"But…only for a little while, just to look around."

"Absolutely not!" Doctor Light reiterated adamantly. "That electromagnetic pulse destroyed most of our weaponry and your armor. You would be practically defenseless."

Rock held up his Rockbuster. "I still have this," he argued, "and look," he continued as Roll walked in with several glowing energy receptacles, "the weapons of AirMan and WoodMan are still intact, since they’re not electrically-oriented." He took the AirHold and stored it in his arm, then deposited the LeafShield in Eddie, Light’s walking briefcase.

"Where’s that other…?" he said, looking around.

"Service!" cried a shrill voice, and Rock felt a large ball strike his head and bounce off. "Hehe, score!" exclaimed Roll from behind him.

"Listen," Doctor Light began, turning from his holo-display and ducking quickly beneath the ricocheting Rockball, "I still cannot let you wander. Those weapons are primitive and outdated. You would not stand a chance in a battle."

Roll caught the Rockball and started bouncing it up and down in front of her, throwing it against Rock whenever he turned his back.

Ignoring his sister as best he could, Rock replied, "You said yourself that we’re probably in the past. Their technological level must be at least a hundred years behind ours. What do I have to fear? Besides," he added, knowing the key to Doctor Light, "Wily was probably the one who brought us here. Do you really want to send us back to the future without finding out what he’s up to this time?"

Light scratched his bushy white beard and considered, "Well, maybe just for a little bit." Rock already knew he’d won.

Grabbing the Rockball from Roll, who immediately began to cry, Rock was about to throw the Rockball away, but revised his opinion, "This might prove useful later on," and stuffed the ball into Eddie instead.

"Take Rush with you, boy!" advised Light.

The robotic red canine joined Rock in the transporter and the two disappeared.

"Give me back my bouncy ball!"

* * * * *

New York City was filled with high-rises and skyscrapers, but War Machine didn’t remember seeing one in the middle of Central Park on his last visit…at least, not one like this. Standing several hundred feet high, its chrome walls were completely smooth, without a single fault. Almost invisible were the windows, polished to such a sheen that they seemed part of the walls. War Machine ran a casual scan on its structure and was shocked to find it equipped with more weaponry than several Third World countries combined.

Most of them, however, were damaged, he noted with relief. Like the rest of New York City, this tower was caught in Onslaught’s massive electromagnetic pulse. Luckily, War Machine was off vacationing, even though his powered armor was somewhat protected from EMPs. He had arrived as fast as possible after receiving his friend Iron Man’s transmission. The pulse had probably interfered with the CommLink and had cut the transmission short.

War Machine deactivated the thrusters on his powered armor and descended to the ground. There was no sign of sentient life nearby, as far as he could tell. Where had this tower appeared from, he wondered? Could it possibly be a spacecraft? If so, War Machine wondered why he never saw it touch down.

Two streaks, blue and red, suddenly appeared from the sky, reforming into the figures of a little boy and a dog. That was no little boy, he suddenly realized, not with that kind of weaponry attached!

The "boy" saw War Machine and exclaimed, "Doctor Light was right! Wily was waiting for us!" As he began to glow and shimmer, War Machine had no idea what was happening, but from the sudden increase in the energy readings, he knew it wasn’t good. As if in agreement, the "dog" at the boy’s side began to growl ominously.

* * * * *

Rock wondered what kind of super robot Wily had created this time. Unlike most of his other creations, this one had no obvious markings to clue in Rockman. Not fire—those robots were usually red or orange; this one was mostly grey and black. Shadow? Ash? Ink? Sounded kind of ridiculous, but from the last few robots, Wily had been running out of good ideas, apparently. Also, the super robots typically staked out a piece of territory for themselves, filled with nasty traps and inferior robots to wear down Rock before facing him directly. Unless this guy happened to be ParkMan or something, Rock wasn’t in any "stage."

His Rockbuster weapon charging, Rock tossed out an AirHold, hoping to catch the super robot helpless and make him an easier target. Even though War Machine’s powered armor was considerably heavy, the AirHold lifted him ten feet in the air before dropping him down. War Machine activated the armor’s thrusters and barely flew over the Rockbuster discharge.

Momentarily taken unaware by his opponent’s flight, Rock completely misfired, his Rockbuster taking out a copse of trees.

"Smart Bombs!" A hatch opened on the super robot and two spheres were dropped over Rock.

So, that was his weapon! This opponent would be similar to BombMan, then! But what made these bombs smart? Rock wondered. In fact, with those spikes sticking out, they looked rather dumb. A warning bark issued by Rush reminded Rock that, dumb or no, these bombs were sizzling as they fell. He jumped away just as several small explosions erupted behind him.

War Machine continued his airborne barrage, chasing Rock around the park.

"We need to take him down to the ground," Rock explained to Rush. "Or at least make him stop flying around so I can take aim." The two ran for cover behind a tree. "You be the decoy," Rock suggested. "Jump up on that branch and when he approaches, you grab him long enough for me to fire."

Rush looked at the devastation wreaked by War Machine, then whimpered and shook his head.

"Oh, c’mon! Doctor Light can always rebuild you." Rock cajoled. Rush started backing off. "I’ll give you a nice, tasty, titanium bone to sharpen your teeth on later," promised Rock.

Rush leaped up into the tree, high enough to jump onto War Machine when he neared, and Rock charged his Rockbuster. As the sound of War Machine’s thrusters approached, Rock took steady aim just as Rush attacked War Machine and sank his teeth into his leg.

"Hey! Why don’t you go torment postman or something?" asked War Machine as he tried to shake off Rush. "I hear Stark has got an android programmed to deliver mail..." A sudden concussive force blasted into his back, denting his armor and destroying his flight thrusters. Both War Machine and Rush hit the ground hard, but Rock was already there, whistling for Rush.

"C’mon boy! Over here! Rush Drill! C’mon!" Rock jumped onto Rush’s back and the dog’s appendages retreated into his body, revealing wheels. An enormous drill emerged from his head and began to spin furiously. War Machine could not determine whether the threat was serious or not, since his opponents seemed so comical, but he raised his force fields nevertheless. Though immensely-draining on his energy, the Rush Drill did not penetrate the force field.

A dumbfounded Rock and Rush looked upon their unharmed opponent and began to retreat. War Machine sent a volley of missiles after the two for good measure, but only managed to give Rock a stinging backside for his troubles.

A safe distance away, Rock motioned for Rush to stop. Who would have believed that Wily could create such a formidable super robot with the primitive technology available at the present? Rock activated his teleporter. He hoped that Doctor Light had repaired his Hyper Rockman outfit. Without its firepower, Rock would be at a sore disadvantage.

Scene Five is ready!