Ok, this is the first of about 3 to 6 chapters in which I tell of my character's pasts, which I will do throughout the story instead of one right after another. The sixth one, which I am still considering, if I don't do pairing chapters for mine, will be Kassie Haro, who is the contest character. Also, there may be some flashback sequences for the characters….. Well, actually, there will be. Enjoy.


Will's Past

"Hey, Will," Kass said as she watched him, Zero, Solo, and Protoman sparring in a two on two match, Will and Zero on one side, Solo and Protoman on the other.

"Yeah," he answered, blocking a downward slash from Solo and knocking him backwards with a shove of his sword. "What is it?"

"I've been wondering," she began. "About you, Max, Jen, J, and Z. How did all of you meet?"

"Yeah, I've been wondering that myself," Zero said, making a time out sign to Solo and Protoman. "Feel like having story time?"

"Armor down, standby," he said. "You really want to know," he asked as his armor slid back up to his shoulders.

"Yeah. And maybe about the armor."

"Alright. Since you want to know, I'll tell." He gestured to the weights section, taking a seat for himself. "So, which do you want to know about first? The armor or the team?"

"I suppose the armor," Kass said, looking around the group for confirmation. "I'm assuming you had the armor first."

"Alright," Will said, exhaling and closing his eyes. "Where to start," he asked himself. "I suppose I should go ahead and tell you that the armor is reploid armor, making me something of a cyborg with reploid technology rather than robotic technology."

"Reploid," Zero asked, confused. "But how? I've never seen reploid armor that can do even half the things you can do."

"It's a bit more advanced than the armor from your zone. It's kind of based on nanotechnology, making it a hybrid of reploid tech and nanotech. I suppose you could say I have to thank the men my father worked with for this armor."

-flashback sequence starts here and-

"Why are you here," a man standing in a doorway with red hair asked three men on the outside of the house. "I've paid you in full. Leave."

"Wrong," one of the men asked, stepping forward. "You still owe us one favor."

"That wasn't part of the deal. I'm done with you and your boss," the man said, more defiant and growing angry.

The first of the three men to talk looked past him to see a young boy around ten years old behind the red headed man. "Is that your son?"

The red headed man turned around to see the boy. "Willy, please go back to your room. I'll be up in a second." He turned back to the three men when he was sure his son was upstairs. "I've already told you, I've paid in full and to leave."

"We can't do that, Mr. Star. You owe the big man one more favor. And you're going to give it to him. Because it would be a real shame if something were to happen to your boy."

The red headed man, Terrel Star, was filled with rage at that comment. "You listen and you listen good, you bastard. If you touch my son, I will kill you and I won't stop at you. Your boss will be next, but he won't have it as lucky as you. He'll suffer."

"You wouldn't want to do that."

"And why not?"

"Because we have more than just us three here at the moment," the man said, snapping his fingers. Ten more men appeared from hiding from various spots, all holding guns with silencers attached.

Terrel looked around and realized he was in a bad position. He gave an exhalation of defeat. "Fine. What does he need?"

"A test subject."

"For what?"

"Some new technology. But the subject must be young."

"How young?"

"Within nine to eleven years of age. And if the subject isn't what we're looking for, your life won't have any meaning."

"NINE TO ELEVEN?! You're talking of children. I will not take a child from their family. I am not a kidnapper."

"Then you forfeit your life." The man pulled a gun from jacket and aimed at Terrel's forehead.

Terrel closed his eyes and waited for the shot. "I'll be the test subject," a voice said from behind him. They all looked to see Will on the bottom step, sitting there with a frightened expression on his face. "I'll be the subject. Just leave my dad alone."

"Willy, no. You don't know what these guys are," Terrel began.

"I'll be the subject, but you have to promise to leave my dad alone," Will said once more.

"That's a brave boy you have there, Mr. Star," the man said. "If you'll both come with us, we'll take you to see the big man."

-ends here-

"So, you're dad was mixed in with the wrong people," Solo said.

"Yeah. But it was kinda weird. He never went to them. They came to us, after my mom had died," Will said. "After that came the operation."

-flashback sequence begins here and-

"Are you sure you want to go through with this son," Terrel asked his son, two months after Will volunteered to be the test subject.

"Yeah dad. As long as they keep their end of the deal, I'm fine with this," Will said.

"Young Master William," the man from two months before said as he approached them. "It's time for the operation."

"Ok, Mr. Phil." He followed Phil through a set of swinging double doors. "I'll see you in a bit dad."

10 hours later…

Will woke up and immediately closed his eyes again, the light seeming much to bright for him. When he felt he could open them without feeling like he was going blind, he looked around the room and saw his father sitting, reading a book. "Dad," he managed to get out, still feeling the effects of the anesthesia.

Terrel looked up to see his son was awake and closed the book to go stand by the bedside. "You're awake. That's good," Terrel said to his son.

"Yeah. But I feel tired."

"Don't worry. Phil said you'd probably be feeling tired for the next two or three days."

"So, do I look different? What did they do?"

Terrel looked down at his feet before looking back at his son. "They've made you into a….cyborg, for lack of a better word. You now have a new type of reploid armor integrated into your body that's based on nanotechnology. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah dad. This is stuff I've learned in school and online," Will said. "So, what can I do?"

"Yeah. They aren't real sure about that yet."

"Why not?"

"Because even though the armor is now part of you, it doesn't show. About an hour after the operation was over, the armor was nowhere to be seen. We still don't know where it went. You look just like you did before the operation."

"Dad, what do they know about nanotechnology?"

"Apparently not much. Why?"

"Because I feel a little line of something on my shoulders. If they used what I think they used, then the armor rebuilt itself and is basically stored around my shoulders."

"That makes sense. I think."

"Should we tell them?"

"No reason to. Their boss said that he'll leave us alone, just like he agreed. He says that it's the incompetence of his own personnel and he'll put all of his men on research right away. We're free son."

-ends here-

"So, they put in a technology that they don't know very much about to begin with," Protoman asked. "I'm surprised you survived."

"I'm not. They knew just enough to keep me alive. And as strange as it is, I trusted them. Mr. Phil became something of a cousin you could say, while his boss, Mr. Sal, became like an uncle."

"And what happened after that?"

"My dad disappeared."

-flashback sequence begins here and-

"William, I'm sorry that I have to bring you the news," Phil said, three years after the operation.

"What is it, Mr. Phil," Will asked, now thirteen.

"It's about your father," Phil said, looking down to the ground. "He's gone…..missing."

"What?! When? Wh-where?"

"He was on a business trip to the Camarian Sea Islands. He never called in to say he arrived. When they were counting passengers coming off the flight, there was one passenger missing. They checked departure and arrival tapes and found that your father was the one missing. I'm sorry." Phil looked towards the ground once again and only looked up when he heard sniffing. When he did look up, it was to see Will's reaction, which was to look at the ground. "The big man is organizing an investigation right now. Will, I promise you, we'll do everything we can to find him."

"Thank you Mr. Phil," Will said, finally looking up after some odd minutes of silence. "I understand it must have been hard for you to have do this."

"Yes. It was. Will, if there's ever anything that you need, you know you can come to me and the big man, don't you?"

"Yes, Mr. Phil. And again, thank you."

-ends here-

"Wow. That must have been hard. Did they ever make any headway," Protoman asked.

"They still are," Will said. "They call me whenever they have news. Or to talk. Either way, I end up talking to them three or four times a month."

"Ok, now we know about the armor. What about how you and everyone else met up and became a team?"

"That's an interesting tale. Or at least of how I met Max. J was off somewhere else at the time and we didn't meet with Jen and Z till sometime after."

-flashback sequence begins here and-

Will, now fourteen years old, was sitting by himself at a bar, drinking a glass of water. "Ok, let's see what I have so far," he said to himself. "I've been searching for my father for a year and I'm now in Ground City after who knows how many leads I've gotten. I really should give Mr. Phil and Mr. Sal a call and see how their investigation is coming."

He got up to leave the bar, but accidentally bumped into a man, spilling the man's drink all over the man's jacket. "You stupid punk," the man said. "Look at whatcha did to my new jacket."

"Hey, man, I'm really sorry," Will said. "Listen, I'll make it up to you. How bout another round on me?"

"Too late for that," the man, cracking his knuckles. "You're gonna pay for the jacket."

"How much is the dry cleaning bill gonna be?"

"Not that kind of pay."

"Oh. Ohhhh. That kind of pay…….shit."

"That's right," the man said, standing up.

"Hey, the guy said he was sorry and he even offered to pay for dry cleaning. Give 'im a break," a voice to the side of them said. The man looked over to see a boy, thirteen years old in a silver jacket, sitting on a stool, facing them.

"Stay outta this, runt," the man said, turning back to Will.

"Oh come on. Was that sposed to scare me? Surely you can do better than that," the kid in silver said, smirking.

"I'll deal with you after I take of this punk," the man said to the kid in silver. He pulled his fist back to hit Will, but it stopped short. "What the hell?!"

Will, who had his eyes closed, bracing for the hit, opened them to see the kid in silver, now wearing silver armor, holding the man's fist, not seeming to break a sweat. "Seriously dude, he offered to pay. Is it really that big a deal?"

"Yeah it is," the man said, knocking the kid in the gut with his free hand.

The kid staggered back two steps and then regained his balance. "That was a sucker punch. Then again, judging from the looks of you, you can't fight honestly. Making you not worth my time or effort." He turned away from the man, already forgetting about him. The man ran at him, both fists held high, but was stopped with a THWACK. When the kid turned around, he saw the man on the floor unconscious and Will standing with his fist in front of him. "Nice uppercut. You learn that from someone?"

"Yeah. Thanks for stepping in," Will said, rubbing his right fist. "Name's William, but you can call me Will."

"I'm guessing this is the part where I tell you my name?"

"That's normally how it goes."

"Maxwell. But I prefer Max. How about you come with me for now? At least that way, no one will mess with you."

"Alright."

-ends here-

"That's how you met Max? What about J," Kass asked.

"He ended up meeting with him later on and they asked why I was here in Ground City," Will answered. "I told them and as it turns out, they had something of a similar task in mind. When Max and J met Jen and Z, I was here, working on a new weapons defense system. They brought them home and introduced us to each other."

"They never told you how they met?"

"Nope."

"What about the defense system?"

"I'd rather not talk about that," Will said, shuddering from a memory that would stay his for as long as he could help it.


So what did you think? I'd really like some feedback, so please review.