, Rock could mark out areas where people needed rescuing, or mark a path in case he started to get lost. With the enhanced strength afforded him by the Armor, he could pull people from the rubble if he got the opportunity.
Rock locked the last gauntlet into place, wincing as the contact points on his arm and hand jumped into electrical life. He picked up the helmet and looked at Roll, who’s pleading eyes begged him to stay safe. He silently nodded and put on the helmet, which instantly closed around his head. With his equipment in place, Megaman jumped out the back of the semi’s trailer and into the artificial, choking fog that enveloped New Detroit.
1:59:59
The thunderous noises of sirens, screams and shouts were automatically deadened by the helmet, but they couldn’t be eliminated completely. Closing his eyes, Megaman tried to focus on one of the underlying sounds: that of thunderous footsteps. After getting a rough fix on their general location, Megaman made his way down the street.
Erik Lowell was trying to get his car jack to work, to pry apart some of the rubble to rescue the unfortunates trapped beneath. Their cries for help were lost as they reached the already saturated air, but Erik didn’t care. He’d seen their pleading hands from the sidewalk and could do little more than stop to help. He wedged the jack in tighter, trying his best to get the old, unused piece of metal to actually work. Every so often, the ground below him rumbled with what almost felt like footsteps, but Erik didn’t even want to try and imagine what could leave foot prints that could shatter concrete...
He tried in vain to turn the jack’s handle again, and when the rusted piece snapped off in his hand, he swore in frustration. He tried to lift the slab of what used to be a wall with his bare hands, but with no luck at all. He swore again and kicked the slab, stubbing his toe. With another swear word, he did a funny little dance and sat down on the sidewalk, holding his hands over his ears to try and think of something. That’s when he saw a familiar blue shape running through the street.
Knowing he couldn’t either be heard or catch up to Megaman on foot, he threw the handle of the jack in front of the super hero. Megaman skidded to a halt and made his way over to Erik, who merely pointed at the hands that were waving around under the slab of concrete. Megaman nodded and immediately went to work, grabbing the slab much as Erik had done and hauling it upward. Holding it there, Erik helped the previously trapped people onto the dust choked street, helping them cover their mouths. When everyone was out, Megaman let the slab drop, threw the policeman an informal salute, and resumed his run.
Erik directed the saved pedestrians to his squad car and got them inside. Handing his keys to one of the uninjured people, he instructed them to drive away from the cloud and then get to the nearest police station and wait for everything to end. The lady that now sat in the driver’s seat nodded numbly, and Erik backed away as the car coughed to life and rolled away.
Officer Erik Lowell resumed his search for unfortunate, buried people.
1:55:40
Reggae had a wonderful, if not somewhat short, nap. He came to in the Teleportation Room, and after checking his face for bruises, made his way to what Dr. Wily had called the ‘Assistant’s Lab.’ Since Reggae was the only assistant the mad German had, Reggae simply referred to it as his room.
The place was a wreck. Reggae stood in the door, trying to make sense out of the mess he surely hadn’t left there. With a thought, he dived into the strewn paperwork, searching for various important files and documents. After a while, he determined that only one set of documents were missing: the instructions on how to use the Teleportation Machine!
Swearing, Reggae ran to tell Dr. Wily the news. If someone had stolen those papers from his room, surely they were going to try and use it to escape! Could it be some spy that had made it into the Mountain, or someone the Yellow Devil and the Masters had missed? He swore again as he realized that someone could easily grant outside access to the Mountain’s Teleportation Room with those instructions, and swore yet again when he though about how unhappy this news would make Dr. Wily.
1:50:24
Megaman found himself missing the Acceleration Booster Jet. Even though the power drain it brought with it was one less thing he had to worry about, he felt he could be making better time with it. Then again, he could feel himself getting closer to the source to the tremors. His head snapped around to watch as another large building began to collapse almost in slow motion.
Wordlessly, he turned and started off toward the latest wreckage, unsure of what he might find.
Gutsman was getting bored. Nobody was putting up a fight, and all the buildings around here were as fragile as everything else to him. The little red things made a whole bunch of water fly up when he kicked them over, and sometimes the things with wheels exploded when he threw them, but the noise that was reaching even higher levels around him was seriously cutting into his fun. Out of anger, he kicked another fire hydrant, which shot water high into the air, soaking up dust and clearing the air around the geyser just a little.
Some brave soul decided to try and slam the oversized Master with a pick up truck. The front of the speeding vehicle slammed into Gutsman’s leg and lower back, surprising the big guy rather than hurting him. He turned with a roar and saw the face of the now terrified man inside the truck over the air bag. He grabbed the truck under the front fender and heaved, tossing it high into the air, flipping over and over lazily. The man’s mouth opened in a silent scream as he tried to get out, but the truck landed upside down with a violent, crimson crash just as he got his seat belt undone.
Gutsman shouted a triumphant, bestial call to the sky above, his challenger vanquished. He began to lumber about again when a voice cut through all of the noise, calling to him.
“You want to smash something, ugly? Try this on for size!”
1:46:58
Megaman spun in place and let go of the 600 lb slab of stone with incredible accuracy. The chunk of stone and steel hit Gutsman in the side, causing the metal giant to stumble a step. Turning and roaring, Gutsman saw his attacker, and something in his damaged brain went ‘click.’
“Megaman!” He shouted over the noise of the panicked city.
The hero in blue took the rifle from his belt and held it steady, aiming at the Master’s head. “None other, gruesome!”
Gutsman took an earth-shaking step forward. “Master Wily says ‘DIE!’”
Megaman had only a split second to realized what he meant as Gutsman punched the ground, sending a spider web of violent cracks toward him. Fighting to keep his footing on the cracked terrain, He tried to steady himself for a burst of fire, pulling the trigger on the Buster instinctively. Three specially made armor piercing shells at super sonic speeds bounced harmlessly off of Gutsman’s titanium hide, causing the giant to rumble with a laugh.
“Slug throwers don’t hurt Gutsman!” He roared, drawing himself up to his full height and pounding one reinforced fist against his chest.
“Gutsman,” Megaman grimaced, recognizing the reference to his own name instantly. Whatever Gutsman’s armor was made out of, it had to be stronger in some way than Megaman’s own. This was going to take some work...
His train of thought de-railed as Gutsman crouched low and leaped into the air, almost twenty feet high, covering the distance between the two combatants effortlessly. Megaman’s blown mind had just enough time to react before three tons of angry Master landed on him, and he leaped feebly forward, rolling under Gutsman’s immense form. He stood up as the ground heaved below him, the bulk of the monster behind him causing the concrete to ripple like water. He turned quickly and brought the rifle up, releasing four quick bursts of ineffectual fire into Gutsman’s rear armor. With a feral growl, Gutsman took two steps to turn around, bringing one massive arm in a high-speed destructive arc, slamming into the dazed Megaman’s side and sending the blue hero flying into the side of one of the nearby buildings.
0:00:00
Megaman hit the ground hard. He knew that, despite the toughness of his outer armor, at least one of his ribs was broken, with several more cracked. He coughed once, blood spattering the ground, and his side ached with a fire he’d never known before. The pain was almost debilitating.
A blurry glance told him his battery time display was either broken, or the battery itself had been disabled somehow. He shook his head to clear his vision of the blue and red spots and tried to stand up. The ease with which he managed this told him the display had gone offline somehow, wince the Armor was hard to move in at all if the battery wasn’t working.
A small warning on the corner of his vision told him he’d dropped his gun sometime during his unscheduled flight, which left him without too many options. Physically hitting Gutsman was suicide, and getting close to him was obviously dangerous. There had to be some way of...
Megaman was again thrown off his thinking was a large shape filled the air before him. Desperately rolling out of the way, he barely escaped the flying Gutsman, who slammed into the building he’d hit earlier. As the whole structure began to fall down on the two of them, Megaman scrambled to get out of the way, the air once again filling with a fresh wave of dust and debris. Hoping the collapse of the building would slow Gutsman down, Megaman tried to put some distance between the two of them.
He tapped the side of his helmet, trying to get the time display to work again.
0:00:00
Well, that didn’t work. Locating the rifle was going to be impossible now, since it was probably buried under all the new debris. That left him with... that odd cylinder and a few flares.
Hmmm.... flares.
Megaman smiled to himself despite the pain as a plan took shape.
Gutsman shook himself free of the rubble, the remains of the building doing nothing to slow him down as he lumbered forth again. Unlike Megaman, however, he did not have the sophisticated scanning and visual equipment, and so roared in anger at losing his target.
“COME OUT AND FIGHT, COWARD!” He shouted, his voice shaking loose more debris from the shattered buildings around him.
Something bright flew into his field of vision. With a roar, he leapt upon it, smashing down with his fist. He didn’t know if it was Megaman or not, and he didn’t care. In the thickening air, it was difficult to see, and he wanted to smash SOMETHING.
The flare died, crushed beneath the weight and speed of Gutsman’s form. Megaman smiled and took a calculated leap, landing on Gutsman’s back. The Master immediately reacted, shaking from side to side like and animal to throw him off. With a gymnastic flip, Megaman slid down and grabbed onto Gutsman’s ‘jaw’, planting one foot on his stomach and drawing back with his other hand.
“Honey, I’m HOME!” He shouted in half-triumph, half-rage, drawing Gutsman’s attention fully forward as he flipped the top off of the flare and jammed it into the monster’s face. Pushing off from the Master’s bulk, Megaman hit the ground and rolled, a sharp pain in his side reminding him of the broken ribs. Gutsman roared as the flare burned inside his protective jaw, clawing at his own head to try and destroy the burning light. He fell to his knees with a thunderous noise, roaring and crying all at once, unable to figure out how to destroy the accursed light.
Megaman got to his feet and watched this sad sight for a little bit. Gutsman pleaded with his absent master to extinguish the light, to save him from its burn. Shaking his head, Megaman took another flare from his belt, flipped off the top, and threw it expertly with the help of his helmet’s targeting system. The flare hit one of Gutsman’s hands and bounced down into the ‘jaw,’ next to the other flare, drawing another roar of pain from the monstrous metal menace.
Hoping that would buy him enough time, Megaman began to dig in the rubble, trying to find the Buster rifle. As he dug, the ground shook with Gutsman’s tantrum. Finally, the Master pulled the square jaw piece off of his armor completely, the flares falling away and giving Gutsman his much begged for reprieve from the light. The spots danced in his vision, however, and made him even angrier. He started to randomly smash things around him, shouting for Megaman to come out and face him again.
Megaman shoved aside another rock and kicked another Steel beam out of the way. There! There was the Buster rifle! He cleared away some more debris and pulled it out of the wreckage, surprised at the lack of damage it had taken. Turning, he tried to aim for Gutsman’s head, but the larger combatant was turning away, trying to find him.
Megaman took a deep breath, “HEY! OVER HERE, GUTSY!” He called. Gutsman instantly turned around and Megaman’s helmet beeped as it locked on to his vulnerable spot: his previously protected neck and face.
Megaman hesitated for only a second before pulling the trigger. And then he pulled it again. And again. And another time. The gun clicked in ammunition starved protest.
Nine high speed rounds meant to punch through buildings and heavy armor slammed into Gutsman’s human face and neck, not so much puncturing his skin so much as making it explode in a violent shower of muscle tissue and bone. The bestial roar Gutsman had been in the middle of died the same time he did as his vocal cords were flung in several directions in as many pieces.
The nearly invincible body staggered forward a step, and then fell in one final ground-shaking rumble. Megaman took a heavy breath, wincing at the pain in his side, and turning on his helmet microphone.
“Dr. Light... you HAVE to see this...”
Dr. Wily’s screams of outrage echoed through the halls of the Mountain. Cutman shook his head. They’d been fools to think that idiot was up to the task of defeating anything that wasn’t immobile. They should have sent HIM. Cutman would have dealt with this Megaman fool like any other soldier.
The orange armored master sighed in his hiding place, and looked over the Teleportation instructions again. He’d show them. He’d show them that the original was always best, no matter what. When he killed Megaman and brought Master Wily his HEAD, THEN he’d be recognized as the finest of the Masters. He smiled at the thought of the praise his master would rain upon him. He adjusted his Yukata in the silence of the secluded room and turned a page.
Of course, before he could go against this Megaman, he’d have to know how to GET there.
Unknown to Cutman, his hiding spot had already been discovered and infiltrated. In fact, someone was reading over his shoulder. Shadowman’s camouflage technology was THAT good. The ninja-esque Master smiled, unseen behind the psychotic Cutman. Master Wily would be VERY interested to know about his first creation’s recent activities, he was sure.
Dr. Wily would have been appalled if he was aware of the level of free will his Masters were exhibiting. While Gutsman had been totally loyal, it had been more because he knew no better than anything else. Quickman had already taken runs around the surrounding landscape out of boredom when he was supposed to be watching the entrance of the Mountain, his speed allowing him to make sure no one noticed he was gone. Icema’am had taken to making beautiful sculptures of frozen water in one of the women’s bathrooms on level 3F, much to Plantma’am’s delight. Plantma’am herself was tending a rather prosperous garden in one of the now unused testing ranges. Most of the other Masters had their own dirty little secrets that they kept, they thought, hidden from each other as well as Master Wily, but Shadowman pretty much knew everything that went on inside the Mountain while every Master knew about at least one or two other hobbies.
Reggae had stumbled upon Plantma’am’s garden one day and had figured out what had caused it, but when he confronted her about it, she simply smiled. “It’s just nice to have a little green in the place, isn’t it?”
Reggae couldn’t really argue. The garden was refreshingly normal when compared to the insane turn the rest of his life had taken. He’d even managed to find her some other seeds to plant there in a few of the botany labs. What they grew, he had no idea, but he figured she could handle it.
In the White House Situation Room, a Sky Eye class satellite replayed the spotty footage it had of Megaman’s fight with Gutsman. The nearby hydrant that Gutsman had kicked over just before Megaman started his attack had dampened down enough of the dust in the area to give the satellite’s high-powered remote camera enough of a view of the fight to piece together the events from.
The President watched with something close to extreme interest. “So, what do we have here?”
Leonard Travitz stopped the video at a part where the two combatants were the most clear. “I assume you’ve heard about New Detroit’s latest hero, sir?”
“This Megaman character? I’ve heard of him. Is that him?”
“The blue guy, yes,” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs nodded. “The larger one, or at least one much like it, has been seen at the Mountain, and the men have classified it the Rook, sir.”
“Rook?”
“I don’t ask questions, sir. Either Wily has made more than one of these ‘Rook’s, or, and this is more likely, he sent the thing to New Detroit through the Teleportation Web.”
“So he’s hi-jacked the Web?”
Leonard nodded before continuing. “It’s possible he sent the Rook there to draw out the so-called Megaman, sir.”
“For what purpose,” the President asked. “What does he gain by killing someone like Megaman?”
The Secretary of Defense cut in at this point. “It’s possible he sees Megaman as a threat, sir. Or, maybe he knows more about this guy than we do.”
“You think Megaman’s from the Mountain?”
“It’s possible that he’s a product of the Prometheus Project, sir, but we don’t have any solid evidence. We don’t know if Dr. Light or the test subject escaped alive, but if they did, I can’t see a reason for them to go to New Detroit,” Leonard said, shrugging.
“No point in moving out of a bad neighborhood and then drawing all kinds of attention to yourself,” the Secretary of Defense nodded.
“So do we know who won, or are bets still being taken?” the President asked, drawing a general chuckle from the room.
“The Rook stopped moving, so we can assume Megaman somehow disabled it,” Leonard told him.
“Good for him. Any idea how much damage was done?”
“Low estimates are in the ten thousands.”
“Dollars?”
“Deaths.”
The President folded his hands and rested his chin on them, looking at the still picture before him. “All right,” he said after a short silence, “Now what?” He shut his eyes and prepared himself for the storm of advice he knew he’d just invited into the room.
“Disaster aid-“
“Red Cross-“
“Volunteers-“
As the White House began to organize relief for New Detroit and the crushed city blocks in its center, Dr. Light began to reverse engineer the piece of technology he found on Gutsman before the National Guard arrived. A coil of some sort that might solve the energy problems Rock had been facing while in the Armor...
Rock stood at the window in Roll’s apartment. She’d offered him the bed, and had taken the couch for the night. He’d already seen a doctor (who’d been uneasy about diagnosing anyone who looked like Rock did) and had his side bandaged up, although the System was allowing him to heal at a faster rate than a normal human. He looked out at the still-clouded streets, and heaved a painful sigh.
“So, Wily can attack my town...” he thought, taking a sip of water. “I better get my own plan into motion fast and hit Wily back.”
He laid down on the bed, shifting himself until he was in a comfortable and painless position, and resolved to pay another visit to the Bonne family the next day.
