Shadow Of Giga City

by I Embraced My Darkness

Shade Kraven, a former Maverick Hunter, who lost everything precious to him at the hands of Colonel joins the Giga City Defenders. But Shade is not what he used to be. See his struggle to regain what he once had. ALTERNATE ENDING AVAILABLE.

1. Original Version

I do NOT own Megaman, or any other copyrighted material that i may mention in this story. this stroy contains scenes of intense violence, some drug usage, sex, rape, masturbation, and swearing. Shade Kraven, DOES belong to me. after all, he's an OC i used in an Replifoce Conflict RPG years back.

THE SHADOW OF GIGACITY

1

Steel Massimo looked at the application...

Name: Shade Kraven

Current Occupation: Bounty Hunter

Activation Date: February 2125

Previous Occupaions (starting with most recent) and Reasons for leaving: Security Officer - Facility destroyed during the Eurasia incident, Maverick Hunter - Discharged by request after loss of squad during assualt on Repliforce Spaceport.

Reason for applying to GigaCity Defenders: I wish to return to protecting people again, bounty hunting is simply killing.

"So, Shade," He began, "it says here you were a Maverick Hunter, which unit were you part of?"

"Frostbite Phoenix's 42nd," Shade Kraven was a sleek battle reploid, obviously built for high-speed combat. he wore a black body suit with dark grey armor, making him look like a shadow. his skin was pale and his ear-length hair was the color of blood. his green eyes spoke of much sorrow over his life. "I was the squad leader."

Massimo had actually heard of that Unit before, they had the nickname of Frozen Fire and had a reputation of reaking as much havok on the Repliforce as either the 0th-Unit or X's 17th-Unit did. "What rank did you make?"

"i was about to take my A-Qual's and get a squad of my own when the war started. Everything happened so fast after that point that i was stuck as a B-Class Hunter until i left."

"So, you're essentially an A?"

"Yeah, I'd say so."

"How long have you lived in GigaCity?"

"since the incident with the Epsilon rebellion, so about a year."

"well, I think you'll fit in nicely with the rest of the Defenders, welcome."

"Thank you Massimo!" A sense of relief washed over him, ever since his precious Junia deactivated in his arms after Colonel had cut her down at the spaceport, his life had been nothing but a series of one tragedy after another. Things were finally starting to look up, ever since he'd moved to GigaCity, he'd been able to make a few friends, find a stable, although morbid job, and because he wasn't constantly under stress, he'd been able to cut back on the Combat-Stims he'd use when nobody was looking. Now it was looking even better and he was hoping he'd finally be able to kick his habit.

"You'll have to work hard though, There's been alot of trouble lately."

"I'll give it my all!" Shade was excited to be taking a step towards his old self. he'd been longing for years to re-apply to the Hunters, but every time he approached the HQ, he'd begin reliving the deaths of his squadmates. "Maybe I'll be able to conquer myself and become the strong man i once was," he thought hopefully.

"Nana," Massimo handed the operator the application, "If you'd please enter Mr Kraven's info into the system, I'd appreaciate it."

"Not a problem, sir." the pink haired reploid answered as she turned to smile at Shade, "welcome to the Defenders."

Shade nodded and had to fake a smile when he saw how much Nana resembled Junia. If she'd be wearing a forest green body suit and olive armor, with light brown hair and grey eyes... "Shade, leave me." "No Junia! You'll pull through!" a gloved hand gently brushed his cheek, "Shade, I love y..." the hand fell as the grey eyes lost their life. "Junia? Junia! JUNIA! NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Shade felt his hand starting to float towards the Stims he had hidden under his chest armor when Massimo asked "So, shall i show you around the place? ... are you alright?"

When Shade realized he'd been holding his breath he let it go and breathed regularly, "sorry, I'm a little excited. I've wanted to rejoin the Hunters but could never bring myself to do it. This is really close to them."

"If it makes you feel any better, we are a sub-division of the Maverick Hunters."

"really? I didn't know that."

"well it only became official last week, so it hasn't been put on all our paperwork. now let me show you around."

Red lights began flashing and a klaxon sounded. Nana began hammering away on her keyboard, "a construction mechaniloid has been commandeered by a reploid who is now using it to destroy the eastern residential area! Casualties are currently nil, as the building she is currently destroying is uninhabited, but the surrounding area is heavily populated."

"Kraven! you're coming with me!" Steel Massimo issued his orders, "Nana give the others instructions to evacuate the area!"

Shade followed as the large green reploid ran to the air bus reserved for the use of the GigaCity Defenders. and they went as quickly as the bus flew to the eastern block of the residential area. Shade turned a dial situated over his ears and flipped down a scanning visor, "Turba Industries," he read the readout, "Multi-purpose construction unit, model-type R-52, features that can be used as weapons are: arc-wielder, fusion cutter, wrecking hammer and jack-hammer. danger rating, 3 out of 10."

"3 out of 10?" Massimo huffed, "tell that to the innocents at risk."

"OPEN THE DOOR!" Shade demaned as he saw the mechaniloid approach a group of young looking reploids, essentially children; in the past two years, reploids had been modified enough to mimic human life enough to even get pregnant and age, but these were a slightly older model, they'd be upgraded to adult bodies with the new functions soon. he leapt out of the opening door and drew his weapons, a purple beam saber and a six-shooter looking micro-buster. he began firing at the cockpit, knowing that he wouldn't damage it, but trying to get the pilot's attention away from the helpless childern scrambling to get away. It worked too well, as the mechaniloid ended up throwing the body of a nearly critical male reploid into Shade before he landed. "Shit!" he swore as he stood up and found the massive machine looming over him.

he rolled left as the wrecking hammer shot out at him, activating his saber as he did. he flicked his wrist to allow the micro-buster the chance to cool slightly after firing so many rounds in a row. Shade hid behind one of the legs, out of sight of the pilot while he spun the core chamber of the buster, setting it to beam mode. he hoped the concentrated bursts would be enough to damage he protective glass.

When the Mechaniloid turned to continue its search for its mysterious attacker, the pilot spotted Shade and tried to stomp on him. when Shade rolled, the fusion cutter was there waiting for him. "AH! FUCK ME!" the small beam emitted by the cutter sheared right through the armored boots Shade wore and when he looked down he saw a light coolant leak, he knew his self-repair systems would soon styme the flow of the reploid life-blood from his leg, so Shade jumped to his feet and fired at the exposed knee joint of the machine.

when the mechaniloid faltered, Shade attacked the same spot with his beam saber. after a second, he felt the metal give way beneath the intense heat of his blade. the leg crashed to the ground and the Mechaniloid fell with a deafening BOOM! Shade leapt onto the top and slashed the clamps that held the canopy of the cockpit closed, he kicked the clear reinforced dome away and pointed his micro-buster at the reploid inside, "freeze!"

the crazed reploid woman had no intention obeying and ripped the control stick from the floor and swung the rod at the dark-clad Defender above her. Shade pulled his trigger and the beam went straight into her chest, he backflipped away and landed on the ground as the maverick went critical and blew up. "108," Shade somberly added the woman to the number of reploids he'd him'self retired, whether maverick or not. he turned when he heard a small girl screaming "DADDY! WAKE UP!" as she shook the body that had been thrown at Shade in the beginning of the fight.

Shade saw that the man was having a cascade failure and his eyes widened as sparks began coming out of the body; the man was going critical and he was too far to get there in time to save the child.

"Quicksilver!" a voice yelled as a black streak came from in between a pair of buildings, snatching the girl away as a bright light emerged from the crystal on the man's chest right before he exploded. Shade turned to see the black and white armored woman set the girl down on the ground before the dark armor disappeared in a flash of light to reveal her normal pink. a long green ponytail stuck out from the back of her helmet, "at least i could save this one."

the child turned to the pink woman, "what happened? where's my Daddy?"

when the adult's face looked sad and looked away the girl realized what had happened and ran sobbing to her mother who was frantically thanking the pink repliod for saving her daughter.

Shade walked over to her, "what the hell was that? i've never seen anybody so fast!"

"Oh! you must be the new guy," she turned to face Shade, "I'm Marino, another Defender."

"I'm Shade Kraven, i gotta ask again. how could you move so fast? i couldn't even track your movements and i'm a speed model!"

"that's my Quicksilver Hyper Mode, most of us officers in the Defenders have a Hyper Mode."

"I gotta get me one!"

"Talk to Professor Gaudile," she said as she started to walk away, already starting to bore of the conversation. "See you around!"

2

Following Marino's advice, Shade went to the Lab at Central Tower to speak with the professor. the door hissed open and he found himself face to face with what he legitimately thought was an angel. She was garbed in white with green eyes, blonde hair and golden wings, "Hi!" she cheerfully chirped.

Being spoken to brought Shade to his senses, she was wearing a nurse's outfit, and the wings were just her hairdo. "Hi, is the Professor in?"

"Not right now, sorry." the girl stepped to the side and offered him entrance. "If you'd like to wait, i'm sure he won't be long."

Shade walked into the small room and sat on the edge of an empty workbench he glanced over to the other table and saw a Reploid laying on it with his armor on the floor beside the bench. He was in sleep-mode as the machine ran a full diagnostic scan, he recognized the X-shaped scar and orange hair, "Is that Axl?"

"uh-huh!" the girl rocked back and forth on her feet, "he came to visit us during his leave after some secret mission in New Zealand."

The only S-Class Hunter he'd ever been this close to was when Zero showed up in time to prevent Colonel from retiring him like he'd done to Junia. He'd also witnessed the battle which proved just how far out of his league Zero truly was. "He's supposedly on par with X and Zero..." he thought, "but he looks so helpless like this."

"So, are you the new guy who saved the Eastern block?"

Shade hadn't saved anything, all he'd done was destroy another life. "she was out of control and needed to be stopped. I just did what i could."

"you saved alot of people, and your risky entrance saved a bunch of kids. you should be proud!" She offered a smile that could have kept you warm at Absolute Zero.

"but i still took another life."

Thinking back to the feeling she'd had when she'd dealt the finishing blow to Raffelsian, a flowerlike reploid, during the Epsilon rebellion. she understood that taking a life was not an easy thing to do in the least. Deciding to change the subject she cheerfully introduced herself, "I'm Cinnamon, Captain of the relief unit."

"You're an officer?" Shade asked disbelievingly, this girl was too sweet, too pure, too... cute, to be a fighter.

"uh-huh!"

"wow, I'd have never guessed. My name is Shade. Shade Kraven."

"I'm glad we could meet Shade," Cinnamon leaned forward and tilted her head, "I hope we get to work together soon." She offered another smile. Shade blushed as he knew this one was meant especially for him.

"Cinnamon, I found it! it was right where you-" Professor Gaudile saw that he had another visitor and turned his attention away from the PDA he was waving around. "How can i help you, Shade?"

"how do you know my name already?"

"I like to make knowing things my business," he smiled, causing his bill to curve slightly.

"I was wondering if you'd be able to make me a Hyper Mode. If Marino hadn't been there there would have been a child who'd died because i wasn't fast enough to save her myself."

"Hyper Mode? its not a cheap thing to make, I'd have to charge you for something like that. And it wouldn't make you as fast as Marino, I don't know how her Quicksilver is so fast, and she won't let me examine it to discover the reason for its tremondous acceleration capabilities."

Shade had a substantial amount squared away from the bounties he'd collected in the past year. "what kind of money are we talking?"

"I'd assume you'd want the armor best suited to your own abilities, so I'll have to examine you to asses them first."

"you'd probably be doing that soon for your own maintainance files," Shade smiled as he removed his helmet and shook out his blood-red hair. "We can kill two birds with one stone this way."

"quite a good point, my boy! Cinnamon, would you be so kind as to hit the release on Shade's chestplate?"

"Yes Professor!" Cinnamon loved helping people willing to become stronger for others, she admired people like that. she twisted the small knob between Shade's shoulder blades.

As his armor loosened Shade felt one of his Stims slide out and clatter to the ground. He looked at the Proffessor with shame and the fear of losing everything he'd fought to gain recently.

"You're a Stimmer?" Cinnamon whispered with a slight shock, "How could you do that to yourself?"

"I've had some very traumatic experiences in my life," Shade hung his head, "these pulled me through the worst of it. please, don't tell anybody, I've almost kicked the habit."

"How close is almost?" The Professor asked as if Shade's response would determine his willingness to cover this up.

"once every three or four days," he said as if it was something to be proud of.

"You are still very much addicted! once a week is bad!"

"Professor," Shade said barely speaking at all, "that's down from my worst of twice a day."

"how did you not go critical?" Cinnamon gasped, "those would run your systems at Redline at that point. you shouldn't even be alive right now!"

"there were days i was lying on the ground, wishing that my core would go critical, just so it would all end..."

"This is still a very serious problem! you abuse Combat-Stims!"

"I only use them to keep myself from going into withdrawl, each time i can go a little bit longer before i need the next fix. I think I'll be clean by the end of next month."

"These things make you a danger to be around! We can't risk you having a black-out and going maverick on us because of it, i have to tell Steel Massimo."

"Professor, please," Shade got off the workbench and got on his knees in front of the platypus-like reploid, tears in his eyes. "I'm begging you. I've fought so hard to get to this point, If I lose it now, It'll likely make me a danger to society as a whole, not just those directly around me... I can't go back to how i was!"

"Father," Cinnamon addressed Professor Gaudile, "I think we should give him a chance."

"I agree," Axl said as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the workbench he was on. "Stims are a messy thing. but he looks ready to be one of us, not a junkie."

"Shade, I have a proposal," Gaudile finally said, "if you can quit cold, then what has happened won't leave this room."

Shade's eyes filled with fear, he'd tried quiting cold turkey once before. it was as if the emotional pain he'd felt when Junia died had been turned into physical pain and was being constantly applied to his body.

"I... I..." Shade knew he couldn't take that, he'd probably set his own core to overload manually before the end of it.

"I'm well aware of the withdrawl symptoms of something this high-quality. I'm asking you to prove just how much you want to change.

"I... I...I'll do it, but i can't do it here. Everybody will know."

"Don't worry!" Cinnamon assured him, "we can use the Professor's lab, there are plenty of unused areas back home."

3

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! STIM ME! AAAAAAAH! RRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Shade's screams of agony and pleas for the relief that his drugs provided could be heard echoing through most of the corridors of Gaudile Labs. Even though the deal had been that nobody would know, Axl had accidentally let it slip out when Marino'd asked why nobody'd seen Shade around. but when Massimo heard the cries and realized what Shade was going through to stay a Defender, he found himself assigning his officers to watch over Shade and keep him from killing himself before the Stims were fully processed out of his systems instead of discharging the newest Defender like he'd planned when he left for Gaudile Labs.

Axl showed up for his thrid four-hour watch, relieving Marino who'd been pacing in circles due to her boredom. "he's been in withdrawl for almost two days now, he must have been a real hard-core user back in the day."

About two hours into his watch, Axl paused. Shade wasn't screaming anymore, he ran over to the door of the room and looked in through the window. the reploid looked like a black ball curled as he was on the floor "Shade? are you alright." when there was no answer from the Defender, Axl unlocked and opened the door. "Shade?" he shook the form on the floor.

Shade's green eyes darted everywhere until they finally came to rest on Axl. He leapt to his feet and saluted, "42nd-Unit Squad Leader Shade Kraven, reporting for duty Sir!"

"42nd?"

"Yessir! Captain Phoenix is in the repair facility after the Web Spider ambush. I am currently acting in his stead."

"The 42nd was destroyed almost eighty-five years ago, it was during the Repliforce Conflict."

A strange look crossed the pale skinned reploid's face. then he suddenly screamed in pain and clutched his head as he fell to his knees.

"Shade!"

"I-I-I'm alright, Comma-a-a-ander! sorry abou-ou-out that."

"is your speech processor damaged?"

"wha-at do you me-ea-ean?"

"you keep stuttering vowels."

"A-A-Am I? I-I-I guess yo-ou are ri-i-ight. I should a-a-ask the Professor abo-ou-ou-out i-it."

"are you gonna be able to stop using those Stims now?" the S-class hunter asked hopefully.

"I'm pa-ast the hard pa-ar-art now."

"see it wasn't that hard, was it?"

Shade didn't say anything as he looked with an 'are you retarded?' face.

"Lets go the the transporter," Axl began to lead Shade back towards the main entrance, "everybody is waiting for you."

"E-e-e-e-everybody! no-o-obo-ody wa-as supo-o-osed to kno-o-ow!"

"yeah, that was my bad," Axl tried to laugh it off.

Shade glared and spoke slowly to make sure he didn't stutter, "nobody, was, supposed, to, know."

"I'm sorry, it really was an accident! but when a girl you like asks a question, you feel compelled to answer without thinking!"

"Ju-u-nia..."

"what?"

Shade hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud, "she-e-e was my squadma-a-ate and the lo-lo-o-ve of my li-i-ife. she was the rea-ea-eason i turned to St-i-i-ims, I couldn't co-o-ope with losing he-e-er."

"I'm sorry," Axl wished Marino would respond to his feelings so he'd have her to call as the love of his own life.

"Do-on't worry. You-ou didn't kno-o-o-ow."

the rest of their journey was silent. until the door slid open on the airbus when they arrived at the Central Tower. The officers of the GigaCity Defenders stood at attenton, Marino, Cinnamon, and Nana saluted as Shade stepped out of the anti-grav vehicle. He'd only ever been treated like this when he'd recieved his promotion to Squad Leader. he walked up to Steel Massimo and saluted, he held his salute as he said, "Shade Kra-a-aven, returning from me-e-edical lea-eave, requesti-ing permission to-o-o rejoin the ranks of the-e-e-e Defenders.

"Well," Massimo grinned, "since I'm not currently the ranking officer on base, you'll have to ask THEM."

Shade followed the motioning of the leader of the GigaCity Defenders and stiffened his stance when he recognized the reploids, one clad in red armor and the other in blue, "Zero-o! X!"

"originally, I just came to pick up Axl," Zero explained, "but when i got here, there was some big ruckus about the new guy cutting Stims cold in order to stay in the ranks. Both X and I came to congratulate you on your hard won battle."

"I've found that more often than not," X said as he walked up and put a hand on Shade's shoulder, "the darkness within your own soul is the greatest enemy you'll ever face. You've really proven yourself."

"Tha-a-ank you bo-oth Sirs! Permi-i-ision to retu-urn to duty-y-y?"

"Granted," X patted Shade's shoulder again before returning the reploid's salute, "as long as you get a full work over from Professor Gaudile. judging from your speech, most of your systems are fragmented severly from the withdrawl."

"YESSI-IR!"

4

Shade's systems were so damaged by the experience that he couldn't even access his sleep function. he had to stay awake during the entire long, excrutiatingly long, diagnostic scan. Although with Cinnamon there to keep him company, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. the two of them talked about everything that came to their minds, eventually making it to their pasts. Cinnamon was younger than Shade had estimated, he'd guessed she was about ten years old, but she was only two, she'd been programmed to accelerate her aging to late-teens than stop aging.

Shade hesitated before starting his own tale: he was originally made as the replacement of the son of the once reknown Dr Harris. after the boy's death, the Doctor had frantically recreated the human child's image and personality into a reploid form. shortly after his activation, there was a break-in at the lab during the Doppler Rebellion, leaving the Doctor dead and Shade thirsting for justice. He'd created his own teenaged body from the research he'd found in the labratory computers. once he'd created a functioning body, he transfered his programming and set off to become a Hunter.

The training under Magma Dragoon was far more intense than he'd imagined. Shade was trained for battle by living on the edge of death. He'd graduated training as a C-Class Hunter, as opposed to the normal D-Class, because of the exemplary abilities he'd shown in combat, leadership, and rescue situations. He'd also been the only one willing to sacrifice himself in order to complete the rescue mission that was his final exam. He was assigned to the 42nd-Unit and met his new family: Gradius, the former SWAT-member who'd soon become his best friend, Frostbite Phoenix, his Captain and hero, Junia, his precious and tender lover, along with many others.

Then came the day that changed everything the world knew, the Tragedy of Sky Lagoon, when the very relpoid who'd taugh him what it meant to be a Hunter, betrayed them all to the Repliforce. that battle had been orchestrated by Sigma in order to start the war between the Repliforce and Maverick Hunters to eliminate each other. The 42nd had been involved in so many missions in so little time that it felt like they'd Transmit back to base only to walk back onto the pads to Transmit to the next one. after a month of nothing but death and violence the end was in sight, just one last mission to open the path for X and Zero to take out the orbital weapons platform of the Repliforce.

The Battle of Spaceport Tiberius had been very one sided until the hero of the Repliforce, Colonel himself, made an appearence. Colonel outclassed the Captains in every category: power, speed, skill, everything. He cut through the lines of the Maverick Hunters as if they were nothing more than a crumbling brick wall and he was a tank. He'd bought enough time for the Repliforce to regroup and push back when X and Zero finally Transmitted to the battlefield. it was at this point that Colonel found the 42nd-Unit, Dispatching Gradius and Frostbite Phoenix in the same attack. Junia screamed and brandished her purple beam saber, before Shade had even turned to see what was happening, Junia's chest was slashed open. He'd thrown his micro-busters away so he could catch his beloved and cradle her in her last moments. Colonel waited for the girl to die before raising his blade to send her lover to join her. "COLONEL!" Zero yelled his challenge as he intercepted the strike.

After the dust of the battle settled, Shade had only been able to find pieces of the rest of his squad and just one of his micro-busters. he took Junia's sword as a memento of her. the next two years were a harrowing experience of merely existing, he couldn't even remember which Unit he'd been reassigned to or how many missions they'd failed because of him. He was introduced to Stims by the captain of that Unit as a way to prep for each mission, to clear his head for the coming challenges.

He'd requested a discharge and retreated to a remote area of Africa and took up a security position at a power plant that was also responsible for the purification of the local water supply. Once he'd truly thought he'd found peace again, he was given only a few hours warning to evacuate before a space station came crashing into the area he'd come to call home, creating a warping in reality caused by the living virus that soon became known as the Zero Nightmare.

Shade then fell deep into a depression that was only relieved by the effects of Combat Stims. he'd do anything to get them, he'd stolen, he'd preformed hits, he'd even tortured people. anything to get the next fix. there was a point where he was known as a Class-B criminal before he'd changed his body to the one he wore now. after many years he could barely remember, he moved into GigaCity and picked up bounty hunting, it was somewhere between preforming hits and protecting innocents. It allowed him to work towards his new goal of becoming a Hunter once again. Then he'd heard that the GigaCity Defenders were looking for help and he'd turned in his application.

Cinnamon sat quietly the whole time as she listened to Shade's story. She felt honored that he'd trust her enough to tell her so many things that you'd hide from most people. "you've really had a rough life."

"Ye-e-ah. but its fi-i-inally starting to tur-urn around," Shade smiled.

Professor Gaudile came back in the room, "How are you feeling, Shade?"

"If Cinnamo-o-o-on wasn't he-e-ere to talk to-o-o, i'd have gone cra-a-a-a-a-azy! how-ow much longe-er?"

"It should be done scanning any minute now."

As if responding to the comment, the scanning bar slid back against the wall to its resting position. "Tha-a-ank God!" Shade proclaimed as he sat up and began stretching. "How do-o-es it look?"

"not very good, your memory files are fragmemented and you probably remember your life out of sequence."

"Actually, Professor," Cinnamon spoke up, "when we were talking, everything came out in an order that seemed chronological."

"He's ri-i-i-ight Cinna-amon, I had to-o-o-o scan my-y-y entire me-e-e-e-e-mory banks to co-o-o-ollect my story and chron-chronoclized it in a sepa-a-a-arate area of my CPU-U-U-U-U's functio-ions."

"That's only the beginning, your speech processor is so damaged that you should be speaking coherently at all. your kernel system has corrupt sections, your CPU is functioning at 40%..." the list went on. and Gaudile concluded with, "there is no way you should be active at all."

"you can fi-i-i-i-ix me, right?"

"no."

"no-o-o?"

"no, but i can make you a new body. and repair the problems with your mind during the transfer."

It wasn't until he actually looked at himself until he noticed his movements were twitchy and without the finer-tuned functions. "Shi-i-it..."

"do you want to stay in this body? i can repair parts of it, but you probably won't be able to fight."

"No, I-I-I want to be-e-e-e able to fi-ight when the ne-e-e-e-e-e-ed arises. but I-I have a cou-ou-ouple of re-equests..."

"Sure," the Professor waved towards the door, "tell me about them on the way back to my own Labs."

5

"A-a-and one la-a-ast thing, I-I-I want a-a Shadow Drive."

The Professor stopped as he stepped off the Transporter pad. "A Shadow Drive? no, I can't allow that."

"why no-ot?" Shade asked asked as they started walking again.

"because they are dangerous. they give you great power and a strong command over whatever element you are associated with, but they are known for creating as many Mavericks as Sigma was responsible for."

"O-O-Only because th-e-e-ey were wea-eak enough to-o-o allow their e-e-e-emotions to rul-ule them. I-I-I think I've pro-o-oven that I-I-I have passe-e-ed that point."

Professor Gaudile considered the fact that someone who was horribly addicted to Combat Stims had just quit cold. "you may be able to conquer the system, but that doesn't make it any safer, it amplifies your Id Processors and causes you to be liable to fits of rage, bouts of depression and God forbid an uncontrolable sexual spike happens if you're one-on-one with a pretty girl."

"I kne-e-ew the risks in-invo-lved before I-I asked Pro-ofesso-o-or." Shade crossed his arms, he then spoke slowly to prevent stuttering, "I can handle it."

Professor Gaudile sighed his defeat, arguing with Shade was like trying to get through a blast door with a pocket knife and a blow-gun. "So you want to look younger, become a shadow manipulator, improve your beam saber combat programming and ... a Shadow Drive."

"yes."

"alright, I'll see what i can do. lay down on the table, I'll force your systems into Standby and when you wake up, you'll be a whole new you."

Shade dreamt of his training, everytime he'd do something wrong enough, he'd find himself lifted off the ground by a flaming fist, "WRONG Kraven!" Magma Dragoon bellowed loud enough to make an example. Shade was his top trainee and if he wasn't good enough at something, Dragoon made sure the others knew they had a way to surpass him. The A-Class hunter knew that it would motivate the less succesful of his trainees to push themselves for his favor, and force Shade to get better to defend his position as the best...

"the human-shield situation is the greatest enemy of a Maverick Hunter!" Dragoon explained as he grabbed the reploid standing closest to him, a girl, around the neck and pulled her to his chest. "Squad! you have Thirty seconds to save Marian before i torch her!" he leapt far enough away to stay out of anybody's accuracy range. "ONE! TWO!"

Marian screamed when she realized that her trainer was serious, it wouldn't be the first time he'd killed one of his trainees.

"Spread out! flank him!" Shade yelled and the reploids whose paired Techs-in-training had figured out Speedsters dashed away to get behind Dragoon.

"TWELVE!"

Everyone leveled their busters and other weapons

"DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN SHOOT ME WITHOUT HITTING HER?" Dragoon yelled, "EIGHTEEN!"

"Oni!" Shade didn't need to say anymore than the ground-type Tunnel Oni's name for him to get the message

"TWENTY FOUR!" Magma Dragoon's free hand began to glow as a fireball formed in it and hovered next to Marian's head.

"NOW!" Shade ordered, even without rank, the other six members in his training group always listened to what he said.

Tunnel Oni burst out of the rock wall behind Dragoon and pressed a drill to the back of the trainer's head.

"EXCERCISE FAILED!" Dragoon's entire body erupted into flames. Marian and Oni were incenerated with barely enough time to even scream out their pain.

Shade marched right up to Dragoon as his body cooled, "How did we fail? we had you!" he punched the red Reploid in the face. "YOU KILLED THEM BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T WANT TO ADMIT WE FINALLY BEAT YOU!"

a clawed hand grasped Shade by the neck and lifted him off the ground, "you forced my hand. you never act agressive in a human-shield situation. you become passive, and patiently wait for your chance while trying to negotiate with your target."

"we had you," Shade further protested, "if it wasn't a training excercise, you'd have died when Oni jumped you, and Marian would be free."

"and yet, they are both dead Kraven! you always look for the heroic solution! sometimes the greatest victory is the battle not fought!" Dragoon threw Shade to the ground several meters away, "Hit the racks! I want you all to have nightmares about this so you never forget the mistakes you made!"

A voice floated through his dreams, "Shade?" the sweet voice was from the present, not the past

His dreams began to waver as his body went through its initial boot-up.

"Shade? are you awake?"

Opening his eyes, Shade found Cinnamon shaking him. "Hi."

"you were taking so long to wake up, i was starting to get concerned."

"Sorry, i was dreaming."

"what about?"

"a really bad day," as he thought about the memory, he began to feel a pulsing. It's echo was dark and if felt like the shadows it cast were alive.

"wanna talk about it?" Cinnamon offered a supporting smile

the darkness disappeared and the pulsing stopped as he felt the warmth of the girl's smile. "The Shadow Drive..." Shade thought to himself, "at least I know what it feels like before it spikes."

6

(A/N: the M rating starts here... I'll warn you at the beginning of each chapter it happens. but i include plot in these chapters as well, its not just skip and only miss the dark stuff.)

Shade was in the training area beneath central tower. it had once been the area where the Tailed Brotherhood had been imprisioned. His body moved much more effeciently than ever before, it was faster, stronger, more agile. he decided to find out how his shadow manipulation worked so he accessed his files, "I have four abilities using shadows... First if the ShadowPin, i make contact with a shadow and it freezes whatever cast the shadow, even falling inanimate objects. the power draw of this move depends on what I'm freezing; bigger, stronger, faster targets will exhaust me faster." he tossed his micro buster and stepped on its shadow, it froze midair as if it were resting on a table. "Woah..."

"Second ability is cloaking, I'm invisible as long as I'm in a shadow. SWEET!" he hit the setting on the wall to bring up barriers that could be used in combat training as cover. he walked up to a tall one and put his hand into the shadow behind it. it became semi-transpearant and after a second, it was gone. "This will come in handy."

he accessed the file again, "third is ShadowSlash, i can use Junia's beam saber to collect and use the power of shadows as a ranged attack." he turned on the blade and activated the subroutine to collect the shadows, the blade turned from it's vibrant purple to a deep black in a matter of seconds. he slashed through the air to release the power and his jaw dropped as a black arc went clean through two barriers and damgaed a third before dissapating into nothingness.

"Fourth is an emergency technique, ShadowStep. if i am nearly critical, i can channel the excess power into the ability to teleport between shadows anywhere within 3 KM... Any shadow in 3 clicks!?!"

Shade considered shooting himself to cause enough damage that his core would begin to create excess power in an attempt to compensate for the damages. but decided that might be a little extreme for a training session. A low whistle came from the door behind Shade.

He turned to see Marino staring at the destroyed barriers, "what did you do?"

"just trying out my new tricks," he motioned to the destroyed barriers, "sorry, didn't think it would be that strong."

"It'll give the mettaurs something to do. The Professor said you've got a Shadow Drive now." Marino walked up to him and leaned against the fist she put on her hip as if it was her trademark stance. "you sure you can handle something like that?"

"i wouldn't have asked if I wasn't sure. I joined the Defenders to defend lives, and i felt i'd need more strength to keep up with the rest of you."

"wanna see how you measure up?"

"what do you mean?"

"I felt like sparring with somebody and you seem like you'd be worth my time...wait a second... did you get a younger body?"

"Yes, i liked the appearance I'd had during my time with the Hunters, so i decided to change back. And sure i'd like to spar."

Marino grinned as she turned the dial of her beam daggers to their minimun setting. she took a stance and began to bounce on the balls of her feet. Shade did the same with his beam saber and took his stance.

Marino started the match, she began running around between the barriers, trying to use her speed and agility to confuse Shade and create an opening. The tactic was fitting to the Captain of the Infiltration Unit, after all, she was a former thief so deception fit her battle style quite well. Shade jumped onto one of the barriers to try and keep a clear view of the pink-clad woman. "God she's fast!" he thought as he was barely able to keep track of the bright flashes between the variously shaped blocks. He lost track of Marino for a split second before his proximity alert warned him of an attack from the left.

Shade threw up his blade to stop a beam dagger and brought his other hand up to catch Marino's left arm as she swung her other weapon. She shifted her weight and kicked Shade's chest to vault away, she landed and looked around for her opponent. Shade was gone, just plain gone.

Marino began dashing around, once she realized he was cloaked. "Where? Where? Where?" She knew he was merely waiting for her to get somewhere she couldn't avoid an attack. Shade held his breath as Marino ran past him again, just missing him by a hairsbreadth this time. He activated the ShadowSlash subroutine, this time stopping the charge at 15%. Marino began to past him again so he stuck out his leg.

Marino felt her leg snag and her momentum caused her to flip, slamming her back into a barrier. her eyes flew open in pain as a black arc came flying from nothingness, "shit."

Shade stood holding his saber over Marino once the force of the ShadowSlash disappeared enough to allow her to fall to the ground. "I win this time," he smiled as he helped her up.

"Wow, those new abilities are crazy." Marino put a hand on her chest where the ShadowSlash had cut through her armor. she pulled the chestpiece away to make sure she didn't take any damage that her systems didn't detect. "what the hell was that?"

Shade felt a pulse from the Shadow Drive when he saw the skin beneath the rip in the dark body suit Marino wore. He turned away to stifle the rising emotions and allow the somewhat shameless woman some privacy. "That was my ShadowSlash, but it was only charged to 15%"

"I'm impressed," Marino laughed as she pulled her armor back on, satisfied that she was alright. "if it wouldn't kill you, I'd steal that Shadow Drive for myself!"

The thought of Marino being so close to be able to take him apart caused another pulse, this one stronger. Marino was beautiful and Shade found his mind begin to hover towards other, darker, even twisted thoughts. Professor Gaudile's words about the boosting of his Id functions rang in his ears, "God forbid a uncontrolable sexual spike happens if you're one-on-one with a pretty girl."

He needed to get away now. Shade thanked Marino for the match and walked towards the door. "Going already?" Marino asked disappointed, she wanted a rematch.

Shade tried to find an excuse without telling her the truth; he wanted her to scream his name, whether out of pleasure, fear, or emotional pain, the twisted thoughts from his Shadow Drive affected mind didn't care which. He began to feel his morals starting to break. "Yeah, I'm kinda hungry and a little tired. these new tricks take alot of energy."

"Ok, why don't we head back together. I gotta report to Central Tower in a bit anyways."

he wanted to scream, "No!", to warn her away from him. but he couldn't, the Shadow Drive was filling his mind with images of Marino in various states of undress and positions beneath him and completely at his mercy. He began breathing deply, trying to fight to regain his mind. he closed his eyes and clutched at his head.

"you alright?" Marino put a hand on his shoulder

If the door hadn't hissed open, Shade would have knocked Marino to the ground and taken her, willingly or not. the sound distracted him long enough for what was left of himself to scream "RUN!" at his body. He barrelled through the doorway as a few younger looking reploids tried to walk in, appearently on a tour of the facility.

7

Shade ran, not stopping for anything or anyone. he knocked X to the ground without even realizing it since he kept his head in his hands as he ran. Eventually, he found himself on the helipad on top of the Central Tower. the wind was strong here, its salty smell and cool feeling began to reawaken Shade's senses. He fell to his knees and hugged his shoulders as he brought his forehead to the grating. As his mind began to regain control of itself, he began to cry, he'd come so close, so VERY close to destroying everything. not only for himself, but he'd have caused devastating mental trauma for Marino.

Shade stayed in that position sobbing for God knows how long. A voice he'd only heard a few times before called to him as a strong grip shook his shoulders. Looking up, Shade saw a blur of red through the haze created by his crying. "Zero?"

"What's wrong? Marino and X both said they say you behaving strongly and half of the Defenders are searching for you."

"I almost commited such a grave crime that i should be Retired merely for how close i came. I didn't think that the Shadow Drive could be so overpowering."

Zero had seen this sort of thing before, the Shadow Drive was based off of the systems of one of the most well know Mavericks of all time, Vile, formerly of the Maverick Hunters. Vile was strong enough that he would have been an S-Class hunter if there was such a rank back before the Sigma Rebellion; however, he was controlled by his jealousy, rage, and dark urges. Vile had done things so terrible that they'd had to create names for some of the crimes he'd commited. "What happened?"

"I don't wanna die! You'll kill me if you knew!" Shade began shaking Zero's arms

"No, you haven't done anything wrong, you stopped yourself. that proves you aren't Maverick."

Shade considered that for a minute. "It's true," he thought, "I didn't actually rape Marino. those kids saved me... thank God they didn't show up a minute later, for a multitude of reasons." Shade took a moment to compose himself, "Marino and I were sparring, and I'd broken open her chest armor. after the match, she took it off and pulled at the rip in her body suit so she could check herself for damage. My mind began to wander when i saw the skin beneath it, and then the Shadow Drive started to take over. if the tour hadn't come by when it did..."

"Shadow Drives are an incredible strain on the mind. they have turned the best of us into disgusting beasts of instinct. but you were still able to break away from it, you may become the exception to the rule."

"I don't think it's possible. I broke away because of a coincidence." Shade shook his head and began to think it might be better if he was Retired here and now.

"Well, just try to avoid those situations from now on." Zero stood Shade up. "I think you'll turn out fine."

"Zero..."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I don't think I ever got to thank you for Tiberius. You saved me from Colonel."

"I didn't realized it was you until i saw this body." Zero hung his head, "I also never got to apologized for not making it in time to save your squad."

A strong pulse came from the Shadow Drive, "that's right, Zero took to long..." the Darkness spoke to him, "Junia died because of him." The urge to fight Zero to the death was powerful, but it was something that Shade could fight.

"Let's go back down to the others. they're worried about you, especially Cinnamon."

"Cinnamon?" a warm feeling washed over Shade when he thought about the blonde girl's smile. He felt kinda bad to make her worry, but the fact that she was the most concerned made him happy in a strange way.

"Yeah, let's go."

"okay," Shade finally felt almost like himself once again, but this time he wouldn't drop his guard to the Shadow Drive. He'd lost to it once, and he wouldn't lose again if he could help it.

Most of the officers were in the command room, reporting to Massimo that their Units had all returned to base and were continuing their normal duties. when the door hissed open they all turned and looked at Shade. "sorry for all the trouble," he said hanging his head apologetically. "I wasn't myself."

"We understand that," Steel Massimo said in a reassuring voice. "from what we gather, it seems you were experiencing the first spike from your new Shadow Drive."

Shade tried to look at Marino to apologize, but still felt to ashamed to look at her face. "yeah, it was far stronger than i thought it could be."

"I warned you about it Shade," Professor Gaudile added

"That's enough Professor!" Cinnamon scolded. "I'm sure he's yelled a himself enough today. he doesn't need us to add to it."

Shade felt a slight flutter hearing Cinnamon stick up for him. He already felt a slight attraction to the sweet girl, and now she'd drawn a line in the sand. Women that had no resevations when they felt something strongly were extremely attractive to him, as long as it wasn't about 'nothing issues'. His own feelings drowned out the slight pulsing from the Shadow Drive.

"I agree," Zero seconded Cinnamon's opinion, and the Professor stayed silent, these were two people he wouldn't argue with unless somebody was directly at immediate risk.

"Well, no harm done in the long run." Massimo turned to the primary monitor of the room. "Shade, Marino, Axl. If the three of you could remain, there is a mission I'd like to ask you three to go on."

8

(M-rating)

"So, its just infiltrate and observe?" Shade asked as they stepped off the Transporter pad into the blizzard outside the factory.

"Right, don't engage. NO MATTER WHAT!" Marino said as if she knew what was awaiting them.

"unless you are trapped with no other way out, obviously," Axl felt the need to point out.

"That won't be a problem for me," Marino said as if bragging.

The airlock hissed, causing the three of them to hide. A pair of guards stepped out and looked around. "I think the sensor is busted, nobody is out here."

"the boss said that the transporter was just active, we have to find something to take back or we'll be the next ones he goes after."

the three infiltrators slipped in before the door closed as the guards began scouring the area around the transporter.

"good, you're in." Nana's voice came over their radios.

as the elevator stopped they got out and looked around "Nana, we have a problem," Axl radioed.

"What's wrong?"

"somebody remodled, this factory looks nothing like before. The path split into two."

"Both paths extend pretty far, and there is activity detected in both directions."

Shade found himself wondering why they needed to infiltrate and observe if the Operator had access to such sophisticated gear to be able to see through the thick walls of the factory. "looks like we split up."

"which direction shows more activity, Nana?" Marino asked.

"the door closer to your side of the room."

"I'll go this way then," Shade motioned. He didn't want to get paired with Marino, in case he'd get another spike from his Shadow Drive.

"that might not be a good idea," Axl said, "my specs are higher in infiltration and battle than yours are. You pair up with Marino."

"But..." Shade didn't finish his sentence aloud. "yes sir."

The elevator began its trip upward, the guards were on their way back. "move out guys," Axl told them.

Shade followed Marino as she ran down the hallways, "slow down, i can't keep up with you!" he whispered harshly into the microphone built into his helmet. she slowed down to a walk, and Shade took notice of the swing she had as she walked. her hips moved smoothly back and forth as she stepped. Ba-thump an extremely strong pulse from the Shadow Drive ripped into his mind. "not now," he whispered.

"not now what?" Marino asked as she turned to look at him, continuing her swinging walk.

Movement caught Shade's attention above her, he threw himself forward and tackled her to the ground as an I-beam fell where she would have been had he not interviened. "we aren't alone," he said as he reached for his micro-buster.

Marino scanned the rafters, looking for the one who'd cut the I-beam free. She grabbed Shade and stood them both up, "quick!" she whispered as she threw him into a recess in the wall, holding him to the ground out of sight. he felt the Shadow Drive begin to take over from a combination of the anxiety that they might get caught combined with the warm form pressing against him as Marino tried to hide them. by the time the guards who'd come to investigate the I-beam falling left, murmuring something about "those damn mettaurs," his body had made its decision.

"I think we're in the cle-" Marino's words were cut off as she found herself unable to move anything, almost unable to blink. a hand began gliding shamelessly over her body, undoing her armor whenever it came across any. "Shade!" she thought panicking, "Stop! Please!"

Even though Marino was unable to do anything besides breathe and blink while he held her in place with ShadowPin, her eyes widened with the fear of what was happening. Shade found a deep gratinfication from the ability to inflict such powerful a response from someone, merely by touching them. At this point, he had Marino in nothing but her body suit and helmet, so he switched it from a hand on her shadow to his foot. he reached up and pulled the helmet off with one hand and crushed her hairpin with the other hand.

Marino was petrified as she felt her hair fall free, she knew that this wasn't Shade, it was the Shadow Drive. if she was able to move for even a moment, she was confident that she could smack him hard enough to wake him up. her breathing became very heavy as a hand gently carressed her cheek. Marino cursed herself for being so sensitive to his touch, it was so filled with passion that she began to wonder if he had underlying feelings for her that the Shadow Drive was playing against him.

Shade began removing his armor quickly, anxious to continue his exploration of Marino's body. once he was down to his body suit, he pressed himself against Marino, spreading her legs to make sure he made contact with her most sensitive area. He thoroughly enjoyed that he could move her but she couldn't move herself, he took one of her breasts and began massaging it through the fabric, elicting a sharp breath from her mouth. He was going to play a little more before removing their final pieces of clothing and taking Marino entirely. Shade sighed as he ran a hand through her soft, green hair... Shade paused, "green?..." the voice of his real mind said weakly, "no, i don't want green..."

"yes, you do..." the otherworldly voice of the Shadow Drive reasoned with him. "you want anything, it all gives you pleasure..."

Shade's mind began gaining ground, enough that his body froze and the internal conflict became vocal with a pained expression on his face. "no, i don't want sex. I want to put a permanent smile on her face."

Marino thought he was talking about her until the a darker voice came out of Shade's mouth, "any woman will do, they all feel the same once you are inside them. the fact that this one isn't that pretty little Cinnamon you fancy shouldn't matter."

"It does matter! Marino is my friend," Shade argued as if the girl wasn't pinned beneath him. tears began escaping from his eyes, "she'll never forgive me already, I can't allow this to go further."

"then stop me if you can."

As soon as the dark voice issued its challenge, Shade clutched his head and began thrashing around. he stood from Marino as the thrashing intensified, she curled in a ball as a response to her fear. After a minute of stumbling around, Shade threw himself head-first into the wall. he slid down to his knees and stayed there

"Shade!" Marino crawled over to the motionless form. this time her guard was up, but she was concerned about her friend, despite the fact that he'd essentially just raped her. she pulled him away from the wall and held him in her arms. A stream of dark red coolant leaked from somewhere above his hair, trickling down his forehead. the way it passed the corner of his eye, it looked like tears of blood. "Shade! talk to me!"

Shade's eyes shot open, and darted around until they rested on Marino. Tears began streaming from his eyes and he tried to get away from her.

Marino let him go, shocked by the intensity of his struggling. "Shade, are you alright?"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" he screamed as he crawled away frantically, "I DON'T WANNA FINISH WHAT I JUST STARTED!"

"Shade! be quiet!" Marino whispered harshly.

Shade curled up into a ball and began rocking back and forth, "Marino, I'm so sorry!" he wailed. he was in such an emotional state that they were inside an enemy base didn't even register in his mind.

Marino swore and began throwing on her armor hastily. she popped her helmet over her head, "Nana come in!"

"Marino! thank God!" the Operator's voice came through the line. "We haven't been able to raise you or Shade for almost ten minutes! What happened?"

"we don't have time for that!" Marino hit Shade hard enough to knock him out and quickly put his armor on him, "we need an emergency tranmission, get Shade to the Medical Lab." She slapped an ET-beacon on his chest, "restraints and tranqs suggested."

"dear God... Roger... Transmitting... get outta there quick, they know you're there now."

Shade glowed slightly before dissapearing in a flash. Marino shook off the last remaining effects of her fear, and felt the remnants of her arousal which had been masked by that fear. she sniffed herself and smelled the distinct smell of the lubricants that a reploids body used to reduce friction at their joints, however, it served the additional purpose of lubricating the woman during sex. "Marino," she said with self-disgust, "you're such a whore. you enjoyed being controlled like that." She shuddered excitedly as she replayed the event in her head, "you fucking slut."

"Marino!" Axl ran up to meet her, "Thank God you're alright!" Without thinking, he wrapped her in his arms

"Axl!" Marino stiffened at his touch, mostly because she was afraid he'd notice the smell being that close.

"sorry," he let her go and stepped back. "I was just so worried, we gotta get going. Shade's Trans-out has the whole place coming after us."

9

Massimo had gotten the story from Marino, and through him, X found out. but it was agreed that beyond the three of them, nobody else would know. "He did stop completely by himself, correct?" X confirmed it with Marino.

"yes," she shifted uneasily, "but he could have easily..." she trailed of and allowed the two men to fill in the rest for themselves.

X looked at Shade's motionless form on the bed, held down by two grade-A Titanium bars. "This one is so close to Maverick that part of me says that it would be safer to completely disarm him for his own safety as much as ours."

"You can't!" Marino blurted out.

Massimo and X stared at Marino with shock on their faces, did the woman just defend the case of her attempted rapist? "Marino," Steel Massimo's voice was dripping with the uncertainty of the entire situation, "you of all people should understand just how dangerous Shade can be."

"I hate to admit it," X said, thinking stratigically, "but if he DOES end up going Maverick, he could quite possibly defeat me. those shadow manipulation abilities of his are far too strong. If he was able to hold you for so long without much appearent effort, I am afraid of what he's truly capable of."

Marino wouldn't admit it, but she hadn't really struggled after the first piece of her armor had been removed.

"Marino..." Shade was slowly coming to, he was crying before he even knew where he was. "Marino..." he moved to sit up, but found himself restrained. his face changed from sorrowful regret to grim understanding. "who's here?"

X motioned for Marino to be quiet. "Massimo and I are here, we've been waiting to hear from you what happened."

"Re-retire me."

"What?" X asked, taken aback to hear that from this particular reploid. The Shade Kraven who he'd met back when he saved the 42nd-Unit from Web Spider deep in the Amazon Jungle was a vibrant and caring person. He'd understood in part how somebody would turn to drug abuse after losing everyone you'd come to love as friend, family and lover in the span of three minutes; but to ask to have your life ended was completely different.

"I'm a danger, hell my actions are bad enough to call Maverick. Isn't it our job to make sure people like me can't hurt people like Marino. protect them from being raped by their friends?"

"Shade," Massimo stated, "Marino has told us everything that happened. we know that you didn't do it of your own accord."

Shade finally opened his eyes, "how does she know that."

"you were arguing with yourself about whether you were going to stop or to finish what you started," Marino informed him

Shade's pale skin got even paler as he craned his neck to look at her. "Marino..." he said barely above a whisper, "I..." the tears began pouring out again, "I...I!"

Marino put her hand on his forehead, trying to tell him that she'd forgiven him through the contact.

"Shade," X returned them to the previous conversation, "you are a very unique case. I am open to suggestions as to how we could solve your... problem."

the door hissed open and Cinnamon walked i to check on a reploid in the other bed. Shade looked over, he'd realized that he had feelings for her during the incident with Marino, but he felt the need to stay away from her. He'd rip out his own core if he'd do anything to Cinnamon. She looked up and gave a nervous smile, trying to make him feel better about his situation before she left the room. Shade closed his eyes and sighed as he turned towards the cieling. "If i could better predict the Shadow Drive, It wouldn't be as big a problem." Shade stated the obvious.

"Emotions are an extremely unpredictable thing at times."

"I know, Marino was trying to protect me by pressing me against the ground, but the contact and proximity between us caused a spark in a room of compressed oxygen."

"Maybe..." Marino shook her head as if dismissing a stupid idea.

"What?" Massimo asked, "any idea may lead to the answer."

"Well..." Marino was trying to find a way to put her thoughts into words. "If we could simulate situations that would peak his Id, maybe..."

"we could train him to fight the Shadow Drive," X finished the thought. "Its a good idea, but how could we do it?"

Nobody had heard the door open when the Professor walked in. "Perhaps i could make a simulator and bypass Shade's reality logic, He wouldn't know the difference."

"but..." Shade felt nervous about the solution, "if I'd do something terrible in the simulations, I wouldn't know the difference..."

"It'd be much better than the alternative."

"ok, I'll do it."

10

(M-rated, just to be safe)

Nana laid at Shade's feet, coolant trickling from her mouth. Shade grabbed her by the collar, he lifted her to look into her barely concious eyes. he grabbed the Stim in her hand, "I just broke this habit." he spun it in his palm and pressed the injector tip against Nana's neck causing a pneumatic system to force the chemicals into her systems, her eyes flew open and she was suddenly very aware of the pain that had almost knocked her out before. "why would you be offering me something like this?" he asked as she began to struggle against his grip.

"You've been really depressed lately. I thought one would be fine." Nana tried to say as calmy as she could, she turned her head to the side and spit the dark red liquid from her mouth.

"I've been depressed because of the things that have happened to me BECAUSE of these!" Shade threw her to the ground and kicked her in the chest again, feeling her chest frame bend.

As Nana screamed and began to spark as her core overloaded, the simulation faded.

Once Shade's mind replayed what he 'had just done' he fell to the ground and vomited the food that the nanites in his body hadn't broken down into the chemicals used in the production of the chemicals that kept his body in working order. as he watched the bile disappear in a hole that opened in the floor, he cursed, "damn it! i lost control again!"

He'd lasted longer in the 'day' than he usually did this time: he'd staved off depression that seeing Marino cry when they made eye-contact and shrink away from his touch, he'd been able to control his urge to take Cinnamon when she'd bent over to pick up the papers she'd dropped and he'd seen the pink beneath her skirt, he'd kept from stabbing Axl when the Hunter confronted him about his raping Marino, even when Axl pulled one of his guns on him, he'd merely held Axl down until Zero showed up to calm the orange-haired Hunter down. the few trouble spots he'd had were when a recruit asked him for help to zip up her body suit after she replaced the one he'd accidentally damaged during his training her, he'd torn it off and had his way with the blue-haired beauty twice before passing that part; Massimo talking to him about dismissal if he'd have another incident had given him a suicidal depression the first time; and now his trouble was when he'd nearly reached the end of the day, Nana would approach him and begin talking about how she'd noticed his downward spiral and offering him a Stim as a pick-me-up. He'd beaten her to critical-state three times now, and simply severed the control circuits in her neck the other time. "Why can't i get past this part!"

"I there are three reasons, i think," Professor Gaudile's voice came over the speaker, "maybe two depending on how you look at it."

"Professor! I thought you weren't watching this! nobody is supposed to see this.

"I wasn't, but I know what part you're stuck on just looking at your read-outs. The Stims with Nana, right?"

"yeah, well, let's hear it."

"First is the one you must have figured out, the memories of the Stims and withdrawl."

"yeah, but i can't figure out any others."

"the second is just a guess from looking at the spike in your subconcious sub-routines. You don't like the idea of Nana as a Stimmer."

"Maybe, she's definately on the list of people that would be most wasted on Stims."

"the third ties in with that. When you think of Nana, where does your mind instantly wonder to?"

"how do you know about Junia?"

"X gave me your file in the hopes that i could create a situation from something I'd find within. When i saw the pictures of your old squadmates, I knew that Nana was going to be your hurdle."

"Your daughter is killing me every time as well," Shade was eager to change the subject now that he had the image of beating Junia to death in his mind. he felt like he was going to vomit the nanites this time.

the sound of paper rustling came over the speakers. "wow."

"what?"

"Almost every single system in your mind goes active at one point or another while Cinnamon is present. How can you possibly hold back?"

"Well, I really like her. I'd do anything to keep a smile on her face."

"Ooooh!" sounding like she just swooned, the girl's voice came over the speaker, "you really like me? I mean LIKE like?"

"Cinnamon! you weren't supposed to hear that! I..." a tiny pulse from the Shadow Drive came from his anger at having said it so openly and having the chance to reveal his feelings in some romantic way being dashed. "I wanted to tell you in some way that would be really special."

"Just knowing that your feelings are enough to keep you from doing something bad IS really special, Shade!"

Shade felt his core heat slightly as it began to create a little excess heat, causing his cheeks to redden; in other words, he blushed. "I... guess it is..."

"Are you ready to try again?"

"Professor?" He felt kinda old-fashioned, but knew the platypus would appreciate it.

"Yes Shade?"

"I'd like to ask your for permission to take Cinnamon on a date if she'd like it."

The girl squeaked happily.

"Under one condition..."

"And that is?"

"Don't fail this time."

"But i won't have any of this in my mind during the simulation."

"exactly, you must prove to me that you can truly defeat the Shadow Drive before I'll trust you with my daughter."

"I'll gladly accept your challenge," Shade said as he laid back down on the bed along the wall. In his mind he added, "I'll never lose if Cinnamon is involved."

11

"Shade come look at these!" Cinnamon waved him over to the jewelery stand and held a pair of silver dangles up to her ears.

"those look nice on you," Shade smiled, "the sapphires really complement your eyes."

Cinnamon sighed slightly as she set them back down, Cinnamon would love to have them but the price tag was way too high, she couldn't possibly ask Shade to get them, espescially on a first date.

Shade motioned to the shopkeeper that he'd take them, but it would have to be kept secret from his date. he dropped a bill onto the counter as they left the stand, and motioned he'd be back as Cinnamon ran to the next stand in the market. "Anything cool here?" he asked as he walked up behind Cinnamon and looked over her shoulder. he got a nose-full of the bright-eyed girl's scent, she smelled vaugely of roses. "Are you wearing parfume?"

Cinnamon blushed brightly, she'd been found out. "I was hoping you'd notice in a more personal setting, like over dinner or something."

he sniffed her on purpose this time, it awoke a distant memory of Doctor Harris' hobby, gardening. "I like it," he pressed his nose against her hair and smelled the shampoo she used.

"Shade," Cinnamon shuddered as his contact excited her. This was the first personal experience the innocent girl had ever had with a boy.

A strong pulse from the Shadow Drive pulled Shade away from Cinnamon, "sorry! i got a little caught up there!" He turned towards the counter of the weapons shop.

Cinnamon let out a heavy breath, while part of her had been scared, she wanted Shade to get that close again. Her core was currently in a higher gear than it should have been, and she liked the heat it provided.

"Can i see that one?" Shade pointed at one of the shotgun-style micro-busters.

"may i see your license sir?"

Shade forgot he wasn't wearing his armor which had his licensing on it, he pulled his GigaCity Defender ID from the back pocket of his body suit.

"thank you." the shopkeeper pulled the weapon from the case, "you have a good eye, this is the latest model from Turbine."

"All of my micros have been from Turbine," Shade smiled as he weighed the gun. "you must be new here."

"yes sir," she smiled, "I only recently moved here."

"Where from?" Shade began to disassemble the weapon.

"Um, Sir?" the woman behind the counter began shifting uneasily. "What are you doing?"

The gun was made from only twenty pieces, highly unusual for a plasma weapon, "this thing would be a snap to maintain," Shade smiled, "my micro is like sixty pieces, its a real pain to clean and repair." He began reassembling the weapon. Cinnamon watched amazed at the speed Shade used.

the shopkeeper was embarrassed, her customer was far more knowledgable in regards to her products than she was.

Shade swung the weapon from various places he might keep it, he liked the feel of the swung from his left shoulder, he tapped the trigger and looked over at the shopkeeper, "may i?"

the woman nodded and glanced at Cinnamon, "can I help you, Miss?"

"no, I'm with him. thanks."

Shade held the weapon as if it was slung on his shoulder, he did a quick-draw and fired out and away from the city, watching the bolt of plasma fly. he let out a small whistle, "this thing has some real punch."

"yeah!" Cinnamon was also impressed by the weapon's power. "it has enough power to compare to a stab from Massimo's lance!"

"How many shots does it get before overheating?"

"four to overheat, six to critical." The Shopkeeper finally got to say something.

"its a 4-6 with that kinda power! i expected a 2-3! Turbine must have improved their thermal dispersion... charge time?"

"two-point-seven."

"DAMN! this gun is a D.E.M.!"

"D.E.M.?" Cinnamon cocked her head.

"Deus Ex Machina." The shopkeeper explained since Shade had drifted into his own little world, "it means 'God from Machine', he's saying that anyone with one of these could control a battlefield."

"I'd like to price it with a trade-in," Shade produced his pistol from the belt he wore even without his armor.

the woman sighed and hit a button on the counter, "the manager will be out shortly."

"Mr. Kraven! great to see you again!" a jovial man came out from the door at the back of the shop.

"Hello Trigger, I'd like to upgrade."

"Excellent! let me take a look at your micro..."

after five minutes of intense haggling, the price was decided at nearly half the original price. "so, shall I have it sent to the usual address?"

"Actually Trigger, you can send it up there." Shade pointed to the top of Central Tower, "I'm a Defender now!"

"Nice!" he glanced at Cinnamon and began speaking cryptically, "Kora hasn't talked to you in a while. did you change numbers?"

"Nope, I kicked 'em"

"You kicked them! but you were still buying a pack a week last month!"

Shade wrapped his arm around Cinnamon's waist and pulled her to him, "when you've got good people willing to help you, anything is possible."

12

(M-rated)

"Hey Cinn," Shade said as they rode the air bus back up to Central Tower.

"Hm?" the bright blue eyes looked up from the girl clinging to his arm

"did you have fun?"

Cinnamon didn't answer, she merely giggled softly and cuddled against him.

That answer took the edge off the pain of having spent a quarter of his savings in a single day, even if half of that was to upgrade his arsenal.

they felt the bus come to a stop and and door opened.

Zero walked in and smiled when he saw them getting up and preparing to leave. "did you enjoy yourselves?"

"Yeah," Shade smiled back, "Where are you headed?"

"I'm gonna take a walk around the city before we leave in the morning."

"You're leaving already?" Cinnamon asked sad that her friends would be leaving soon.

"yeah, the world can't defend itself."

"just give us a call if you ever need help," Shade offered as the door began to close. Zero nodding was the response he got.

they walked into the control room and reported to Nana since Massimo was out patrolling. "Spend your evening as you wish," she said without looking up from her keyboard. "the shops sent your packages to your rooms. I'll see you in the morning."

they walked together to Shade's room. "Thank you for accepting my invitaion, I'm really happy we could spend our day off together."

Cinnamon hesitated for a second, but then she stepped forward and pressed her lips against Shade's.

Both Shade's core and the Shadow Drive shot up their output, but he easily kept control of himself as he wrapped his arms around Cinnamon's waist and pulled the girl against his body. the fact that less than a centimeter of fabric was all that separated him from what his body wanted was not lost on the Shadow Drive, as its pulsing became a roaring thunder. Shade kept in control the whole time, he would not allow himself to harm Cinnamon. He did however, grow bold enough to slide his tongue against Cinnamon's lips.

Cinnamon hadn't expected this, but her instincts told her to open her lips. she was rewarded by Shade's soft warm tongue brushing against her own. she released a soft moan.

The moan pushed the Shadow Drive to the point where Shade was finally starting to doubt his ability to control it for much longer. he pulled their mouths apart and gently stroked her hair, "I think... that for the first time in so long i can say this to somebody... i think i love you Cinn."

The girl gasped and couldn't find the words to respond, she pulled Shade close to her and when she released him, she was beaming.

Shade smiled, "Good night Cinn." He stepped through his door and leaned against the wall once it closed, trying to control himself before he opened the door again and threw Cinnamon onto his bed.

Cinnamon felt like singing as she walked dreamily to her room, she'd just experienced her first date, her first kiss, and is now feeling her first love. she heard a moan coming from behind some of the storage crates in one of the community areas. she quietly went to investigate, and her cheeks reddened when she peeked around the corner.

Axl and Marino were kissing intensely, hands carressing the other's chest. their helmets and most of their armor lying on the ground at their feet. Axl moved his lips from Marino's down to her neck as his hands moved to the zipper on the back of her body suit, "Axl!" Marino gasped as he bit playfully. the woman's body was now exposed from the waist-up, and Axl's mouth moved down to one of her breasts. Marino bit her lip and grabbed a handful of the orange hair.

Cinnamon felt a strange tingling feeling, and her clothing suddenly felt coarse. she shifted silently, not wanting to miss this, the Professor had never put any programs or files about this in her systems.

Marino's free hand moved from its place on the wall as she undid her hairpin and shook loose her hair, Cinnamon gasped when she realized just how beautiful her friend actually was. the sound was caught by the thief's sensitive ears, Marino's head snapped and her sharp eyes caught sight of the girl trying to hide herself as she watched curiously. She motioned slightly for Cinnamon to leave, trying not to make a big deal out of being discovered. Cinnamon knew that she'd been caught and Marino wanted privacy, so she got up and left quietly, she'd talk to the slightly older woman tomorrow.

Cinnamon was happy when her door closed behind her. she took off the clothes that had become oddly prickley, before looking at the small package on her bed. she opened it to find the earrings she'd pointed out to Shade earlier. she sighed out Shade's name before lying down on her bed.

As Cinnamon laid naked on her bed, the image of Axl and Marino played through her head. "It looked like they were having fun," she knew that it was more than just playing, but she didn't quite know the social implications of what she'd witnessed. "Marino was really enjoying it." Cinnamon looked at her breasts, the look on Marino's face had suggested it felt incredible when Axl played with hers.

She began to rub her left nipple experimentally with her pointer finger. it tickled, but not like when somebody played with your sides, this wasn't something she wanted to stop. she began to use her entire hand to massage her breast. She wasn't sure why, but images of Shade kept popping into her head; her instincts told her it would feel even better if he did this. "Shade..." she moaned as she now had a breast in each hand and was massaging them intensely.

Cinnamon felt the area between her legs start to tingle much like the rest of her body had before. as much as she regretted releasing one of her breasts, her female instincts demanded that she investigate. as her right hand slid down the skin of her stomach, Cinnamon spread her legs so she could access the affected area. her eyes closed as she touched her pubic area, the small blonde hairs stood on end and tingled at every contact with her hand. Her fingers slid lower, and she gasped sharply as they touched the soft skin between her legs.

Cinnamon began to rub her folds, breathing heavily as she did. "Shade!" she gasped as her fingers felt almost no resistance because of the lubircants coating her nether lips. She discovered a hole that she'd never really paid any attention to before. she didn't even wait for the instructions from her instincts, she knew this was what she was supposed to find, she inserted her middle finger.

"OH GOD! SHADE!" Cinnamon screamed as her entire body felt ablaze from the things she was doing, she turned over to bury her face in her pillow as she pumped her fingers in and out of her hole. after another minute or so, she felt something new, a building pressure. she intensified her pumping and tried to hold in the pressure as long as she could.

It felt like being plugged into an electrical socket as Cinnamon experienced her first orgasm, screaming Shade's name into her pillow. slowly, the euphoria began to ebb. "what..." the girl panted, "what was that?" she rolled over and hugged herself, "It was incredible!" she suddenly felt tired as her body came down from the clouds.

Cinnamon pulled her pink underwear back on before she cuddled into her pillow, cooing Shade's name one last time before fading off to sleep.

13

(?M?-Rated, it's Marino giving Cinnamon 'The Talk'. i just gave it the rating to be safe)

"Hey Cinnamon," Marino found the girl in one of the common rooms before their shifts started, "can we talk?"

Cinnamon was pretty sure she knew what the woman wanted to talk about, "sure."

"C'mon, lets talk somewhere else." Marino lead the blonde into one of the off-shooting corridors.

"I'm sorry," Cinnamon apologized, getting the vibe that what she'd witnessed the previous night was something she shouldn't have stayed to watch.

Marino sighed, Professor Gaudile had be quite reserved in the young reploid's programming, probably in the hopes of keeping the sweet little girl he'd created as she was forever. The thief knew this, she'd seen a few instances of similar taboo behavior because, quite simply, Cinnamon didn't know better. "It's alright, kiddo. Do you know what you were watching?"

Cinnamon shook her head.

Marino had been afraid of that, she also got the feeling that if she'd tell the Professor to give his daughter 'The Talk', that he'd push off the responsibilty, convinced that because Cinnamon had no file-references of sex, that she'd never be exposed. But the thief knew better, Cinnamon was dating Shade now according to the rumor mill; and even though Shade was likely to be extremely reserved sexually in order to styme the Shadow Drive's control, he'd had sexual experiences before, likely with Junia as well as the incident with Marino. "how do I end up being the one to have to do this?" she complained aloud.

"Do what?" Cinnamon was somewhat nervous, she wasn't sure where this was going.

"I can do this in one of two ways, we can do a direct file transfer, or we can actually talk about it... I'd kinda prefer to talk, I've been off the beaten path and you don't need to know about that stuff yet."

"I still don't get it, but if you'd rather talk, that's fine."

"well..." Marino had to think back to when Dr Rose, her own creator had given her 'The Talk'. As a human, Dr Rose had used interesting and quite effective emotional and physical references in order to communicate the physical, emotional and social effects of sex. she was amazed at how awkward she felt, especially since she almost never felt such emotions as anxiety and such, her thievery had trained them out of her. "When two people fall in love, things such as kissing and hugging are actually quite basic shows of affection."

"Really?" Cinnamon's mind had thought that she communicated in the most effective manner her emotions to Shade. "i thought a kiss was something really special."

"Don't get me wrong," Marino responded, "a kiss IS a strong expression of love, and it probably is the purest as well. from somebody like you, Shade would understand how deeply you felt in order to kiss him."

"so why is it so basic then?"

"Basic might have been a poor choice of words... how about early? since they are used in the blossoming relationships as the main show of love."

"...okay..."

"moving on. Sometimes moments of passion arouse the need for more stimulating actions, Such as sucking on sensitive areas like a neck or an ear."

"I saw Axl do that to you, it looked like he bit too."

Marino felt red begin to tint her cheeks, "yes, you saw things moving beyond that too."

"beyond a simple suck, there is a bite, but you never bite hard, and you don't usually want to bite the extremely sensitive areas." Marino saw a flicker of knowing in Cinnamon's eyes. "have you ever... experimented? it looks like you might understand the extremely sensitive spots."

Cinnamon's core released a patch of excess heat enough that she thought her whole face changed color.

"I see... was it mine and Axl's fault?"

Cinnamon opened her mouth to speak, not wanting Marino to feel like it was her fault, but nothing came out.

"don't be ashamed," Marino pulled off the nurse cap that Cinnamon wore and toussled the blonde hair. "I'm not gonna lie, it does feel incredible. BUT, that doesn't mean you should start playing with yourself in public."

Cinnamon nodded, still embarrassed that she'd been busted for getting turned on by watching her friends.

"that does make it a little easier. What you saw has to do with this next bit." Marino felt her cheeks burn, "your such a child," she scolded herself. she continued speaking, "those places, as i'm sure you noticed create ALOT of stimulation, clothed or not, you shouldn't let someone touch you there unless you are in a serious relationship."

That was a term that Cinnamon had heard before and understood. "but," Cinnamon had found a hole in Marino's logic, "you and Axl haven't been in a relationship that any of us knew about until i saw you last night."

"you haven't told anybody, have you?"

"no, I got the feeling it wasn't my place to talk about."

"I'm an exception to the rule, but not in a good way... I've always kinda been a lush."

"a what?"

"never mind, just don't be like i did and start finding cute guys to experiment with about this stuff. And I'd suggest not going after Shade about this either for a while."

"Why, what if we both feel like it's time?"

"He still hasn't completely mastered the Shadow Drive, I saw the read-outs from the simulations along with you and the others at the officers' meeting about it. He might lose control, you know he'd NEVER forgive himself if he hurt you."

Cinnamon went quiet as she imagined Shade's reactions if he ever would hurt her, even by accident. "How will i know when?"

"just take it slow, I'm sure Shade will be able to restrain himself until he felt it would be safe to move to the next step."

Cinnamon wanted to be done with this part of the conversation, "Axl sucked on your breast, he didn't just touch it."

"there are MANY things you can do to stimulate your lover, you can use your hand, fingers, mouth, pretty much anything. but what may be the ultimate statement of love... is the first time you have sex together."

"sex?" she'd only ever heard the word to refer to gender before.

"its short for sexual intercourse."

Cinnamon deconstructed the word in her mind, "a close relation of both genders?"

"that's what the WORDS mean, not what the term means... do you know the differences between men and women, physically i mean?"

"women have breasts, men don't."

Marino's mind tweaked, "You gotta be kidding Professor!" she screamed silently, "you didn't even give your girl anatomy 101 and yet put her in charge of the Relief Unit!" She turned back to Cinnamon, "well, i'll give you a fifty percent on that one." Marino pointed at Cinnamon's crotch, "the other main difference is down there. we're built completely different. We women are built like you probably discovered at one time or another. Men, like Axl, Shade, Massimo, all of them, they don't have vaginas, and where we are flat, they have a penis."

Cinnamon knew she'd heard that word before, she KNEW she'd heard it refered to by other terms in jokes and references among the men of the Defenders, but until now, she hadn't been able to make heads or tails of the terms. "I think i know about that," Cinnamon said, "at least i've heard of it."

"ok, well, sexual intercourse is when you directly stimulate each other."

"what do you mean? like rubbing our pubic areas togeher?"

"close, I actually mean, the man inserts his penis into your vagina."

Cinnamon remembered vividly how it felt when she slid her finger into herself. she blinked slowly, as a shudder of the feeling passed through her.

Marino saw the thought in the girls mind, she'd made that expression before too, "it's bigger than a finger."

Cinnamon didn't realize it, but her eyes glittered when she asked, "how big?"

"it differs from man to man, but the thumb is usually a decent point of reference; its a the length from the tip of his thumb to the base of his wrist, and about as thick as one and a half of his thumbs-width."

Cinnamon felt her clothes getting prickly again as she began to imagine something that size inside her.

"cold water, kiddo."

"huh?"

"you're getting so worked up that they can probably hear you breathing in the next room. go to the washroom and splash cold water on yourself until you get back to normal." Marino turned back towards the door of the commons room, but then stopped and looked back over her shoulder at the young blonde, "remember Cinnamon, don't just go jump Shade. and don't you dare try sleeping around, you'll break his heart... and if that happens, we'll probably all die."

14

"And so!" Massimo stood on the raised platform in the assembly area. Cinnamon, Marino, Nana, X, Zero and Axl stood behind him at attention; even though all three Hunters outranked Steel Massimo, the Defenders belonged to him ever since Chief R had died during Redips's betrayal, and this was a promotion within the Defenders. "In light of his recent struggles to better himself, his high combat ability, as well as his abilities outside of the battlefield, I am proud to give the rank of Captain of the Tracking Unit to Shade Kraven!"

Shade had debated this promotion for nearly an hour and a half before the ceremony because he still hated himself for what he did to Marino and didn't think he deserved the command of an entire Unit. Massimo had won the arguement quite decisively because he had the support of both X and Zero, they both remembered Shade's contributions to the Hunter's during the Repliforce Conflict as well as having witnessed the effort Shade recently put forth to prevent himself from hurting anybody else. they had convinced him to take the Tracking Unit as opposed to the Assault Unit which would have allowed Massimo to take up a more permanent posting in the Central Tower. The Tracking Unit would allow him to help people by investigating the scene after an incident, determining the cause, and persuing those responsible; it would allow him to use everything at his disposal, his wit, his blade, and his relentlessness.

Shade stepped up onto the platform and saluted Massimo. the large green reploid pressed a small square against Shade's shoulder, and when he pulled it away, the emblem of the Defenders, a red shield with two black lances across it, with the sunburst symbol of the Tracking Unit emblazoned over it, was imprinted into the plating of Shade's chestplate. Massimo returned the salute, "let your colluges congratulate you."

Shade moved over to the officers and Hunters behind Massimo and shook hands with each of them in turn, Nana, Cinnamon, he hesitated at Marino. She grabbed his hand and shook it, "I already told you, it's okay." Shade offered a weak smile before moving to Axl, then Zero, and finally X. as he shook X's hand, he heard the beeping of X's radio. X quickly broke the handshake and brought his hand to his helmet, "X here, go ahead Alia... Dynamo?!?... Transmit me now!"

Axl and Zero each got calls from Pallette and Layer and needed emergency transmissions. As the Defenders sat there stunned, the lights cut, only to be replaced by the red glow of the emergency lights and the blaring of the incursion alarm.

All of the officers switched their radios to Unit transmission and command access as Nana ran out of the room with Massimo in tail. Nana switched to PA mode as she read off the PDA which was linked to her Operations Panel, "Major Breach in all sectors! Incoming information varies, but they appear to be in Unit Formations, hold, image being reciev- Repliforce? how is that possible?"

Shade had experience with the Repliforce's tactics, he turned to Marino, "Have your Unit cover the helipad access, I'm taking the Tracking Unit down the tower! We're about to get hammered!"

Shade ran for the exit that lead to the bottom of the tower, pulling his Micro-buster from his shoulder and activating it, while radioing his Unit to prepare for a siege defense. He swore to himself when he realized that fourteen out of the seventeen at his command were built to be lab techs and were only armed with handgun micro-busters, Repliforce usually sent their heavies in first. heavy footsteps further down the downward spiraling hallway confirmed his fear. he flipped down his visor, just to get the readouts to learn the names of his sub-ordinates, "Hammer! Viper! Fang!" he called to the three battle-types under his command, "send yout Load-out reports over my freq!"

"Capt. Kraven!" one of the men called

"yeah?"

"my motion detectors are picking up Microloids in the walls!"

"Microloids?" Shade knew they were small bug sized mechaniloids, more often than not bombs made to sabotage the physical systems of the enemy. Repliforce had other uses though, "NANA! Priority one!"

"i read you Kraven" she answered.

"we have Microliods in the walls, these guys use them to insert RepliCybers into computers!"

"RepliCybers! Shit!" Nana knew that RepliCybers were the computer virus version of a reploid, the most famous among them being Cyber Peacock and Snipe Anteater. she pulled on a helmet and her body went still as she fuzed with the building's systems, ready to wage her own war.

"INCOMING!"

the yell ripped Shade back to reality as a brown and gold reploid came streaking around the corner, activating energy blades on it's wrists. It stopped long enough to stab one of Shade's squadmen and then turn to face the captain. "Not possible!" Shade gaped as he blocked a high-speed attack and recognized his assailant as Slash Beast. "You're dead."

"none can stop Repliforce!" Beast snarled as he closed his claws around the micro-buster and crushed it as Shade reached for Junia's beam saber.

Shade kicked upwards and knocked Slash Beast back a few feet. "hold them here!" he ordered as he tried to force his opponent away from his Unit. Shade refused to lose anyone else.

"Master Shinigami will reign over this world!" Beast roared as he began to press the attack, using kicks, slashes and dashes.

Shade wasn't fast enough to keep up in the open area he'd been led to. blow after blow narrowly missed his vital systems and he found his status meter at 40% after only a few seconds. He needed an advantage, and he needed it now. as his head kept whipping around to try and keep track of the lionesque reploid, he noticed that the only light was coming from the emergency lights, "Nana!"

"what?" she sounded preoccupied as an explosion came through the radio, followed by Nana yelling, "you feathered freak!"

"I need you to kill the E-lights on the third floor!"

"but-"

"just do it! I'm about to die if you don't!" as if enforcing his point, he yelled in pain, "AH! Son of a bitch!"

Shade grinned slighty as the lights faded, after all, the darkness indoors was a shadow, the entire room just became his world. he deactivated the beam saber and Slash Beast found himself alone in a dark room. He growled, "I'm the king of beasts you fool! I can see in the dark!"

"that may be," Shade's voice came from everywhere at once, "but I am the God of Darkness." he began to gather the shadows and activated his saber, unafraid of the light giving him away.

Slash heard the saber activate, "THERE YOU ARE!" he howled as he charged straight for Shade, preparing the killing blow.

"sorry, but you've lost." Shade used his ShadowSlash as Slash Beast was just out of arm's length, hitting him with both the blade and the shadows coming off of it.

"that's not... possi...ble..." the wound began to glow and his body began to spark.

Shade turned back to the door that lead to his Unit and walked away, not turning back as the Repliforce captain went critical and exploded. "Tracking Unit," he radioed, "enemy down. SitRep?"

15

Marino's Infiltration Unit was getting reamed, the Repliforce had brought a sizable battle airship with them, and had started by eliminating the limited air defenses that Central Tower had. the battle had barely begun, but Marino was already thinking about using Quicksilver. another wave of jump-troopers landed on the helipad, "Fuck this!" Marino screamed as she turned to face the next wave as they leveled busters in the direction of her and her unit, "Quicksil-"

"GLINT ARMOR!" Massimo leapt in fron to the Defenders on the helipad and absorbed the hits as if they hadn't even been fired. he pulled his lance off his back and ran straight at the soldiers threatening to take his underlings. they fell before him as easily as a mettaur that got flipped upside-down. "Marino! you're gonna take that thing down!" he said as he offered an arm.

Marino got the message ane climbed onto his arm.

"GOING UP!" massimo yelled as he heaved the woman upwards towards the battle airship.

Another wave of jump-troopers jumped over the edge as she approached. Marino cut their parachutes as she passed them, and landed gracefully on the main deck of the ship. "hello boys."

what seemed to be the last of the jump-troopers turned to face her and were cut down before they could fire. Marino stood straight and smiled as she turned towards the hatch that would take her inside, where she could cause the real damage.

"It seems that the mass-produced battle reploids truely are inneffective."

Marino's eyes snapped upwards and she leapt out of the path of two swirling cyclones.

"I, Storm Owl, shall show you where the REAL power of the Repliforce lies!" he landed and gave a heavy stepping salute to the Repliforce flag on the command tower

"Is it in their inflated egos?"

"No, Lord Shinigami revived us because we are the ones to make his ideal and our own a reality."

"And what is that?"

"a world where Reploids are free to do as they please. not to be governed by the laws and desires of the inferior mankind. you are quite strong, would you consider joining our cause?"

"If you fight for reploids, then why did you attack an all-reploid city?"

"those who fight for humans need to learn the folly of their ways."

"we fight for innocents, reploid and human alike."

"exactly... now, give up your foolish quest and join the side of rightousness."

Marino knew that there were no more words to be said, this bird was a few eggs short of a full nest. she took her fighting stance, knowing that the flight capabilities of this Storm Owl would cause her alot of problems.

he sighed before flaring his wings, "so be it, you're just like that fool X."

"X grounded you," Marino dashed in as she attacked, "I'll clip your wings!"

Her attack hit noting but air as Owl had leapt into the air, he lifted Marino off the ground with a tornado that threw her toward the edge of the ship. Marino threw out her hand and caught the railing, feeling her grip beginning to slip. the wind faded right before she was blown away, Marino flipped over the railing as two tornados filled with debris came ripping towards her. " Quicksilver!"

Owl lost sight of the woman as her outfit changed colors. "What!" he began looking around frantically, he only won fights if he could keep his opponents in his sights. "RAAAAAAAH!" Storm Owl felt his back erupt in pain as three shuriken stabbed into his armor. he shot a strange, green, curving energy ball at the area they had come from and then felt his chest burn as even more shuriken hit him.

"not now!" Marino begged as she felt her Hyper Mode beginning to fade. she targeted Storm Owl's wings with one last volley as she reverted back to her normal form.

Storm Owl had been turning as they were thrown and spotted them in time to snatch them from the air. "Found you, my dear!" he threw them back and caught them in a tornado.

Marino had no time to evade, she got slammed against the deck by the force of the wind. both of the shuriken embedded themselves in her left shoulder. The excrutiating pain caused Marino to scream out as the crushing force cyclones winds pressed her to against hard metal floor and ripped the blades from her shoulder. She couldn't move once the wind ceased, warnings flashed across Marino's vision; she was losing coolant fast, her joints were terribly damaged, most of her unarmored areas were dealing with compression damage, and her core was bordering on critical. "Axl..." she closed her eyes, accepting that she was about to die

"Farewell!" Owl screeched as he dove with his talons poised.

"NOT GONNA HAPPEN!" the sound of guns filled the air along with the pained cries of Storm Owl. when the Repliforce reploid began to spark, he was kicked over the edge of the battle airship by a black and silver boot. "Maino!"

Hearing her name brought Marino to reality, she'd thought it was her imagination playing out a fantasy of being rescued by her lover at first. but when Axl slid to his knees next to her and began emergency repairs, she realized the young reploid was actually there. "Axl," she cooed

"Don't worry, You'll be-" Axl's instincts made him turn and cross his guns to block a saber attack. "Axl to Central Tower! Colonel is here!"

16

BA-THUMP! BA-THUMP! BA-THUMP! the force of the Shadow Drive's pulsing was enough to bring Shade to his knees, yelling in pain.

"Captain!" Viper grabbed Shade by the arm and dragged him backwards as a massive walrus-like reploid slowly plodded up the hallway, unimpeded by the fire from the busters and micro-busters.

"Children have no place on the battlefield! I, Frost Walrus, shall crush you all to make an example to scare away the others who are too young to risk their lives like this!"

Images of his former squad-mates played like a slideshow in Shade's mind:

Gradius, clad in bulky grey armor, always wearing a smile, with his pulse rifle slung over his back. A joke on his tongue at any time, a strong but comforting grasp on your shoulder. a true friend.

Frostbite Phoenix, a red avion reploid with wings of frozen flames. serious, fearless, always there to offer words of encouragement and advice on how to get better. a perfect captain.

Charge Toro, a muscular minitaur. the ego of the group, life of the party, always ready to step-up for his friends. a rock to stand upon.

Lance Harpy, the knight in sky blue armor. Lance was a lady or so she claimed, polite, cultured, vicious in combat, lived by her Code to the letter. Graceful inspiration.

Junia, caramel colored hair, grey eyes like moonlight. sweet as sugar, kind as an angel, touch as tender as a rose. The love of Shade's past.

"Colonel..." Shade growled weakly as the pulsing continued and he felt the Shadow Drive's intangible tenticles creeping through his mind. the memory of the Battle of Spaceport Tiberius entered his mind:

The six of them were among the first Units to Transmit in, the Repliforce soldiers and mechaniloids were still scrambling to for a defense line. "Gradius! Junia! Shade!" Frostbite Phoenix motioned towards the enemy base, "open fire!"

Gradius unsling his pulse rifle, Shade drew his six-shooter micro-busters, and Junia switched her left hand to buster-mode. they brought their weapons to bear and simultainiously began picking off the mechaniloids that were closest to them. once the numbers were reduced, the order "CHARGE!" was given. Junia drew her beam saber as they ran into the enemy's last stronghold on the Earth's surface, and ran side by side with Shade. The mass produced battle reploids that comprised most of the lesser ranks of the Repliforce ran to meet them, only to be mowed down. this was when the enemy captains began to show up, upper-B and A class reploids. "Captain! Enemies on your two!" Toro warned as three captain-level reploids came at the 42nd.

"Squad, right side!" Phoenix ordered, "Shade and Junia! take the snake! I'll take the bird! the rest of you on the wolf!"

"roger!" they all responded as they moved to intercept their assigned targets.

It was at this point, less than half a kilometer away, Colonel stepped onto the battlefield. in less than twenty seconds, he'd destroyed both the 56th and 12th Units and was already starting to move in the direction of the 42nd, cutting down anyone in his path.

all three Repliforce captains were defeated in under a minute, the tactics of the 42nd were just as effective as X or Zero by themselves. the sound of Harpy screaming as a blade slashed through her drew their attention to Colonel. "You have been a thorn in our side for too long, prepare for the end."

Phoenix and Gradius dove at him, talons and bayonette poised to strike. Shade barely saw the attack that dispatched them both. "NOOO!" Toro roared as he bull-rushed Colonel and got stabbed through his forehead.

Junia screamed in emotional agony as she swung her blade. her scream stopped as her sword-arm and legs fell away from her body.

Shade's only reacition was to dive and catch the upper body of his lover.

"Shade," Junia's eyes were twitching as system after system began failing, "leave me."

"No Junia!" Tears began to stream from Shade's eyes as he watched his beloved experiancing a cascade failure, coolant flowing out onto the pavement "You'll pull through!"

a gloved hand gently brushed his cheek, "Shade, I love y..." the hand fell as the grey eyes lost their life.

"Junia?"

the girl didn't respond

"Junia!" Shade began to shake the olive clad Hunter, "JUNIA!" he was begging her to answer

He heard the quiet, low-pitched whistle of a core coming to a cold shutdown

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"forgive me," Colonel said as he raised his blade to dispatch Shade as well, "this is my duty as a soldier."

"COLONEL!" Shade screamed as he threw his hand into the shadow of Viper to gather the power for a ShadowSlash. he activated his blade which was already pitch-black and stood up, "stand back."

Frost Walrus looked down at the dark-clad reploid appearently in his teenaged years stood to challenge him, "so you will be the first?" He threw himself at Shade in an attempt to crush him.

Shade held up a hand and caught Walrus, stepping on his shadow at the same time, stopping him mid-air, "you aren't the one I want," the cold, dark voice of his Shadow Drive consumed mind stated as if he was merely looking at a menu and passing over an unappitizing dish. he threw the ice-elemental reploid back down the hallway and bisected him with the ShadowSlash, destroying the core before it could go critical.

the members of the Tracking Unit looked at their new captain with fear when they saw the look in his eyes as he turned back towards the doors that would eventually lead to the helipad. he stopped just past them, "kill them," he ordered, "stay here and kill anyone trying to break through."

17

Steel Massimo knew there would be trouble when Nana relayed the information she'd recieved from the Tracking Unit Shade had left behind. as if on cue, Shade stepped up onto the helipad behind him. "Shade!" he blocked the way, "what do you think you're doing? you left your Unit behind!"

"somebody has to keep the bottom secure..." the Shadow Drive spoke, "I'm here to settle an old score."

Massimo wondered if Shade was even fighting the Shadow Drive on this issue, Colonel had destroyed everything he was so long ago, friends, lover and hero, all in the span of a few second. "You can't make it up there anyway, go back to your Unit."

Shade put his hand on Massimo's chest, and pushed him out of the way. with a crazed smile, he cocked his head as if saying "watch this". he crouched low, gathering all of his strength into his legs and jumped. he flew up into the air, straight towards the airship. his jump didn't allow him to quite reach the deck, but he grabbed a porthole and used it for the extra vault.

Marino gasped when Shade landed right next to her she whispered to him, "help me..." She'd nearly 'bled-out' her coolant, and her core and vital systems were beginning to overheat. Shade glanced over to her, "you still have about five minute before you go critical, this won't take that long."

Marino's eyes widened when she recognized the voice as his Shadow Drive. "Shade, don't do it... you can't beat him."

Shade ignored her and began walking over to where Axl was struggling to stay far enough away from Colonel to shoot him. Colonel looked over Axl's shoulder when he noticed Shade. Axl felt a grip on his shoulder and found himself being thrown over to where Marino was, "take care of that woman's injuries. I'll handle this."

A look of recognition flashed across Colonel's face, "I've seen you before. Where?"

"I am Shade Kraven, formerly of Frostbite Phoenix's 42nd Maverick Hunter Unit, Assault Division." Shade began to merge thoughts with the Shadow Drive and shared control of his body and mind. "you killed my entire Unit in front of my eyes at Tiberius. I'm here to challenge you and settle the score. one way," he drew the violet beam saber and flourished it. "Or another."

"I remember you now, the one who cradled the girl as she died. very well... I, Colonel, Second in command of Repliforce, accept your challenge."

"EN GARDE!" Shade yelled as he swung the beam saber, only for the blow to be blocked with ease. he jumped back in time to recieve only a burn mark on his chestplate from the counter strike. he didn't wait for anything, he droped to his knee and tried to sweep Colonel's legs and slash high, cutting his opponent's options significantly. the Repliforce hero stepped back and prepared to attack, but Shade rolled right into his next move with a slash aimed for the mid-section.

Colonel was amazed at the skill of this reploid he'd almost killed nearly a century ago, he'd seen the base movements of Shade before when he moved to catch his dying squadmate, and he was nowhere near this good back then. "it seems that you've improved quite a measure since Tiberius." Colonel smiled as he blocked the blow

"you and i never fought, what are you basing this off of?" Shade stepped into the blow and threw Colonel back, cutting into the shoulder armor he wore.

Colonel checked to make sure he didn't take any damage, "hmhmhm," he chuckled, "it was your movements, but now it looks like i may need to actually try to beat you." Colonel moved with a speed that would make one think he'd teleported.

"I've seen that before!" Shade had been there to watch catatonically as Zero and Colonel fought their epic battle to the death. he'd seen both of their abilities and because of the emotional trauma of the day, the battle was carved deeply into his memories. He turned and caught the blow and leapt away form a follow-up. he turned again as he landed, and leaned to dodge a stroke that would have removed his head. Shade slashed upwards as he righted himself, knocking Colonel's second attack away. he punched Colonel square in the jaw.

Colonel stumbled away and parried a blow, his blade began to spark.

"Shit!" he swore as Colonel raised the weapon above his head, "AXL! GET OFF THE SHIP!"

Colonel stabbed into the plating of the deck and sent waves of electricity flaring out of the metal in all directions. Axl grabbed Marino and leapt over the edge of the railing, activating his hover jets at the last second before he hit the helipad, breaking the fall. Shade screamed as the lightning tore through his body. he fell to his hands and knees as his control systems tried to reboot.

Footsteps slowly approached as Colonel stepped up and raised his blade, "you fought well, I honestly enjoyed our fight."

Shade threw his weight sideways, rolling away from the finishing blow. "I'm... not done yet." he claimed as he struggled to his feet.

"your courage is admirable, but you are defeated."

"then prove it."

Colonel moved with his blinding speed, and Shade grinned when his shadow ended up crossing his body. Colonel froze, "wh-at is th-is?"

"impressive," Shade tried to hide that he already felt the strain of using the ShadowPin on him. "nobody has ever been able to talk when i do that." he stepped up to Colonel and began pushing him back, making sure to stay in contact with his shadow. he bent down and picked up Junia's beam saber, knowing he could only hold Colonel for a few more seconds. Pointing the inactive hilt at Colonel's head he stated, "this is for all of the Hunters you've ever Retired. Farewell, Colonel of the Repliforce."

He dropped the ShadowPin a moment earlier than he'd intended and felt a blade pierce his chest as he activated his own weapon. Colonel fell to the deck as his body began sparking and Shade stumbled backwards, gaping at the hilt protruding from the right side of his chest. The concussion of Colonel's core going critical knocked Shade onto his back, causing the blade to shift and cause more damage. Shade's vision began flashing red and yellow and critical system warnings began covering his field of vision. "i have about ten secondes to find a shadow..." his mind processed as he accessed the ShadowStep subroutine. "Cinny, where are you." even though he'd switched over to the gen-freq, he completely ingored the proper radio ettiquette as he crawled towards the shadow of the airship's command tower.

"I'm in the command room, Nana took alot of program damage protecting the computer systems."

"roger, i'm ShadowStepping there... emergency..." Shade saw sparks starting to come from his body as his core began to overload and threatened to explode. "ah!" the pain was indescribable as he fought for each inch to reach the shadow, "critical repairs, I'm about to blow."

"Shade..." a sense of fear came from her voice.

Shade reached for the edge of the shadow. a dark cloaked figure emerged and stepped on his hand, "no my friend, you will die." The figure pulled a scythe from his back and pointed it at him, "then you shall belong to me."

"wrong," Shade used the shadow of the foot on his hand to teleport to one of the shadows in the central control room, as static began to fill his vision, "I belong to Cinnamon..." he murmured as he saw the outline of her nurse's outfit running up to him.

18

"He defeated Colonel?" Massimo didn't believe what Professor Gaudile was telling him as they analyzed Shade in every possilbe way.

"that's what his memory circuits say, and i've watched the memories myself. as unreal as it sounds, Shade defeated an S-Level opponent in single combat."

"was it the Shadow Drive's doing?"

"That's what has me baffled," Gaudile scratched his head as he looked at the screen above Shade's unconcious form. he hit a few buttons and three of the sections expanded to take up the entire screen, "the first line is Shade's CPU, his thoughts, dreams, whatever passes through his mind. the second is the Shadow Drive's physical output."

"It's at zero," Massimo pointed out the obvious, "is that bad?"

"technically yes, because the Shadow Drive runs directly off of his core, it would mean that he is dead. but as you see from his CPU activity, he's very much alive and dreaming vividly."

"so what's that line?" Massimo pointed at the one on the bottom.

"brace yourself for the big conundrum... that is the area of his sub-concious where the Shadow Drive's influence shows up."

"it's perfectly sync'ed with his CPU."

"EXACTLY! that's not possible! the Shadow Drive is a system that draws out the beastial side of it's symbiote, and yet we see it perfectly sync'ed with his higher funtions as well."

"what does it mean?" Massimo looked down at the reploid on the workbench, Shade's body suit was stained from where his coolant had leaked from the saber wound in his chest.

"that's what i've been saying!" the professor grabbed his head in frustration. "I have no idea, this shouldn't be possible."

"I've seen Shade's specs, he shouldn't have stood a chance against Colonel either."

"I have an idea!" Cinnamon cheerfully piped up as she walked in the room. "maybe he conquered the Shadow thingy. It's now sync'ed with him because he has that kind of control."

"well... that's... feasable..." Professor Gaudile rested his chin on one of his hands as he considered it.

"It looked more like the other way to me, Axl and Marino," Massimo pointed out. "Marino even said he was speaking in the voice of the Shadow Drive."

"but," Cinnamon wouldn't allow them to say her boyfriend was a bad-guy. "you all heard it, he was talking normally when he radioed me."

"that is true, he even used a pet name... is that valid at all, Professor?"

"it gets more and more confusing as i get more information. we need to activate him to know for sure, but if he could defeat Colonel..."

"then just restrain him." Massimo pointed it out as if it was the only answer. "if he's the one in control, we let him out. if not, we try to help him. if we can't-"

"DON'T EVEN SAY IT!" Cinnamon screamed in anger for the first time that she could ever think of. "Shade's not a bad person! he's not a maverick..." she began to cry, "he's one of us."

"Cinnamon..." Massimo had never seen her react like this.

"maybe..." she sniffled, "maybe, if you just let me talk to him. He'd never hurt me."

Professor Gaudile began to protest, but was silenced when Massimo held up a hand. "I think it will be alright Professor. I'll be standing just outside the door, and I'll ask Axl to join me."

"But he could-" Professor Gaudile was cut short by glares from both Massimo and Cinnamon. "fine, but I pray i don't have to say 'i told you so'." he left the room grumbling.

Massimo radioed, "Axl, would you please meet me outside the lab?" he nodded to Cinnamon and left the room.

Cinnamon sighed as she moved over to the bed that Shade was lying on. the past two days had been hectic, first the assault on Central tower. and now the revived members of Repliforce under the command of someone named Shinigami had occupied several areas and began to mine and process the now illegal Force Metal. she began typing on the keyboard to release the forced Sleep Mode from Shade.

Shade woke with a groan, he pressed his hand against his forehead. he sat up and opened his eyes, "I'm alive?"

"Yes," Cinnamon scolded, "but it was way too close. don't you ever do that to me again."

"I'm sorry, Cinny."

"it's ok," she wrapped her arms around him, "you came back to me, that's all that matters."

Shade reveled in the warmth that she provided, suprised that he didn't feel any pulsing from the Shadow Drive... at all. "Cinny..." he mewed as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I love you, Shade. please be more careful."

'Love', the word echoed through his mind. it awakened feelings that he hadn't felt since Junia died. "Cinnamon..." he pulled her close, "my precious Cinnamon."

19

"The report from Marino suggests that Magma Dragoon is in charge of this site."

Shade twitched as Steel Massimo said the name of his teacher-turned-traitor.

"he is an extremely powerful fire element reploid. his abilities are unknown to us, we are unable to contact the Hunters for information."

"he has a complete mastery of his element, to the point that he can even live at the bottom of a volcano." Shade started talking loudly enough for everyone to hear him. "His primary weapons are a flamethrower, and the ability to wrap any part of his body in flames. he can also create firebombs powerful enough to cause magma bursts if there is any subterrainean lava pools nearby. He'd never take a station away from that kind of advantage. he's incredible at hand-to-hand combat and most of his attacks are mid-ranged, long-rangers are the only ones with a real chance against him."

"how do you know that much?" Massimo asked, "It's like you've fought against him before."

"my record in single combat against him is 0-46, he was my instructor when i'd joined the Maverick Hunters right after the Doppler Rebellion. I probably know more about how he fights than he does. I want this mission."

"are you sure you can handle it? if i remember my history right, X narrowly beat him."

"X had never seen Dragoon fight, I can probably predict his every move." Shade grinned as he enivisioned Magma Dragoon's every move. "and unlike before, I'm fast enough to react to it."

"Very well, the Tracking Unit-"

"no, just me!"

"excuse me?" Massimo knew he was hearing things

"Dragoon is far too dangerous to risk so many Defenders against him."

"you'd never be able to take out an entire mining site by yourself," Massimo was wondering if the battle against Colonel had damaged his ligic circuits.

"I won't have to," Shade had already figured it all out, "Magma Dragoon is one of the most inflated egos i've ever seen. his pride is his biggest weakness, if I call him out, he'll come, confident that he's fighting the same neophyte i was a hundered years ago."

"I don't like this one bit..."

"fine, let's comprimise... I'll take Viper, Hammer and Fang."

"why those three?"

"they are the only combat reploids in my Unit."

"fine, you are to defeat Magma Dragoon and if possible, destroy the mining site."

Shade saluted, "Yessir!" he turned and left the room. He turned his radio to PA mode, a nice little perk that Captains were allowed. "This is Captain Kraven of the Tracking Unit! Hammer, Viper, Fang, meet me in the control room with assualt load-outs in ten minutes!"

Shade walked into the control room, "Nana, how are you doing?"

"I-I'm alot better," she offered a smile.

"It looks like the Professor has almost fixed your speech program. any other repairs left?"

"not mush, just my-y shpeesh and a few more pershonal memori-iesh."

"Heh," Shade put a hand on her shoulder, "I guess that the body really does heal faster than the mind. I was about to blow, and yet I'm back to 100% operational capacity."

"I-I'm glad. thish talking shtuff shucksh."

Shade started laughing, hearing the normally so technically correct language of the operator warped like this was too much.

Nana shrugged the hand off her shoulder and sighed, "ashhole."

"I'm sorry, Nana."

Viper arrived at this point and saluted the captains of the Tracking and Information Units, "Reporting as asked, Sirs."

they returned the salute and Nana added, "at e-eash"

Shade had to turn like he was about to use one of the consoles in order to hide that he was holding back another chuckle. he pretended to be looking up when Turbine Industries was coming out with their next higher powered micro-buster

soon after, Hammer and Fang walked in together and snapped off crisp salutes. Shade closed the application on the console and returned the salute. "Viper, fall in."

The gold armored reploid quickly obeyed the order.

"Firstly, I'd like to apologize for my behavior during the battle the other day. Colonel had taken my entire Unit from me back during the Repliforce Conflict and-"

"Great Repliforsh War," Nana corrected him from her Operations Console.

"is that the official name of it?"

the pink hair bobbed as she nodded.

"Okay, well, I lost control of myself and went to settle the score... It almost ended up a tie, but the Professor had given me a very useful teleportation function that got me to a member of the Relief Unit in time."

"yeah," Nana quiped, appearently still angry that he'd laughed at her. "he ran to hish girlfriend."

"Is there a problem Captain Nana?"

"No, none at all. Pleash continue, Captain Kraven."

"our mission is to go to Mining Area 15 and take out their captain and equipment. Their captain is Magma Dragoon," he linked a cable into the port in the back of his head and quivered at the strange feeling of linking with the computer systems; It was something akin to his conciousness being enveloped by a cold gel that reached into his mind when he wanted to exchange information. he felt one of the icy tenticles worm its way to the files about Magma Dragoon. "God, Nana! how do you do this all day every day?"

She shrugged, "you get ushed to it."

"continuing the brief," the left half of the main screen filled with videos of their target. "study this footage, you'll never get a more in-depth study of an opponent than this. He was my mentor after the Doppler Rebellion. I've seen everything that he can do: flamethrowers, fire manipulation, moltanic manipulation, hand-to-hand... but i've never witnessed him lose. He was a HIGH A-Level opponent, but his arrogance and over-confidence can be used against him.

"but Captain," Fang spoke up, "you got schooled in all of this footage. why do you think we can beat him now?"

Shade smiled, "this footage is one-hundered years old. I'm much different than back then." Shade looked at the screen at the intense eyes of his former teacher, he felt a dark aura begin to eminate from his soul.

20

Shade looked around, the rock face would provide ample shadows for him to use in combat. he nodded and looked at his underlings, "remember, don't fire unless I tell you to. He makes it look like he has openings where he doesn't. you won't hit anything, and he'll be inside your guard before you can react."

"yessir!" the three reploids answered their captain.

"now..." Shade turned towards the lip of the quarry and stepped onto it. he took a deep breath and gathering all of his strength to his voice he yelled, "DRAGOON!"

the mining facility below him went silent as the mechaniloids all stopped their work and turned, amazed that anyone could yell over all the noise. they all ran the newcomer through their personel registers and finding no mtaches, they began their charge. "All units! return to your stations!" A voice from Shade's past echoed from below.

Shade turned around as the ground began to shake and crack behind him. a burst of lava shot up from the ground, as Shade expected, there was a resevoir somewhere beneath them. when the orange-red liquid receded, there stood the red, dragon-like reploid with is arms crossed and head cocked. "Kraven, long time no see. I guess nobody has retired you yet, that's good, I always wanted to be that one."

"Magma Dragoon, still one for theatrics i see. I guess death didn't teach you to take battle more seriously."

Dragoon began to chuckle and wave his finger, "Shade, you were gifted, but always an idiot. Battle Tactics 101, 'use an obvious show of power to demoralize and deter your opponents'. the greatest victory is the one you attained without violence, that is one thing that X and I always agreed on."

"that didn't stop you from fighting him."

"A soldier's duty is to always obey their superiors. my orders were to hold the thermal generator in the volcano, X came to destroy it. the outcome was battle, one I narrowly lost."

"and once again, conflicting orders will bring you to a battle." Shade took the beam saber from his hip.

"so you finally figured out you were designed to wield a blade? I only told you that everytime you lost."

"I use this blade because it is all that remains of my first lover. I used it to cut down Colonel, and now the cliche battle between master and student will be decided using it."

"You never were one to lie, but I do have trouble believing that you could ever even cast a shadow on Colonel."

Shade laughed at the irony of the statement, the only reason he'd defeated Colonel was because the S-Level reploid had cast the shadow on HIM.

"Care to share what is so amusing?"

"As you said, you know i don't lie. it just takes me back to the days that you tortured the hell out of us."

"Hmhmhm, those were the days... but as you said, your orders are to destroy this place and I can't allow you or the three guys hiding behind the rocks to do that."

"you haven't lost your edge," Shade smiled as he activated the already shadow-charged blade, "then this will be the fight it was meant to be."

"Black? never seen that, but it suits you. Very well!" Magma Dragoon took his trademark stance, "let's begin! SHOURYUKEN!"

Shade dodged the leaping fire punch by throwing himself onto his back. he rolled away from the follow-up drop kick. he popped himself up and slashed, narrowly missing the red armor as Dragoon leaned away. He continued the attack with a spinning backhand which was knocked away and countered with a kick aimed for his head.

Shade used the pommel of the saber to parry the clawed foot and used a rising-reverse kick to attack Dragoon before the reptilian robot could take full advantage of being behind him. the kick connected with Magma Dragoon's chin, and caused him to stagger back. he threw a fireball from his fists before Shade could turn, catching the black armor on his back and turning it red hot.

"AAAH! FUCK!" Shade yelled in pain as he re-routed his coolant system, never taking his eyes off his target. "you and your cheap ass fire! I'll make sure they drop your pieces into the Larentian Abyss!"

"Anger is your enemy in combat!" Dragoon wrapped his limbs in flame, "it makes you sloppy!"

Shade's dark aura increased as he took his defensive stance. Dragoon leapt forward with a spinning kick, followed by a left hook, spinning backhand...

Even though Shade blocked everything with his saber, the intense heat from the flames was enough to keep the blade from contacting Magma's body. Flames seared the air between them, it burned Shade's artificial skin. He couldn't get away, "VIPER!"

the gold armor caught the sun as he spun around the stone he was behind, bringing his charged buster to bear. he fired and hit nothing but the air where the Magma Dragoon had been a moment ago. all of a sudden a draconian face filled his field of vision, "fool."

Shade slashed into Dragoon's back before he had the chance to kill Viper. "Battle Tactics 101," he taunted, "never turn your back on the strongest enemy, let alone the fastest."

Viper scrambled away to where Fang was as Dragoon clawed at the air where Shade was, only to miss as the dark-clad reploid leaned away and slashed his chest. "You've never been this fast!" he snarled as he fell to his knees, "where did you get that speed?"

"the same place I aquired the power to beat Colonel," Shade's dark aura became visible as he raised the finishing blow, "I fused my programming with my Shadow Drive... I have the power, speed, abilities and experience equal to two of myself."

Dragoon raised a shield of flames as Shade brought his sword down. he hadn't expected his former pupil to be a shadow manipulator and accompany the strike with an arc of concentrated darkness. "you're... incredible... Kraven... to conquer... the Shadow Drive..." Dragoon's final action as sparks began to cover the surface of his body was to go out in a Blaze of Glory, literally. Shade got caught in the swirling flames as a maelstrom of fire surrounded his former trainer. Dragoon yelled his defiance to the world as his core went critical, the explosion blowing away the fire.

Shade's vision was flickering between normal and static as he fell to his knees. the emergency release on all of his armor fired the small charges on the seams, causing it to fly off of his body before it seared him anymore or even melted to his skin. All he could hear was white noise as Hammer ran up to him, yelling something. his joints all opened, tearing open his psuedo-skin to allow for enough ventilation to keep him from an overheat-failure. "complete the mission." he ordered as Hammer and Fang moved to lift him.

He couldn't hear their response through the white noise, but as they lifted him to his feet to carry him, it was clear they were defying the order. "complete the mission! That's an order! or all this damage i took will mean nothing!"

the two carrying him looked at each other and said something before setting Shade down. "Junia... Gradius... Charge... Lance... Captain..." Shade looked up at the sun as he laid on the ground, "is this enough to bring you peace? I've defeated your killer, found a new life, conquered my past... please, I've done enough... stop haunting my dreams. You all know I love to see you there, but not as you all fall to the ground..." Shade's superfical systems began to shut down in order to preserve the limited power from his damaged core for his vital systems, causing him to lose conciousness.

21

"I swear," Gaudile waddled into the control room to report Shade's condition to Massimo, "that boy ends up in my care more than the rest of you combined!"

"How is he?"

"He'll be fine. Shade refuses to give up."

"I noticed that," Massimo waved the PDA in his hand, "have you read the reports from the mission?"

"No," the Professor took the datapad, "something is should know about?"

"read the last paragraph on the report from either Viper or Fang, they were close enough to hear what he said before he dealt the finishing blow."

"oh my... well that does offer a new theory as to why the Shadow Drive was acting like that."

"but does that mean what i think it does?" Massimo shifted uneasily

"As much as he is Shade Kraven, he is also the Shadow Drive... this makes him more dangerous since he may not recognize the influence until its too late."

the door hissed open. Shade came in and saluted, "Shade Kraven, repaired and ready for duty."

the previous conversation ended as if it never happened, "Shade my boy, are you sure you are well enough already?"

"well I am, Proffessor. but my armor is toast. I'll need to find a place to buy new stuff."

"Actually," the platypus turned to Massimo, "if you don't mind, I'd like to borrow him for an experiment along those lines."

"I don't mind," Massimo shrugged, "just don't take too long, I may need him for a mission sooner or later. Shade, you heard the man! you are assigned to aiding Professor Gaudile until further notice!"

He snapped to attention and gave a crisp salute, "SIR!"

"so, shall we go?"

"I don't see why not."

An hour later, at Gaudile Labs, the Professor was working over a machine with Shade's tech-specs on a screen to his right and footage of him fighting on his left. every so often, the footage would freeze and make a wire frame of his body then store the information. After another fifteen minutes, the center screen filled with alpha-numeric readouts. "Yes," the Professor murmured as he looked over the report, "yes, this will work out nicely."

Shade who'd been trying to patiently wait the whole time let out a relieved sigh, he leaned over to look at the screen. although most of it was gibberish to him, Shade was able to read sections of it, such as his body measurements, movement arcs, and something about suggested material. "so, what is this?"

"your new armor, I've been experimenting with polymerizing various alloys in order to make flexible, yet durible armor. My original intention was to give the first set to Cinnamon, but since you really like to mix it up, you'd make a far better test subject... I can make it in any color you want."

"Black, of course. I've been told that black enhances my supernatural appearance, I think it was a complement."

"well, it is true that you look somewhat like the vampire of ancient pop-culture."

"You said polymerized alloys...you mean like metal cloth?"

"exactly, fashionable and functional."

"sounds more like you wanna get me killed..."

"just wait, I'll make you eat those words."

22

(M-rated... and it's the Megaman Zero armor, similar to a fusion between Zero's and Harpuia's)

"It just feels like I'm wearing clothes over my body suit..." Shade tugged at the vestlike chestpiece ans he looked at the impact rod in front of him. "I don't like this. Professor! You are tyring to kill me aren't you?" The piston like machine fired, slamming into Shade's chest, causing him to stumble backwards. Shade jumped up to his feet and unzipped the vest to investigate his chest disbelievingly. The only thing he trusted was the new helmet which flaired backwards like aerofoils of some kind.

"what do you think now?" Professor Gaudile had an 'I told you so' tone of voice.

Zipping it back on, Shade braced himself better this time. "my movement must've absorbed most of the blow, I barely felt it. Once more."

After three hours of testing, Shade was as big a fan of the next-gen armor as the professor who created it. Together they walked back to the main lab area, and found Cinnamon waiting with a lunch for each of them. She eyed Shade's new get-up as she held out the cloth wrapped boxes, "is that the new fiberized metal armor you've been working on, Professor?"

"yes it is," He responded as he took his food. as he began to untie the knot at the top, his PDA began beeping. He answered the call, "Yes Nana, what is it?"

"it looks good on you," Cinnamon smiled as she handed Shade his lunch.

"Thanks, I thought he was trying to kill me at first." he smiled back as he took the food. "but now i love this stuff." He pulled at the zipper, and let the vest hang from his shoulders.

"Sorry," Professor Gaudile stood up. "I have to go back to Central Tower for a while. can i trust you two to behave while I'm gone?"

"well, that depends on Cinny." Shade said teasingly, "I'm a good boy."

"Hey!" Cinnamon pushed Shade.

"I'll be back once I'm done." The Professor left through the heavy metal doors.

The young lovers looked at each other for a moment before practically leaping into the other's arms. Cinnamon pressed her lips against Shade's and opened her mouth for his tongue, to which he happily complied. Cinnamon's warmth filled Shade's body as she brushed her tounge accross his and she pressed her chest against him. She leaned back and moved her hands to his shoulders as he snaked a hand up to her breasts, allowing him access and moaning as he squeezed gently.

Shade knew he probably shouldn't be doing this, it was too early in the relationship. But his urges combined with the way that Cinnamon pressed her breast against his hand told him that not only was it ok, she wanted it. he moved his mouth from her lips to her ear and bit playfully. "Shade," Cinnamon moaned as she tightened her grip on his shoulders. Shade moved his other hand up and massaged both breasts in unison, eliciting sharp gasps from Cinnamon as she backed up to a wall for support as her legs began to get weak. she brought her hand up and began to caress his chest.

Marino's warning about Shade not being able to control himself if they moved too quickly in their physical relationship came into Cinnamon's mind as she saw an animalistic look in his eyes when she felt his hand slide to undo the zipper at the back of her outift. "Shade..." Cinnamon gently placed a hand on his arm, "I'm not ready to go that far."

He didn't stop, "he mustn't have heard me," Cinnamon thought as she squeezed his arm. "Shade, please stop," she said a little louder.

"Cinnamon..." Shade looked up with one eye looking normal and the other like a primal animal. Tears came from the eye that seemed to represent his own conciousness, but his hand still tore the zipper open.

"Shade! Please!" Cinnamon begged as her nurse's outfit was pulled off her shoulders, exposing her body from the waist up. She tried to push Shade off of her as he leaned to suck on her left nipple. Her body shuddered with a combination of fear and physical pleasure. "SHADE!"

Shade's mind was screaming with all it's might tostop, but his body wouldn't obey. "Cinnamon... help me..." He forced his body to say.

Cinnamon's mind couldn't process what was going on, it was too confusing. Her mind said no, her body said yes, Shade's mouth begged her to make him stop, but his body wouldn't let her move. she did the only thing she could... she screamed.

Shade's body moved to pin Cinnamon's arm to her chest and used his now free hand to slide under what was left of her clothing. He was sobbing in his mind as his hand began massaging between her legs. his finger found what it was looking for and forced way inside.

Cinnamon gasped as she felt Shade's finger inside her. While the sensations were amazing, this whole situation was so wrong, and she knew it was her fault. Her PDA began ringing as an incoming call tried to reach her. Shade's body covered Cinnamon's mouth as Nana forced the call to automatically connect. "Shinnamon? are you there? It's an emergenshy! Repliforshe troopsh have been detected by the Gaudile Labs shecurity shyshtemsh! Ashl and Mari-ino are en route to get you guysh out!"

"Roger!" Shade's body answered, "I'll let her know!"

"Shade? Wher-"

Shade disconnected the call and turned back to face Cinnamon. Cinnamon had been able to wrench her arm free during the distraction and struck Shade as hard as she could in the face.

As Shade stumbled backwards, he regained control over his body. He looked up at Cinnamon who cowered in the corner, tears streaming from her fear-stricken eyes.

"Oh god..." Shade fell to his knees and clutched his head as he heaved a sob. "No. No. No..." Shade jumped to his feet and ran as hard as he could in the direction of the Eternal Forest.

Cinnamon didn't react, neither her body or her mind was focused enough to process what was going on. She merely stayed in the corner that she knew was safe, until several minutes later when a familiar pink armor entered the room, "Mar...ino..." She whispered weakly.

the thief's sharp ears caught the sound and she turned to look, eyes widening in fear, she knew exactly what had happened. "Axl," Marino told her lover before he came around the corner, in a voice that said she was not to be questioned, "stay there."

"Whatever you're doing," he said nervously, "hurry up. We don't have much time."

Marino knelt next to the blonde girl and began to pull her clothes back on, "are you ok?"

"It's my fault, I should have listened to you."

"Is that Cinnamon?"

"DON'T COME IN HERE!" Marino commanded

"Please tell me it's not why i think you said that." Axl begged, understanding in his voice, Nana had warned them that Shade had sounded strange.

"Where is Shade?" Marino asked Cinnamon as she tried to zip the girl back up, but found that the zipper on her clothing had been destroyed.

"I don't know, he ran off that way." Cinnamon began sobbing, "why did I let this happen?"

"It's ok," Marino cooed comfortingly as she wrapped her arms around the crying girl. "It's all over."

"Don't kill him, please... it's my fault this happened."

"I'm sorry Cinnamon," Axl said as he walked in, keeping his eyes on the door on the other side of the room. He cocked his guns as he started walking towards them. "He's gone beyond the line too many times." He reached to his helmet as Cinnamon screamed into Marino's shoulder, "Axl to Central Tower, come in Nana."

"Nana here."

"Official declaration under Maverick Hunter Directive 4 Section 112. Due to repetitive crimes and the inability to control himself, I Axl, S-Class Maverick Hunter, ID Code A5564773, am forced to classify Shade Kraven as a Corrupt System classification of Maverick and a Priority One target for all Maverick Hunters and Giga City Defenders. Relay that to Alia at MH-HQ, as well as letting her know that I am in persuit of the criminal."

"R-roger," Nana couldn't believe what she'd just heard. but she relayed the Official Declaration to all stations and Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Shade Kraven was now an S-Class criminal, a list which until now had only ever consisted of: Sigma, Vile, Dynamo, Gate, Colonel, General, Epsilon, Red and Doppler; those individuals who'd shown a threat to society as a whole, and had the power to back up the threat.

23

Shade's PDA beeped twice as an All-Points Bulletin was recieved. He knew it was about him, the timing was too perfect for anything else. stopping and putting his back against a tree, Shade pulled out his PDA and looked at what it said:

"Former Captain of the Tracking Unit, Shade Kraven has shown he no longer posses the capacity to control his own actions.

As such, at 1532 hours on the date of September 14th of the year 2216, Shade Kraven was stripped of his rank and the title of Giga City Defender.

He has been declared Maverick by Axl of the Maverick Hunters.

REPORT ANY SIGHTINGS IMMEDIATELY AND DO NOT ENGAGE!

Shade Kraven is now registered as an S-Class Criminal and must be approached with appropriate caution."

"S-Class? I'm no S... I'm not planning on attacking anything... except maybe myself..." He dropped the PDA and continued deeper into the forest.

Eventually, he didn't have the energy to keep running, so he sat down and leaned against the tree. He found himself amazed and disgusted by how little his actions against Cinnamon bothered him at this point.

Axl saw glowing on the ground several meters away, he saw Shade's PDA and footprints in the ground that was soft from the irrigation system beneath it. "I'm on the right track... this feels like when I had to help take down Red Alert... Hunting former comerades leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

Shade woke with a start. he didn't know when he'd fallen asleep or how long he'd been out, but he could tell he was being watched. He reached for Junia's beam saber and activated it, "who's there?"

A snapping twig behind him caused Shade to swing. the attack was blocked by something he couldn't see, so he kicked.

The contact caused Axl to lose his Stealth Mode. "Shade, I'm here to place you under arrest! Please, come quietly!"

"don't lie to me," Shade broke Axl's grip on his sword arm and stepped back, "S-Class Criminals don't get arrested. they get Retired."

"Don't force my hand, Shade! If you come peacefully, there may be some way out of this."

Shade took his stance, "I know how Zero is. even if everyone else trusts me again, he'll be waiting until everyone is looking the other way to take me out before I can do anything else. Axl, you know I want to go back, but there is no way it can work. Nobody will allow me to carry a weapon ever again, I'll never be able to be able to defend the innocent, I'll never be able to make friends again. You've made me an S-Class Criminal, you made it so that everybody in the world knows my face and fears me."

"No Shade, that's-"

"Enough Axl! I love Cinnamon, but after what happened, I'll never be able to face her again. I've hurt Marino as well, and at one time or another I've almost hurt almost every member of the Defenders. Hell, I almost attacked Zero during one of the Shadow Drive flares because he hadn't shown up in time to save my squad back at Tiberius! There is nowhere for me to go, nobody to call friend, nothing to live for except myself." He flourished the purple blade, "you have two options: let me walk away, or one of us dies here."

Axl knew that reasoning was sound, he'd just hoped that he'd be able to get Shade to come peacibly so he could be deactivated without having to cause either of them extra pain. He raised his guns, "I'm sorry, Shade. You die here."

Shade leapt backwards and began running between the trees, making sure he denied the Maverick Hunter a clear line of fire. Chunks of wood flew around him as the Axl Bullets tore through the trees. Shade dug his foot into the ground and reversed direction, closing the distance before Axl could adjust his aim to hit an unarmored area. Glowing blade met crossed gun barrels as the Hunter blocked the attack.

"Take this!" Shade punched Axl in the arm below the elbow. He amazed by how much lighter his arm and body felt with the fiberized metal instead of his normal, bulkier armor and found himself able to move much faster than he used to.

Axl used his hover jets to get an extra burst as he jumped backwards, firing as he moved away from Shade.

Shade caught most of the bullets with his blade, but gritted his teeth as he felt his left arm take a direct hit, reducing its mobility by 40%. "I'm not going to die!" he closed the distance as quickly as he had before, and with a feint he managed to knock one of Axl's guns away. The weapon splashed into a nearby puddle, "Axl, I don't wanna put you down." Shade held the beam saber pointing at the Hunter who'd leapt away again, "Please, let me go!"

"you know i can't!" Axl pointed his gun at Shade's head. "It's my duty to protect anyone who could end up being one of your future victims."

"I'm going to dissapear! I'm just going to find a place where nobody goes!"

"It doesn't matter, anywhere you go, we have to hunt you!" Axl fired.

Shade had seen the finger twitch in time to dodge the began to pull in the spotty shadows cast by the leaves, slowly turning the blade of his weapon black. His dark aura began to grow as he threw the attack, catching Axl's arm.

Axl fell to his knees, clutching his severed arm as coolant dripped from it. Shade walked up to him, "Axl, I warned you. If you didn't let me go, one of us would die." He raised the bade above his head, "Farewell."

Shade felt a searing pain in his chest, he looked and saw that Axl had tore one of the pieces of his own frame from his arm and used it to stab the crystal in Shade's chest, left exposed by the unzipped chestpiece. Shade grasped Axl's wrist and looked at the Hunter before bringing the beam saber down and splitting the black and red helmet open. Shade's chest crystal slpit open as Axl fell to the ground still clutching the piece of metal, the damage inside the crystal showed that if Axl had pushed any harder, he'd have hit Shade's core.

The Maverick Hunter's eyes began to twitch as he experianced a cascade failure. he reached out a hand upwards and opened his mouth with a silent scream of pain. Shade grasped the hand and stayed with Axl as one by one, his systems failed.

"Ssss-hade," Axl struggled to say his dying words, "the-e-e-ey will fi-nd you-ou. And wh-en they do-o... te-ll Ma-a-a-rino, go-oo-od bye..."

"If I ever see her again, I will."

Axl smiled as his vital systems began to fail, life leaving his eyes. A few seconds later, his arm went limp and Shade heard the click of the red-headed Hunter's core preforming a cold shutdown.

Shade laid the hand on Axl's chest and stood sighing, "I actually hoped I'd lose this fight. Axl was too good a person to die now..."

Shade clicked his radio for the last tranmission he'd make, "Kraven to Central Tower, come in Nana."

"Shade?"

"Lock on to these coordinates. You'll find what's left of Axl, but I'll be long gone before anyone gets here." click.

"Nana! did you just say that was from Shade?" X asked as he stepped off of the transport pad.

"Axl's KIA," she replied stricken by the revelation that one of the legendary S-Class Maverick Hunters had been defeated. "Shade truly is an S-Level fighter..."

EPILOUGE

Every member of every faction and subsidiary of the Maverick Hunters stood at attention as Axl's memorial came to a close. X took the stage and gave a final salute to the coffin containing the remains of his friend. He than turned to the crowd, "DISMISSED!"

As he began to walk to the command room of Maverick Hunter HQ, Zero joined him. "Hey, you ok, X?"

"Yeah, I was just already noticing how quiet it is without him here."

"Axl would have wanted to die in the line of duty, though."

"I guess that's true." X concieded that point, "but I still don't think Shade was the kind of opponent he'd want to lose against."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think he could have brought himself to fight all out against him."

"even if that's true," Zero brought his hand to his chin as he considered it, "Shade couldn't have beaten him unless he's really on the level."

Alia caught up with them, "speaking of Shade Kraven, we just recieved a tip." she handed X the report.

"Tianna Camp... why there?"

"X?" Zero leaned in to look at the report. the day before, Shade had hacked the marketplace transport unit and used it to get to the Tianna Camp Prison Complex.

"C'mon Zero, we're going."

After fighting for nearly an hour to get through the defenses that Shade had set up, X and Zero found themselves in the room where Nana had once been held prisoner. "What the..." Zero pointed over to what had once been Nana's operating station.

Most of the consoles had been gutted and rebuilt into something new. Shade sat in the middle of the machine, cords connected into all of his body's access ports. there were two screens still active, both pointing towards the main area.

X walked up to the screens and looked at them, the first was filled will a text message to anyone who found him:

DO NOT ACTIVATE ME PRIOR TO 2275.10.01.

I put myself into suspened animation because I know that I am a danger to those around me. I've killed one friend and did terrible things to two more.

I chose suspended animation because I need to be kept away from others, but fankly I fear death.

I am running a series of simulations and other programs that will hopefully allow me to find a way to keep myself in constant check.

The sequence will be complete by the year 2275 and will continuously cycle until I am awakened.

DO NOT ACTIVATE ME PRIOR TO 2275.10.01.

"Does he really think this will stop us?" Zero said incredulously, "He's a danger to society!"

X pointed at the other screen:

To my friends (if I still have the right to call you that) from the Giga City Defenders and Maverick Hunters:

I understand the severity of my actions better than you may think, I am not so Maverick as that.

If you truly need to Retire me then so be it.

but before you do know this, I am currently dispersed throughout the entirity of Giga City's computer matrix and destroying me will destroy the city.

As I said in the other message, I fear death.

I beg that you forgive me for my wrong doings.

Nana has probably already noticed this, but I am boosting the capabilities of all Central Tower's systems.

Fight for Everlasting Peace.

P.S. -Marino, Axl wanted me to tell you goodbye for him.

"He's still fighting as best as he can," X said thoughtfully

"That hardly makes it right."

"No," X turned back towards the door and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "but maybe he can make it right sometime in the future."

"I hope you are right X," Zero glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping form of Shade Kraven, and got a chill in his spine. "I really hope you are right."