The Shinigami's Angel
Chapter Nine
The green-eyed girl stared up at the white building looming over her. Most people were automatically struck with awe at the impressive structure of the building that served as Legion's headquarters… but Aile had seen more imposing sights. She sighed, glancing around nervously before entering the building. The building brought back bad memories…
Aile never cared much for government. If she ever found a system that worked, she might be less cynical on that front. But Slither… Slither was the ruling force in her half of the world, while Legion kept things running smoothly for the other half. And Slither had made a royal mess of things. It may have been a sham, and maybe Legion was different… but if they were, why did they just ignore what was happening? If Project Haven had succeeded, the whole world would have crumbled, and Legion would be no more… so why did they just lay back and not even offer any support, if they were as great as they appeared to be? Too many things had happened for Aile to allow herself to trust the government to take care of things. She didn't trust anyone to rule the world besides herself, and she had no wish of such a thing.
Well, she wouldn't try to bring them down or anything… but she wouldn't hand over the protection of the people to them. Only she was suited for such a job.
Aile sighed and rubbed her temple. She didn't come here to mentally rant about her personal paranoia. She came here to find out about a certain boy whose mystery had been taunting her ever since they met. Prairie didn't want them to go so far away, afraid of what would happen if there was an incident but Aile convinced her to let her transport there by herself. The Guardian leader eventually agreed, and here Aile was. Legion had the largest computer database in the entire world, and if Aile could get access to it, she had the best chance of finding something about Shinigami.
Aile was only concerned about being allowed entrance. Almost no-one was allowed to access Legion's database without a important reason, and Aile somehow doubt finding out about one boy for personal curiosity would be considered "important" to the Three Sages. She could always have one of her Guardian friends help her hack into the system, but if Legion found out they were hacked and traced it to the Guardian's airbase, it could tarnish the Guardian's reputation at least, and Aile wasn't willing to put them at risk like that. Although, that concern might be something of a moot point, as the security might be so high even the Guardian's high-tech computers couldn't break through.
The female Mega Man was shaken from her musing by a quiet voice calling for her. That was the reason Aile came here; she was going to talk to the Three Sages, to try and convince them to let her look at their database. Of course, it would first be a video conversation, for security measures, but if all went well, soon she would be heading up to where they actually were, to check their database for information about Shinigami.
Aile entered the small, dark room, and a screen flickered to life on the wall in front of her, displaying the faces of the Three Sages. Aile felt slightly awkward. It was a great honor to be allowed a conversation with the Three Sages, but Aile felt completely fine talking to them… which made her slightly uncomfortable.
"Ah, Aile." A man with a full head (and beard) of red hair said in greeting before Aile could speak. "The great heroine who stopped the insane Serpent and Model W. It is a pleasure to speak with you."
Aile started slightly. "You've heard of me?"
"Who hasn't?" A much older man responded, "Although, it did come as a surprise to find a girl had saved the world… not to mention one barely older than a child."
"Mikhail!" The last Sage scolded, a younger man with blue hair and a serene look. "Looks can be deceiving, you know. And this girl obviously holds great power if she saved the world on her own."
"Well, not on my own," Aile admitted. "I couldn't have done it without the Guardian's help."
"But still, it was you who bore the brunt of the load." The blue-haired man flattered.
"Enough, Albert." The first man interjected. "I'm sure Aile did not come here simply to here us praise her accomplishments." The man turned his attention to the girl. "Greetings, Aile. My name is Thomas. And these are the other two Sages, Albert and Mikhail." The man indicated the men on either side of him. Despite the fact the three worked together, it was obvious Thomas was the unofficial head of the Sages.
"Hello." Aile inclined her head slightly, trying to adopt her best formal tone. It was rather difficult, the only official business she had done before was as a Transporter, and then it was from client to Transporter, not like this. Well, she'd try her best anyway. "I have a request I would like to make."
Aile swallowed noiseless, continuing a second later as no-one spoke, taking the cue to continue. "I would like to request access to your database, to look up a… person I encountered recently."
Albert looked slightly amused.
"I see, an indulgence for the heroine?"
Aile gritted her teeth. She didn't want her request to come off as an indulgence, like they were humoring a child's demand.
"No, it's not like that. I believe he has… some significance in my fight to protect the people of this world, but have no other way of looking up information about him."
"I see. However, we do not grant access to our database lightly." Thomas said. "Could we not look him up for you."
"I… forgive me, sir, but I do not believe that would work. I do not know his name, or anything about him save his face. And I do not think I could explain it to you sufficiently enough so I would not fear I was learning about the wrong person. Please, sirs."
Thomas stared at her with scrutiny. Several tense moments passed, before Thomas nodded.
"Very well. We shall send a key to the elevator through this terminal. You shall find all you desire about this boy."
The room seemed almost uninhabited, cast into darkness and void of all sound but the low hum of machinery. Inactive computer screens lined the walls, and in the center of the room were two vertical capsules, each large enough to contain a humanoid.
Suddenly the left capsule's door opened with a soft hiss, revealing a Reploid girl wearing white and blue armor.
Soft ruby eyes opened to the darkness. The girl pulled herself slowly out of the container, wires snapping off of her body and falling to the floor. She softly placed a foot on the cold metal, waiting a second to steady herself before continuing on. Getting "repaired" always left her feeling slightly odd.
She reached forwards and grabbed a staff that leaned against a table a short distance away, snagging the weapon and pulling it to her chest, almost embracing it. Her eyes scanned the room, and saw her brother's capsule still closed. After another quick scan, she found his weapon was not in view.
Pandora sighed. Prometheus had taken his scythe in with him again. But he had always been more paranoid than his sister, and more openly defiant. Of course Pandora hated Albert just as much as Prometheus did, but she figured that if he had any idea what they were up to, the two of them would be dead the next second, so she might as well not draw suspicion to herself. She would wait until the right moment before revealing her disloyalty, but at the moment she could find no reason to give Albert the impression she did not trust him.
Pandora frowned. Prometheus had not woken up yet…
The girl walked over to her sibling's capsule and glanced at the small reading on the side. His timer would be restored in 80 seconds…? The girl shook her head. She could tell what must have happened. Her brother always liked to tempt fate a bit too much.
The girl crossed the room and turned on the lights, her optics glad for the relief. She pulled herself up onto the large control panel in front of the monitors and waited for Prometheus to wake, staring at the capsule the whole time.
In a little less than a minute, her brother's capsule hissed opened, and he shot up.
"Albert, you—! Don't you dare mess with my head like that again!" He yelled, startling his sister.
"Prometheus?" The girl asked quietly, softly leaping from her seat to rush to her brother's side.
"Ah, P-Pandora. It's… nothing. Albert just…" Prometheus shuddered. Albert's "warning" had taunted him during his whole regeneration cycle.
Pandora wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulder, keeping him steady until he was fine. He shrugged her off as soon as he could stand fine on his own, but his eyes displayed his gratefulness.
"Hey, there's something I want to show you." The boy grinned, before sauntering over to the computers. Pandora followed him quietly, and at the push of a button the monitors flared to life.
Pandora's brow furrowed in confusion. On a large screen in the center was the picture of a boy in his late teens, with cobalt blue eyes and a dark brown braid. He was also pretty cute, Pandora realized, easily defeating the urge to blush.
"Prometheus, who is this?"
"This," Prometheus smirked slightly. "Is our… special Mega Man."
Pandora blinked.
"I see…" The girl said slowly, "This is the one that new Biometal merged with."
"Yes," Promtheus nodded. "It'll be interesting watching what happens next."
Pandora couldn't help but agree. This was going to be very interesting.
Shinigami flopped down and glared at the sky. Four days had passed since he made his decision, but not much had actually changed for him. Oh sure, he now knew he was going to continue on with his original plan, but what now? He had no doubt he wouldn't stop until he wiped even the memory of the Mavericks from existence, but how would he accomplish that task? All he knew what that the W-roids had something to do with the Maverick, but what good did that do? Was he just supposed to wander around, hoping by sheer luck to stumble upon all the W-roids, destroy them systematically, then all the Mavericks would just go away?
Shin groaned and lifted a hand to his forehead. Things were supposed to be clear once he made his decision…
'What's wrong?' Forte asked suddenly.
"I'm just… not feeling well." Shin mumbled.
'What, you got sick or something?'
"No, I… I'm just annoyed because I have no idea what to do next." The boy admitted.
'Ah. Know the best method I've found for calming down… or cheering up, or fixing anything that's wrong?'
"No, what?" Shin asked distractedly, only half-listening.
'Fighting.'
Shinigami stared at the floating piece of metal
'No, seriously! Fighting makes everything better.' Forte stated confidently.
"Well…" Shin hesitated, then stood up and half-smiled. "Guess it's as good a plan as any right now!"
Aile slowly stepped out of the lift. It felt slightly surreal. She was in the main control room of Legion Headquarters, about to search through the largest database in the world. The reality of the situation was slowly coming to her. She wasn't used to dealing with things like this. She almost felt like she would be more comfortable on the battlefield.
Almost.
"Thomas, Albert, Mikhail, it's an honor." Aile bowed.
"Please, Aile, we've gone through the introductions before." Mikhail waved her off. "Feel free to search the database for as long as you need."
"Ah, thank you… sirs." Aile added, before scooting over to one of the dozen computer consoles.
Aile sat down at the console, feeling somewhat self-conscious at the fact she was in the physical presence of all three Sages, and she could feel their gazes on her. Brushing off the fact, she stared at the screen, placing her hands on the two slightly worn pads. She scrolled through the thousands of faces as quickly as possible, amazed there were this many people with brown hair and dark blue eyes.
While scanning the screen quickly, her eyes lit upon a certain face. Selecting it for a larger view, she realized this was indeed the boy she was looking for. The picture looked about five years younger, but there was no mistaking it.
She had found Shinigami's file.
She could barely stop her fingers from trembling in excitement. Finally, she'd get some answers. Not all of them, she knew, maybe not many, but some of her questions would be resolved at least.
Aile opened the file and glanced at the document in anticipation. However, as the skimmed the words, the color from her face slowly drained.
Oh… my…
Forte grinned as they ripped through a horde of Maverick of all shapes, glad Shinigami was able to vent. They both held loose control over their actions, ready to stop if the insanity crept in again, but until then, they would fight without hindrances.
Forte knew Shinigami liked fighting. He had name himself after a god of death, after all, and the former robot couldn't believe it was solely out of sulking about his admittedly gruesome fate. No, whether the boy consciously knew it or not, he loved the thrill of battle; crushing those insignificant, fighting against those that might deal him harm, even struggling against a superior opponent— this was what both of them were meant to do, Forte realized somewhat bitterly. Well, neither of them had a choice in the matter, so why not enjoy it?
A jolt ran through Forte's consciousness, hurtling him from his thoughts. Had they been hit? No… nothing seemed to be wrong with Shinigami, and the sensation hadn't gone away. Forte growled softly. What was going on? It felt like... he was being pulled. No that wasn't it... it was like he knew there was something ahead, something…
Similar.
But that was impossible, wasn't it?
Shinigami turned away and dashed forwards after the medium-sized Mechaniloid that rushed past, and Forte pushed the thought away as the sensation slowly faded. It wasn't important right now. He could bring it up later. But, if he was right…
This could turn out to be just the plan Shin was hoping for.
Author's notes: Augh, so so sorry for the long wait! Anyway, I have plotted out the whole fic now, (30 chapters long!) so that should lead to quicker update rates, but of course it's 11-17 I don't have a very clear idea what happens in. ^^" Oh well, I'll try my best! Oh yes, to let you know, from now on I am going to try my very best to update at least once a month. (Oh yes, and Omegaplus, I couldn't resist— there is gonna be a little PandoraXShinigami in here. I hope you'll like it. ^^)
Ainrhyr: Yay! I'm so glad you like it! ^^ And I'm very happy I managed to do that, I was trying to and I'm really glad I succeeded. And yeah, me too, I think she might be might favorite out of all of them, even Giro… unless you count Prometheus as a Chosen One. I kinda like him better. ^^"
ZX-Kid: I know, he's so evil! Well, I'm glad you did. Hope you liked this one as well!
Niilan: I dunno, sounded kinda suspicious to me… *kidding, kidding* Anyway, glad you do. Yeah, I know! T.T Poor Prometheus… Well, yeah, but if there's a worse bad guy, the bad guy automatically becomes a good guy! Isn't it great? *cough*Marik*cough* Well, hope you liked this one! Sorry there wasn't much detail to Shin's escapade, but there will be more… action-focused fight scenes coming up. ^^"
Forcemaster24: Oh, you know there will. Mwahahaha… Oh yes. Really didn't want to have to do this, (well, okay, I did) but you leave me no choice…
A certain red-eyed Reploid sat at his computer, glaring at the screen. There was a certain fanfiction he had really gotten into, but it hadn't been updated in several months, and he was starving for a new chapter.
Prometheus sighed. This was a problem.
And, of course, the best way to solve problems is with violence.
Promethues grinned, grabbed his scythe, and transported out.
-a few minutes and several hundred miles away…-
The Reploid spun his weapon expertly, leaving the blade of the scythe inches from the author's neck.
"Update. Now." Prometheus snarled.
(Hope that was satisfactory. ^^ Now get working! Please?)