[AUTHOR'S NOTE]
Hi! If you don't know what's going on, I'm a Megaman X fan who wrote the An Axl Story series of fanfics and posted them online (that was almost 10 years ago ...). If you've heard of these stories before, then I'm the one who wrote them in the first place! Welcome!
I recently finished writing a lot of summaries of how I previously wanted the entire An Axl Story series to be, but with ancient ideas lurking around in my head ... it's only recently that I decided it was essential to rewrite everything for you guys to read! Well, the old stories could use better writing, that's why.
So I hope that you'll enjoy your stay here, as I continue to update and post new chapters on and off. If you're a fan of Axl (and definitely Lumine), I hope you'll like this thing before you. Give a shout out to your fan-friends, and what not. That said, happy reading!
Chapter 1: Your Body
It was dark. A total black void. The red-and-blue male Reploid awoke with a moan, and a grunt. Amid circles of data of all sorts of shapes swirling around the spaces of this void, he lay on an invisible ground. He groaned again. He rubbed the spiky hair at the back of his helmet and sat up. That S-class Maverick Hunter was conscious now.
"Urgh … it's this space again …" Axl groaned. "W – what happened? L – last I remember it was … something coming straight at me … and I failed … to defend myself … ow …"
Whenever he slept in his pod, when his mind would wake up when it's not supposed to, he would find himself in this void of space. And its non-stop swirling of data. He didn't know why, but in the past when he bantered with other Hunters, he concluded that this experience was only unique to him. Being awake in himself when his body was asleep.
It's been like type of experience since he first awoke as a Reploid. Back in the days of Red Alert (when they still existed), back when he clamoured with X to be a Hunter, back when he was searching all over Giga City for any clues about himself, back when the Maverick rebellion extended to the new generation Reploids.
He would always retreat in peace to this place in his mind when the matters of the world was too much for him. He would occasionally out of curiosity, back then, try and fiddle with the swirling data – and it hurt his brains and systems when he did so. Since then, he concluded it must be a manifestation of his body systems – and himself, the soul, is the center of it all.
Speaking of the center of it all, turns out, to his knowledge … not anymore.
"Greetings …" A familiar voice greeted him, with a sneering chuckle ending it.
"What!?" Axl got up and saw immediately behind him, at what was be a metaphysical distance of probably a hundred feet. "You! You're here! In me!"
"Correct. I was wondering when you were going to wake up … and spare me the trouble of introductions. You know who I am." The sneering white Reploid bared some of his teeth at Axl. He walked and walked until he was just within arm's length peering straight into Axl's eyes. "I am really going to enjoy this, prototype."
The world who knew of the ongoings of the Jakob project, of its orbital elevator, and both their director who was one and the same – that Maverick called Lumine. That very human-looking new generation Reploid, whom the world knew a few months after Jakob started as the true brains behind Giga City's development, and whom the world will now condemn as a Maverick for his actions on the Moon. Should anyone find out soon.
"You … what do you want?" Axl asked cautiously, not going to allow this new presence any advantage on his mind-turf.
"My only wish for now … is for you to wake up." Lumine beamed sneakily.
"I know how the Maverick Virus works. For all I know, you will want to take over my body and restart your rebellion. You know we Hunters won't have it. X and Zero won't have it. The humans won't have it." Axl said firmly as he glared back to Lumine's lone-exposed left eye.
"I know that, Axl. But what's the point of doing anything if I don't know anything happening in the outside world?" Lumine smiled. "I won't make a move. Go ahead. Try."
Lumine sat down on the invisible ground calmly, and smirked at Axl. He gestured a hand out to show he meant what he said. Axl decided to not let his guard down. He too sat down and glared at Lumine. Lumine smirked back. Axl calmed his mind and tried to force control over his body to wake up, also wary of any moves this Maverick in his mind may do next.
SYSTEM CHANGE. SUBJECT AWAKING. FORCE SHUT DOWN OF REPAIRS.
Axl was now in what he knew as the intensive Reploid care section of the massive Maverick Hunter headquarters. Standing in his pod. The pod, in a row of many other pods, started buzzing all sorts of noises saying Axl shouldn't have woken up. No operators or Reploid medics were around. Axl gently pushed the lid open and calmly stood out.
And he collapsed. Oops. No firm control yet.
"Ow … crude." Axl groaned as he shook his legs around, ensuring his body listened to his wishes. Axl closed the lid of the pod back and walked out from the large chamber to the outer corridor many lanes later.
"Ha ha ha … you crack me up, prototype." Axl heard himself talk in Lumine's voice. Axl's hands quickly reached to cover his mouth. "Lumine … no."
What if I talk in your mind then? Does it spare you a delicious humiliation?
"Urgh … yes, it does. Just … do that. You know I have a gun here." Axl whispered.
If you're thinking of shooting yourself in the head, I can cross that line too. Don't try to toy with me, prototype. Go on. As much as I know your full systems inside and out … and that something else residing in your body … I still don't know anything of the outside world unless you find it out for me. Too. Go on. I'm still not doing anything.
"Something else …?"Axl mumbled to himself. He continued on.
The entire Hunter headquarters seemed too quiet. Something is up. Big City also looks lit up everywhere. In this time of night. But everywhere is too quiet. W – where are the humans? Where are the other Reploids? Where are the others? X? Zero? Alia?
He saw a screen. It showed many open panels of news from the outside. Occasional mentions of Hunter comings and goings as well. He managed to walk normally to the screen by the large glass panel overlooking Big City, the ocean, and more Big City. What he read shocked him. One by one, he read more and more open panels as he used his finger on the touchscreen to move to older-dated panels of news and events.
"No … this … can't be …" Axl fell to his knees when he finished them all.
It has been three months since the day he, X and Zero fought Lumine on the Moon. Three months after Lumine shot his massive array of gooey electric wiring from his new-gen body into Axl's head crystal. There was a massive outbreak of violence the likes he never knew.
Date – November 2178. The humans were shocked to learn of the Lumine's rebellion on the Moon. The global nation called Earth decided to reject anything Reploid-related in a bid to get rid of the Maverick Virus for good. Humans took up every day utensils and arms as weapons to mercilessly purge both Reploids and Mechaniloids alike. In the background, the super-corporation called Prez Corp reasserted its might on the global populace and ordered a huge cull of anything Jakob-related. Many Reploids, innocent and guilty, alike were purged. The numbers showed around 90% of all Reploids known were destroyed. The rest were kept for purification and maintenance, likely at the grace and good will of Prez Corp.
The humans who proposed and coerced Prez Corp into starting up the Jakob Project in the first place were rounded up in house arrest and ostracized at all costs. The face of a human male seemingly in his 50s beamed everywhere throughout Big City's infrastructure. A month ago, a research into the Maverick Virus was finally completed and unleashed to rid of the heinous phenomenon for good. But that required the purge of mankind too. Prez rounded up many people and had them executed, but also ensured many that survived be placed in bunkers underground, long preserved since the Eurasian colony fall, for their safety.
Rehabitation of Earth will take a while. The newer-gen Reploids now sent to rebuild the world and the Moon too as Prez saw fit were working everything from ground up. Everything mankind ever built and sent into space was now under his hands. The world was empty for now. The Hunter headquarters was under lockdown. Axl was its only inhabitant now. The whereabouts of X, Zero, Signas, Alia, Palette, Layer, and every other Hunter he knew are undisclosed. That was the worst part. They could've been purged for all he knew. He was alone. Alone with strangers in a new empty world. He wept for a short while.
Zero …
Axl was shocked. A female's sad whisper. The first he ever heard inside his head. Well, technically the first was Lumine's, but he didn't expect this one at all.
"W – who is that?" Axl blurted out. "Lumine, was that you!?"
Aha. The other occupant … you've revealed yourself. It's an honour to also see someone this old. Lumine's voice beamed inside Axl's head.
Save it, Maverick. You're quietly trying to usurp Axl. I can't have that. The female voice spoke firmly.
A mind reader, too? Very well. Let's see how you fare now! Lumine sneered.
Before Axl knew it, an overwhelming sense of pain slammed him in the head. Before he could cry out, he was knocked unconscious on the spot.