Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman. Capcom does.

Megaman AXL

Chapter 02

Resistance Headquarters

There has been quite a fuss after the discovery of the strange signal from Giga City. Talks about welcoming, celebration, and congratulations have rang in the headquarter's morning. Of course, there was a small group from within the base who had their doubts about the origin of the signal, but still, most kept their hopes up. Cerveau has requested a battalion from the Resistance Army to participate in the expedition, and most of the soldiers who were asked to take part took it gladly. The other's? Not so much. They all knew that back then, the first day they have discovered Zero in the ancient, abandoned laboratory, a lot of soldiers died on the way, nearly, if not, completely wiping the squad that was with Ciel at that time. That was not to say they weren't glad seeing the red reploid again; most of them have already accepted the hero's uncertain fate, and seeing someone who seemingly died then come back again was an unsettling thought to them.

After a lot of arrangements and some convincing, Cerveau have managed to prepare the rescue team. Ciel was ready, and was also part of the lead. She was contemplating whether to bring a Cyber Elf or not, as the same circumstances to recover Zero might happen again. One can never be too prepared, right?

"Ciel, are you ready?" Cerveau asked as he entered the control room. "I have conjured at least thirty combat ready soldiers to join you. Some of them are veterans and have participated in the Elf Wars." He motioned for her to follow to the Resistance base vehicle bay, were a caravan was arranged. Before going, Ciel felt a tug on her wrist, and saw Allouette, her blue eyes staring intently at the other.

"Be careful, okay?" The little girl spoke in a tone of worry. Ciel gave a soft smile, then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Allouette, don't worry. I'll be back soon."

"What about Zero?" Allouette asked, out of the blue. The pink scientist was caught slightly off guard by the question. Ciel had her doubts about the signal, but she was afraid to voice her opinions regarding the possible state of the maverick hunter. She could only smile back at the little reploid girl in reassurance.

"We shall see until we come back. Don't want to keep him waiting, right?"

Resistance Caravan

Ciel drove one of the vans that headed for Giga City. As usual, the place was arid. Long ago, the place was standing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, but now, all the seawater seemed to have dried up, and a land bridge was naturally formed connected to the artificial island. Area Zero, the place where the space colony Eurasia crashed about a hundred years ago, was the only place to have a 'natural' forest as opposed to the man-made mechanical ones, and a habitable ecology, with the aid of the space colonie's environmental systems which were strangely active after the atmospheric reentry, and even survived the impact. The signal's intensity was increasing as they began to approach the barren city. It was located on a tall building, and by the looks of it, it once was used as a command center. They soon parked their vehicles, and the squadron assembled quickly, with Ciel going along the lead.

"The readings seems to originate from below the ground." Ciel announced. The captain of the resistance soldiers heard these, and began to bark orders. Their formation consisted of five scouts who will check the area, behind them were five soldiers who will escort the scientist. Two teams of five will then secure checkpoints, and a squad of ten will keep watch at the tower's entrance.

"Scout team, go forward. Move!" Shouted the Commanding Officer. The scouts then went to survey the area. Radio communications were at a minimum to reduce radar interference. For conveinience, let us name them according to their jobs.

"Scout Three, go over and breach the door. Scout Five, prepare to fire for any rouge mechaniloids that may suddenly pop up. Four and Two, you're with me." Ordered the team's leader, namely, Scout One. With the fire of a buster shot, the blast door was opened. It gave in easily due to the structure's age. Seeing no hostile entites, Scout One then turned on his radio.

"This is Scout One. Area is clear of hostiles, over." Recieving the message, the CO then ordered for the Escort team to move, with Ciel moving along. They passed the forcefully opened entrance, and it turned out to lead onto a winding staircase. The Scout team already moved up ahead, repeating the same process. As they were nearing the source, Ciel's mind have been racking up dark thoughts. What if Zero wasn't here? Is all our effort for naught? The human scientist's hope was slowly diminishing each passing second. Zero's recovered parts were proof that a part of his, if not, whole body was obliterated along Ragnarok's scattered debris somehow. At the end of the corridor stood an old, large door that probably led to a laboratory. Ciel looked at her Positioning System, and it indicated that it was the end of their search. Her curiosity took a sudden rise; if Zero's body have ended up here for unknown reasons, then someone must've found the red reploid and took effort in repairing him. She tried to get the door to open, but it was sealed shut, and electronics based access systems were absent.

"Let me check." Said one of the resistance soldiers as he knocked against it's surface. It produced a kind of sound that indicated the object was quite hollow. Several cracks and traces of rust could be seen if one were to look closely. The soldier's eyes lit up as an idea struck him. "Let's try overwhelming it with a saturation attack." Their CO, seeing no problems with the suggestion, gave an order to open fire in a concentrated fusillade. Soon after, the structure was brought down due to the huge amount of damage it recieved. A normal buster shot may be weak, but a whole barrage of them could be described as overkill.

As Ciel entered the room, with the Escort team around her, she noticed that most of the equipment was in a dissaray. Computers, blueprints, and damaged reploid parts were scattered along the tiled floor. A large capsule was situated at the center, with many wires and other components attached to the pod. Thankfully, there wasn't a protective barrier as Ciel tried to approach it, so the use of a Cyber Elf was not needed. There was a control panel that was placed at the right side of the capsule, placed atop of a stand.

She then booted the panel up, and a series of options were presented. There was one holographic box that seemed to overlap others, and with it a message that was yet to be revealed. It almost made Ciel jump in surprise when it showed that X, the great blue reploid himself, had left that very message. As the blonde scientist was about to tap the screen to show a message, she heard a blood curling scream emanate from behind.

"Aaaah! Help me!" A resistance soldier tried to wriggle his way out of the large hand that suddenly grasped him. The creature was about twelve feet in height, and the only indication of the unknown mechaniloid's presence was it's intimidating sillhouette. This proved to be enough to rattle some of the battalion's bravery, as they only stared in fear, shock, and bewilderment.

"What are you all standing for? Shoot 'em down!" The Commander shouted at his men, and immediately, they began firing. The busters that the reploid soldiers were issued had a mediocre firing power at best, and the fact that most of them being originally civilian reploids did not help their case, as this type of reploid clearly was not meant for combat. They tried focusing their shots at the mechaniloid's head, or where they assumed it to be. The mechaniloid gave a loud growl as it was being pelted by buster fire again and again. Two rectangular 'eyes' then glowed a neon red, and in one swift motion, the soldiers got thrown away in different directions as a structure barely resembling an arm sweeped them of the floor. The figure then went out of the shadows, showing its full form. The mechaniloid's design was resembling that of a gorilla. Some of its body parts were covered in rust, and the metal covering of the machine that served as its 'skin' revealed signs of chipping away due to the test of time.

The rouge mechaniloid was clearly beyond repair, but it refused to back down.

"Miss Ciel! There's no time to waste. We must open the capsule now!" One resistance soldier managed to say through the ongoing panic. Ciel readily complied, and with the press of a button, the cylindrical pod started to open. A sudden wave of anxiety overcame her. What if the one inside wasn't Zero? Would he or she be an ally, or a foe? However, her train of thought was cut off as she felt a metallic grip pull her out of the ground.

"Kyaaaaa!"

"Miss Ciel!" One of the soldiers who heard the scream called out. He unloaded a full clip of his buster at the gorilla mechaniloid, but it worked to no avail. The maverick cocked back its mighty fist, then brought it down, creating an intense shockwave that blew away all the resistenc soldiers that was within its radius to the other side of the room. Ciel tried to escape from it's grasp, but the mechaniloid only tightened its grip on the scientist. The capsule finally opened, revealing what's inside. She tried to take a look with her cyan eyes that started to well up. For one thing, what she saw did not meet her initial expectations.

A black armored reploid was situated inside, and by the looks of it, he was still under the influence of hyper sleep. The face of the reploid was relatively young, with an 'X'-shaped scar at the bridge of his nose. A black helmet with a large purple orb served as his head's protection, and his auburn hair jutted outward on the back of his head, instead of flowing. If one were to look from a different angle, it resembles an 'A' shape. The black reploid was unaware of what was happening. Ciel gathered every bit of her remaining strength, and in one desperate attempt, she gave a full-on scream.

"Help me!"

At once, the black reploid's eyes opened. Scanning the area around him, he spotted a gorilla-like mechaniloid holding a girl in one arm. He immediately jumped out of the capsule, picked up a buster near him, then fired at its arm in a rapid succession. With great precision, he shot the severed, rusting joints that could barely hold its steel fingers. Ciel began to fall as she was released from the mechaniloid's hold, and the black reploid quickly moved to her aid, catching her in a bridal style position. The female scientist eyed the face of her savior, his green eyes meeting her's. "Who are you?" She muttered softly, but enough for the former maverick hunter to hear. He gave Ciel a smirk.

"The name's Axl, one of the best Hunter Base has to offer!"

Author's note: Hello! Revolver here. This chapter was released earlier than what I have initially planned. The previous chapter was too short, so I hope I'll make it up to you guys with this update. Criticism is welcome, especially the constructive ones.