//------------------------------//
// 10: What Works?  Team Work 
// Story: Wily's Wittle Wub 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	Mega Man, Bass, and Prometheus gathered around the computer as they planned their mission to take on the berzerk infectees.  The computer readout was giving them all available information on the subjects and their locations, as well as what robots were in those areas that were likely under the control of the Robot Masters at this point.  However, before they actually began their mission, a decision had to be made.

"Alright," Prometheus spoke up.  "Do we each go after a different Robot Master, or target them all together?"  He turned to Mega Man.  "What would be the pros of working together?"

"Nearly all security robots, the sort we'll be fighting through to get to the infected, are designed for single target combat," Mega Man explained.  "Not only that, but Robot Masters themselves generally only cope well when fighting a single target or a large group.  We saw with Duo the problems that a multi-target battle can cause, and these Robot Masters won't be anywhere near as advanced as he was, and won't have higher brain function."

Prometheus nodded.  "Good arguments."  He then turned to Bass.  "Cons?"

"We're all used to fighting alone," Bass pointed out.  "We'll have to adjust our tactics to avoid hitting each other.  Not only that, your own combat abilities have drastically changed, and you might not be able to avoid damaging us accidentally.  Your buster, for example, is orders of magnitude stronger, to the point it's the basis that Pops has been using for the buster design on his and Vy's 'Revelation' project...whatever it is."

"Good points-"

"Not only that," Bass interrupted Prometheus, "with all of us targeting the same Robot Master, we're putting all our eggs in one basket.  We might take each one down faster, but we'll only be bringing in one at a time for the Docs to study."

Prometheus sighed.  "Good points.  I suppose you have the pros for each of us working alone, then?"

Bass nodded firmly.  "Each of us has a chance of bringing in our own target, we all have experience working alone, and since the areas have already been evacuated of humans, we won't have to worry about friendly targets.  We can cut loose and - if all else fails - just bring back a data construct along with the Master Weapon program."

Nodding, Prometheus turned back to Mega Man.  "Cons?"

"Some pretty big ones," Mega Man pointed out.  "Doing it this way, each collection will take longer, meaning each of us will be exposed to an infected longer and might become infected ourselves.  And if we're all going solo, we'll get competitive...meaning we might not admit to infection systems we actually have, and run the risk of falling to the infection ourselves."  He looked straight at Prometheus.  "And I don't even want to think about what could happen if you fell ill and went berzerk, bro."

Prometheus winced.  "A valid, and I'd have to say winning, point.  Making sure we don't get infected - or, if we do, that it's addressed right away - has to take priority over anything else.  After all, if we fail..."

Bass grumbled, but acquiesced.  "Alright.  So, who are our targets, then?"

Prometheus lifted up the list of Robot Masters.  "Well, there's eight of them.  Big surprise."  That got a chuckle out of his brothers by different fathers.  "Let's see...Blade Man, Strike Man, Sheep Man, Pump Man, Solar Man, Chill Man, Nitro Man, and Commando Man-"

"Seriously?" Bass demanded angrily.

"Which name are you having trouble with?" Prometheus asked curiously.  "Sheep Man?  Pump Man?"

"Nah, those are self explanatory," Bass countered.  "Probably has something to do with livestock or helping people sleep for Sheep Man, and Pump Man probably deals with sewage.  My issue is Commando Man."

"You have a problem with a military robot?" Mega Man asked, surprised.

"Nah, I'm just wondering why the heck they didn't just call him Commando!" Bass snapped out.  "I mean seriously, why the heck did they have to add 'Man' after it?  I mean, we've seen robots that didn't have 'Man' or 'Woman' in their names.  There were several back in the FART.  So why is that pattern still the case?"

Prometheus and Mega Man were silent for a time.  "...huh..." they finally offered together.

Bass shrugged.  "Whatever.  Who are we going to go after first?  My trigger finger's getting itchy."

"Bass, your buster isn't run by a trigger finger," Prometheus pointed out.

"It also doesn't let my hand come back out while in armor!" Bass proclaimed expansively.  "So I can't scratch my finger until we've finished this mission!"  Mega Man's palm smacked into his face.  "Oh bolt you, that was funny!"

Prometheus sighed to himself, shaking his head ruefully.  "Can we focus, please?"

"Probably not," Mega Man teased.  "I mean, it's us!"

"And we're also going out onto a mission where the enemy that can kill us is one that can't be beaten by our own brains or brawn," Bass pointed out.  "Pretty sure none of us want to think about the fact that it's entirely up to Fate or Random Chance whether or not we come out of this alive or in one piece."  He leaned back, sighing to himself.  "Not to mention Pops told me all three of our core programs have grown to be too complex to be recovered remotely if our hard drives shut down...so we can't be backed up anymore."

Dead silence greeted that sentiment.  "...the drawbacks of long life for a robot," Prometheus murmured.  "Eventually, you can't save and load anymore..."

The trio glanced back and forth between each other, each waiting for one of the others to break the oppressive silence.  Finally, Mega Man stood up.  "Well, let's get a move on," he grunted out firmly.  "I've got a date with Kalinka this Friday, and I'm not cancelling because I'm too busy saving the world again."

"Like you're the only one with a date," Bass teased as he got to his feet.  "I'll be swimming with Splash Woman this weekend."

"Have you got the proper interface upgrades?" Mega Man teased playfully.

"It's not like that!" Bass snapped, his cheeks coloring under his helmet.

"You might be surprised," Mega Man teased.  "She looks good in clam shells."

"And you with a girlfriend!" Bass taunted playfully.

"They've been swapping tips," Mega Man replied easily.  His own cheeks colored.  "Kalinka looks pretty good in clam shells, too."

As the pair continued to tease and taunt each other, Prometheus got to his own feet.  "Young robots..." he grumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes behind his shades.