The Megaman War:
Part 1 - Whistle in the Wind

“HEY!” Tiesel shouted, running the cup along the bars again, “I WANT OUT! I KNOW MY RIGHTS! I WANNA LAWYER! COME ON!”

On the other side of the soundproofed door at the end of the hallway, Erik slept, a smile on his face.

Meanwhile, in the semi’s trailer, Dr. Light went over the Armor with a fine tooth comb.

“It worked GREAT, doc!” Rock said enthusiastically.

“Yes, yes, it worked fine, Rocky,” Dr. Light returned, rolling his eyes. Ever since the boy had gotten back, he hadn’t SHUT UP about his entire adventure. “However, on top of the complete lack of sanity you showed today, you wore away to soles of the boots and caused serious strain on both the power conduits and strength augmentation units. You caught a bloody AIRSHIP, Rock! What the hell possessed you?”

Rock shrugged, his smile still broad. “Well, I couldn’t just let those people die, sir. I had to do something... and if I hadn’t slowed it down, it would’ve done a lot more damage to the street than it ended up doing...”

“Oh, yes, Rock, I’m sure everyone is grateful that Maple Street’s only going to be closed down for eight months instead of twelve. You know what would have stopped it faster? Crashing it into a building! Why not do that and save the street all that trouble?” The scientist threw his hands up in the air to emphasize his point, nearly tossing the hand-held integrity scanner across the trailer.

Rock bit his lower lip. “I’m sorry about rushing off like that, doc...”

“As well you should be!”

The youth continued, ignoring the interruption, “But I did something good today... Despite Dr. Wily, and despite what all those guys at the White House may want, I saved a lot of lives and I stopped those guys from getting away with the robbery... I did something GOOD.”

Dr. Light paused, Rock’s words slipping into his mind and sitting there, smiling.

“I may not be able to let the lame walk, but I can still do something to help the world, right? Isn’t that what you created this System for? To make the world a better, more bearable place?”

Thomas Xavier Light sighed.

“I’m sorry, Rock,” he said finally. “I know that you tried your best not to put anyone in any danger, and that you did, indeed, save the day, but... I’ve come to know you so well over the past few weeks that I think of you like my own son, and I can’t... I can’t bring myself to accept the idea that you’d want to do reckless things like this! Going up against that madman, Wily, is no small chore!”

“But I’m the only one who can! You KNOW what the System is capable of, and he’s probably improved on it in the time we’ve been gone! I’m the only thing in the world that has a CHANCE of stopping him!”

Dr. Light rallied to begin arguing again, but some unseen ache in his bones took over. “Let’s... let’s just wait for a little bit and decide what to do later... okay, Rock?”

Rock nodded. “Okay.”

The scientist returned to work, and Rock left the trailer. It had been only an hour since the spectacle on Maple Street. Rock wondered if any of the news stations had anything on it yet...

Heading into the police station and getting a friendly nod from the night security officer, Rock made his way into one of the break rooms and snagged himself a donut and a cup of coffee, turning on the TV inside on low volume. He couldn’t help but smile at what he saw...

He watched the TV for a while, amazed at how the rest of the city seemed to be taking his heroism in stark contrast to Dr. Light. Nobody had even thought of linking this ‘Megaman’ with the incidents at Cheyenne Mountain.

Megaman...

Rock shrugged mentally. It was as good a name as any, he guessed.

The night passed. It was two hours after Rock’s battle with the Bonne family that news stations nation-wide were running the story right along with the now replayed-to-death footage of Cheyenne Mountain. Everywhere the fantastic story of the blue super hero went, the name stayed the same.

Megaman...

Roll’s eyes cracked open. It was still dark outside, but she’d left the TV on. Her groggy eyes only half registered something that looked like some kind of joke. She yawned and sat up, trying to make sense out of the weird images on the screen. Some sort of super hero... a crashed aircraft on Maple? A jewelry heist? What the... Megaman? What kind of name was that?

Shaking her head, she stood up, stretched, adjusted her night shirt and, as had become the habit over the last few days, hit the play button on her answering machine. She half-listened to the sympathy messages as she poured a cup of coffee for herself. The came Officer Erik Lowell’s message.

“Hello, ma’am. Officer Erik here, again. Good news! I’ve found your friend, and he’s down here at the station. He seems to have suffered from a little amnesia-“ Roll had already threw on a pair of shorts and a hat and had bolted out the door.

“Megaman.”

Dr. Wily rolled the name around on his tongue. “Megaman, Megaman, Megaman...” He chuckled. “So, zat is vat zey haf decided to call you, mein friend? Interesting...”

He turned to his loyal Master’s lined up against the wall.

“So I guess zats makes YOU Gutsman, und YOU Elecman, und YOU Bombman, und YOU Ice...ma’am, und YOU Pharaohman, und YOU Quickman, und YOU Magnetman, und Cutman, und Fireman, und Knightman, und Yamatoman, und Plantma’am, und Shadowman, und Topman... Oh, ze possibilities for zis naming scheme are practically limitless!” Dr. Wily laughed and did a small dance. Maybe the public would get the joke, maybe they wouldn’t, he didn’t care. All he knew is that, by doing this, he established a definite link between his Masters and New Detroit’s new hero, which would arouse suspicion in the White House. He couldn’t have ASKED for a better way of blaming Dr. Light for his most terrifying creations...

Reggae sidled into the room. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be helping this mad man. He wanted to escape, but how? He wasn’t going to leave through the front door... the door guards had been ordered to kill him if he tried, he knew. He couldn’t even TRY risking the use of the teleportation pad... “Sir? We’re ready in the Teleporter Room.”

Dr. Wily clapped his hands together. “Gud! Gutsman, come viz me... ve have a house call to make...”

Tiesel had stopped with the cup. His arm was getting tired. He leaned against the bars and slid to the ground. “Gah... how did this happen?”

Tron was laying face down on the bed. She’d been abnormally quiet ever since they’d been brought in. Tiesel’s general question drew only a noncommital sound from the pillow she had her face buried in. Bon giggled and cooed.

“Babu!”

“I guess you’re right, Bon...” Tiesel sighed, shaking his head. “We went about the whole thing all wrong... If only I hadn’t blown the last of the petty cash in the stock market like that, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Babu?”

“Still...” Tiesel cradled his chin in one hand, “I can’t help but wonder just who that blue guy was..” Tron looked up. “I mean, he was totally unreal! He got the drop on us and we never even knew he was coming, and then... gah, he FLEW! He FLEW after us. What IS he?”

There was a sound as the door at the end of the hallway opened and closed again. Tiesel craned his head to look out of the cell. A younger man with brown hair was approaching.

“Are you guys all right?” the boy asked. Tron’s head immediately snapped around and stared, but Tiesel missed it completely.

“Er.... yeah, I guess so. I took a bit of a tumble, but it’s just my shoulder...” Tiesel replied, honesty seeming to be the best idea in his newfound confusion.

The boy smiled. “Glad to hear it. You guys made quite a mess out there.”

Tiesel crossed his arms angrily. “We wouldn’t have made such a mess if that blue guy hadn’t wrecked our ship.”

“Blue guy?” Rock smiled, feigning ignorance. “What, do you mean Megaman?”

“Megaman?”

“Babu?”

“Yeah, he’s all over the news right now...” Rock shrugged.

“I’ll just bet... playing the part of the big hero, isn’t he? Ergh... I bet they’re gonna throw him a parade or something...” Behind Tiesel, Tron’s mouth hung open. Bon looked at his big sister worriedly. She was NEVER struck speechless... NEVER!

“Babu?”

Tron’s head snapped around so fast it made her younger brother jump. “SHH!”

Tiesel had missed the entire exchange. “So what did you come here for? You’re not a cop, are you? Or are you the lawyer?”

Rock shook is head. “I was just someone who wanted to know if you guys were okay.”

Tiesel grumbled. “Nice of you,” he managed in between rude phrases under his breath.

“Hey, by the way,” Rock began, seemingly remembering something, “That ship you guys had was really cool! Where’d you get it?”

Tiesel looked back at Tron, and when he found little to no help there, he shrugged. “We... er, SHE, built it.”

Rock smiled. “Hey, when you guys get out of jail, you should go into business making those things... imagine the honest life you could lead, right?” He smiled and gave them a thumbs up. “Anyway, I have to go, but I’ll try and visit you guys again before your trial.”

“Er... thanks?” the oldest of the Bonnes hesitated. As the brown haired boy disappeared from sight, he looked at Tron’s fish-like expression. “Friend of yours, Tron?”

His younger sister sputtered. “N... NOT HARDLY! That was HIM! That was Megaman!”

Roll’s car screeched to a halt behind the large semi-truck that took up a lot of room in the police station’s parking lot. She didn’t even lock her car door, or close it, for that matter, as she ran into the station. Dr. Light caught a glimpse of her as she rocketed past the back of the trailer.

“Can I help you ma’am?” the night duty officer asked as she threw the doors open.

“I’m here to see Rock Volnutt!” Roll cried, tears welling up on her face.

The officer was thrown for a little bit of a loop, and immediately buried his head defensively in some paperwork. “Rock... Rock... Rock Volnutt... Er...”

“Roll?”

The quiet voice from the door to the break room made both their heads turn. There, with a donut in one hand and a coffee cup in the other, stood Rock. Roll smiled and sobbed all at the same time.

Then, Rock fell over, the coffee mug crashing to the ground in a spray of hot caffeine and ceramic. Roll shouted in surprise and rushed to his side as Dr. Light entered.

“Well... Roll Casket, I presume?” Dr. Light asked. She didn’t really pay attention, her sobs of frustration and pain making the police station sound more like a maternity ward. “He’s all right, ma’am, he’s all right...”

“What’s wrong with him?” she cried.

“He’s just fine, Roll,” the old scientist assure her. “He’s all right. Seeing you kicked off his memory... It was... badly broken, and now its rebuilding itself. He’ll be fine in a few hours.”

Roll wasn’t listening, tears flowing freely as she gripped her lost friend in her arms.