Mega Transmission

Chapter 6: Search

Chaud woke up with a massive crick in his neck. He looked around and realized he slept at his desk at the Officials. The uncomfortable position did nothing good for his back, but he didn't care for his own discomfort at the current moment.

After the incident at the school gym yesterday, Gordon and Chaud went strait to Official HQ. Chaud told the captain while Gordon went and got his investigation notes and the pair began looking for Dr. Regal's former associates. The hunt proved fruitless despite the added help of Dex, Yai, Alyssa and Mayl. Once it got to be midnight, Gordon told them to go home and get soem rest while Gorodn and Chaud went to their office and began looking for a patern.

Chaud didn't know where on earth Gordon had gone but decided to get some coffee. He found the breakroom and poured himself a cup and added some sugar. He took a drink then went back to his desk. he sat at the desk and looked back at the past few years.

Sure one could say Chaud was a jerk, even a snobbish over glorified virus buster as Gordon had called him, but he usually had others best intreasts at heart. After the fall of Nebula, Lan's head had swelled a hundred fold. Chaud wondered why he had become what he was. It also seemed he took friends for granted as Dex and Yai left the giant headed young man and it didn't seem to effect him. It was Mayl that mattered.

Chaud had been secretly talking with Mayl, about her fears and how she hated what her best friend had become. During these talks, Chaud realized he had cared deeply for the young girl and had asked her out. The fight between Lan and Chaud was not a legendary fist fight or a fantastic net battle, but Lan being fed his own ego and deflating him. It had been Mayl's idea to stop speaking to him but Chaud had spoke to the recruitment office to get recruiters to get Lan to join. A bizare means of having Lan learn some humnility and gain a bit of redemption.

Sadly all it did was make him sullen and withdrawn. Mayl kept watch on him and saw he was always moody and irritable with his family, even yelled at his dad when he stopped by the house. Lan's grades went down further and despite the return of his friends, he was still a sullen and withdrawn person. Chaud knew he wasn't helping by constantly antagonizing him, but Chaud was still rather angry with him and was silently hoping he would stay that way.

He saw the signs in redeeming Lan when Gordon transfered from overseas. Gordon seemed to have a sceptical opinion of Lan, but with Gordon's rap sheet, he wasn't suprised. Gordon would want to size him up as he had with Chaud, the sound beating he got from that massive navi of his made him certain Lan would be humbled in combat. He was suprised when Gordon merely gave up, seeing as the man was notorious for drawing out fights till they were won, by either side.

The one thing about this whole thing that became fishy was the mavericks, and what they wanted with Lan. Chaud agreed with Gordon about Regal being a player in this, but what he wanted with Lan was something nobody could answer. Dex though said it might be some revenge plan. Chaud couldn't see why the Mavericks would be involved though. Chaud decided to get up and look for Gordon at the armory.

Chaud found his way to the armory and heard two voices arguing. Chaud rolled his eyes and stepped inside.

"Look old man, I just need some special incendiary rounds." Gordon's voice said as he and the armorer was glaring at him.

"Old man? You might not live to be my age when I get done with you. I didn't bring you into this world, but I sure as heck will take you out." He said pulling out several boxes of ammunition and handed them to Gordon.

"Now I better not hear you and Chaud did something stupid. Higher ups have been bothering me to moniter your weapons aquisitions." The armorer said as Gordon put the boxes in a bag.

"I dunno what I would do without ya." Gordon said walking to the door.

:"Probably less mayhem." he armorer said returning to his desk.

Gordon walked tot he door and motioned for Chaud to follow him.

"Got us some more thermite grenades and some incendiary shotgun shells. This will stack the odds in our favor if those Mavericks come at us." Gordon said heading for the exit.

"Yeah, but it's not good if we can't find them. and besides, those are shotgun shells. We need to get close." Chaud said. Gordon nodded.

"Not looking forward to that. But it's the only thing we can get without breaking into an armory." Gordon said.

The pair reached Chaud's car, a standard four door black sedan that Chaud got from his father for his birthday after he got his license, and Gordon put the shells in the back seat then climbed in the passenger seat.

"I say we go to school and look for clues. Maybe something will come up." Chaud said starting the car.

Gordon nodded and took a brief nap in the car, apperently sleep evaded him as well.

Mayl's House.

Mayl sat up in her bed, in deep thought about the events that happened yesterday. She felt that she was getting her friend back when those psycho robots had to attack. She didn't know how Alyssa felt,seeing as one of the robots used her form to lure him away. Chaud knew this was dangerous and tried to keep this away from her, but somehow Lan had managed to get involved, and whenever Lan was involved, she would just to make sure he was alright.

Mayl got up and prepared to get dressed and decided to go practice her archery. She was going to make sure the Mavericks would pay for hurting her friends.

'It feels strange though' Mayl thought. 'I felt not nearly the concern for Chaud when he got hurt as I did for Lan'

She threw the thoughts out for a moment and grabbed her PET then left the room.

The School

It was always a good thing that Chaud and Gordon's Official licenses could get them into closed buildings without fear of being arrested.

The walk to the gym was quiet, namely because Gordon was in no mood to joke around. Today they were going to find some clue. Reploids might be machines, but they usually make very human mistakes.

As Chaud opened the door and Gordon walked through to have an arrow narrowly miss hitting him in the face.

"Woah their warrior princess." Gordon said in suprise as he saw Mayl looking sheepish.

"Sorry, thought I would get some archery practice." Mayl said as Gordon pulled the arrow from the wall.

"Yeah, I don't remember pissing you off that much, besides it was Chaud who suggested drugging you." Gordon said handing the arrow back to her.

"Yeah well, I thought you might have been one of those things." Mayl said resuming her practice.

"Mayl, we came here to look for some kind of clue where they came from. They have to have a home base, figured we can find it around here." Chaud said. Mayl let lose the arrow and hit a bullseye.

"Well, they certainly were everywhere." Mayl said putting the bow up.

Gordon activated his scanner and looked at the debris from the bleachers that Slash Beast had destroyed.

He didn't find anything, but he did bag a small sliver of metal that wasn't part of the bleachers design.

"Found a piece of metal, maybe Slash left it behind." Gordon called putting the bag in his pocket.

"Nothing where Slash Beast was melting, looks like thermite didn't leave traces of him." Chaud said. Gordon groaned that he might have been responsible for lack of clues.

"How do you guys get those things?" Mayl asked sitting on a bench.

"Software Officials get to anylize crime scenes. Not avalible to civilians." Chaud said scanning a claw mark.

"And it's worth more than our badges if he got you the software, otherwise we would be deputizing you." Gordon said scanning the metal piece.

"It's metal from reploids alright. and I found something, it looks like he was living in an area with sea salt." Creeper said reading the results.

"Thanks. Great, now we have to check the freaking docks and beaches." Gordon said growling.

"Maybe not every dock." A voice called from the locker room.

Chaud looked up and saw Alyssa exiting the locker room.

"I found a sea shell in the locker room and Centaurman anylized it. This type of shell is found at two beaches." Alyssa said showing her find.

"Thats wonderful, but how the hell did you get one of our scanners?" Gordon asked with annoyance.

"Freeware." Alyssa said simply. Chaud and Gordon rolled their eyes.

Alyssa looked worse for wear, her hair was unkept, the simple makeup she wore was absent and the dark circles under her eyes indicate she didn't sleep the night before.

"I was thinking about it and thought they must have left a clue, they may be run off a computer, but they make human mistakes." Alyssa said sitting on a bench.

"Thats what you said." Chaud said to Gordon, who groaned that she thought like him.

"I narrowed them down to these two beaches, sadly we would have to split up to cover both beaches before nightfall." Alyssa said.

"One's on East and the other is on North." Alyssa said.

"Ok, Gordon, take Alyssa with you to East, I'll take Mayl to North." Chaud said. Gordon nodded and the pair walked out of the gym.

Train station

Alyssa sat on one of the seats across from Gordon, who was looking over the shell with his PET.

"So, you like Lan or something." Gordon said, still scanning the shell.

"Yea, I guess. He's cute but I think he is still to hung up on Mayl." Alyssa said.

"I know the type. Knew a guy like him once. Great kid, Good Official. Loved his partner. Sad thing that happened." Gordon said still looking at the shell.

"What happened?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"She died and he became depressed, then he became me." Gordon said, still not looking up from his project.

They rode in silence the rest of the way.

Chaud's Car

Chaud kept himself ten miles below the speed limit, not trying to cause attention, but if it was up to him, he would be flooring it trying to get to the beach and hopefully finding a clue as to where Lan could have been taken.

Mayl was furiously looking over alot of date, checking abandoned docks that got recent activity, to islands big enough to hide equipment for whatever they were using to break intot he internet.

"This is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Their are to many docks and the islands are to small. I thought about the old WWW island from the Alpha incident, but that sank a few years ago." Mayl said. Chaud merely nodded.

"Unless they have some kind of underwater fortress. But no sonar detection comes up." Chaud said pulling into the parking lot.

The pair walked around, looking for some sign of the Mavericks.

"Sir, I find no trace of the shell on this beach." Protoman said after Chaud spent thirty minutes of scanning the beach.

"Damnit. Well, that has to be it." Chaud said. Mayl nodded and the pair began walking around more finding no clues to the whereabouts of Lan.

East Beach

Alyssa and Gordon sat on a bench, each eating hotdogs that they bought from a vendor. Both ate in silence till Creeper alerted them for an email.

"Boss, Chaud reports North Beach is clear. That has to narrow it down to this place. Otherwise we may need to rent a boat and look at the islands." Creeper said. Gordon groaned at the thought.

"Whats wrong?" Alyssa asked after finishing her hotdog.

"I hate boats. Get seasick." Gordon said finishing his hotdog and getting up.

The pair decided to split up and search the beach for clues, hoping to find something. Gordon began searching through some old warehouses while Alyssa looked at old sewer junctions.

Alyssa looked around an old sewer opening, wondering why they had these at beaches. She turned on her flashlight and motion detector.

"Milady, several blips coming on the motion detector, hide quickly." Centaurman said.

Alyssa went and his in an shadow corner and turned off her flash light. Soon she saw several figures, all gang members dressed in biker gear.

"Swore I saw a light, I think we might have Officials down here." One member said.

"Also thought I heard a navi. keep a lookout." The leader said.

Just then, Alyssa's PET went off, an email from Gordon probably. The noise was enought to alert the gang.

Alyssa made a mad dash, but one got in the way of her exit. With a powerful punch, she punched the thug in the face and sent him back. She began to run but was soon tackled by a thug.

The thug who tackled her pulled her up and held her tightly.

"Well, look what we got here, an Official spy. Cute too." One thug said getting close.

Alyssa spat in his face and tried to fight her way out of the lock, but was then hit in the head with a piece of pipe and was knocked out. The thug holding her dropped her on the ground.

"What are we gunna do with her." One thug asked.

"Well, i say we have a party." The leader said and made a move to pick her up.

Out of nowhere, A massive black figure dropped down and sent a massive kick into one of the thugs.

"You pricks are all under arrest." Gordon said showing his badge.

"Is that so?" The leader asked and his gang pulled out various weapons. Pipes, chains, bricks, and a knife.

"Well, in that case, mess him up!" The leader said and the group ran at him.

Gordon ducked under one guy swinging a chain and landed an uppercut on him. He then grabbed the chain and swung it at one member with a pipe. The man caught the chain with his pipe but found Gordon's grip stronger and it was ripped from his hands.

Gordon rushed the now empty handed man and kicked him in the stomach.

One thug tried to hit him with a brick but found Gordon twisting his arm and pulled the brick from his hand then Gordon smashed it into the thug's face.

The man with the knife came at Gordon and made a stabbing motion to him. Gordonmoved to the side and sent him flying over a rail into the waters.

The leader made his move and tackled Gordon to the ground and began punching Gordon's face. Each blow made Gordon nearly lose consciousness, till Gordon outstreatched his arms and slammed his hands onto the man's ears, making him stumble back. Gordon staggered up and as the other man regained his sense, Gordon delevered a massive headbutt, knocking the man to the ground.

Gordon stagger a bit, regaining his composure then went to his fallen friend and picked her up.

"Up you go, gotta get out of here." Gordon said carrying her out.

As Gordon carried Alyssa out of the sewer, his PET began ringing. Sitting down with the knocked out Alyssa in his lap, Gordon answered and saw Chaud on the other end.

"Status repor... What the hell happened to you?" Chaud asked upon seeing Gordon's bruised face.

"Ran into some trouble, biker types, They knocked out Alyssa so I'm taking her to my house for medical attention. Remind me to come back here when were on real duty. Or at least tell Narcotics a few of these warehouses are storing more than fish." Gordon said. Chaud merely nodded.

"Ok, be careful. I'm meeting with Yai and Dex and we'll start checking the waters. You get some rest." Chaud said.

"Good, I hate boats." Gordon said hanging up.

"Creeper, alert the paramedics if I collapse. I'm going to take Alyssa to my place and don't want to fall down till I have her patched up." Gordon said to his PET.

"No problem boss, monitoring both of your conditions." Creeper said.

Docks.

Yai and Dex began helping Chaud and Mayl onto their ship as they began searching the islands for possible underground complexes.

"Sometimes our heat scanners miss things." Chaud explained turnign on his heat scanner.

"Well hopefully we can find something." Dex said powering the boat.

"Why isn't Gordon here?" Yai asked.

"Ran into some trouble. He is going to go rest." Chaud said, not wanting to elaborate.

"Well let's head out." Dex says and the ship goes underway.

Gordon's House

Alyssa awoke with a bandage around her head. She noticed it was an unfamiliar location. It looked like a basement, filled with old movie posters, various guns and pictures and case files on a desk. Gordon himself passed out on a chair, looking rather haggard himself.

"He must have brought me here instead of a hospital." Alyssa said mildly touched.

She walked around to his desk and found a picture on it. It showed a younger Gordon, with cropped hair next to a girl about his age att he time. Both holding medals of commendation.

"So, this must be his old partner." Alyssa said to herself.

The girl in the picture, who's name was Jessica, looked clearly pleased with her partner. Gordon himself looked less haggard and depressed.

She looked over and found several newspaper clips about a bust that resulted in the death of a young Official and a drug lord brought to custody. Alyssa read them and understood.

She looked around and saw another photo that looked like it came from a photo booth.

It was Gordon nd Jessica and the pair were anjoying themselves. The last picture was of Jessica kissing Gordon on his cheek and Gordon having a look of suprise.

Alyssa jumped as she heard Gordon wake up with a groan.

"Ow, note to self, don't let things punch me." Gordon said getting out of his chair.

"Hey don't get up." Alyssa said rushing to keep him from getting up.

"I'm fine, just a mild hedache." Gordon said getting up and putting his coat back on.

"Well, it's getting late. We won't find Lan tonight till daylight." Alyssa said. Gordon merely nodded.

"C'mon, I'll walk you home." Gordon said opening a door from his basement to the outside.

Yai's Boat

The large ship cut through the waves like a knife through butter. Chaud stood on the front of the deck, his heat and sonar scanners attempting to pick up signs of an underwater base, or an island being used as a base.

Mayl walked up behind him and put her arm around his waist, mildly suprising Chaud.

"You know if it wasn't for the severity of this, I would think the view was very romantic." Mayl said leaning to kiss Chaud.

Chaud brushed her away. "Sorry, need to concentrate." He said pointing the PET at several islands.

Mayl looked hurt but walked away to her nautical charts.

Yai walked up to Dex, who was steering the ship and pointed to the scene that transpired.

"You gotta wonder, Chaud treated Lan like shit for years, and now he is pushing himself into finding the guy." Yai said.

"It's duty for him. Personal feelings aside, Chaud would probably rescue Dr. Wily from those robots. The guy is a real pro." Dex said lowering the speed on the ship.

"Well, I just hope we can find him. But the question I have is, how the hell are we going to fight those guys? They outmatch us in every way and Chaud has the insane idea we're just going to bust Lan out." Yai said. Dex nodded.

"Well, we won't find him tonight, the sun is going down and were losing light. Gotta tell them to head back." Dex said slowing the ship down.

"What are you doing? I haven't finished the readings yet!" Chaud said turning around.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, we have been out here for several hours and the sun is going down. I can't see in the dark ya know." Dex said turning the ship around.

Chaud let out a huff and sat down on a chair, getting last minute readings.

Mayl walked to Chaud and at next to him and the pair began talking in whispers. Dex paid it no mind.

"Well, we're almost to port. I wish we could have done more." Yai said activating the security lock.

"Yeah, But knowing Lan, I'm sure he will be alright." Dex said stepping off the ship.

Maverick Hideout.

The massive punch delivered by Magma Dragoon made Lan spit up blood. They had been at it for hours.

Regal would experiment with his machine then Dragoon would enter, start punching Lan around, then Regal would tell them to leave so he could work in peace. This was no different.

"DO you have to disturb me with this insistance to punish this boy?" Regal asked looking up from his work station.

"I grow bored waiting for your machine to work. It should have been done hours ago." Dragoon snarled.

"It would be done if I didn't have to stop to tell you to stay out of here and let me work in peace. Now get out of here. Because of your constant inturuptions, it will be another day before I can get this machine to work." Regal said with a huff.

Dragoon was furious. "Do not presume to speak to me this way human. Were it not for your current usefullness, I would crush you here and now." Dragoon snarled.

"Yes, my usefullness. Now leave before I delete all the date and we would have to start over. And only I know how to fix this machine." Regal said. Dragoon merely snarled and left.

Regal then walked up to the door, bolted it and put a machine on the handle.

"Their, maybe now I can get some peace and quiet around here." Regal said going to his workstation, working on the PET.

Lan could hear Megaman's screams coming from the terminal and he weakly got his head up.

"What are you doing?" Lan demanded in a weak voice.

"Giving him an upgrade. Unfortunatly this hurts the navi to much. I would have had it done earlier had Dragoon not insisted to use you for a punching bag." Regal said not looking up.

Lan tried to relax, but he was chained to an operating table with his wrists over his head.

"Don't worry, this will all be over soon. I really have no intention of helping them. What I plan to give them will cause them more problems." Regal said adjusting the machine.

"What do you mean? I thought you hated humanity?" Lan asked.

"Once, I did but after our last encounter, I thought about your actions. Selflessly facing me to save this world. I kept hiding, and found something truly perverse. Something that must be destroyed. The entire internet is a lie. Inside is a massive secret, only the top Officials know. I cannot tell you more but just know that our own government has the ultimate weapon." Regal said, true fear in his eye.

"A weapon? Oh my God!" Lan said to himself and thought deeply about the turn of events.

Chaud's Room.

Chaud sat at his computer, overlooking his data with Protoman. He must have been missing something.

"Sir, the data is inconlclusive. The mavericks are not in the area." Protoman said, looking at the date for the 5th time.

"Their has to be something, something blocking the signal." Chaud said taking a drink from his cup of coffee.

"Well, I dunno what to tell you anymore. This is borderline obsession." Protoman said heading to his homepage.

Inside the homepage, Protoman began regular virus scans and upgrades. He saw the link to Roll's homepage and saw it was closed.

"Mayl must be upset. I think we should give her some time." Protoman said to himself then raised a swod just in time to block one from Zero.

"I knew you would come." Protoman said getting in a defensive posture.

"Chaud won't find anything. Several of the islands have a jamming signal from the reploid nation. It won't be picked up by human machines." Zero said taking a swing with his sword, catching Protoman's blade.

The pair duelled for a few minutes in silence before Zero and Protoman got close to each other.

"I say this, when the time comes, Lan will escape on his own. Be watchful." Zero said tripping Protoman and teleporting out.

"Lan will escape? What is he playing at?" Protoman said jacking out.

Enc Chapter.

I know this one kind of dragged but I'm trying to set up an epic fight scene and bizarely this filler helped me a little. Um.... I will try and tone down on using Gordon as the ultimate badass in this, but I really can't resist some days. ANyway R&R