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.
