Megaman X: Elysium Rising
Final Mission: Delete the Maverick Virus
Chapter 36: Powers that Be
By Genoscythe
AN: Never fear, Elysium Rising won't stop here. It's been awhile, and I can feel myself being drawn more and more into comedy, but this monster gets finished! I swear, you will never have to give up hope so long as the neighbors across the way keep staying up untill one-o-friggin'-clock in the morning playing basketball and generally making enough noise to keep me awake and, thus, writing.
X was hoping for some time alone with Alia, as much to console her about Marx and Nephtis's deaths as to get other 'business' done. The other 'business' did not require the presence of Zero, nor could it proceed with him in the vicinity. So, when the blonde reploid pulled up beside them, X affixed him with a withering stare.
Zero stared back in a way that made X feel physically beaten.
"We can't let this keep happening," Zero remarked.
"That's a good idea," X said dryly.
"We gotta find a way out of this place."
"What? You just want to run away? You?"
"Damn it, not us! I know we have to stay. I'm talking about Selene, and Axl, and…Alia."
"I'm fine," Alia asserted between sobs.
"And Mystic," X added. Both Alia and Zero glared at him, for essentially the same reason.
"I'll worry about Mystic," Zero said. In the time between discovering Mystic and leaving for their first mission, X had told them all about the incident with Endymion and his prey. Mystic was presumed to be waiting at the command center for their return, but X's intuition told him that she wouldn't stick around with Endymion nearby.
It was the same gut feeling that told him Endymion had escaped.
"I think I should be going," Alia muttered, breaking away from X and turning on her heels. As she receded down the corridor, X leaned closer to Zero.
"That was supposed to be your line," he whispered threateningly.
"Important business, X. Alia comes second to the mission."
"So, what do you really want?"
Zero leaned in even closer, a difficult feat to accomplish. "I want to see the Master."
X elevated an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because I want to know who's running this show!" Zero cried, pulling back to avoid blowing out X's audio receptors. "And I want to know if there's a way off the island."
"You can ask Genoscythe for that."
"Genoscythe pisses me off. I want the big cheese."
"Well, we're never going to find him here, not without help. If the Alphas can't find him, then what chance do we have?"
"I was kinda hoping the prick'd come to us."
"I think the Master has bigger things to worry about."
"Bigger than me?"
Instead of a verbal reply, X simply glared. The two Maverick Hunters spent a great deal of time wandering the corridors of Elysium, hoping to run across one of the Omegas. After ages of walking, one of the androids apparently took pity on them and materialized out of a doorway before them. It was a woman, similar to Mistress Kira, but with shorter hair and burgundy eyes.
"Hi! Mistress Yuna," she blurted, immediately reminding X of a bubbly saleswoman. "I mediate between our subjects and our less…eloquent units. You could call me Elysium's PR Manager."
It was delivered as a joke, but neither Maverick Hunter laughed.
"I overheard that you want to see the Master," Yuna remarked, as if their topic were the day's weather.
"Of course. You can hear everything, can't you?"
Yuna pursed her lips into what was nearly a smile. "If only."
"Well, can you take us there?" X asked, attempting as usual to be more polite than Zero.
"I can't help but think that would be a major and unnecessary breach in security. With Sigma here, exposing the Master could ruin everything."
"I don't think so," Zero countered, and both Yuna and X turned to him. "Genoscythe said I can still take over the Master's job. If Sigma does find and kill him, I wanna be able to interface with Elysium before he can."
"What are you saying?" Yuna asked.
"I'm saying right now, just hiding the Master isn't enough. If I'm with him, not only can I protect him, but I can jump in and keep Sigma from overrunning the system if, somehow, the Master gets wasted."
"Zero, we need you out here," said X.
"That's untrue. Reploids were built, as a safety procedure, to be inferior to both Reaverbot and Elysian alike. There's not much you can really do to help fight," Yuna interrupted unnecessarily.
"So when he killed those two Purifiers, that doesn't count," X intoned dryly.
"They will be replaced."
"Then why fight at all?"
"Because it's the only way we can keep from being overrun. In this task, we really don't need any of you."
"But…Zero, we need you for emotional support, if nothing else."
"I know, but Yuna already said there's nothing I can do. This way, there is." He looked to Mistress Yuna for confirmation.
"Well…" she began reluctantly. "You make a good point, and now that you've mentioned it, I'm surprised we overlooked this in our plans. I'll take you to the Master, but the two of you have to shut down first. I'll reactivate you when we get there."
X was skeptical. "You can carry both of us?"
Yuna just smiled in response.
"What's the word, Claw?" Tempest's voice rumbled through the airwaves. Stealth Claw, however, was in no position to respond. Sticking from the ceiling, invisible only because the army of little one-eyed trashcan robots below weren't looking up, feeling himself slipping from the uncooperative surface every moment gone by, Claw couldn't have replied if he wanted to.
Which, for the record, he didn't.
"Is it safe? You can give me a yes or a no, you son of a bitch."
Stealth Claw hadn't spent much time around Tempest at Maverick HQ, but their endless trip on the emergency lifeboats was enough to fill him in on what he had missed. At some times wild and furious, other times just cool and spiteful, Tempest was always homicidal. Just for kicks, he had killed the remaining soldier, and once tried to snap off Tread Havoc's neck. Apart from failing, Tempest almost got his head blown off.
Stealth Claw was beginning to develop a hate for Tempest. Like himself, Tempest wasn't a virus carrier. Unlike himself, Tempest was only with the mavericks because they provided him a venue for more mindless killing. So it was obvious why Claw didn't want to answer the comm. link, even if he weren't about to fall into an orgy of hostile robots that could see through his cloaking shield.
He knew this because he had been attacked once already in his infiltration of Elysium, and not only did he find his cloaking shield lacking, but that these robots were some of the toughest he'd ever seen. Tread Havoc and Tempest had sent him out for reconnaissance several hours ago, and they were now waiting on Elysium's artificial shore for a report that they weren't going to get unless the seemingly endless stream of robots below would magically disappear.
Crouched at the entrance to a small cylindrical building, Tread Havoc didn't seem to be in the mood for talking. This was expected, and so Tempest ignored it.
"What were you saying to that little robot dude?" He asked, pacing the eerie, lush field that abruptly terminated into the Pacific Ocean.
"I was indentifying myself," Havoc surprisingly replied.
"So you said 'hey, how's it going, can you kill my two friends here?' Since, y'know, that's what almost happened."
"The Reaverbots didn't recognize you," he explained.
"But they know exactly who you are."
"Correct."
"Is there something I don't know, or is this supposed to not make sense?"
"Tread Havoc's body is being controlled by me."
"You. Who's you?"
"I am Purifier Omikron. I am a nonessential unit, so my access is limited. I can't change your status with the Reaverbots."
"And that's why you sent Claw out to find a safe route for us."
"Correct."
"Why don't you just go and find someone else to change our status?"
"That could take a long time. My connection to Elysium's network was severed when I took this inferior body, so I don't know where anyone is."
"It's still better than waiting here!" Tempest argued.
Tread Havoc sighed. "If you're willing to wait, I can search for one of the Alphas for you."
"That'd be lovely."
"Hey…Tempest?" Stealth Claw came in over the comm. link. "There's some guy here to see you. He's turned off the Reaverbots."
"Hear that?" Tempest asked his reluctant partner.
"Claw just told me, yes," Havoc answered. Guided by the youthful voice in their heads, the two mavericks entered the archaic-looking elevator shaft and descended into the bowels of Elysium. They shortly found themselves at the end of a granite-silver hallway filled with Reaverbots.
Havoc pushed Tempest out of the way and walked ahead. Before him, the Reaverbots parted like water to reveal Stealth Claw crouched in a small circular clearing. Standing silently next to him was a familiar long-haired figure. Havoc couldn't suppress a smile.
"It's been awhile, Upsilon…" Havoc murmured.
"Too long. You've already forgotten your way around?"
"Earth hasn't been kind to me or my host."
"You make it sound like you're a guest! Like I invited you!" Tread Havoc suddenly barked, dropping to the ground.
"Not this shit again…" Tempest groaned, drifting up next to Stealth Claw. Fortunately, this time it didn't take long to get the old Havoc under control again.
"What was that?" Upsilon queried, burgundy eyes flashing.
"This body's original intelligence is strong…like you cannot imagine."
"He must be," the purifier scoffed, apparently not convinced. He gestured down the hall, and the Reaverbots parted accordingly. "You all should come with me. I've finished my sweep, and I'm returning to the tower. Certainly the presence of some of his comrades will keep Sigma in line."
Tread Havoc stumbled forward, clutching the side of his head desperately.
"I do hate what we have to do to these people…" Upsilon added. "Know this isn't the way we wanted it, reploid."
"He can't hear you," Havoc assured them. "I've crushed him for now, but he's a ghost in my systems. I'll never get rid of him completely."
Stealth Claw was rapidly losing interest in the conversation as it turned into Elysium jargon, but the only alternative was talking to Tempest.
That, he was never willing to do.
X awoke with an unkind jolt, finding himself sprawled on the floor. He sat up and noticed Zero next to him, already on his feet. A vague sensation behind him said Yuna was at their backs.
"This entire area is a blind spot in Eden's systems," Yuna explained as X got up. Rather than paying attention to her, he was focused singularly on the oval door in front of them – at least, it seemed like a door. Jutting from the wall, a crack running down the middle, it looked remarkably like a vault. "The Master is…he's not well. The moment I open these doors, I expect you to be ready, Zero. I also expect you to know…once the doors are closed I won't open them again. But, if you want to help like you say you do, then that shouldn't be a problem."
Zero said nothing, but his body language spoke volumes to X. He exuded the kind of aura usually felt when he was lapsing into one of his viral episodes, but he seemed utterly controlled.
"Zero?"
"Open the damn vault."
"You're ready?"
"Open it."
X laid a hand on his partner's shoulder. Had the crimson reploid really forgotten about him? "Zero, what about me? Do I get a goodbye?"
"Yeah, sure," he replied half-heartedly. Yuna's eyes fluttered, a bit longer than expected, and as soon as she returned she prodded Zero along.
"Go!" The doors split open, snapping off a quick hiss of steam. Then, surprisingly, the sphere opened like a fluttering eyelid and exposed a startling orange light. Without pause, without a drop of hesitation, Zero rushed forward and into the hazy illumination. Mesmerized by the soothing glow of what appeared to be sky inside the door, X was abruptly returned to reality as the doors slammed shut.
Feeling his anger rising, anger borne of a sinking feeling that he had seen the last of his best friend, X rounded on Yuna. "What do you mean, he's 'not well'? Why are you locking Zero in there?"
"Because…" Another flicker passed through Yuna's eyes, and not the kind that signaled access to the Elysium mainframe. It was as if her entire consciousness had been unhinged for the briefest of moments, then settled back as if nothing had happened. "The Master is conflicted." She turned to leave, but X circled in front of her.
"Conflicted about what? What's there to think about?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Problem is, the Master's more closely modeled after an organic creature than any of us. He is sometimes plagued with their less desirable traits."
"So you're not hiding him, you're keeping him hostage?"
"Hostage is a bad word for it. He's not with us against his will. Not all the time."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Yuna's demeanor abruptly downshifted. "Do you want to return to your remaining comrades, or not?"
"I – yes."
"Then shut down for me."
"Again?"
"It would please me."
She seemed to be flitting between the personable saleswoman type and a more subdued, mechanical personality much like Mistress Kira's. The process had X worried, but despite this he complied and shut himself down for transport. Right now, he wanted to stop thinking, like he had tried and failed to do once before. The only way he could see himself not thinking was in Alia's embrace, so while his conscience screamed at him to pursue the subject, he was only too happy to shut down and return to his one modicum of solace from a collapsing world.
Zero barely took note of his surroundings, didn't care to wonder how he had wound up on a small island or where the doors had gone. The heady glow of sunset was little more than a filter through which he saw the stark white building he was approaching ahead. The temple wasn't large – it couldn't be, for the width of the island could be traversed in twenty steps – and neither was it imposing. Still, a foreboding crept from the thick front door that wasn't unwelcome in Zero's present state of mind.
Almost as if on command, the doors themselves burst open and a tall form in creamy robes stumbled down the steps. He sported the same irritating green hair as all the other Elysians, but it was long and unkempt. Most unusual of all were his eyes, all cloudy, uncertain silver.
"Are you…here to help me?" The Master choked, then doubled over in a sudden throbbing seizure.
"To help you? No." Automatically, Zero moved around the Master and sat on the temple steps. His eyes were faintly tinted red. "What I have in mind – I'll be completely honest – is not in your best interest. It will, however, help Elysium and any future colonies we choose to cultivate."
End of Chapter 36
AN: Bear with me, people. I'm just setting up the dominoes.