MMX: Command Mission is a nice RPG. I wouldn't call it one of the greatest RPGs out there, but it is a lot of fun, there's no noticeable bugs, and the battle system is great (any of those three points are sometimes lacking from 'great' RPGs...). I would definitely recommend playing through it to anybody who likes the Mega Man series or RPGs in general.

Now that I've said that, this is a novelization of CM, sort of. There's many points that I adjusted because while the game is fun, the story has a few problems. Especially when you start thinking through things. I've tried to give more valid reasons for certain parts (like the whole Aile scene) and give differing angles on this conflict. I hope you like this!

The Dregs of Giga City

Prelude: City of Dreams

The view from the upper level plazas of Central Tower was both magnificent and humbling. In the crowds, he was called a striking figure, a six and a half feet tall humanoid with broad shoulders and armor styled after a formal military uniform. People tended to give him a certain level of respect just off their first impression. But that wasn't how it was here, leaning on the railing at the edge of the garden plaza. That view made him feel almost insignificant.

There just seemed to be no end to it. The vast blue sky above, dotted with puffy white clouds and lined with feathering jet trails, showed the enormous scale of the planet. Then below, far far below, there was the ocean, a darker blue which covered up mysterious depths. As visibility was of high today, he could see other areas of Giga City. One could reach them in minutes, or even seconds, thanks to modern transport technology. But up here, one realized just how vast the city was. And much of it was empty space and open ocean.

Over in the distance, he could see a mass of green; that was the forest district, a place that was made to seem natural even though a forest should not be growing on the surface of the salty ocean water, or even on a steel man-made platform. Over in another direction, he could see another tall tower. It was tiny compared to Central Tower, even though it was tall when one was there. That was the headquarters, workshop, and lab of the Lagrano Corporation. Yes, that place… the one that he had only recently run away from.

A movement out of the corner of his eye distracted him from Lagrano Tower. Next to him, there was a male human spreading his hands out to indicate an area of ocean. As this man worked through his fifth decade of life, his black hair was graying and his body was starting to loosen. But he worked to cultivate an image of gentlemanly grace, not aging. There was a machine attached to him, a gray electronics pad that sat comfortably on his shoulders and upper back, attached to transparent tubes that hooked into a thin metal frame around his neck. A second frame ran around his forehead. As the environment was still on the dangerous side for humans and other biological creatures, they had to wear protective gear like this at any time they would be in contact with the outdoors.

"That would be where it fell," the man said. "A massive meteor a mile and a half wide lies under the waters there. It came down after the sixth Maverick War, just about twenty-five years ago. There was a great deal of panic when it was first detected. After all, we had just experienced a cataclysmic event when the Eurasia station fell. And this meteor would cause an even bigger impact."

"And there's nobody you can blame a meteor on," the reploid said.

The human nodded. "Right, it was just the right circumstances to put Earth and the meteor in each other's paths. But there was a difference; we had more warning of the event, so we had more time to do something about it. So humans and reploids put their minds together and came up with a plan. We would make an attempt to catch the meteor instead of letting it fall willy-nilly. Gravity generators could provide the resistance necessary to slow the meteor down, to create less of an impact. Three rings of generators were placed on a path in orbit down to the outermost atmosphere, guiding the meteor down to a whole path of generator rings down to the ocean's surface here.

"As you can imagine, those generators required a massive load of power. People came out here and built the nuclear reactor that makes up the lower portions of this tower for this purpose. And while the reploids were the only ones allowed to do certain jobs, the biological shields allowed us humans to contribute too. A good many of us felt that we shouldn't slack off even though many of your kind were willing to work on the meteor capture scheme."

"I'd agree to that," the reploid said.

The man closed his eyes briefly, thinking through the next portion of his history lesson. "Many who are here now are those who worked together on this project, myself included. We did capture the meteor safely; we had trained with various kinds of debris, but when the actual meteor entered Earth's gravitational field, that was one of the most intense and suspenseful experiences of my life. And once we were here, well, many of us decided to stay. We continued building up the generator's tower until we got this lofty wonder that stands here today. We created new islands to build on, and we made submerged passages to the meteor below.

"And that is when we encountered the new gold that Giga City was built with, the force metals. It was a miracle substance back then. It is a crystalline alloy that is somehow able to interact with electronics and enhance them with stored power. And there is such a wide variety of abilities that the FMs have: more strength, more endurance, even something as ethereal as more luck or more focus. Not only that, but it required very little modifications done to you reploids in order to make use of them. Most so-called upgrades to use FMs are merely putting in a secure slot to keep them attached."

"And so Giga City hit a boom in growth," the reploid said. "And ones like me were designed."

He nodded. "That's right. It was like the old days of North America's gold rushes. This city did not exist twenty-five years ago, and now it is one of the biggest cities in the world." He rubbed his nose; a faint transparent white glow appeared there as the environment shield increased activity to compensate. "But like those gold rush days, this growth has been wild and somewhat dangerous. I am acknowledged as the Governor of Giga City, but respect for the law is shaky. Our police force is keeping order, but barely; I will admit to hiring bounty hunters regularly, as the police department still isn't up-to-date with equipment. Lots of jobs are being created, making splendid cover for scam artists to cheat newcomers. There's a lot that needs to be done.

"And while we need to find a legal system to stop these abuses, we still have to acknowledge that a lot of our wealth comes from technology developers and our open policy on citizenship. We can't put too many restrictions in place or we will handicap our growth. Along with that, we need to keep our government trustworthy, making sure abuses like bribes don't get started." He took a deep breath, leaning on the railing himself. "It's a lot to do for us."

"Sounds like a tricky process," the reploid said. "And you want me to help?"

The Governor nodded. "Yes. I've heard your tale and I know this isn't exactly what you were designed for. But you have the right mind for it; I'm certain of it now. And this city was founded on a joint effort between humans and reploids." He smiled. "I want things to stay in that cooperative spirit, each side respecting the other. That's why I'm looking to add more reploids into the political structure. I'm very impressed by what you can do, Chief R, and I would be honored to work alongside you."

The reploid smiled at that, touched. After the environment of the lab which he had been built in, it was wonderful to receive that level of respect from a human. "In that case, it would be great to work as your assistant. I'll do my best."

With that said, the Governor and Chief R shook hands. "And I'm here to help you at any point along the way. Don't be afraid to ask."

Aile checked over his guns, his armor, just one last time. This was going to be a difficult job, but it should pay very well. Still, something seemed unfair about it. On their last big bounty, they had been given specialized weapons, extra armor, and tactical support in order to take down their target. That had been eliminating an extremely dangerous Lagrano reploid named Ninetales; they were still getting compliments and admiration for that victory. According to the records, this target might be just as dangerous. However, they weren't given any special accommodations to take him out.

Nearby, his partner was whistling, shuffling cards in a speed form of Solitaire. Sometimes it unnerved him when he acted that casual when Aile knew that he was nervous too. "Are you ready for this?" he asked the gambler.

"Of course I am," Spider said, deciding to slot his cards back into his strange weapon. "Just getting bored; these elevators take forever."

"I'll agree with you there." He felt along the edges of his helmet. Despite his humanoid design, he didn't have any hair. Sometimes he wished he had so that such gestures looked less nervous. Blow it off with teasing? "But geez, why is it that all of you Melda reploids seem so blasé about everything?"

He laughed, then punched Aile in the shoulder. "Maybe it's because we don't have a madman in charge like you reploids from Lagrano," he teased.

He snickered in response; that did work some. "Hey, nobody can prove that," he countered. Although, Lagrano did seem hell bent on creating his own reploid army when he didn't much care for the reploids themselves. It was a real problem, though Aile wouldn't admit it beyond jokes. "Besides, Melda's group is mass producing when Lagrano is still single crafting. Except for oddball one-offs like you."

"Well I'm unique because I'm speshul," Spider said while mimicking a pre-teen girl's voice and batting his eyes.

"Special because you're a nutcase."

He put on a mock indignant look. "Hey, I'll let you know that I'm actually one nut short of a case."

"Right, if you say so." It stopped, opening up to a low level on Central Tower. "Let's get him."

Spider nodded, tipping his black hat. Aile checked his arm mounted radar, then led the way down a corridor. As it was a maintenance hall, the walls were full of pipes and wires; steam escaped and turned the air into a light haze. Perhaps it had been chosen for lack of traffic. Their target was nearby.

They came to a large empty room, shaped like a cube. There were sparking electrical panels along the corners for some reason. In the middle of the room, two reploids were talking. One was an orange haired female model who had an engineer's build. The other was a yellow haired male model who had a light fighter's build. But that was who they were looking for.

"Deo Midas!" Aile called. "We're here to arrest you."

"Arrest me?" the blond male asked. "I doubt you could do it."

"Hang on," the female said, turning around. "I am the shield; I will not allow you to…" she was cut off suddenly.

Deo Midas activated a yellow blade and put it right through her. "You're not necessary," he stated, then threw her to the side of the room. "I am Deo Midas, the sword. You will not take me alive."

"Fine, then we'll take you dead," Spider said, firing his cards at the criminal. Aile followed up with a rapid firing of his guns. He ran in a curve to keep a hard target, but get closer.

And then…

…he had changed again, this time to a lion-headed humanoid reploid. Aile continued fighting, but he was getting worn down. Deo Midas' next blow knocked him to his knees.

Then Spider got up beside him. "Hey, buddy, take my force metals… that should let you finish him off."

Aile nodded and took the set his partner gave him, adding them to his own. Their power blazed through his systems, making him feel like he was on fire. No, he should get rid of them before he overloaded… but he couldn't. His mind snapped and he attacked Midas in a blind rage…

… when they defeated the murderous reploid, he suddenly flashed with a bright light. In his place, there was a plant-like reploid with long thorny vines. "I am Deo Midas!" he called. "You can't keep up with me." He shot his vines out, piercing Spider's body through and ripping out a number of his internal parts…

…He had the power to do anything. If something was wrong, Aile could set it right. If he wanted something, he could have it. If someone annoyed him, he could punch their head right off their body.

All he needed were the right Force Metals to do it. And he needed more. The burning fires within told him that he was weak, that he needed to be stronger. But he could have anything, he could do anything. It was within his reach…

…if he could survive the power…

…Aile could see that his body was still there, but he couldn't feel it. The burning sensation was still there, but lessened. What replaced it was a mass of confusion, thoughts that didn't quite match up. He saw Spider by him. "Sorry, man. I messed up. But you killed him, see?" There was quite a mess of ripped parts all around the room.

"This is going to kill me, right?" Aile asked, afraid.

"I'm not going to let that happen. Just go to sleep."

He agreed, but as he did so, he wondered for a moment…

…hadn't he seen Spider get ripped apart?

…and that smirk Spider had was strange.

Aile ran his fingers down his face. His eyelids closed to protect his eyes and the synthetic skin bent to the pressure. But other than that, it did not move. He could not wrinkle his nose, he could not yawn… he could not smile. Not that he had any reason to smile now.

He looked over his hands, still able to twist, flex, grab… if one just saw his hands, one would think nothing was wrong with him. It was some kind of mercy of luck. But such a little mercy compared to the rest of his malfunctioning body. That force metal overload really should have killed him. At least he had killed Deo Midas.

That's what everyone said. As for himself, Aile couldn't be sure. His memory of that afternoon was so disjointed that he couldn't fit the pieces together. It all made him feel humbled, no, humiliated. Powerless. After that brief time when he had tasted a power so strong that it seemed he could overcome any obstacle or opponent, and that he could be in the right because he had the power to be right… no. He pinched his skin, barely able to feel it. That power was what had ruined him.

Hearing a whistled melody, Aile dropped his hand and looked down the windowed hallway. Over by another large window, Chief R was there, presumably on break. His parrot mechaniloid was sitting on the window ledge; it was the one that was whistling. R was conducting it with his fingers, or at least playing at conducting. Part of Aile wanted to get away from such silly cheer. But a stronger part of him wanted to feel that silly cheer again.

His hoverchair was a new part of himself, as he couldn't even sit up on his own anymore, much less get up and walk. Even though he had the instructions imprinted in his programming, he was still getting used to the inertia of the thing, and how to guide it without crashing into anyone or anything. Aile slowly brought it over closer to R and his parrot, but stopped before speaking with his new voice mod. "It's quite a good singer for a mechaniloid," he commented, trying to sound lighthearted.

Whether he was or not, R smiled and turned to him. "Ah, Aile. Yes, I had it programmed to do that even though it's not much actual use. It is a pet, anyhow, so there's no harm in letting it know some useless but amusing tricks. How are you doing today?"

"I'm alive," he said. That was the best he could be, it seemed.

"That's always a blessing. Have you found a new job yet?"

"No. Haven't even looked, really."

"Why not? There's plenty of employers around looking for new reploids."

Aile clenched his fist. "But why would they want me? I'm a broken reploid; I can't really do much like this. I'm dependent on these anti-depressants that don't do much more than make me apathetic instead of suicidal. There really isn't much of a point to me being here. Dr. Lagrano disowned me. No one would really care if I was gone."

The parrot stopped its song and gave a sad sounding whistle. "I would," R said.

"Why is that?" Aile said, wishing he could turn his neck and not look anywhere near R. "We're not friends. You hardly know me."

"But we could be friends," he suggested. "And any loss of life is tragic. Especially with someone like you, who has fallen by no fault of your own."

He put his hand to his chest. "You really think that?" He kind of wanted to be cynical about it. But the sympathy was refreshing.

R came over and put his hand on Aile's shoulder. "Of course. Hmm, it's that kind of optimism and respect for life that got me disowned too. So what do you say? We can form the support group for reploids unfairly disowned by Lagrano's corporation. I know there's more than just us out there."

"With his personality, there would be." He put his hand to his lips. "I am smiling, even if I can't."

That made him smile wider. "Great! And, I think I can hire you as my personal assistant. I like my current job, but an extra set of hands and eyes would be handy."

"Wouldn't that make me the assistant to the governor's assistant?" Aile pointed out.

"Now that you mention it, yes. Well let's go meet with the Governor. He's a good guy, trust me, and I'm sure that I can convince him to get you on the government payroll."

"All right," he said, then followed Chief R and the parrot up to the governor's precinct. Maybe there was still hope for him, even if he had to work harder for it than anyone else.

The sun was beating down on the slum district, baking the trash in the alleyways to release a horrible odor that was worse than the heat. Everywhere, the residents were doing what they could to endure this day. The humans kept to the shaded areas, using paper or cardboard fans to attempt to stir up the air and cool off. The reploids stayed indoors mostly, not badly affected by it but still uncomfortable. Over in one apartment, an ice-based reploid was turning a tidy profit by offering some time in her room to cool off.

Yellow Sunbee was more tolerant than most, given that she was built to endure high (and low) temperature settings. But she still disliked days like today, as the humidity was oppressive, the stench was horrid, and the others were all complaining. She flew far above the streets for as long as she could, but eventually had to descend to a street level entrance to one apartment.

After making her way through the maze of jagged hallways and the shaky elevator, she came to her apartment. The door was open, but that didn't bother her. She could hear a voice inside that meant that things were safe, even if the owner of the voice was doing his best not to lose his temper.

"I know it's on my records, but it was a false accusation," the red haired reploid said. He was a humanoid model, unlike her, being an anthro based off a queen honeybee. "Yes, I have been checking in with local authorities to ascertain that I'm clean. It's… it's fine, you can check my court records." He turned and saw her, which immediately caused him to relax and smile. "Hi honey," he mouthed to her before he had to speak to the phone. "It's all legal and I'm confident in my parole officer."

She waved to him, then went over to the computer console to check on news reports. Kratos could be a while, she thought. It was always the same, even with her. They had once been respected reploids with guaranteed jobs. And then someone had accused them of being Mavericks. The whole thing was a lie meant to ruin them, and it succeeded wildly at it. Sunbee was reduced to doing newspaper delivery while Kratos had been laid off three times in the past six months.

Eventually, he said goodbye and slammed the phone down. The sound was almost lost over throbbing hum of the window box fan that was trying to circulate air in their tiny apartment. He came over to her. "I don't think I'm getting that job."

She paused in her reading to turn around and hug him. "You'll find another one," she said reassuringly, although it was nearly a lost cause. "Maybe you'll just have to downgrade for a little while."

He squeezed her for a moment. "Maybe."

"I can keep the rent going, at least." She let him go and dropped back into her chair.

Kratos pulled up another one to sit by her. "It stinks that we've been reduced to stuff a half-decent mechaniloid could do." He clenched his fist. "Sometimes I think it might be worth it to sock it to that guy."

"No it won't," she said gently. "Just think, we've only got a couple of years until the statement gets dropped from our public records. We can be quiet and obedient until then."

He sighed and looked down. It wasn't so easy for him; he'd been built for the job of a guard, which required him to keep in good fighting condition. But then he leaned over and put his head on her shoulder. "It's rough, but at least we're together."

"Yeah. Hey, I've been reading more about what's going on in Giga City. They're in a huge boom now, expanding faster than they expected. And they still need more workers. And it's supposed to be a pretty liberal place, so even we might be able to get some decent jobs there. It might be mining or other hard labor. But at least it isn't delivering newspapers. And I think we could really have a chance to do a lot better there."

He was struggling to have any optimism, though. Sunbee could see it in his dour expression. "Like some dream city, huh?"

"It's not a dream," she said, switching the computer screen to Giga City's network. "It's real, but we could make dreams come true there. And look, they have so much there. The Central Tower district sounds like a great place to live, with three different marketplaces, lots of things to do… oh, and there's Vanallia District, where they have testing and training for combat reploids. They would be able to get you back to where you were, or even better than that. Maybe not immediately, but in time."

He brushed his hand over one of her feelers, causing her to pause. "You really want to go there. You've been looking into this for a while, haven't you?"

She blushed, trying to cover it with a smile. "I've always been looking for some way to make things better. There's some problems with Giga City, of course, but the more I look into it, the better choice it seems to be. Besides, do you really want to stay here?" She waved her hand to indicate their closet-sized slum apartment. "If we don't want to fall through as junky reploids, maybe we ought to get away from the trash."

That seemed to be working, as he nodded. "That would be nice, to escape that label. I could deal with mining, but what about you?"

"You know me; I'll do what I have to to keep going. And to cheer you up." When he chuckled at that, she patted his head. "I mean that. It breaks my heart to see you all stressed, upset, and angry like this. We're going to make it through this so long as we stick together."

"I love you so much, Sunbee.

"I love you too, Kratos."

Most characters in the game are given very little background. Like Spider, Chief R, and Aile. There are some things we know about them: Spider says he worked with Aile, R also worked with Aile, but Spider and R seemed to not know each other. Then there are things which get little attention at all, like R's parrot and why Aile is curiously paralyzed above the neck and below the waist. Or why a reploid would be handicapped and wheelchair-bound at all.

Also, the manual says that the force metal meteorite near Giga City was small, but the Force Metal Generator is seen as a big deal. This doesn't quite make sense as force metals are not too hard to acquire even before you have the FMG. I thought that was inconsistent.

Sunbee and Kratos are one of the minor viewpoints.

I decided to break this fic up like the game does, into ten chapters. However, those chapters (and the interludes between them) are massive as a result. There's more to this prelude coming...