Author's Note: This may be my first time writing a Xenoblade fanfiction, but it certainly isn't my first time writing anything, ever. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it… but if you don't, tell me why and maybe I'll improve upon it in the future.
Some portions of the story will be told from the perspective of a group of Mechon, and Mechon obviously wouldn't know the names of the main characters like you or I do. So I have come up with a series of names for the main heroes that the Mechon will refer to them as. These are:
Shulk = "The Monado Wielder"
Reyn = "The Shieldbearer"
Dunban = "The Sword Master"
Melia = "The Spellcaster"
Sharla = "The Sharpshooter"
Riki = "The Hammer Warrior"
Fiora, Mumkhar, Xord and all other Face Mechon users will be referred to as "Pilots" by the Mechon. Why? Well, since parts of the story will be from the Mechon perspective, Faces will be normality to them, and so they won't know the backstory of every single Homs inside every single face, so they just call them Pilots to save time.
But you didn't come here to listen to me ramble on, did you? Let's get on with it then!
PS: Obviously, there are spoilers absolutely everywhere! So you have been warned!
So sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy!
Of all the things that the Mechon need to function, a command structure is the most important. Individual Mechon units require orders, and orders require a leader who then requires orders from further up the command structure.
So, when Galahad Fortress was attacked and two strategically valuable Face Mechon fell from Galahad Fortress and, in fact, Sword Valley entirely, the total hierarchy took a blow as they scrambled to find new leaders for the assaults on the remaining Homs Colonies, numbered 6 and 9, as well as replacements for more menial tasks.
Egil, leader of Mechonis and overall commander of the Mechon, was less than pleased to find out about the loss of Metal Face, and while Nemesis Face had indeed betrayed him, he wished reclaim both Faces' pilots, or at least the actual units they once inhabited.
And so, he dispatched a team of Mechon to the Fallen Arm, the Mechonis' original left arm, and the only place where they could've landed.
Unfortunately, the attackers most likely landed there too, due to the fact that they were with Nemesis Face when the lower section of the fortress fell.
"You are to carry out your mission, no matter the cost." Is what Egil had told them.
Due to the location of the Fallen Arm, many Mechon units had arrived there from the raging battles in the valley above, so the Recovery Team had been issued with two special codes, the first would allow the team leader, an aptly named M65 Hunter Unit, to gain command of any wandering Mechon units and return them into service for it's use in it's task. The second however, was of a darker nature; it was to be used if a Pilot resisted, such was the case of Nemesis Face during the miniature siege that had occurred in the bowels of Galahad Fortress.
Egil was not foolish enough to send a single Mechon to retrieve two Pilots, even if one of them was most likely deceased, and the other severely injured. So, the rest of the team was comprised of the aforementioned M65, a standard M63, a pair of M58 Tactical units and a M46 Covert Killer, which had been modified for stealth and reconnaissance missions, but lacked any ability to fight in close combat; the flaw was balanced by it's high powered laser weapon.
The Covert Killer wasn't the only modified unit, however, as the M65 had been upgraded with an improved logic circuit, allowing it think more freely; not quite sentience, but enough to make informed decisions, enough to pick out weaknesses in the opposition and enough to exploit those weaknesses.
During their descent, the Recovery team linked to the Fallen Arm comm channels. Despite the fact that many of the Mechon present on the limb were old prototypes or damaged beyond easy self-repair, Egil believed it essential to monitor the Machina and keep them in check, even though he would never allow them to come to harm.
The comm channels were alive with reports of debris falling from the Fortress itself, and that response and recovery teams were being mobilized to check for survivors or usable parts. However, the M65 cancelled most of these; it didn't require the aid of obsolete equipment in its task… other than brief directions.
As the Recovery Team touched down on the wet sand, the M65 broadcast the orders it had received earlier to rest of the group.
-Retrieve Face Unit 00031 "Metal Face" and/or its Pilot.
-Retrieve Face Unit 00352 "Nemesis Face" and/or its Pilot.
-Eliminate The Monado Wielder if the opportunity arises.
The last one was going to be the difficult one.
Not just because of the sword itself, but the skill of the one who wields it, as they have an unfortunate reputation for destroying Mechon, so eliminating or even subduing him long enough for them to secure Nemesis' Pilot was going to be a difficult task.
But, if there was one thing that the Mechon were good at, it was efficiency. And the most efficient solution was finding Metal Face first, since the Pilot was statistically less likely to attack them. So they set off, their metallic feet crunching and squelching in the wet sand of the beach. There was plenty of Mechon debris littering the beach, from the relatively small M58s, to the gargantuan Fortress Units, all of which were unusable.
To locate their target, the party of Mechon had to rely on faint signals produced by Metal Face's distress beacon, which came through garbled and difficult to translate into coherent coordinates. However, it didn't take them long to stumble across signs of Metal Face; there was a small column black smoke rising in the sky, and a distinct lack of the local Bionis wildlife that infected the Fallen Arm like a plague.
Soon, they came across the solemn sight of Metal Face, now a crumpled wreck of its former self. The torso section had been impaled by a large piece of Galahad Fortress; the unit itself was missing several limbs and was coated in scratches, dents and other forms of physical damage. It clearly wasn't recoverable.
It was statistically unlikely that the Pilot survived.
The pair of M58 units began to pry at the chest of the Face unit on the behalf of their leader, pulling it apart and revealing the truth that the M65 had suspected all along. The Pilot was no longer functioning, that much was clear. But he hadn't been for long, lending aid to the theory that he died a relatively slow death with aid so close, but not close enough. Blood was abundant inside; It smeared the inside of the cavity, almost like the Pilot had become an amateur artist in his final moments; it trickled down the fleshy lips of the Pilots face, pooling in the bottom of the chest and would've flown freely through the hole in his chest had it not been ruthlessly plugged with the sharp end of the scrap that had pinned him to the other side of his now rusting shell.
[Order Request: Should Metal Face be re-sealed?] One of the M58s asked.
[Standard Protocol must be enforced. Re-seal his Iron Tomb for further preservation.] Was the reply from the M65.
Now that their first task was complete, the M65 began searching for the signal given off by Nemesis Face.
The beacon is activated through hundreds of small sensors that cover the bodies of all Face units, when they detect either a large amount of damage to the outer shell, or an impact large enough to incapacitate the entire unit.
Something was off however.
The beacon wasn't active, which left two options. 1: That the Pilot was deceased. Or 2: That the Pilot was no longer within two metres of Nemesis Face. The first was highly unlikely as Metal Face's beacon had operated flawlessly, despite the fact that it was trying to save a dead man. So, the likely option was that the Pilot had either gotten out of, or was pulled from, the Face unit. The M65 considered the information it had gained from Egil, that the Monado Wielder had attempted to reach Nemesis Face before the ground fell from beneath them.
The team set off in no particular direction, the M65 deciding that it's surplus of old and disused comrades must've seen something in regards to the whereabouts of Nemesis Face. They were cautious, however; the Fallen Arm was largely unexplored, the only precise maps coming from grainy images taken by obsolete optics, and thus every corner, every nook and cranny could hold anything, friend or foe alike.
After what seemed like (and probably was) hours, the team was, for a lack of a better word, exhausted. Their ether supplies dwindled and their joints and servos were strained to the breaking point from overuse. It seemed like they would soon succumb to their needs and collapse, spending precious hours recharging; hours that their targets would use to slip away with the Pilot in tow. That was until the M46, which was clambering along the rusted walls that it blended onto perfectly due to its new camouflage that it's comrades lacked, instead of the ground, signalled the team to stop which they did in perfect unison, their "muscles" clearly enjoying the brief opportunity for rest.
[Target sighted. Pilot is with Monado Wielder. There appears to be no hostilities occurring between them]
Perhaps the Pilot was a traitor, through and through, like Egil had suspected.
[What are they currently doing?] The M65 asked, if it had a voice (Or the ability to speak at all) it would've been filled with curiosity.
[They appear to be in deep stasis. Recharging] Perfect. As the Monado Wielder was asleep, it would allow for the perfect moment to grab the Pilot and make a clean getaway. The Pilot was asleep too, decreasing the chances of an encounter, and permitting them to escape without an interfere-
[Warning: The Pilot is undergoing severe bodily spasms. Target is still in deep sleep. Recommend immediate intervention. Projected odds of survival without intervention: Highly unlikely]