Megaman X: Elysium Rising
Foreword
By Genoscythe
By far my largest and most ambitious piece of fanfiction, Elysium Rising is now over six years old. This means, on top of practically being an antique in fanfiction years, this predates X8 and Maverick Hunter X, which means no Layer or Palette, no Lumine, Abel City, orbital elevators, or New Generation Reploids. While Elsyium Rising would have been a very different 'fic if I had written it after the latest X series releases, I don't have the time or the motivation to go back and change it all now, so consider this fair warning to those of you who are just here for some Zero on Layer action. You know who you are.
I do make references to my other Megaman X fanfic, Eternal War, but the years have not been as kind to it as they have been to Elysium Rising (possibly because it was written while I was in middle school), and I don't recommend reading it just to understand the references. All of them are explained, though, and you can get a more in-depth explanation from the personnel files in the index at the bottom of the chapter list if you'd like.
Dramatis Personae
Marx- "The reason why I was with those Mavs is because I'm a mercenary; if it were a legitimate line of work, I'd have a business card."
Hair/Eye color- Brown/Blue
Armor color- Navy Blue/Gray
Weapon of Choice- Automatic pistol
Notes - A reploid mercenary with a paradoxical aversion to murder. His strict ethical code has interfered with his career as a gun-for-hire, and as a last resort, he has momentarily allied himself with the Mavericks in order to survive. Though he is a standard production model prone to infection, he appears to be immune to the Maverick Virus. This and other details of his past remain a mystery, but only because he is afraid to open up to anyone, especially his Maverick employers.
Endymion- "Freeze, now."
Hair/Eye color- White/Brown
Armor color- Silver
Weapon of Choice- Arm Blades
Notes - He is a special ops reploid designed for the Maverick Hunters. Swift and deadly with almost any blade, he is feared by Mavericks and revered by his comrades. His sleek armor is not made to withstand much damage, however, and he has learned to kill quickly and silently to compensate. He devotes every waking moment to his duty, shunning everyone and everything else - even his fellow Hunters. The scientists responsible for his creation believe his personality glitched when it was first generated, but they cannot legally reset his mind, so they have opted to simply watch him closely and make sure his antisocial tendencies do not turn violent. He was developed in conjunction with Selene, his 'sister', and they are both high-ranking members of Special Unit 0.
Selene- "I'm sorry, Zero. I shouldn't have hit him so hard."
Hair/Eye color- Brown/Yellow
Armor color- Green/Gray
Weapon of Choice- Wrist Gatling Cannons
Notes - She is a special ops reploid designed for the Maverick Hunters. An infiltration expert, she has a multi-purpose holographic projection generator built into her body. Her custom armor is built with many secret compartments to hide weapons and other useful items. As a result, she can instantly adapt from being a saboteur to a heavily-armed fighter if her cover is blown. Her armor is large for such a relatively small, feminine form, but it is mostly empty space to store weaponry, and she is nearly as fragile as Endymion. To counterpoint her brother's icy, introspective nature, Selene's personality lives in extremes, flitting back and forth between moody and exuberant seemingly based on the positions of the moon and the sun.
Nephtis- "Who do you think you are to tell me how to do my job, huh?"
Hair/Eye color- Black/Brown
Armor color- Gold
Weapon of Choice- Beam Staff
Notes - A mechanic for the Maverick Hunters, Nephtis mostly keeps to herself. Despite her inconsistent work ethics, she has proved herself a talented and valuable addition to the Hunters. She developed both a new ride chaser and ride armor, called the Zephyr and Monarch respectively. Part of her history could be discerned by careful examination of her name, but her abrasive personality discourages most from even attempting it.
Malakai- "Strap yourselves in, ladies and gent. This is gonna be a bitch!"
Hair/Eye color- Black/Green
Armor color- Black/Orange
Weapon of Choice- Sniper Rifle
Notes - An enigmatic Maverick Hunter who seems to loathe humans. Strangely, he also seems bound and determined to protect them. He likes to keep himself shrouded in mystery to agitate his fellow Hunters, which brings up an important question: Is he really hiding a secret, or is he merely stringing everyone along?
High Priority Mavericks:
Vulcan Stinger- A bipedal scorpion-type reploid who utilizes a pair of gatling guns on his shoulders. Stinger was put in charge of a small underground outpost in the wasteland, but due to his dedication and hands-on leadership, the base has been transformed into a fortress second only to the central Maverick Headquarters. Pessimistic and disillusioned, Stinger's success brings him little comfort, as he knows that the Mavericks are outmanned and outgunned, but the Sigma Virus and his own fatalism compel him to fight on.
Hail Magnum- A lowly Model 4 battle reploid infected with the Sigma Virus. Having always felt inadequate compared to other combat reploids, he proved himself to the other Mavericks with his brutality and suicidal courage. As a reward for several successful missions, he was upgraded with a pair of heavy autocannon arms and a nigh-impenetrable suit of bunker-style armor. Since he no longer has fingers, he is equipped with a backpack that stores extra grabbing arms.
Stealth Claw- He was once a Special Ops reploid for the Neo Tokyo Defense Agency. However, he had always harbored strong anti-human sentiments, and after a chance encounter with the Mavericks, he joined their cause. He is an expert in stealth and espionage, and his feline form aids this skill tremendously. He can move without making a sound, scale walls, and jump many times his own height. Combined with his serrated, retractable claws, Claw is a swift and efficient killer. Despite constant exposure to the Maverick Virus, he is generally lucid, and only rarely does the virus take control of his body.
Kinetic Arachno- This creature is not so much a Maverick as an experiment gone horribly wrong. Maverick scientists working on new weapons successfully created a symbiotic mechaniloid. When testing the mechaniloid, it unexpectedly began attacking the scientists recording data. With telekinetic abilities that not even the scientists could predict, the mechaniloid utterly destroyed their minds. Then, it proceeded to access the AI mainframe of the Maverick research base. Now loaded with artificial intelligence, the creature attached itself to the back of a combat reploid and began to corrupt its data. This symbiote is labeled as a maverick because the creature attached to the reploid's back was created by Maverick scientists, and the creature is violent to everything around it. Nobody is sure if it is conscious or not.
Tempest- Once an international criminal, Tempest joined the Mavericks in the name of anarchy. He is one of an increasing number of reploids that are immune to the Maverick Virus, and that makes him even more deadly. He acts on his own free will, calm and controlled. His humanoid body is encased in a chitinous exoskeleton, and the four razor-sharp mandibles on his mouth are just as deadly as the katars attached to his wrists. Sigma's second-in-command, Tempest prefers to leave the actual commanding to Tread Havoc.
Diamond Edge- She is a Maverick that emerged from the reploid underworld along with Tempest. Her unique frame allows her to project blades out of almost any part of her body. She prefers to go into battle unarmored, as a means to catch her opponents off guard, and her instantly concealable weapons allow her to pose as a bystander to avoid capture. Despite her connection to Tempest, she avoids him whenever possible, and prefers the company of Vulcan Stinger for reasons the other Mavericks don't fully understand.
Tread Havoc- He was the leader of the 4th Overland Division years before, in the Second Maverick Uprising. He was captured by Mavericks and they attempted to convert him. For an unknown reason, the virus would not affect his systems, and he fought against his captors for years. Around the end of the Doppler Conflict, he escaped and fled to Repliforce. Though he refused to harm his former Maverick Hunter allies, he assisted his new comrades as much as he could. After the Repliforce Wars, he and the broken refugees from Repliforce hid in an underground shelter from the Maverick Hunters. There, he waited out the Eurasia Crisis and reconstruction of the surface world.
When he and the refugees returned, they were immediately attacked by a mysterious assailant, who killed the other refugees, and knocked Havoc unconscious. He awoke as a different person, and immediately joined the Mavericks, claiming to be infected with their virus.
Thunder Raven- He was developed in conjunction with Wind Crowrang, who was sold to the Maverick Hunters. Raven had not been bought by anyone, so he was put into storage during the Red Alert War where his 'brother' became a member of the syndicate and later a Maverick. When interest in combat reploids increased, Raven was brought out of storage. When he heard of his brother's fate, he went mad and fled from his creators. He sought out the Mavericks and willingly contracted the virus so he could avenge his brother's honor.
Pyre Mystic- She is a humanoid with a unique pyrokinetic generator that allows her to remotely immolate targets up to fifty meters away. She accidentally burned her creator to death upon activation, but she was rescued from the Neo Tokyo Defense Agency by Stealth Claw, who took her in and convinced her to join the Mavericks. She completely resisted the virus, and after attempting to analyze her systems, they were unable to gain any insight on how she was built. Instead of infecting her, they used more subtle methods to coerce her to help them.
Unknown- Nobody has seen the face of this reploid. The only thing any side knows about him is that he has been decimating anyone who gets near him, and his sporadic attacks seem to follow no rhyme or reason.