“Yeah. Last letter I got from him said he and his ‘unit’ would be on the move and he wouldn’t be able to promise another update.”, Ben answered.

“’Unit’?”, Gary questioned. “What unit? Did he join the army or something?”

“I don’t think it’s the army. Most armies I know of aren’t afraid to stay in one place like he was. It sounds to me like he’s wrapped up in something else. Something…illegal.”, Ben theorized.

“Great.”, Rich muttered. “So, how’re we ‘sposed to find him now?”

“Don’t know. For all we know, he may have been captured by those soldiers or killed by now. If he’s part of some anti-government association, then he may have died a while ago.”, Ben said, never minding who asked the question.

The four sat in the dark, stainless laboratory, contemplating what could have happened to their “sibling”.

“If we can’t find Elecman…How’re we ‘sposed to find Cut?”, a slightly sober Bombman suddenly realized.

“We can’t. The way the system worked was that all of your letter files were encrypted when you sent them here. Only you and the main computer knows where each other are, and if we were to hack into the computer here to find out, it’d automatically lock us out and shut down the power for the lab. If those soldiers figure out what we’re doing and decide to attack us here with no power, we might have set up our own funerals.”, Roll came out from nowhere to explain.

Bombman jumped from his seat and ran a few steps before turning around and facing Roll. He wasn’t one capable of handling surprises these days.

“Er, sorry Bomb. Didn’t mean to frighten you.”, Roll apologized with a half hidden smirk.

“Frighten? Me? Nah, I was jus’…Jus’ getting’ up to give you a place to sit! Here!”

Ben rolled his eyes and heaved his chest at his old teammate’s feeble attempt at chivalry.

“Actually Roll, I think we were about to go and get something to eat in the village. This old lab kinda creeps me out. Care to join us?”, Gary offered.

“No thanks. I have some more work to care of in this ‘creepy old lab’.”, Roll smirked as she shuffled some files on a desk and began to walk off.

“Well…What about Rock? Think he’d like to go?”

Roll stopped in her tracks but didn’t turn around.

“Rock? Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Haven’t seen him since I got home yesterday…”, Gutsman announced.

“Rock is…busy.”, Roll offered as an answer.

“Busy? Too busy to say hello to his long lost family?”

“Rock has…changed. He doesn’t talk to anyone anymore. Not even me.”

“…Why?”, Bombman asked, not one to dance around an issue Roll was obviously uncomfortable talking about.

“I don’t know. About five years ago, he just…stopped. All he does, every day, is get up, eat breakfast, head out to the field, and play soccer by himself for hours on end with a distant look on his face…As if he’s always lost in deep thought. He comes home, eats supper, and locks himself in his room until morning. That’s what it’s been like.”

“…That’s kinda messed up.”, Ben sized up.

“Well, maybe he’ll come around once he sees that we’re home. Maybe that’ll brighten him up.”, Gary thought.

“You can try, but I don’t think it’ll work. He’s probably home by now, stuck in his room.”

* * * *

“Rock? You there?”, Gutsman knocked on the polished, reflective door of the famed “Blue Bomber”.

“Hey Rock! You gonna just sit in there when you’ve got company? Thought dad programmed ya with bettah manners, man!”, Rich challenged.

Silence.

“Maybe he’s not back yet?”, Gary asked Roll, who shook her head.

“No…He’s home. He’s always in by sun down, and it’s ten o’ clock now. He just won’t respond.”

“Man…Yo! Rock! Wake up, old man! We got a reunion party to get to! C’mon!”, Bombman again yelled at the door.

Nothing.

“Forget it. Roll’s right. Whatever happened, it left Rock dead to the world. Maybe he fried a transistor.”, Ben rationalized.

“We don’t have transistors, Fireman. Whatever happened to cause this left him emotionally scarred. It’s not a defect in programming or a physical problem.”, Roll uttered.

“Well…Guess we’ll just have to go to Ietsu Inn without you, Rock. That’s a shame…”, Gary exclaimed, making sure to say the name of Rock’s favorite restaurant loudly.

The group waited around the door for a few more minutes, only to be greeted with more stark quiet.

“The hell with this…I’m hungry.”, Rich growled.

“I’m surprised you can still eat solid food from what I’ve seen of you today.”, Ben ribbed.

“Yeah? Well if you don’t shut the fuck up, I’ll knock your damn teeth outta yer head and then we’ll see who can’t eat solid food! How’s that sound?”

“Try it.”, Ben stepped forward, a small burst of flame erupting near his head to show he meant business.

Once again, Gutsman played peace-keeper by shoving Rich against a wall and Ben down the hallway. “Cool it. None of this is going to convince Rock to come out, so let’s settle down and at least pretend we like each other while we get something to eat and figure what our next move is. Deal?”

After a few seconds of harsh glaring from behind Erik’s massive arms, Rich relented. “Yeah…Alright. But only because I’m starving.”

Ben huffed down the hallway, arms folded.

“…Thanks, Erik.”, Gary said after Rich had left towards the Inn. “I don’t know what it’s going to take to keep them in line, but they seem to respect you enough to listen to you.”

“It’s not respect.”, Gutsman said, somberly. “It’s fear.”

“Gary shrugged and motioned for his giant brother to accompany him to an old favorite hangout of the “Sinister Six”.

* * * *

It was around midnight that talks of the old times started to grow quieter and quieter. A few of the old wait staff even recognized their one-time favorite customers, and the gang all talked about the good old days with good old friends from the Ietsu Inn, but now the four siblings huddled closer to get back down to the pressing issues at hand.

“Ben…You’ve got to have some clue as to where Elecman was last stationed.”

“He was somewhere in Holland. He never gave an exact location, and each latter was from a different country, though mostly in Europe. I don’t think he’s there for sight seeing, though.”

Gary sipped his coffee once again as Gutsman and Ben discussed rational places for Elecman to be, each of which were shut down by the nature of their brother, Elecman, who was a careful person by nature. If he didn’t want his family to know where he was, he was going to great lengths to make sure he wasn’t being found by anyone. At least that gave the others hope that maybe he was still alive.

As Gary looked over his small mug, he caught the same, thin stranger staring at him yet again from across the Inn. The thin man sat down at the table a few minutes after they had arrived, and has eaten little since he arrived. This man seemed more interested in watching the four men sitting around this table rather than eating or reading his neatly folded paper. His deep-set eyes pierced Gary’s own before glancing back at his newspaper, waiting for Gary to look away again.

“Rich.”, Gary said aloud, looking away from both Bombman and the thin man.

“Huh?”, Rich slurred. He was on sake saucer number…a lot since they had sat down two hours ago.

“See that guy over there? That little guy with the newspaper?”

“Uhhh…Yeah! That’s…Gawd, I dunno. That’s ‘what’s-his-name’?”, he stooped over the table, blatantly staring at the man- something Gary was now avoiding himself.

“That’s just it, Rich. We don’t know who he is, but he seems awfully interested in us. I think he knows something.”

“…You want I should kick ‘is ass, man?”

“No…I’m going to go talk to him.”, Gary said, standing up. However, when he looked at the table where the thin man was sitting, he was gone, a few crumpled Yen notes left behind.

Gary looked around the Inn frantically. Now he knew something was up- it couldn’t have been a coincidence that this guy left as soon as Gary said he was going to talk to him. Gary ran out the front door and onto the stone slab street of the quaint village near Okayama, glimpsing the man and his dull red coat rounding a corner down the road.

Gary sprinted down the street, reaching the alleyway where the man had turned down. He peered down the alley, seeing nothing.

“Damn it…”, Gary uttered. “Who the hell is that?”

“London.”, a voice rang out, it’s origin unknown to the short Arctic fighter.

“Huh? London? What about London?”, he demanded.

“Your friend. He’s in London. Go there tomorrow.”, it elaborated

“Wait! How do you know this? Who are you? How do you know who we’re looking for?”

Gary received no answer. He would continue to ask questions for several more minutes before the other three caught up with him.

“Gary…What’s up? You alright?”, Erik inquired while holding up an unconscious Rich.

“That guy…He knows where Elecman is.”, Gary said.

“What guy? Gary, you feeling alright?”, Ben asked.

“Yeah, I’m alright, I’m alright…But that…Thin guy. He knew Elecman, I’m sure of it. He told me to go to London tomorrow and Elecman would be there.”

“…I don’t like this. This sounds…way too convenient.”, Ben suspected, sharpening his eyes on his surroundings.

“I agree. It sounds more like a trap than anything. He could be working for the enemy. Hell, I’d say he definitely is. How could he know where Elecman was and not us, huh?”, Erik tried to reason.

“I…I don’t know, guys. But it’s all we’ve got. Either we risk blowing it or we risk getting into a fight.”, Gary offered.

“…Damn it.”, Ben scowled, realizing the situation at hand.

“London, huh? It’s been…twelve years. Think they’ll still be pissed at us for that whole “Big Ben’ thing back then?”, Gutsman asked, worried about their reception at the British capital.

“Probably.”, Ben proclaimed.

“Guess we’re off to London, then.”, Gary stated aloud. “….Hope Bombman is sober by then.”

“I don’t see why we have to bring him in the first place.”, Fireman frowned at the snoring mess that was his sibling.

“We’ve got to stick together now. They’re after us, but they haven’t attacked Roll yet, who’s the most obvious choice. If it’s personal, we need to keep others out of it. If they want to attack us in their home turf, then we’ll go there and take ‘em out. Let’s get our gear and get to England…”, Gutsman said with gusto.

“London it is, then.” Ben reluctantly agreed.

Chapter Eight Extras: Robot Master Construction-

The make-up of a Robot Master differs greatly in RE than it does in the “Orange Hell” AU series (or most other Rockman fan fics, for that matter). In the Orange Hell series, very little separated a Robot Master/CO from a common robot other than extensive customization and more expensive materials used in construction. In RE, the Robot Masters that appear bridge the gap between robots and human beings.

Towards the end of his life (and after Wily’s death), Dr. Light’s android designs evolved drastically as he perfected the use of nanomachines for fine manufacturing. As a result, he redesigned his six original prototypes, as well as rebuilt Rock and Roll, and remade them with his nanomolecular designs. Far exceeding any previous generation Robot Master, the “Final Generation” could more appropriately be classified as cyborgs rather than robots.

Each Robot Master is constructed atom- by- atom in a unique bath composed of nanomachines. Their completed bodies bare more of a human nature than their old mechanical designs, as the molecules that compose them are meant to mimic the human anatomy and increase it’s physical potential to it’s limits.

Unarmored and uncovered, a Robot Master’s appearance looks very much like that of a human being sans it’s skin, only instead of red and white tissues, one would see a rubbery black texture. This outer coating protects the strong, muscle-like contraction cables beneath. The skeleton is composed of Light Ceramic Titanium composite. An optional skin-like covering can be grafted over the black outer shell to complete the human appearance, which is comprised of grade 1 nanomachines that maintain this covering.

The Final Generation RMs are driven by a quantum computer network centered at the base of the spinal column and are free from the Asimov Laws. While each “mind” starts out exactly like the others, individual thoughts arise quickly and experiences drastically change the personality of the Robot Master. It is for this reason that Light was considered to have finally perfected AI just before his death and why the Final Generation was so revered before they were labeled “dangerous”. This also grants the Final Generation immunity to viruses that would have hijacked them in the past.

In their fighting days, the Sinister Six utilized custom armors and uniforms to enhance their pre-existing and self contained powers and abilities. Most armors were separated into plates or pieces for quick and easy replacement in case of damage or malfunction, and were held on by an internal vacuum system (magnets would not have been as efficient in the Final Generation’s case). These individual pieces were composed of LCT plates woven into the same cut-and-impact resistant rubber-like substance that acts as their muscle covering. Pants, shirts, gloves, boots and other fabric-like items were created from fourth draft Kevlar. The armor of these Robot Masters could easily withstand a blow from a Howitzer cannon at point blank range and still allow them maximum range of movement.

Dr. Light supposedly destroyed the equipment and notes used to create the Final Generation in the days before his death. Some believe this was due to dementia setting in, while others whom believe in Light’s valiant nature above all else, believe he did this to keep this possibly dangerous technology out of the hands of those that might use it to further a Wily-like agenda. In either case, the exact inner workings of a Final Generation Robot Master remain a mystery to even the most brilliant modern-day scientist.

Next Chapter

Index