Author’s Note: Warning! This story contains major spoilers for Rockman AXESS episodes that have yet to be subtitled. Please forgive me if I get some details wrong. All the details come from the wonderful RockmanEXEOnline website, hosted by Ryouko.

Harsh Reality

By Atreyu452

Disclaimer: The characters, ideas, and concepts of Rockman AXESS all belong to Capcom. I only wish I owned Dark Blues.

Prologue

One Day Prior

“Let me go!” the navi screamed. He thrashed within his bonds as if he was in pain, but those who watched him knew they had not done anything yet. “You have no right to keep me here!”

Eguchi Meijin watched the navi’s actions impassively. “Do it,” he said to a nearby scientist. The scientist gulped and wrung his hands nervously, but he feared the wrath of the man standing next to him more than the captured navi. He pressed the button that would start the process, wincing as he did so.

Meijin sighed. Was he really such a terrifying guy? He thought he looked quite harmless (and dashing to the ladies), but always his reputation proceeded him. Weighty things, reputations. Rumors followed them; they always have throughout history. The kindest man in the world could be feared just because he was well-known for what he did. Meijin knew of people who were cowed by Hikari Yuuichirou’s reputation and made negative assumptions about the man before they met him.

With another frown that only helped to deepen the rumors of his temper, he banished his thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand. The navi, to his credit, had stop thrashing once the process had been activated. He had ceased to make any noise or movements at all; judging by the look on his half-masked face, he was trying to figure out what the scientists were trying to do. That was impressive. Meijin knew the intrusive datascan was uncomfortable at the least, moderately painful at the most.

Then again, it was to be expected from this navi. Even before he had become a Darkloid, he had powerful reputation, one based on truth, not rumor. His strength had been formidable, but his friends knew him to be kind at heart. Meijin narrowed his eyes. That kindness had been completely obliterated now, with little hope of ever returning.

“Let me know when the results come in,” Meijin told his nervous assistant.

“Sir?” The man turned and looked at his superior with frightened eyes. “You’re leaving me alone with him?”

“He cannot hurt you,” Meijin assured him. He was tired, really tired. Too tired to insist on forgoing formalities. “I need some coffee.”

“Are you sure that is all you need, Meijin-san?” The Darkloid called out mockingly.

Meijin refrained from responding, but he cursed himself for forgetting the navi could hear their every word. He would have to be very careful from now on; fortunately, his assistants didn’t know enough to be an advantage for the navi. It was safer for them that way.

“I’ll be right back,” he told his assistant, stressing every syllable.

“We’ll be right here when you return,” the Darkloid simpered, his tone mocking.

Meijin turned and vanished through the door, trying to quell the rising anger in his chest. He should know better than to let the navi get to him; that was what the Darkloid was trying to do, after all.

The assistant let out a whimper when his boss’ form disappeared. He gave the navi a wide-eyed look.

“What the hell are you looking at!” the Darkloid barked. The man yelped and hid behind his monitor, causing the navi to snicker.

-ooo-

“Let me see him,” Enzan demanded. His voice carried little strength, and his eyes were wide and glassy.

Hikari Yuuichirou shook his head. “You’re not ready ye—”

“Don’t give me that!” Enzan yelled, his voice nearly hysterical. “I want to see him!”

“I am not one of your underlings, Ijuuin Enzan,” Dr. Hikari said sternly. “Do not use that tone on me!”

Enzan shut his mouth, but his eyes glowed with open rebellion. It banished the glassy look and sharpened the focus in his eyes, but his body swayed with exhaustion.

“Look at yourself, Enzan,” Dr. Hikari said gently. “You’re still pumped up with drugs. Your shoulder is in really bad shape—you only received the wound three days ago! The hospital won’t even consider discharging you for another week, and they will only do so if you settle down and concentrate on getting better.”

“I want to see him,” Enzan muttered, staring at his hands. “You don’t understand.”

“I do understand,” Dr. Hikari replied. “But that’s simply not possible.” He stood from the visitor’s chair and looked down at the young boy in the hospital bed. “Once Netto’s concussion gets better, he’ll come and visit too. I know it’s frustrating, but you have to stay put.”

“And if I don’t?” Enzan demanded.

Dr. Hikari was silent for a moment. “Your father hired a guard to make sure you would be safe,” he said at last. “He wants you to get bette—”

“To hell with my father!” Enzan snarled, his face twisting with rage.

Dr. Hikari studied him silently for a moment. “You don’t mean that,” he said quietly.

Enzan closed his eyes. “No,” he replied, raising his good arm and rubbing his eyes. “No, I don’t mean it.”

“The guard is meant to act as a deterrent both ways,” Dr. Hikari continued. “The Darkloids would be ever so happy to take out a hospital just to get rid of two Net Saviors.”

“Two?” Enzan repeated, frowning.

“Laika went back to Shaaro,” Dr. Hikari replied. “It was against the doctors’ wishes, considering how he nearly lost his arm, but rumor has spread that Shaaro now has its share of Darkloid problems. Laika felt like he had no choice.” He sighed. “What kind of world do we live in, when we send our sons and daughters to fight in wars we can only hope will end well?” he murmured, mostly to himself. “Laika is only thirteen, yet his country depends on him.”

“He’s not that much older than us,” Enzan reminded him.

“I know,” Dr. Hikari said, smiling bitterly for a moment. “That is what saddens me.” He turned to leave. “Get better, Ijuuin Enzan. The adults of your country need you to fight our battles.” The words sounded strange coming from the normally cheerful Hikari Yuuichirou, and Enzan wondered if he had caught a glimpse of what truly haunted the scientist. Before he could ask, the man was gone, and Enzan was left to stare at the ceiling.

-ooo-

“Haruka-san, you shouldn’t have waited up for me.”

Haruka looked from the table, an expression akin to joy on her face as she observed her husband’s tired form. She wanted to leap toward him and embrace him with all of her strength, but her limbs felt heavy, and she could barely arise from her chair. Yuuichirou seemed to notice her struggle, for he crossed the distance between them and caught her as she fell into his arms.

“Yuuichirou-san, what has the world come to?” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly. “Why must this happen now? Haven’t we suffered enough?”

“He’s all right, Haruka,” her husband replied, stroking her hair with one hand and holding her close with the other. “Both of them are okay. By tomorrow, it will be nothing more than a headache.”

“But what of the next time, Yuuichirou?” Haruka cried, pushing herself away. Tears flowed from her eyes as she stared at him. “What will happen the next time he has to fight those monsters, or the time after that? He’s only a boy, Yuuichirou—he’s my boy!” With a sob, she buried her face in her hands.

Yuuichirou wrapped his arms around her shaking shoulders and pulled her close again. “He’s my son, too,” he replied, his voice shaking. “And I think about it happening every single day. I wish there was some way we could stop this—a miracle we could create that would make all this pain go away. I’ve tried—” he choked, fighting back tears of his own. “I’ve tried so hard to find someway to spare them, to spare them all! They’re just children; they shouldn’t have to fight for us. They shouldn’t have to fight for anything!”

Haruka buried her face in his shoulder, taking comfort in the familiar warmth of his body. “What can we do, Yuuichirou?” she whispered. “The country needs Netto and Rockman. The world needs them! We cannot deny them that.”

Yuuichirou sucked in a breath. “We fight,” he replied. “We fight for them, and we fight with them.” Haruka pulled away to look into her husband’s face, and was surprised at the passion in his eyes. “We do everything we can,” Yuuichirou whispered, smiling at her, “to support them. To help them. In your case you must be yourself. You must treat Netto and Rockman like you’ve always treated them. They need someone to support them like that; to show them, no matter what, life goes on! In my case, I’ll work as hard as I can to give Netto more things to fight with, more advantages he can use. We will win this fight. All we have to do is believe in it.”

Haruka kissed him then, a kiss which lasted for quite some time. Rush popped up from behind the couch, spotted the couple, made a face, and disappeared back where he had come from. Finally, Haruka released her husband and smiled brightly at the surprised pleasure on his face.

“Thank you for coming home and telling me this,” Haruka said softly. “I was considering going to the hospital to be with Netto, but I know they wouldn’t let me stay in his room anyway. Are you going back to work now?”

“Actually,” Yuuichirou replied, still sounding a bit dazed. “I suddenly decided that I would stay home for the night. A man needs a break now and then.”

Haruka giggled and pulled her husband close again. “That he does.”

-ooo-

Present Day

His shoulder hurt. He should stop thinking about it, he told himself, but he couldn’t help it. Thinking about his shoulder kept him from thinking about other things. He had been in this stinking hospital room for four days now; he had memorized every corner, every crack in the ceiling, and every discolored stain on the floor (from what, he didn’t quite dare to speculate). He was bored, irritated, tired, and hungry all at the same time, yet he was in too much of a funk to do anything about it. Being in the hospital sucked, he decided; there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

“Enzan!”

The boy blinked. “When I want someone to yell in my ear, Hikari, I’ll tell them to,” he replied, turning to look at the boy. Despite his words, he was extremely glad to see his fellow Net Savior. It kept him from thinking about other things.

Netto grinned and pointed at the bandage on his head, visible even from underneath his bandana. “It’s not as impressive as yours, but they said if I had lived a long time ago, they would have sewn my cut up with string. Isn’t that gross?”

“It’s nice to see that you’re in a good mood,” Enzan observed. “How is Rockman doing?”

In reply, Netto held up the blue PET. “I’m spared the bandage, but my head hurt for awhile until my data repairs finished,” Rockman admitted, peering at the white-haired boy with his wide, green eyes.

“Good,” Enzan said. He didn’t know what else to say.

For a long moment, they sat in awkward silence. Rockman coughed; an action usually unnecessary for him, except in certain conditions, and this was not one of them. Netto fiddled with his clothes. They weren’t his usual attire; he wore a loose, plain t-shirt and blue sweatpants. Enzan suspected the clothing’s purpose was to prevent chafing on Netto’s bandages; he could see one peeking out from one of the t-shirt sleeves.

“Laika says he’s sorry,” Netto said suddenly. “He wanted me to tell you he’s sorry for… for your shoulder.”

“I understand,” Enzan replied. “He did what he had to do.”

The awkward silence continued. Netto fidgeted visibly. He hated moments like this, and he was dying to fill it up with inane chatter just to plug the deafening roar of jumbled thoughts that rang between his ears. He sometimes wished he could stop thinking. Sometimes thinking hurt too much.

“I want to see him,” Enzan said abruptly.

Netto was almost afraid of looking into the boy’s blue eyes. He knew if he did, he would never be able to use the tiny voice of common sense that warned him against what Enzan had to be plotting.

“I want to see him now,” Enzan said, his voice shaking.

Netto looked into the older boy’s eyes and squashed the voice of common sense for the time being.

“And I want you to help me,” Enzan continued.

“I’ll do it,” Netto said, grinning at the thought of the challenge.

-ooo-

As always, it was Rockman who had been the voice of reason, much stronger than any inner voice Netto could summon. Perhaps Yuuichirou had programmed Rockman as such, because despite his frequent travels he knew of his son’s recklessness. Perhaps Netto’s inner voices were weak because he had Rockman to rely on to tell him the right thing to do. Rockman was harder to ignore, louder than most people when he wanted to be, and could put a snag in Netto’s plans.

Maybe that was why Netto enjoyed going against Rockman’s advice so much.

“You’ll never make it out of the hospital without being released,” Rockman had said. Enzan and Netto had waited until Enzan’s guard went out for his coffee break; then they had snuck aboard the staff elevators disguised as an infirmed individual in a wheelchair (Enzan) and a male nurse escorting him (Netto).

“That disguise will never work,” Rockman had scoffed.

It had worked like a charm. Once on the ground floor, Netto had handed Enzan some real clothes, a sweatshirt with a hood, some jeans, and worn sneakers, and waited for the other boy to change in the restroom.

“Well, even if you manage to reach the Science Labs, you’ll never get in without being seen,” Rockman said, coming back from being proved wrong quickly.

Enzan traveled the bus system with a hood over his instantly recognizable hairdo. Netto took off his headband and stuffed it in his pocket. He couldn’t help but to grin smugly at Rockman throughout the entire trip; his plan was working so far. His navi had remained silent, arms folded in front of him, as if waiting for something to prove him right.

Enzan would have found this amusing if he were paying attention to it. Instead, his thoughts were focused on the events that led them to this point. What they were doing was underhanded and sneaky, and it would disappoint a lot of people counting on them. He had been put into the hospital for more than just his injuries; the guard was placed there for more than just protection. They feared his escape not because he would endanger himself.

They feared he would endanger the world.

Enzan clenched his fist at the thought. He was not so taken that his mind would give in easily to the influence of evil. Did they think him weak? He scoffed at the thought. He spent so much time proving the contrary, yet they feared his actions. Still, they had reason for their concern. Others had undergone such things and had not fared well.

Enzan shook his head, not allowing his thoughts to travel down that path. He was Ijuuin Enzan; he would never give in like someone else would. He was a Net Savior; the fate of the world rested on his shoulders. He had experience in what he was doing, both from the business world and fighting net crime. He knew what he was doing. He only hoped Netto knew what he was doing as well.

“We’re here,” Netto said cheerfully, motioning for Enzan to follow him.

Enzan sighed and shook his head, but he followed the boy anyway. He should have known better than to rely on Netto. His head was thicker than the hair that covered it. Still, the boy had a good heart, and he was trying to do the right thing. Maybe he would understand, Enzan thought, before it was all over. After all, it was his only hope.

“We’re at the Science Labs,” he said, staring up at the building. “But how do we get in?”

“Pull that hood down tighter and let me do all the talking,” Netto said. “If you see anybody you know, though, don’t let them see your face. If Meijin catches us, he’ll have my father on our case in a heartbeat.”

Enzan nodded and pulled the hood down even lower. Netto retied the bandana around his head and marched forward fearlessly, acting as if there was nothing unusual about him being there. Once they entered the building, Enzan saw that his companion had chosen the right attitude to take. Various scientists of different gender, nationality, and skin color dashed about, paying little heed to the child of Dr. Hikari. After all, the boy was a Net Savior; they were likely to assume he was here on a mission. Enzan saw a few of them give him a brief, puzzled look, but he kept his hood down low, and the gazes usually shifted away after a moment’s pause to more important matters.

However, one gaze, unnoticed by either Net Savior, did not shift away. Meijin had to think briefly of a frequent English phrase one of his assistants, Mary Turner of Erinsland, liked to use. “Holy saints preserve us,” he muttered. “He’s here. We should have placed the guard on Netto instead.” He pressed a few buttons on a small device in his hand, and then spoke briefly into it. “The cat is in the building, lass,” he drawled, laying on a thick accent.

“Holy saints preserve us!” the woman on the other end exclaimed. Meijin couldn’t hold back a grin. When he was right, he was right. “You don’t have to lay it on so thick,” she continued, her voice taking on a condescending tone. “I know my accent is horrible. What should we do?”

“He’ll find the caged bird eventually,” Meijin replied. “Leave him alone, and pull everyone out.”

“Are you daft?” Mary Turner exclaimed, switching back to her own language in her shock.

“Possibly,” Meijin replied honestly, switching to English in his answer. “But I want to see what happens. We may have been wrong about the whole thing. But just in case, please be careful, Mary.”

“Understood,” Mary replied, cutting off the transmission.

The Darkloid gazed at her, amused. She was not so easily pushed around as the other one had been. “I’m not stupid,” he said airily. “I know what your little code means.”

“Shut up, you,” Mary Turner responded, pointing an admonishing finger at him. It was wrinkled with age, just like her face, which was framed with silver curls. Her green eyes sparked lively, and showed no fear of the being in front of her. “We’ll just see what you understand, and what you don’t.” With that, she turned and left the room, leaving him alone within the confines of a Dimensional Area.

The Darkloid laughed deeply. “Fools,” he spat, knowing they could hear him. He grinned, stewing in his own clever plots. They had just handed him what he wanted, and he was going to enjoy making them regret it.

-ooo-

“Okay,” Rockman said. “So you got out of the hospital. So you got across two cities without getting caught. So you managed to waltz into the Science Labs without anyone batting an eye. I’ll give you that.”

They were standing in an empty room, the lights dimmed to keep people from noticing them. There was a thin layer of dust on the floor, indicating the room had not been used in some time. People rushed back and forth by the door, their blurred shapes visible through a small glass window, but they were relatively safe for the time being.

“You’d better give more than just that,” Netto shot back.

“I suspect he was going somewhere with that thought, Netto,” Enzan said dryly.

“What I was going to say,” Rockman stressed, “is that you’ll never find out where they’re keeping him. Never in a million years.”

Netto and Enzan looked at him silently.

“Oh no,” Rockman said, holding his arms up as if to ward them off. “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re dead wrong. I am not going to access the Science Labs database and find the room he’s in.”

“Why not?” Netto asked.

“Because I don’t have permission!” Rockman snapped back. The day's illicit activities had left him short on temper. “It would be considered Net Crime!”

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Enzan said, moving towards a nearby console. To his satisfaction, it hummed to life when he flicked the power button.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Rockman said. “You’re in enough trouble. I’ll do it.”

“All right!” Netto cheered, plugging the navi in.

“Is he always this easy to manipulate?” Enzan asked.

“I’m only doing this because there’s no stopping you two!” Rockman yelled. The Net Saviors chuckled conspiratorially.

“There, I got it,” Rockman said after a moment, surprise evident in his voice. “He’s on the third floor, room C8.”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” Enzan asked. He looked around for something long, thin, and easy to swing.

“The information wasn’t guarded,” Rockman replied. “You would think that they would put restrictions on it.”

Failing to find anything suitable, Enzan carefully knitted both fists together and squeezed, testing his strength.

“Maybe they didn’t expect someone to know what they were looking for,” Netto replied, turning toward the other boy. “What do you think, Enzan?”

“I think I owe you an apology in advance,” Enzan replied. He swung his combined fists and connected hard with Netto’s stomach. “Sorry,” he added nonchalantly to the doubled-over boy. Netto lost consciousness before having a chance to reply.

“What are you doing?” Rockman cried.

Enzan grabbed the PET and stuffed it under Netto’s body in an attempt to muffle the navi’s voice. “I had no choice,” he said sadly. “I’m sorry.”

-ooo-

“What took you so long?”

“I hit a few snags along the way.”

“Hikari Netto?”

“He was one of them. He won’t be interfering for a while.”

Dark Blues grinned, the sinister expression stained with the colors of the Dimensional Area. Enzan watched him emotionlessly.

“You should have killed him,” Dark Blues replied, stretching like a cat after a long nap. “It will be so good to get out of this prison.” He held out a hand, beckoning the boy forward. “Come to me, my Enzan,” he said fondly. “I am your master now, not the other way around. Let me introduce you to the power of the Dark Chips. I assure you it will be… exhilarating.”

His expression unchanging, Enzan took a step toward Blues’ waiting hand, and his inevitable doom.

Author’s notes: In the EXE world, only Japan retains its own name. The other countries are “subtly” renamed, usually something silly. I decided to create another country, Erinsland, to represent Ireland. Anyone who knows a bit of Irish history should get it, I think.

Edit: It’s Darkloid! I admit it!