C&E Book Two: THE PHOENIX
Chapter One: Across the ages, still I love you…
Author's Notes: Hiyas everybody!!!! Well, I was rather disappointed in the lack of reviews I got from my dear readers… ;_; Anyway, here is the long awaited Book Two! I have at least four chapters done in a notebook, and now I just have to type it all! X_x By the way… these lyrics are from the X4 song One More Chance (great song download it if you get a chance!) and are translated at the bottom. Enjoy and review!!!!
Umaku ienai koto ga arisugiru mainichi
Dare ka kizukenai ka itsu kimochi de
Zutto jibun tsukette 'ru da kedo da kedo
Sore ja ikenai yo ne…
Sore ja watashi ja nai sou ne…
I awoke to carnage. Littered around the room… no, no longer a room for the walls had long since fallen in… was endless piles and barren wastes of stone and metal… wires and glass… bodies… bodies… I rose to my feet to survey the extent… just barely remembering my last moments of consciousness. My mind was incredibly fuzzy… my vision blurred… I raised a hand to my face to rub the traitorous eyes… but found them stinging at the contact. Alarmed I looked down, finding with horror my gloves stained with blood… smeared with dirt… and greased with the pungent odor of oil and death.
For a moment I heard a small noise, but as I turned it vanished as quickly as it had come. A moment passed, then another… and I heard it again. Puzzled, I began picking up pieces of the wreckage, at last uncovering a fragile pale hand… a feminine hand… my efforts became hurried… but I couldn't move fast enough…
She was already dead, and seemed to have been so for some time. I fell to my knees beside her broken body, understanding now the wetness on my cheeks… But even in death she looked so sad… had I done nothing to ease her pain?
"Sierra…" I cried softly, now finding my own form wracked with sobs, disheveled hair falling to cover my anguished features.
It was your fault.
"What?!" I exclaimed. "Who's out there!?"
It was all you. You killed her.
"NO! I loved her! I would never harm her! Who are you to tell me these lies!?"
Look at yourself, you worthless pile of scrap. You killed her. Do you not see her blood on your hands?
A figure formed from the surrounding wisps of smoke remaining from long-dead fires… yet cloaked in shadow at least I saw that he was somewhat short… youthful, his voice childlike.
"Who are you?" I demanded again, but this reaction drew only a laugh from him. I clenched my fists to my sides, leaving the corpse of my love to rush at this intruder… no! I did not kill her! With a shrill war cry I lunged… but my fists met only air. With another laugh he brought his knee up to my gut… sending me down to the treacherous grounds with a pained grunt. How could he… if I couldn't…?
You are a fool.
"Yes, a fool…" hissed a new voice… one I knew I would never forget. Suddenly at this newcomer's side appeared a figure so familiar… gods no…
"Brother…" I gasped.
He sneered at me cruelly, eyes betraying no emotion save for hate and disgust… "Yes, 'dear brother,' it is I. How could you let me die?"
"But, I didn't…"
"YOU DID!" he screamed. "THE SAME WAY YOU LET HER DIE! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT HER!"
A second glance revealed to me the old, twisted scars over his body, assorted shrapnel still showing where they had embedded themselves in his body… I turned away… to find someone waiting for me.
I choked. No…
Sierra now stood before me, crookedly, showing where her legs and back had been broken… she was crying tears of crimson… but her once-gentle blue eyes held no sorrow, no caring for me as they had once…
"Why?" she whispered. "Why did you let us suffer? All is lost… because you failed…"
"No!" I cried out. "This can't be happening! I didn't kill anyone!"
"Oh, am I so easily forgotten?" called a third voice, and a stark black and yellow figure rose from the carnage… Bass leered as he had done so many times at me… the places where he had been fatally wounded still showing, glistening and glittering where it still bled.
They all four surrounded me, closing in on me… I found myself unable to breathe as I curled up and pulled my knees to my chest. "Stop it… stop it…" I repeated… their shadows fell over me… I held my hands outwards as if to keep them at bay… but as I stared the blood and black oil transmuted into slithering serpents of Death that surrounded me… wrapped around my arms… their teeth sunk through my armor and into my skin… searing pain…
I screamed in agony… writhing at this pain… the pain of loss… the pain of guilt… and the bite of loneliness… all a poison that now coursed in my veins.
"You were a fool, Zero," said the figure I knew not of. "And for your crimes may you live forever in pain."
I screamed again. "SIERRA!"
My scream echoed across the mists of Time and Space… the pain stayed with me the entire time…
Until I had truly awakened… inside a dark, closed-in place that made me feel like a caged animal…
'A dream…' I thought to myself in shuddering horror… 'But what if it was real…'
I tried to move, but found that I was restrained somehow, and now computers were switching on around me as they sensed my activity. I didn't like this… I wanted out! How did I get there? Where was…
"SIERRA!" I shouted. "BLUES!" But of course I received no response… what happened? Were they really… dead? Had Wily found me? Wait a second… I heightened the sensitivity of my optical circuits to survey my body… FINDING IT COMPLETELY INTACT?!
"What the hell…?" I muttered in shock. It appeared as though I had been completely rebuilt… and all of my programming was there. Lights flickered to life in my face, and it was then that I realized that I was in a capsule much like the one I had slept in… back at the lab. How I got there… I didn't really know, nor did I care that much; my priority was getting out of there, and finding the others.
After a moment or two of struggling against my bonds they at last let me loose and I shoved open the casing. I took a deep breath of fresh air, resisting the urge to stretch. Once my eyes cleared from the sudden brightness I stopped dead, choking on the air I had inhaled. A look around told me instantly that I was in some sort of warehouse or storage area… but the origins were unfamiliar to me. Not surprising, really, considering my lack of exposure to recent architecture… though it was not the warehouse itself that astounded me the most…
…It was the robots in front of me… with weapons that I knew were probably more powerful than my own. They were of a different kind than I was programmed to know of… humanoid, like myself… and apparently had effective emotion chips like mine, for the looks on their faces mirrored my exact expression of astonishment. As my gaze fell upon them they immediately began conversing among themselves excitedly, and one of them began speaking into a wrist device that must have served as a com-link of some kind.
I was unwilling to wait for something to happen, so I started walking as to go through them, for they had surrounded me. This seemed to alarm them, and suddenly a large and imposing figure appeared in the doorway ahead. I focused my vision on a tall robot built like an army's commanding officer, with a captain's cap and neat red beard.
"Want seems to be the problem?" he asked loudly in a heavy British accent. At least, it was British according to the references in my programming.
"Colonel, sir!" one of the other 'bots answered with a crisp salute. "He has emerged from his capsule!"
"Really?" the tall one's attention turned to me, his eyes narrowing. I stood my ground with a calm yet fierce look, for I had yet to know if he was working for Wily or not.
"What is your operating number?" he barked, startling me.
I raised an eyebrow. "I have no 'operating number,' I have a name. My name is Zero."
Excited whisperings ensued. "SILENCE!" the tall one… 'Colonel' I think it was, commanded. All at once the entire hall fell silent, no sound even coming from high in the rafters. The quiet held until it was practically tangible, and my patience was wearing thin.
"Where the hell am I? Who are you people? I bet you work for Wily!" I accused, ready for anything.
All seemed taken aback by my words, some even looked at me as if I were the craziest 'bot around. Didn't they know?!
"Uh, Sir?" one of them said meekly. "Are you referring to the human Albert Wily?"
"Yea, that's the bastard," I snorted.
"Well… um…" he continued, eyes widening. "That human has been dead for quite some time now… almost a century ago. Are you from that time?"
My mouth dropped open. "Wha… what did you… s-say?" I took a step backwards, nearly falling in the process. The HELL…? "A… CENTURY?"
One hundred years… gods… no… that meant… Blues… Sierra… Doctor Light… dead and gone… and I was alone… alone… ALONE… WILY… WILY'S FAULT…
"NOOOOOOO!!!" I screamed, clutching my head. My anger quickly rose to boiling point! I was furious! How dare Wily do this to me!! He killed everything I loved… then sent me away so he could die… AND I WOUILD NEVER HAVE A CHANCE TO EXACT REVENGE!
"Wily… you bastard… BASTARD! You killed them… YOU KILLED THEM!"
I heard the rising, shrill voices of those around me… I didn't care… they made me angry… I wanted it to stop… STOP IT!! STOP IT!! I reached for my sabre, activating it and slashing once to the side in a single fluid motion. I lashed out at the robots closest to me… I think I even cut one of them… Good. That way they'll see my point…
"MAVERICK! MAVERICK!" They were screaming now. What was that? Maverick? I wasn't one of those, whatever it was! I was ZERO, and I was PISSED OFF…
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I shrieked, throwing myself into the fleeing masses of them in order to get out… I wanted to kill something… anything… I was so angry… I had to have vengeance! My sabre flashed in every direction, either driving away or driving through the assortment of robots that were now my enemies…
COLONEL****************************************************(AN: I'm gonna mark whose POV it is if they aren't a main character …
The red Maverick cut through my troops effortlessly in his wild rage… how could one so… outdated… do such a thing!? It was astounding to see, yet my circuits were frazzled at the thought of where he had come from… but even worse, what he was capable of once he was loose in the city. Whether he was a Maverick or not, he did not appear to care who or what he harmed as long as his bloodlust was appeased…
"Colonel!" one of the officers hollered as he stumbled across his fallen comrades. "What should we do?!"
"Retreat." I ordered grimly. "I'm calling the commanders." The officers' red eyes widened in shock, causing a small smile to creep across my face. Yes. A century-old reploid was on the run, and the only ones who could handle it were the commanders. I pressed a button on my wrist, and instantly a screen appeared in thin air, showing the Maverick Hunter insignia. A golden, bald face with almost-blue pupil-less green eyes came into view, his face set in expressionless stone as always.
"Alpha Commander here."
"Commander," I greeted him formally with a slight bow of my head. "This is Colonel from Repliforce. A red reploid has emerged from a hidden capsule in the warehouse… and is believed to have gone Maverick."
"Maverick!?" he exclaimed, features changing only slightly to betray surprise. "What is his destination? Characteristics? Operating number?"
"Red reploid armed with green energy sabre answering to the call-sign of 'Zero'. His destination is unknown, but he appeared to be heading in the direction of the mines."
"Confirmed red Maverick with sabre," he repeated, looking away for a moment to study an unseen monitor. "I'll send Major Gamma's unit down there right away. Alpha Commander Sigma out."
Now all that could be done was wait.
GAMMA******************************************************
"Gamma here. What's the problem, Commander?" I was surprised to receive a call from such a high-ranking officer, let alone so soon after the last purge of Mavericks three months ago. No intent to brag, but my team was one of the top forces at Hunter HQ… and if we got a call, then it HAD to be bad…
"Major, we've got a situation near the outer mines of Sky Lagoon. A red Maverick armed with a beam saber has just gotten loose."
I was insulted… just one poor reploid gone bad?! "Forgive me, Commander, but can't another team handle ONE Maverick?"
"Are you questioning my orders, Gamma?"
"No, sir!" I replied smoothly with a crisp salute. "I'll get right to it."
"See that you do," he stated with a slight snarl pulling at his gleaming gold mouth. "This guy managed to escape Colonel's forces. Proceed with caution. Alpha Commander Sigma, out."
"Head Major Gamma, out." I answered, my mind now abuzz with questions. This reploid had taken out Colonel from Repliforce's team? How could that be? Caution, indeed… I suppose it really was a job for a high calibre troop of soldiers such as my own… I grinned. This might even be fun.
I switched the channels on my vid-link, taking a deep breath to make my announcement. "Attention, Gamma Team! Maverick sighting in Sector 58-- Outer Mines of Sky Lagoon! Scramble!"
It took fifteen minutes to get there. The damn transport capsules had decided to take a vacation again, delaying us precious time. Each wasted moment made me increasingly edgy, for I was not eager to see the escalating havoc that this new Maverick was wreaking. It still played around in my head the idea of ONE… ONE damn robot taking out an entire team of elites! Where had he come from? I'd found no files of him, and Commander Sigma had no further information aside from his being 'red and armed with a beam sabre.' Hell… it wasn't gonna be easy doing this.
I briefed my troops directly before transit, leaving out the bit on exactly how strong he was and instead spoon-feeding them pride and self-assurance I was positive we'd need. I had yet to see if we could pull it off… and now the chance had come. At last we arrived at the mines, where wrecked construction and digger-bots lay strewn everywhere as if a human child's tantrum had been too harsh on his toys. Toys, indeed… it was horrible. Even guard reploids and some innocent bystanders had been slain… I had to look away, averting my gaze forward. This guy was dead meat.
"All right, boys!" I called. "Fan out and surround the area! I want any survivors evacuated before we head in!"
That alone took five minutes. There had been no survivors. Trying to keep up a good 'poker face' as humans call it, I called everyone to me for search assignments. The plan was to enter the mine's main entrance, then spread out as to cover more ground. If the Maverick were found, that team would signal all other teams in the vicinity for immediate assistance until the rest could get there. Finally, two guards would stay outside just in case the Maverick emerged from the compound without our knowledge. It was a perfect plan, one that had worked so many times in the past. It should have worked then.
Upon entering, I saw soldiers leave the main group one after the other, until my five best men were left alone with me in the primary chambers. We switched on our night-vision optical circuitry to further enable our success, but deep within those halls we found nothing. Once or twice we stumbled across a mutilated body of a helpless mining reploid… they had no chance…
I became more worried with each step. Why hadn't the other teams found anything? I double- and triple-checked the com channels… still nothing… no trace of the Maverick.
"Sir?" my second-in-command piped up. "Maybe he's left the area already?"
"No," I shook my head. "He's still here. All of the fallen 'bots we encountered were… recent. He has to be here."
"But sir--" he fell silent. I heard a distinct WHOOSH from behind me, then a soft chuckle. I froze. The sound of a heavy mass hitting the stone floors rang out, then the clanging footfalls of someone wanting to be noticed.
"That was too easy," he said smugly, stopping just behind me. "None of these guys even screamed. All of the others did."
Had I a heart, it would have stopped then. "You mean… my unit… they--"
"Died?" he finished, cackling again though much louder this time. "Yeah, I took care of 'em easily enough… noisy bastards though, 'cuz they would have blown my cover had I not cut off their com-links."
So that was why I'd received no contacts… "You murdered them all… you bastard…" I was near to shaking in anger now, unable to bear the disgrace. It should have worked… it was only one Maverick…
I saw his sabre now, though his form was still cloaked within the enveloping darkness. It twisted and writhed around me, stopping at last at my throat.
"I know that Colonel called you to dispose of me," he was saying. "But you were all weaklings. Go on, call your best fighter. I want to let everyone know who the strongest is."
"And if I refuse?"
"Well then," he pondered a moment. "Either way I'll kill you, but if you don't… I'll ravage every city that is in my power to reach and destroy every occupant until I get what I want. How does that grab you?"
I had no choice… my own life was forfeit, but I could still save countless others… I had to have faith in the commanders… I opened a vid-signal, preparing in my mind the words for a brief message.
"Maverick Hunter HQ, this is Major Gamma," I said as evenly as I could, but I could FEEL the damn Maverick's grin… "I repeat… this is Major Gamma. Unit Gamma has been defeated… we request assistance of Alpha Commander Sigma. Repeat. Request assistance of Commander Sigma. If there is no compliance millions of lives are at stake. Repeat, millions--"
The blade finished its track across my neck, cutting off the transmission. The plan was perfect. It should have worked. It should have worked…
SIGMA******************************************************
"Commander, I think you should hear this!" exclaimed a soldier as he burst into my office. I overlooked the outburst for a moment, switching on the communications screen. Before my eyes appeared the image of Major Gamma… with the oddest look on his face.
"Gamma!" I yelled. "What the hell is going on?"
"--assistance of Commander Sigma. Repeat. Request assistance of commander Sigma… millions of lives at stake…"
A one-way transmission… that was quickly cut off in a flash of teal light. I cursed. It only meant that Gamma Unit was gone, and the Maverick was still loose and fully dangerous. I considered for a moment. Gamma's team was near the top of the elite list. If he didn't make it, then it was time for desperate measures. It was time for me to step into the fray. This would be interesting… yes, most interesting.
I emerged from the comfort of my office to a private transit module, grabbing my saber on the way out. I grumbled to myself about incompetent underlings unable to finish a job themselves, but my mind snapped these open thoughts shut when I transported directly to the mines of Sky Lagoon. Spotting two survivors cowering near the entrance, I guessed instantly that they had been assigned guard duty, and apparently the Maverick hadn't emerged to dispose of them. Perhaps he didn't realize they were there… not that it mattered. I had full confidence that those twin rookies would be child's play for that creature.
"What's our situation?" I asked upon approach. They whirled around to face me, shocked almost beyond words.
"C-c-commander!" one of them exclaimed, snapping to attention with a swift salute. It seemed the other was to petrified to do anything but stare at me, which I could understand. He knew he was too weak for this job… I liked an honest reploid.
"Where's that red Maverick that wiped out Gamma's unit?" I mused aloud, though I already knew the answer.
"He's… he's in there. He's inside that door…" the 'bot pointed to the mine's entrance stupidly, and I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. Incompetent fools…
"You may leave now. I'll take care of this personally."
"By yourself, Commander?!"
Of course, by myself, the idiot! Instead I replied calmly, "I don't want any more of my people being sacrificed." It was true enough, and they two bought it, letting me pass. It was not as if they could refuse. They were too afraid of me to disobey a direct order. I stalked past them, tall and proud. I kicked the door to the mine open, instantly alert for anything once crossing the threshold into darkness. Hearing a muffled gasp of surprise ahead of me I adjusted my eyesight, though at first all I saw was a long blond ponytail.
Just great. They sent me after a damn GIRL?
Boy, was I in for it. The 'girl' turned around, at last revealing it was indeed a male reploid… but his face… his face would forever haunt my days. His eyes shone emerald fire, lit from within by a raging fury that he made no effort to hold back. Upon seeing me his mouth twisted into a feral grin, catching me off-guard as he began his charge.
I fell out of my trance just in time to easily dodge his punch, but again I was surprised at his speed when he round-housed another blow that I once more dodged easily.
'He's good,' I thought with a grin. 'This will be fun, indeed…'
Just as he turned around to strike with a powerful kick I was ready for him, effortlessly throwing him aside with my fist. The Maverick grunted upon impact with a pile of stacked construction materials but smoothly got back to his feet without further noise… so much like a ghost he was… like something out of the past.
Watching him approach again was a curious sensation; one I'd not ever experienced in other battles… dust swirled around him like dark mist, parting as if to bow to his passing. I couldn't see his face then, but I felt his powerfully gleaming stare from beneath the glowing blue power crystal.
Suddenly he was in front of me out of nowhere, white-gloved hands flying in random blurs of motion. It was too quick to dodge all of them, but the majority of the blows glanced off of my armor… the fool! I was at least ten times stronger than he could ever hope to be!
Finding a split-second opening in his rhythm of consecutive hits I threw my fist forward to meet his. Sparks flew from the solid contact of knuckles, the sheer standstill of equal momentum freezing the Maverick in midair. Grinning, I added an extra uppercut to his exposed midsection and sent him flying upwards into the rocky ceiling. Bits of stone and shrapnel cascaded down to the floors as he tried to free himself, allowing me to draw my plasma sabre. It was then that I heard the laughter… the medium-pitched cackles that halted me in my steps. As I stared up at my opponent he pulled himself slightly out of the hole the impact had made…
Those damn eyes again! The shadows contrasted with the glittering quality of those emerald voids… framed in widened expanses of white that complemented pearled fanged teeth… his face contorted into the angles of a demon… nothing betrayed a sense of compassion or mercy. Never before had I encountered such a Maverick; his freezing, dark met mine…
However possible it could be his leer widened ever further, and he snapped his teeth open and shut in sheer anticipation. Never wavering in the midst of maddening calm he reached for a half-exposed metal pipe, ripped it from its foundations and smoothly dropped to the ground to face me.
Frantically I swung my sabre at him to ward him off, but to my frustration he met each blow with an experienced, effortless parry. The pitch of his laughter raised dramatically to end up as a blood-freezing war shriek… momentarily disoriented by the sound my moves became sloppy; so unbearable it was that I blindly lunged forward…
I was wide open, my side unguarded… A bloodcurdling scream of agony erupted brutally from my throat as the Maverick gave a full down-swipe that ripped my arm cleanly from my shoulder. Circuits sparked and crackled, the stench of pseudo-blood and melted wires and metals filled the air. My complete vision flashed into crimson and black, then melted into yellow and orange as something crushed solidly against my face and sent me sprawling onto the ground. I roared again as my body left the ground again… He had me by the neck… The Maverick spit on my ruined face and cackled again once I was thrown into a nearby wall. I opened my eyes slowly, finding them blurred by the rising dust and dim lights… but I saw his shadow against a wall nearby… standing tall and… frightening.
That was it… That whole time, the sensation I had felt was fear! I saw then, for the first time I understood how it felt to be cornered, battered and bloody like a caged animal… and the very embodiment of this primal emotion was that damn Maverick…
The shadow moved. Still I could not see his true position, lingering in the shadows like a wraith. He took one step, and then another… did time slow down? My breathing became panicked as I scrambled to get up… but I found that could not get any further than my knees… without a weapon and my arm I was completely helpless, and yet some part of me refused to submit…
"You were supposed to be the best they had?" he mocked me in a loud alto voice from his obscured vantage point. "You are a joke."
"No!" I shouted, using my single fist to pound the rocks of the wall. "This cannot be happening!"
"Quit whining, you weakling."
A blow landed fully on my chest plate, easily cracking the green armor. I screamed again, receiving another kick to the face. I tried in vain to crawl out of range but the large red-booted foot covered in my freshly spilt blood came crashing down onto my back. I tumbled down to the ground again… and before I could even think of a way to defend myself my head was snapped backwards, held in a deadly lock with the Maverick's hand gripping my chin. I felt my auto-repair systems begin to overload and shut down… and now the pain was coming without buffer!
My screams became more frequent as the grip on my neck tightened… so this is what it was like to die… dimly I supposed it was a grand enough exit for one such as myself… dying in battle. Slowly, ever so slowly he was letting me suffer, enjoying every moment of my agony. His laughter rang in my ears the entire time, never ceasing… I was helpless, unable to defend… sparks danced over me as systems were disabled and my sensory network was snapping apart bit by bit…
But then… just as I had at last given in to my cruel yet inevitable fate… my tormentor stopped. Abruptly he dropped me like a brick, and when I barely turned myself around to look I saw him grab his helmet and begin to scream and shout senseless words at an ear-shattering decibel level. An object began to appear on the blue power crystal at the front of his helmet… was it a letter… perhaps a number? I did not stop to think, realizing that it was truly my only chance for survival. Gathering what remaining reserves of strength I had I propelled myself at my opponent, fist at the ready. I swung with all my might, impacting the power crystal. Beneath the blow it shattered into a billion tiny shards, and to my complete astonishment the screams stopped, the Maverick's deadly and frightening eyes went blank… and he fell.
I watched him stupidly until the instant his crimson-armored body collapsed. I was aghast. I… had beaten him. It seemed impossible; almost surreal or like a vision that humans might have… but it finally sank in that I was the standing victor.
'But what happened?' I thought to myself. 'No Maverick has ever just let up like this one did… this is no ordinary reploid.'
So, without further consideration of the matter I concentrated on keeping myself upright, using the walls for support until I reached the bright sunlight shining through the mine's entrance. Once I exposed myself again to the outside world I immediately heard the two remaining members of Major Gamma's team speaking excitedly to one another.
"Look! It's Commander Sigma!" exclaimed one.
"Incredible!" added the second. "Now I am certain that there's no match for the Commander… what--?"
I had finally reached them, grasping my stump of an arm and forcing myself to keep an even voice to bark out orders.
"Take that red Maverick… to the repair center, and… and call Doctor Cain… I wish to have that Maverick studied…"
"Commander!" the two gasped aloud upon seeing my weakened state. "Are you okay?"
"I'll live!" I roared, shoving past them in a huff as they attempted to block my path. I didn't need any sentimental fools looking after me… I could take care of myself easily enough!
I reached the capsule transit pad after a few long and painful minutes, pressing the HQ repair center's coordinates into the keypad. I sighed heavily just as I felt my body dissipate into traveling atoms and photons, the thrill of victory keeping me conscious just long enough for me to vaguely see the white-clad medical bots setting me onto a floating stretcher.
Everyday there are too much things I can't say…
I always fear I might hurt someone…
Surely I'm making myself with pent-up feelings…
But…but it shouldn't be like that!
That just isn't me…
Author's Notes: SOOOO???? How do ya people like it???? Pleez review!!!! ;_; ~Sierra Omega~