[Story] Empire of Corruption (MM3)

Prologue: Thomas tries to analyze Quick, but fails. Quick dreams of running across an empty landscape.

Cardinal watches a meteor shower from the top of the depths of KC, only to see what looks like a falling star burn the sky in the east. Curious, he decides to investigate, wondering why it hadn’t been intercepted previously.

Main Story: Thomas visits Wily in prison some years later, and he tries to get Wily to talk to him. Wily gets mad and finally snaps that Light had always been better, had always lacked vision and saw any competition as a threat. Light rebukes this, only for Wily to remind him of Tobias, and how Light ordered the destruction of his own robots that he created. Light retorts that it wouldn’t have been necessary if Wily hadn’t reprogrammed them and made them dangerous.

Wily goes on a rant where he emphasizes that he wouldn’t need to reprogram anything if Thomas had just given them true freedom in the first place. He spoke at length about how the robots were afraid of Light, and that they hadn’t meant any harm—listing off Snow, Tobias, Bubble, Crash, and Speedy as examples. He ended by saying that Thomas had everything he could ever want—including a loving son—but Wily had everything taken away from him, and that he would never let the lives of his programs be in vain. This makes Thomas quiet, and leave in unhappy thoughts.

He comes back later to apologize to Wily, which takes the latter by surprise and makes him actually listen. They talk about their dreams and of their college days, when they were best friends. Light asks him why he hadn’t trusted him enough to just tell him about Elec in the first place, and Wily replied that Light wouldn’t listen to him—kept putting him off—and that Light’s tendency to reprogram sons that didn’t do as he wanted was well known on record, and that he thought he had no choice since he couldn’t change Light’s mind—that he had even reprogrammed his favorite son. Light bristled at that but ended up admitting that he didn’t know how to fix Rock’s combat program, that all he ever wanted was to advance the field and live out the dream. This takes Wily by surprise, and he asks what Light plans to do next. Light sighs and admits that he’s not sure, but that he’s noticed Rock has been getting more and more weary over the years, and he wishes he could make things up to him. He goes on to say that Roll still seems to miss having Elec around, and laments that stopping Wily’s plans had also meant that Roll lost most of her brothers. Wily asks after a while if Light would do things differently if he had the chance, and Light replies “absolutely”.

Thomas comes back to visit Wily again when the latter catches pneumonia, and the two of them talk while Wily is in a prison hospital bed. Wily apologizes to Light, talking as if he is dying, admitting that he would do things differently if he had the chance, too. That he never meant for the DLNs to cause any harm at all, that he only wanted to protect them and chose the only way he thought he could. That he had been very angry and hurt by his loss, and that he just wanted to prove that the dream was possible, that it could be done. He says wearily that he’ll never get to fill their promise, that he’ll be gone before he gets a chance to make things right. Light protests that, and tells him not to talk like that. Wily points out that people blame /him/ for what happened in Monstropolis, and that he’d be in prison for life, and neither of them were getting any younger and he had always had bad health ever since the accident. Thomas says that maybe Wily could get out for good behavior, but Wily laughs at that. (“That’s rich.”) He sighs, saying that he just wants to sleep.

The next time Light visits him, Wily is even worse. He brings Rock and Roll with him, though they hang back in apprehension. Light tries to reason with Wily, saying that the friend he had known—and even when that friend became a rival—would never have just given up. Wily replies that was when he thought he could make things better by building the dream, but that everything he tried was seen as aggression. Light says that there is still a chance, if Wily really had turned over a new leaf—that he would help him out so that he could be free again, and they could finish their promise. Wily says that Light will never be able to replace his lost sons, and Light says that if Wily gives up, he won’t get the chance to heal and bless the world with new ones. Wily says he’ll think about it.

In the next visit, Thomas is relieved that Wily is better, though the latter remarks that he thinks he’ll get sick again when he leaves the hospital at the prison. He asks Light what the latter is up to, and he mentions that he is building something for Rock—but that what he would really like is to make a peace-keeping robot so that Rock wouldn’t ever have to fight anymore. Wily remarks that it would take a lot of energy to power such a project, and Light asks what Wily would do. After a moment, Wily says that he would use crystals from meteor impacts to focus the energy more intensely, since Light prefers solar power. At this point, Thomas has to leave, but he seems excited.

It is quite a while before Thomas comes to visit again, but when he does so, he mentions that he got approval to build the robot, though he would need to make some more industrial constructs first. Wily seems disinterested until Light tells him that he’s having a lot of trouble with the coding, since he never really was any good at making combat-related programs. When Wily asks what he is getting at, Light tells him that he needs another robotic genius to make this project work, and that there’s no one better than Wily. He asks if Wily is interested, and Wily says that Light is crazy. Light shows him proof that he’s talked it over when he didn’t make any progress, and has convinced the right people that Wily’s the only one who can get the job done, and that they’re willing to place him on the project if he’s monitored at all times and has all his work checked by Light. Finally, Wily agrees.

-*-*-

Wily finds the long-forgotten chassis of Speedy in the labs, and he thinks that Light has tricked him and is just using him again. He asks to hook Speedy up and Light mentions he’s already tried it, but that he never could because he didn’t have Wily’s password. Wily frowns and says that it’s too bad, since Quick was one of his best works, and had very sophisticated coding. He notes that he might be able to salvage the design to make a very good industrial bot, however—under Light’s supervision, he explains an idea for Magnetman, who would be able to assist construction of such a large robot. Light asks him about his other ideas, and Wily slowly starts to explain the idea for Gemini as a lab assistant…

Nico wakes up, and the first thing he sees is Roll—the only girl in the room. He is fascinated by her, though he feels rather confused. Light and Wily talk to him about who he is, and he thinks on it for a while as more diagnostics are written. The night goes well, and the next day, he starts doing some tests. He’s puzzled, as the situation gives him deja vu, but he can’t figure out why. Wily and Light start spending less time on him, since they’re working on other robots, so Nico is sent out to run some field tests. He ends up spending time with Roll a lot since he’s not allowed in the lab while the Doctors are working, and she watches TV with him and teaches him how to bake. He finally gives Roll a horseshoe magnet as a present, which makes her blush and say that he should have a name. She gives him a name, and Nico thinks on how he’s never been happier in his life.

One night, though, he overhears Snake talking with Gemini, with the latter asking him what Wily has been up to in the mornings and warning him that Rock would hurt them in they ever got in trouble. Nico goes to ask Roll about this, and she convinces him otherwise—but admits the story of the previous two Gens, at which point Nico realizes that he’s having deja vu because of Speedy’s and Tobias’s experiences. Roll tells him not to worry, though, as once the peacekeeping robot was finished, Rock would never have to fight again.

Some time later, Wily’s first attempt to reprogram the robot masters goes awry when Speedy is accidentally awakened in the process. Speedy escapes into the Cloud, which he sees as and endless tormented void filled with fire and monsters. He finds shelter by spotting an icy fortress. He just barely forces his way inside and reseals it before the fire catches him. After wandering around, he starts to get the feeling that he’s not alone…

Wily’s second attempt to reprogram the robot masters goes wrong when Shadow wakes up during the process and breaks out. He’s confronted in the hall by Snake and Wily, but he delivers a killing blow to Snake and leaves as the sparks cause the oil leaks to catch on fire. He flees into the night, heading east for a place where he can lose himself in the shadows.

Meanwhile, the downloads for the others interrupted when the emergency forced them out of sleep mode, and Nico comes to keep Roll from the horrors of Snake’s acid-eaten corpse. Wily is taken to the hospital due to burns, while Rock runs off to confront the mysterious “intruder”.

Siam helps Light run a scan, after which Speedy is discovered. He remembers how Speedy died, despite having not ever been told, but also suddenly realizes that saying it out loud was a mistake. He talks with Nico that night about his worries, and decides to have his clone run a virus scan later that night when he is in sleep mode.

Later that night, he is abruptly woken up when Gemini disconnects him and he realizes he’s been reprogrammed. They try to escape the lab, but they run into Roll, who is trying to drag off a very disoriented Nico. Siam experiences a glitch in his combat program due to the incomplete downloads, and fires at Roll. He hits Magnet instead, and Magnet sends them out flying with a magnetic blast. Then Mega comes on the scene and they all scram.

Meanwhile, Shadow starts experiencing strange dreams of Speedy’s memories, of Speedy telling Cruz to “remember me” before going off to die. He realizes that he doesn’t have any emotion at all, not even fear, and notes that without fear, he won’t survive very long. He decides to find Cruz to see if he can learn more.

In the meantime, Nico and co. make their way to the ruins of Monstropolis. Nico walks through the ruins with dread, realizing for the first time just how decayed the world outside the lab is, and how they could very well end up with the same fate. The brothers talk over what to do next, and Nico suggests they just lay low for a while, until things calm down. He ends up having strange dreams of Monstropolis before it was destroyed, and makes his way to an old radio tower. He finds some old equipment and turns it on, but concludes that it’s not working, so he leaves. He walks into a conversation where he realizes that they had been reprogrammed, which was why Siam had attacked Roll. Alarmed, he realizes that Snake could do the same when he is repaired, so he runs off back to the lab to save her.

Nico comes in in time to stop an ambush from Snake on Roll. He privately tells the former to run off while he has the chance, which Snake only does when Rock shows up and fires on the two of them. Nico ends up forced to run off along with him.

When Viper reaches the group, he asserts his authority. Hardman is very disgusted that Viper didn’t fight fair, and Needle actively shows aggression, and a fight breaks out when Siam is dragged into it. Nico stops the fight, and suggests they try to find safety. Later, Nico sneaks back to talk to Roll, who begs him to come back. They’re interrupted by a sound, which turns out to be one of Viper’s Search Snakes.

Cardinal gets directions to hunt Shadow down. He decides he’ll do so to have the chance to step in before Mega interferes. He heads South, going to once again see Gonzales, knowing that the draw to that city was practically instinct for all of them at this point.

As this is happening, Shadow makes his way to Redemption, where he finds Cruz and Gonzales. He decides to follow Cruz. Before he can leave the town, though, he’s confronted by Cardinal. The two of them fight until Shadow runs off, leaving Cardinal behind as Cruz turns on the lights.

Cruz recognizes Cardinal, amazed and relieved that the latter is alive. When he asks what just happened, Cardinal tells him about how there was trouble approaching, and he wanted to prevent another war. Cruz shelters Cardinal for a while as they travel back home, with the former offering Cardinal a place to stay. Cardinal declines, and says he needs to leave and intercept Shadow before Mega did. Cruz tells him to be careful.

While traveling, Cardinal hears the distress signal that Nico accidentally turned on. He goes to investigate, and sees Nico sneaking off to see Roll, with Siam following behind. He mistakes Nico for Quick at first, and gets extremely worried when he overhears their conversation and the following confrontation. Realizing that Wily still had materials in the lab that could pose a threat if confiscated, he sneaks in and starts clearing out Wily’s belongings. In the process, he finds Speedy’s chassis, and realizes that Speedy must still be alive. He clears out quickly, taking his spoils to the border town, where he hides them in an abandoned building while the town is sleeping.

Shadow finds his way back to the town after Cardinal leaves. He becomes curious when he sees the computer equipment that Cardinal had set up, believing it to belong to Cruz. He powers it on and logs onto the database, waking up Speedy in the process. The two of them talk and Speedy convinces Shadow to head north and find Wily’s old lab, where he could help with the downloads. He also mentions that Cardinal is an ally, having saved his life several times.

Siam starts to become paranoid when he doesn’t hear back from his brothers one by one, asking Gemini to investigate. (GeminEye lyrics.) Gemini ends up confronting Viper, and is forced to run off. Siam panics when he realizes that Rock is closing in, but ends up trapped in a dead end of an abandoned amusement park’s house of mirrors. He sends out a distress call before going offline. He’s dug out by Cardinal, who then goes off to find Nico before it’s too late.

Nico, meanwhile, goes to talk to Roll again, to try to ask (on Siam’s behalf) what was going on. She spurns him, revealing Wily’s treachery discovered (along with the theft of Speedy’s chassis being blamed on Wily). He eventually leaves, numb, but is tracked down by Mega. He fights his brother over Roll and Wily, which ends in Rock going crazy and killing him in a fit of rage.

Siam digs Nico out of the rubble while Cardinal distracts Rock, and Cardinal warps the three of them to safety—though becomes exhausted in the process. While he rests, Siam helps repairs on Nico. He talks with them about getting Shadow back and stopping the war—as eventually people will come looking for Nico’s body—and they all take the truck to make their way up to Wily’s old lab, with Siam performing emergency repairs during the ride.

Shadow, Cardinal’s group, and Mega all arrive at the scene at the same time. Cardinal distracts Mega a second time while Siam and Nico go to do an emergency reboot of Speedy. Shadow runs off when he hears that Cardinal is fighting Mega alone.

Mega manages to hit Cardinal hard enough to send him flying back and stun him, but Shadow rushes in before Mega finishes him off. Unfortunately, Shadow takes a real beating, and Cardinal barely manages to intervene. He then runs off with Shadow, but realizes they won’t make it out in time, as he noticed that that particular wing of the lab was about to explode—so he warps them out just in time.

Cardinal takes all the boys on a trip to Kansas City, where he hides them in the Black Hatters for a while as they recover from the injuries. While there, they learn that Viper was defeated, and conclude that Mega will go after Wily next. They debate on what to do, with Speedy pointing out that the seal of confession was the only secret keeper they could really trust anymore. Cardinal reluctantly un-declines, and they (minus Cardinal) set out South. The Black Hatters wish them best of luck and give them disguises for the journey.

Cardinal goes to intercept Mega and Wily, overhearing Mega’s speech on the radio frequency, but is caught up in an explosion as the building collapses. His shield saves him from being crushed, and he warps outside before the ceiling collapses. When the dust settles, he goes in to where Mega was, and finds him offline, with Wily presumably dead. He considers leaving Rock there, but thinks back on how much suffering there had been already, and noted that he couldn’t really hurt Roll like that, as she had obviously suffered enough. He carries Rock back to Light Labs, telling him that Rock’s job would never be easy, but to not blame Light for that because Light couldn’t have prevented it (only a man). He overhears Roll talking to Light, and leaves Rock on the ground. Roll spots him leaving, very confused since she thinks it’s Mega until she sees her brother on the ground. However, Cardinal responds to her inquiry by saying to take care of Rock, and leaves his song for her to hear as he flies away.

Epilogue: Rock wakes up and freaks out. Roll gets upset as well. Later, Rock calms down and comes to terms with everything, and finally heads home.

Cardinal joins up with his brothers in the border town, and they hold a second burial ceremony for their fallen brothers. Afterward, they all hang out on the porch, and Cardinal ends the night by playing his song in full.