Megaman and all associated characters are the property of Capcom. All rights reserved. All original characters, including the Angels, the Coles, the Templar legions, et al, are my property and may be used with my express written permission.
Very AU. And I mean VERY. Enjoy…heh heh…
The Brave New World…
Prologue:
Quantum Steps
It happened days after he awoke for the first time.
There was no pomp or circumstance, no embrace by his father. All he did was fit him with his arm-cannon, give him a picture, and tell him to kill his target.
His target was a young man in a padded blue armor-bodysuit and helmet.
His target was Megaman.
As ordered, he tracked him down, fought him and his family…
And he was defeated.
He was defeated before he could kill a single one of them, after a stray shot clipped his target's sister in the arm…
And that's when his brother turned on him.
By all means, he was Bass's superior. By all means, any attack by Bass was to fail…but Bass didn't attack by his own weapons. He leaped on him, grabbed him in a choke-hold, and bashed him in the face until he was disoriented enough for them all to open fire on him and knock him into unconsciousness.
When he next awoke, he was surrounded by them. His arm cannon was gone. His beam sabre was gone.
And they knew what he was, even if he didn't.
A Reploid, an advanced type of android able to think and feel, to make decisions on his own.
His name was Zero, and he was the first of his kind, and by some fluke they managed to capture him and find out where his father was hiding.
They left, then. They left without a word to him…except for Megaman.
Despite the fact that Zero was made for the purpose of killing him…Megaman shook his hand. He told him that in the battlefield, he was impressive…and he's glad they resolved that before either of them had to die.
And then he left, to.
And that was the last time Zero saw the man in blue.
Wily's final invention was called the Quantum Box.
It worked by reaching behind the fabric of the universe and twisting the cogs of reality, changing it until what it targeted was removed from reality.
According to the information Zero carried in his CPU, Wily had set the Box, if Zero failed, to remove the Japanese Archipelago, China, Southern Russia and India from reality.
2.93 billion lives.
That thought repeats in Megaman's head as he, astride the Rush-jet, flies through the sky towards the Skull Tower, Wily's final fortress.
"He's lost it," Bass says, flying alongside him in his merged form, "Wily has his moment's of clarity, and this isn't one of them. He'll kill us all if he gets the chance."
"I understand," Rock responds, and grins slightly in Bass's direction, "Thanks for the help with Zero."
"Don't think I did it for you," Bass snarls, "I'm still going to kill you when this is over."
Before Megaman can respond, the ebon-clad robot veers off, heading towards the west entrance.
Rush barks a question to his master, jets flaring as they speed towards the central tower of Wily's fortress.
"I know, boy," Megaman responds, "I know."
Those would be the last words they shared, before the battle began.
It was a glorious battle. Robot Masters were called up and struck down by Megaman and Bass, in their desperate race towards the insane scientist's citadel.
Even combined with their support units, the battle was hard and fearsome. But fighting side-by-side the two warriors, one bred for battle, one for peace, made their way through the resistance.
And as Bass held back the last waves of Wily's army, Megaman faced down his friend and nemesis for the final time.
Which is when the countdown began.
The Box was activated.
Striking down Wily's last mecha, Megaman worked the controls for the Quantum Box, and he could see only one solution.
It was Rush, separated from his master, who gave the word to Bass to leave. And regretfully, he did, taking the crimson dog and his own hound with him, as the fortress began to glow.
No one knows exactly what happened that fateful day. No one knows what happened when Wily's final stronghold began to glow. All that is left, all that is known, is the final message Megaman delivered to his creator before the stronghold blinked out of existence.
"There's only one way to stop it. I knew, in the end, it would come down to this. We all did. I'm sorry, Dad. I love you. Good bye."
And with a flash of multi-hued light and an onrush of air, Wily's fortress, Megaman, the scientist, and so many of Wily's lieutenants…
Were gone.
That is where an old story ends…and a new story begins.
Bass stayed with them for a while, until Roll had recovered. Then, he bid them goodbye, and left for parts unknown, Treble at his heels.
Protoman was nowhere to be found.
And then…
There was Zero.
Zero, the Protoreploid, last creation of Wily…who without his master's commands, became docile. Remorseful for the sacrifice that he was at the root of, he swore himself to Dr. Light's service until the old man's dying day…
Which came, three short years later.
We could go on for days on the events that happened. How the wife none knew Dr. Light had showed up with his young daughter, Sarah, a gifted soul that would take up her father's legacy.
How years later, at the cusp of adulthood the girl was wooed by a fellow scientist named Robert Cole. As his savvy in both business and science built up the fledgling Cole Labs, the two married and had a child, Robert jr.
No one knew, just what a nexus of destiny the child was going to be.
No one knew, the boy, born fifteen years after Megaman's last battle, would be the one to carry on the Blue Bomber's legacy.
No one knew…except for the sleeping boy in a capsule, far beneath the surface of Tokyo…
Until, as Robert jr. reached his twenty fifth year…
The Capsule opened.