Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the living room of the Flutter, time passed awkwardly as Roll Caskett and her grandfather Barrell talked in low voices, scribbling on a piece of paper on the table. Megaman sat on the couch across from them, absent his usual armor in favor of the apron that he'd worn for making breakfast. After a few minutes of this, Barrell took a seat in his chair while Roll prepared to give Megaman the bad news.

"We're… broke. So broke that we can't afford to go on a dig to fix the problem."

Megaman heaved a sigh. He'd kind of expected it, honestly, due to the last few ruins they visited being busts. "Well, what can we do then?"

Barrell scratched his white beard as he grabbed the newspaper next to him and began to search through it. "The only thing for it is for us to get some jobs around the island for a while. I must say that I feel responsible for this since I chose the last two locations."

"Oh, Gramps, please don't beat yourself up." Roll tried to smile as she put a hand on his shoulder. "You've told us before that being a Digger comes with ups and downs. We've just hit one of the downs, that's all."

"Right, it'll be okay," Megaman said as he nodded. "This island isn't that small; there's bound to be somebody who needs some part-time help."

The island in question was Jekyll Island, a relatively bustling city. It was split into two halves; the East Side was largely residential, and the West Business/Industrial. Since the split was due to a river that ran between them, a multitude of bridges connected them so that the commute on any route would be simple.

Finding what he was looking for, Barrell separated one sheet of paper and laid it flat for all to read. "So, here are the advertised job postings. Do you see anything you feel comfortable with?"

Leaning over the page, Roll scanned each section carefully. "I don't suppose anyone would be looking for a temporary mechanic?"

"Here," answered Megaman as he pointed. "Repairman needed for house calls. Paid weekly based on the number of completed jobs."

"Weekly?" Roll scratched the back of her red cap as she thought about it. "We might have to be here for a few weeks to make the money we need, so that's okay. What about you, Megaman?"

Data chose that moment to hop onto the table, tapping the bottom of the page with its foot. "Ee-eek!"

Megaman examined the job his monkey companion had pointed at. "'Need assistance rearranging our warehouse and moving materials. Report to this address Tuesday morning at eight, work for two days. Paid after the second day.' Are you sure about this one, Data?"

Data scanned the other jobs while he did; unfortunately, most of them were asking for long-term workers, not people who would be leaving the island as soon as possible. "Well, it's somewhere to start. Since it begins tomorrow morning, I'll go ahead and check out the address now so I don't get lost."

"Okay, Megaman, and I'll go see about that repairman job. We'll see you in a little bit!"

After taking off his apron and putting on his usual armor, Megaman climbed the exit ladder of the Flutter and touched down on the ground. They'd been allowed to park the ship along the north side of the residential zone, along with a few other small airships. It was a nice day, and he took a deep breath of air to soak in the atmosphere before making the trip towards the industrial area with a simple map in hand.

As he was crossing the nearest pedestrian bridge, he saw two little boys- no, robots? They had identical yellow heads and blue bodies, and they were pushing a large cart of groceries as they walked the same direction he was going. It must have been quite heavy, as the bots seemed to be pushing with all their might. Unfortunately, they failed to see the small pothole they were approaching.

Crash!

The moment a front wheel went into the hole the cart toppled, sending all of the products inside rolling starboard and one of the robots onto the ground from the jerking motion. He heard one say "Oh, no!", so he ran to catch up to them as he called out, "Hey, are you okay?"

Both of them flinched at the sound of his voice, but the fallen one quickly stood up and answered, "I'm okay, but we really need to get all of this up! I hope none of it broke…"

"I'll help." Megaman scrambled to get the larger foods while the tiny bots got the small fruits and vegetables. Once they had all of the groceries in the cart again he gave it a light push to test it. "It all looks okay, but this is pretty heavy. I've got some free time, so how about I push it and you two lead the way?"

"Oh, thank you mister Blue Guy!" One robot gave a hearty bow while the other smiled widely. "We've got a bit to go, but we'll make it in good time with you here!"

"No problem." They all started to walk, the bots a few paces ahead. Unable to stop his curiosity, he asked, "So, did you guys get all of this to last you a while?"

"No, this won't last that long, really." He really needed a way to tell them apart besides 'the one on the left.' "This is food for fourty-four people, so it'll probably just be two days worth."

"Fourty-four?!" He almost stumbled at the thought. "I can't believe there are fourty-two more of you guys."

The same robot was about to chime in again, but the other tapped him on the shoulder and shook his head. He seemed to realize something, and so settled for responding with, "Well, it's complicated."

They clammed up after that, so the group walked in silence while they made a few turns. Megaman took that time to examine his surroundings, and noted that a majority of the buildings were in good shape, even the ones that didn't seem to be occupied. Maybe the city was focused on keeping things looking nice so people would want to stay?

Eventually, the two robots stopped at a rather large, green warehouse and knocked on the front door. An identical robot opened it and beckoned them in, so Megaman let go of the cart for them to grab it. "Thanks again, mister Blue Guy! We appreciate the help!"

"No problem, have a good day!" He waved to the bots as they disappeared inside, then took a look around. "Okay, so to get to that address I need to go…"

He glanced at the map, then back around, then back at the map. He'd forgotten the route taken to this point and didn't have a clear reference point visible from here. There was only one thing to do now.

"Well, good thing I gave myself time to explore today…"

-Legends-

Megaman eventually found the warehouse posted in the ad; but nobody answered the door when he knocked, so he just had to hope the job was still happening the next day. He wound up making it back to the Flutter just after lunch, but the only person there to greet him was Data, who was busy reading the comics in the newspaper.

Not having eaten yet, he decided to make food for the entire family so they could eat it whenever they returned. Putting his apron on over his armor, he grabbed some pork from the fridge and set the rice cooker up. Idly, he wondered if they'd have to move onto much cheaper foods for a while. At least they had supplies to last them a few days.

He was still in the middle of cooking when he heard the Flutter's main entrance open and a familiar voice call out. "Megaman? Is that your cooking I'm smelling?"

"It sure is, Roll. Come in."

She walked into the kitchen and sat on the closest free chair. "Thanks for making food, Megaman. I'm starving!"

He smiled but kept his eyes on the pan where he was stirring the sauce. "Me too. Where's Barrell?"

"Gramps said he was going to the library today. He wants to do some hard research into where we should go once we've fixed our money problem." She sank into the chair just a little. "I just hope he's having an easier time than I did."

Megaman turned his head to look at her as he turned off the burner; the sauce was about finished anyways and ready to serve with the rest. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, yes, but I feel so tired right now. After I got to the repairs office I had to wait almost twenty minutes to get taken to the manager's room. When I got there he said-"

Roll sat up firmly and impersonated the manager, hands clasped in front of herself like she was sitting at a desk. "'Ordinarily, we wouldn't want to hire someone as a temp; but we're short on hands at the moment, so would you consider taking a couple of tests to verify your knowledge and us moving on from there?' Of course I said yes, because I know they want to make sure I won't waste any of their time. There were two parts: a written test, and an evaluation in the garage afterwards. The paper test was perfectly fine, no problems, but…"

"But?" Megaman set the plate of pork cutlets and rice on the table in front of Roll, who put her face into her hands as she answered.

"It was so frustrating, Megaman! Mister Beard was the normal kind of strict; but Buttersworth just kept asking questions while I was in the middle of doing the work, and the questions never had anything to do with the work I was on!"

He rubbed her back to console her before sitting down to eat from his own plate. "Maybe it was a, uh, being able to work under pressure thing?"

"I don't think so…" She lifted her head to look at him. "He didn't start pestering me until Beard mentioned that I aced the written test while only being fourteen. His eyes went cold, and it all went downhill from there. But on the bright side, I got the job!"

"See? It worked out." Sharing a smile, they both settled into their seats for lunch.

The evening passed, dawn of the next day came and Megaman was ready first thing to start working. Arriving at the warehouse ten minutes before eight, he knocked twice on the front door and waited.

After a minute a slim man in a rather nice, indigo suit opened it and stared down at him. "And you are?"

"Megaman, sir. I'm here about the warehouse rearranging?"

"Oh right, the labor. Inside, come on." Following the man inside, Megaman took a look around and noticed that the warehouse was absolutely packed with all manner of boxes. Small to large, cardboard to plastic tubs, and all kinds of colors to them. He noted that there weren't any loose items; everything was in boxes, and the boxes sealed with tape. "My name is Suede, and that's all you need to know. Your job will be to load up the truck that comes, multiple times until all of this product is gone. Everything inside the boxes are already sorted, so just pick a color and load the truck up with that."

"Yes s-"

But Suede continued, heedless of him speaking. "When the truck isn't here, I want you separating the containers so the next load will happen faster. Stack them neatly, and if I see you damage anything you can forget being paid. As I said in the ad, this will probably take through tomorrow with the truck's travel time. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir."

Megaman did his best to ignore how rude the man was and focused on the task at hand while Suede stepped away. As he waited for the truck to arrive, he kneeled down and gave one of the green containers a test lift; he could pick them up, but the weight had him straining. What's in these things, pure metal?!

The garage door opened a couple of minutes later and a pickup truck backed in. Once it was parked the driver got out, face unreadable behind a pair of sunshades, flipped down the hatch gate and waved Megaman over. He said with a deep voice, "Come on kid, start loading."

Hoping to get the most difficult work out of the way early in the day, Megaman opted to load the truck with as many green containers as would fit. The process took several minutes, as there weren't any carts sitting around to expedite the process; it was go to a corner of the warehouse, grab a heavy box, slowly make his way to the truck to load it, slide box on, and repeat.

Fifteen minutes or so later, the truck was closed back up and ready to go. Without a single word of thanks (or helping, for that matter) the driver got back into the vehicle and pulled off. The door closed behind him, so he must have had some type of remote. As the cargo left, Megaman analyzed the room once more as he felt some ache begin to settle in and remembered he would have to be rearranging while he waited for the truck's return.

All of this? By himself? There had to be better way to make the money his family needed, or at least a way that wouldn't involve throwing his back out.

-Legend-

"So? How bad are the repairs going to be?"

Looking up from her papers, Tron turned her head to respond to Teisel. "Not as expensive as we thought, thankfully. But it is going to take some time."

The repairs being discussed were in regards to the Gesellschaft, the Bonne family's colossal pride and joy. Parked off of the coast of Jekyll Island, it contained all of the many machines they'd be using for their future pirate ventures, however…

Teisel sighed. "That Servbot really screwed up our schedule. It's not like we can rob the island's bank and then just sit around in this warehouse for the fixing to wrap up."

"Oh trust me, Teisel, he's going to get all of what's coming to him." Her anger came out as a growl, but she had to settle for echoing her brother's sigh. "In the meantime, we'll just have to get comfortable. There's nothing for it."

"Babuu?"

The older Bonne siblings shifted towards the door to see Bon, their large and yellow youngest who was waving for them to follow him. Teisel was confused for a moment, but then put his hands together in understanding. "Ah, is dinner ready? You didn't have to come get us yourself, Bon; you could've just sent a Servbot! But thank you."

"Babuu!" Bon seemed to say 'don't worry!', so they all began to walk together. They crossed paths with several of the Servbots walking around, who either waved at them or were tied up in small jobs around the warehouse.

Tron cupped her chin with her hands as she tried to recall something. "Is tonight's meal… curry rice?"

"No, it's pizza," answered Teisel. "I've been in the mood for it, so I slipped it into the schedule. Is that alright?"

"Sure, it's fine but…" Tron stopped walking, causing the two others to follow suit and turn to her. "Do you two ever feel like our meals have gotten, I dunno, repetitive?"

Teisel started using his fingers to count backwards, in a sense. "Uh, pizza, hamburgers, curry, curry, leftover spaghetti, hamburgers, the original spaghetti- Hmm, maybe so, Tron. But none of us are great cooks, so it isn't as if we can teach the Servbots much that's new. Does it bother you?"

"A little," she admitted. "Maybe we should get some cookbooks while we're here, since we aren't doing anything else."

"That's one option, but most books aren't going to include portion sizes for all of these mouths. I'm worried about how many mistakes the Servbots will make trying to figure things out as they go to feed our family."

"Um," came a voice from below them, which was revealed to be one of the forty-one Servbots in said family. The little guy seemed apprehensive as he put his idea out into the open. "What if we hired somebody to teach us? Uh, have them explain things in ways that the books wouldn't. Maybe."

Teisel was actually impressed, and gave a thumbs up to the Servbot. "You know, that's actually not a bad idea. We'll consider this a little learning vacation until the Gesellschaft is ready to go! Go put a little notice on some billboards around town, let the chefs on the island come to us. Maybe a bunch of broke cooks will show up, and we'll have them compete to make us food!"

Tron giggled a bit at her brother's enthusiasm. It was so very natural for him to see things like that, and he could even be right! It's not like there were a lack of wannabe chefs on most residential islands. With any luck, they'd be able to hook some idiot to teach the Servbots for cheap. She gave instructions to the now proud-looking bot for him to go with some of the others and post¹ bulletins that they would make.

Glad that she spoke up about the meal situation, Tron was satisfied that variety and change would be introduced into their lives.

Oh how right she would be.

Chapter Text

Megaman let out an exhausted sigh as he sank into the living room couch. Today had been exactly as difficult as he'd anticipated, and he'd worked some muscles he didn't even know he had. Data had managed to make a pizza (with Roll's help) while he'd been working, so the monkey set a plate with two slices onto the table. Megaman gave the monkey a thankful headpat while grabbing a slice. "Thanks, Data."

"Ee-eek!" The monkey smiled, then sat down next to Megaman on the sofa.

Roll came out of her room and peeked in. "Welcome back! You look tired, Megaman."

"I'm completely whooped," he answered limply. "I've been moving super heavy stuff all day. The good news is that I'm done sorting the containers into groups, so tomorrow will only be the truck loading until it's all gone."

What he didn't tell her was that Suede had been maybe the most absentee boss he'd ever heard of, only poking his head in every hour or so to make sure he hadn't broken anything before disappearing to do who-knows-what in his office. The nameless driver never did a thing besides opening and closing the truck bed, refusing to even speak to him after that first load.

Roll thankfully couldn't read his mind. "Good, I just hope the next job you get isn't so strenuous."

"Me, too." He stretched in-between bites of cheesy goodness, feeling a satisfying pop in his back. "But enough about mine, how was your first day?"

"It was good." She sat down, smiling at him over Data's head. "Got three jobs done today, and the third one was so funny. The husband answered and said 'oh, you must be here to fix the stove!' Then his wife shouted from the back room, 'No, I think she's the carpet cleaner we asked for!' I wasn't sure how to tell them that I was there for the boiler…"

Megaman happily listened to her recount her day, glad that at least one of them had a good experience. Once he was done eating he took a bath and made sure to go to bed early, especially since he just knew he'd be even more sore tomorrow and didn't want a lack of sleep to cause him problems.

The next day, since he was already done with getting the remaining material straightened out, he grabbed a chair and sat near the stacks of tubs in-between truck loads. Suede didn't comment on it, which he was grateful for, but he discovered a new problem: boredom. There was nothing for him to do or even look at while he waited, and the last thing he wanted to do was bother his employer for a newspaper and get on his bad side. All Megaman could do was count the minutes between loading times with his mental clock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick…

It was some time after three in the afternoon when the final loading happened. With just a few containers to put on, Megaman was ever so gentle as he finished the work and the driver closed the hatch. Hearing the word "Hold" from Suede's office, the hatch was opened once more as they waited for the suited man to walk out. Suede was carrying a small clear case with papers in it and a small fabric bag. Now that Megaman had a chance to observe him, he noted that the purple suit looked pretty nice; the older man had clearly spent quite a hefty sum on his attire.

Suede met his eyes and held the fabric bag up slightly while he approached. "This is your payment. Step outside that garage door while I lock this place up."

Obeying, Megaman stood outside of the building while Suede put the case in the truck bed. With a bang, the garage closed for the final time behind them all while Suede sat in the passenger seat and leaned out of the window, holding his payment. How much was in there, anyways?

Suddenly, Suede threw the bag at him with all the force his right arm could muster, and Megaman had to lean back while he caught it to avoid being smacked in the face. "Hey!"

SCREEEEECH!

The rubber on all four tires burned hot as the truck rushed off, leaving Megaman sputtering from the smell of the exhaust. In a mere moment it was gone, the sound of the roaring engine as it whipped around a corner vanishing quickly. Why in the world had they been so rude and taken off like that?!

Unless… "Oh no."

Pulling at the opening of the bag, Megaman felt horror sink in as the top layer of its contents revealed trash: paper receipts, a plastic cup, lint. Sticking his finger in to move stuff around showed the glimmer of refractor shards, so he crouched near the wall of the now abandoned warehouse and dumped the entire bag. To any onlookers he would've looked like a madman, rapidly sorting trash from the pile as he counted up the value of the world's smallest accepted forms of shards that made up his payment.

260 Zenny.

A bag filled with 260 Zenny in shards and literal trash; that was his payment for nearly two full days of work. In an uncharacteristic display of anger he kicked the trash pile that had formed, but refrained from doing an actual damage to his surroundings as he knew better than to lash out for real. All he could do was release a wordless shout to the sky, frustrated from having allowed himself to be tricked.

For lack of anything better to do, he put the shards back into the bag and shoved it into his pocket. There was a part of him that wanted to go back to the Flutter and see his family, but another part just wanted some alone time. He settled for an aimless walk, his feet carrying him back to the residential half of the island headed towards nowhere in particular. The afternoon sun was bearing down on his head fairly hard, so when he happened upon a bench to sit on he did so, taking stock of his surroundings.

He found himself in small park; there was a kid's sandbox to his left, some type of notice board a little past that, and a bunch of dogs being walked by their owners. Megaman felt oddly soothed looking around, so he chose to get comfortable where he sat and leaned back. A jogger wearing some headphones passed by after a few minutes, giving him a casual wave as he continued on his route. Megaman returned the gesture, but stopped with his hand in the air when he saw a strangely familiar sight.

"Hey, aren't those two…?" In front of him were the two little yellow-and-blue robots he'd helped the day before. One was carrying a stack of papers while the other had some type of stapler. They paid him no mind as they went past the sandbox and right up to the notice board. In a routine that was clearly well-practiced, the one with the stapler grabbed a sheet of paper, jumped onto the other's shoulders, put the paper to the board and pressed down hard. With an visible thump the paper was pinned to the board and the two robots separated, happily proceeding to their next stop.

Out of curiosity, Megaman got up and examined the paper they set. It seemed to be a copy of a handwritten letter, but the original handwriting wasn't exactly great; if someone told him a child had made it, he'd believe them. It took him a few moments to be able to interpret the writing.

Hiring!

A large family is looking to hire a cooking tutor. Your job will be to instruct the learners in particular recipes and/or techniques.

Paid after each meal.

If interested, visit this address. Bring this notice with you.

Reaching into his pocket, a quick check of the map he had confirmed that the address on the notice was on the same road (and most likely, the very same building) that he had walked the two robots to the other day. If he was to be perfectly honest with himself, he wasn't sure how he felt about immediately going job hunting after the last one was such rip-off. Still, he didn't particularly want to return to the Flutter with a measly 260 Zenny in hand and no other prospects for making money.

Nodding resolutely to himself, he ripped the notice off of the board.

-Legend-

Teisel was in a fairly good mood. Most days were good days when you were a Bonne, of course, but even he felt excited by the prospect of new foods in their menu. Tron's suggestion had caught him by surprise, but he could see where she was coming from; their options had gotten a bit stale, so the idea of change was a welcome one.

Additionally, some scouting from the Servbots had confirmed the status of the Riverside Bank's security inside and out, and honestly it felt like this next job was going to be as easy as they come. Two on-foot police officers would be practically nothing in the face of their mechs, particularly the ever trustworthy Gustaff. Soon, Jekyll Island would regret being so lazy with their own protection!

It was 4:50 PM when one of the Servbots knocked on the door of what had become his office in their warehouse. "Boss! We have somebody here for the cooking job!"

"Excellent, I'll be right there. Lead him to the little living room." Even Teisel hadn't expected results that quickly; truly, this island must have wannabe chefs by the dozen! The warehouse's meeting-room-turned-living-room wasn't the most professional spot for a job interview, he knew, but you worked with what you had. They'd been lucky to find an unused warehouse with a built-in kitchen in the first place, so they weren't about to be picky with their buildings.

Teisel walked slowly through the hallway, drawing himself up to look tall as he opened the door. Seated on a wooden chair was a boy with brown hair and wearing blue armor, and at first glance he looked to be Tron's age. The mystery boy stiffened as he entered, but Teisel ignored it as nerves. If he was going to get his money's worth, he'd have to be at least polite to the new hire. "Hello, little Blue Boy. I've heard that you're here to apply to be our personal tutor."

"Yes sir," came the firm response. "My name is Megaman. I saw the job notice and decided to come as soon as I could since the paper didn't list a day or time."

"It didn't?" Huh. "Can I see the copy you brought with you?"

Megaman obliged, and Teisel flinched just a smidgen as he reviewed the Servbots' work. Sloppy writing, no date/time… he had a feeling that wouldn't bode well for more people showing up. He grabbed another chair and sat opposite Blue Boy, a few feet away. "Well, thank you for coming. Would you mind answering a few questions as a little interview?"

"Of course."

Good, the boy was eager. "First, what kind of cooking experience do you have?"

"I've learned how to cook for my family ever since I was little. I'm not a professional, but I'm confident that I can at least teach some basic tricks and tips."

"Next, would you prefer to teach at lunch or dinner times?"

"I can do either, sir, I should probably just know ahead of time so I can tell my family what I'm doing."

"Flexible, good. And last, are you comfortable teaching, say, young kids?"

"I am. Is it the little guys who showed me in that I'm teaching?"

"It is. Those little guys are called Servbots." Teisel grinned a little as he anticipated the tutor's next reaction. "There's a total of forty-one of them, but you won't be teaching all of them at once."

Fulfilling Teisel's secret wish, Megaman's eyes went wide at that information. "Forty-one?! Wow, that's… cool and weird to think about. Who made them?"

"My sister Tron, actually. She considers them all her children, so don't think you can get away with treating them poorly." That was their job, anyways.

"Of course not," Megaman answered firmly. "While we're talking about it, how many will I be tutoring at once, sir?"

"Probably six or seven hand-picked Servbots. When you come for the first lesson we'll have the answer to that, on top of an inventory of our food." Teisel tilted his head back for a moment in thought. "It's too late to do anything today, so how about you come back here tomorrow at ten AM?"

"Yes sir, gladly." Blue Boy seemed a little nervous now, but continued speaking. "Sir, can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Um, how much will I be making per tutoring session?"

Ah, so much for keeping the pay discussion under the radar. Something in Megaman's posture told Teisel that there was a hidden story, but he wasn't about to be the one to ask about it. "Let's see… someone will be supervising you, so as long as you don't burn a lot of food or waste our time, let's say 2000 Zenny each lesson. How does that sound?"

Megaman gave a sigh of relief, and Teisel was secretly happy that the boy would accept a bit less than the 'normal' prices he'd researched. "That sounds great, Mister…"

He blinked. "I'm sorry sir, I don't think you told me your name."

"My mistake, then." Teisel stood up and offered his right hand. "My name is Teisel. I look forward to working with you, little boy."

"Thank you, Mister Teisel." Megaman returned the handshake as he rose. Teisel offered to see him out (to avoid the boy exploring their building), and bid him farewell at the front door. He'd initially wanted to string Megaman along about the job, but seeing the job notice dashed his hopes about anybody else on the island taking it seriously.

"Well, let's just make the most of Blue Boy while we have him." Teisel nodded to himself as he thought about it. "We can at least rope him into doing some other chores, I bet. Just so long as we keep him distracted from remembering that he's only supposed to be a tutor."

Satisfied with his plan, he went back into the warehouse to begin hiding the robbery plans solely in his office; it wouldn't do for Blue Boy to tip off the police, after all!

Chapter Text

"They did WHAT?!"

Megaman had returned to the Flutter and was talking to his family about his day. Roll's reaction, while normal and completely expected, still caused Megaman's ears to ring a little bit. He rubbed at his right ear while showing the 'payment bag' from earlier that day. "Here, take a look."

He slid the bag to her, and Roll unceremoniously dumped its contents onto the Flutter's living room table. Seeing the frankly insignificant amount of shards, her eyes went as wide as saucers. "That's- I can't believe someone would do that to you! It's fraud!"

"It's pretty bad," he agreed. "But it's too late to do anything about it. I only have a first name and no idea where they went. I'll just have to think of this as… a life lesson, I guess."

Barrell shook his head. "You meet all kinds of people, and this is the proof. Still, I'm sorry it happened to you."

Megaman just shrugged. It would be a lie to say he wasn't still angry about it, but even he knew that life moved on. Fuming over it wouldn't help. "The good news is that I have another job lined up, and the pay was already agreed on. I'm gonna be teaching some kids about cooking."

Roll began to put the shards back into the fabric bag as she sat back into her chair. "Well, that's nice to hear, and at least it won't be so back-breaking. How much will you make?"

"2000 Zenny a lesson, although I don't know how many lessons we're gonna do." He considered that as he took the bag from Roll's hands. "Depending on what we do, I could do maybe three lessons? How much do those Servbots know about cooking, anyways?"

Getting an idea, Megaman turned his head to speak to Data, who was sitting next to him. "Data, can you bring me the cookbook we read out of sometimes? I think I should bring that to work."

The monkey complied while Megaman went to his room to grab his backpack; it was orange, which he knew contrasted his blue armor, but a good bag was a good bag. While in his bedroom he grabbed his apron as well, throwing it into the bag before returning to the living room. Data had already set the book down, so he packed that into the bag before glancing across the table.

"...I guess I might still need the pocket change sometime." Saying that, he threw the refractor shard bag in as well. Never know when you might need to pay for a soda, right?

-Legends-

Megaman was pretty anxious about tutoring, as it wasn't something he'd done before; but, all he could do was take a deep breath as he stood in front of the green warehouse where he'd be working. Shuffling his backpack a little, he knocked three times on the door. He thought that he'd be waiting for a moment, but the very instant his knocks stopped, the door opened and a grinning Servbot looked up at him. "Hello, Mr. Teacher! We've been waiting for you."

He smiled, the robot's honest enthusiasm helping to loosen his nerves. "Thanks, is everyone ready?"

"Yep, just come on in!" Megaman followed behind him, taking a peek around as he was led to the kitchen. The building didn't have much in its main storage area, and what was present was all covered by tarps.

Well, everything except one where the tarp had fallen off, he noted. On a wooden table in a corner was an assortment of nuts and bolts, and on the wall just above that was what appeared to be the diagram of a ship. His curiosity piqued, he asked the Servbot, "So, what are you guys working on?"

"Just repairing our ship," came the chipper reply. "We had an accident, but nobody got hurt."

"Woah. I'm glad you're all okay."

"...I wouldn't say that, sir." Megaman was about to ask what he meant, but the Servbot changed tones as soon as they stepped into the kitchen. "Here we are! Miss Tron, this is our tutor."

Turning to face them was a girl about his age. She had a pink and gray shirt on with a skull-ish logo at its center, as well as earrings with the same; idly, Megaman realized he had seen the same skull on Mister Teisel's shoulders and pondered if it meant anything. Her eyebrow raised for a moment as she observed him in return, before it turned into a furrowed brow while she crossed her arms. "I was expecting someone a bit… nevermind. I'm Tron, and I'll be supervising your lesson."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Megaman-"

"Mister Blue Guy!" All heads turned to the speaker, which turned out to be another of the Servbots. There were five standing in a row wearing aprons, but the one on the far left had his hands raised. "I didn't think I'd see you again!"

"Mister Blue-" Megaman realized something and smiled. "Oh, you're one of the ones I helped a few days ago. Hello again."

"Hi!" The Servbot turned to Tron to explain. "Miss Tron, Mister Blue Guy helped me and #12 get the food cart here when we were having trouble pushing."

"Really now?" Rather than look relieved, she seemed to be scrutinizing him harder. "And why would you do that?"

He shrugged. "No real reason, they just looked like they needed help."

A moment of silence stretched while she processed that. Megaman nearly wanted to ask what was wrong, but Tron's expression softened just a bit as she said, "Well, thanks. The one you helped was Servbot #1, while the others-"

She began to put them out from left to right, the Servbots bowing as they were addressed. "-are #3, #6, #16, and #25. #14 is the one who let you in, and he'll be writing notes while the others cook. He's the most organized out of all of them."

#14 nodded his head before stepping aside for a moment to grab some materials. He came back with two notepads, one of which he passed to Megaman. "This is the list of ingredients here, Sir. Just tell us what to grab and we'll do it."

"Thanks." Megaman sat down on a stool as he looked over the list. Fruits, veggies, types of pasta… it seemed like they'd gotten a bit of everything at the market. His eyes stopped at the meats when he saw 'boneless chicken tenderloins', and he reached into his bag to grab the recipe book. Flipping through it, he landed on a Chicken with rice and gravy recipe .

Making up his mind, he addressed all of the Servbots while showing them the cookbook. "Alright, I want to see how you guys are at cooking, so we're going to do something pretty easy. Can you get everything on this page and bring it to the stovetop? Also, do we have a rice cooker?"

"Right over there." #14 pointed towards the countertop, and Megaman was surprised to see three large ones side-by-side, at least until he remembered they were a family of over forty people; of course they'd need that many rice cookers.

"Good, get the stuff, then, and meet me at the stovetops." The troop scattered while Megaman grabbed his apron and put it on over his armor. Tron sat on a chair while keeping her arms crossed, face neutral and not revealing any of her thoughts.

When the Servbots came back, they'd gathered: rice, chicken, green beans, some cooking oil for the pans, and the makings for the gravy and spices. Realizing that he couldn't really tell them apart, he would have to call out their numbers and hope everything just went well. "Okay, #1, please show me on the stove what setting you usually cook your meats on."

"Okay!" One stepped forward and grabbed the knob for the gas stove. Once it was lit, he set the burner to just below High. "Like this?"

"Yep, go ahead and turn it off now." With a click it was cut off. "So, the first lesson I want to cover is 'Low and Slow.' Can any of you guess what I mean?"

The Servbots all glanced at each other, none of them raising their hands. "That's okay," he reassured them gently. "Nothing's wrong with not knowing. What Low and Slow means is that oftentimes it's better to cook food, especially meats, at lower heat over a longer time rather than High and super quick. When you cook it quickly, you run the risk of drying out the food too much."

He pointed at the chicken tenderloins still in their package. "While following the rest of the recipe, I want you guys to cook one piece of chicken at your normal heat, and the rest on Medium. You'll understand what kind of difference it can make."

"""Roger!"""

The next twenty odd minutes were spent going over the simple instructions, each Servbot picking a spot on the counter and staying there, which made sense given that they all had to be on stools. #14 was quietly writing down everything he said, but he honestly didn't have to say much; they could follow the recipe pretty well.

When all of the food but the green beans were done, he waved for Tron to come over while he addressed the group. "Okay, so cut up this 'normal cooked' chicken piece so you can all taste it, then once you do that cut up a slower cooked piece and repeat."

Tron grabbed one of the small pieces of meat, remaining silent in her chewing while the others mumbled things like "Yep, that's chicken…" When they were done with the first piece, #3 began to slice up the second. There was a visible difference, the Servbots noticed, what with more juices coming out of the cut meat. #3 almost began to drool, but finished his cuts so everyone could grab a bite. As one, they all took a chomp.

"...it's tender." Megaman had to fight to keep his face professional from Tron's compliment. Meanwhile, the Servbots were starting to get excited while they chewed. "It's juicy!" "Oh that's better!" "Does that work for vegetables?"

#14 raised his hand once he was done with his piece. "Teacher, does this work with all foods? That was delicious!"

Megaman gave a small hm. "I don't think so, but I haven't worked with every food out there so I'm not sure. I know that it doesn't work if you're deep-frying something, at least."

#16 was next. "How do we know which foods to try it on?"

"Usually, the recipes in cookbooks will have recommended cooking temperatures; but if you think something dried out following one, maybe give it a try then."

"Oooooh." They nodded in unison. "Okay, let's finish the meal!"

Once the green beans were finished the gravy thickened, plates were passed out for everyone present to be served. Megaman didn't think he'd get a spot, but a plate was prepared for him anyway, so he sat at the table with the rest of them. The Servbots went straight into eating, and-

"I like this gravy!" "Low and Slow for the rest of my life." "#3, are you crying?" "I'm happy, okay?"

It was a hit, he was not surprised to discover; what was a surprise, however, was that even Tron was nodding as she ate her meal. She wasn't devouring it like the robots were, but she had a definite smile as she coated a green bean in gravy before bringing it to her mouth.

Once she was finished, she wiped her mouth with a napkin and said, "Alright, you've sold me on that cookbook at least. Can I see it? We should buy our own copy."

"Sure." He pulled it out, the worn cover of ' Comfort Cooking: Volume 1' being displayed. "Let me know if you can't find the book, I'll come back so you guys can copy the recipes."

"Mhm." She studied it for a moment to commit it to memory. "Ah, before you go, can you help the Servbots clean up?"

"Yeah, no problem." Wiping his own mouth, he stood and talked to the table at large. "Okay, you guys ready to get stuff cleaned?"

All the Servbots' hands went up. """Yes, Teacher!"""

He chuckled a little. "You know, you don't really have to call me that. Just Megaman is fine."

"Okay!"

He grabbed a broom and tackled the floor while the robots did the dishes, each assuming a position and moving in a firm manner. Clearly these small guys were used to getting things done in the kitchen; honestly, what else could he do for them besides recommend food?

Once the kitchen was spotless, Tron handed him a small envelope. When she turned around to talk to the Servbots for a moment, he checked its contents: 2000 Zenny, as promised. Success! "Alright, Megaman," she spoke slowly, "you did your job and I can't complain. How about tomorrow you come here, say, one in the afternoon? We'll take you shopping with us, and we can decide on the next tutor meal then."

"Sounds like a plan," he answered with a smile. "I'll bring the book, too. Thank you for hiring me for this."

"Just keep doing your best-" She gave him a teasing smirk. "- Teacher." Megaman could only scratch the back of his head in embarrassment; he felt itchy being called something like that, and Tron clearly saw that and was just messing with him.

He was escorted out of the building like the day before, but this time all of the Servbots he'd taught were there to wave goodbye, and he waved back as he walked away. He felt the satisfaction of a job well done, however brief the job itself had been, and couldn't wait to get back to them and keep tutoring them. It was just a little sad that family wouldn't need him for much, since he enjoyed the company of-

Megaman tilted his head a little. If they were one big family, what was their family name, anyways? He'd have to ask them next time they met.

Chapter Text

Tron Bonne considered herself a cautious person. If something seemed suspicious, she would do her due diligence to make sure it wouldn't bite her in the butt. A strange boy in blue armor, helping out her children with their groceries for no reason? Very suspicious.

The moment Megaman was out of earshot, Tron got the attention of all six Servbots with a snap of her fingers. "Listen up: I need two of you to follow him without being seen. Find out where he's staying, we're gonna set up a mini stake-out."

This clearly alarmed them. "What's wrong, Miss Tron?"

"What's wrong is that we don't need other people trying to leech off of our heist." She put her hands on her hips firmly. "He's too young to be part of the police, but we need to find out who he works with. If they try to hit the bank before we do, there'll be trouble."

The Riverside Bank. One of two on Jekyll Island, it was honestly smaller than the far east branch on the island; but they didn't want what was going to be in their vault, at least not primarily. "Those special jewels are going to be moved off-island by the end of the month. This will be our best chance before they get taken to some high-security site."

#1 raised his hand. "And you're worried that Mister Megaman is part of another pirate crew. I really hope he's not."

She sighed. Of course her Servbots would get attached to the tutor. "If he's not, then everything will be fine; but we can't leave anything to chance, so get going! Find his place, get a tail on him. I want pictures and audio recordings, if you can get close enough."

"Roger!" They moved out quickly, some to return to the Gesellschaft to grab their supplies. 

Before long, she was handed a picture of Megaman stepping into an airship. It was pretty small, with no visible weapons attached to the outside. That fact didn't reduce her suspicion, but at least they'd be able to take them down if it came to an armed stand-off. She received confirmation that the Servbot crew had long-range microphones aimed at the ship, and later there were pictures of a blonde girl Megaman's age and some old man getting into the same ship, but that seemed to be it for occupants.

It wasn't long before she let herself relax enough to get ready for bed. Leaving instructions that she wanted any available audio first thing in the morning, she wound down and drifted off to sleep in the Gesellschaft. 

"...ron."

Hm? A bit groggy, she began to stir in her bed.

"Miss Tron, it's morning. Good morning!"

Tron opened her eyes to see Servbot #20 greeting her. Stifling a yawn, she answered back, "Morning. Any news?"

#20 held up a tape. "This is from the stake-out. #25 said that there was no talking at all after ten PM, so they must've all gone to bed."

"Thanks," she mumbled as she took it. "Once I get dressed I'll give it a listen right away. Tell them to pull back now to avoid people getting suspicious of them."

After she got ready for the day and put on her normal attire, she went to the equipment room and threw on a set of headphones. Sitting at her work desk, the already prepared playback machine popped open and she slid in the tape. 

Click .

Silence greeted her for a bit, so she pressed down the fast-forward until she heard talking. 

"-lcome back, Roll. How was work?"

"Good! Things are still going really well. Did the tutoring go okay?"

'Roll' must be the blonde girl. Easy enough, just leaves the old man nameless. "The tutoring was awesome, actually. I taught some of those small robots I told you about, it turns out they don't have names outside of their numbers. I think you'd like them."

"I hope I get to meet them soon."

"Maybe, maybe not," said Tron under her voice.

"Ee-eek?"

What in the world? Was that a monkey?

"Yeah, the whole family has been nice, Data."

Wait, 'ee-eek' was a question? That was a big answer to give to some kind of monkey. 

Tron spent two hours going over the recording, making judicious use of the fast-forward button, but nothing incriminating came up. They talked about what to eat, how 'Gramps' research into some ruins was going, the money needed to do repairs to their ship, the Flutter, the monkey(?) Data almost spilled a drink… All of it felt so normal. Just a family going about their lives.

She heard a knock on the wall near her, and she looked up to see Teisel glancing down at her. Taking off her headset, she asked, "Hey, what's up Teisel?"

"Just checking on you, Tron. The Servbots told me that you had them checking out Blue Boy's place." He was smiling, not in a bad mood at all. "Anything I need to know?"

"It might've just been me jumping at shadows." She stretched a bit as she stood up. "If they're a pirate group, they're darn good at hiding it. I'll be seeing Megaman for a grocery trip later, so I'm gonna ask him some questions and make sure everything adds up. The good news is that it seems like they won't be a problem."

"Wonderful, and don't worry about feeling jumpy. You've got great intuition, and anyways it's always good to be careful." Teisel gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Being worrywarts is kind of an occupational hazard, if you think about it."

"Yeah, you're right." Tron smiled back at him. "At least the Servbots will be happy to still have a tutor."

After a late breakfast and feeling more comfortable now that the previous day's panic was winding down, she left the Gesellschaft in a Drache and got ready for the afternoon. Only #1 and #14 would be going with her and Megaman to the store, as the rest were continuing the repairs to the Gesellschaft.

Just before one o' clock, Tron was watching the Servbots pull the shopping out of the warehouse's front door when she spotted Megaman coming down the street towards them; he was a punctual guy, at least. Once he was close she said, "Glad you're on time."

"Yeah, I've been told since I was a kid never to be late." He waved at the Servbots as they got the cart set. "Hey guys. Ready to go shopping?"

"Yes sir!" They both answered merrily. "We're going to the grocers back on the residential side, on 2nd street."

"Okay then, let's go." They began to walk as one, Servbots setting the pace while Megaman and Tron walked just behind them. 

They were silent for a couple moments, but Tron got the itch to go ahead and ask her questions, if only so she could stop having to think about possible competition. "Hey Megaman, do you mind if I ask you some questions? Just out of curiosity."

"Hm?" Megaman turned his head to look at her. "Sure, go ahead."

"If you don't cook for your normal work, what does your family do?"

"We're Diggers," he answered simply. "I usually explore the ruins while Roll acts as my spotter. Roll's grandpa taught us everything we know, and he still helps us find the next place to go. How about you guys?"

"We dig from time to time, but usually we just do whatever jobs come our way." None of them legal, of course. While they were talking about their families, she decided to see if he recognized their name. "I forgot to tell you before, but we're the Bonne family. You?"

He failed to react in any way to their name, which was good whether he was a civilian or not. "I'm Megaman Volnutt, but Roll and Barrell's last names are Caskett. I'm basically adopted."

"'Basically' adopted? Ha, why not just say you're adopted?"

Megaman scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Well, I didn't come from an orphanage or anything. Gramps found me in a cave when I was really young."

Tron cocked an eyebrow when she heard that. "In a cave? Not gonna lie, that's a weird place to find a kid."

"Right?" He laughed at her tone. "He found me and Data together, who's kind of my pet monkey. We've always been a team since."

"You'll have to introduce me." So she could put her worries aside for good.

They got to the pedestrian bridge and began to cross over. The conversation lulled a bit, which was fine since it let Tron go through a mental list of questions to ask, but as they were walking Servbot #14 turned his head towards a different bridge and said, "Huh? Do you guys hear something?"

"What?" Megaman and Tron both stopped and looked to the right. Now that it was said out loud, they could all hear something.

Rumble-rumble-rumble

Coming from the industrial side of the island, a mech with tank treads began to go over a vehicle bridge. With no cars on the road, the mech began to speed up as it traveled. In its left hand was a gun, but its entire right arm was basically a metal ball attached to its shoulder. Most importantly, and even more apparent than the massive hunk of metal itself somehow, was its obnoxiously loud shade of purple. It seemed to shimmer in the afternoon sun, nearly blinding them all at one angle while it drove.

"Something's wrong."

"Something's wrong." Megaman echoed her thoughts before he began to run. "I've got a bad feeling about this!"

Why was there a mech barreling over the bridge?! Tron's heart began to drum loudly in her ears as she started to sprint. No, there was no way, this couldn't be happening!

The mech spun left the moment it got off the bridge, making a beeline towards a particular building. The moment the tank treads stopped moving-

Whrrrr- WHAM!

The metal ball attached to its right shoulder shot out, crashing right through the front wall of the Riverside Bank.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Tron was beside herself in anger. There was someone going after the Bonne's target after all!

As the group reached the scene, gunfire began to ring out from the security guards; but their bullets merely bounced off of the mech's armor, barely doing scratch damage. The metal ball, attached to the arm by a chain, began to retract as the mech's speakers cracked to life. "I'll make this simple. Give me everything in that vault, starting with the jewels!"

Standing not far from him, Tron witnessed Megaman's left hand disappear into his arm, making a weapon as the boy pointed it at this unknown enemy. Tron was mostly still filled with rage, but incredulity was added when he shouted, "Stop! I don't know what you want, but you won't be getting it, pirate!"

"What?" The mech turned its head just enough to observe the blue boy standing up to it. "Oh, it's the boy. I don't know why you're here, but your help certainly isn't needed."

"Wait," said Megaman slowly. "I know that voice. Suede?"

Megaman knew who this guy was? What in the world was their connection?! The mech's torso turned a bit more fully, raising its gun arm to point it at Megaman. "You're quickly becoming a nuisance. I don't have time to waste with you, so-"

Much to Tron's confusion, the head of the mech shifted and the pilot began to focus exclusively on her. "Hold on, that symbol on your shirt… I'd recognize that anywhere! You, girl! Are you related to Teisel Bonne?"

Great, now things were making even less sense. Tron was absolutely on her last nerves. "I don't need to answer anything! Who are you to think you can ask me questions?!"

"That arrogance!" Suede's voice over the speaker began to rise with rage. The security guards of the bank stopped firing, either realizing they weren't accomplishing anything or not wanting to get involved in this new argument. "You, YOUUUU!"

His shouting suddenly stopped. An eerie silence  hung in the air, until the head of the machine turned to look at Megaman once more. Suede's voice was sickeningly polite as he said, "On second thought, boy, I need to thank you for bringing me this surprise gift. This has truly become a fantastic day for me."

Whrrrr-

The world seemed to slow down as the ball-and-chain was launched once more… directly at her. Tron's legs felt glued to the pavement as the weapon came rushing at full speed. Her mouth opened in shock, but right at that moment she felt all of her weight be swept out from under her. "Wha-"

WHAM!

The very spot she'd been standing in was smashed in, but Tron found herself staring into Megaman's face as he carried her, sprinting as fast as his legs could take him around the street corner. The look in his emerald eyes was… firm. In her stupor, she had no other way to describe it but enthralling.

Managing to slip into an alley, Megaman crouched a bit to set her down gently in a sitting position. "Tron, are you okay?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Was she though? Her brain was struggling to keep up. Where were the Servbots?

"Miss Trooon!" Oh, there they were, just a moment behind them; thankfully, while they were frantic, they weren't hurt. 

Her legs finally found their strength; but as she began to stand up, Megaman was already running out of the alley saying, "Stay here, you three!"

"He's seriously about to take on this Suede guy!" There was a part of Tron that knew that she needed to escape. The other pirate clearly had a bone to pick with her brother, and she had almost been turned into chalk outline not a moment before.

But…

Peeking just her head around the corner, she witnessed the boy in blue stand firm, squaring up against the mech as it stopped at the intersection and aimed its gun at him. The speakers crackled, "That's it! You'll regret getting in my way, boy!"

Megaman and Suede began firing at once, but the former was nimble. He weaved in and out of the gunfire, firing his buster at the machine's body. The shots were hitting, but it was tough to say they were doing that much to him.

With another whrrr , the ball-and-chain shot at Megaman. Rather than dodge to the side, Megaman jumped up.

WHAM! The weapon was lodged into the road and Megaman landed on top of it, taking a moment only to find his footing before aiming directly at the chain connecting the ball. Shot after shot, Megaman fired at the chain with his left hand while holding it with his right. Dislodging from the road, the weapon began to retract to its base. Tron's breath caught as she watched Megaman keep holding on, accelerating in speed as the ball tried to return home.

Then, two things happened at once: Megaman went flying over Suede's shoulder, and the weapon smashed into the arm without stopping.

Megaman landed on the pavement in a skid, thankfully on his armored back instead of his head. As soon as he could look up, he witnessed the metal ball land on the ground completely free of its chain. It looked like Suede tried to throw the mech into reverse to run him over, but the wheel treads had issues getting around where the ball landed.

"You insolent- WHAT?!" Suede interrupted his own line, or at least that's what it sounded like to Tron. The speakers Suede was talking through began to relay one side of a conversation. "No, you said I'd have at least five more minutes! The job isn't done!"

Megaman stood up and aimed his weapon, but held his fire while Suede talked to somebody they couldn't hear. "What have I been doing? Just- Don't worry about that! I'm pulling out."

The machine's head turned just enough to look at Megaman. "It sounds like playtime is over, but I'll be back for you! You've made me your enemy, boy!"

With a loud rumble, the mech began to accelerate into the residential half of the island. Megaman returned his arm to normal, and it was only now that Tron could see how hard he was breathing. The fight and collision had clearly made its impact on him. 

Tron finally released the breath she'd been holding. There was a lot to say about the last few minutes, not the least of which was needing to figure out who this Suede guy was, but for now she'd have to settle on the jewels still being in the bank. And Megaman-

Jeez, this guy! Just what was this kid made of that he would (or even could ) take on a machine that big by himself and not only survive, but do serious damage to it? And the way he picked her up without hesitation…

"Miss Tron?" She looked down as Servbot #1 spoke. "Do we still think Megaman is suspicious?"

Did they? There was a lot to process now, but as her wits came back together she could firmly say, "No, I don't think so. But…"

She heard the sounds of police sirens, no doubt coming to investigate the destruction. Megaman looked in their direction and smiled, offering a tired wave from afar. "I think I'd like to get to know him more."

Chapter Text

Still standing in the middle of the street, Megaman rolled his shoulders as the ache from sliding on the cement began to settle in; he was grateful his armor could protect him, but he couldn't help but feel that he should invest in a helmet. He looked over and waved at Tron and the Servbots, who waved back awkwardly, and then started to walk towards the bank that Suede had attacked.

Standing outside of the bank were two men that looked like security guards, while a crowd of people had formed inside near the exit. Everybody was being careful not to stand directly under the parts of the wall that threatened to cave in further. Addressing the guards, Megaman asked, "Hey, is everyone okay? The way that guy hit this place was pretty scary."

The first guard, a portly guy, answered, "Hey back, nobody got hurt, thank goodness. But kid, are you okay after fighting that guy?"

"I'm fine, I've taken worse hits." Megaman flexed his buster arm, but that action made him flinch as pain shot up his arm. Shoot, he was really gonna have to rest after this. "Can I ask you something, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"What was the pirate after? I think I heard him say something about jewels?"

"Oh, you hadn't heard about it?" The second guard chimed in quite happily. "There's a set of crowns, king and queen, that have been in a museum here for years. We thought they were local history for our island, so they just sat around for a while, but it was recently discovered that they're linked to some multi-island kingdom!"

It was at that time that several police cars, the ones Megaman had been hearing come closer, pulled in front of the bank and came to a screeching halt. The portly guard did a waving motion that seemed to say 'stop' before using one hand to gesture for them to come closer, so the sirens of the cars were silenced as the police force stepped out of their vehicles. Some of the officers immediately began to barricade the street off, but two of them instead walked towards Megaman and the two guards. The first officer was in a simple brown suit, while the second wore the blue uniform but had a few badges pinned to his chest.

Megaman took a couple steps back as the suited man began to speak to the guards, his tone firm and full of authority. "What happened? Leave nothing out."

The fatter guard began to describe the entire incident in a calm voice. Megaman wanted to listen in, but he felt something hit him lightly in the back of the head. He turned around to see Tron point at both of her eyes and then at his feet before walking away without a word. His eyes fell to the ground, where he noticed a ball of paper that he swiftly picked up. Opening it up, it said: Go talk to the police, we'll meet up later.

Later? Later when? It's not like her family lived in that warehouse, right? So where would he-

"Young man."

Megaman snapped to attention when he was addressed by the suit-wearing officer, who had approached without him realizing. "Yes sir?"

"I'm Police Chief Richard Hyde, and this is my second-in-command Lieutenant Raymond Hitch." The decorated officer behind him nodded, but didn't speak. "Do you mind me asking you some questions about this incident?"

"Not at all, go ahead, sir." He definitely wasn't about to refuse to answer questions, even if Tron hadn't said anything.

"First off, what made you get involved? Pirates, especially in heavy machines, are not the type of situation children should be getting involved in."

"I just wanted to stop people from getting hurt, Mister Hyde." Megaman held his arm out and demonstrated his buster arm. "I fight reaverbots as a Digger, so I knew I could at least buy time for the police to arrive."

"Hm." Whatever the police chief thought of that, it didn't show on his face. "Second, according to the guards, it seemed as if you knew the pirate."

Megaman pondered how to explain that part in a simple way. "I answered a newspaper ad this week to move and load containers onto a truck. Suede, the pirate I fought, was the one who put me to work in the warehouse. There was also a driver, but between his hat and his sunglasses I don't know what he looks like."

"Would you be willing to show us this warehouse you worked in, as well as come down to the station to work with our sketch artist? We want to identify both of the people you saw as soon as we can so we can be on the lookout for them."

"Sure, no problem." Megaman paused as he realized something. "Is there a chance I can let my family know what's going on so they don't worry too much?"

Richard gave a wry smile. "That won't be an issue. We'll drive you to your home first, and then ask that you show us the warehouse."

Unfortunately, when Megaman returned to the Flutter with a police escort only Data was home to greet him, so he quickly wrote a brief note and left it for the others to find. The trip to the warehouse he worked at for Suede was equally brief, as it only amounted to Megaman walking in after the lock was broken to confirm "Yep, it was this one." Apparently the police would sweep the place for fingerprints and anything else Suede might have left behind.

His visit to the police station, on the other hand, took at least a couple of hours between describing both men for the sketch artist and answering more questions from another officer, just to 'make sure his story stayed consistent.' Yes officer, he was sure the mystery driver was a man. No officer, he didn't know where they took the loaded boxes to. No sir, Suede's nose wasn't that fat, in fact it was pretty thin. It wouldn't have felt so bad to deal with if the policeman questioning him hadn't initially had the wrong idea that he was an accomplice to the attack, only "attacking the mech to move suspicion away from him." That line of thought was only put to rest for good when Lieutenant Raymond poked his head into the room and simply said "Stop it" to the officer before leaving again.

Once he was finally released from the interrogation and left the police station, he walked back to the Flutter with only questions in his mind. Nobody at the station would describe the jewels Suede mentioned, but the security guard had been about to, so it couldn't be that difficult to find out about. Was it his job to handle, though? Shouldn't he leave it to the police?

"Maybe…"

Maybe the reason he felt so invested in this was because he had been duped by the pirate. He'd been willing to just forget about that, but seeing both the bank and Tron attacked had him on edge. It wasn't as if he could just spend his days protecting the bank, though; he still needed to work, and Suede could try something else, anyways. All he could do for now was hope the police caught him without any problems.

It was with heavy steps that Megaman climbed the ladder that led to the Flutter's main entrance. Once he was on solid footing, he opened the door and announced, "I'm home."

"Megaman!" Roll immediately responded from the living room, walking around the corner to get a good look at him. "I saw the note, are you sure you're okay after fighting a pirate?!"

"I'm a little sore, but otherwise I'm good." He made sure to smile to get her to settle down. "I just wish the pirate hadn't gotten away."

"I'm more worried about you than the pirate," she grumbled; still, her expression softened. "I'm glad you're okay."

The door to Gramps' room opened, and the Elder Caskett walked out with Data on his shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay, too. We saw the damage from the attack from the news, but they didn't say much about what specifically happened."

"Well-"

Knock-knock-knock

Everyone paused, but Megaman spoke first. "Were we expecting anyone?"

Roll shook her head, so he turned back to the entrance and called out, "Who is it?"

"It's Tron!"

"Oh!" He quickly opened the door to see Tron standing there, giving a casual wave to him. "Hi! How did you know where to find me?"

"One of the Servbots saw you being driven by the police." Tron smirked a little. "Our little jailbird Megaman, huh?"

He narrowed his eyes a little to give her a deadpan look, but he couldn't quite stop his smile at her joke. "I sure hope not. So what's going on?"

"I wanted to talk about earlier with you, but first, do you mind if my Brother and I both come in?"

"Teisel's here, too?" Tron shifted her body to the side so that he could look down the ladder, and sure enough Teisel was at ground level holding what appeared to be two boxes of pizza. "Aw, you guys didn't have to bring food. Sure, come on in."

Tron waved Teisel in before entering herself. With the entryway already crowded, the group silently agreed to move towards the living room. As everybody got seated, Megaman began the introductions. "Tron, Teisel, this is my family: Roll and Barrell Caskett, and the monkey is Data."

"Ee-eek!"

"Everyone, these are Teisel and Tron Bonne, who I've been tutoring for."

Teisel gave Gramps a firm handshake while Tron simply nodded at Roll, who smiled back and said, "It's nice to meet you. Megaman's been telling us about your Servbots and how hard they work."

The younger Bonne puffed her chest out with pride. "My children are pretty good kids, as long as they focus."

Everyone shared a chuckle at that, then Teisel said, "To get straight to the point, Megaman, I wanted to say thanks for keeping Tron safe. I know it's not much, but we figured the pizza would feed you pretty well after having to spend all afternoon with the police."

"I'm just glad she's safe," he replied honestly. He glanced at her when he said it, and couldn't help but notice her cheeks had gotten a little pinker. "If you don't mind me asking about it, Teisel, that Suede guy seemed to know who you are. It was why he attacked her."

"Yeah, we have a brief history." Teisel sighed a bit heavily. "It was seven, maybe eight years ago? He was just a two-bit thief, and I happened to overhear him planning to steal from a certain business; so, I slipped the police a tip about him. But Young Me had a big head, and I wound up going in person to where he'd be."

Megaman tilted his head in confusion. "Why? To… brag?"

"More or less. I got in his way before he broke in and rubbed it in his face that the cops were on their way." Teisel rubbed the back of his head with a complicated expression. "The folly of youth, I say, especially now that it's come back to bite me."

Barrell nodded sagely. "So Megaman fought off the pirate when he went after Tron. But what was he after before he saw her?"

"The crown set," answered Tron simply. "Short version, a very valuable pair that was shown off in the news. It was announced that they've been sold already, and the island is just waiting for some heavy-duty escort to come take them. I could see a pirate or two wanting to get their hands on them."

Roll crossed her arms in thought. "I'm glad Megaman could stop him, but the news article said that he wasn't arrested, right?"

"Mhm." Megaman's mind traveled back to earlier that day. "We were fighting, then somebody I couldn't hear told him something that made him leave. The cops came not long after he was gone."

The room fell silent for a moment, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Tron and Teisel share a look; when Tron raised one eyebrow ever so slightly, Teisel minutely shook his head. Following this unknown cue, Tron openly shrugged and changed the topic with, "Well, for right now there's nothing we can do. So, I've gotta say that this ship is pretty cute. What's her name?"

"The Flutter," answered Roll with a smile. "She's our home, sweet home."

"Ee-eek?"

"No, Data," Megaman responded to the monkey. "I don't wanna bother them with that."

Tron and Teisel both looked confused, but the former said, "You understand his monkey sounds?"

"Uh, yeah, when he talks I always hear full sentences. Only me, though, everyone else just hears 'ee-eek.'"

"Huh." Teisel seemed not to know how to respond to that. "Well, what did he want to say to us?"

Megaman gave a little sigh. "Well, the Flutter needs some repairs. Data wanted me to ask you if you might have spare parts we can use in the engine room."

"Oh?" There was a twinkle in Tron's eyes that Megaman was at a loss to describe. "As it just so happens, we might be able to help. Roll, mind taking me to see what needs fixing?"

"Okay, but we don't want you to feel like you have to help." Roll continued talking while they walked towards the internal ladder together. "I'd hate for you to feel like we're mooching off of you."

"Nah, don't worry about it. We have our own ship fixes to do, so we happened to-"

The conversation became hard to hear, and Teisel let out a little laugh. "At least the girls are getting along. While we wait for them to come back, why don't the two of you tell me about your recent digs? I bet there's been some serious action since you can fight, Megaman."

"I don't mind, but there isn't much to talk about, honestly." Megaman and Barrell proceeded to share the details of the last few expeditions, and how unlucky they'd been for finding treasure of any sort. While they talked they began to eat the pizza that was brought over, though Data was quick to remind him to save some for the girls.

It was about thirty minutes later when Tron and Roll returned, and the former launched straight into a statement with a complicated expression. "So, good news/bad news time. The good news is that we can spare a few parts for the engine room, so the Servbots will be bringing those over sometime soon; the bad news, though, is that your refractor is almost completely drained."

Megaman let out an understanding 'hm'. "Which means we're still going to need money to replace it."

"Yeah," Roll answered sadly. "The way Tron sees it, we would be able to leave the island with it, but there's no guarantee it'd last until the next city. The last thing we need is to crash in the middle of the ocean."

"Oh well." Barrell offered both of the Bonnes a smile. "We appreciate you offering us your spare parts. Thank you."

"Oh, what's a few nuts and bolts between friends?" Teisel stood up and nodded to himself. "I have a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot of each other. Look out for your neighbor and all that fun stuff."

""Hahaha."" The group shared a laugh at him, and he wasn't at all offended by it. He flashed a thumbs up to Tron, who grinned back before diving into her own portion of the pizza.

Megaman felt his earlier tension easing a bit. So what if this Suede guy was still around? He still had his family, and now a new family to be friends with in the Bonnes. Life was pretty good, all things considered.

-X-

Tron and Teisel left once the pizza was all gone, waving goodbye to the Flutter and everyone on it. Teisel waited to speak until they were out of sight of the small airship. "So? What's the verdict?"

"No pirate equipment at all," answered Tron with a grin. "They're exactly who they say they are. Are you willing to bet on my idea now?"

"Use Megaman as an anti-Suede weapon, huh?" The older Bonne scratched his chin in thought. "If he's as good at fighting as you say he is, then I'm all for it. But how were you thinking of getting him to work with us? It's not like we can tell them what we really do."

"Just leave that to me. I'll make it sound like we're doing the whole island a favor. And anyways, I want to-" She paused there.

"You want to do what, Tron?"

See more of him. But there was no way she could say that out loud. "And anyways, he already showed that he has my back. He didn't need to jump in and protect me today, but he did it anyway. We'll make this work."

"Alright, then we'll do it. We're about to be that whole family's best friends until we know what's going to happen with the jewels next! Hehehe!" Teisel was obviously excited, but he at least managed to restrain himself from doing a full laugh in the middle of the street. "Let's make sure the Servbots are monitoring the police conversations again, we need to stay on top of everything!"

"Right!" She pumped her fist with determination. They were gonna get those crowns, and that Suede guy was gonna get what's coming to him, no matter what!

Chapter Text

Inside of the Gesellschaft's vehicle bay, Tron gave the contents of a particular metal storage bin one more thorough check. Inside of it were the soon-to-be replacement parts for the Flutter's engine, and she wanted to make sure that they delivered all of the promised inventory as it needed to be. Satisfied with its status, she nodded her head as she closed the bin and called out to the Servbots inside of a Drache. "It's ready, so let's move out."

"Roger!" The door to the Drache opened for her to enter, and she did so while the three Servbots inside got the machine running. As the small ship began to float up, it hovered right over the storage bin and activated the magnet attached to it's hull. With a small hum , the bin became locked in place against the magnet. One of the Servbots pushed a button inside the Drache, causing the Gesellschaft's bay doors to open. 

The Drache slowly exited the mothership, navigating the caves that surrounded it without any complications. In mere moments the Drache made it to the open air, leaving behind the island that the Gesellschaft had made its temporary home. They couldn't risk people getting suspicious of the Gesellschaft on Jekyll Island, so they'd been lucky to find a good hiding space for it on a neighboring island so close.

Within minutes they were over the mainland, and a minute after that they were hovering just over the Flutter. Ever so slowly they lowered their altitude until they heard the storage bin make contact with the top of the ship, then they deactivated the magnet. The supplies now dropped, the door to the Drache opened so that the three Servbots could disembark. Megaman had already opened the upper hatch to greet them as the Drache pulled away under Tron's control.

Setting her ship down on the ground, Tron made her way up the Flutter's ladder and let herself in. Inside, the Servbots and Megaman had already begun bringing the bags of parts down the ladder that led to the engine room, where Roll awaited them. Opting to stay out of their way, Tron grabbed a bottle of water from the micro-fridge and sat on the sofa so she could admire the living room. She hadn't lied when she called the Flutter's interior cute; it felt very homey, and Tron could easily see herself piloting a ship like it if her family wasn't so large.

Just maybe with a few more guns equipped to its hull.

A few minutes later, Megaman appeared and sat on the other available couch. "Thanks again for bringing this stuff, Tron. It means a lot to us."

She shook her head with a friendly smile. "It's not a problem, honest. I'd be a goner if you hadn't protected me, so just take this as a reward, okay?"

"Okay, if you say so." He still seemed uncomfortable with it, but dropped the topic. "Do you guys have any plans besides your ship repairs this weekend?"

"Oh, we have a project we're working on," she replied vaguely. "How about you, Megaman?"

"Taking it easy for today, at least. Ah, did your Servbots manage to find the cookbook at a store yet?"

"We haven't had time to look-" Inspiration struck her right then. "-but you and I can do that together now if you'd like to. It's not like Roll will need us with the Servbots helping her with the fixes." 

"Sure," he answered with an earnest smile. Tron tried to ignore how that look of his made her feel inside. "Let's just tell them what we're doing first."

"Yep." Together they went to the entrance of the engine room, where three of her precious children were standing at attention in case Roll needed them. Roll herself was currently only visible from the legs down on account of her being under the engine itself. "Hey, Megaman and I are headed out to look for a cookbook. You three be good and listen to whatever she tells you to do, okay?"

"Yes ma'am!" The Servbots all gave her a wave goodbye, and Roll mimicked the motion with her right foot. Chuckling to themselves, they exited the Flutter and began the trip to the island's only bookstore. They were in no particular hurry, so they pace they set was fairly leisurely. 

While they walked, Tron decided to ask Megaman about Suede. "So how come you knew who Suede was the moment you heard his voice yesterday?"

"Ah, that?" Megaman scratched his cheek, but it wasn't out of embarrassment. He seemed almost… frustrated? "I answered a newspaper ad, worked for him for two days. And, well…"

Megaman slid his backpack off and reached in, grabbed something, and pulled it out for her to take. "This was my pay."

Tron took it from him, the weight of it telling the story before she even opened it. "...that's it?"

"That's it, besides the lint and receipts that were there."

"Yeah, no, I think I'd kill him if I were you." Tron stopped walking and posed like she was using the bag like baseball bat. "You know what you should do? When you see him again-"

She swung the bag of pocket change with all her might. "- smack him across the face with it! The guy's a thief and a jerk, so I'd say he's asking for it!"

Megaman started to laugh, and not just a little giggle; he was covering his mouth with the back of his right hand to try and hold it back, but the laughs were coming just the same. "Wai- what, you want me to just choose violence?"

"Well why not?" She began to grin as she pulled him into her mental pace. "I don't mean be some monster out for blood, but if the chance comes, make him feel it! 'Pow! And that's for the bank! Pow, and that's for ripping me off!'"

The laughs came harder, and Tron felt pretty proud of herself for it. It was all about planting the seeds, the idea, of fighting Suede in Megaman's mind; and if she had her way, maybe even outright hunting him down. Still, Megaman and his family were "good people," so she couldn't try to appeal to his anger too hard. She wrapped up the topic with, "Just give what you can do about the guy some thought, alright? For now, though, let's go find ourselves a book."

A little while later, they found the bookstore and were browsing the Lifestyle section, but initial results were less than ideal. "Why are there more books about furniture than cooking?!"

"I guess because lawn chairs are a part of lifestyles, too?" Megaman shrugged as his fingers continued running across the books' spines. "Maybe we'll have to ask the clerk if they have any of the volumes."

"I guess, because this thing's so disorganized! It's not in order by title or authors at all." Tron shoved the book Delightfully Devilish Desserts of the Desert back where she found it, half-marching to the front desk with Megaman in tow.

The clerk was an older woman, though not a complete granny. Her eyebrow went up just a little as she took in the two young customers approaching her. "Yes, is there something I can help you with?"

Tron mumbled under her breath. "Yeah, organize your crap-"

Megaman lightly touched her shoulder, gently nudging the frustrated Bonne to stand to the side so he could talk instead. "Yes, sorry, but do you have any volumes of the Comfort Cooking books? We couldn't find any on the shelves."

"Comfort Cooking? I know we haven't ordered any new copies, but…" The woman reached low under her desk, bringing out a notebook with lots of paper tabs sticking out of it. "Let me look over our hold list."

Both teens stood still as the clerk flipped through the veritable tome, the pages flipping with heavy thuds as she went section by tabbed section. Settling on an orange page, her left pointer finger traced some words. "Ah yes, here's what I was looking for. We had one copy put on hold quite some time ago, but the customer who asked for it never came. It's long past the time limit, so I'll go fetch it if you kids will be patient for a moment."

"Please, and thank you." Megaman and Tron both stood by while the clerk disappeared into a room behind her. They could hear some thumps as boxes were pushed around, before fading into silence a moment later. Tron took a breath as she realized she was showing her impatience on her face, bringing her emotions back under control. 

Gotta keep my cool about things while I get Megaman on our side , she thought. Just don't take too long, Old lady.

Then a minute more passed, and her foot began to tap. She was a moment away from calling out, but then they heard the clerk call out, "Found it!"

The woman returned fairly quickly after that, and Tron took the high road by not pointing out all the dust covering her shoulders now. "Don't know why my husband put it so high up, but anyways, here you go."

'Comfort Cooking: Volume 3'

Tron's eyebrow twitched as she looked it over. "So much for having the full set between us, Megaman."

He chuckled softly. "Oh well. There'll still be stuff to go over just with what we have."

"Well yeah, but it's gonna bug me so much missing the second volume…"

Tron pulled out her wallet and paid for the book, with the clerk putting it into a paper bag. Accepting said bag, she turned on her heel and left the bookstore, only realizing when she was outside that Megaman hadn't followed her. Spinning around, she saw the clerk had pulled Megaman aside for a moment, so she crossed her arms and waited for him to come out. When he finally did so, she noticed his cheeks were a little pink. "What happened there, Megaman?"

"Uh, nothing!" His response was a little too quick. "Although she wanted me to tell you that you should try having a bit more patience; or else, and I'm quoting her here, 'old people like me will go out of our way to do things slowly just to mess with you.'"

"That little-!" She flexed her fingers as she stopped herself. Control, Tron, keep cool.

She settled for saying, "Okay, fine, I'll try to not get agitated over stuff. Should we go back to the Flutter now?"

"Sure, let's go."

-X-

When they got to the ship, they found Roll sitting in the living room with the Servbots. All four of them had mugs with what smelled like hot cocoa, and they were watching the TV as it ran a commercial at that moment. "Hey guys," said Megaman. "We're back! How's the engine looking now?"

"It's good," answered Roll with a smile. "These three worked hard, and we got the replacements in quickly. All that's left for it is to get the new refractor."

Without a spot to sit, Megaman and Tron took to leaning against the wall as they joined the crew in watching the screen. The commercial ended, and a news anchor came into view. "This is Chuck with your 12 o' clock news broadcast, where you get all of your current news on Jekyll Island. There's been an update in a recent robbery case."

The anchors face was replaced with a video that showed the Riverside Bank's damaged state. "Yesterday afternoon, a pirate in a large machine attacked the Riverside Bank. Fortunately, nothing was successfully stolen, but the damage has left the bank closed until further notice for repairs. The police have now released a sketch of the suspects face."

Next was the very sketch that Megaman had helped them create in the interview. It had been cleaned up with the revision work, and now looked extremely close to how Suede had looked to him. Mentally he congratulated the hard work the sketch artist put in, but he couldn't help but notice that they didn’t show the sketch of the driver. Maybe the police figured there wasn't enough information on him? "If any citizens have any clues or witness this man around the island, the police ask that you make a report either by calling the number below on your screen, or by going to the local station in person."

"Well that's good timing," said Tron, causing everyone gathered to turn and look at her. "I was hoping to talk to you guys about a plan, so let's go ahead and get into it if you don't mind."

"Plan?" Megaman glanced at Roll, who seemed to be just as in the dark as he was. "Are you talking about Suede?"

"Yep. So, a little information for you guys." Tron walked around the room, smoothly turning off the TV and placing herself in front of it. "The Bonne family is actually pretty well-armed, to say it plainly. Yes we do digs, but we've also done things like security work, so we understand how pirates tend to work."

She held a finger in the air and displayed a confident smile. "If you guys will work with us, I think we can bring this guy down before he hurts people or manages to steal anything. You-"

Tron then pointed that finger at Megaman. "-are pretty good, but I think we can use our tools to make you stronger. How does that sound?"

"Hmm." He gave it some honest thought. Suede was a destructive pirate, and he'd be doing everybody a favor by helping out. "How are we gonna find him before he does anything? Also, I don’t feel comfortable agreeing to this without talking to Gramps first."

"Me, too," followed Roll. "Let's talk to Grandpa, and then we'll get back to you."

Tron nodded sagely. "That's fair, it's not an easy call. Tell you what: if you want to, I can take you all to our mothership tomorrow so you can see the equipment we've got to use. Bring your Gramps, and we'll have a long, sit-down talk. That'll help us all be on the same page. And if it helps…"

Her smile turned a shade darker, or at least that's how it looked to Megaman. "We found out from a friend that there's gonna be a bounty for his arrest soon. Just letting you know."

"Okay," Megaman answered. "Can you come back tomorrow at Noon, then? We'll have Gramps and Data with us, and answer your idea then." 

"Sounds like a plan. Come on, you three, let's roll out." All three Servbots hopped to attention, their cups having been emptied while they were talking. "See you guys tomorrow!"

The Bonnes waved goodbye, and in a couple moments only Roll and Megaman were left in the room. The latter let out some air before asking, "So what do you think, Roll?"

"I think it's not a bad idea," she spoke slowly. "But there's a difference between coming across a pirate and going after them on purpose. At least you wouldn't be fighting Suede by yourself, I guess."

"True." He stretched a little as he thought it over. The bounty money, while it would be nice, wasn't as appealing as the peace of mind he'd get from knowing Suede was in jail. Tron had definitely given them something to ponder.

"Ee-eek!" 

"Hm?" Megaman and Roll both turned to see Data bouncing into the room. "What's up, Data?"

"Ee-eek!" 

Megaman had to stifle a laugh as he interpreted the monkey speech. "Oh, so they forgot about it. Well, hopefully they'll remember to bring the magnet back to pick up the storage bin on the roof tomorrow."

"Hehehe." Roll laughed quietly. "I guess we'd be seeing them tomorrow anyways, then! Did you have fun looking for the cookbook with Tron?"

"Yeah, it was nice." 

Suddenly, he recalled the words the bookstore clerk said when she grabbed him before their departure. "Your girlfriend is cute and all that, but she needs to have more patience or old people like me will go out of our way to do things slowly just to mess with her."

He'd sputtered a bit, unable to respond in a smooth manner before simply answering that he'd pass on the message. Remembering the moment had him flushing again, so he opted to change the topic with Roll. "I wonder what Tron meant when she said her tools could make me stronger?"

"I dunno, but maybe I could work with her to make something for you." Roll cupped her chin with her right hand, no doubt imagining the possibilities. "We haven't had the items or money to upgrade your buster or give you another weapon, so this could be a perfect chance to up your game. I definitely won't say no to getting a chance to tinker around."

"Haha, just don't go crazy." Megaman was looking forward to what they'd come up with, especially with the twinkle in Roll's eyes showing how excited she was. Still, it all depended on if they decided to work with the Bonnes to stop Suede. 

Chapter Text

"Hmm. I must say that I'm not entirely for this idea, you two."

Neither Megaman nor Roll were surprised to hear that from Gramps, since it was a dangerous idea at heart. "I understand, Gramps," responded Megaman. "But do you at least see why we want to do it?"

"To get a dangerous pirate off of the streets, yes." Barrell let out another small 'hm'. "At least you aren't wanting to do it for the bounty reward."

"I feel like being bounty hunters would be even more dangerous than being Diggers," Roll said with a shrug. "You might make a lot more enemies that way."

"I'm glad you understand that." Barrett thought in silence for a moment. "Well, we can at least go see their equipment and hear their plan out."

The teens nodded in agreement, content that he was at least considering it. The plan decided, they went about the rest of their Saturday happily. Roll even made a few basic blueprints of ideas for his weapons, though she wouldn't let him peek at them to avoid "ruining a good surprise." Come Noon the next day, they all stood patiently outside while they waited for their ride to come.

It wasn't long before two small airships came into view, the same two that had been present yesterday. The airship with the magnet attached made a beeline for the Flutter, quickly dropping down to grab the left behind storage bin. Once it was secured to the magnet, both airships touched down on the ground and opened their doors, Tron making a playful salute as she came into sight. "Welcome to the Drache taxi service, courtesy of the Bonne family. Barrell, please get into the Servbots ship while Roll and Megaman hop into this one."

"Ee-eek?" 

"Uh, and Data can do whatever he wants."

Data promptly jumped onto Megaman's shoulder, who chuckled while boarding the ship with Roll. There was only one proper seat, but the Drache had enough space for them to stand to the side of Tron and lean against the wall. With a moderate whirring of the engine, the Draches took to the sky and vacated the scene. 

It took them only some minutes to leave the main island's perimeter, the Draches in no particular hurry as they made their way to a smaller, but much more mountainous sister island. The ships dropped their altitude as they circled the landmass, Tron's eyes lazily scanning the edge until she found a cave entrance. Megaman couldn't help but ask, "So, why set your mothership off the main island?"

Tron took a moment to answer that as she piloted around a stalactite at the entryway. "You'll understand how much the parking might've cost us when you see the ship."

"Does that mean it's submersible?" Roll followed up with a question of her own. "It's the only way I see a large ship making it in here, what with us being so close to the water below already."

"Yeah, it's pretty versatile, though she's been stuck here ever since Servbot #11 accidentally blew a hole in a section of the exterior. Can't afford to have the ship flooded as we try to leave."

Megaman put a fist into his other hand in understanding. "Oh, so that's what the other Servbot meant when he said there'd been an accident."

"Mhm. We're coming up on it now."

Megaman and Roll looked forward as she rounded a bend, and both of them were stunned by the size of the ship. They were approaching from the Port side, and from their position they couldn't see the front or back end of it in the cavern. "Why yes," chirped Tron, "this is a veritable warship. Thank you for asking about it with those mouths hanging open like that."

Two jaws clicked shut.

When Tron pushed a button, a hatch on the side of the mothership opened open, and both Draches flew into it. Rows of little yellow heads waited patiently next to Teisel and another person that they hadn't met yet with a large yellow body. The Servbots touched down first to drop the bin, and once it was safe Tron landed next to it. As they disembarked and stood next to Barrell, Megaman looked to the left to see several more Drache parked in the vehicle bay, as well as a grounded green mech.

Teisel dramatically spread his arms out. "Welcome, new friends, to the Gesellschaft. We'll be your hosts for the afternoon."

Roll giggled as his theatrics. "Thank you for the grand reception. This ship looks amazing!"

"It is, isn't it?" He dropped his arms, but not before gesturing at the person standing next to him. "Everyone, meet our little brother Bon. Bon, this is the Caskett family and Megaman."

Bon raised a metal hand in greeting. "Babuu!"

"Nice to meet you, too," said Barrell. "So, you wanted us to see all these ships you own?"

"That's part of today, yes," answered Teisel. "Tron built all of these herself, so we're plenty equipped to handle fighting a pirate or two; however, that's not the only reason we brought you guys here. We've noticed some… worrying parts about this business and thought you should all know before you answer yes or no to working with us."

Tron gestured inward the ship with her head. "Come on, we've got a big meeting room we can all sit down in. No point standing around here."

They all followed the Bonnes through the ship's hallways. The walls were a soft green, gentle enough on the eyes as they traversed the unfamiliar path. Eventually they wound up in front of a room with an unlit "In Use" sign over the doorway, which everyone began walking through. The table was pretty long, no doubt on account of their massive family, but when Teisel took the head seat and his siblings sat down the right side, Megaman and his family sat down the left opposite Bon and Tron.

After the Servbots had all filled in the remaining seats, Teisel stood back up and cleared his throat. "So, let me begin this meeting by summarizing things as you all know them. There's Suede, his mystery driver, and an unknown third person that talked to him when he was fighting Megaman. This last helper could be the driver or a new person, we just don't know for sure because you and Tron couldn't hear the voice. Am I right so far?"

"Yes," answered Megaman seriously.

"Next, we know that they're after the crowns. Easy enough so far, right? But here's the thing: how did Suede know where the crowns would be?"

"What do you mean," asked Roll. "The banks would be the safest place for them, right?"

Tron stood up slowly, prompting Teisel to sit and nod his head at her. "Right, but how would Suede know they're at the smaller Riverside Bank instead of the larger one on the far East? Any normal pirate would think 'wow, these precious relics must be in the one with the most security!' Except he knew beyond  doubt where they were and went straight to smashing the place in."

She crossed her arms. "Megaman, you remember how big that mech was. It stuck out like a sore thumb, especially with that paint job, so how did it manage to navigate through the streets with a bunch of cops already on the way without coming across any of them? And finally, how did he manage to leave right before the cops showed up ? Think back to what we heard him say over the speakers."

Megaman looked at the ceiling as he tried to recall it. "It was 'no, you said I'd have at least five more minutes', wasn't it?"

The gears began turning in his head. "Wait, he had access to police information? Just one of those things by themselves would be him getting lucky, but altogether…"

Barrell let out a small sigh. "There's a mole in the police force. That's a problem, indeed."

"Oh no!" Roll's eyes were the size of saucers. "Are you guys sure? If it's true, then that means Suede will know anything he needs to for his next attack!"

"We're pretty sure." Teisel shrugged his shoulders in a 'what can you do?' Kind of way. "Obviously most of them are hard-working people, but all it takes is one, tiny rat to ruin any of the plans the cops cook up."

Tron stepped to the corner of the room, grabbed a box, and set it on top of the table. Reaching into it, she pulled out a walkie-talkie and showed it to them. "If you agree to work with us to stop Suede,  then we'd like all of you to take one of these. We'll all keep our eyes peeled around the island, and if anybody spots him or hears something strange, we radio it in and get everybody together to stop him."

She passed the device to Megaman, who gently wrapped his hands around it. It let out a small blip sound when he pushed the big button on the side, which he then released. "Gramps," he said slowly. "If they're right, the police aren't going to be able to stop him. He'll be one step ahead of them, and somebody might really get hurt next time."

"Yes, unfortunately, I believe you're right about that." Barrell looked Teisel straight in the eyes as he said, "Very well, we can at least keep our eyes out, and Megaman could be of valuable help stopping this pirate. But we still have to be careful! The last thing we need is any one of us getting injured."

"Of course." Teisel gave them all a confident smile. "We'll stop him in his tracks and then all go eat to celebrate together or my name's not Bonne!"

"Yep!" Tron happily gave Roll and Barrell walkie-talkies as well, who took them with determined eyes. "So besides keeping in contact, I want to see if we can upgrade Megaman's weapons. You'll be in trouble if all you have is the small shots you were firing before."

"Oh, I've got some ideas!" Roll reached into a small bag that she brought with her, pulling out some papers and slapping them on the table. "These are just the simple versions, but I included a diagram of how his armor works. Take a look at this part."

Tron leaned over as she separated the pages, mumbling under her breath as she traced the images with her fingers. She stopped on one particular drawing, of which all Megaman could see was a long tube. She softly said, "Wait, this one might be-"

Her gleeful eyes shot up and connected with Roll's. "Roll, grab these and follow me!"

"Right!" With a flurry of movement, the two teens rocketed out of the room and disappeared down the hallway. A Servbot muttered "Wow that was fast!", which Megaman had to agree with. At least the girls wouldn't have any trouble getting along.

"Well," commented Teisel with a grin, "I guess the meeting's over. I must say that I haven't seen Tron so excited in quite a while! She must be happy to have someone to whip things up with."

"Haha, indeed!" Barrell smiled warmly at the door that was closing behind them. "Here's to hoping they'll be friends for a long, long time."

- X -

In the end, the girls spent an hour hiding away from the rest of their families, so Teisel took the time to showcase the bridge of the Gesellschaft. It was awesome to him, getting to see the Servbots fall into place in a demonstration launch (not that they went anywhere, what with the ship still being repaired.) Now the family was getting flown back to the Flutter in the Draches, with Tron smugly telling him to "be excited for what they're cooking up," and Roll only smiling and shaking her head when he asked her to spill the beans.

Maybe the two were getting along too well, he thought with amusement. On the flight back, Data had taken to doing a dance by the front window, which had always made Megaman smile for as long as they'd been together. 

"Ee..eek?"

Data stopped dancing and plastered his face to the view, so Megaman, Roll, and Tron all leaned forward to see what the monkey saw. There were two police officers a bit away from the Flutter, and it was clear from their posture that they were on high alert from something. A civilian was talking to one of them, but the conversation stopped as the Draches approached. Tron tried to get to her usual landing spot but the second officer waved her away, so both Draches parked farther from it.

Megaman and Roll hopped out the moment the door opened, running towards the second officer before Roll asked, "Officer, this is our ship, the Flutter. What's going on?"

"Ma'am, I'm afraid this area is off-limits until we can secure the scene. We've received word that a suspicious person was seen going into this ship."

"What?!"

The civilian, an older man in a t-shirt, who was talking to the police a moment ago approached them. "I'm the one that made the call, miss. I was standing on my front porch-"

He pointed across the street, where some small houses sat. "-when I saw a strange guy in a bright, purple suit staring at this ship. I didn't think anything about it at first, but when he turned to walk away I realized that he looked like the man whose sketch was aired on TV just yesterday. So, I went into my house to call the police from the landline."

Megaman's blood began to run cold, but the man kept talking. "When I came back outside, the same suited man was there, but this time wearing a mask over his face and carrying two briefcases. I watched him climb up the ladder, break into the door there, then disappear inside. When he came back out a few minutes later, he didn't have either suitcase with him."

Barrell, who Megaman hadn't registered as having reached them, began to shift his eyes from the civilian to the Flutter in rapid succession. "No…"

The expression of the officer with them softened a bit. "I understand your concern, but until the bomb squad arrives and clears the airship, we can't-"

The flash of light hit Megaman just before the sound did.

BOOM!

The cockpit of the Flutter erupted in flames as a bomb went off, sending shards of glass and metal flying into the open air. Everyone present reeled back in shock, but the officers present recovered quickest and immediately began moving the group as far away as the Draches. Roll seemed to go limp next to Megaman, so he half-carried her back as her eyes remained locked onto the airship. "G-gramps! Megaman! The Flutter-!"

BOOM!

The second explosion must've gone off in the engine room, as the entirety of the ship's hull shook with it. The stability of the Flutter compromised in the most violent way imaginable, it began to tilt to one side. A moment later, the ground shook as the airship landed with a deafening thud , ladder-side up as its interior burned brightly. One of the police began speaking firmly into their radio, telling their headquarters what happened and that they needed the fire service ASAP.

Roll began to cry into Megaman's arms, who could only hold her gently as he watched their home disappear in a blaze. Barrell put his hands on Roll to comfort her, while Tron and the Servbots observed quietly without speaking to them.

Once the fire trucks came roaring in a few minutes later, Tron grabbed the walkie-talkie at her waist, and Megaman turned his head to look at her when he heard the blip sound. "Teisel, are you there?"

"Yeah, I hear you, what's going on?"

"We're gonna need to put Megaman's family up for a while. Suede… he blew up their ship."

"What?! None of you were on-board, right?!"

"No, we're all fine-" Her eyes met Megaman's, and he could see the pity she was feeling in them. "Well, unhurt. Just make sure we've got food and a place for them to sleep, please."

"On it." The conversation ended there, so Megaman looked at the weeping girl in his arms, then Gramps, then back to the Flutter. As he watched their home begin getting doused with the fire hoses, his hands tightened their grip on Roll's jacket.