This chapter was changed slightly due to later alterations. Mekanikku is no longer a reploid but a human. Sorry for anyone that has already read this chapter. And yes. Blond is probably my favorite hair color for female anime characters. I typically envision most of them with blond hair.
Darkman looked around himself at the crowd, his red shirt fluttering slightly in the cool morning breeze. It felt so good to be out of that pod. Apparently Zero had failed to take world domination. If he didn't fail, this probably wasn't what Dr. Wily was wanting it to be like.
Darkman tugged nervously at the belt that was around his red jeans. What to do now? This was a lot more different from the world that he knew. For one, the humans had robotic parts and the robots had little upside-down triangles on their foreheads. Was this just a fad? Darkman shrugged and walked through the crowd, keeping his sunglasses over his eyes.
What in the world was he going to do? Simple civilian life didn't apply to him at the moment. He'd have to learn about it and adapt.
"Whoop! Excuse me!" a blond-haired girl said as she bumped into Darkman's shoulder and dumped her books on the ground. "I didn't see you there."
Darkman stooped down and helped her pick up her books. This is what people do, right? "I'll say you didn't. Don't you know to be careful?"
"Sorry..." The girl flushed slightly as she looked up at him. "I'm a little absent minded at times. I like to go into my own world a little bit... okay, well, a lot."
Darkman handed her the rest of her books, his face lacking emotion. "Just be careful. What are all the books for?"
"These?" the girl asked. "They're for school."
"Why does anyone need to go to school?" Darkman asked.
The girl shrugged. "Seriously, I think they're trying to kill us." Darkman's fists clenched. "Not in that way," the girl said, giggling. "It's just that they try to stuff sooo much information in our heads at one time."
"And no one revolts?" Darkman asked.
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Um, no? It's not like we're at war or anything. It's just that that's the way it is."
Darkman scoffed. "All right," he said as he turned and started to walk away.
"H-hey!" the girl exclaimed and Darkman turned around. "Thank you for, um, helping me with my books," the girl said, jostling the books a little bit.
"No problem," Darkman said as he turned away.
Wow... that was a failure. His one chance to learn about the society and he blew it. Eh, there would be more chances.
He wandered around the streets, trying to memorize as much of it as he could. Was there anything to do around here? It seemed like everything costed money. Money which he didn't have. He growled and walked into a nearby alley. He shoved his hands into his pockets and sulked as he walked down the alley, stopping at a dead end.
"Stop right there, punk."
Darkman spun around, grabbing the pistol that was on his back and fired at the stranger, the blasts hitting it harmlessly.
"Why didn't that hurt you?" Darkman asked as he analyzed the stranger. He seemed vaguely familiar.
The stranger chuckled. "You've never messed with the most powerful reploid around, have you?"
The voice. That's what betrayed him.
"Bass?" Darkman said.
The stranger chuckled and snapped his fingers. More things came out from the alley, wielding crude weapons. Whether they were human or robots, it didn't matter. Darkman had some tricks up his sleeve.
"Finish him," the stranger said as he turned around. "He's not worth my time."
The thugs converged on Darkman, slowly.
"You wanna dance?" Darkman asked.
A giggle escaped one of the thugs. "He's kinda cute, you know."
"What? Whatever."
"THEN COME AND DANCE WITH ME!" Darkman yelled as he flung himself into the thugs.
A small compartment came out from his right arm and a blade sprung to life, facing backwards mostly. Only a small bit of it reached out halfway up his hand.
He moved around the thugs, dealing quick jabs with the forward facing end by moving his hand out of the way and finishing them off and others around him by spinning to get them with the longer end of the blade. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a chain flying at him. He lunged and flung his arm up to block the chain at the person's hand. The chain wrapped around him, making the thug grin. Darkman kicked a thug away from behind him and shoved a knife away that the thug in front of him was bringing down.
"Do you think you have me?" Darkman said as he pulled the chain from the thug's grasp. "Wrong."
He jumped over the thug, letting its ally take it out for him with a few blasts of the ally's gun. During that brief period, Darkman mostly unwrapped the chain from his arm. He spun around as the thug dropped to the ground and the chain wrapped itself around the gunner's neck after flying through the air. Darkman leapt into the air, a cruel snarl on his face as he brought his foot down into the person's stomach. He thrust the blade into the thug and finished him off. Slowly, he stood up, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"You ready for this?" he asked the last thug. Another girl. He grinned and walked towards her as her frame trembled.
"Please. Don't kill me. I was just doing my job! It was that Bass guy!" she pleaded.
Darkman snarled. "Then follow me. I assume you know about society?"
The girl gulped. "Y-yes? J-just don't k-kill me."
"Not yet," Darkman said. He stopped and looked back at her. "You... You're the girl that dropped her books, aren't you?"
The girl nodded and dropped to her knees, covering her face with her hands as her sobs came out.
"What're you doing here?" Darkman asked, deactivating his weapon and kneeling next to her. "Why were you with Bass?"
"H-he threatened m-my family," the girl said.
"He considers you or your family a threat," Darkman said. "What can your family do?"
"N-nothing," the girl sobbed. "Absolutely nothing. We-we're mechanics, not w-warriors."
Darkman nodded. "Come with me, all right? Don't be afraid."
He got up and extended his hand, the girl looking hesitantly up at him.
"C-can I trust you?" she asked as her hand partially reached out.
"It's either me or Bass. Take your pick," Darkman said. "If you take my hand, you're on my side."
The girl looked at his hand, then at him, then back at his hand. Slowly she took it and his hand grasped tightly around hers.
"Come with me," Darkman said as he led her quickly through the streets, pushing people out of his way. "You got money?"
"I've got a home," the girl said. "Family."
"No good. Bass will find you there. I don't know if I can fight Bass."
"He'll kill them!" the girl said.
"Then relocate. Bass can't know where you go," Darkman said. "Seriously, I can't see why you don't just leave them."
"If that's the monster you are, then let go!" the girl said as she tried to wrench herself from his grasp, gasping and flinching as his grip tightened and he pressed on a pressure point.
"Don't move," Darkman said.
"Why not?" the girl growled, her efforts intensifying.
"Then dive!" Darkman said as he pulled the girl close to him and dove to the side.
Explosions blew out the ground that they were standing on and Darkman jumped to his feet.
"You okay?" he asked as he pulled her up.
"Yep," the girl said, somewhat frustrated.
"Then let's go!" Darkman said as he broke into a run, dragging the girl behind him.
More explosions hit the ground behind them, the crowds of the street running to get out of the way.
"To the side!" Darkman shouted as he spun around to shift directions, the girl imitating his action. "Dive and roll!"
They dove as explosions hit the ground that would have been on them without Darkman's warning. They rolled back to their feet and kept running. Pain suddenly raced through Darkman's leg and he collapsed with a shout of pain.
"Sniper," he groaned.
"Get up!" the girl shouted as she stopped and pulled him back to his feet. "We need cover."
"Lead on," Darkman said.
The girl nodded and supported him as he limped along, the girl shifting their acceleration randomly. Sniper shots blew into the buildings next to them as they ran.
"Why don't we just go into one of these buildings?" Darkman asked.
"Because the offices don't offer enough protection and we could harm innocents if we go into a house. We need to get out of here. Give me a second. Hide behind that car while I do something, 'k?"
"Fine," Darkman said as she let go of him.
He rolled behind a car as she hid behind a motorcycle and fiddled around with the wiring until it revved to life.
"Get on!" she yelled.
Darkman hopped on, taking a few shots at the sniper and what seemed to be Crashman as the girl jumped onto the motorcycle and hit the accelerator for all it was worth.
"Where're we going?" Darkman asked. "We're just heading deeper into the city!"
"Then watch!" the girl shouted.
She made a tight turn, the rear tire skidding as it dragged across the pavement. A shot managed to hit her in the shoulder, making her flinch, but that didn't stop her from taking off towards the outskirts. Just as they reached the outside of the city, a huge boulder slammed into the side of their motorcycle and knocked them to the ground.
Darkman struggled to get up as Gutsman loomed closer, his vision blurry.
"Gutsman," Darkman said, some fluid dripping from his mouth. Great. Some internal systems were damaged. "Thought you were dead. Deactivated."
Gutsman snorted and kicked up another boulder. "You wish."
"Give me a few seconds," the girl whispered from behind a fire hydrant as she pulled out an assortment of parts from a large pouch at her side.
Darkman jumped backwards from another boulder that crashed at his feet, knocking him over.
"Look out!" the girl yelled.
Darkman looked to the side and rolled, another explosion throwing him to the side. He got back to his feet, feeling his side, his face contorted with the pain.
"Medic," he said quietly.
Gutsman grinned and walked closer, his fist clenched, as Tomahawkman leapt down, his axe gleaming in the sun.
"Say hi to Protoman for me," Gutsman said as he drew back his fist.
Darkman readied himself to be thrown back. He would land on his feet once it happened. The girl leapt into the air, brandishing a large gun.
"DIE!" she yelled as round after round of shotgun blasts tore Gutsman's armor apart, the rounds coming fully automatic.
Darkman leapt onto Tomahawkman as Tomahawkman drew back his tomahawk. Darkman grabbed Tomahawkman's neck and spun around in the air, finishing Tomahawkman quickly as Gutsman tumbled to the ground.
"Hide!" the girl yelled as she dove into some cover.
Darkman jumped behind a car as more explosions rocked the ground behind him and shurikens flew overhead.
"Shadowman," he growled as he pulled out his pistol.
He reached up as Shadowman jumped overhead and flung him to the ground, blasting the ground with his pistol as Shadowman rolled away and got back up, a flurry of shurikens digging themselves into Darkman.
"Overdrive activated" were the words that ran across Darkman's vision.
Darkman slid past Shadowman, cutting through him with a dagger. As Shadowman spun around, Darkman jumped over, grabbing Shadowman's head and slamming him back into the ground. Another compartment opened in Darkman's back and missile launchers emerged, setting themselves above his shoulders, a crosshair appearing over one eye as he initiated a lock on another robot master. Quickman. He launched a couple of missiles as soon as it locked and turned his attention back to Shadowman, finishing him off with a quick thrust of his arm-blade.
"Girl! Let's go!" he yelled as another compartment opened out of his other arm.
He unleashed a volley of chaingun rounds at Quickman and started to run out of the city, grabbing the girl on his way out. Treads emerged on the bottom of his feet and he sped up, throwing a handful of mines behind him. Just in time. Napalmman spun around the corner and was engulfed in the explosion of the mines. Nothing to kill him, but it was good to cripple him.
"That was sweet," Darkman said as they entered an cavern. "If I didn't take too much damage, I'd say that I want to do that again." He grimaced. "Any chance that you can fix me, ordinary-mechanic-that-isn't-a-threat?"
The girl laughed nervously. "Okay, so I guess that wasn't quite all true."
"Well, you blew your cover pretty quick," Darkman said as all of his weapons went back into their compartments and he dropped to the ground, leaning against a stalactite. "You have a name?"
"Mekanikku," the girl said as she pulled the shurikens out from Darkman. "Mekanikku Heiki. Yours?"
"Darkman," he said, grimacing as Mekanikku pulled out another shuriken and some rocks that had dug themselves into him from Gutsman's boulder.
"Like the Darkman?" Mekanikku asked.
Darkman mentally raised an eyebrow. No fear in her. Just surprise.
"Yes. I'm him."
"And yet you're fighting against Bass's gang?" Mekanikku said.
"I don't belong to Wily. I don't belong to anyone," Darkman said. "I'm my own guy now."
Mekanikku applied a thick solution over Darkman's armor that soon stiffened into a complete armor.
"That's interesting stuff," Darkman said. "It's impressive."
"I used to be a medic in the army. I know how to make this stuff and I know how to use it," Mekanikku explained.
"You look like a seventeen year old," Darkman said flatly. "Why would you be in school after the army?"
Mekanikku shrugged. "Not quite sure," she said as she leaned against a rock. "I think it was to help me cope with life outside of the military. You can't stay in the military without taking some kind of mental trauma."
Darkman nodded. "I thought only humans had to deal with that."
Mekanikku shook her head. "Maybe the combat robots can stand it because that's what they're built for, but I was just an ordinary civilian."
"So how long were you in the military?" Darkman asked.
"About eight years," Mekanikku said. "I've been alive for about eighteen."
Darkman nodded as he wiped his forehead. "So what's with the triangle on the foreheads of some of the other people that I've seen?"
"Oh, those?" Mekanikku said. "It's an indicator that they're a reploid."
"Reploid?"
"Umm... So you know Zero?" Mekanikku said. Darkman nodded. "He was a reploid. An intelligent robot that doesn't need to take orders. Reploids have become more advanced, making the Maverick Virus ineffective."
"Maverick Virus?" Darkman asked.
Mekanikku giggled. "You have a lot to learn about modern technology, don't you?"
Darkman grinned. "Apparently. What year is this?"
"27XX," Mekanikku replied. "Anyway, the Maverick Virus would cause reploids to go maverick. Maverick means that they try to kill humans."
"So now robots don't try to kill humans?" Darkman said, looking confusedly at her with a slightly accusing look.
"No. Reploids have free will," Mekanikku corrected. "If they really wanted to, they could kill someone. Reploids are more identical to humans now, emotion-wise and intelligence-wise."
Darkman nodded slowly. "I'll try to remember that."
He got up and looked around the cavern, light becoming scarce as the cavern dug deeper into the ground.
"Where do you suppose this goes?" Darkman asked.
"I don't know, but without a light, we might die," Mekanikku said. "But... Well, uh..."
"But what?" Darkman said as he turned back to her.
"I need to check on my family," Mekanikku said dismally. "Thank you for getting me out of there, though. I just can't leave my family with Bass and his gang of the Reploid Masters."
Darkman nodded coldly. "Go. I'm not going to get myself killed over someone else's family."
Mekanikku's mouth opened slightly, but she quickly closed it and started to walk away, out of the cavern.