Chapter 5

The lab was dark. All was quiet. And once again trouble was about.

One side of the wall turned red and began to melt away. Soon Dr. Wily’s robot creation had used his blaster to melt a hole in the wall. He cut off his blaster and entered with Wily.

“The three robots should be in the next room,” Wily instructed as they crossed the lab. His robot, Protoman, saw the door but didn’t bother with the control panel. He just simply grabbed the door and ripped it off, throwing it out of the way. It crashed when it landed. Now they could view the three robots. “Magnificent! Oh, they will do nicely as the first in my army.” As had happened three months earlier, they were interrupted when the lights came on. They turned to see Dr. Light, only now Rock and Roll were with him.

“Dr. Wily!” Dr. Light exclaimed a bit angrily. “What are you doing back here?”

“Just settling an old score.”

“They’re gong to take our robots, Dr. Light!” Roll cried. Rock suddenly got a determined look on his face.

“Not if I can help it!” And he dived at Proto and Wily, who merely stepped aside. Rock crashed into the three he was trying to defend, activating them in the process. Slowly they sat up, then stood, Rock still kneeling at their feet.

“Stop them, my robots!” Dr. Light commanded.

“No, Dr. Light!” Wily roughly shouldered his former colleague out of his way, aiming a device at the robots. “They vill obey me.” A purplish light emanated from the device, and when it hit Cut Man, Guts Man, and Ice Man, their expressions took on a decidedly sinister cast.

“We obey you, Dr. Wily,” Guts Man said.

“He’s reprogrammed them!” Roll cried. She ran forward and leapt onto Proto’s back, one arm around his neck and the other fist pounding him on the helmet. “I’ll stop you myself.” Proto grabbed the arm that was around his neck and threw her off. With a cry she landed on Rock, knocking him onto his back. Guts Man lifted each of them off of the ground, one huge fist around one of each robots’ wrists so they dangled a foot or two above the floor.

“Take them back to my lab,” Wily told Guts Man.

“You let Rock and Roll go!” Dr. Light ordered, struggling against the hold Ice Man had on him and trembling with rage as he glared at Wily.

“Oh, I think not,” Wily answered. “They vill make the perfect additions to my collection of robots. And I vouldn’t try anything, Dr. Light,” he added, shaking a cautionary finger at the good scientist. “If you do, Ice Man vill freeze you.” he addressed the robot. “Show the doctor, Ice Man.” Ice Man used his Ice Slasher beam to freeze a group of test tubes, beakers, and piping on a nearby lab table. “If you try to follow,” Wily went on, “let Cut Man show you what he’ll do to you.” Cut Man removed his Rolling Cutter and hurled it, neatly slicing through the items frozen by Ice Man. Satisfied that the point was made, Protoman and Wily turned away from Dr. Light, who was still shaking from rage, to follow the others out, Rock and Roll still struggling in Guts Man’s grip.

“No!” Dr. Light finally cried, running to the melted hole they’d left through. “Not Rock and Roll!” But it was too late. Dr. Wily, his robots, and his captives were already soaring away in the Skullkur.

Doc came to Dr. Light’s side and bleeped.

“Yes, I know,” Dr. Light said in response to the little flip-top’s comment that there had been nothing either could’ve done. “But why would Dr. Wily want Rock and Roll?” He turned to look sadly up at the night sky. “And what are they gong to do to them?” He felt as if he’d seen the last of his dear Rock and Roll.