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Title: Mega Man X6: False Awakening
Summary: An adaptation of MMX6. "Nightmare" phenomena appear in the wake of the Eurasia Crisis, while X chases after an apparition of Zero. What is the connection? What is the mysterious Isoc's plan and how is Alia's colleague Gate involved?
Warnings: talking heads, Capcom Science, homoeroticism, aaaaaangst, OOC
Chapter: Stage 01 "They might as well have failed..."

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A giant crater and misshapen ruins were all that remained of the Space Colony Eurasia, diverted from its orbit on Sigma's orders and set to collide with the Earth. Although the planet had been saved by Zero, piloting a shuttle to crash into and destroy Eurasia, much of the planet had still suffered cataclysmic damage from falling fragments of the colony.

However, even Eurasia's destruction and the crash were not enough to kill Sigma, and Maverick Hunters X and Zero had fought him at the impact point. Their signals had vanished shortly after.

The heavy amounts of Maverick Virus at the crash site had prevented the Hunters from entering immediately, but a mission to retrieve X and Zero had been mounted as soon as it was deemed safe, though the area remained barely accessible to even Reploids.

So far, only one had been recovered.

"We've got X," a Lifesaver unit reported, his voice clipped. "His condition is stable. There is the usual battle damage, but he also suffered massive wound through his chest. He's being taken to Hunter Base now. We'll entrust his repairs to Dr. Light's capsule, as always."

"There's not much else we can do," Alia noted. "So many of X's systems can't be analyzed that we have little hope of repairing him ourselves."

Lifesaver frowned, but did not disagree. "We should issue a withdrawal order. The pollution from the explosion is making it difficult even for Reploids to work. It won't be too much longer before everyone begins to suffer serious malfunctions."

"But we haven't found Zero!" Alia protested.

"There's no guarantee he's alive," Lifesaver pointed out. "We found his Saber next to X. Logically, he should have been near those two, if he was anywhere at this site at all."

Alia knew that. She had thought of all these arguments herself. But she couldn't leave without at least trying. "If he's here and we leave him, then Zero may become too damaged for repairs." Or rather, his parts would, though Alia couldn't bring herself to say that.

"Even if we found him, what would we do with his parts? Zero is the same as X. His systems are a mystery." Lifesaver shook his head. "I looked at his records. When Zero was destroyed at the end of the first war, it was ultimately a Maverick working for Sigma who repaired him. Even Dr. Cain admitted he had been unable to do anything with Zero's parts."

As Alia tried to find some way to counter his point, Signas spoke for the first time, his voice carrying across the comm. "Alia," he said firmly, "return to base. Your systems are especially sensitive, as a Navigator. Coordinate the search and rescue efforts from here. We'll take another day, and then withdraw."

"...Yes, sir," Alia confirmed. She knew Signas had been lenient to even allow her to come to the crash site, despite a Navigator's place being at Hunter Base. Being here didn't increase her ability to assist the Hunters, but she had been unable to just remain behind and wait.

Lifesaver nodded to her, stiffly, and beamed out. Rather than follow him directly, Alia took a moment to gather herself. The entire Eurasia Crisis had been straining, and the uncertain fate of the heroes who had ended it was only making things worse.

A flash of something white caught her eye, making Alia pause.

"...It can't be," she muttered, moving toward the figure that appeared to be wandering among the rubble. "...Gate?"

The Reploid, clad in the white coat of a researcher, turned toward her, his eyes widening in surprise, and something else. "Alia," he greeted her. "Are you here with the Hunters? I heard you had joined."

"Yes, that's right. I'm a Navigator now," Alia replied. "I am here to assist with an ongoing mission."

"What happened? I heard they managed to avoid a collision... but it looks like they might as well have failed." He frowned, staring across the desolate scenery. "Are we supposed to be thankful for this?"

"They did everything they could!" Alia replied without thinking. "The Earth could have been destroyed if they hadn't..." She looked away, realizing how foolishly emotional she was acting. "Have you... seen anyone here? Or maybe some parts of a Reploid?" she asked instead.

"Parts?" Gate repeated, looking away as well. "No, nothing like that."

"You should probably leave this area," Alia told him. "It's dangerous here."

"Yes... I can't explain it, but I feel uneasy," Gate agreed. He turned and began to walk away. For a moment, Alia watched his back disappear among the rubble. She wanted to call out to him, to tell him to be careful or to look out for himself. But somehow, the distance between them felt too great.

"Alia," Signas's voice came over the comm. "Where are you? Return to base."

She didn't want to. She wanted to keep looking. But she knew she would follow orders, no matter how she felt about them. Her shoulders slumped. "Why am I always like this? Always just doing what I'm told?" she wondered to herself.

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"...E...x... X. Wake up, X. You're the only one left now. It's up to you. Get up now! X!"

Someone was calling him.

"...E...x... X! Wake up!"

X opened his eyes. It took a moment for them to focus and see past the clear cover of his capsule. Alia had one hand pressed against the glass, her voice muffled as she called for X.

As he sat up, the capsule opened automatically. His body responded a little slowly, his systems taking a moment to update properly. Though he had been completely repaired, not everything was completely in place yet.

"A giant Maverick appeared suddenly in HORIE 2146 block," Alia explained, helping him to his feet. "I'll send the details later. Get to the scene quickly."

X had only taken enough time to equip his armor and take Zero's Saber before beaming to the location of the Maverick attack. Opening his eyes after the teleport, he almost missed a step as he realized where he was - back at the Eurasia crash site.

Of course, pieces of the colony littered an immensely wide area. This was unlikely to be anywhere close to the location of their latest battle with Sigma. X shook his head, trying to clear away the useless thoughts.

"I'm sorry to send you out like this," Alia's voice came over the comm. "I know your repairs were just finished. I didn't even have time to properly fix your Falcon Armor. But with the state the world is in, we're desperately short on Hunters."

"It's alright," X answered easily. "If anything, I'm sorry for landing myself in such a state at this crucial time."

Though she clearly wanted to contradict him, Alia bit back the pointless remarks and instead said, "The Mechaniloids working in this area suddenly went Maverick, though we had cleared the area of virus activity. You've been off the field for a while. Stay alert, X."

As if summoned by her words, part of a tower of rubble suddenly exploded outward, sending fragments flying everywhere, and a giant claw shoved itself through the opening.

X jumped back, automatically sending a Buster shot in the direction of the Mechaniloid. To his consternation, most of the blast was deflected away, leaving the claw undamaged. The machine had been designed to work under the most adverse conditions, and its shielding was top notch, something that was now going to make stopping it very difficult.

The claw writhed, apparently trapped among the metal beams that had once been part of Eurasia's internal structure.

"Sir! Over here!"

Glancing in the direction the voice had come from, X saw a pair of Hunters crouched behind a piece of rubble, both worse for wear. The relief in their faces was obvious as he dashed next to them.

"There's a giant Mechaniloid just beyond here," one explained. "It suddenly activated. We think it's from a radio wave problem."

"It acts like it's possessed," the other added quietly.

That was a strange comment from a Hunter. But X didn't have time to interrogate them. "I'll take care of this," X told them. "Return to Hunter Base."

As the two Hunters beamed out, X stepped back out into the open. The Mechaniloid had finally managed to rip its claw loose and create an opening for itself. The main body followed through, wobbling in the air as if its anti-gravity systems were malfunctioning. Backing away slowly, X studied its battered form. A small shadow trailing the main body caught his eye.

"Alia," he called out, "is that sphere...?"

"It's a transmitter," she confirmed. "It must be controlling the Mechaniloid. But why did it activate?"

"That doesn't matter," X said shortly, already charging his Buster. The Mechaniloid swung its claw, bringing it down where X had been standing. But the Hunter had already jumped away, circling around the giant machine to get a clear shot at the sphere bobbing just behind and above it.

The transmitter was not nearly as well shielded as the Mechaniloid itself. The single shot sent it spinning out of control, heavily damaged. X immediately followed up with another shot, tearing the metal orb to pieces and sending it falling out the sky.

Having lost its controller, the Mechaniloid itself crashed to the ground as well. Destabilized by
the shockwave, the surrounding pieces of Eurasia began to fall like dominoes. Static passed over X's systems, caused by more than just the clouds of dust.

"Alia, do you read me?" he called out. "I think remnants of the virus may have been stirred up by that. I'm getting some strange readings..." X trailed off. "Alia?"

"...X... inter.. ce... can't..." Alia's voice was garbled. "...hear me? X? Are you there?"

"Yes, you're coming through now," he replied, though the transmission remained distorted.

"X, these readings are like what we got... right after Eurasia's crash," Alia told him, hesitating for a moment.

"From the impact site? You mean, before our battle with Sigma?" X said distractedly. The dust was beginning to settle, and he scanned his surroundings. The results were still mostly scrambled, but X could feel that something wasn't right. "It's the same..." he muttered as the space around him seemed to flicker and momentarily take on a purple hue. "The same strange phenomenon as back then."

The comm gave off a burst of static, and something flashed in the corner of his eye. A blurry shape dashed toward the downed Mechaniloid. It made a quick sweeping gesture, and the metal bulk lit up with heat as it overloaded and exploded.

The blast was too low in power to do more than push at X and slide harmlessly off his armor, but he reflexively threw up one arm to shield his face. Smoke and dust obscured his vision, but a strange glow began to filter through the haze.

The unknown figure stood with its back to X, its edges wavering like a mirage or a bad hologram and momentarily confusing its shape. Then, it flickered and was suddenly facing him.

It was...

"Z... Zero?!"

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Notes:
1) I'm abridging what actually happened at the end of X5. Half of it got retconned out of existence anyway. So whatever. EDIT (3/3/13): And also taking out a certain reference that doesn't work anymore.

2) About Dr. Light's capsule(s). I get why, in a video game, you get them spread all across stages. But that makes very little sense otherwise. So for this story, there's just one capsule. It's the one Dr. Cain originally found at Light's lab, where X was. (It probably got moved later.) When a war starts, X gets an armor from it. I find the idea of sadistic Doctor Light making X run around to gather parts kind of funny and all, but really.

3) I couldn't decide if "three weeks later" or "three years later" made less sense, so I decided to just omit all mention of time frames. This story starts later enough for X to have gotten fixed and for Gate to have resurrected his creations. (Which, according to the game, took him about a week. Nice.)

4) I try to keep as much of the original dialogue as possible, but quite a bit of it is shuffled around or edited to sound less like a rushed fan-translation patch.

5) Wow, I completely fail at Alia's character. Pfffffft.

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