Episode 5: React
For the sake of a future
We know nothing about,
Sometimes gaining, sometimes sacrificing,
We keep heading towards that fleeting call.
Flying, gone,
As if in a dream;
the plummeting is within you.
Don't be afraid, should I be wounded,
I'll surely be embracing this dear kindness.
Flying, fall down,
A plummet while flapping my wings,
At your side.
When a tomorrow where I have nothing arrives,
I'll hold to my heart the miracle of meeting you,
And be lulled to sleep.
My wounds are as deep
As my belief in you...
I wish to erase or flee
Everything but my self *
Zero and X waited outside the Infirmary, where Key and Miaka both were in questionable condition. Agile was nowhere to be seen, surprisingly. Probably still cleaning the blood off his armor, Zero guessed. X was pale and silent, looking visibly shaken. Zero felt sorry for him, but in all fairness he'd warned him.
"X?" Zero said finally, to see if X was still alive.
"What?" X's voice was subdued, his eyes wide. No doubt he was remembering the carnage.
"X... are you all right?" he asked, knowing it was a dumb question but at a loss for anything else.
"How can you be so calm about it?"
"Well... I've seen a lot of that," he said.
"And it doesn't bother you??"
"Well... sometimes it does."
"So there are times when seeing a massacre doesn't bother you?"
"Calm down, X. I'm not that heartless. It's just... That's the world we live in. Humans and Reploids hate each other, which leads to things like that. It can't be helped unless you plan to change the world completely, kill all humans, or kill all Reploids. All three are pretty much impossible."
"There has to be a better way. Why can't we live in peace?"
"X... There are some of us who don't want peace with humans."
"Why not?"
"Well, take Agile for example. He has a deep hatred for humanity."
"Why?"
"Because of his past. He was owned by a megacorp and used to do their bidding. They ordered him to assassinate a rival CEO, and he wouldn't do it. So they tortured him."
If it was possible, X's eyes widened. "Tortured him?"
"They tore his optics out. That's why they're flat red now."
"So he's.... blind?"
"Except for sensors, pretty much." Zero shook his head. "He doesn't talk about it much. I think I'm the only one he's ever told, so keep your mouth shut about it."
"So he didn't kill the CEO?"
"No... but the megacorp that owned him is no longer around."
"What happened to it?"
"Freak gas explosion," came Agile's cold voice. "Zero, you should be more discreet."
"Sorry. I was trying to make a point."
"I know, but considering my actions lately I don't want to encourage suspicion."
"Yeah, I know. I was just trying to explain to X why Reploids hate humans."
"It's not something you can explain to sheltered people," Agile said coldly. "They'll never understand. They live in their perfect little world and expect the rest of us to do the same. They never aspire to free themselves because they're too stupid to know they're not free. But they don't care. As long as they're happy, fuck the rest of us."
"Agile!" Zero snapped. "Your problems aren't X's fault."
"No, but I hate people like that almost as much as humans themselves."
"I never did anything to you!" X protested. "And you-! You're a crazed killer! You murdered all those Reploids! They never even had a chance!"
"Did Miaka have a chance unarmored against a Mechadrake?" Agile countered. "Why should I show them any mercy at all? Why shouldn't I rip every last motherfucking one of them to shreds!? Why do they deserve to live? Why do you deserve to live if you're too stupid to see the obvious?"
"Agile, calm down!" Zero shouted, rising to meet the furious Reploid. "Leave X alone. X, I suggest you stop talking about things you don't understand."
"I understand that all those people died today for no reason, and he killed half of them!" X retorted. "You're crazy! You don't care who you kill! You'd just as soon kill Zero as a Maverick! You may as well be-"
Zero turned and slapped X, hard enough to knock him back down into his chair. "Don't ever call anyone that, X, or you'll be responsible for what happens to them!"
"But he-"
"Shut up, X," Zero cut him off. "He's right, there's a lot you don't understand. You don't understand the true dangers of being a Reploid because you've been a star since the day you were awakened. You're the first Reploid, made by Dr. Light himself, so everyone respects and loves you. The rest of us can't quite aspire to being honored. We're slaves. We all are, even you, although no one's treated you like one yet. People are like Akane, X. You've been lucky that all you ever met was Akane. Agile and I haven't been so lucky. And Agile, X does have a point too. This isn't the first time I've seen you go into a killing frenzy."
"You've killed more than I have," he pointed out.
"I don't let my emotions control me," Zero countered. "I never let something drive me to the point of killing everything in sight."
"Liar," Agile said.
"Maybe so, but that's still different."
"I won't let them kill my emotions like that," Agile snapped.
"You may not have a choice if they think you're dangerous."
At that point, Salubri cleared her throat. "If you boys are quite done, Key's awake."
"What about Miaka?" Agile demanded.
"She's sleeping and will be for the next six hours."
"Why?"
"To give her nerves time to adjust to a cybernetic arm," Salubri answered, ignoring his impatient tone. "It takes humans a while to adjust to these things, you know."
"Fine. I still want to see her."
"Just don't wake her up," Salubri warned. "She's asleep for a reason. Cybernetic integration hurts like hell."
Agile headed straight for Miaka. X and Zero went to vist Key.
"Key, what happened?" Zero asked.
Key sighed. "Mass murder, what do you think? We walked into a trap."
"Trap?" X asked.
"They were waiting for us," Key said. "They had a holographic disguise... Miaka found them first."
"What happened to Miaka? Why wasn't she armored?"
"It vanished. Like someone summoned it back... Her wings went first, then the rest of it."
Zero and X exchanged a glance. "Summoned... Key, you don't know by who?"
"No, she never said who could summon it and who couldn't."
Another glance. "Key, you feel up to a little investigation?" Zero asked.
"Sure," he said. "What about Agile?"
"Let's not involve him just yet," Zero said. "His reason is a bit erratic where she's concerned."
"So..." X said, "Where do we start?"
"First of all we should find out who exactly can summon that armor," Zero said. "I'd say ask Agile, but he's... well, you saw."
"Well, call the Robot Depot," Key suggested. "They made it, wouldn't they know?"
"It's a start," Zero said. "Let's do this from my office."
The group made their way across the compound to Zero's office, giving everyone they passed a suspicious glare. Zero closed and locked his office, kicked aside a mountain of paperwork, and proceeded to search for his companel. He found it under some dusty reports. He connected to the Robot Depot without a problem.
"Robot Depot, may I help you?"
"This is Commander Zero. I need infirmation on a custom armor you made for Miaka Tendou."
"What do you need to know?"
"The summoning ability of the armor- can that be accessed by someone other than the wearer?"
"It's coded for the wearer only, but I suppose someone smart enough and with enough equipment at their disposal could figure out how to override it."
"Hm. Thanks." Zero cut the connection. "Okay, boys, who do we know that fits that description?"
"Sigma and Dr. Cain..." X said. "Maybe Dr. Akane."
"I think we have a winner," Key said.
"We don't have any proof, you know," Zero said.
"Well, what are we supposed to do?"
"Watch her," Zero said. "I have an idea. I'll need someone who wasn't involved in the incident between Miaka and Akane." He tapped the companel again. "Pai, can I see you for a minute?"
"If you unlock the door."
Zero keyed in the code. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Pai, I need a favor."
"What?"
He fished around in his desk. Finally, he pulled out a small black device. "Find a way to put this on Akane's person," he said.
"Can I ask why?"
"Not right now."
"OK," she said brightly, and hurried off.
"Now Key," Zero said in a hushed voice. "I want you to go to Sigma. Since you're the last remaining Night Viper Reploid, I want you to ask him what you and Miaka are supposed to do now. I have to trust your wits on this, but remember Sigma's pretty damn smart."
Key grinned. "I can take him."
Key caught Sigma on the way back to his office. Although Sigma tried to evade him, Key was persistent enough to persuade him to either listen to him or knock his head off. Not that Sigma could do that- Key was far more powerful than anyone could guess.
Sigma sat behind his desk and crossed his arms. "All right, Night Viper. What do you want?"
"I would like to know what the remaining Night Vipers are supposed to do," Key said. "After all, there are only three of us. And one of us is badly injured."
"You speak of Miaka Tendou."
"The one you ordered killed, if I recall."
"I thought she was dead," Sigma replied evenly. "I have no knowledge of human systems. She appeared to have taken lethal amounts of damage."
"It sounds reasonable, even if it isn't true," Key said.
"Oh? And what is true, then?" Sigma sounded amused.
"I think you are responsible for this," he said. "First of all, you sent the most inexperienced unit, one comprised mostly of humans, into a blatant trap. Not until it was too late did you send reinforcements, but you seemed rather bored about it."
"How can you know if you weren't here?"
"I have my sources," Key said with a cold grin. "You know what you're planning will never work."
"You know your side is just as indefensible," Sigma countered.
"You don't know what side I'm on," Key said. "You don't know who I am, or what I did, and what I am capable of now. If you did, you would know to fear me," Key growled. "Neither side is right."
"And just what do you intend to do about it?"
"Stop you from hurting my friends, for one," Key said. "And I will prove
you are responsible for Miaka's injury." With that, Key turned to leave.
Unknown to him, Sigma shot him in the back with a small device that embedded
in his armor. Key walked away, thinking he was victorius.
Pai felt a bit nervous coming to talk to Akane. Although she was an insanely powerful Reploid, somehow Akane managed to unnerve her. Akane had... a certain slimy coldness about her. Pai couldn't quite place what was wrong with her. Besides that she was a bitch, of course.
"What is it, Reploid?" Akane snapped impatiently.
"Um, Dr. Akane... I-"
"Let me guess. Zero sent you here under some guise to try to implicate me in what happened to Miaka Tendou."
"Uh-" The poor triclops was caught off guard. All three eyes blinked.
"I'll prove it wasn't me," Akane said. She brought up a schematic of Miaka's armor. "Since Miss Tendou has been incapacitated, I've taken the opportunity to analyze her armor. You can see this is the summoning signal frequency. If you look at this scanner's readout-" Akane typed in a command. "You can see the only devices capable of summoning the armor. You see, one is embedded in Tendou's cybernetic arm. The other seems to be walking out of Sigma's office." She switched the view to security cameras.
Pai gasped. "Oh, my God, it's-"
"That Relic, Key," Akane said. "Who is now a Maverick. I suggest you do your job, Hunter."
No side was taken.
Opening song "Flying" from Tales of Eternia.
Zero and friends copyright Capcom.
Any other references copyright their respective owners.