The Mega Man: Legend

Ch. 11 Candlestick Part 3

I looked up at the ceiling of the car. I pounded the wall in frustration. I decided to do some thinking. If I got out on the floor, I would most likely be trapped if Light put the building on a lockdown. So...

I loaded the Ice Slasher and blasted it into the floor of the elevator. I switched to the Super Arm, and slammed it into the ice, smashing through it and breaking the bottom out. I dropped down, using the Super Arm to hold onto the side of the elevator shaft, sliding down at a reasonable speed. I kicked off the wall onto the second floor door. I pried it open, and dashed through, ignoring anything or anyone. Only one thing was on my mind. Fire Man would pay.

I turned a corner I remembered from my tour of the building. I rushed down a staircase, and popped out the back door of the tower. I began to run. I had a pretty good idea of where the nuclear plant was, so I made my way there, refusing to slow down until I had reached my goal.

I arrived at the building after a while of running. I walked up to the door. It was welded shut. I used the Super Arm to smash it down to bits. Stepping through, I marched forward angrily, my blaster hand twitching.

As I stepped softly into one of the main chambers, I could understand why Heat Man liked this place. The temperature soared compared to the previous rooms, and I probably would have complained about it had I not been focused one thing alone.

Fire Man stood arrogantly crossing his arms near the reactor.

"Well. Wondered when you'd show up, pardner. Beginning to think you weren't the big hero you seem to think you are."

"Where is she?" I asked angrily, dying to take a shot with my blaster.

"Oh, somewhere around here. Right now, though, you've got-OOF!" I leaped at him, knocking him to the ground.

"You didn't answer the question." I pointed the weapon directly at his face. "Where. Is. She?"

He grunted a little, and sighed, "She's over by the coolant storage. She's fine." His face shifted to a smirk. "But you won't be, pardner."

He blasted me with a shot to the chest, and I fell backward. The shot burned on my armor, and I used the Ice Slasher to put it out.

"You'll wanna be careful there. This here IS a nuclear reactor, and I'm told they don't make good booms."

I stayed still, trying to keep my calm as he continued. "There ya go. See? You'd have a hard enough time beating me without the threat of blowing us all to kingdom come. Now, I think you've sealed your fate."

I was silent. for a while, then chuckled a little. "I've sealed my fate? Let me tell you something, pal." I blasted a shot into him. He was knocked back a little. "Your pals, the big scary robots, I've taken down three of them." I activated the super arm and yanked up a piece of the flooring as a shield for his next attack. "Only three of you are left, and you my friend? Well, you're the least of my worries."

"Stay back, pardner. I'm warning ya." He backed away slowly, his weapon arm beginning to tremble.

"I know your type. Think you're some kind of big shot. Don't you get it? I'm stronger than you. Faster than you. Better than you. You can't hope to defeat me." I leaped over another shot from his weapon, landing close by, putting the ice slasher up to his head.

"You should've left my mom out of this."

My weapon charged.

"ROCK!!"

The voice pierced my ears (or I guess audio receptors), the panic in it plunging straight down to my heart, making me freeze in place. I looked over to see Roll, standing on the middle of the path to the reactor. She was crying. I could make that out from this far away.

"Rock. Please, don't." She called.

I looked back at Fire Man. He was pinned against the wall, eyes wide and trembling slightly. I had seen how brave he was.

And how easily I had scared him.

I looked down at my cannon. I put it back in hand form. I dropped to my knees, as Roll ran over to me. A lump formed in my throat, stinging every time I tried to swallow. As Roll came closer, I looked into her eyes. "I...I'm so sorry." I choked as tears welled up. She knelt down and hugged me as I cried softly.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It is." Her words were interesting to me. I hadn't known her for years, and now, when she told me something so simple, it touched me in places no one ever had before.

I broke from the hug. "Thank you."

Fire Man was slowly removing himself from the wall. He took a second, possibly to ease himself. Then, his usual look returned.

"Yeah, nice. Real sappy there, pardner. Too bad I gotta ruin it for ya." He aimed at us. At the reactor.

"No!!" Roll yelled, but he had already fired. In that moment I separated from Roll, shoving her low to the ground, and leaped into the air. I loaded the ice slasher. I aimed a shot at the flying ball of flame, hitting it directly, causing it to dissipate. I landed again, rolling on the ground before aiming directly at Fire Man.

"Aw...crud..." He muttered.

---

The evening sun was releasing bright crimson rays through the window. I looked on quietly as Light closed the container holding my armor.

"You're sure about this?"

I nodded. "It's for the best. At least for now." I turned to the hallway, where some maintenance workers were passing by. "Sorry again. For the whole fiasco."

"You shouldn't dwell on that. You defeated Fire Man, you rescued your mother. I can deal with a little temper tantrum. Of course, I could do without how you destroyed the elevator."

"Oh. No one fell in the whole in the floor, did they?"

"Relax. Nothing happened."

I stared at the container.

"Wily's not done yet."

Light froze, and sighed. "Yes, I know."

"Why do you think he'd do this?"

"It's a...complicated story. One I suppose I'll tell you about another time."

I nodded. I looked at Roll, who was peacefully sweeping.

"Yeah. Another time."

---

Not many people were as good at detecting the signs as I was. I could make all the connections in the news report.

Scorch marks on the walls. Fire Storm.

Small patches of water. Ice Slasher.

Torn up ground. Super Arm.

He had been there. Fire Man too, I'd guess. Point was, he was interesting. Unlike anything I had ever seen before.

And no doubt Wily knew that.

---

Albert Wily slammed his fists into his console again. "No! He always has to mess things up."

He watched over the footage again, Mega Man destroying the Fire shot and blasting Fire Man with an Ice Slasher.

"Ugh. Why can't any one of these stupid robots stop him?"

He froze.

"Perhaps any one can't." He smiled.

He stood from his chair walking over to where two robots stood frozen in place.

"Units DLN 003 and DLN 006. Activate."

Wily's grin became bigger and bigger. "Locate and destroy Mega Man. The more damage..."

The robots' eyes filled with life.

"...The better."