Cerberus Rising

Stage One: Hounds Of The Illusive

Chapter Three: Freedom's Progress Part I - The Mechs

X peered outside the windows of the shuttle as if soared through the cosmos, however the feeling inside was somehow different. Even though the ideas of him being brought back to life, the existence of the Daleks and the missing colonies had shaken him, he felt much calmer, and also ever since speaking with the Illusive Man, felt like he had a bit of authority.

"We should be there shortly X, the Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?" Seras asked.

Even though it was evident that she hated him for coming and stealing her thunder, X realised that at the heart of it all, she was a officer for Cerberus, so if boss gave her an order she would follow it without question. That would at least limit the tension between them, long after for the three to get in and out as quickly as possible.

"What did you find at the other colonies?" X asked.

"Nothing, no sign of attack, no corpses, not even a trace of genetic material to give us a clue. They just disappeared, leaving us with no target to go after" Kid answered, just as perplexed by the phenomenon as the thief was.

"Not a great sign, this whole expedition could end up to be just a waste of time" X thought to himself, ignoring the fact that some part of him wanted to find something on that colony.

"You two going to be comfortable taking orders form a thief?" X asked, eyes drifting to Seras in particular.

"We didn't you back from the dead just to second guess you, boss, if the Illusive Man says you're in charge then you're in charge" Kid answered for her, referring to X with a nickname that gave him the horrible feeling it was going to stick.

"What makes you think this investigation will bring up anything new?" X asked.

"At other colonies, official investigators got there first. Sometimes looters and salvage teams as well. We're hoping to be the first ones there this time, maybe find something before anyone disturbs the scene" Kid explained.

"What about survivors, if there's anyone left we need to get them out of there" X ordered, conscious getting the better of him.

"That's unlikely X, no one was left at the other colonies, they were completely deserted" Seras spoke out.

"Still, would be nice to find somebody, anything's better than another ghost town" Kid interjected, hoping for the best.


Freedom's Progress resembled that of a settlement that had been subjected to a cloud of ash. X wasn't sure if it was smoke, soot or some kind of other environmental deformity, but the entire colony was shadowed by a huge sky full of grey.

And with only silence to greet them, it gave the colony the distinct image of a graveyard.

Stepping off of the shuttle, Red X stepped onto the cold ground; his nerves were on such edge that he didn't even need his suit to keep him warm. Seras and Kid followed soon after as the shuttle docked itself, the pair of Cerberus soldiers began to load up their weapons.

Kid had brought his signature pistols; to be honest he didn't even seem to bring anything else. What really surprised X was the monstrosity of a weapon that Seras had brought with her. Aside from her heavy pistol, she had brought some kind of backpack that held a pair of large machine guns that much had weighed several tonnes. She referred to the weapon as Vladimir, and with her vampiric strength she had no problem in wielding it.

"I hope your as good with that suit as your file claims you to be X, one slip up and you could end up a dead man again" Seras said as she loaded her insanely huge weapon.

"Worried about me, sweetheart?" X remarked.

"I just don't like the idea of having to look over your half-dead body in a clinic for another five years" Seras replied, loading several shells the size of a small arm into her weapon.

"There's no need to worry about that, I've seen how he handles it, he's an expert" Kid intervened yet again.

"Let's hope your boss puts his money where his mouth is" X said, serious this time though, closed his fist and set his sights on the colony and quickly made his way into the silent town.

The other two didn't reply and simply followed his lead, they knew when to argue and when to keep their mouths shut.

It wasn't in his file, but both had a feeling that crossing X at this point, after putting him through so much, could prove to be the worst mistake of their careers.


The outer part of the colony was dead, plain and simple. No electricity and no gridlocks, which saved X loads of time. Considering all the locks on the doors were broken they were wide open, enabling him to slip through houses and then back into the open instead of having to navigate around the entire area.

Passing into a small living accommodation, X felt himself shudder as he looked over into the darkness; the house's emergency power generator was failing, causing the lights to flicker on and off, creating a haunting feel to the place.

Passing over towards the exit, he swept the room with his eyes, it was just an abandoned house, there was nothing to instigate that there had been any kind of struggle.

"Looks like someone decided to get up and leave right in the middle of dinner" Kid remarked as they exited the building.

"Or someone escorted them out" X responded.

Their search continued like this for several minutes, passing through houses that were just deserted. Eventually they navigated their way across a pathway between houses into the open once again. On the one side was a jet-black stream that flowed right through the town, while on the other was a large duty area, it's only notable feature of a giant gate that led into the heart of the colony.

"Strange; no bodies, no structural damage, no signs of battle…" Seras remarked as she slid down the gravelly path, brushing herself off.

X remained silent, making his way over to the giant gate, very similar to the doors on the Cerberus facility, only ten times the size. To his surprise he found that it was locked, which made no sense.

"We're getting nowhere with this, maybe we should inform the Illusive Man" Seras stated, but the thief wasn't listening.

"You guys aren't picking up on the obvious" X said, pressing a hand on the holographic control.

The systems inside his suit got to work, rearranging and hacking its way through the firewalls, the blood-red eyes of his mask suddenly zoomed in so far that he could break through the gridlock without having to manually break through it.

"What makes you think we'll find anything in there?" Kid asked.

"Why would you have a gate this big build between the outer and inner quarters of the colony?" X asked, though he knew the answer already.

"To separate the industry area from the residential area" Seras responded, seeing the question as pointless.

"Let me rephrase that, why would you go to all the trouble of making a gate that had an automatic lockdown?" X explained, his hack complete, the two giant doors beginning to slide apart.

"…In case you wanted to hide yourself inside" Kid answered, keeping a tight grip on his pistols.

"Or keep something out" X stated as he stepped in through the doorway.


The platform they were on was high above that was connected to a set of stairs which led to the higher accommodations of the colony. From where they were standing, it was set in a giant horseshoe shape, meaning that on the opposite side was another single-story residential area facing them.

X walked forward towards the railings, the Cerberus officers had their weapons drawn and were slowly circling their around, heading form the higher reaches of the colony.

A sound stemming from the opposing colony caught the thief's attention; it resembled the steady high-pitched whirling sound slowly gaining in volume. X knew that sound well; it either occurred when a security system had been tripped and an alarm was triggered.

Or when a security mech was powering up.

"Get down!" X ordered, falling behind the railings, just in time as a hail of gunfire sprayed across the side of the complex.

The bleach-white armour of the security mech glittered in the few beams of moonlight that had managed to break through the seemingly endless cloud of grey. Assault rifle armed, it registered its target and immediately opened fire.

"Hostiles incoming!" Kid yelled, catching the thief's attention, as he turned to see two more security mechs marching towards them.

"More security mechs? Are you kidding me?" X yelled out, just getting over the fact that he had to deal with so many mechs on the Cerberus facility.

Kid and Seras had already taken cover over by some nearby girders connected to the gate. The former Meister was letting loose a volley of bullets at the pair of incoming machines, slowing down their movements.

The one on the opposite side of the area was proving to be a real problems, it had a clear view of the three and managed to graze the two Cerberus officers. X was struggling to keep his head clear form the gunfire, the railing not providing much cover.

"X! On your left!" Kid warned.

The thief looked up to see a new sight; two new mechs were running towards them at high speed. They were much smaller in height than the humanoid mechs, but were much bulkier, have circular heads with four mechanical legs, resembling that of a beast, and they were gaining ground fast.

The dog-mech burst through the line of gunfire held by the operatives and charged towards the thief.

"Oh shit!" X cursed as the machine closed in.

"X use the suit's ammo systems now!" he heard Seras call out, the sound of one the mechs falling to the ground, ripped into scrap metal.

The dog-mech reached its target, planning to charge into him at high speed, tackle him to the ground and leaving his body open to gunfire form the remaining mechs. However, it was left without a target when the thief vanished before its sensors just as it was about to take him down.

"Annoying little bastard aren't you?"

Hyper Intuition fading, the thief reappeared behind it, and slammed him palm on its body, leaving behind an 'x' mark which began to surge with electricity. As the dog-mech turned around for another charge, the mark exploded, taking the machine with it.

Acting on instinct, the thief flung his body back just in time to avoid another volley of bullets from the mech on the opposing platform.

"Okay, time to take this suit for a trial run!"

Rolling to the side to avoid another barrage of bullets, X waited until the mech's rifle overheated, causing a brief pause where it had to reload. Taking his opportunity he brought his arms up, expecting a flurry of projectile shuriken to be released.

The markings on X's lower palms lit up in a vibrant and blinding colour. Just as the mech reloaded and set's sensors on the thief once again, it was met by a blizzard of projectile shuriken which embedded itself in its steel body. Each of the projectiles tore through the machine with such speed it appeared to the thief's eyes as if the projectiles were alight with red fire…


Dying Will Projectiles: Projectile shuriken that produce a low density dying will flame, enough so that it does not burn the user, but strong enough to tear through even the toughest of defences. The most basic of the X-Suit Ver. Vongola's abilities.


"Nice!" X marvelled, startled by the damage he had caused.

His little victory didn't last long as the sound of nearby gunfire ripped him from his thoughts as the last two remaining mechs made their way towards the trio. Not wasting any time darted from his cover and unleashed two projectiles, each at different heights.

The dog and humanoid mechs were caught off guard when the shuriken hit them, nailing them to the ground. Long enough for Seras pull the trigger and unleash several shells of fire which caused such an explosion that not even a scrap of metal was left, only burnt circuitry.

"Everyone okay?" Kid asked, walking towards the pair, the surprise attack had got the better of him and was sweating slightly.

"Never better" X responded casually, cracking his neck and massaging his wrist, not expecting as much recoil with the projectiles, but he assumed he would get used to it.

"It's strange; the security systems on the other colonies were disabled, even so they should have still registered us a human and have stood down" Kid wondered, kicking the fried shell of the dog-mech aside.

"Someone's hacked in and set the mechs loose, we're not alone here" Seras said in caution.

"Well, this makes things more interesting" X said smugly, trekking up the stairs with the Cerberus officials following closely behind.


They encountered no resistance until they made their way up towards a larger living complex, as they turned the corner a volley of bullets nearly cut through them. One lone mech stood outside a residential apartment, where the lights were on inside. The three flanked back and kept their heads down.

"Looks like somebody's inside?" Kid observed.

"Survivors?" X asked.

"Unlikely, whoever's in there is likely from off-world, they've hacked the security mech and turned it into a lone guard" Seras responded.

"Then I guess we'd better go introduce ourselves" X said confidently, eyes turning to Kid, who admittedly caught his drift and readied his weapons.

The second the mech reloaded its pistol, Kid darted around the corner, arms flung up like a crane and let loose a series of shots onto its legs, break through easily and causing it to lose it's footing. X dashed forward before the mech could recover and thrust his hand onto its chest, the 'x' explosive reacting immediately and took out its torso.

The door automatically opened, and the X was left with a sight that he didn't expect. There were a group of three figures, dressed in similar uniforms with long helmets that concealed their faces; the only thing visible was white slits that resembled eyes.

As soon as they entered the room, the three masked figures drew weapons and took formation as soldiers would. The three Cerberus members instantly reacted in the same manner, weapons drawn.

It was a three-way stand off.

"Lower your weapons now Cerberus!" the lead figure ordered, assault rifle aimed right at X's head, while the thief had his projectile shuriken ready at a second's notice.

"How do they know about Cerberus?" X thought aloud.

"Prazza! Stand down! You said I was to handle this!" a fourth voice entered the scene, appearing from the other end of the room.

X's eyes widened, the voice was unmistakably familiar.

She circled the other three masked figures before standing in-between both parties. She was dressed the same as them, although all together different, her suit was tight around her figure, so it was painfully obvious she was a female from her curves. Like the other she wore a mask, but it was smaller and only covered her face, while over it she wore a purple veil that was attached to the upper part of her suit. Her visor was purple, and only her white eyes were visible. She seemed human in appearance if not for her hands having three fingers in a claw-like fashion.

As she set her sights on the opposing party, her expression and body language completely changed to that of shock, staring at the thief, who was currently just as dazed as she was.

"Wait…Red X?" she said in shock.

"Tali'Zorah?"