Megaman: Reboot

Investigation

"Hey kid, wake up." Rock groaned as red eyes stared back at him. Snake shut his mouth with clawed hands before Roll could hear them and Topman quietly closed the door. The sounds of Astilbe and Dr. Light talking came from the other room, partially muffled by the door.

"What are you two doing up at this hour? If Astil finds you awake, he's going to freak out." It had been two days since the stranger has appeared in the garden grounds. After Magnet got repaired from the strange seizure, Astil has initiated a total lockdown of the area. No one was allowed to leave the grounds without a guide. Plantman had confiscated everything that originally belonged to him, which meant Rock no longer had access to the map. To add to it all, he was considered grounded for nearly leaving with a "hostile" individual, to which he found it unnecessary and mean. After all, he only talked to the guy for three minutes, and while he could admit the sword threat to the eyes was overboard, the guy seemed nice and dare he say, nervous. Rock didn't have an explanation why he was so focused on the stranger, watching the same spot every night to see if he came back, but he was. The ninja star that grazed Magnet's side was still laying on his bag, the only thing they left behind.

What if Dr. Light and the others scared him off? What if he thought he was in danger? Rock wanted to run back to the forest and tell him it was a mistake. But alas, being a robot master, the orders of his father overruled his thoughts. Luckily, the Wi-lights had found a loophole in their favor.

"We need you as a hostage." Snake hissed with a smirk.

"A what?!" Rock shouted quietly.

"It's not as bad as you think. We are going to check up on the guy, and we want you to come with us." Top shuffled through the bags for a coat.

"But Astil-"

"Is not going to know. The doctors have been arguing upstairs for a while, so they're not going to notice a couple of robots missing." Snake grabbed Rock's leg, dragging him halfway down the stairs.

"This-ow! Seems a little extra, don't you think? Why bring me into this-OW!"

"Okay Snake, now that's just mean." Topman gently grabbed Rock's shoulders and set him on his shoulders. The little robot ducked his head as they exited the door and into the dark forest. They traveled farther inland until the sounds of the town and greenhouse disappeared, and Rock found it an opportunity to ask questions.

"So why are you guys so curious about him?"

"Everyone's curious about him. After all, you just don't meet someone who walked out of a forest, throws weird ninja stars, gives your brother a seizure, and...what did you say he did when running back?"

"He ran into a shadow and disappeared! Poof! The shadow was like water, and he fell straight through." Rock made a little popping noise.

"Anyways," Snake hissed while hopping around on the trees like a gecko, "All of our brothers agreed something had to be done. We made a volunteer vote on who should investigate this "shadow man", and I was picked for the job. Top just wanted to come along for the fun."

"But we're grounded by Dr. Light's orders!"

"Not to us. We are Dr. Wily's robots as much as Dr. Lights, and he never came the complete order. No complete order by both creators, we bend the rules." Snake chuckled.

"Okay, but what about me?"

"I made a plan that if we were to get caught, we would say that you let your curiosity get the best of you and wandered off again, leading us to head out and find you. It seems like a good excuse considering your age."

"So I'm a scapegoat?" Rock felt crushed that he was being used, despite the truth about his concern for the stranger.

"For the record, I didn't agree to that part." Top attempted to defend himself as they followed their brother deeper into the forest. The first rays of sunlight peeked through the amazon trees, the insects buzzing through them as they trekked through the dirt. Top would move his head to the side every minute, allowing Rock to switch his position and prevent joint locking. The orange bot started to hum a little song to compensate for the lack of conversation, and Rock soon joined in on the past time.