Megaman X4: Shadows of the Past
By: StrykeEmUp
Rated T
Chapter 1: Prelude to Destruction
Dragoon was a tall, proud reploid. He was created as the Maverick Hunter's 14th Grapple Division commander. Though his unit held no more than ten Hunters, he led them with pride. He always put duty and honor before any emotions he might have had. Maybe that was the reason why he was so hesitant to accept an offer he "couldn't refuse."
"Long have I fought alongside Megaman X and Zero," Dragoon stated aloud. He let his eyes wander over the Maverick Hunter insignia painted on his armor. "To have the power to fight them…" He clenched a clawed hand as a cloaked figure, about as tall as Dragoon himself, smiled from the shadows.
"You've always wanted to test your limits. This would be the perfect way."
"The perfect way…" Dragoon trailed off, looking over the dead Hunters that were sprawled about on the ground. They had numerous scorches and burns on their armor and bodies. It wasn't his fault; he had to kill them. They followed him when he told them to fall back. A crime punishable by death during war. But, there wasn't a war. Yet.
"Dragoon. Fight for me and I will give you unlimited power!"
"…Okay," the ten foot tall dragon reploid decided. "Tell me what I have to do." The veiled figure grinned.
"Bring the Sky Lagoon down."
The city of Arcadia was a marvelous sight. The bright neon signage, floating sky walks and noisy pedestrians all gave the city color in some different way. Many different types of vehicles dotted the ground, fighting for the right-of-way. Iris peered down through an angled window at the busy streets and compared them to the vast area around her.
"So this is the Sky Lagoon? I never thought it would be so…" The brunette girl trailed off.
"Congested?" Sparke finished for her. Iris gave her a warm smile. "Yep, this would be the highlight of Arcadia."
"So this is where everybody hangs out after work?" The brown haired girl regarded.
"You got it. Speaking of which," the black haired girl pushed herself off of the railing, "you still look like you're on the job." She motioned at Iris, who looked down at herself.
"Hey! It's not my fault I'm still wearing my armor! You're the one who dragged me out of there at 5 o' clock on the dot." The shorter girl pouted. Sparke shook her head before downing the rest of her energy drink. She stretched before spying a group of guys walking toward their direction.
"Well, never the less, you won't get the guy's attention in that armor. See ya!" Sparke winked before heading off toward the group of men. Iris shook her head with a smile. She didn't need to attract the attention of anyone. She was taken.
"Well, almost…" She thought aloud. The more she thought about him, the more her heart skipped beats. She smiled and sighed as she headed off toward a small souvenir store.
"How is the production coming along?" Colonel asked a much shorter reploid wielding a clipboard. He stood in a massive chamber that held numerous workers and various parts of machinery.
"Very good, sir. We are finishing up the plating now. Should be ready to launch in 0500 hours."
"Excellent. Keep up the good work," Colonel stated as he nodded off a salute and walked out of the holding bay. He glanced at his internal clock and sighed. "17:44," he whispered to himself before sighing. Iris was supposed to call and let him know when she got to the Sky Lagoon. He fished out his nano phone and was about to call her, but hesitated. The last time he checked up on her he got a severe verbal lashing from Sparke about being so overprotective. He would spare himself the grief for now and let her be.
"What trouble could she get into anyway?"
"So," the mighty General of the Repliforce started, "what is it that you want to speak to me about?"
"It's about the Maverick Hunters, General," the cloaked figure from before opened. "They are far too eager to please the humans! They continue to hunt down innocent reploids without mercy. Do you believe they pose a significant threat?"
"Perhaps," General started. The robed reploid interjected.
"You already know the truth, General. Their sole objective has been to kill any reploids that fail to do as the humans order!" General let his eyes fall, now deep in thought about what the mystery man was saying. "It's in your best interest to stop them now, before they turn on you! You possess enough power to destroy them!" The storm outside raged on, spitting lighting and bellowing out fierce thunderclaps.
A long moment of silence ensued before anything was said. General was done weighing his options. "You're dismissed," he spat curtly. The dark figure went wide-eyed.
"What?!"
"I will not betray the humans. Remove yourself from my sight; my business with you has concluded." He commanded, anger leaking into his sturdy voice. The cloaked figure stood up slowly and turned around.
"Very well. You will change your mind soon enough, I assure you!" He stated before walking out the large room, laughing sinisterly as he did so. The General sat there, thinking heavily about the situation and what was said.
Megaman X, commander of the 17th Elite Unit saluted Midas, the current leader of the Maverick Hunters.
"And that's that! Good job, X." Midas waved him off before turning his gaze to the holo monitor in the center of the room. X turned on his heels and exited the room. He removed his helmet and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. Though the Maverick attacks had subsided greatly over the past 6 months, he still ran regular missions. Most of them involved patrolling the previous areas of high Maverick activity. Every once in a while some rouge mechanoid would start tearing up the environment or a group of metools would pester passersby, but since the Repliforce was inducted the Maverick Hunters were seeing less and less action.
"I know if I'm bored with the lack of action, then that means Zero must be ready to crack!" X said to himself as he walked into his quarters. To make things worse, the Hunter's ranks grew every day, shortening the amount of missions they had to do by that much more. X shrugged before glancing at his armor with a grimace. Once again, he managed to trash another set of armor. He reached for his mini cooler and grabbed a can of energy soda. As soon as the cool liquid entered his throat, a sound that he hadn't heard in months howled throughout the HQ: the attack klaxon. He downed the rest of his drink and dashed out of the room, not bothering to discard the can properly.
Visions of blood and dead reploids littered the ground and walls. The same blood that was on the ground was covering his hands. His head pained him greatly, the screams of terror bounced around his hollow mind, a dark figure was telling him to kill. Zero screamed.
Emergency! Emergency! All Maverick Hunters report to Assembly Hall on the double. This is not a drill!
Zero's eyes shot open as he awoke suddenly. He looked at his hands, scanning them for abnormalities. He sighed heavily after realizing he had another nightmare. Shaking his head, he listened to the klaxon message. After finally comprehending, he phased on his armor and headed toward his destination.
"I want your group to check this part of Arcadia," Midas commanded, "and the 1st will surround the city." A group of Hunters about-faced and warped off to their destinations. Zero ran into the room and stood beside X, who looked like he just got there himself.
"Sup, X?" Zero asked his friend while suppressing a yawn. X smiled at him before plopping his helmet down on his head.
"Not a whole lot. It might be Mavericks," X responded. Zero smirked.
"Well it's about time!"
"X and Zero, you two will go to the Sky Lagoon. We have reports that a giant mechanoid is hovering around the floating city. It looks like it belongs to Repliforce." X nodded and headed toward the warp pad. Zero, on the other hand, looked around.
"Midas, where's Dragoon?" The crimson Hunter inquired.
"He took the 14th out for a training drill some time ago. I contacted him and informed him of the situation. They should be somewhere in Arcadia." Midas reported. Zero nodded quickly before catching up with X. They exchanged glances before warping off to the Sky Lagoon.
To be continued…