Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 30 - Thanks for the Memories

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Previously, the Digger quartet of Nytetrayn, Fenix, Janine, and MegaMan Blade (a spirit in Adam Powers' sword who was currently borrowing his body) had just narrowly escaped the mighty Annihilator Unit, MegaMan Magnus, whose programming was to destroy Janine. They now rode the elevator down to the previously unexplored sixth level of this strange ruin on Archie Island, hoping to find a way to restore the rest of Janine's lost memories.

Nytetrayn tapped his foot as the elevator descended. Fenix fiddled with his guns.

When the elevator stopped, it opened up into a room containing unusual circuit-like patterns spread all across the walls, floor, and ceiling. The patterns pulsed with a glowing red aura, and led to a large door with what appeared to be a Reaverbot eye set into it.

"I think it's watching us," said Fenix.

MegaMan Blade's eyes glowed bright red, while the runes on his sword glowed a bright blue, which bathed the entire blade in a dull light. "Beyond this door is the facility's administrator," he told the others. "Let's crash his party."

"Sounds like fun," Janine said, as she pounded her fist into her other palm.

As Blade ran up to the door, the eye glowed for a moment before the different panels slid apart.

The others followed right behind him, as the next room opened up to them. It was a huge, circular chamber, with large cables hanging from the ceiling in bundles. Down from within them came a form which would have seemed to be floating, were it not for the cables from which it was suspended. Though the head seemed human in nature, with blue hair flowing from atop its head, the rest – what they could see, at least – seemed to be mechanical. The arms, in particular, were the only other body parts visible, as the rest was covered with what appeared to be a robe composed of metallic fibers, adorned with a mantle across its shoulders. Its eyelids blinked open, revealing gray eyes beneath.

"Is that the administrator?" asked Nytetrayn.

The being's mouth moved, and from it came the voice they had heard throughout the rest of the ruin, soft but lacking inflection. "Welcome to Archive Island. And yes, I am the administrator of this facility."

"Whoop-dee doo," said Fenix.

"I am Bureaucratic Unit MegaMan Rom. I am responsible for coordinating all the records of Elysium and Eden."

"Okay," said Nytetrayn. "So we're here... that means you'll tell Janine what she needs to know, right?"

"I have the backups of Bureaucratic Unit Janine's memory files, yes."

"Cool!" said Janine.

"Finally!" added Nytetrayn.

"I didn't know they gave the 'MegaMan' designation to bureaucratic models," Blade said, as he put his hand to his chin.

"Why do they call you 'Rom,' anyway?" asked Nytetrayn.

"I control access to all records from Elysium and Eden. This is why they call me 'Rom.' And the naming process was changed after your 'death,' MegaMan Blade. I have been watching and monitoring your progress through the facility. I assume the reason why you are here is to learn of what happened after your 'death.' Am I correct?"

"Yeah," said Blade, "although I'm not sure how I'll pick up the memory files, as I'm not in my original body."

"Well," said Rom, "you may not need to worry about that, yet. First, I must return to Janine the memory files she is missing. Then we will see about you. But before I can do any of that: Janine, since you are a techno-organic model, I must ask you to remain in this facility."

"Let me think about that for a min– NO!" Janine said, wincing.

"...what's that have to do with anything?" asked Nytetrayn.

"As MegaMan Magnus pointed out, a system-wide decree has been made that all techno-organics must remain inside their respective facilities. Only with approval from Mother may I allow you to leave this facility. If you choose not to heed the decree, I will be forced to terminate your program."

"How?!" Janine shouted. "You're cabled to the freakin' wall!"

"Wait," said Nytetrayn. "So, why don't you just get approval from your mom, if that's all you need?"

"Hmmmm... an unregistered unit. This, I had not counted on. And appearances can be deceiving. Approval from Mother is hard to get, and takes some time. However, I will request special permission from Mother before I resort to any drastic measures."

"Good idea," said Nytetrayn.

"Thank you."

"Wow," said Fenix. "You're a lot more accommodating than most Reaverbots we've met."

MegaMan Rom's eyes began to glow, and his face went slack for several moments.

"Quick, rifle through his pockets," said Fenix.

"He doesn't have any," Blade pointed out.

"I heard that," said Rom.

Fenix chuckled.

After about ten minutes of this, MegaMan Rom's eyes stopped glowing, and his face returned to normal.

"Welcome back," said Nytetrayn.

"Hmmm... It appears that Mother may honor your request... although, she has not sent a reply back yet. In the meantime, I will attempt to find a way to restore MegaMan Blade's memory files."

"Nifty," said Janine.

"When does Jan get hers back?" asked Nyte.

Rom appeared to be thinking. "Once I get approval from Mother. It would not do to restore her memory if she is just going to be destroyed anyway."

Janine wasn't sure how to take that.

"Sounds like he wants you dead either way," Nyte said to Janine.

She shrugged. "At least he's polite about it."

"No, I do not," Rom said. "I simply wish for the most efficient solution without resorting to violence, if possible. Janine's missing memory files are quite large, and will take quite a bit of time to restore."

Rom pivoted to face Blade. "As for your... unique situation..."

"Hmm," said Blade. "My soul is stored in the sword, so..."

"Perhaps I could try inducing a transfer directly to the sword," Rom said, as a pedestal rose seamlessly out of the floor, and a slot opened on its surface. "Insert the sword into this slot, and I will attempt to give you the data you seek, MegaMan Blade."

Blade slowly approached the pedestal, and carefully inserted the sword. Nothing seemed to be happening yet. "Umm..."

"Transfer on standby," said Rom. "Receiving reply from Mother."

The group of Diggers looked at one another quietly as they waited for what Rom would say next.

"Approval accepted. Designated unit Janine is free to enter and leave this facility as desired, as well as any other facility. Designated unit will return to this facility every three years to undergo systems integrity testing, or else will be shut down temporarily until she is returned to this facility."

"...systems integrity...? Ehh, whatever," Janine said, as she folded her arms and pouted slightly.

"Okay, that doesn't sound too unreasonable, I suppose," said Nyte. "For how long?"

"Three of these testing sessions will be required before they may be discontinued permanently," said Rom.

"Think of it as like a check-up," Nyte told Janine, as he tried to cheer her up. "Like going to the doctor!"

"It is to assure the Mother unit that you will not harm humans. Mother is trying to prevent another East incident."

"You can assure Mother that I was more pissed off about the East incident than she was," Janine said, a little temperamentally.

"Better mark this on your calendar," Nyte said.

"Hmmm," said Rom. "It would seem that I cannot shut down MegaMan Magnus's battle programs. You will need to fight him or escape from him before you can leave. However, in the interest of efficiency, I will restore your memory files now. I will synchronize the download with that for MegaMan Blade's download, as much of the data can be extrapolated from Janine's memory files. Also, I will assure Mother of your feelings towards East. Please approach me."

Janine stepped forward.

"So, we have to fight the Reaverbot boy scout on the way out, huh?" Nyte asked.

"It would appear so."

"Can't you can't do anything for him?" Janine asked. "Magnus... he was my friend, Rom. He deserves better than being locked up in here!"

MegaMan Rom raised one of his very large hands, and held it out over Jan's head. A blue-ish glow surrounded her. A reddish one flowed up the sword and engulfed Blade in a similar fashion.

"Accessing files..."

Fenix started, but stayed where he was.

"I think it's supposed to do that," Nyte said to Fenix, who nodded shortly in response.

"Updating memory of Unit 'Janine.' Updating memory of Unit 'MegaMan Blade.'"

The glow slowly faded from around each of them, and Rom withdrew his hand.

Blade grunted, and pulled the sword out of the slot. "Ohhh... that's what happened... and that's why... I see..."

The slot on the pedestal closed and it descended back into the floor, practically invisible to the naked eye once again. Rom smiled a little.

Janine blinked. "Holy god..." she said, as her eyes widened.

"What?" Nyte said. "What is it?"

Janine reflexively covered her chest. "I've been running around practically naked!"

Fenix's eyes widened.

"So?" said Nyte. "What's so different about that?"

"...wait, you're right," Janine said, and shrugged.

"Don't scare me like that!" said Fenix.

Janine gave him a flirtatious wink, while Nyte snickered.

"Well, it seems she finally has all of her memory back," said Blade. "Thanks, Rom."

"It was my pleasure, assuredly."

"Thanks, Rom!" said Janine. "I guess I'll see you again in three years."

"Yeah, looks like you MegaMans aren't a bad bunch," Nyte said, looking a little relaxed at that.

"Thank you," Rom said. "I surmise that all of you together will be able to defeat MegaMan Magnus. And do not worry about terminating him. Rest assured, I will back up his program before you destroy him, and I will have him rebuilt."

"...wait, so we're supposed to off him?" Nyte asked. "That just seems a little... wrong."

"That's not good," said Fenix.

"You must at least disable him enough to allow you to escape, which would entail destroying much of his locomotion and energy generation capabilities."

"Um, Rom?" said Janine. "He's an Annihilator Unit. He was designed to kill things like us."

"Yes, but you have something with you that may turn the tide. An unregistered unit with unknown powers. I did not report it to Mother, because it would entail much more work and delay for you."

"...an unregistered model...?" said Fenix.

"Alright," Nyte said, as he cracked his knuckles. "Let's get to it, then." For some reason, he almost seemed strangely excited about the prospect of fighting this guy.

"Nyte, you shouldn't be so excited," said Janine. "This guy went toe-to-toe with East, after all. Sherman had to gore him through the head with a refractor to take him down."

"Hey, we took out East, we can take him down, too," said Nyte. "It's simple math: Us > East > Magnus, if I understand it all right, and the numbers don't lie. C'mon, let's get to it!"

"If you took out Sherman East, then you are more than a match for MegaMan Magnus. But be warned, do not underestimate him. He is still very powerful."

"We don't have any refractors to stab him with, though," Janine said, then muttered, "I can't believe I said that," to herself.

"True," Nyte said. "So we'll find another way."

"Actually, you do," said Rom. Nyte looked to the MegaMan inquisitively. "The sword that MegaMan Blade carries is made of a Class 4 psycho-reactive refractor, which has been hollowed and filled with adamantium metal. Its edge is molecular. It should be capable of bringing down MegaMan Magnus, once he is weakened."

"Sounds good to me," said Nyte.

Janine looked a bit forlorn by the prospect.

Fenix patted her on the shoulder. "Relax, it's not like he's your ex, or something."

Janine blushed, and looked away.

Fenix's jaw dropped behind his visored helmet. "But... he was... robot... metal all over... not anatomically correct!"

"Maybe he had a long tongue?" Nyte suggested.

"You'd be surprised what they can hide under all that armor..." Janine said.

"...or that," Nyte added.

Fenix just stared, gobsmacked.

"Anyway, don't worry. We'll just weaken him," Nyte told Janine with a smile.

"Good," Janine said with sad eyes.

"From the sounds of things, our new friend here will fix him up after, good as new, so he won't have to deal with the conflict of crying over our dead corpses."

"I will have him rebuilt with updated programs so that this will not occur again, after you disable him," Rom said. "I bid you good luck, and farewell."

"Thank you kindly," said Fenix.

"Thanks, Rom!" added Janine.

"Yeah, thanks!" said Nyte, as he started for the elevator, with the others soon following.

"You are all quite welcome. Now, if you will excuse me, I will proceed to back up MegaMan Magnus's files, and attempt to help hold him back for you." With that, MegaMan Rom's eyes closed once more, and his head nodded down.

"You okay?" Nyte asked Blade on the elevator ride up.

"I'm fine, why?"

"Well, your eyes are glowing, for one."

"They always do that."

"Really? Huh. Never noticed."

As the elevator reached its destination, the door opened to an agitated MegaMan Magnus, who was pacing back and forth.

"Yo, Superman!" said Nyte. "Miss us?"

"Superwho, now?"

Nyte just shook his head.

"So, what's the good word? I'm surprised Mr. Disembodied didn't try to kill you himself."

"Don't worry about it," Nyte said, smiling. "He was actually pretty cool about it. And he said we can go now, too."

"Really? Interesting..."

"So, if it's alright," Nyte continued as he stepped off the elevator. "We just have to get Jan brought in for her tri-annual check-up, and..."

"Sure you can ju– ARGH!" MegaMan Magnus shuddered and doubled over, and grabbed at his head with both hands

"...uh-oh."

"Dammit! Rom!" Magnus shouted. "What the hell is going on?!"

"From what I hear," said Blade, "you can't get your battle programs to deactivate."

"That was sort of the other part he mentioned..." Nyte said. "Seems he can't reprogram you while you're up and around..."

"Correction," said MegaMan Rom's voice, "I cannot reprogram him while his battle programs are active. And they will not shut down for some reason."

"Whups, sorry about that," said Nyte.

"Dammit, Mother," said Magnus, eyes wincing in pain. "If I ever get out of here, I'm gonna kill that bitch!"

Janine looked sympathetic.

"Is that really any way to talk about your mom?" asked Nytetrayn, to Fenix's chuckling amusement. "I mean, the programming sucks, I admit, but..."

"It's a special situation," said Magnus.

"Reprogramming an Annihilator unit while its battle programs are active is a Class 7 offense, punishable by immediate, permanent deactivation," said the voice of Rom.

MegaMan Magnus slowly raised his hand, and a massive blood-red sword composed of pure energy formed in it.

"Dang," said Nyte.

***

Back up on the surface, Celeste had resumed wandering a bit, and had been collecting stray refractor shards in some of the most out-of-the-way places imaginable. That is, until a voice rang through the communicator she'd been given.

"Miss Celeste?"

"Hmm?" she said, as she answered the summons. "Yeah, Alpha?"

"I'm detecting a very powerful energy source underground," the Reaverbot assistant told her. "Please come back to the ship. It may not be safe to stay out near the ruins."

"Um, okay, if you're sure."

"Thank you."

Celeste stuffed a few more refractors into her knapsack, and headed back for the Sky Shark.

***

Back underground, MegaMan Magnus stood before the Diggers with his enormous crimson energy blade in his hand.

"Alright," he said. "Well, we'll just have to... to... dammit, hold on." He waved the sword around, apparently trying to shake it free of his hand. "Crap! Once this thing hardens, there's just no getting it to go down!"

After staring for a moment at the frantically-waving Magnus, Nyte turned to Janine. "Are ALL of you like this?"

"YOU try being locked up for hundreds of years with nothing else to think about!"

"...point."

Fenix chuckled, while Magnus continued trying to shake the blade free of his hand, making oscillating humming sounds as it swung this way and that.

"Mother's failsafe system seems to be that once battle programs are engaged for this situation, they cannot be disengaged until the unit either destroys the target or is itself destroyed," Rom said.

Magnus muttered something about paranoid humans.

"However," Rom continued, "I am allowed to do a memory backup while battle programs are active, which is what I am doing right now. Do not worry, my friend. They may disable you, but I will have you repaired or rebuilt."

Nyte whispered to the others, "We could just make a break for it while he deals with himself..."

"I'm sorry, Magnus," Blade said as he stepped off the elevator and into the room.

"I'm not so much worried about them hurting me, as I am worried about damaging Jan's perfect body," Magnus said.

"Awww, that's so sweet," Janine said, sadly.

Blade chuckled a bit. Fenix was shaking with laughter. Nyte was just speechless.

"I wouldn't worry about that," said Blade. "She has, after all, been locked up with "Big Willie" for quite awhile. I think she can take just about anything."

Janine shuddered. "That bastard... all that thumping..."

"Hey, now, that's not the only thumping you've endured," Fenix said proudly, as he made a gesture like he was wiping away a tear after all the laughter. "In fact, I'd say you've endured a whole lot more than that!"

An awkward silence followed, broken only when MegaMan Magnus, his eyes aglow, asked, "How do you know?"

"What, are you kidding? We've been humping like rabb– oh shit you're her ex-boyfriend..."

Janine groaned and smacked herself in the forehead.

"Duh," said Blade.

"Smooth," added Nyte.

"I'd be offended if I wasn't dead," said Magnus. "Still gonna kill you, though."

"What!? Why?" asked Fenix, eyes widened.

"On principle."

"...oh, okay."

"You're humping his woman, dummy," said Blade. "If I was in his place, I'd kill you too."

"Janine just looked back and forth between them, stupefied. "Now, come on, guys. There's no reason to fight over little old me..."

"I think they each have at least two," Nyte said.

"...you can share!" With that, Janine clasped her hands and went into a happy daze, as she imagined the possibilities.

Everyone looked at Janine in stunned silence, Magnus with his eyes wide.

"Woo! I'm getting kinda dizzy now!" she said.

"Well, we're gonna hafta fight him anyways, so why not make it interesting?" said Blade.

Fenix drew his sabers. "Right, let's make this quick."

"Good idea," Magnus said, then shuddered. "Anyhow, MAGNUS ARC!" With that, he swung the energy blade, which released a wave of energy that tore up the floor in its wake as it sped right towards Fenix.

As soon as Magnus began his attack, Nytetrayn let loose a blast from his Nyte-Buster to the goliath's chest, making him grunt from the impact as Fenix yelped and leaped to safety. Unfortunately, the blast didn't seem to do much more than scratch Magnus's paint job.

Janine floated up into the air, while Blade attempted to strafe Magnus with fire from his Beam Machine Gun. As Fenix tried to come up from behind, Nytetrayn went for a leaping kick to the spot he'd hit before. However, Magnus grabbed his foot in midair and whirled, slamming him into the masked Digger, eliciting grunts and yelps from the pair.

MegaMan Blade took this opportunity to leap up and swing his sword, using its energies to pelt Magnus all over with energy blades. Magnus snarled as the blades cut into him, and sparks flew about.

MegaMan Magnus returned the favor by rocketing towards Blade, his own blade leading. "SHIPPUUGA!"

Nytetrayn fired off his grappling line at Magnus's legs, tying him up before he could reach Blade. He then yanked the line, pulling the larger MegaMan's legs out from under him as Blade slashed at him with his sword, sending him tumbling to the ground as the line retracted.

Magnus snarled, as he held the shallow wound in his side. "Not... bad... for humans..."

"We're just getting started!" said Fenix, with beam sabers leading as he pounced towards Magnus's chest.

"Hey, I was once a first-class Purifier," Blade said. "Don't underestimate me. And these humans defeated East."

MegaMan Magnus grabbed the sabers by the blades, and tossed Fenix off of him. "Ahhh, I forgot..." he said, as he rose into the air, and a throbbing orb of power charged in his right hand.

Nyte opened fire on the orb, but Magnus just looked at him as the blasts bounced off the ball of energy. The giant Reaverbot then used the orb to fire a fairly large beam of energy at the Digger.

"Uh-oh," Nyte said, before he jumped clear and ate dirt as the impact made a large explosion behind him.

"Hey, ugly!" Fenix called out, with his beam sabers sheathed and a missile launcher sat on his shoulder. "You must not have been very good in bed, Jan's hitting on girls now!"

Blade's eyes widened. "Do you have a FREAKING DEATHWISH, Fenix?!"

MegaMan Magnus turned toward the masked Digger, his body enveloped in energy as the wrath of an angry god shone through his optics. "You BAST–"

Magnus didn't get to finish the thought, as Fenix's missile struck true as it found its target: the Reaverbot's groin.

Magnus sank to the floor, as he gasped for air. "Freaking... I'mma kill yew... oh hell that smarts..."

Nyte and Blade moved in to follow up on the attack, but were blasted back as Magnus unleashed his aura outwards. They landed in kneeling positions as they skidded back, keeping their eyes on their opponent.

"Heh... good," said Magnus. "Very good... it's almost..."

Suddenly, MegaMan Magnus gasped as an entire rack of artillery formed up on his shoulders, including two rather large cannons.

"Shit...! Not now... stupid programming...!"

"Whuh-oh," said Nyte.

Magnus grunted, as the energy from his force field bled into the cannon barrels, and they started to glow. Blade tried to pepper the cannons with energy waves flung from his sword, but they only bounced off the rapidly-growing energy as Magnus snarled. "No! Can't stop it...! Damn final weapon...!"

"Uh, guys?" came Janine's voice. "I'm outside now."

Through the doorway that led out of the chamber, into the ruin and back up to the surface, Janine stood.

"Huh?" said Magnus, as he looked over at her.

"How long have you been out there?" asked Fenix.

"Oh, about five minutes, now," she cheerfully replied.

"If and when I get out of here, you're getting a spanking," Magnus grumbled as his cannons powered down and retracted.

"Ooh, sounds like fun," she replied.

"Was she always like this?" Fenix asked.

"God, yes," said Magnus.

"...so that's it, then?" asked Nytetrayn.

"Hmm," came the voice of MegaMan Rom, as Blade sheathed his sword and went to join Janine.

"Um... so this means you can't be reprogrammed now, right?" said Nytetrayn. "'Cause I think it'd kind of suck for all of Janine's check-ups to have to deal with this."

"Well, now that she's out of the room, my combat protocols are on standby again, as you might have noted from the fact that I didn't finish killing you," Magnus said.

"I will update your combat engagement protocols now, MegaMan Magnus," said Rom, as a bright yellow light surrounded the Annihilator Unit.

"I thought you couldn't do that?!" asked Nyte.

"I cannot when they are active, but in stand-by mode, I can."

"So he was active when we were in your room, too?" Nyte said, as he scratched his head.

"Yes, because you had been cornered on the elevator. That data alone allowed Magnus's combat protocols to remain active."

"Oh. Well, okay, then," said Nyte.

"It confuses us, too," said Magnus.

"So, guess this is a sort of 'seeya later,' then?"

"Updating combat protocols," said Rom. "Unit Janine is now allowed to move freely into and out of your jurisdiction."

"Cool. Well, heading back up now. Seeya later!" Nytetrayn said with a wave, as he went to rejoin his friends, to whom Fenix had already skedaddled.

"Goodbye, Magnus," said Blade.

Magnus waved, as the light around him faded. "See you later, I guess."

"Yep!" Blade replied happily.

"Fenix," Magnus added, "I'm going to kick your ass for scoring with my girlfriend." He seemed to say it cheerfully, though it was difficult to tell with the faceplate.

"Sure thing!" Fenix said, as he offered a thumbs-up.

"I'm sorry, Magnus, but I'll come back for you, I promise!" Janine said, as she reluctantly turned to go.

"Now then, let's blow this popsicle stand!" said Nyte.

MegaMan Magnus nodded. "See you later," he said, then returned to his alcove as the door closed.

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