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Megaman: Seraph
Chapter 1: I am.
How long will I keep fighting?
How long will my pain last?
Only the buster on my arm knows for sure.
How long has it been since I thought those very words? How long has it been since Dr. Cain released me from my 30-year hibernation in the capsule that my father, Dr. Thomas Light, sealed me in? How many times have I killed?
More than I care to count.
I never did like fighting; I even just stopped once; bad idea. Looks like I was built for and always will be used to fight; fight for humanity, for peace.
I am X. I am the legend of the world, the peacekeeper by peace and by force. Every time an enemy showed itself, I would think…
'Sigh; not again…'To kill was never what I wanted to do. That was more or less the type of thing for my best friend, Zero.
But since the death of Redips…since our ultimate betrayal of trust…Zero's seemed different; distant, colder, and even more quiet than usual.
It seems that every enemy that falls to the earth in two pieces beneath his blade begets more and more darkness into Zero's eyes. He hardly ever speaks a word anymore. It's like he's immune to the heartache of killing. He has no qualms about committing the ultimate sin. Whenever a Maverick appears, he destroys it, plain and simple.
Since Redips, though, the world has gone into an era of peace. I'm surprised it has lasted this long; since the Supra Force Metal was destroyed, maverick outbreak has been at an all-time low. In fact, things have gotten rather boring around here…
Where's 'here', you ask? Giga City. Yeah; I came back to visit this place; I made good friends and good memories during my stay there, despite all the chaos that ensued in-between.
Cinnamon's grown up now, and is the head of the nursing division; Marino's now working for the government, even after what she said about them. You know, how they toss you out on your ass when you're no longer useful? But apparently she's shown them that she does her job well. She works as a professional reconnaissance Reploid, and doubles as an assassin. Spider rubbed off on her; she only does it for the paycheck.
Massimo now leads his own unit as part of the Maverick Hunters; I haven't seen Axl in so long, but I did hear that he's alive and well, so I'm not worried about him. Nana's stayed on as the head operator of Central Tower, and Gaudile returned to his laboratory, and since then has come up with a baker's dozen of new discoveries concerning Force Metal.
The future definitely is looking bright. It makes me happy not to have to fight; I haven't had to point my buster at anything for quite awhile.
All of a sudden I received a transmission from HQ; fearing maverick activity, I opened the channel.
"X here; what's up, HQ?"
"X? Good, you're in Giga City! We were just about to ask you a favor there." The Captain replied.
"Is that so? What favor would that be?"
"A new scientist has just arrived by Air Bus; we'd like you to meet up with him and show him to Professor Gaudile's laboratory. Since you know the area well, that wouldn't be too much to ask, would it?"
"No problem! I'll be there shortly."
I closed the channel; a new scientist? Intriguing! I wonder who it was…?
Minutes later I was walking through the door from the hall that led to the city's shopping area out into the station. I spotted someone standing in a white lab coat and, assuming he was the scientist, approached him.
At first thought he reminded me a little bit of Dr. Doppler; he had the same hairstyle and goatee, except he was much younger-looking.
"Excuse me, sir, are you the scientist en route to the Gaudile Laboratory?", I asked politely. The scientist turned around and smiled.
"Yes, I am. I needn't ask who you are; you're the legendary Maverick Hunter, X!", he replied, holding out his hand, which I shook briefly. It was quite odd; it was rather warm for a Reploid's hand…
"I am. And who're you?"
"My name is Dr. Weil; I've come from a specialized laboratory to help Gaudile with his studies of Force Metal and the new studies of Cyber Elves."
"Cyber Elves?"
I had only heard the term once before; Alia had been conversing with another operator back at HQ when I overheard her conversation.
"Yes; the new research on Cyber Elves is revolutionary! Us humans hope to use it to help liberate you Reploids of the burden of Maverickism permanently!"
'Us humans', he said? So this scientist was human!
"Interesting; I've been sent here by Maverick Hunter HQ to escort you to the laboratory."
"I wondered why such a high-class hunter such as yourself was bothering to stop and talk to someone like me; it's not like you to have free time on your hands, is it?"
I blinked, feeling slightly awkward at this question.
"No…I guess not…but I happened to be here on a short leave of vacation, just to visit friends of past missions."
"Good, good; it's nice to hear you Reploids can get some time off. Well, I'd rather not dally about; shall we get going?"
"Let's."
Did I like Weil? I didn't know; he seemed a nice man, but he did make several references to our differences, saying things like 'Us humans' and 'You Reploids'. But oh well; perhaps he didn't know how else to say it. I decided not to let it bother me.
An hour and several deep conversations later, some of which included in-depth descriptions of prototype Cyber Elves and what Force Metal had to do with them, the doors of the laboratory slid open to allow us entry. As we entered the first entry chamber, the doors opposite the ones we just entered slid open and in waddled Professor Gaudile himself.
"X! What a pleasant surprise! I see you were kind enough to show Dr. Weil to my lab; I do thank you."
"Only following orders, Professor." I replied simply.
"A pleasure to meet you, Gaudile." Weil said, stepping forward and taking one of Gaudile's robotic maintenance arms and shaking it.
"And the same to you, Weil! Shall I show you around the lab? We have much to discuss!" Professor Gaudile was never one to waste time, I'll admit.
"Indeed." Weil turned to me.
"Thank you, X; I do hope we meet again soon."
I only nodded in reply and saluted the two, leaving them to talk as they walked off into the depths of the laboratory. I turned and headed for the teleporter room, activating one of the devices and inputting the coordinates to HQ. After the top portion rose and the transport beam began to glow, I stepped into it and felt my body piece apart into program data as I was teleported back to base; it was nothing I wasn't used to.
I opened my eyes to see myself standing within the teleporter beam in a device home to HQ; one of the attendants greeted me and I headed off toward the lounge. As soon as I stepped in the door I saw the familiar face of my best friend, Zero, sitting in one of the chairs and examining a data file boredly. He looked up and gave me his usual smirk...well, what used to be his usual smirk.
"Hey, X; where've you been?"
"Escorting a scientist to the Gaudile Laboratory in Giga City." I replied.
"You were in Giga City? Damn, why didn't you tell me? I wanted to see if I could meet Marino…" He said, looking slightly crestfallen.
Well, this was a slap in the face for me, and my face did me no justice in hiding my surprise. Wasn't I just talking earlier of Zero's seemingly colder heart?
"Why do you want to meet Marino?" I asked. Zero changed tack on a dime and immediately resumed his cool, collected expression.
"No reason." He stood up and stretched, setting the data file on the table in front of him before doing so.
"I really wish something would happen; I've had nothing to do for Sigma-knows-how-long…"
I smirked, hearing his use of Sigma's name like that.
"Only because I keep kicking your ass in the arcade." I said in a taunting voice, walking up behind him and purposefully yanking on his hair. It was one of those brotherly sort of things that I just couldn't help doing.
"Hey! Watch the hair! I had to endure an hour of grooming by Layer not too long ago and I don't care to repeat the experience!" He said haughtily; it seemed he hadn't caught my comment on the virtual games.
"I for one am tired; I'm gonna go rest."
I turned and headed out the door, subsequently taking a teleporter to my private chamber: the Sky Room. It had everything I needed to keep me entertained in my free time; music, data files, sketches drawn by yours truly, and figurines that I collected from Giga City as souvenirs. I also had a poster of Nana up on my wall; I nursed a small soft spot for her, as she was such a help and comfort during the battles against Epsilon and his Rebellion Army. I never confessed this to anyone, though; nor did I tell anyone that my reason for visiting Giga City was initially to visit her.
I fell onto the cushy bed and stretched out on it, yawning and closing my eyes. Thoughts paced through my mind at an increasingly lesser frequency as I dozed off.
Nice, long chapter; thanks for reading!
If there's any confusion, just wait for the next chapter; I'll try and stay consistent. ;;