Megaman X: Final Prologue

By: SylentStryke

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I would write something about how I don't own Megaman X and how Capcom owns him and his crew, but I forgot how to do that. :)

Chapter 9: Twisted Fate

Arcadia- City Core
Time: 10:41 A.M.
Date: 6-18-22XX

An Arcadian guard ran down the lengthy hallway and turned the corner. He shouted into a room he ran past, and a little more than twenty soldiers poured out of the room after him. The last reploid that ran out felt his head being grabbed. Then he felt and heard a sharp pop in his neck as it was jerked violently to the side. His body silently slid up into a ventilation duct. Moments later, the soldier jumped down out of the duct and sped around the corner.

- - -

"Good job, Vern. Set the beacon up when they past the room Zero's in." Leyna whispered into her comm link.

"Roger that ma'am. Good luck." Neil whispered back quickly. Leyna looked back at her small team. Echo was standing against the doorframe with her crazy looking tonfa blades. Siege was sitting against the wall, puffing on a cigarette. Another hunter was monitoring the surrounding hallways via computer. Two more were making small talk. Siege blew a stream of smoke from his mouth.

"So, what happened in Giga City? I've heard all kinds of rumors. Something about Redips slaughtering the 'roids there. I think it was Weil."

"Oh, no! Nothin' like that, man. It...uh...um...never mind." Echo stopped when she thought about it. She was just fending off the rampaging reploids along with Axl. She didn't even think about asking anyone about what happened.

"We're not really authorized to give out that info anyway. At least not yet." Leyna said bitterly, remembering what happened. Siege let out a resounding grunt before taking another drag on his cigarette. Echo faked a cough.

"Ack! Siege, why do you smoke those things? They're bad for you! And besides that, they stink!" She coughed out. Siege made a face at her.

"Don't even start! The same could be said about beer! Why do you drink those cans of purging liquid?"

"It's a habit! But I don't drink 'em half as much as you smoke those 'Death Sticks'!"

"Hey, I only smoke when I need to calm my nerves. And they have no physical or mental effect on 'roids. Unlike beer." He smiled after his coup de grace. Echo mock frowned as Siege chuckled warmly.

"So this is what the famed 0th Unit is like, huh?" A pale hunter remarked aloud. Echo regarded him with a smug grin.

"Nah, not really. This is tame compared to when Zero's around."

"Yea. Colonel X has told us many stories about his endeavors."

"Heads up, guys! I gotta beacon!" Leyna called out, signaling the hunters to get ready.

"Lynn, is the short transit ready out there?"

"Yes ma'am. I've placed it on the wall above the entrance point." A determined female voice replied.

"Ok. We're starting the rescue op. Leyna, out." She closed the link and turned to her small team. "Alright, the beacon is giving a readout of... 126 degrees to the left...and an angle of depression of 46 degrees." She moved to the spot indicated by the numbers and marked the floor. "Set the drill here!"

Ross, the only hunter from the 8th, set up a power drill on the floor. He set the deviation points for the laser cutters, and then he cranked the laser length to penetrate three floors. Giving her the thumbs up, she gave him a quick nod. He pressed the button and hastily backed away from the device. It hummed to life traced a large circle for the laser's path before deploying a suspended tripod that rotated three bright green lasers. He was about to say something when the emergency klaxons went off.

"What the hell!" Leyna gasped as she eyed one of the monitor screens. She swore aloud when she saw the cause of the alarm. "Vice, you idiot!"

"Shit! Leyna, we've got company!" The monitoring hunter shrieked out. The door to the room busted open just as the floor drill completed the hole in the floor.

"Go!" Echo shouted as she threw a smoke bomb at the soldiers spilling into the room. She dropped down the hole and passed up three floors before landing on the hard surface below. Leyna fired shots at the armored reploids as they made fruitless attempts to grab her. As the last hunter descended down the hole, she turned and dove into the pit. One of the NT's got lucky and grabbed her by the foot. He chuckled as he started to pull her up. She chortled as she chucked a device at him, which stuck on his face. He let go of her as his body went into convulsions moments before the device exploded.

- - -

Leyna grabbed a pipe jutting out of the exposed ceiling and swung herself around as she reached the bottom. She ducked as she landed on the ground, and was lucky that she did so. A large plasma blot sailed over her head and collided with the wall. She looked around for her squad and found that they were fighting with the NT Mavericks. She made a dash through the chaos around her for a digital panel she found on a wall. Along the way she jumped over bodies of not yet dead reploids and ducked under various projectiles, a couple of which that connected with her. Then a heavy weight tackled her onto the ground. She couldn't believe it.

"What the hell are you doing here! You're supposed to be up top!" Vice growled out as he stood up and shot off a few rounds of his rifle. Leyna simply growled back and took off again. Oddly enough, seeing him filled her heart with joy.

The joy of seeing his face when she got Zero back on their side put a smile on her face.

She ran into a small hallway and rounded the corner. She was tackled to the ground by a large reploid. She looked up and saw a fist before it drove into her face. She managed to block a few of the wild punches before she jammed a knife into the offensive reploid's neck. He fell off of her as she got up. A small amount of movement on the ceiling caught her attention, causing her to look up. The ceiling tile swiveled back, revealing a large plasma turret. She swore as she ran to a nearby wall. The defensive turret fired a torrent of foul energy at her, tracing a path from where she stood to where she was going.

Leyna activated her wall walk program and ran up the wall before vaulting backwards over the plasmatic energy. She threw a sticky bomb on the turret as she fell back towards the ground. She barely had time to duck behind the wall before the grenade went off, taking out the turret with a loud explosion. She continued down the hallway hastily. She scanned the ceiling for more turrets of death as she went, not wanting to be caught off guard again. So she was completely surprised when a magnetic zone took hold of her feet and tripped her, ensnaring the rest of her body as well. She yelled out in pain as the magnetic field messed with her sight functions, making things jump around in odd intervals. She saw a choppy image of another plasma turret being deployed, this one right above her. She cried out as she struggled now more than ever to get free. Then she heard an explosion. Feeling the magnet field dissipate, she quickly rolled out of the way to avoid being crushed by the smoldering cannon. She looked behind her and saw smug reploid standing with a buster cannon on his arm.

"So you've decided to jump the gun, Miss Zero?" Vice teased as he strode down the hallway. Leyna thought about spitting at him, but decided to head into the door at the end of the hall instead. Vice followed.

"Why are you following me?" She questioned accusingly.

"Following you? I'm here to find that damn elf. It is the whole reason why we're here. But that's not why you came down here, right?" He inquired suspiciously. Her eyes went wide as the hammer hovered over the nail head.

"What're you talkin' about?" She asked innocently. Vice suddenly appeared in front of her.

"You're going to try and rescue your boyfriend. You aren't slick." He said in a chilling tone. Leyna went unfazed by it.

"Good. So, I trust you won't be in my way." She stated with a smile on her face. Vice sneered at her comment as she strode past him. He watched her with enmity as she ran into a doorway. Then a devilish idea crossed his mind. He went over to where the electronic lock for the door was and studied it for a bit. Then he fired a shot of plasma at it, frying the panel in the 'LOCKED' mode. He grinned to himself.

"Go ahead. Rescue that blonde haired loser. You can die in there with him while you're at it." Vice turned around and found out that he was under the watchful eye of Vern. Vice readied his weapon as he stood his ground.

"What the hell did you lock her in there for?" Vern screamed out. Vice smiled as he got ready to pull the trigger.

"Humph. I missed one." He pulled the trigger. Vern thought about Vice's strange words and why he had a weapon aimed at him for a moment before reality sunk in. He realized that he was still clad in the form he copied from an NT earlier. But it was too late to switch. He barely let out a gasp as the searing beam of energy passed through his chest, nailing his core. He flashed as his power core stopped functioning and reverted back into his original form. He fell backwards like a ragdoll, his head tilting to the side lazily.

Vice raised an eyebrow as he regarded the figure lying lifelessly on the ground. He walked over to a control console and stared at it for a bit. After playing around with it for a bit, a panel on the floor slid back. From the gap in the floor, a thin capsule containing a tiny life inside rose up. More identical capsules appeared a short moment later, lining the wall with a little more than twenty Cyber Elf containers.

"Jackpot." Vice muttered triumphantly to himself as he slammed an armored foot into a random container, smashing the fragile tube and releasing the tiny elf.

"Muu, mi..." The elf babbled as it floated around curiously. Vice swung an object at the tiny being, causing it to let out a high pitched cry. He closed the seal by pressing a button on the side of the energy tank, preventing the elf from escaping.

"I went through all this crap just for you?" Vice spoke to the small, curious elf. It looked at him through a transparent panel with large eyes. Vice scoffed as he clipped the container to his belt. "Well, this mission went to shit! I'm outta here." He exclaimed as he jogged to the end of the hallway. On the way out, he regarded the dead figure on the ground. He probed the reploid with his foot. Then realization set in.

"Vern...you're an idiot." He chuckled to himself as he started walking again. He stopped when he heard a familiar voice shouting through what could be a door. He laughed aloud as he rounded the corner. "And you're an idiot, too, Mrs. Save my boyfriend! HA HA HAAH!"

As Vice ran through the chaos outside of the hallway, he failed to see the grievous look that Fenri Lunaedge was giving him.

"Cold hearted bastard..." The arctic wolf whispered before running into the room with the screaming door.

- - -

Weil looked on in pleasure at the monitor as the cold hearted reploid ran through the blood-stained and corpse-riddle halls. Then he turned to a reploid standing at his side.

"What do you think of this one? He shows no mercy for foe or ally."

"Yes. He would be a great addition to our cause. And he was foolish enough to steal one of our 'Control' elves, as well." The tall reploid responded. "I would say that this operation's gone off without a hitch."

"Yes. All of the key objectives have been fulfilled."

"Though one thing still bothers me. Zero's been re-abducted, and..."

"On the contrary. Look on this screen." Weil showed his cohort a screen with a set of specs. He gasped when he noticed an important detail:

ZERO
STATUS- NOMIAL

ZERO II
STATUS- ERROR

"There're two sets of data here! Completely identical for the most part. But...but..." He turned to look at Weil, speechless over this revelation.

"Correct. We still have the Original."

"But why use the Original, when a newer type of reploid would have more options for...wait. It's because the Original..." He trailed off, earning a wicked grin from the mad doctor.

"With the Original, we can ensure that Omega will have unlimited potential."

The reploid thought for a long time, pondering this new information. "So if Omega is going into the Original, why build the larger body?"

"We cannot be sure of Omega's potential resolve. We can't leave him in the Original for an extended period of time until we can be sure that he will do what I command of him. The larger body is meant to contain his power and analyze his potential. Think of it as a restraint." Weil resolved. The mysterious reploid nodded his head sagely as the rush of information made sense.

Arcadia- Inner City
Time: 10:57 A.M.

Vice sprinted to the hover craft that carried them into the city. He grabbed the sidebar near the door and hopped onboard in one swift movement. He was beyond pissed at what he saw.

"You're late. Commander." Leyna spat the words like venom at him. He forced a smile as he stared at the violet haired huntress with a twitching eye. He sat down in his seat and leant back.

"Mission accomplished! Nice work." He said aloud. This earned him nothing but the sound of the hovercraft lifting off the ground. "Come on! This should be a time of celebration! We should--"

"You have no FUCKIN' idea about what happened, do you Vice!" Leyna lashed out violently as she stood up. He stared up smugly at her as he watched the tears well up in her eyes.

"We completed our mission: Retrieve the Cyber Elf." He said, pointing to his energy container. The little elf babbled. He flinched, something he rarely ever did, when Leyna punched a fist into the side of the craft. The force of the punch was so great that the transport shifted slightly.

"We started this mission with thirty-seven hunters. How many survived, Vice?" She asked rhetorically, her voice shaking. Vice glanced around.

"I thought a few bodies were missing..."

"There're seven of us left! Seven! It's all your fault! If we would have followed the original plan..." She broke down in tears. "Ross, Echo, Zero, Siege, Fenrir, myself and you. We're the sole survivors of this hellish mission!" She cried out. Vice broke his string of silence with a dismissive grunt. He looked over at the unconscious reploid lying on a makeshift bed.

"Well, the only way to get it right is to get it wrong. Those hunters that died were doin' their jobs. Plus, I count six survivors. The blonde wacko over there looks about as dead as the other hunters."

Leyna's eyes snapped open and trained on him. Before anyone knew what would happen next, Leyna had tackled Vice to the ground and was mounted on top of him. In any normal situation, he would have gotten up easily, but that was impossible due to the cold knife pressed to his throat. Leyna stared at him with eyes burning with hellfire.

"You heartless son of a bitch...you tripped the alarm. Because of you, we were discovered! You went and killed Vern. And you tried to kill me. I'll never forgive you. Never." Leyna spoke with a frightening edge in her voice. Vice narrowed his gaze as he felt her lift the knife up and press the tip of it over a major artery in his neck. He looked at the rest of the hunters. They all looked at him without pity.

"If she did jam that knife in my throat, I bet all of you bastards would cover up for her." He spoke with rising anger in his voice. He smiled when they didn't answer. "But I don't have to worry about that. Do you know why?" He questioned the reploid holding him down with a knife. "Because you don't have what it takes to kill a fellow Hunter, no matter how much of a 'heartless son of a bitch' they might be. But I bet Zero wouldn't have any qualms about burying that knife."

"SHUT UP!" She shouted through gritted teeth as she raised the knife a few inches above his exposed throat.

"There ya go! You're halfway there! Now all you gotta do is drive it in. Come on, do it! Do it!" He goaded her. She was shaking from the strain of her emotional mind. Tears fell freely from her eyes as she stared at him with eyes that could burn a hole through the sun.

She hated him. She wanted to kill him, but she couldn't. Things remained silent for the rest of the trip. Only when Echo and Siege pulled her off of the unit commander did things return to normal silence.

To be continued...

Yay for updates! And reviews! Not too much to say here, since my brain is now putty. I should probably go sleep now. (Looks at the clock.) I can't read that...I should go now. (Passes out.) Oh, almost forgot! Archaon gets DOUBLE POINTS for figuring out the subliminal (not really) messages. There were actually 2, when I said there was 1. Anyway, um, please review! Thanks to all of my reviewers so far!

Till Next Time!