GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project

August 3rd, 2003 - Continued

"Stolen Hearts"

August 3rd, 2003
10:02 PM


The Training Grounds were often a quiet place these days.

It was the beginning of Round 2, after all. More than half of the original competitors were gone, and those remaining had had more than two months to get themselves in shape. Those that did still give the firing ranges or training dummies a workout usually left soon after nightfall...unless they were especially nervous about an upcoming match, that is.

Samus Aran wondered if she should count herself among that last group, as she began her third hour at the Grounds.

But then, she could have a little leeway on being nervous, she rationalized to herself. Her next opponent was a highly advanced, conscienceless killing machine--one of the most potentially dangerous fighters there. The first battle of Round 2 had shown everyone how high the stakes were now; the second had shown them how tough the competition could be. After those bloodbaths, she'd have to be crazy not to be scared...or, at least, more cautious than before.

Of course, one of the reasons she was still there--the main one, she told herself--was that she hadn't been alone. A few of the others had come and gone over the two hour span, though none had stayed as long as she had. She hadn't wanted to practice her most powerful techniques in front of the others; she didn't want to give away all of her new tricks, and some of them were pretty dangerous anyway. But now it was nighttime, and she'd probably be the only one here for a long while.

Now I can really go to work, she thought, as she charged up an Ice Missile.

"There you are, Samus!" a voice called from the doorway.

She sighed quietly as she powered the weapon down. "What is it, Mega Man?" she asked, turning to find he and Zero waiting for her.

"We wanted to talk to you about Kos-Mos," Mega Man said as the two walked over to her. "We've kind of been keeping tabs on her--since she's a robot too, you know--and we think there might be something...wrong with her."

Samus raised her eyebrows...not that they could see it. "'Wrong?' Howso?"

Zero coughed. "Well...."

----

Five Hours Earlier

That afternoon, Zero had been on his way to his own training session. Unlike most of the others, he still put in at least an hour a day at the Grounds; it was just in his nature. As he rounded the latest corner, he saw Kos-Mos heading his way, staring off into space as usual. He and Mega Man hadn't seen her in the past few days, so he gave her a nod and a quick hello, not expecting much of a response.

"Oh--hey there, Zero," she said as she walked past him.

He froze.

"...what did you say?" he asked, turning back to her. He noticed for the first time that she was carrying a tray--stacked with a covered silver platter and a bottle of wine.

She looked at him over her shoulder. "Umm...'hey there, Zero'?" she said with a giggle. "Well, see you!"

"Wait..." he said, uncertainly.

"Sorry, guy--can't stop now! I've got to get back to Tommy's fast, or he'll be, like, totally bummed--"

"Tommy? Tommy Vercetti??" Zero exclaimed, more surprised than any robot had a right to be.

"Well, duh. Not like that raccoon guy's still around." She tossed him a wave with her free hand. "Later!"

About two minutes later, Zero finally picked his jaw up off the floor.

"...what the hell...?"

----

Samus was just as stunned after Zero finished his tale.

"...you can't be serious."

"Well I'm not exactly a pathological liar," the robot replied, crossing his arms.

The bounty hunter shook her head, thinking back on her opponent. She hadn't gotten to know Kos-Mos like the other two had, but she'd seen her several times before. The android had shown less personality during her entire first battle than Mega Man did any time he said hello.

"If Kos-Mos is really playing Maid for Tommy Vercetti, then something's definitely wrong with her," Samus said, stating the obvious. "I'd better find out what it is before I face her in the arena...."

"We'll help you any way we can, Samus," Mega Man piped in.

Zero looked at him with narrowed eyes. "...we will?"

"Of course we will! She's a friend of ours, Zero!" Samus smirked under her helmet. "Besides, I'd want to help out Kos-Mos anyway--she may have been tampered with, you know. We robots have to stick together, right?"

"...I guess so," Zero muttered, looking grumpier than usual.

Samus chuckled. "Thanks, guys...I really appreciate it," she said, looking at Zero. Naturally, he didn't react. "It would probably be better if you two talked to Kos-Mos, in fact. Somehow I think you'll get a better reception. See what she has to say about when she changed and why--and if you can, check her memory logs to see if she's hiding anything. Make sure Vercetti's not around when you do it, of course."

"Of course," Mega Man said, giving her a thumbs-up.

"But what'll you be doing?" Zero asked.

She checked the clock built into her suit. 10 o'clock...yeah, that seems about right.

"I'll be playing some poker with the boys," she said simply.

----

Snake was a bit more irritated than usual as he walked into the Hero's Haunt that night. Like most of the competitors, he had watched Ganondorf and Magus rattle the arena just hours earlier. He knew he was loaded for bear, but he doubted he could compete with that; he was glad Link would be the one that had to instead of him. He was looking forward to a nice, normal poker game with Max, Vercetti and the Chief.

When he got there, however, he found only one of them waiting for him.

"Huh," he said, pulling up a chair as Max Payne gave him a nod. "So where's the other two...?"

Max shook his head. "Not coming."

"Really. They tell you why, too?"

"Yeah...the Chief did, anyway," the ex-cop muttered, taking a long drink from his third mug of the night. Clearly, he had also been around to see the clash of the titans...and he would be facing one of them this round. "Said he was still kinda shaken up from when he messed with Kos-Mos. Said he wanted to 'nurse his wounds' before his big match."

"In other words, he didn't feel like losing his shirt tonight," Snake grunted.

Max nodded. "Looks like it. As for Vercetti...well, you know as well as I do where he is."

The Gear hunter scowled. "Still with that damned robot?" Max nodded again. "That boy's starting to scare me...."

"You and me both, Snake," Payne agreed, his glass raised.

Snake looked around the bar as his partner took another drink. Empty, he thought to himself. Oddly enough, the place was practically deserted. The night's commotion must have scared the regulars away. Alucard and Donkey Kong had gotten there early, but they might as well have been nobody. They never said a word; just stared off into space...looking damn similar for an ape and a vampire.

"Damn," Snake muttered. At this point he would've settled for Dante--he could play a mean game of cards, when he shut up. "Guess the ol' five-card draw's out for the night."

"Looks like it," Payne agreed. Poker lost a lot of its charm when there were only two antes in the pile. "How 'bout we just get blind, stinking drunk instead...?"

"Sounds like fun," said a voice from behind them. A female voice.

The pair turned to see none other than Samus Aran pulling up a chair.

"Well...if this isn‘t a sight for sore eyes," Max grunted as Snake nodded her way. "I was starting to think you'd had enough of us after you robbed us blind. Have a drink?"

"Actually, if it's all the same to you," Samus said as she set her helmet on the table and shook out her hair, "I'd rather play some cards."

Snake could barely keep the relief off his face. He had not been looking forward to an all-night drinking binge with Max Payne, the Man With Nothing To Lose. "Our pleasure, Aran," he said, taking his deck of cards out of his pocket.

"You bet it is," Max said with a smirk. "Tommy'll kick his own ass when he hears he missed this..."

----

"This is stupid," Zero grumbled, a little too loudly.

He and Mega Man had also started their mission straight from the training grounds. They had gone to Kos-Mos' room first, but they didn't have much hope of finding her there. Sadly, they were right; the closest things they saw to Kos-Mos there were some odd-looking holes in her wall. So now, the two crouched behind a large potted plant near the door to Vercetti's room, hoping to catch the android on her way out. Their camoflauge was basically a joke, as they had already been stared at by passerby three times; Bowser had nearly laughed loud enough to give them away without trying. But with their scanners no longer registering Kos-Mos for some reason, they were at a loss for options.

"I know it's stupid," Mega Man whispered, trying and failing to shrink lower to the ground. "But it's our only chance. If we hide any farther away, she might get away from us. If we barge in now, Vercetti'll get suspicious, and Kos-Mos might get defensive. If a fight breaks out, it'd be bad for all of us. Vercetti might even be killed!"

"What a shame that would be," Zero muttered.

Silently, Mega Man reset his sarcasm detector, which had suddenly gone haywire.

Luckily, the pair didn't have to wait much longer. A few minutes after they spoke, the door opened to admit Kos-Mos. Mega Man could tell she was different before she said a word--her eyes were a sparkling green instead of red, and she seemed to have a spring to her step. Most importantly, she was actually smiling; he hadn't seen her smile in...well, ever.

"I'll be right back, babe," she breathed softly into the room, giving Vercetti one last longing glance. With that, she shut the door, locked it, and turned to leave.
...and stopped, and stared directly at Zero and Mega Man.

"Oh, no--they've spotted us! How can this be!?" Zero whispered frantically. Mega Man just went ahead and switched off the sarcasm detector as he stood up.

"Uh...hey, Kos-Mos!" he said, trying to sound casual.

"Hey, Mega Man! Hey, Zero!" she replied, giving him a cheerful smile. "Like, what're you doing behind that plant thing there?"

"Wishing we were practicing," Zero muttered under his breath.

"Err...we were checking it. For slugs," the robot said, his feigned nervousness disrupting his thought processes. "There's been a rash of them lately, and we thought it might be dangerous. ...to the plants."

Zero facepalmed.

"Uh, I'd say this one looks pretty clean...right, Zero?" Mega Man asked.

"...you are an idiot," he got back in response.

"...I'll take that as a yes," the blue bomber said, laughing far too loudly.

Kos-Mos smirked. "You guys are totally weird," she said, either not registering their suspicious activity or choosing to ignore it. "I gotta go, though. So I'll see you!"

"Wait, Kos-Mos!" Mega Man practically shouted. "Err...where are you going?"

"Well, Tommy's dozed off for a little while," she revealed, making the two feel a lot better about this gamble. "So I thought I'd see if I could find that way cool outfit he wanted me to look for."

"...outfit?" Zero couldn't stop himself from asking it in time.

"Yeah, check it out," Kos-Mos said, taking a rolled up piece of paper out of one of her compartments. "Isn't it totally awesome?"

His eyes narrowed, Zero slowly unrolled the paper.

It was a page from the latest Playboy, showing one of the Bunnies in a French maid's dress.

"I knew I shouldn't have asked," Zero groaned, facepalming again as Mega Man gaped at the photo.

The decidedly feminine android turned up her nose. "Hmph. You boys have, like, no taste in clothes," she grumbled, snatching back the photo.

"Hey, Kos-Mos...why'd you start hanging around with Vercetti, anyway?" Mega Man asked. "I always thought he got on your nerves."

"Well, he did before," Kos-Mos agreed, seemingly forgetting her urgency for now. "But then I realized I wasn't, like, giving him a chance, you know? I felt really bad about it, so I talked to him again--"

"'Felt'?" Zero interrupted. "Kos-Mos...since when have you ever 'felt' anything? As far as we could tell, you didn't have emotion subroutines."

"You're the only robot here that acts like one," Mega Man added, nodding.

Kos-Mos frowned at that, apparently taking offense. "That's not true at all!" she said, her hands on her hips. "I've always felt things...sort of. I just never, like, showed it before. ...well, not much, anyway."

"Why not?" Zero pressed.

She paused for a moment at that. Then she shrugged. "Beats me," she said, cracking a grin.

"Well...I could scan your memory logs to see if I can find out," Mega Man offered.

For a second, Kos-Mos didn't respond at all.
Then her eyes flashed once--very briefly, in their old, red color.

"...why?" she asked, sounding incredibly suspicious.

Mega Man started to fumble for words, but Zero cut him off. "If you can't search your own memory logs effectively, you may be malfunctioning. ...and you wouldn't want to snap at the wrong time and hurt poor Tommy...would you?"

Kos-Mos' eyes flashed rather quickly after that. They went back and forth between ruby and emerald rapidly--as if they were fighting each other. The light show went on for several seconds, leaving Mega Man and Zero unsure of what to think....

"...I guess you're right," she finally said, smiling at them again with wide green eyes. She turned to the side, brushed back a bit of her hair and flipped up a panel over her ear, revealing a data port. "Whenever you're ready!"

The "boys" held back sighs of relief as Mega Man adjusted some controls on his blaster. After a moment, he pulled a data cable out from inside of it, tossing the end to Kos-Mos. With a quick nod, she plugged it into the data port, and the two were connected....

----

The night was young, but the game was well underway.

Granted, it was already over for Max Payne. The ex-cop had apparently decided to play some cards and get blind, stinking drunk; he'd lost his last hand a while ago, and was currently slumped over his remaining chips. Snake hadn't let that stop him, though--he was getting back too much of his money from Samus for that. Besides, he kind of enjoyed the change of company. Samus was a far cry from Vercetti and the Chief, but that was a good thing as much as it was bad.

Samus, however, wasn't feeling quite so optimistic. She didn't mind Snake's company that much herself, but she'd really been counting on Payne--she could've gotten the answers she wanted from him in seconds if Snake had stepped out for a bit. Unfortunately, Payne had passed the point of being coherent while she wasn't looking. He'd be fine later on, they both knew, but now she'd have to try to get the information from Solid Snake. This, she knew, would be tricky indeed.

She just hoped she'd purposely lost enough cash to keep him in a talkative mood.

"Five-card draw, no wilds," he called from across the table. They hadn't played much else that night; it was her favorite too.

"So, Snake," she said casually as he passed out the cards. "Where's everybody else tonight, anyway?"

Snake grunted as he finished the deal and checked his hand. A couple of jacks and...well, jack. A start, anyway... "Not many of the old gang left, really," he replied.

"Hmm," Samus mumbled as she looked at her own cards. She had two queens, but the other three cards were all hearts. She opened with twenty as she thought it over; Snake called, naturally.

No reason not to go for it, she decided, as she called for two and set down the queens.

As Snake passed her the replacements, she asked, "Thought I saw the Master Chief and Vercetti here last time, though. Where're they off to?"

Snake took a drag on his cigarette before he replied. "Dealer takes three. The Chief says he's resting up for his big match. Which really just means he's nursing his pocketbook." The Gear hunter checked his cards to find a nine, a five and a third jack. "Too bad for him. Seems like you're having an off night."

"Very funny," she remarked, looking at her cards. She rearranged a few of them, just to give him something to think about. "So...what about Vercetti?"

Snake paused for a second, staring intently at his hand. Then, "He's out with that Kos-Mos robot, apparently."

Samus gave a short laugh as her mind raced. So they DO know about this. "Vercetti and Kos-Mos? I thought she hated him. ...I'm in for fifty."

Snake shrugged. "I guess things changed. See the fifty...raise you thirty."

Samus tapped her chin. Okay, Snake...let's go.

"All right, Snake," she announced, "I'll see the thirty...and raise you fifty. Three hundred even between us."

She let him mull that over for a moment before adding, "So...any idea why Kos-Mos changed?"

Snake spent a few seconds staring at his cards...
...then sighed a bit and shifted his eyes to Samus.

"You mean, 'Any idea why their relationship changed.'"

She blinked once. That was enough.

An instant later, she chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose I--"

"See, when you say 'Kos-Mos' instead of 'their relationship', you show that you know exactly what changed in their relationship. And that you had a pretty good idea where Vercetti was in the first place."

Samus said nothing.

"Particularly when the person you're pumping for information is already suspicious, since you asked about Tommy Vercetti twice in fifteen seconds...while you were supposed to be playing a poker game." Snake lowered his cards, looking at Samus straight on as she did the same. "It doesn't help when you respond to an odd answer by blinking and laughing, either."

The bounty hunter sighed and rubbed her temple. Gods...he IS good.

After a moment, she laughed nervously. "Okay, so you got me. Should've known better, I suppose." He just grunted in response. "So I guess that means you're not going to tell me."

Snake took a long drag on his cigarette before answering.

"Naah...that was just for future reference. The Master Chief's what changed Kos-Mos."

Samus gave him a much longer stunned look.

"Reprogrammed her--last night, in fact," Snake continued. "Probably with that AI in his suit...the one he thinks we don't know about."

"...but why?"

"He lost a hand to Vercetti a while back where that was part of the bet. We didn't think he'd go through with it, really." He took another puff as Samus fought to keep the scowl off her face. "You know, you didn't have to go to this much trouble. That wasn't exactly classified information. About ten people could know it from what they saw at the bar last night...and if you and your pals had stuck around for five more minutes, it'd be thirteen."

She shook her head, then started chuckling as she buried her face in her hands.

"...can't sneak anything past you," she decided on eventually.

He shrugged. "Not many can," the former special agent replied.

Samus sighed and stood up. "Well, thanks for the intel, I suppose."

"Thanks for the game," he said in return.

She smirked. "No problem," she answered. "I didn't hate every minute of it."

"You're welcome back any time. Especially since I might be the only one in this group left by Round 3."

"I just might hold you to that," she said with a more genuine smile.

She picked up her helmet and started to walk off--until he cleared his throat.
When she turned back, he was holding his cards again.

"I never did fold," he reminded her.

He called her bet silently and laid down his cards, then raised his eyebrow at her. Smiling sweetly, she walked back to the table and turned over her own hand. It was a five-heart flush.

"Looks like we all make mistakes, Snake...."

----

Mega Man and Kos-Mos stood motionless, communicating over the data cable. Beside them, Zero waited patiently...for about half a minute. Afterwards, he looked around to see if they'd attracted a crowd with their little spectacle. As it turned out, Kirby was standing several yards away, a cutely curious look on his face. The puffball turned sideways inquisitively, but Zero just shook his head. Kirby looked disappointed for a moment, then shrugged it off and left with an enthusiastic wave.

A moment later, Mega Man disconnected from Kos-Mos with a look of shock.

"...Kos-Mos! You don't--"

Zero literally clamped his hand over his partner's mouth. "Let me double-check your results, Mega Man," he said with gritted teeth, grabbing the data cable and plugging it in to his own blaster.

SHUT UP, you idiot! Zero "shouted" through the data connection.

But Zero, she's--

Fine, but don't TELL her that. If there's something THAT wrong with her, she'll probably go ballistic if you do, Zero explained. We're lucky she didn't lose it while you were connected.

...she almost did... Mega Man said, as Zero severed the connection.

They came back to reality to find Kos-Mos looking at them anxiously, waiting for the results. "...actually, it turns out you're fine," Zero said after a moment. "Mega thought one of the numbers meant something it didn't."

"Uhh...yeah. Silly me, heh heh," Mega Man chimed in, rubbing the back of his neck.

Kos-Mos sighed gratefully. "That's a relief," she said, smiling. "I'd hate it if I, like, killed Tommy in his sleep or something."

"Heh...no need to worry about that," Mega Man chuckled nervously.

"Well, I--ooh, I better go. Don't want to let Tommy snooze for too long. Bye, guys!" she called as she ran down the hall.

Zero broke the silence about a second after she'd gone.
"Finally," he muttered. "Now what's really wrong with her?"

"Well, for starters, she tried to shut me down when I scanned her," Mega Man pouted.

His partner's eyes narrowed. "...she what?"

"It's not her fault, Zero," Mega Man sighed, shaking his head. "Not much is right now, in fact...." He told Zero what he'd found in Kos-Mos' circuits as they headed back to the training grounds.

The more he heard, the angrier he got.

----

Samus got back to the training grounds first. The place was still empty. She thought briefly about picking up where she left off, but instead just sighed and waited. Thankfully she didn't have to wait long.

"There you two are," she called, as Mega Man and Zero rushed into the Grounds a few minutes after her. "So what'd you find out?"

They looked at each other. "...you'd better go first," Zero said, in a considerably darker voice than before. Samus shrugged and quickly related her findings. Afterwards, the other two nodded; it made a lot more sense to them now.

"Well? What happened to Kos-Mos?" the bounty hunter asked again.

Mega Man rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's kind of hard to explain..."

"No it isn't," Zero said, scowling. "This 'Master Chief' didn't just reprogram Kos-Mos...he's controlling her."

"...what?" Samus said in shock.

"It's not on purpose," Mega Man explained, rolling his eyes. "When Master Chief's AI--she's called Cortana, by the way--went into Kos-Mos' programming, she just meant to tweak it. But she left a complex security program behind, just in case anyone discovered she'd been tampered with and tried to fix her--including Kos-Mos herself."

"Which she did, about a second after Cortana stopped meddling with her," Zero added.

"Kos-Mos attacked the program constantly," Mega Man went on. "It couldn't take the abuse for long, so it...well, it panicked. Now it's locked down every part of Kos-Mos' original programming. We couldn't even find her signal on our scanners anymore!"

"It's formed a completely new personality--one that's devoted to Vercetti above all else. And it's got total control over her actions to go with it," Zero finished, his fists clenched.

Samus shook her head. "So thanks to a poker bet and an overeager AI, Kos-Mos is a prisoner in her own body."

"That's about the size of it." The saber-wielding robot looked ready to pounce.

"Calm down, guys!" Mega Man exclaimed. "Remember, it was just an accident. It does need to be fixed, though...that security program's already been pushed to the limit. It could start malfunctioning too--or even delete Kos-Mos' old routines for good!"

"And I wouldn't trust that medical ward to fix a broken arm cannon, much less that tangled mess of circuits," Zero muttered.

"Guess it's up to us, then," Samus decided. She crossed her arms. "Think we can do it in time for our match...?"

The Blue Bomber grinned. "You kidding me? You've got the most un-reprogrammable robot ever made on your side." He gave her a thumbs-up. "This'll be a cinch!"

Samus couldn't help but chuckle at his enthusiasm. Forget Kos-Mos...this kid shows more emotion than Snake, she thought to herself.

As they walked to Mega Man's room to get to work, though, Samus had to admit that a part of her--a small part, but still--hoped they wouldn't cure her before her match. Kos-Mos wouldn't be nearly as dangerous if she spent the fight staring at Vercetti, after all. She knew in her heart, however, that she'd still try as hard as she could to set her free. More than any other human there, she knew that some robots were more than simple machines...and if this one needed her help, she wasn't about to let her down.




Today's Author: Jjukil (Guest)
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