Chapter 2

Mega Man soared on Rush to the airport, arriving in a matter of minutes. Protoman was the first to see him.

“Mega Man!” he cried, pointing. “The Blue Bomber.”

“I hate Mega Man,” Dr. Wily growled. “He ruins everything.” He picked up a radio that allowed him to broadcast his commands over the Skullkur’s loudspeakers. “Attention all robots!” he ordered to his five on the ground. “Destroy Mega Man.” Upon hearing the command, they turned to view their enemy’s approach.

Mega Man swooped down. Bomb Man was the first to attack, hurling a bomb at the heroic robot.

“Try these on for size!” Mega yelled, aiming. A plasma blast caused the bomb to explode before it reached its target, and a second shot knocked Bomb Man from his feet and destroyed him. Mega leapt off Rush as the robo-dog swooped lower.

“Why can’t we stop that blue dweeb?” Wily asked in frustration, shaking both fists in the air.

“Maybe you should plant some more intelligence chips in your robots, Dr. Wily,” Proto suggested in a smart-alek tone.

“Now I’ll have to rebuild Bomb Man,” Wily lamented, lowering the Skullkur and using two robotic claws to gather up the remains and tuck them through a circular opening in the machine. Furious, he vowed, shaking his fist again, “I’ll blast Mega Man to pieces!” He reached for a button.

“No!” Proto countered, slamming his fist against the control panel of the Skullkur, halting Wily’s action and causing a few sparks. “I must destroy Mega Man.” He turned to Wily, fists up slightly in his earnest desire. “He’s my brother.”

“You’ll remember that I built you,” Wily reminded, pointing an accusing finger at Proto, “and you will obey me.”

“You’re right, Dr. Wily,” Proto agreed in his usual sarcastic tone of voice. “I’ll obey you--when I want to.” And with that he turned and left the Skullkur’s cockpit, leaping from the outside door to the battle below.

“Why didn’t I implant some humble chips into that boy?” Why wondered to himself.

Proto landed with a thump behind Mega, who whirled around, arm cannon ready, to see his ‘brother’ standing there prepared for battle, his long yellow scarf fluttering behind him in the wind.

“Lets see how fancy your powers are against me, Mega Jerk,” Proto challenged.

“I’m as good or better than you, Protoman,” Mega retorted, a determined look on his face.”

“We’ll see about that.” With that Proto extended his left arm, tipped also in am arm cannon, and fired a bluish electrical-looking plasma blast. Mega leapt, dodging, and fired as well. Proto also leapt into the air to dodge, almost a perfect imitation, and fired again at the same time as Mega. Their blue and yellow shots collided mid-air, exploding.

Meanwhile, Roll and Doc had finally arrived on the scene. The two leapt out and ran towards the battle, but Roll stopped short when she saw Fire Man preparing for a cheat shot at a distracted Mega Man.

“Oh no you don’t, hot shot!” She aimed her left arm, which held her household tools, and activated her powerful vacuum attachment, setting Fire Man in its suction field. The force of the pull was so great that although Fire Man was able to hold his ground, after only a few moments he glowed brightly and shook a bit before completely disassembling and dropping to the ground in a heap. Roll punched the air in victory, commenting in a half-giggle to Doc who’d quickly joined her, smiling, after her win, “Looks like he really went to pieces.” Guts Man happened to spot her just then.

“Cut Man,” he said to the smaller bot at his side, “lets crush her!”

“With pleasure, heheheheh.” He removed his Rolling Cutter from his head and threw it, severing one of the supports of the thankfully empty monorail, not that they would’ve cared if it had been occupied. The two cars fell, and Guts Man caught one, letting the other smash to scrap on the runway. Roll and Doc stopped short again, seeing him.

“Twisted transistors!” she cried in surprise. Guts Man hurled it one-handed at her. Mega Man saw from where he was fighting Protoman. He gasped in surprise and ran for them, narrowly dodging a shop from Proto who’d leapt and fired half a second before. The blue bomber burst between Guts Man and Cut Man to rescue Roll. Seeing that he wouldn’t make it, he ran even faster. He reached them in time and pushed them out of the way. Then he turned and aimed his arm cannon to destroy the car before it hit him. but to his alarm it only sparked.

“Oh no! I’m outta power!” Unable to destroy the car, it crashed down onto Mega.

“Yes! Yes!” Dr. Wily laughed triumphantly from the Skullkur. “Mega Man’s crushed like a rose petal--made of steel!” He laughed wickedly, thoroughly enjoying his victory. All that could be seen of Mega was his feet sticking out from under the wreckage. Roll rushed to her brother’s side, calling,

“We need help! Where’s Doc?” Doc ran over as Roll lifted the sheet of metal pinning Mega facedown and used a hand that popped out of his flip-top helmet to pull a limp Mega out and drag him to safety. Roll looked down with concern in her eyes at her seemingly unconscious brother. She knew it took a lot to knock a robot out, and even more so for Mega. Doc bleeped in concern, and Rush whined as he came over.

“We’ve got to get Mega back to Dr. Light,” she told them. Doc popped out a stretcher, which Roll laid on the ground and gently rolled Mega onto. Then she gathered and held up the cords for Rush, in jet board mode, to take. Rush launched off and grabbed the cords, carrying Mega off. Roll and Doc quickly returned to the mini air raider and followed.

“Mega Man is finished!” Dr. Wily crowed, coming down to hover next to Guts Man. “The airport is ours! hehehahaha. If there is no air transportation, the city will soon come to its knees.” He laughed triumphantly, fists raised in victory.

It seemed he’d finally won.