[AUTHOR'S NOTE]
Hey I'm back! I found some time to quickly write some key points for coming chapters. So enjoy this new chapter for now.
Chapter 27: Uneasy Moments
Urgh … this is so booooooorrring. So boring! So many papers and screen work! Bro, I'm really stuck in here! Can't you do something fun!?
Axl, cut it out. Lumine briefly flicked his own forehead. I'm working here. I don't have my newer-gen brain in this body of yours, so my work will take a while to finish.
Ow! Darn it, bro! You said you'd keep me comfortable, not bored to death!
"Oh Axl, I can only imagine you arguing back at your brother …" Iris' voice reached from across the executive office. "But bear with it, okay? I hear X and Zero are hunting down Adel and Agmar with a newfound ferocity ever since you're accused of going Maverick."
Lumine and Iris were working in their office. It has been two days since Lumine took over Axl's body and kept him 'imprisoned' inside him. Word of Axl going Maverick spread within the Hunters, and X and Zero were sure this was not the case. They quickly decided this was somehow done by Adel and Agmar impersonating Axl. How, they didn't know, but they were going to find out and settle it straight. They were going to crush the idiots.
Ugh … fine … bro, I don't want to bug you handling dad's stuff, but … can you get my cell for me? I'm kinda waiting for Sue to reply my messages.
Lumine smiled. "No problem, Axl." He stood up, somehow mentally accessed Axl's Reploid form and then human form, and drew his cell phone out of his pocket. "There."
Hey, you're supposed to check it! Axl pouted. Or … do you want me to come out?
"No biggie." Lumine browsed through the cell phone, and found no messages whatsoever. "There we go. Sue hasn't replied at all. Now, now, Axl. Just stay in there and let your little brother take care of you forever." He chuckled sneakily, to Axl's horror and grumbling.
No way! I didn't want this to be permanent! Bro, don't do this to me! "Axl, you know I'm just kidding. I can't do something like that. It's nice to poke at you." Meanie bro.
Iris couldn't help but laugh and smile weakly. She could only imagine Axl sort of raging back at Lumine from inside. She glanced at the human Axl form currently sitting on Lumine's chair, but she knew well who was in control. Maybe the white Reploid was too mentally busy to switch back to his own Reploid form.
"Well, to be fair, Axl … I've been inside you for ages. And did you ever hear me complain or talk to you wanting to come out?" She quipped. "Or arguing with you?"
"Haha …" Lumine laughed. "He's silent with guilt now. Come on, let's finish today's business and then we go for lunch. Axl, I'll order whatever you want to taste."
A temporary pause of silence. "T – that's a lot of food, Axl … what have you been doing lately to acquire a taste for so much human food?" Lumine looked rather rudely surprised. "Fine, fine … yes, I will eat everything for you and savour the tastes – what do you mean 'the breakfast lunch and dinner in the Corp is nothing compared to what I ate outside'!?"
Iris raised her eyebrows in curiosity, but she knew Axl meant no harm or wrong.
While this calmness happened here in Prez Corp, X and Zero were busy chasing Adel and Agmar in the deserts and oil refinery areas of Madjad Azul (southwest Asia). In this sweltering hot night zone, they and their Hunters rode on hoverbikes smoothly sailing on the sands, firing blaster fire (and saber shots) at the Mavericks.
Adel and Agmar kept firing back their own shockwave blasts and laser waves, which caused sandy explosions and injured several Hunters, stopping them in their tracks. "Grrh!" Zero grunted, swerved his hoverbike over to a rocky elevation and rode it high in the air.
"Eat this, Maverick scum!" He furiously fired his saber shots at Adel and Agmar. The two Mavericks shouted in pain as parts of their bodies experienced minor explosions and electric stuns. They stopped flying and rolled on the ground nearby – the concrete floor of a nearby refinery facility. "M – move out, Agmar!" Adel instructed.
The Hunters halted their riding and immediately moved to secure the area the moment the Mavericks teleported off somewhere. X quickly reached for his commlink. "Alia, you here? Where have they gone off to?"
"T – they're still in the area! Nowhere far! Just somewhere northeast from where you're standing! They – huh!? It happened again! Two signals are gone, now there's only one!"
"Somehow they're implicating Axl in this stunt. If only we can sort out what they did to make this happen … I'm going ahead!" Zero commented before he darted off from his hoverbike. "Roger. I'll direct the teams we have here first." X registered his comment.
Zero dashed around the area. "Come out and face me, Mavericks. Don't bother to hide!"
"Whoa … Z – Zero, what are you doing here?" A familiar voice. It was Axl's form and voice facing him. "The Mavericks – they're around here, aren't they? Care to let me join?"
"Hold it!" Alia shouted through the commlink. "That's them! The 'one signal'! It's them!"
Zero flared his saber furiously at 'Axl'. "You're not Axl … you're both of them somehow. Don't bother lying to me. Axl is with Lumine right now. Your nasty human master must've programmed something in both of you to do this. A way to hit back at us, perhaps?"
"Grrh!" Axl's voice faded away and both Adel's and Agmar's voice spoke. "Damn, the psychological insult has run its course. You found us out."
"Everything wears its run." Zero smirked, and then the myriad Hunters came busting in, including X. Guns and arm cannons were armed at 'Axl'.
"T – this is the one! The one trick they spawned a few days ago!" "Somehow they merged into Axl to throw us off!" "Get them good!" Many Hunters expressed their fury; they were the Hunters who had been taken in previously by Adel and Agmar's trick in the past few days. X gestured for everyone to stop behaving in a hooligan-ish manner.
"You will hear from us soon. You'd see!" The Mavericks growled.
In a split second, Axl's form split back into those of Adel and Agmar following a shining bright light from the center of that form. The Hunters fired their gun cannons and blaster fire, Zero charged to maim Agmar. Huge explosions. No parts of any facility were damaged. Adel kicking off many Hunters. It was chaos in that few seconds, and then settlement as the Maverick teleported off again. The navigators alerted the next team into action.
"Lumine, it's done!" Iris suddenly jumped with joy in the Corp's executive office. "At your command. The underground bunkers are ready. The space satellites are ready. All places on the surface and those in space are ready to receive the signals."
Lumine in Axl's human form perked up. "Brilliant. Let's do it."
Axl watched from his own eyes as Lumine guided his own hands across the keyboard and on the monitor, the mouse-arrow clicked "INITIATE". Instantly, more programs beamed on the screen. Axl didn't know what's happening, but judging by the way Lumine had his form smile, he concluded it's a good thing. He felt his eyes formed a curve of happiness.
"This is great. The Maverick phenomenon outside of Adel and Agmar should be totally neutralized in our solar system." Lumine sighed. "Alright, just send the newest instructions as we planned, and we can take a break." He gestured to Iris, who replied: "Sure!"
"Why isn't the haywire device working!?" Adel tapped on the egg-shaped item at her belt. "Why is it wherever we are going, there's no rampage!? What's going on!?"
"The bastard Reploid must be behind this!" Agmar hissed, referring to Lumine. "He and his huge human legacy corporation must've figured out how to stop it. We – we need a new strategy, Adel! Can we really afford to maintain this chase!? This needs to end!"
"I know, I know." The two Mavericks kept running, and a huge wave of Hunters were chasing them already. "We must try to avenge the master for good!"
A few hours later, the atmosphere in the Hunters HQ changed again. So, Axl hasn't gone Maverick. Collective sigh. But wait? Why did those Mavericks specifically use Axl's form to fool us? Why Axl? What's going on? Who cares, they're the last Mavericks on Earth! Let's destroy them for good! YEAH! So goes the words. They haven't reached Lumine's ears.
Uh … is it really done? Axl asked inside Lumine's head. No more … Mavericks?
Lumine beamed happily again. "Yes, Axl. It should be gone. Even their little Maverick haywire device should be no more. Thanks to you sneaking into Area Zero last time, I managed to look and analyse at that thing on Adel's waist. The Corp has everything done such that the newer-generation Reploids are eternally safe, and human scum is thwarted."
Oh wow! That's great! D – does that mean I get to … be with you even more? With Iris? With dad? And no more restraints? I can come and go freely?
"If necessary, Axl, yeah. For now. Just give me a few more days." Lumine was about to elaborate when Iris cut him off. "Hey, don't just keep Axl's words to yourself. Share!"
The two Reploids talked as they walked from the executive office to a major portion of this wing of Prez Corp. Iris and Lumine had ease of minds for now, because the outcome of the Maverick neutralization and the accompanying instructions they sent to the Federation leaders and all parts of society will soon echo and manifest. They needn't worry.
"Ow!" Lumine gasped. "A – Axl! Are you trying to take control? Don't jerk my legs like that! Ow! Hey, stop that!" Iris instantly steadied Lumine on his feet. "Axl, what are you doing? Stop jerking your brother like that!"
B – but! It's my body! I'm bored stiff in here! Two days of nothing! Lumine, you even barely closed your eyes! I can't see you inside my mind! It's so dry and stale inside here! I know you want me safe because of what happened at the Hunters, but I'm just tired! Let me out!
"Urgh … darn it, Axl. Not yet. We need a few more days to make sure everywhere is safe, so the world is safe and you can come out. Ow, my head!" Lumine grunted. "Ugh, look. I ordered everything you wanted for our brunch. Can you stay put in there for a while?"
Aww, no fair! Nofairnofairnofair! I want my limbs back, bro!
"Urgh, stop acting like a spoilt person, Axl!" Lumine mentally asserted himself as he walked over to the chamber where he was certain the various food Axl wanted was being prepared. Axl whined inside his head as he felt his self tightened and restrained. "Seriously, Axl …"
Ow … alright, alright … I give. Sorry, bro. I was just antsy. And … just eat all the food I wanted well and fine, okay? And … I want to play some games too …
"I … I can't promise you on the games, sorry." AW! "Ow, don't shout so loudly into my ear." Lumine noted that Axl's cell phone buzzed, meaning a likely reply from Sue. Axl wanted to jump on this chance, but Lumine had opened the entrance to the chamber and focused his eyes entirely on the wide variety of food he had ordered.
This is wonderful! Bro, quick! Eat! Lumine smiled weakly.
Iris quietly tugged at Lumine's (Axl's, really) sleeve. "Got some good news too. Before we left office, a notification from the hospital said that dad is gaining his strength back. Perhaps after eating, let's all go there together. In our human forms too." Iris smiled gently.
"Awesome." Awesome! The two siblings replied.
Lumine had arranged for the various human executives to join with him and Iris (and Axl) in this feast. It was sudden, but it was a good surprise. A happy one as well. The mingling of humans pleased the Reploids. The humans didn't find Lumine among them (he didn't bother to change back to his form, still keeping Axl's) but they recognized Iris and 'Axl', so it was fine. Oh yeah, I'm so satisfied! Thanks so much, bro!
"Oh Axl …" Lumine picked up a bunch of spaghetti on his plate, pouring more tomato sauce.
"Hmm … a lot of old faces have to go." Iris pondered to herself. "Some of these humans worked with dad since forever, even his servants too. And Lumine wants to let them go. With decent financial back-ups of their own too. Well, we will see how the transition happens. Looks like both me and him are going to stay on forever, just like dad wanted …"
Axl's cell phone buzzed again. Lumine decided to answer it. There were two messages from Sue. The first one was "Hey Lance, care to meet up an hour from now?" and the second one was "Lance … something going on? I'm at the usual park place. I don't see you around. Are you busy? Please let me know. I have spare time today to enjoy the snow. Don't keep me waiting. I'll be waiting for your reply up to ten minutes from now."
"Oh shoot." Lumine sighed. Aw, dang it! It's Sue! And … ugh, bro, I know you arranged all these people together, but … can I reply back? Tell her I'm not free today.
"No, Axl." Huh? Axl was surprised. What'd you mean? "I mean … let's all go and see Sue for now." He whispered, and Iris heard him. "Maybe some other human interaction besides those in the Corp is what we need now. Iris, tell everyone to enjoy themselves."
"Y – you mean, I'm coming too? What about the food?" Iris asked. "Just get the employees to store it. We can reheat it later. After I check on the Hunters and let Axl back out, then we can eat together." Lumine responded. "Nice. Alright, give me a moment."
Lumine finished his food. He gave control of the body back to Axl. Axl replied to Sue that he will come within the next 30 minutes. Iris saw to it that business was done, and she too made sure her body was safe so that she could transfer into Axl's mind.
They were going to enjoy themselves with Sue. But soon, this meeting and what follows will stir something disastrous in the days to come.
[AUTHOR'S EXTRA NOTE]
If anyone of you have read things from Chapter 20 onwards, you'll notice that the pacing of events may have occurred a bit too fast. This is because 1) I'm sorry, if I have been writing sporadically. Real life is real life, and I'm sorry for not keeping a form of consistent pacing. 2) Recently I made a big time jump (one week later, that kind), so I didn't really write what happens in between days.
3) Realistically, this Maverick crisis thing has been going on for so long. In the real world, no one is going to tolerate this kind of madness, especially since Reploids are manufactured and they can change/alter this kind of situation very quickly. Because aren't Reploids all made with money investments, something every human cherishes? Time equals money? So who wouldn't want to try and solve this Maverick crisis as soon as possible? Plus, considering the Megaman Classic and X canon of how long these series takes place (over 170 years by my head canon, but still), that amount of time, don't you think someone wants this whole trouble done and over with already? That's why I feel that since Lumine inherits Prez's stuff, he would naturally want to make the Maverick phenomenon be done and over with too.
Therefore I feel that this fanfic's resolution will be coming pretty soon. For the Reploid kind, for Maverick stuff, and even for Axl's getting-used to interacting with both Reploids and humans (though now he is focused on human interaction - that Iris and Lumine made him go through - but one he's enjoying). Gah, this ranting is long enough on the nature of events in the Megaman universe, and my take on it.
Anywho, now I legit pause updating AASR and writing the fanfic for now. Real life stuff needs to be dealt with. But this story is not over yet. I have a middle and end to write. In the meantime, enjoy the older chapters and please continue showing some love to the Original AAS stories (just filter for Axl in FFN here and you'd see Original AAS soon).
Thanks for your time, see you soon!
