Hello, again. I'm enjoying myself with this, and I'm sorry if it seems to be going nowhere. I am trying. Sort of. Anyway, I don't have the license to Megaman etc. Hopefully I don't get sued... Nah, anyway, read, and review. (That way no one dies of boredom. )


CHAPTER 8

"Well," Vile remarked blankly. "We caught her, and we killed her." There was no hint of the irony he felt in his voice. Sigma would have had him killed if that had slipped out.Sigma grinned mockingly. "This is the creature that terrorized my Mavericks? This the thing that slew so many?" He inquired, laughter hidden in his voice he toed her arm, "She couldn't even protect herself!" The laughter broke free and almost made Vile flinch, long practice kept him in place and blank faced.
"Yes, sir."
"Scrap her," The general ordered. "We'll get some use out of this weakling yet."
Vile ran a few scans, kneeling next to her, then peered at some of the wires visible through a tear. "Not possible, sir," He said respectfully, carefully in a position to lessen the impact of any blow Sigma might throw at him.
"Why not?" There was a dangerous tone in his voice.
"She's to different. Even the wires are made of different stuff than ours." He glanced up at Sigma and saw a frown. He coughed delicately.
"Something more?"
"We could have- erm- a little 'fun' with her and the Hunters." He suggested hesitantly.
Sigma brightened a little, curiosity taking the place of anger. "What do you mean?"
"The Hunters talk, sir. They're just as scared of her as we were. We make a show out of her and hang it out front of their base… Maybe leave a note saying one of them is next. They'll see how bad she looks, and then…" He shrugged, and let Sigma's mind run awry with the chaotic possibilities.
Sigma smiled cruelly, the idea was a success. "See to it," He nodded, and teleported away. Vile rubbed the back of his head, making a face. "Great…" He muttered, his eyes went to Neo-Omega. He sighed. "Let's go. I saw a metal shop in town, we can work there."
The Mavericks grinned and two of them hoisted her onto their shoulders. The small crowd started forward, Vile and the two bearing the corpse in the lead. One reploid was unfortunate enough to step on Neo-Omega's last stand. The mine exploded, killing him, the four men surrounding him, and injuring -or just knocking over- the rest. Vile picked himself up out of the dust and brushed his armor clean. Then he turned around slowly, mayhem on his lips. Instead he sighed. "Any idiot who isn't hurt, get off your faces and tend to those who are." He glanced at Neo-Omega and saw a slight -almost smug- expression on her face. He was seeing things, of course. There was a flurry of activity as the remnants of his squad picked themselves up and got to work. While they did that he rested his forehead in his hand, supporting the elbow with his other hand. How had he gotten put in charge of these idiots?

Zero woke to pounding on his door. He glanced at his clock as he struggled into his clothes. He growled a curse, it wasn't even two yet. He yanked the door open. "What is it?" He demanded, not feeling like being polite.
"That Neo-girl," the women hunter who had so rudely awakened him said, looking the worse for wear. "They found her, and begging your pardon sir, it's a mess."
"Neo-Omega?" He followed her. "What's going on?"
"Someone found her when they went to start their patrol." The woman shuddered. "She's been done up all pretty-like," he couldn't miss her sarcasm even in his sleep deprived state. "I can't describe it, you'll just have to see."
Zero took this with mute acceptance. He followed the woman and yawned as they drove out. It was a short walk, but he was sleepy, and wanted to get there fast. They pulled their bikes in and dismounted. The woman pushed some brush aside and led the way down a short path to a clearing. Zero's most recent yawn died as he saw the spectacle built up.

The black-clad figure of Neo-Omega hung limply, supported by rope and metal blades. Her arms were broken and the elbows dislocated so that they could bend them the wrong direction. White cord was stark against the black of her armor as it wrapped around the joint and through a metal net- it looked like fencing. More ropes bound her wrists and glinted with silver- barbs maybe? A wooden frame supported the mesh and the sharpened pieces of steel that had been driven in just so they took part of her weight, and cut her up while they were at it. Her legs had been slashed up as well. In fact, the only part of her they hadn't damaged, was her head. Black hair draped strait down from under her helmet partially cloaking her, but not covering enough.
Gashes caked with robotic blood opened on the torso. That was bad enough, but they also bound her ankles with barbed wire that they fed through to hold them against the mesh, forcing them to remain delicately crossed. Barbed wire was also twined in a vine-like pattern around the rest of her, glittering menacingly like stars in a cloudless sky. But most stars weren't stained with the shimmering ruby of blood.
That settled the question of what was braided with the ropes. Lashed to the mesh beneath her was a metal scroll reading: 'The Punishment.' Apparently Mavericks thought they had a sense of humor. Blood stained the middle of the brass and trickled down the engraved letters, dripping sullenly to soak into the wooden beam below.
Zero shook his head. The worst thing he could imagine right now, would be having to live through that. "Status?" He inquired, voice just as strong as normal. The woman eyed him with vague disgust- she looked a little green.
"Dead," Cain answered, walking over from behind the horror. "Her backs torn up and pieces of metal're dug into her spine." He scanned over the cross-like figure. He shook his head. "I can't tell if all that's post-mortem, or pre-."
"I'm hoping post. Even a Maverick shouldn't have to go through that." He noticed her sword was pinning her through her abdomen. And… What was that? Piercing her to either side of her sword… He turned to look deliberately at Cain before he identified any more injuries. "Anything we can do for her?"
"A nice burial." The doctor remarked; Lifesavor half fell out of a tree that put him on level with Neo-Omega. Several someone's caught him and set him on his feet. He walked over.
"What do you say, Cain?"
"She's dead."
"Zero?"
"I'm with Cain." He turned towards the woman, who shrugged her agreement mutely. Lifesavor shook his head.
"She isn't."
"Then she went through all of that, just to have to keep on suffering?" Zero inquired. "That's cruel."
"No. She shut down. I managed to get access to her most recent memories. I didn't- couldn't, rather- hack past the fight. And I couldn't get all of that, just a few flashes. She jumped some mavericks and beat the crud out of them, and then Sigma blasted her through a wall. Most of the damage on her right side came from that- she was protecting a little girl- and that's when she got the spinal damage and shut down. Everything else was done after she shut down. Impressive endurance, though. Despite being almost completely paralyzed she still had the presence of mind to drop a mine."
"Why shut down, though?" Cain inquired, frowning.
Zero considered, "Auto-repair."
"What?" His three companions gave him the same strange look.
"She's a beta version of me, why shouldn't she have an automatic-repair system?" Zero said reasonably.
"Good question. Wish I had an answer," Cain replied, turning his confused gaze up to the woman they were discussing. He shuddered and headed towards the team who were sketching on a card table.
"We'll be shipping her back to the base- after we dismantle that torture trap." Lifesavor looked disgusted. "Mavericks," He put a world of loathing into the word. Zero agreed completely.