Episode 17, Chapter 8: Wily's Last Stand (part 1)

At the hospital in New York City

The still-unconscious Dr. Light is in the Operating Room, surrounded by human and robot Doctors, about to undergo a heart transplant. As his children are about to fight to apprehend Dr. Wily, these Doctors are about to fight to save Dr. Light's life, if it can be saved at all.

Dr. Byrnes is the lead surgeon, and she keeps a close eye on Dr. Light's readings before she begins.

"We're lucky he's still holding steady enough. It's now or never," she says through her protective mask. "Dr. Dunham. Apply the iodine."

"Applying now," says a human male doctor with glasses, taking a brush with dark orange liquid and applying it to Dr. Light's exposed chest, sterilizing the area to prevent any infection in or around the incisions will be made.

Dr. Byrnes asks, "What's he status on the replacement heart?"

A medical robot replies, "The cybernetic heart is primed and ready for installation."

Afterwards, Dr. Byrnes turns to a other human doctor. "Scalpel, Dr. Shorter."

"Scalpel here," says the stout human doctor, handing her the cutting instrument.

As Dr. Byrnes hands loom over Dr. Light, about to begin this crucial operation to save is life, she says, "Okay, everyone... Here goes."

Skull Fortress

In the Command Center room, Dr. Wily slowly rubs his hands together as he stares at the central computer, displaying the Fortress' radar readings and the external cameras.
He is waiting for Mega Man to arrive. He knows Mega Man is coming, sooner or later, and Wily will be here waiting for him.

Sitting nearby, guarded by two Sniper Joe units is a sealed protective pod which currently contains Dr. Wily's Ultimate Robot. The automatic uploader still has not finished uploading the robot's complex programming yet, and it very likely will not be finished for at least two more days. (Assuming it does not have any more hiccups during the upload.)
If only the debate had been a week later, the robot would have been ready, and this night would have gone much differently.

Even without the Ultimate Robot at his disposal, Dr. Wily still has the laser projector gun loaded with the Jadous Sphere shard at his side. Even if Mega Man makes it past all the Robot Masters and Bass, he will not survive a last from this weapon.
No one can survive it.

As Dr. Wily stares at the monitors, he contemplates the idea of ProtoMan tagging along with the Light siblings when they strike the Fortress. It is exactly what Wily wants.
This is his chance to take ProtoMan back, extinguish his enemies and finally begin his reign of everlasting terror.
And in the back of his mind, Dr. Wily knows this could be his last chance to accomplish those goals.

Then, finally, Dr. Wily sees what he has been waiting for when a blip appears on the radar.
There is no doubt in Albert's mind... It's Mega Man.

Wily leans forward in his seat and grins, "There you are! ... I've been expecting you!"

Then, two other blips appear right beside the first...

"Yes, I expected both of you, too... especially you, Proto."

Shortly thereafter, several more blips appear on the radar, all flying in proper Air Force formations.

"Ah! You even brought friends! Excellent! ... More lambs to slaughter," Wily says, low and sinister, yet feeling a wave of nerves and excitement.

Dr. Wily then looks at the external cameras and spots Mega Man leading the charge, flying on Rush's back; Roll on her SkyCycle to his left; ProtoMan in the Red Raider on his right.

Dr. Wily then stands from his seat, straightens his red necktie and his lab coat, then grabs his busted-up communicator.

"Attention, all robots!" he calls, "Mega Man is here... it's time!"

Outside Skull Fortress

Mega Man, ProtoMan and Roll are fast on the approach to Skull Fortress, and they can now see the intimidating structure in the distance, looming larger as they get closer.
Each of the Light siblings have different feelings internally as they are about to begin the battle of their lives. For Roll, this is the first time she has ever been a part of a strike on the fortress, so this is both exhilarating and intimidating.
ProtoMan's memories of his times here begin to flood back, most especially the painful final weeks when Dr. Wily had abused him, which led to Proto breaking free from the Mad Doctor.
Of all the siblings, Mega Man is perhaps the least bothered by this place and who is inside. More than ever, Mega Man is driven to end the war and put Dr. Wily is his place.

Mega uses his communicator to contact Roll and Proto... "Are you both ready for this?"

"You better believe it," Roll replies.

"Let's do it," Proto replies.

Mega then radios the military backup behind them. "We're going in. Steer clear of the Fortress' airspace until we get the jammers offline."

A military Sergeant answers, "Roger that. Just send the signal. We're already detecting an increased presence of hostiles within the Fortress walls. We'll take care of any stragglers who creep outside."

"Alright, guys. Take out some of the outer defenses so we don't lose our back-up," Mega says as they are almost there. "Let's hit 'em with everything we've got!"

Mega, Roll and Proto fly over Skull Fortress' outer wall and into the fray of the battle, and the fortress' defenses such as laser turrets and missile launchers begin opening fire in their direction as Skullkers, Skull Jets and Skullcopters begin flying out of the hangar bay.

The Light siblings take evasive maneuvers to veer out of the way of the deadly shots. Meanwhile, Proto opens the side windshield to his Red Blazer, allowing Beat to join in.

"Okay, Beat. Do your stuff," he says.

"Beeeeeeeeaaaaaaat," Beat says as he soars out into the battle.

Mega Man fires several plasma blasts at one of the Fortress missile launchers, destroying it and its entire payload, creating a massive fireball explosion which mushrooms into the sky.

ProtoMan targets another missile turret and finally makes use of the tactical advantages of his Red Blazer, firing several laser shots at it. It works, taking out another critical outer defense.

Roll takes a risk by flying beneath a SkullCopter, which attempts to fire on her, but misses. Once beneath the copter, Roll fires her trusty plumber's snake and manages to lasso it to one of the landing gear legs of the Skull Copter.
Afterwards, Roll increases the throttle of her SkyCycle, and when the plumber's snake runs out of slack, she manages to yank the skullcopter off kilter, causing it to careen out of control.
By the time Roll retracts the snake and gets free of the Skull Copter, the Wily craft takes a nosedive into the ground and wrecks, turning the copter into a hunk of twisted metallic wreckage.

Beat flies around to one of the laser turrets and taunts, "Beat-beat! Beat-beat-beat!"

The turret takes aim and firs at Beat who doges and flies away, heading directly for another SkullCopter. The turret keeps firing in Beat's direction as the robobird flies around the SkullCopter, which takes the last of the shots and sends that copter crashing in a fiery blaze as well.

Inside the fortress, Dr. Wily watches the battle unfolding on his monitors. The sounds of the battle outside could be heard faintly through the heavy titanium walls if one listened carefully enough.
Seeing the Light siblings already tearing through the outer defenses is frustrating to the Mad Doctor, but not entirely unexpected.

Dr. Wily grabs his communicator and radios the outside forces again... "Focus all your attention on Mega Man, ProtoMan and Roll, as well as that stupid bird thing they have with them. All aerial robots, get out there now! Don't bother with the military. Let them try to encroach into our space, and pick them off. And gather a force at the front entrance. I want a welcoming committee for our special guests."

Dr. Wily adds, "But, make sure ProtoMan survives. I need him alive, or else!"

Back outside the fortress, Mega Man and company continue tearing away the weapons outside Skull Fortress. Soon, the airspace within the walls of the fortress become even more crowded as one of the hangar bay doors behind the skull open up and several attack robots fly out, including Batontons, Pipis (each carrying eggs loaded with little Pipis), Adhering Suzys and Sniper Joe units in jetpacks.
Once Wily's back-up forces enter the fray, the two 'eye sockets' of the skull façade are blocked by two metallic doors, sealing off the hangar bay.

ProtoMan sees this and radios his siblings. "Heads-up, guys. We've got even more bots out here now. They're probably trying to distract us."

Mega says, "Only worry about the ones that have blasters. Keep taking out the turrets first."

Roll sees a flock of Batontons heading her way and she aims her utility arm at them, producing a plunger.

"I never thought I would have use for this ever again, but here goes," Roll says.

She then fires the plunger from her arm and at the Batontons, and the plunger finds its mark on one of them, completely covering the Batonton's face and causing it to flying around blindly. As the Batonton frantically tries to get free, the plunger strikes some of the other Batontons, knocking them off course, sending of them colliding with their Brethren.

"Wow! I wish I'd known it was that easy to stop a flock of batontons," Roll exclaims.

One of the missile turrets fires a missile in Beat's direction, which causes Beat to begin flying away in the opposite direction.

"Beat-Beat! Beat-Beat!"

"I see you, Beat. Rush and I are right behind you. We'll get that missile off your back," Mega Man responds.

A few seconds later, Rush and Mega Man swoop in behind Beat and Mega manages to snatch the missile with his hands, holding it tightly to try and prevent it from slipping away.

"Let's give 'em their missile back, boy," Mega commands.

Rush barks as he pulls a near 180-degree turn, jetting right back toward the missile turret this round came from. Mega Man tosses the missile back in their direction just before he and Rush pull up, and the warhead collides with the turret, destroying it and further crippling Skull Fortress' defenses.
Rush barks, then makes a laughing sound to celebrate.

"I've got an idea, boy. Get me close to one of those Skullkers," Mega says.

Rush follows Mega Man's instructions and flies near one of the Skulkers in the area, all of which appear to be piloted by Sniper Joes. Once he is close enough, Mega Man dives off of Rush and lands on the front end of the Skullker, catching the Sniper Joe pilot by surprise.
Mega smashes the passenger side windshield with his arm and fires a blast at the Joe, taking him out.

Afterwards, Mega Man climbs inside and rips the unconscious Sniper Joe out of the pilot's seat and commandeers the Skullker. Once he does, he turns the craft in the direction of the other Wily craft, focusing another Skullker which is in hot pursuit of Roll.

"Incoming," Mega says, hitting the weapon controls.

Mega Man's Skullker then opens fire with the main weapon, a Plasma Beam cannon mounted in the 'mouth' of the ship, and the secondary weapon, four side-mounted shoulder cannons.
The shots all hit the hostile Skullker, engulfing it into a ball of flame that careens to the ground, sending its Sniper Joe pilot diving out for dear life.

Mega Man's Skullker then flies ahead, targeting some of the other Wily craft and opens fire on them as well, taking down several Skull Copters and Skull Jets in the process.

After that barrage, some of the Wily ships now target the commandeered Skullker and Mega Man turns around and flies right for the last of the missile launchers near the Fortress.

"Rush, I'm about to bail out of this Skullker. Come and get me," Mega radios.

Mega then increases the throttle on the Skullker and flies it straight for the missile launcher. He then hoists the fallen Sniper Joe over his shoulder and climbs out the shattered front window. By now, other Wily ships are firing on his Skullker and damaging it. And an alert goes off in the cockpit, alerting a missile lock.
But, Mega is not about to stick around for the impact.

Mega Man leaps from the Skullker as it is about to crash into the Missile launch, landing on Rush's back and flying off. The Skullker then crashes into the missile launcher, which explodes with such force that the pursuing Wily ships fail to pull up in time, crashing into the site as well.
Afterwards, Mega Man and Rush fly parallel to the fortress' outer wall and Mega deposits the unconscious Sniper Joe on it, leaving him straddling the top of the wall... until the Joe ultimately falls off.

"Way to go, bro!" cheers ProtoMan.

"Thanks for getting that Skullker off my back too," Roll adds.

Mega radios back, "Anytime. The big guns are taken care of. We're going in and taking out the defense grid."

Roll answers, "We can't fly in. Wily closed the hangar doors. We've gotta find another way in."

"Then, we'll go right through the front door," Mega Man says.

ProtoMan replies, "He'll probably leave it open for us."

"I'm counting on it," Mega Man replies, with a vengeful sound to his voice.

"So's he," Proto warns, "I didn't see one Robot Master out here. They'll be waiting for us inside."

"I've got plenty of room for copied weapons," Mega Man says, pulling ahead jetting directly toward Skull Fortress now.

Roll and Beat fly behind Mega Man and Rush while ProtoMan backs them up. On the ground level where the front entranceway is, the doors open and several other attack robots come out, such as the large hopping Big Eye robots, and more Sniper Joes, some of which are riding two-legged mech tanks.
Mega Man wastes no time and fires a plasma blast at maximum power into the center of the gathering of ancillary robots, creating a massive concussive explosion which takes some of the off kilter and completely tears a Big Eye unit to shreds.

Roll flies past and aims her utility arm in the direction of a Sniper Joe walker, drawing her cake mixer. She fires the spinning mixer parts at the walker, and they both get caught in the walker's 'knees', getting caught up in the joints and causing the walker to fall over, sending the Sniper Joe falling out on the way down.

ProtoMan opens fire with the Red Blazer, picking off some of the other powerful threats on the ground to clear the way for he and his siblings.

"That should be enough. We're clear to land," Proto announces.

Mega Man leaps off of Rush's back as the robocanine begins transforming into his standard form. They both hit the ground running, racing for the front entrance to Skull Fortress with Beat gliding alongside them.
ProtoMan, Tango and Roll land right after them, getting out of their flying craft and following Mega and Rush inside.

A pair of Sniper Joes are left in their path, along with one more Big Eye. As he slides under the blasts of the Sniper Joes, Mega Man fires several blasts at the Big Eye, dispatching that threat while Proto manages to take out one of the Joes and Beat punches out another by ramming his beak into the back of the Joe's head.

"There better not be a scratch on my SkyCycle when I get out of here," Roll says.

ProtoMan replies, "These bots will have more important things to worry about soon. Besides, sis, a little damage adds some character to your ride."

"My Cycle's got enough character as it is," Roll insists.

The White House

President Henry and his top advisors remain here in the Situation Room, watching the live feed from the Military outside of Skull Fortress.
It has been nerve-wracking watching this operation take place, not knowing for sure what the outcome will be and knowing that humanity's future could be riding on this.

"Command, this is Mega Man. We're inside. Once we get the jammers offline, you can secure the area. You might lose contact with us if we go too deep inside. If you don't hear from us within an hour, send in everything you have. Don't let Wily get away."

The Sergeant in charge of the assault responds, "Roger that, Mega Man. Go get that maggot. And Godspeed."

As President Henry sits with his hands clasped, silently praying, Chief of Staff Kravitz looks at his phone to read a message...

"Mr. President, I've just been told Dr. Light's transplant surgery is underway. We'll be updated when it's over."

"Thank you, Alan," Henry says. He then says, "If there was ever a time to believe in a double miracle, now is the time."

"Yes, sir. It is," Kravitz replies.

Back at Skull Fortress

The Light siblings have made their way into the fortress now, and Mega Man is ready for anything.

"Keep your weapons drawn. There could be Robot Masters on us any second," Mega says. "Proto, you know this place better than anybody. Where would Wily be?"

"He could be anywhere," Proto answers, "The Workshop; the Command Center; the underground shelter. Might even be in the bathroom, for all we know."

"Please don't let him be there," Roll says, shaking her head.

"Welcome back, Mega Man!" says the voice of Dr. Wily, echoing through the titanium interior of the fortress.

Mega Man and ProtoMan aim their blasters, looking for any sign of Dr. Wily as Roll, Rush, Tango and Beat stand ready as well. But, upon closer examination, they can see that Wily's voice is emanating from a loudspeaker nearby.

"I was expecting you. Though, I didn't know you would show up so soon after what happened to poor Thomas," Wily says, clearly mocking what happened to Dr. Light earlier tonight.

Mega Man looks visibly angered at the gall of Dr. Wily to mock Dr. Light's grave condition. He just stares at that loudspeaker as Wily keeps talking.

"What? No witty comeback? No vows to arrest me at long last? You must really be upset," Dr. Wily jabs. "If it is any consolation, Mega Man, you will be reunited with your daddy very soon."

After hearing Dr. Wily's evil snickering, Mega Man then fires a blast at the loudspeaker, destroying it on contact. Now, the only thing coming out of the loudspeaker is sparks.

ProtoMan quips to his brother, "Thanks. I was about to do that, but you beat me to it."

Then, several sets of doors open and several Robot Masters begin running out to confront Mega Man and his siblings, about as many as the group that attacked the debate earlier tonight.

GutsMan bellows, "Haven't you heard, Mega Twerp? You're busted for tresspassin' and destruction of property! That means, we're gonna-"

"Shut-up," Mega Man interrupts, blasting GutsMan right away.

Once GutsMan is knocked down, Magnet Man commands, "Get 'em!"

The Robot Masters begin charging at the Light siblings and their animal companions, but the Lights are clearly ready for this fight, despite being outnumbered.
Mega Man in particular is so fueled by vengeance, he would have taken on the whole of Dr. Wily's army by himself if he had to.

Fire Man uses his double flamethrower arms at ProtoMan, who gets his shield up in front of himself to block the fire barrage. Tango then springs into action and leaps into Fire Man's face, causing him to abandon attacking Proto. This clears the way for Proto to blast Fire Man and dispatch him.

Meanwhile, Bright Man charges his bulb, about to use the bright flash once again. And if he does manage to use it, this fight will be over very quickly.
Roll produces a can opener from her utility arm and detaches it, throwing it hard with her right hand at Bright Man's bulb, and it finds its mark, fracturing the bulb and crippling Bright Man's key ability.

"Oh, nooooo!" Bright Man shrieks, just before Mega Man blasts him down.

Afterwards, Mega Man reaches for Bright Man's fallen body to copy his Bright Flash, which would even the odds real quick. But, Quick Man dashes in and tackles Mega Man away.

"Not so fast, Mega Geek! You can't get Bright Man! I'm quicker!" Quick Man blathers.

As he tries to scrap with Quick Man, Mega hollers, "Proto! Copy Bright Man's weapon!"

"No problem," Proto says, taking his shield and smacking Shadow Man with it and making a run for Bright Man's body.

But, Proto's run is cut off by Hard Man's Hard Fist. The rotund Robot Master taunts, "Heh-heh! Couldn't block that one, could you, traitor?"

"Beeeeeeat!" calls Beat, who swoops in and flies directly into Hard Man's face, right between his eyes, disorienting the large Robot Master.

Roll calls, "Rush, get to Bright Man! I'll cover you!"

Rush and Roll make a run for Bright Man and Roll draws her frying pan, whacking Crystal Man and Dust Man on her way through. Just before they could reach the fallen Robot Master, Top Man spins through and collides with Rush, knocking him away. At the same time, Roll gets zapped in her back by ElecMan's electrical energy, and her body jerks violently before she falls to the ground.
If it were not for the protective vest she is wearing tonight, she could have been badly damaged.

As Roll winces on the floor, ElecMan looms over her, wearing a lecherous grin on his face as electrical energy crackles from his fingertips.

"Top Man isn't interested in you anymore, Mega Babe. But, you could still get a real charge out of me, if you're interested."

"Not interested, creep," Roll sneers back.

"Your loss, toots. I hope you like it rough," ElecMan says, about to zap Roll again.

Before he could electrocute Roll, though, Tango stands across from ElecMan, hissing loudly and prepared to pounce on him again.

"Oooooh, no! Not you again!" ElecMan fears, backing away from Tango, "Get away from me, you stupid cat, or I'll fry you!"

"I'll help you with that, Elec Man," Top Man says, spinning himself at top speed again and approaching Tango.

Tango turns his attention to the spinning Top Man, and quickly hops his way around the Robot Master to evade him. Meanwhile, ElecMan is lining up Tango for a shot.

"Try to keep the little runt still!" Elec Man says.

"Not tonight, sucker," Roll says, getting back to her feet and walloping ElecMan in the head with her frying pan for the second time tonight.

Meanwhile, Top Man is now being menaced not just by Tango, but also by Rush who has gotten himself back up. Now, instead of the Robot Master going after them, they are targeting him, and with Roll back on her feet, it's not looking good for Toppy.

As he spins, Top Man hollers, "Could use a little help here!"

Then, ProtoMan throws his shield at Top Man, taking Top Man spinning out of control and directly toward his fellow Robot Masters. Toppy winds up colliding with some of them too, which only hurts their odds against the Lights even further.

"You wanted help? That helped. A lot," Proto quips...

Meanwhile, Mega Man has been preoccupied with battling Quick Man, which is never an easy task thanks to Quick Man's speed.
Mega tries blasting Quick Man, but the Robot Master zooms out of the way and taunts his enemy.

"Too quick for you! You're always too slow!" Quick Man blurts.

By now, Mega Man has had enough of Quick Man and the frustration shows on his face. He switches off his plasma cannon and is left hand comes back into place, making this fight a hand-to-hand matter instead.
Mega then begins throwing left haymaker punches at Quick Man, who quickly bobs and weaves around to avoid punched out.

"Ha-ha! Bob and weave! Rope-a-Dope! Too Quick for you!" Quick Man goads.

Mega then rears back for one strong left punch and Quick is already about to lean to Mega's right, but Mega was counting on this. Mega then throws a hard right punch right to Quick Man's jaw, which makes a guttural 'clunk' noise on contact.
As Quick Man ruefully shakes his head, Mega rapidly switches back to blaster mode and fires two blasts into Quick Man to finally take care of him... quickly.

After Mega Man grabs Quick Man's arm to copy his Quick Boomerang weapon, he remarks, "I'll be needing this more than you."

Mega Man then spins on his heels and switches to the Quick Boomerang, firing several of the boomerang projectiles at the surrounding Robot Masters.

Elsewhere, ProtoMan copies both ElecMan and Top Man's powers. The first Robot Master to challenge him next is Bubble Man, who lunges at Proto. But, Roll uses her Plumber's snake again, whipping it around Bubble Man's neck and yanking him down face-first to the floor.

"Here's another one, Proto," she calls.

Proto dashes to Bubble Man's side and copies his weapon... now he has Bubble Lead and ElecMan's Hyper Beam electricity, which could make for quite the combination... "I've got an idea."

"What'ssssss taking sssssso long? Desssssstroy them!" Snake Man hisses.

ProtoMan then produces several Bubble Lead bubbles, then quickly switches to the Hyper Beam power once they are near the charging Robot Masters and emits some electricity, which hits the bubbles as well as nearby Robot Masters, causing those effected to violently convulse.

Meanwhile, Mega Man takes on several Robot Masters nearby, first firing Quick Boomerangs in the direction of Crash Man, who had just fired a Crash Bomb in Mega' direction. However, the boomerangs strike the Crash Bomb to stop it in its tracks and push it back toward Crash Man, where his own bomb lands at his feet, making a chirping sound as it counts down.

Crash Man blurts, "Uh-oh!"

The Crash Bomb detonates right below Crash Man, sending him flying into the air and severely damaging his legs.
Mega Man slides right past Crash Man as he lands, grabbing the fallen Robot Master's arm to copy his bomb-making ability, only to encounter Stone Man, who tries to clobber the Defender with both of his stony fists, but Mega rolls himself out of danger.
Mega just as quickly fires a Crash Bomb from his plasma canon.

"Catch!" he calls.

The Crash Bomb latches itself into Stone Man's chest and he then fumbles in panic with it chirps away.

"Help! Get this thing off me!" he panics, racing to Pump Man.

The other Robot Masters run away in fear, and Pump Man tries to escape too when the chirping stops and the bomb blows, taking Pump Man and Stone Man out of the equation.

As Snake Man fires several Search snakes at Mega Man, Roll utilizes her powerful vacuum power and intercepts them. And after a keystroke on her utility arm's side panel, her vacuum is put into reverse mode, spitting the Snakes right back out at Snake Man.
The Search Snakes latch themselves to Snake Man's arm and his 'tail' behind his head, biting him.

"Ouch! Get yoursssssselvesssssss off me!" he panics.

ProtoMan then blasts Snake Man twice to take him down and out, and races over to copy the Search Snake power.

"Thanks for the assist," he says to Roll.

Mega Man, meanwhile, sees Bright Man's fallen body nearby and is about to make another go at copying his Bright Flash. But, GutsMan, Cut Man and Magnet Man get in the way.

Cut Man wheezes, "We're cutting you off, Mega Dweeb! Eh-heh! Eh-heh!"

"We've had enough of you and your stupid family hero" Magnet Man adds.

GutsMan concludes, "We're finally gonna crunch you up like a ball o' foil, Mega Twerp!"

"We say otherwise, boys," Mega Man declares.

GutsMan scoffs, "And who's we?"

In response, Mega Man sharply whistles, catching the attention of Rush who sprints off and jets directly at GutsMan, kicking him hard in his infamous backside (Where else?)
The powerful GutsMan stumbles forward toward Mega Man, who grabs Gutsy's large left forearm and copies his strength. Right after, Mega utilizes his newfound power from GutsMan and his left forearm changes appearance, now looking amplified and capable of more strength than ever.

GutsMan bemoans, "NO! Now you've got my power!"

"Who's the twerp now, Gutsy?" Mega says before punching GutsMan hard with the Super Arm power, sending the large robot into the air and landing atop of Magnet Man and taking him down and out before he could use his Magnet Missiles.

This leaves Cut Man left, and the orange robot's eyes are wide and he nervously laughs as the cutters atop his head open and close. Though he tries to be ready to fight, he is clearly worried.

"Eh-heh! You know, Mega Man, eh-heh, you aren't cut out for this hero stuff. Eh-heh!" Cut Man says, trying to use false bravado. He then puts his orange hands up in a martial arts stance. "Watch out! Eh-heh-heh-heh! I know Kung-Fu! Heh, Eh-heh!"

"Hey, Cut Man. I've got a pun for you," Mega Man says... "Rock smashes Scissors."

Mega Man clubbers Cut Man with an overhead strike with the Super Arm, crumpling the cutters on Cut Man's round head and flattening the top of his head too. And his neck was compressed under the pressure of the blow, so it doesn't look like Cut Man has much of a neck anymore, either.

In a strained voice, Cut Man croaks, "I don't get it... mleeeeeeh," before falling to the floor.

"I'll explain it next time. Gotta fly," Mega says.

Mega Man then gets on Rush's back in a prone position after the robocanine transforms into jet mode and speeds towards Bright Man's fallen body, allowing Mega to reach out and grab the Wily bot's arm and finally copy the Bright Flash power.

Mega then gives the command to Roll, Proto and the animal bots, "Now, team!"

Mega Man switches to Bright Flash mode and a appears out of his blaster nozzle, and he, Roll and the animals close their eyes tight to protect themselves from what's coming. For ProtoMan, however, the brightness isn't a problem because of his visor.
The bulb in Mega Man's blast nozzle shines brightly with a blinding light, which severely hinders the vision of the Robot Masters affected by it.

"I'll take it from here, bro," Proto says.

As the remaining Robot Masters begin to wail and stumble around blindly, ProtoMan begins targeting his former Robot Master comrades, utilizing the various weapons he copied. Mega Man set them up, and ProtoMan is knocking them down.

Mega then leaps off Rush's back and switches to the Power Stone weapon he had copied from Stone Man earlier and fires several large stones at more of the blinded Robot Masters, until the Stone energy is depleted. Mega then switches back to the Quick Boomerang and continues the takedown of the Wily bots.

The combined effort of the Lights is working and the herd of Robot Masters is rapidly thinning as they get taken down one by one. Before too long, the siblings outnumber the remnant of the Robot Master attack force rather than the other way around.

Gravity Man searches for Mega Man through blurred vision and he finds a blue robot, thinking it's him. He uses his Gravity power to forcefully levitate his target off the ground and push him away, crashing into a nearby wall... The only problem is, it wasn't Mega Man who he just attacked. It was Air Man.
Oops.

"Got the wrong blue robot, Gravity Man," says the real Mega Man, gabbing the Robot Master's shoulder and copying his gravity power before blasting him down, and blasting the already downed Air Man just to keep him down.

Dark Man 3 fires his weapon arm blindly, sometimes taking down his fellow Robot Masters. This allows Roll to slide underneath the fire and set the Robot Master up for a knock out blow from her dreaded frying pan. She swings hard at the dome atop Dark Man's head, which houses his holographic projector, shattering the dome and damaging the projector, while also managing to knock him out as well.

ProtoMan continues to blast away at the remaining Robot Masters when Mega Man joins him.

"Let's get this over with," Mega says, using Gravity Man's power to lift the remaining robot off the ground and send them flying upward, where they all collide with the ceiling.
On their way back down, Mega and Proto blast them all with their plasma blasters until every last Robot Master has been taken out.

By now, the entire Robot Master force has been defeated, all of them knocked out on the titanium floor in varying states of damage, but none were destroyed beyond repair.
And with that, the second battle is over.

With his plasma buster nozzle smoking from all the blasting, Proto hoots, "WHEW! My blaster's so hot I think I'm startin' to sweat."

"Yeah, that was a good workout," Roll quips.

Mega Man's demeanor is still more serious than normal, heading deeper into Skull Fortress and not taking any time out to celebrate. "That's not all of them. Keep your eyes peeled, the rest of 'em will show up soon... And Bass too."

Roll's disposition becomes more serious now too, thinking about having to battle Bass while continuing to struggle with her feelings for him.

"Yeah..." she says.

"Just leave him to us, sis," Proto says.

"That's what I'm worried about," Roll responds.

As the Lights continue their way through Skull Fortress, ProtoMan gives them directions.

"Knowing Wily, he's probably got every quick and easy path sealed, or he loaded 'em with bombs or something. So, this is the only path that will lead us to the surveillance room. The only problem is, we've got to get through whatever's behind there."

Proto then points straight ahead, to a shuttered metallic door.

Mega Man says, "I've walked through enough of these to know there's something big and bad waiting for us. Get ready."

The group moves ahead and the first door rises, revealing an identical door a little further down a narrow corridor. The Light siblings now have their weapons drawn as they approach the second door, which opens.
Inside, however, instead of a large mechanical monstrosity or more Robot Masters, there is just an empty space with another shutter door on the far end of the room.
Upon closer examination, the floor of the room is many feet down and the floor itself along with the ceiling have several sharp spikes adhered to them.
The whole room is one giant spike-ridden death trap.

"Watch that first step, everyone," Mega says, looking down at the floor of spikes.

"This was a battle room. It looks like Wily had it remodeled," Proto says, "He always said he wanted to have spikes all over the place in case you showed up again."

Then, there is a light purple flash a few feet away, along with a 'whoosh' sound. The flash dims, revealing this is the creation of a holographic image taking the shape of a cube.

"Oh! He finally got those to work," Proto says.

Mega asks, "What are they?"

"Holographic blocks," Proto says as a second block appears ahead and slightly above the first.

Proto continues, "They're holographic, but when they're active, they are solid enough to stand on."

The first holographic block then disappears as a third block appears further away from the second. A few seconds later, a fourth block appears just as the second one disappears.

"The only catch is, only two appear at a time. The system can't do more than that," Proto says.

"Wily totally ripped this off from your video game, Mega," Roll remarks.

"Sure looks like it. All we have to do is figure out the pattern," Mega surmises.

Further on, two more blocks appear in sequence, replacing the two blocks before. When the fifth block disappears, the first block returns.

"You guys can figure out the pattern. I'll take the easy way," Roll says. "Rush! Jet!"

Rush barks and transforms into jet board mode, and Roll steps aboard, gliding her to the other door on the far end of the spike room, which opens as they approach.

Proto scoffs, "I don't need to cheat. I can do this the way it's meant to be done."

"It would save us time if we used Rush, Proto," Mega says.

"I'm a perfectionist, bro. Besides, I need to show Wily how overrated these damn blocks are," Proto retorts, leaping with Tango to the first block when it reappears.

Proto leaps his way through the spike room, hopping from block to block until he and Tango reach the open door where Roll and Rush await them.

Proto smirks, "Easy."

"Always such a showoff," Roll sighs.

Instead of waiting for Rush, Mega Man leaps to the first holographic block as it reappears. Beat flies right beside him.

Mega calls, "Rush, meet me halfway."

Rush barks and is about to jet back into the spike room. But, just then, the shutter doors slam back down on their own, trapping Mega Man inside the spike room, and locking the others out.

"What just happened?" a panicked Roll asks.

"It's Wily," Proto says as he tries kicking the door open to no avail.

"Help me get the door open!" Roll says, frantically searching her utility arm accessories as Rush scratches at the door.

"There's only one way. Everyone, back up," Proto says, drawing his blaster and firing a steady stream of plasma energy at the door.

Mega Man watched from afar as the door on the far end of the room closed while he was still standing on the first holographic block. The second block has already materialized, which means he will be falling any second.

"Uh-oh!"

Mega Man's jumps from block one just as it disappears and lands on block two, then just as quickly sprints to block three, with Beat flying right beside him.
Then, there is a rumbling sound coming from the spike-covered ceiling and floor. It looks like two sections of the spikes are separating from the rest and are beginning to move toward each other, with Mega Man caught in the middle.

"So that's why he wanted spikes," Mega remarks.

"Beat-Beat-BEAT!"

Mega looks ahead where Beat is, between blocks three and four, just low enough for Mega to hop from him to the next bock. Beat's feet open and close, reaching for him. Taking Beat's cue, Mega jumps from block three and grabs onto Beat, who manages to maintain the Defender's weight.
The spike beds collide with each other as the block disappears, clanging together.

Mega then swings from Beat's grasp to Block four and fires several blasts at the spike trap, destroying it, sending it falling to the titanium floor with a crash.
But, before Mega Man could focus on trying to reach the door, another section of the spiked ceiling and floor rumbling and begins coming together like the previous set.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Mega exclaims.

It looks like there is no escape. The spike trap is long enough to cover the distance between blocks four and six, and the earlier blocks have already disappeared. Rush and the others are locked on the inside, and Mega might not be able to leap far enough and safe enough to avoid injury.

Beat chirps again, hovering where he was, but higher now, once again reaching his feet out for him. It would put a tremendous strain on Beat to carry Mega again, but it is the only choice now.

Mega Man leaps back to Beat, grabbing on to his legs again. Beat's wings flap much harder now, and he look of exasperation is clear on his face, but he keeps pushing himself to help Mega Man.

Mega continues hanging onto Beat with his right hand while he draws his plasma cannon, firing several more shots at the spike bed trap just after it clamps together, destroying it and sending the wreckage crashing down.

Proto continues melting down the door and the commotion in the battle room was audible from out here.

"Something's been going on in there, and it's not good," an extremely worried Roll says.

"I'm almost through now," Proto says, now penetrating the shutter door to burn a hole through it. Once Proto melts the door enough to create a big enough hole, he looks into the battle room along with Roll and Rush, seeing Mega Man leaping to holographic block five, holding Beat under his arm.

"Mega! Are you alright?"

Mega replies, "We're okay. But, I think I ruined Dr. Wily's spikes."

Mega jumps from block five to block six, adding, "And Proto, Roll was right. It would have been easier with Rush."

Proto, Roll, Rush and Tango clear the way as Mega leaps through the newly made hole In the door to rejoin them.

Roll asks, "Is Beat okay?"

"He's fine. He just needs a five minute break," Mega says.

Beat sighs, "Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat..."

Back in the command center room, Dr. Wily has watched the proceedings through Skull Fortress' extensive surveillance network. And though he is still confident that he will be rid of Mega Man forever tonight, the Mad Doctor is beginning to feel the pressure mounting.

He just witnessed the Lights tear through much of his outer defenses and a sizeable swath of his Robot Masters like they were almost nothing. And right outside the fortress' walls are squadrons of military aircraft and carriers loaded with soldiers, all of whom will be coming for him along with Mega Man once the rest of the outer defenses are offline.

Escaping - or even surviving - could potentially be difficult for Dr. Wily, and he knows it. But, he refuses to evacuate the fortress. Not in his moment of triumph.
As long as he still has Bass under his command and the Jadous Sphere shard in his possession, Dr. Wily assures himself that he will not fall.
Even with the Ultimate Robot unable to awaken just yet, Dr. Wily is certain that his victory is still at hand.
But, with Mega Man and his family on the approach, one unsettling thought pops into Dr. Wily's diseased mind... What if they find the Ultimate Robot?
They could turn him like they did ProtoMan, or reprogram him like they did to Drill Man.
Then, victory would be sealed for Mega Man instead of Dr. Wily.

Dr Wily looks to his side, where the pod containing his ultimate robot still rests He cannot lose this robot. He is too important... He will be too important.
Every measure must be taken to prevent him from falling into someone else's hands.

Dr. Wily then turns to the Sniper Joe guards standing at the entrance to the command center.

"You two," he commands, "Take the pod with my ultimate robot to Storage Room Beta. If he needs to be put away, I will be there when he goes."

The Sniper Joes nod and both begin carrying away the pod with the ultimate robot sealed inside, leaving Dr. Wily alone for now as he beings clutching the Jadous Sphere shard gun tighter now.

"You are doing better than I thought you would. You even made it past my spikes. Most impressive, indeed," Wily says into his communicator, broadcasting his voice through the fortress for Mega Man to hear.
"But, listen to me, boy. You will not defeat what I have in store for you. You cannot defeat what I have left for you. None of you can! And Proto... I know you can hear me, too... You may not like what I must do to your siblings. But, in time, you will accept it."

As Dr. Wily watches the video feed of the Light siblings travelling through Skull Fortress, he sees ProtoMan aiming his blaster directly at one of the cameras, then blasting it. The live video feed is suddenly replaced with static.

Dr. Wily then frowns as he sees that Proto clearly has an animus towards him, that he has not forgotten how badly things ended between them last year. Very briefly, Wily feels some of that anger bubbling back to the surface, that same anger which inspired Albert to torture Proto in those final weeks for refusing to destroy his own brother.
But Albert quickly buries those angry feelings back down again. He wants Proto back, not to torture him like he did before. And he does not want to be angry with him again either, or else he might risk losing Proto again.

"Right down here," ProtoMan calls, pointing to the Fortress' security and surveillance room.

The Lights make their way to the room, where two more Sniper Joes stand guard. Mega Man and ProtoMan fire their plasma cannons at the Joes, who both use their shields to protect themselves from the blasts, but they are under so much constant fire, they completely miss Rush and Tango dashing right for them and biting their legs.
Once the Joes are focused on trying to shake off Rush and Tango, Roll runs right up to them and wails on one of the Joes with her frying pan, then delivers a fierce savate kick to the head of the other.

Afterwards, Roll turns to the door, which is marked and delivers another hard kick to the door itself, letting out a "YAH!" and bashing it open.

Proto mutters to Mega, "Imagine what she could do with a blaster."

"I don't think she needs one," Mega replies.

The Light's enter the room, which is lined with several pieces of tall computer equipment that keeps Skull Fortress secure. It was here that Peekaboo the Met singlehandedly crippled the Fortress' security on the night Bass had kidnapped Roll last year. It was also the night Roll first met the little guy and rescued him.

"If it's simple enough for a Met to pull of, we can too," Proto remarks, looking around for something. "Except... Wily must have changed something."

Mega asks, "What?"

"I don't see a bunch of cables and wires cobbled together around here. He must've had 'em covered up since then."

"So, now what do we do?" Roll asks.

"I've got an idea," Mega Man says, drawing his blaster again and firing a plasma shot at one of the tall computer towers, causing sparks to fly out of it.
He concludes, "Destroy everything in here. Shouldn't that work?"

"It'll take more time, but yeah, pretty much," Proto answers, drawing his own blaster and opening fire on Dr. Wily's security nerve center.

Mega Man asks, "Which one controls all the cameras?"

"Uh... that one, I think," Proto says, pointing to a tower over in the corner of the room.

"Leave that one alone. I want Wily to watch his fortress fall apart," Mega says with spite.

In the Command Center room Dr. Wily watches the feed from the security room, looking at the Light siblings gradually destroying the systems powering the fortress' extensive security measures.
Shortly afterwards, a loud alarm begins to wail through the fortress. That means the rest of the countermeasures outside are now down and the fortress is vulnerable to attack.

Wily then stares at the radar as he slowly strokes his cleft chin, watching as the blips representing the military aircraft outside Skull Fortress' walls begin to come closer now, flying past the walls.
Soon, there will be dogfighting directly over him right outside, and they might even begin dropping bombs on the fortress with him in it.

Even with the confidence that he will still win tonight, Dr. Wily's anxiety and frustration about his current situation slowly begins to settle in.
With Mega Man and company tearing through his robots and creations, and with the cavalry invading Skull Fortress airspace, Dr. Wily's pride and ego are being hurt.

Albert could not help but notice that the video surveillance feeds are all still up and running and he can see the Lights in that security room, concluding their assault on it.
Mega Man then finds the camera situated in the corner of the security/surveillance room and stares at it, as if he were staring at Dr. Wily himself.

Wily grabs his communicator again, calling, "Enjoy it while it lasts, you mechanical bastard! You won't win here tonight! You CAN'T WIN!"

Mega Man keeps staring into the camera, with a coldness to his eyes he has never really had before.
He means business. He wants vengeance.
Mega then aims his plasma cannon at the camera and blasts it out, resulting in another screen full of static for Dr. Wily.

Wily then grabs his communicator again and growls, "Bass, they are tearing through my fortress! Now would be an excellent time to intercept them!"

Bass then responds, sounding even more serious than normal... "I'm here... The only way Mega Man and the traitor can get to you is through me."

"Then, see to it they don't get through you," Wily orders. He then adds, "And that goes for their dear sister too."

Bass remains silent, and Dr. Wily is certain that it is because he mentioned Roll.

Wily manipulates, "You must forget her, Bass. She has already forgotten you... She hates you!"

After another pause, Bass awkwardly responds, "I... can... handle her."

"I'm counting on it, Bass," Dr. Wily frowns, "I'm counting on it."

The battles that have already been waged tonight on the grounds of Skull Fortress have been intense and they have not gone Dr. Wily's way. But, the war is not over yet.
However, the battles that are about to be waged here will be the decisive battles in the war for Everlasting Peace... The final battles.

After years of destruction, heartache and tribulations, the war is about to end, at long last.

Who will win? ... Who will survive?

Author's notes:

Happy Defender Day, everyone! Today is the ninth anniversary of the very first chapter being posted here on FFN. (And the chapters were a lot shorter back then, weren't they?)
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have followed this story and enjoyed it, whether you've been here since 2011 or just started recently.
I admit, there were a few times I wanted to quit, but your encouragement helped keep this alive.

As you can see, I finally found a way to included those annoying holographic blocks from every classic series Mega Man game. It wouldn't be a trip through Skull Fortress without them. And spikes, too
(Yes, I've seen the animated short "Dr. Wily Fails at Life" too.)

I had briefly considered posting both halves of this chapter as one big chapter, but it would have been around 19,000 words, and I did not want to force everyone to slog through a gargantuan-sized chapter. So, I split them up.
The second part of Wily's Last Stand will be posted very soon, likely within the week, so stay tuned. You won't have to wait very long for it this time. I just need a little more time to get it right.
And you will not want to miss it.

Stay safe, everyone, and thank you again for reading. Please remember to leave a review or a comment. And if you see any typos or continuity errors so bad that Thanos would use the Infinity Gauntlet to erase half of this fic just to get rid of it, please DM me right away.