Hajime watched as the outer shell of the Wily Star II is sealed together by Fix-It Man's warp-like speed. He can tell the Resistance was starting to become aware the repairs, and were getting ready to retaliate and stop further construction.
As much as he, and his Robot Masters, wants the Star destroyed at their hands, and ensure their destruction is thorough to the point of barely leaving a screw salvageable, with the WDS still out of power there was no way for WilyII to keep an eye on its progress, giving him more excuses to turn Hajime's scheme of using money as a barrier against him and make him a permanent member of his domination forces.
Hajime knew it would only be a matter of time before he was forced to choose a "legit" side and pour all his expertise and income to meeting their demands and expectations regardless of how aware they are of who he was actually catering his abilities to. Predicting when he will smack into that split in the road is something his spiritual sense couldn't detect, but perhaps that time was coming sooner than he'd hoped, and no amount of excuses through money and lack of budgets was going to stop the Resistance from either branding him an enemy, or smacking him full of zenny to get him to stop.
It was time put the dreaded B plan into action for the safety and survivability of his Robot Masters, most particularly Tarot Cat as it harbors a secret only he, his creations, and Blazkrieg swore to keep hidden from the public in the midst of this two-sided war.
He spots World drifting around the Star, watching in amazement at Fix-It Man's lightning fast repairing speed before flying his dragon mech over to her.
"I need to talk to you about our current situation," he mutters, not wanting the old Wily robot to listen in.
World looks over to him, knowing exactly what was on his mind.
"So...you finally believe this is it.... There's no other way to avoid staying on both sides...?" she sighs as the remaining cards, save again for Justice, poked their heads out from behind her shoulders and back.
"I don't want to admit this, but even with this dragon mech resembling the original Wily's dragon robot, they know nearly all of my first and second series, and at least two of the Resistance can detect organic energy and most likely figure out who is second-commanding the Star's repairs. And with what's happened down at St. Acidburg, they're probably not going to be in the mood to even negotiate me out of fixing that Star."
The cards look to each other in worry, wanting to say something to discourage whatever was going through his mind, but knew they had other charges that needed protecting in order to avoid becoming another tool in this outstretched war. World sighs and looks back towards Hajime.
"So what do you want to do? With the World Domination Station out of power, we don't have to report anything and let the Resistance blow it to smithereens."
"No...if I remember Doc from when we were buddies in the past, he'll just use the destruction as an excuse to force us to do more evil deeds for him, and then it won't just be the Resistance itching to rip us apart."
Hajime sat back in his mech and crossed his arms, tilting his head until it was laying on top of the backrest, "I seriously don't want to do this, but in order to make sure Doc doesn't try chaining us to his side, I'm going to need Hierophant to find the main generator and use his Miracle Staff to get it back up and running before the Resistance gets here."
World compresses her lips in concern while the other cards almost exploded at the idea.
"Are you out of your mind!?" Judgment exclaims, "If that old bat sees him or any of the other cards left behind on RPM, he'll figure out our secret objective and use it to gain complete domination over everything!"
"There has to be another way to handle the old man's predicament," High Priestess protests, "You could send another Robot Master to take care of the problem without endangering Hierophant or the other cards."
"If I try to send one or any of my remaining Robot Masters to the WDS while its blacked out, they'll be gunned down on the spot by Doc's outside patrol, leaving him at the mercy of his and Medic Man's eager curiosity," Hajime retorts, "I know Hierophant and two other cards are still stuck in the WDS, and I know Hierophant has been materialized out of his card, making him the only one capable of getting the Station back up and running without causing too much alarm."
The cards began to protest and exclaim their disagreement against Hajime's idea only to be nervously waved off by World.
"I'm afraid we have no choice," she sighs, "It's important that we, as a unified part of Tarot Cat, help Hajime protect his reputation, and ensure the safety and secrecy of the other Robot Masters bearing his code. Besides, Hierophant won't be doing this alone; even greedy-minded Emperor knows that the safety and protection of the deck is his top priority, and will put aside his desires when he senses another card about to be endangered."
The cards glare at her, still wanting to protest, but reluctantly retreat back to the deck on her back, seeming to feel it best to just hope Hajime knows what he's doing with this particular plan. World lets out a remorseful sigh before closing her eyes and pressing her fingers against the sides of her head, relaying the plan Hierophant's staff in the hopes he wasn't too preoccupied to receive it.
It felt like they had run miles trying to catch Emperor as he continues to slide about, slipping between the walls, floors and ceilings to avoid being caught by Hierophant's persistent dives.
"Is it so hard to just let me get what I need from the great genius doctor!?" Emperor complains, "I expected you to have a little more faith in my ability to mimic every job I change into!"
"If we weren't in the middle of the war, we would've cared less!" Hierophant retorts, "But right now, we have more important things to worry about than uncovering the daily life of an evil, dictating robotisist."
Emperor eventually slips around and slides under a crack leading to the stairwells, finding nothing but spaced rails taking up the current floor and overlooking the square-shaped spiral to the very bottom of the WDS. Luckily, the floor above and its connecting steps were perfectly concealed, making it a fairly easy escape from his persistent pursuers.
He springs his card to a standing position and leaps for the steps only to feel the bottom card jerk and gain a hundred or so pounds. Materializing his head to look towards the source, he finds Hierophant clamping tightly to the bottom end of the card, his feet practically hooked onto the rails of the current floor balcony.
"Clearly you have no clue just how experienced I am at the abilities I've been given!" he sneers while reaching off the side of his card, "Perhaps I can give you another demonstration of how devastating my abilities are to you and any other card that tries to stop what I desire most!"
Before Hierophant could protest, Emperor yanks out a bomb wrapped in ratty old bandages and throws it at his face, causing a silent pop to spew an entire room of smoke. Caught by surprise, Hierophant accidentally lets go, causing gravity to take hold and yank him down the stairwell.
While he can swim like any normal person, it didn't exactly help his situation when there was no water, or any sort of dense liquid for that matter, to help his momentum. Desperate to avoid suffering through more pain than the still throbbing agony riding up his back, he flings his hand out to grab whatever was going to stop his fall, managing to clamp the middle rails of a random floor which flipped him over and would have ripped his arm off the rest of his body if he wasn't a materialized being that could only be torn apart by a bladed weapon.
That, however, didn't stop what he could describe as a universe of pain coiling around his outstretched arm like a famished python, and his priest hat finishing the drop down to the very depths of the WDS. Despite not having the same tolerance to pain as Chariot, Hierophant struggles to stay focused on getting back on the floor he grabbed, swinging his other arm up to grab the top rail and using his average strength to pull himself onto the balcony before collapsing onto his back in a heap of exhaustion and fright.
"Haven't we been here before...?" Death muses while hovering over Hierophant's face, "The only thing missing is you almost reaching the flexibility of a contortionist."
"Could you please not remind me and go find Emperor...?" Hierophant groans, looking ready to pass out.
"It did cross my mind now that I'm done watching the whole Benny Hill scenario," Death chuckles while poking her exposed fang, "But when I saw how close you are to the bottom floor where the generator lab might be, I figured your safety is a lot more important than his; even if you are capable of doing more than just surround your card with white sparks."
Hierophant suddenly yanked his head up, "I'm where!?"
He scrambles to his feet and looks over the rails to see his hat barely visible three floors towards the bottom.
"I would've thought we'd at least be on the third level, considering how tall this building is...." Hierophant mutters.
"Perhaps we are. We never did have the time or courage to explore the entire station to know what qualifies as the bottom floor."
Hierphant lets out another pained, exasperate sigh before heading down to the bottom floor and pick up his hat, "Let's just get back to finding Emperor before-"
He's suddenly interrupted by his Miracle Staff appearing in front of him, shrunk down to hand-held size with its blue orb flashing. Worried it would catch the attention of a wandering robot, he grabs the staff in an attempt to dematerialize it, only to be blinded by visions of what went on at the Wily Star II.
"Something wrong?" Death asked.
"I don't know...." he mutters nervously, "But they want he to help fix the generator that was causing this blackout."
Death tsks while leaning against her scythe as though it were a wall, "Really? Wouldn't it make more sense to just let the old man stew and not know just how far that Star is from being completed."
Hierophant points his still lit staff towards the walls surrounding the bottom floor, finding "B" painted on the wall adjacent to the door leading to another hallway.
"Hajime knows Wily more than we do, and he seems adamant the doctor will do anything to get what he wants, even to a greater extent than Emperor. We may have no choice but to at least check up on the doctor and see how far he's gotten the generator back up and running before attempting to help."
Death muffles an annoyed sigh, "I guess it's best not to question the great master who gave us more than a robot to free us from these cards."
She then starts to float towards the upper floor, "Well, since my only threatening feature is non-lethal bolts of dark energy and a blade that can barely cut butter, I'll see if I can catch up to Emperor and figure out where he's been hiding. Try not to lose your materialized form on the way to the generator lab."
Hierophant watches Death disappear into the shadows of the stairwell before letting out a reluctant sigh and pans his staff around, eventually finding a windowless door standing adjacent to the bottom steps. Keeping cautious, he heads over to the door and carefully pulls it open, finding more steps and what sounds like faint tinkering at the very bottom.
He presses his back against the wall and slips down the steps until he noticed a corner at the very bottom and a corner glowing with the same color he saw illuminating from the command room. His staff revealed the evil programming of one of the robots standing before the generator lab, making any attempt to even move closer a near chore without grabbing its attention first. He decides to wait against the corner and keep focused on the Wily energy projected from his staff to see if the robot will start to turn its attention towards WilyII's aggravated shouts.