Family of Steel - Man on Fire

[Proto Man]

The feint had worked.

While he hadn’t been a direct nuisance in the last few months, the presence of the Prodigal had forced them to tone down the scale of their operations to prevent exposure. Since Proto Man had run off to pursue shadows in Camelot, Quick Man and his brothers had been able to continue their more extensive plans. Now all they had to do was continue to dangle the carrot in front of him to keep him scampering around the hinterland of the Omniverse. From the control room of the factory, the boomerang-themed Robot Master observed the status of the complicated machinery operating on the production floor below.

As it had been since their arrival and retrofitting of the seemingly abandoned facility, everything was functioning within parameters. Within a few more months, they would be double their intended quota for the quarter.

With a grin, Quick Man turned to face a smaller set of monitors. Beneath one of them, a red incandescent bulb was flashing intermittently, signaling that someone was trying to relay him information. Striding over to the console, the Robot Master verified the encryption algorithm and proceeded to open the audio-visual channel. After a few seconds of buzzing white noise, the image crystallized to that of Bubble Man. Quick Man hid a frown, knowing full-well that the aquatic machine was probably intending to relay some failure or mishap in the mission he’d received.

“Hello, Bubble Man,” the boomerang-themed machine replied, feigning courteousness given the fact that the pathetic robot was still his ‘flesh and blood,’ to steal a human metaphor. “How is your mission?”

“It goes well, Quick Man!” The other robot replied with a strange degree of enthusiasm. This verse is beautiful. I think the sea goes on forever!”

The red and black android furrowed his brow. “Well it does have the term ‘vast’ in its title. Have you got in touch with the contact? I hope you’re not taking this time to snorkel.”

“Of c-c-course not,” Bubble Man replied timidly, his eyes glancing down at the floor for a second before he lifted them back up to his sibling. “I met with this fabulous duck fellow who works as one of the turtle’s liaisons . I’m supposed to go snorkeling with them...I guess they have some sort of undersea bunker they use to vet contacts. Have you heard from the others?”

For whatever reason, Bubble Man was probably the only member of their cohort who showcase genuine emotional investment in his brothers. Most of them prefered to operate on their own or used one another in a something more akin to a parasitic than symbiotic relationship. “Yes, they’re fine. The machinery we received functioned flawlessly.”

“That’s excellent,” Bubble Man responded, his exuberance a little grating to Quick Man, who quickly wanted to be finished with the conversation. “Will we be able to have group conversations soon?”

“That’s not high on the list, Bubble Man, but I have to go. File a report once you’ve made contact with the turtle’s people and don’t waste my time before then.” Without waiting for a response, Quick Man closed the channel and turned away from the monitor. The boomerang-themed android placed two fingers to his temple.

“What do you intend to do about Proto Man?”

Try as he could, Quick Man flinched at the sound of the Prime lurking in the shadows behind him. Turning around, he watched the figure step forward, arms crossed over his chest.

“The Prodigal is barely a nuisance to us. He is willing to chase shadows halfway across the Omniverse.”

“Then you are aware that he now travels to the Ashen Plains looking for your associate?”

A scowl spread across the boomerang-themed robot’s visage. He knew of the Prodigal’s movements from reports, but how could this Prime also be aware of that private information? It was that fact that unsettled Quick Man more so than Proto Man running off to the Ashen Plains. “Heat Man will reduce him to ash if they come to blows.” And the android had little doubt on his mind that his fire-themed brother would leap on the chance to destroy the Prodigal. Heat Man wasn’t exactly the coolest head in their ‘family.’

“So you say,” the Prime responded with a smirk. “Perhaps it is time I got to meet your half-brother.” With that, the figure stepped back into the darkness and vanished, leaving a scowling Quick Man alone in the observation room.

While he and his brothers had dealt with several Primes since their arrival in the Omniverse, Quick Man was always uncomfortable around that machine-hybrid.

***

He had wanted to stop by at the Community Center before traveling on from Camelot, but Proto Man didn’t want to deal with any unwanted attention. In his conversation with Roll, she mentioned that the ‘dragon slayers’ were already the buzz in Coruscant, much to the chagrin of the imperial news networks. It seemed that most of the middle- and lower- classes saw the group as something akin to rockstars, but the Empire’s bureaucracy was attempting to downplay the incident, given the fact that two of its most recent Primes had taken part in defeating a menace to the Kingdom. Opting to wait until the press surrounding the incident subsided, Proto Man and Salsa returned to Nexus and veered to the northeast until they arrived at the gate to the Ashen Plains.

Somewhere beyond the gate was Heat Man, fresh off an apparent attack on the region of the Tangled Green that also boarded the verse that stood before the preteen and his chocobo. Hopping off of Salsa, Proto Man gave her a pat on the side of the beak. “You go back and enjoy some sunshine, okay? I’ll give you a whistle if I need your help.”

After one long look at the gate, the chocobo nodded her head and scampered off toward the Camelot gate, leaving Proto Man alone before the entrance to the Ashen Plains. Squaring his shoulders, the preteen marched through the gate. After that strange sensation of weightlessness as he stepped across the barrier, he found himself confronted by a temperature increase of nearly forty degrees and arid gusts of wind that vied to throw him back through the gate.

The sudden environmental changes probably would have shocked the ill-prepared traveler, but fortunately for Proto Man, only the strength of the wind was an issue. The dryness of the wind and the tropical temperature amounted to little more than numbers on his internal display. This was one instance where he was happy he was a machine rather than entirely flesh and blood.

First things first. As if they were made from glass, Proto Man stripped off the crimson plate mail he’d worn throughout his stint in Camelot. While sections were burnt, scalded, and dented, it was mostly intact, and he didn’t want to risk damaging it, especially since he knew he could recycle it into more fitting attire.

A few moments later, Proto Man started down the hill from the gate. The heavy yet sturdy plate mail had been replaced by a loose-fitting tunic and pants, much like the boy had seen in pictures from Arabian Nights. He wore no helmet, instead opting for a simple head wrap that would keep his skull cool (as if he needed it) and prevent sweat from getting to his eyes (as if he needed that either). While his visor was also gone, Proto Man retained his sunglasses, because you should always protect yourself from harmful UV rays!

[Proto Man]

The Ashen Plains was an abysmal place. For all its crime, malice, and lack of liberty, Coruscant was still a more hospitable verse. Overhead, the skies were a menacing shade of red that was unlike anything Proto Man had ever seen. Even the clouds, where they were present, were black and ominous. All the nearby landmarks were dark mountains of some sort, whether they were active volcanoes, calderas, or natural formations. Far to the northeast, one mountain jutted far above its peers. Based on information pulled from the Dataverse, he could wager a guess he was looking at Death Mountain, which was home to the verse’ population of dragons.

With the gate a few miles behind him, the slightly sloping ground gave way to rough, uneven terrain. He was happy he hadn’t bothered with boots or other wrappings for his feet, because the ground would have ruined them in short order.

Before he knew it, the clock on his internal display was telling him he’d been walking for a little over three hours. The robot paused and glanced back over his shoulder to see that he’d gained a few thousand feet in elevation within realizing it. Behind him were the smallest peaks of a mountain range, and up ahead, his somewhat leisurely stroll would eventually become a vertical ascent up a few jagged black mountains. Somewhere to the android’s left, a magma vent released a screaming hiss of vapor before spewing up an eight foot column of lava. Was this the extent of this verse? A lot of rock and heat with the occasional appearance of some lava?

***

The Prodigal…

What brings you to this neck of the woods, Proto Man? Heat Man scowled as he watched the android pull himself up to the top of a short incline. In his last conference with Quick Man, there had been no new information about the Prodigal’s whereabouts. Did my boomerang-loving brother fail at his one job? The fire-themed machine scowled as he lowered himself down to a cave entrance.

Over the last couple of weeks, the cavern, like many in the region, had served as an auxiliary base. Walking over to the corner, Heat Man pulled away a stone to reveal a vein of steaming magma. Dipping his hand inside, he fished out the small device that he kept stored in caves like this and pressed it between his palms. Each heat-resistant hard drive stored all the information he’d acquired pertaining to a ten mile radius--temperature averages, weather patterns, volcanism, and any suitable pathways for humanoids.

The device told him that, given his current location, the Prodigal would have to take one of two particular pathways if he planned to get around the active volcanic mountain that dominated this region. Of more keen interest to the fire-themed machine, however, was the fact that said volcano was due to erupt sometime within the next twenty-four hours. If he could intercept Proto Man, he might just be able to solve his and his brothers’ problems once and for all.

With that in mind, Heat Man initiated a sequence within the hard drive and dropped it back into the magma vein. Once it was hidden, he smiled as he exited the tiny cave. If he hurried up the back route he had mapped a few days ago, he could intercept the Prodigal somewhere near the rim of the volcano.

[Proto Man]

The preteen android grinned as he pulled himself up onto the rim of the smoldering mountain peak. He stepped forward and peered down into the heart of the volcano. The red-orange contents of the rocky cauldron were hissing and swirling. Every now and again, it would belch up a puff of molten stone. Proto Man was no geologist, but he didn’t exactly enjoy how active the magma appeared. Was this normal for volcanos or was he about to get an up close and personal sauna experience?

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Proto Man’s head snapped up and turned to the direction of the speaker. While he didn’t recognize the voice, he had seen enough pictures to recognize Heat Man from his appearance. The DWN-series Robot Master was stockier than his siblings. his body was encased in a rectangular shell that also had a hinged helmet that rested above his cranium. It gave him the appearance of a pez dispenser or a zippo lighter with limbs. The red android wondered just what had motivated Dr. Wily to settle on such a design. Did Heat Man’s casing give him some elemental protection? If so, why were his limbs exposed?

“It is,” the preteen replied as he backburnered the questions he had about the other robot’s design. “Were you able to see the clips of that mountain in Washington state that blew up a few years ago?”

“St. Helens?” Heat Man inquired before a grin spread across his features. “Yea, Wily had a love for volcanos. He used cooled lava and ash from that eruption in the design and construction of my casing and internal features. Say what you will about his ego, but the man’s genius and imagination are unrivaled.”

Proto Man figured there was an underlying jab at Dr. Light somewhere in that comment, but since he wasn’t his brother, he didn’t take the bait. “Is this volcano going to pop?”

Heat Man nodded his head. “Sometime soon. I hadn’t seen a real-life volcanic eruption until I arrived here. In that time, I’ve seen roughly two or three every six hours. When it’s darker, the skyline sometimes looks as if it’s on fire.” From the way the android’s eyes seemed to light up as he spoke, it was clear that he loved his experience in the Ashen Plains.

“Is that why you’re here, Heat Man? To soak up the ambiance?” Since the fire-themed android could have easily ambushed him, Proto Man refrained from overt threats.

The shorter machine shrugged his shoulders. “I’m here to study everything. There are mountain ranges here that are entirely volcanic. If you travel half a day to the northeast of here, you’ll find a confluence of lava rivers. Whole rivers of free-flowing, molten rock. They display all the traits of water and have their own macroinvertebrate populations.”

Despite his suspicions, Proto Man had to admit that the other robot’s finds sounded pretty cool. “What about those travelers? The ones who were burned alive by a fire-breathing android?” He knew he’d have to cut to the chase sooner rather than later, and with the volcano simmering beneath them, the preteen figured it was time.

[Proto Man]

The smile on Heat Man’s face melted away to reveal an expression you’d expect to see one someone’s face if you tripped them or kicked their dog. “Those arrogant fools were trying to undermine the entire region in their pursuit of shiny rocks! I tried to tell them that I’d done enough surveys to know there aren’t diamonds in these mountains, but they wanted to go ahead with their dynamiting anyway. Do you know what would happen if you tried dynamiting below and around an active volcano like this one?”

“So you killed them?” Proto Man stated--his tone somewhere between a question and a demand.

“The operation they wanted to perform would have destroyed a twenty square-mile radius if they burst the volcano. There are wildlife that inhabit this area that you can’t find elsewhere in the verse, and many of the natives who cling to an existence use trails in this range to avoid inhospitable terrain. When I told them I would stop them, they took me prisoner and plotted to end me!”

“So you killed them?”

Heat Man’s entire body seemed to be trembling, and he must have been emitting heat, as the air around him seemed to ripple. “What would you have done, Proto Man? Died? Spent your days sealed up in a small, black cave with no escape?"

"So you burned them alive? Are you too physically weak to have dealt with them without slaughtering them like chattel?"

"I was saving lives!” Heat Man rasped. “Dozens would have perished if they hadn’t stopped their activities. I let them down humanely!”

“You burned them alive!” Proto Man retaliated as his left hand converted into a buster cannon. “I don’t think that falls under ethical execution methods.”

“Is that why you are here, Proto Man? To hunt me down like some cat burglar and put me out of my misery so you can avenge a few of the worst examples of humanity?”

[Proto Man]

The volcano burped, releasing a spray of lava that nearly reached the lip of the mountain. Proto Man kept his gaze on Heat Man as he mulled over the other machine’s accusation. Try as he could to formulate a defense, the red robot knew he’d come here with thoughts of subduing a renegade, potentially homicidal machine. Yet now he was confronted with the undeniable fact that Heat Man wasn’t a renegade and had only killed in self-defense. While Proto Man had never taken a life, he knew he was responsible for the slaughter of far more than twenty people. The ‘terrorists’ Dredd had gunned down in the Data Verse would haunt the boy robot for a long time.

“You can play Blue Bomber if you want to, Proto Man,” Heat Man added, perhaps noticing the dilemma the other robot had put himself in. “But just be aware that this isn’t Monsteropolis. Sure, some of my brothers are up to the same old tricks, but in this place, we’re all no different than you. We may not feel every nuance of human emotion, but our decisions are our own. There is no Wily here...there is nothing guiding our feet and pointing our weapons. While some of the old world remains inside of us, we are not drones, and you are not Mega Man.”

Proto Man’s shoulders sagged as his weapon reverted back into a loose fist. The android frowned as he tried to process everything. Was it possible that the Omniverse had given Wily’s sons a form of will? Certainly Roll and her brothers had shown far more intricate personalities than Proto Man remembered from his espionage trips to Light’s home and labs. What did this mean for Proto Man? For the first time in a long time, the sentient machine felt a little less special...and try as he might, he didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

“What you did still isn’t good,” the preteen android replied, his voice weak and devoid of his previous conviction.

The other robot’s response served only to further muddle the morality of the situation. “I’m sorry,” Heat Man said, his eyes and body posture clearly revealing at least a modicum of genuine sadness. “When you lived and died doing little more than killing, it becomes hard to unlearn old habits.”

At this point, Proto Man was truly at a loss for what to do. He’d spent the last few months trying to track down a bunch of evil machines, and now the reality made him feel like the villain. Fortunately, the mountain started to violently shudder beneath the pair, causing Proto Man to panic and Heat Man to fume with rage.

“What’s going on?” Heat Man shouted, his eyes falling to the inside of the volcano. “We should have three more hours...I know I set the machine right!”

“What are you talking about?” Proto Man replied as he rushed over to the other Robot Master. In an instant, any visible tension between the two melted away in face of something much worse.

“I’ve designed some programming that controls volcanic activity...it’s a hypothesis I had about controlling the rate of dissolved gas formation. All my field tests were perfect, I don’t understand what is going on…”

From behind both robots, a response came in the form of a rasping voice with a foreign accent. “The answer’s simple...someone just waited until you left and then reversed all your settings.”

[Proto Man]

The newest arrival at the rim of the volcano was an unsettling figure.

At over six feet tall, he towered over the two robots. Instead of a robotic visage or Proto Man’s youth, the man looked weathered. His unkempt hair stuck out from beneath an old fur hat with untied ear flaps. Scruffy facial hair covered his visage, and his eyes, while sharp and almost sinister, betrayed years of unending strife and adversity. A scar on the left side of his face revealed metallic bone beneath, betraying at least some degree of robotic origin. To further complicate the situation, his attire was oddly suggestive of a shared heritage with the other machines. Beneath a ratty, weathered kaftan, he wore a dull gray bodysuit over his clearly muscled physique. In certain areas, the fabric was torn away to reveal the heavily corded muscles.

Thicker, metal padding protected his joints, and his hands and feet were concealed in thicker gauntlets almost identical to those of most Robot Masters. While Proto Man could often polish his metallic surfaces to a clear luster, this man’s forearms and forelegs were scorched and scrapped beyond simple repairs.

From the look on Heat Man’s face, it was obvious that the Robot Master either knew the man or knew of him. Either way, Proto Man didn’t enjoy the anxiety he saw on the face of the heat-themed machine. Turning to the bizarre figure, the red andriod asked the all-important question. “Who are you?”

The question caused the man to furrowed his brow and smirk. “You know nothing of me?” He asked, his thick soviet accent making the question sound far more sinister than it should have. “I know much of you, the prodigal son of two inept American scientists. In my world, your country is a nuclear wasteland.”

Proto Man scowled himself as he tried to decipher the puzzle in front of him. Despite aesthetic similarities, this man had been from another world before being drawn into the Omniverse. That raised far more questions than it answered.

“He’s a prime from some dystopian future,” Heat Man spoke aloud as the smaller robot tried to look tougher. The machine’s next remarks were softer, intended only to be heard by Proto Man. “He tracked down Quick Man and Metal Man’s operations and essentially strong armed his way into things. They’re afraid of him...he’s got enough power to go toe-to-toe with those armored marines. Plus we all enjoy being alive again and don’t want to gamble our lives on standing up to him.”

A smile spread across the man’s visage. “I can hear you, you know,” he said as he placed a hand against his ear. “Even without a helmet, I have good ears.” The nonchalance with which he spoke stressed the fact that he cared little about Heat Man’s opinion of him.

“Why are you here?” Proto Man asked.

“I was curious about you, of course,” the man replied, as if the answer should have been obvious. He lifted a gauntleted finger and pointed at Heat Man. “They’re all intimidated by you as well. They made you seem like a fearsome warrior, but I can see that you're just like the rest of them...a small metal child playing with grownup weapons.”

Proto Man lifted his eponymous blaster and frowned. He didn’t know who this machine-man was, but he wasn’t an ally. Without realizing it, the red robot had edged in front of Heat Man, shielding the smaller android from their mutual adversary. With a chuckle, the man opposed to them lifted a gauntleted fist. His palm slid open to reveal what seemed to be the barrel of a gun, and with a hum and a glow of yellow light, it became obvious that he had weapons of his own.

“I was born Nicholai Immanuel Volkov,” he shouted as a powerful blast erupted from his hand and exploded a few feet below the two smaller robots, causing the ground to shudder beneath them. “As Mother Russia burned around me, I was taken and my broken remains became Cell Delta, a marriage of youth and machine. I rose from enslaved beginnings to destroy the armies of the enemy and claim lordship of nearly half the world. I am Constantine XIII, last tsar of the Russia, sultan of the revived caliphate, philosopher-king of the east asian principalities, and raj of the subcontinent. I am the destroyer of the Fourth Reich, and the Emperor of the Three Romes! I survived when the world was reduced by the hordes of the jackbooted, and I survive in this purgatory.

“The question is…” the cyborg asked, his voice falling back down to normal. “Will you?” Proto Man saw the flash of the man’s gun-hand, but before he could react, the volcano erupted beneath them.

[Proto Man]

Everything was a blur. One second, Proto Man and the cyborg were engaged in a standoff, and the next, hell had literally burst forth before them. The initial upsurge of lava blasted a cone of molten rock miles into the crimson skyline of the Ashen Plains. Something else exploded nearby, but before the android could get a grasp of the situation, a hand closed around his wrist. He caught just a glimpse of Heat Man’s stout figure before the other Robot Master yanked him off the rim of the volcano.

Just like that, Proto Man was half-tumbling, half-sliding down the side of the volcano. Heat Man was a few feet ahead of him, using his powers to shield them in a haphazard dome of flames as clumps of lava slammed around the mountainside like mortar bombs. Despite his efforts at multitasking, the shorter Robot Master would often drift too far ahead, causing his shield to singe Proto Man until the latter could increase his speed.

The terrible descent came to an abrupt end after fifteen seconds, when the mountain just ceased to exist beneath the pair of robots. Right behind them followed a massive, rolling wave of ash and dust that was bound to consume most of the visible landscape in the coming hours. A yelp escaped Heat Man’s mouth as he flailed his arms wildly, his eyes clearly glued out the jagged rocks that waited for them two hundred feet down.

By this time, Proto Man had regained his bearings, despite the thick ash that clouded his physical vision. He took a split-second to appreciate the fact that he didn’t have to worry about ash-filled lungs stealing his breath. After reorienting himself, the red android managed to get close enough to reach out and grab Heat Man by the ankle. Pulling the smaller machine to his chest, Proto Man aimed his buster arm down at the quickly approaching ground. The barrel of the weapon started to shimmer as the android sized up the moment he’d need to shoot in order to stall their momentum enough to prevent them from hitting the ground at terminal velocity. His system, barely able to process the surroundings visually, provided him with some scant information about their GPS location.

Perhaps sensing the other machine’s dilemma, Heat Man threw down his hand and released a shimmering sphere of fire that scorched through the dust could for several meters before succumbing to the lack of oxygen. That small opening was all Proto Man needed to figure out the moment.

“Finish Buster!” He screamed into the gray sky as the barrel of the Proto Buster flared outward, releasing a beam of brilliant yellow energy with the radius of a basketball. The column surged down at the ground before slamming violently into the uneven terrain. Rock vaporized as the beam slowly ate its way down through the solid materials. On the other end of the blast, the descent of the two robots slowed until Proto Man could release the attack and let them drop the much smaller distance to the ground.

With a thud, Proto Man landed in a dust-covered heap at the base of a broken boulder. A few yards away, Heat Man hit an outcrop and let out a whimper as he tumbled down the side. The machine landed on the dirt after sliding down three feet of jagged rock, but aside from a look of panic on his face, most of the damage seemed superficial--scraped away paint, dents, and a layer of ash.

“Are you all right?” Proto Man asked as he tried to brush the dust off his desert-themed clothes. Despite his efforts, each time he smacked away a layer of the thick particulate, another almost instantly settled onto him. He soon gave up and turned his focus to the other Robot Master, who had shambled over to him.

“I need some repairs,” Heat Man said as he placed a hand on his right knee. Proto Man hadn’t noticed it earlier, but the final part of the fall had actually shorn away a layer of steel and caused enough blunt force damage to the underlying servos to cause the robot to limp. “It’s nothing serious, but my movement is going to be hampered by this.” The matter-of-fact way in which the Robot Master spoke served as a nice reminder that, despite their increased will, the others still lacked that special something that made Proto Man one-of-a-kind.

[Proto Man]

He didn’t know how long they waited in the cave. Since he was an automaton, Heat Man didn’t complain about the fact that his knee was a mangled knot of steel and wires. Had the stout robot been flesh and blood, Proto Man was certain the wound would have either been fatal or required serious surgery. Furthermore, the fact that the air was gray and filled with super-heated, oxygen-depriving soot would have put an end to any purely biological organism.

“How long have you been working with that man?” Proto Man asked, breaking the silence that had pervaded over the soot-filled cavern.

“He arrived about a month after we settled into the city. I left on this mission shortly thereafter, but in the time I was there, he essentially dominated my brothers. He’s strong. There was a patrol of space marines searching for him, and he had us watch as he ambushed and killed them. He’s like us, but he’s also different.”

“It’s this place,” Proto Man whispered, referring to the Omniverse as a whole. “Whatever the Omniverse may be, it’s clear to me that it’s some sort of cosmic dumpster...”

“Dumpster? A trash receptacle?” Heat Man asked as a look of confusion spread across his features.

“Sorry,” Proto Man replied, realizing that the machine lacked the skill to appreciate his wordplay. “My running theory is that this world must actively collect individuals from other places. The Omni character who runs this place must be able to observe every parallel reality and pluck whoever he enjoys watching from whichever world he wants. Can you imagine the type of power he must wield?”

Heat Man took a silent moment to process his thoughts before shaking his head. “I feel like this place is little more than a prison. The only difference is that we are blinded with the illusion of freedom. If you stop to analyze the reality, this place is little more than a nightmare from which you cannot awaken. Everything here is fake—the byproduct of someone else’s wishes or needs. These volcanoes were created by someone early in the history of this place. Every building in Coruscant was someone’s brainchild.”

“But here you are, indulging in the science with your pseudo-volcanoes.”

Heat Man smiled. “What am I to do? I’m not a Prime. All I can do is keep my head down and live out my existence in this beautiful farce. Like I said earlier, this is preferable to death or whatever awaits us at the end of the Omniverse.”

“There could be a way out,” Proto Man postulated. “He may be a god of some sort, but Omni’s a physical person. He speaks to everyone before they wake up here, so there has to be some place he resides.”

“The humans would call that Heaven, right?” The smaller robot inquired. “That’s where they believe their god resides.”

“Correct, but who is to say whether or not that would be a physical place or just another layer around this world. I’ve been to the Dataverse, which seems to overlap every other verse.”

“If that was the case, it might be easier to find an entrance…there could be entrances in every verse, rather than just one.”

“Good point, but where would we start? We have nothing to go off of…”

Heat Man frowned as he tried to think through the issue. “I’m not sure, but I doubt we are the only ones to have such aspirations. Certainly others have tried, so there must be breadcrumbs to follow.” Proto Man nodded before the other robot continued. “Maybe Omni will let us all return home. My brothers and I could have a fresh start…free from the constraints of our creator’s ambitions.”

From the entrance of the cave, a harsh response flooded over the two machines. “No one will ever escape this place,” the cyborg known as Cell Delta strode into the cave, his gaze smug as he looked upon the injured robots. “We’re not in a prison, we’re in a coffin. Everyone here is dead, and death is the only way to live. This is just one big experiment in natural selection.” The cyborg lifted his left hand as he started to charge a burst of energy. “I will be the strongest. I will crush everything in my path, and then I will rip my way out of this hell.” With that, the cave light up as a blast of energy exploded from the man’s open palm.

[Proto Man]

With a grimace, Proto Man summoned his shield and slammed it down into the earth just as the burst of energy hit home. The impact shook the entire cave and instantly evaporated all of the particulate matter that hung in the air.

When the dust clear, Cell Delta’s smug grin faded as he stared at the splintered yet intact shield of the red robot. In a flash, the ruined bulwark dematerialized, and in its wake, a concentrated burst of energy rocketed forth. The blast slammed into the cyborg’s gut and threw him outside of the cave.

“Get up!” Proto Man rasped as he clasped his hand around Heat Man’s wrist and pulled the wounded machine up off the ground. “We need to move,” he added as he half-guided, half-dragged the other android out of the cave and into the soot-stained world. Without risking a glimpse in the direction of their foe, the two made their way hard to the right—their eyes set on small fissure that cut through the mountain. If they could make it, there would be a chance that Cell Delta would be unable to follow them.

Unfortunately for the pair of robots, Heat Man only managed to make it thirty yards before his bad leg gave out beneath him. With a dull thud, the android collapsed into a heap, creating a large cloud of ash upon impact with the blackened earth. “I can’t…” Heat Man muttered as he looked down at the broken limb. “You’re not going to escape if you have to drag or carry me with you.”

“I’m not going to leave you behind,” Proto Man replied sternly as he stooped down to pick up the smaller robot.

“Just watch out for my brothers and make sure they don’t do anything stupider than they already have!” With that, Heat Man pushed up off his back and slammed both his palms into the other robot’s chest, causing Proto Man to lose his balance and pitch backwards.

The prototype Robot Master fell back onto his haunches and watched as a beam of condescended energy punched a baseball-sized hole through the center of Heat Man’s chest.

[Proto Man]

Heat Man let out a grunt as his head lolled to the side. The stout android’s arms fell limp at his sides as electricity danced across the fatal wound in his chest and black liquid pooled under his form. While his central processor screamed at him to escape, something else in Proto Man screamed different orders at him.

Orders to stand up and retaliate.

Without skipping a beat, Proto Man spun around and rushed the adult cyborg. His feet left the ground and his fist connected square on the side of the man’s chin, causing him to yelp and tumble to the ground. The red robot landed a few feet away, spun sharply, and fired a few rapid bursts at his downed foe.

By this point, Cell Delta had overcome his initial surprise at being assaulted by the preteen machine. The older warrior rolled sideways to avoid the first few pellets of energy. With a grunt, he kipped up and hurtled a bolt of energy back at Proto Man, who had to fall back in lieu of superior firepower. Rather than press his attack, Cell Delta stood up and smiled at the fuming youth.

“That’s the spirit,” the Soviet cyborg replied as he extended an arm. He then squeezed his fingers into a tight fist, and with a sparkle of light, a thin cylinder of energy shot out from his hand. “Let’s see what you’ve learned in the Omniverse, little robot.”

Falling back into a more defensible position, Proto Man raised his buster arm and activated the Proto Sword. He heard a faint chuckle from Cell Delta before his foe dashed forward and swung his own weapon at his small head. The preteen android snarled and threw up his sword to intercept the oncoming blow. Upon impact, the two silently struggled to overpower the other, and despite the smug look on his face, Cell Delta found himself unable to force the youth down to his knees. Aiming to take advantage of his foe’s intentions, Proto Man lifted his other arm, which had converted into a Proto Buster as it swung to bear on its target.

“Shotgun!”

[Proto Man]

The blast caught Cell Delta across the chest and stomach, and the force launched the cyborg off his feet. He flew backwards before his momentum abated, and with a dull thud, he hit the soot-stained earth and made no effort to move. At the sight of the limp man, Proto Man’s fury quickly abated, and strangely enough, he soon felt grief about striking down the malicious warrior. Rather than satisfaction about avenging one of his robot brothers, Proto Man just felt empty…

That was, of course, until Cell Delta pushed himself up off the ground and turned to smirk at the preteen android.

“It’s quite fitting that you would be the first one in so very long to injury me,” the Soviet cyborg remarked as he rose up to his feet. As he stood up from the ground, it became visibly apparent that the shotgun-like energy burst had torn through much of his thorax, exposing steel-inlaid bones and scorched muscle tissue. Fresh blood trickled from blood vessels that had been ruptured by the concussive force of the blast and his rough landing on the ground. “The last individual to pull this off was a bipedal turtle,” he added as he removed the tattered remnants of his coat.

“What do you gain from any of this?” Proto Man demanded as he readied the Proto Buster in the event that he’d be forced to defend himself once again.

“What anyone and everyone wants--Power. That’s the only way to exist in this hell. Grow stronger or die, like your friend over there. You’ll learn.” With that, the cyborg rushed at his younger opponent. Slinging up his arm cannon, Proto Man released the charged blast and watched as Cell Delta almost casually flipped over the lightning-fast burst. When the Soviet landed on his feet, he fired a pair of energy bolts from his palms, catching the red robot in the chest and skull. Proto Man staggered backwards and tried to hold up his hands to defend himself, but his foe smacked them aside with a swift kick and then used the very same appendage to deliver a crushing blow to the side of the preteen’s head.

[Proto Man]

The preteen slammed into the ground and didn’t stop until he crashed through a small rock embedded into the earth. With a grunt, he pushed himself up into a seated position and looked at the wounded cyborg lurching toward him. Even though half of his face had been burned away down to his metal-infused skull, Cell Delta grinned as he lifted his palm and started to charge an attack. Rather than lean back and die, Proto Man punched one fist into the soot and used it to brace himself as he leveled his buster arm with the oncoming man.

Without bothering to aim, the android pulled back on the nonexistent trigger, releasing a hail of automatic fire against his assailant. In lieu of the onslaught, the Soviet just kept marching toward his intended foe, even as the stream of pellets ate away at his exposed innards. Once he was close enough, Cell Delta retaliated with a blast that struck the android’s weapon arm. In a flash of red and orange, the Proto Buster exploded, spraying its wielder with superheated shrapnel.

A slew of red indicators flooded Proto Man’s HUD as the machine’s instincts took over. Reacting without delay, the android rolled backwards as Delta’s fist slammed into the ground where he’d sat a moment earlier. On his feet once again, the preteen looked down at the charred stump of his right hand and winced. Even if he’d wanted to, the blast had ruined the circuits that let him alter the function of the appendage.

“Can you feel that, Proto Man?” Cell Delta asked. The man’s voice was hoarse due to the damage suffered to his lungs and trachea. The cyborg looked like something out of a horror movie, with much of his thoracic cavity either blown away or melted into something that looked more like tar than organs or circuitry. “I can feel everything. You can’t imagine what it’s like to feel your heart slowly stop beating or feel one of your ribs blast off and tear clean a lung.”

“Were you always insane?” Proto Man rasped as he converted his remaining hand into a buster. “Or is this just the Omniverse?” The android glanced to his right and saw Heat Man’s still corpse lying there. Over the last few minutes, a thin layer of soot had already settled onto the body.

“The Omniverse made me immortal,” the Soviet said with another sinister grin. “How am I not supposed to love every second of this? In my world, I came back from the verge of death fourteen times in the course of ten years of warfare. Now I never have to face that again. The question remains…are you ready to die?”

Before Proto Man could utter a response, Heat Man lurched up into a seat position and threw out his gun arm, releasing a concentrated stream of fire that caught Cell Delta square on the chest and face. The cyborg let out a roar of pain as his mangled form turned into a walking inferno. By the time the stout android let up on his attack, their adversary had already fled into the ash clouds.

Seems like he wasn’t ready to die.

Proto Man turned and stumbled over to Heat Man, who still had his smoldering hand cannon pointed in the direction of their foe. “D-d-did I get him?” The other machine asked.

“Yes, he won’t be coming back anytime soon,” the red android replied, placing a hand on the shoulder of the other Robot Master.

“He’s true about the immortality,” Heat Man muttered, his voice barely a whisper. “You need to get stronger if you’ll want to be able to deal with him.”

“How?”

“Take my power,” the other android spoke softly.

“I don’t understand,” Proto Man said.

“Your brother took it from our broken corpses, but for you, I’ll gladly go willingly.” Heat Man poked at the fluid-stained hole in his chest. With a grunt, the smaller android rose to his feet, denying assistance when his half-brother tried to offer an arm. “Tell my brothers I gave it my all and died on my feet.”

Before Proto Man could protest, Heat Man’s eyes rolled up into his head. The fire-themed android’s knees quavered once… twice… and then erupted outward in a flash of white light.

A gasp escaped the red robot’s mouth as he turned away from a blast that gave off no force or heat. When he looked back, he saw that he was being rotated by a handful of spheres that seemed to glitter with all the colors of the rainbow. The orbs swirled around Proto Man like tiny moons for a few moments before they suddenly and rapidly spiraled in on him until they vanished harmlessly into his chest.

A popup appeared on the machine’s HUD as his body suit turned a darker shade of gray and his armored pieces shifted to an orange hue. Focusing on the message, Proto Man smiled as he lifted up his remaining weapon hand. Inside the barrel of the weapon, tiny flames danced around—primed and readied to incinerate his foes.

The message continued to flicker on his screen as Proto Man limped his way toward the Gate.

‘-H- Get Equipped with Atomic Fire!’