Chapter 3: Party Crashers


I woke up when the hover car stopped.

We couldn't be there yet. Did they want me to take over the driving? Elec and Shadow were both asleep near me, curled together tightly. Shadow's chin was resting in Elec's golden hair, and they both looked peaceful and content. It made me feel just a bit envious, but I brushed that away and crawled to the door.

"Unh, Blues, don't -- " Quick started lamely, and I shot him a puzzled look as I opened the back door to step out.

"Why, what's going... on?!?" I was face to face with... "Unh, sorry officer." A police officer was standing right in front of me, giving me a slightly peculiar look. I suddenly had an unpleasant feeling I knew what was going on. "...Speeding ticket?"

"Yes, sir." He said politely, glancing past me at Quick, who had poked his head out with an embarrassed grin. I shook my head.

"Great." I'd thought Snake knew better than that... but when we walked to the front...

"Fire! What are you doing driving? I revoked your driving privileges for a reason." I demanded as soon as I saw the Reploid in the drivers seat. He looked sullen, and Snake, sitting beside him, seemed mortified.

"I still have a license -- " He started to protest, but I cut him off.

"If the legal system is too stupid to take it away, I don't care, but you won't drive MY car. How fast were you going this time? And get out your license for the officer." He looked even more sullen, but did as I said.

"It wasn't that fast..." I shook my head as he passed over his registration to the police officer.

Things were sorted out quickly, and we had a fairly substantial ticket. Still...

"Could be worse. You're slowing down a bit from last time. Now, into the back." I jerked a thumb at Fire, who sighed and bailed out, letting me have the seat. Snake smiled at me brightly, obviously pleased I would be sitting beside him for a while. I almost sighed to myself. That was the kind of attention that I didn't need.

There was a muffled protest from the back, and Elec pulled aside the divider a bit to stick his head up front. He looked rumpled and tired, his hair mussed and sticking up in all directions.

"What's going on?" He asked with a yawn, and I heard another protest from the back. "I'll be back in a second, Shadow."

"Nothing much. Fire just picked us up a speeding ticket. Go back to sleep." I said with a smile. There was no point in disturbing the happy couple over it. Elec blinked, then yawned.

"Oh, okay." He closed the divider, going back to his love. There was one last sound, far more content than the first two, and I couldn't help but smile. Those two were rather sweet.

Snake did fall asleep before too long... driving was rather dull. I'd never admit it, but I could see why Fire tried to liven things up with speeding. It was such a long, flat road, rare in Ontario. Even major roads could be twisty as snakes in some areas around here.

But we finally reached where we were heading. It was easy enough to find a parking spot... Monday evening was never the greatest time of business for the nightclubs. It was all the same to us, though. Monday was just another day. The thought made me smile slightly. In many ways, we were very free...

"Yay! We're here!" Quick was first out the back, followed a bit more sedately by Fire. "Let's go kick some ass!"

"No starting fights." I said automatically, and everyone laughed. Snake slid out with a small yawn, and Shadow and Elec were soon out, Elec combing his hair. Shadow didn't bother.

The bouncer watcher nervously as we sauntered up. Probably not used to Reploids, and to the practiced eye, we were easily recognizable as Reploids. There's a sort of knack to it, a hundred tiny clues that can be used to identify the more human Reploids. I, of course, was the exception...

"What's the cover charge?" I asked, getting out the money.

"Ten bucks." I lifted an eyebrow. For the clubs around here, that was a bit steep... but I shrugged and payed it. There was no point in looking for a new club to save a few bucks.

Once we were inside, I realized why the charge was so high. There was a very good band playing, one of the local favorites, and I did rather like them. The others scattered to play, and I just picked up a drink, staying in the shadows and listening to the band.

Also listening and observing the people around me. It was amazing, what you could learn at places like this...

As the night went by, though, I didn't learn a great deal. I did notic Elec dancing with a wide variety of ladies... he liked to dance... and Shadow watching, grim faced and silent. He never liked it when Elec paid attention to other people, especially women... but there wasn't much choice if Elec wanted to dance. I smirked slightly. Unless we were in a very special bar, where men dancing was fine... Well, it didn't matter. Elec would have him purring contentedly before the night was over.

I spotted Fire and Quick sitting and talking, and slid up behind them to listen.

"Man! Did Blues do this on purpose, or is it just a lingering effect of Wily's programming?" Fire complained, and I blinked, listening harder.

"What?" Quick said indistinctly, eating some beer nuts. Fire waved towards Shadow and Elec, in a general sort of way.

"Us! I mean, yeah, all we have to be with is guys... but Shadow and Snake are SO gay they'd never touch a girl, Blues wouldn't touch anyone after Bass, and Elec is totally gone on Shadow. Are the only ones not gay here you and me?" Fire complained.

I watched in amusement as Quick stopped eating his beer nuts with wide eyes, glancing at Fire, and Fire finally looked at him... and Quick grinned brightly at him. The message was unmistakable.

"Stay the hell away from me." Fire said, edging away, and Quick sighed.

"I'm unloved..." I laughed to myself, abandoning them to circulate in the crowd. I even danced a few times... dancing was fun. Bass and I had even done it, a few times, although we had usually ended up cracking up at the silliness of it.

I eventually washed up near Elec and Shadow, and listened to them curiously. Elec seemed worried, running a hand through his golden hair, and Shadow was grimmer than I'd seen him in a long time. Something was causing a small problem between them.

"Love, please, don't act like this." Elec said softly, touching Shadow's arm, running his fingers down the leather. Shadow looked away, tense as a wire. "We were only dancing, love."

"You kissed her..." Shadow finally growled, and Elec shook his head.

"She kissed me, and it was only a peck on the cheek. Shadow, please, don't act like this. I love you." Elec was completely sincere, and it showed, as he reached up to touch Shadow's cheek. "Don't push me away." Shadow finally looked at him, his expression turning hurt, pained.

"I... I just... I know you like girls better." Shadow caught Elec's hand, squeezing tightly. "What if you find someone you..." He couldn't go on, but Elec knew exactly what he meant.

"The only one I care for is you, Shadow. I just like to dance." Elec pulled Shadow close, wrapping his arms around Shadow's slender, muscular waist, and soon his arms slid around Elec's shoulders. Elec suddenly smiled at Shadow, full of mischief. "Would you give me the next dance?"

"What, here? In front of everyone?" Shadow was caught off guard. I lifted an eyebrow. This wasn't the kind of club where men danced with men, unless they wanted to attract a lot of stares, comments and possibly worse. I wouldn't call the stares and comments homophobia, although some people would... it's just that there's appropriate places for that sort of thing, and this isn't it.

"Yes. Who cares what they think? We're Reploids anyway. And I love you dearly, Shadow." Elec nuzzled his cheek, and Shadow slowly smiled. His rare smiles did make him look wonderful...

"I love you too." And they kissed deeply. I suddenly felt like I was intruding... an odd sensation for me, I was a veteran eavesdropper, and generally had no shame... so I turned away.

I frowned, tilting my head. I was hearing a strange sound...

I was caught completely by surprise, though, as the club was shaken by an explosion. Suddenly, the humans around me were panicking, as the side of the club was blown inwards. I activated my flash case without really thinking about it, summoning my armor.

Just in time. And ugly Maverick ducked through the doorway, and I aimed and fired in one smooth move.

"Die human -- ARRRGH!" He obviously hadn't been expecting plasma in the face, and a Thunder Bolt in the chest. His scream died off as one of Shadow's shurikens took him in the throat. I shot a glance at the two. Elec looked vaguely shocked, but was reacting well, and Shadow was ready to fight, grim and angry. There were flashes in the crowd, as the other three activated their armor a split second later.

But three more Mavericks followed a second later, and they were not too happy about the state of their comrade.

"Elec, Snake! Get these people out of here! The rest of you, on me!" Snake was the weakest fighter, Elec the steadiest. They could evacuate the humans while the rest of us cleaned up the trash.

Reploids were more advanced than the original Robot Masters... but only in AI. X had been built with the same sort of power levels as Mega Man, really, although his buster had a new power source and a fancy new name. Zero's beam sabre was an invention of Wily's, also contemporary with our weaponry. And war technology hadn't significantly improved over the thirty years X had been in the capsule... if anything, it had degraded a bit over time.

Most Reploids weren't a match for us, in other words. Not when the Robot Masters had Reploid minds to compliment their well made bodies...

Quick and Fire exploded into action simultaneously. A Fire Storm took the lead Maverick in the face, downing him, and Quick Boomerang's sailed after the other two. Quick himself followed, lashing out with his fists in a blur of speed.

The Mavericks were hardly defenseless, though. I weaved and bobbed out of the way of some homing missiles... a few screams behind me told me Snake and Elec hadn't gotten all the humans out, but I really couldn't take shots for them... and I returned the fire. A shuriken whizzed by my shoulder, almost brushing me, but I ignored it without effort... Shadow tended to come close in practice, but he hadn't hit a friend yet.

Still, these were lesser Mavericks, shock troopers. We finished them off fairly quickly... then heard an explosion behind us?

I whirled, eyes seeking... the building was collapsing. I wasn't certain why. I might give the impression that I always knew what was going on, but in battle, things often became confusing. But I caught on to what was happening before the others, and grabbed Shadow's arm.

"Get out! The building is collapsing!" We dodged the debris, leaping through the hole the Mavericks had created. I didn't see Quick and Fire, and felt a stab of worry, but there was nothing I could do but save myself and assume they were safe.

"...Damn!" There were Mavericks running around everywhere. I could only imagine the difficulty Elec and Snake were having, trying to keep the humans from the nightclub safe. They were probably failing.

"This way." Shadow urged me, and we broke into a run, trying to find shelter and our friends. I was unhappily aware that we were probably becoming more seperated from each other with every moment. Using our communicators now would be a bad idea, though.

I could only hope they were all right...


Chapter 4   |   Fanfiction