9: Secrets Under the Sea
Mega Man managed to reboot as Splash Woman lightly slapped him on either side of his face. He started to open his mouth to speak, but Splash Woman quickly put a gloved finger to his lips.
"Don't speak," she whispered insistently, her voice barely carrying through the water as far as Mega Man's ears, almost swallowed by the background sounds of the ocean. "I have a lot to tell you, and I don't know who might be listening. I can manipulate my voice and the water to make sure only you hear me, but if you speak up, your voice might carry. Just nod or shake your head in response to anything I tell you, alright?"
Mega Man managed to nod, but he felt he couldn't leave that completely alone. He rapidly blinked his eyes in a morse code pattern to respond, 'Like any other man you deal with like this? :P'
Splash Woman smirked. "Enough of that," she whispered. "I don't want my laughter to give away that you aren't as shut down as anyone watching might think." When Mega Man stayed silent and still, she continued to speak. "The errors causing everyone to go haywire aren't some random problem or programming error. I'm pretty sure someone actively sabotaged this mission. Then again, with what I've heard, it's not surprising that there are those out there who'd rather see Sky Lagoon's success come to a screeching halt. And I imagine a lot of political figures would rather the first off planet colony not belong entirely to any one nation, especially not one controlled by those who've tried to take over the world previously."
Mega Man nodded. He understood that perfectly. Those very reasons had been behind Vinyl's decision to publicize everything about the Mars Project to the entire planet, wanting transparency to be armor against slander or hostile action, and why she'd asked Mega Man - an outside agent - to investigate when things had started to go wrong.
"Well, I think whoever it is must be part of a large organization, or at least have a lot of backup," Splash Woman explained. "Someone was at the first rocket that carried each of us here, giving us a cookie 'as a snack' for the ride, ordering us to eat it before we got to Mars. Most of us did as we were instructed, since it was an order from a human...with two exceptions."
Mega Man started to speak up, but remembered the caution, and instead raised two fingers, then lifting a third finger in confusion.
"Galaxy Man and I were the exceptions," Splash Woman continued. "I remembered Vinyl's words about full autonomy, and that convinced me that these orders probably didn't come from her, since she wanted us to think for ourselves on the assignment. As such, I...voiced my appreciation for the snack as he handed it to me, and he stammered enough that I could classify the order as 'misunderstood' against my old programming. The other exception was Galaxy Man, who placed his cookie amongst his 'treasures' in an internal compartment, and promptly forgot about it as he became absorbed in his job." Splash Woman tilted her head at the third finger. "Who else wasn't acting oddly?"
Mega Man quickly flicked out the morse code sequence, 'Magma Man'.
Splash Woman grinned. "That actually confirms my suspicions." Reaching up to a rocky outcrop, she pulled down a waterlogged cookie in a plastic bag. the broken dough revealed two computer chips with the old Wily/Vinyl logo from the days when they were still trying to take over the world. "A control chip like what Wily used on the very first Robot Masters he stole, and a Freak Chip. Whoever it was wants to make it look like Vinyl or Wily is trying to secretly turn Mars into a base from which they can conquer Earth with impunity. There's even a Fortress that Concrete Man built all unawares, made to look like the ones the Wilys used. Skull and everything."
Mega Man nodded in understanding, but once more wiggled the third finger.
"Magma Man is based off Needle Man's design," Splash Woman explained. "Instead of a mouth and digestive tract, he just has a hole to drop in materials to be converted to energy and other materials for maintenance. Unlike Needle Man, though, Magma Man's leads into his stores of flame which are hot enough to melt the metals these chips are made of. The chips didn't survive long enough to install."
Nodding, Mega Man shaped his fingers to make a skull shadow puppet, even though there was no light to cast the shadow.
Splash Woman nodded, understanding the inquiry. "There's a tunnel under here I've been digging," she explains. "It'll lead you straight to the Fortress, and since it's not on any official plans, no one will have any way of knowing you're taking it. This should let you get to the Fortress before whoever's there is able to escape." Swimming over, she shifted a hollow rock aside, revealing the tunnel in question. "It's a bit long, but you should be fine."
Swimming over, Mega Man gave her a thumbs up of thanks, then held his hands out in a giving motion.
Splash Woman waved it off. "I signed onto this job to work for Vinyl," she explained. "As far as I'm concerned, that's just what I'm doing." She paused as she noticed Mega Man was still waiting. "Well...if you really want to repay me...there is one thing you could do for me..." Once more, she sauntered up close, almost close enough to press against Mega Man's body.
Mega Man swallowed nervously, uncertain what to do here, especially since he wasn't sure he could get "I have a girlfriend" out in morse swift enough to make a difference.
Leaning in close, Splash Woman whispered, "...is Forte single? And do you think you could put a good word in with him for me if he is?"
Mega Man blinked several times, then finally managed a thumbs up before desperately swimming down the tunnel, glad the water down there was even colder.
As he heard Splash Woman laughing behind him, he remembered that as a robot, cold water didn't help him with that the way it did for humans. It was going to be a long, hard swim...
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I full support that ship. It's about time he had a special somebot.
I am intrigued. Can't wait to find out who sabotaged the Mars project.
At least he can redirect the excess heat to different parts and force the energy to flow differently.
Are the emerald spears cannon in this story?
7519832
...emerald spears?
7519868 Terrorist organization from the megaman archie comics, their goal is to rid the world of advanced robotics.
7519892
Huh. I did not know about that.
...any answer I'd give would be spoilers.
As they say in Great Britain, f*ck off.
7519757
*Thumbs up in approval*
A new villain!!! Yes!!! If they're behind the events of Mega Man 10, can Vinyl go into the field with Mega Man using the Items and fighting alongside him, maybe in a prototype of the armor Octavia eventually gets???? I want to see more of her in action, she's not getting enough screen time in my opinion since most of the focus has been on Mega Man and the Robot Masters, unlike Octavia who accompanies her dad on missions or has whole chapters for her own unique stuff.
Poor robot just can't catch a break.
7519971 but she is nor a fighter. Shoot that is one of my favorite thing about her in this story. While she can't go toe to toe with the the foe, she can make sure that someone can.
7520034 But she has sonic cannons, I want to see her use them. And she could act as back up for Rock, just go on the adventure with him and hack doors or something, make it so death traps are at the game level of difficulty instead of instant kill, and carry E Tanks or other supplies.
Achievement Unlocked: Mega Sass.
*Whistles Innocently*
I have to wonder, is Sky Lagoon even recognized as a nation? Like, is the guy from Molossia going to be like "Should've made it official, plebs." or something like that?
He's 40% internal compartment!
Wouldn't be the most sporadic moment in this 'Verse.
What, did he get an erection? Dammit, Mega Man, keep it in your Mega Buster! You might have infinite ammo, but you can only shoot 3 at a time.
Magma Man's construction was brilliant.
7519757
7519950 Thirded
Well, sabotage uh?
Dinkleberg!
7519921
Like this?
Confirmed sabotage, it seems.:3
7520565
Yes. Like that.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7520758 whoops!
For some reason I want Gyro Man to be the reason everything is screwed up. It could be interesting.
MM: "Uh... Who are you?"
GM: "Of course you don't remember me. You arrested Dr. Wily before I could be given a chance to fight."
MM: "Oh, you're one of those robots."
GM: "Just 'those robots'?! We've been deactivated for years; I just don't know what went wrong! But now I know."
MM: "Well, you're fine now!"
GM: "No! I can only fly and I bump into things and my optics are desynchronised!"
MM: "Maybe Vinyl can fix you?"
GM: "No! We cannot be transferred. They still sleep and I deliver message! But no Wily listens."
7520038 Like Beat or Eddie?
7524467 all of which can technically be included under "strength"
7524851 There is also earth pony magic, which many people also forget.
Is literally the magic of the land, effecting earth and stone as well as plants, though nothing so flashy as unicorn magic.
7524876 and Pegasus magic as well, like controlling clouds and flying with those implausible wings
7524537 Yeah, but using her the Items or her dad's saucer she could store spare stuff Rock can't carry and pass them off as needed as well as offer additional firepower.
7524888 Yes, but noone forgets the pegasus magic. The weather manipulation is just as obvious as the unicorn telekinesis.
That's like reminding everyone that rain is wet. Alot of people forget that earth ponies are more than just muscle, too, even more than the ones that forget how physically tough earth ponies are in the first place.
7526732 but earth pony magic is literally the main thing earth ponies are valued for, even more so than their strength. I've never seen anyone forget about the earth magic.
Very clever, Splash Woman.
Ehh, I can ship it. Plus, it might put her in a position to make friends with Kalinka, and that would be delightful.
7556531
yussssss
Always thoughh Leviathan from the Zero series was more interesting than Splash as a female villain to be honest.
And the SS Vinyl Splash has sunk...
9159688
Like any other ship this one should be able to dock at multiple ports right?
Forsplash. I can ship it.
Badum tss.
and this the conspiracy is revealed, but the biggest issue is.. WHO THE HELL got ahold of those chips? there shouldn't have been any left.