A House Divided, chapter three
Authored by Yoster
Authored on 18 April, 2001 11.25 PM, PST
All characters herein copyright their respective owners.
3rd Author's Note (added 19 April, 2001, 12.46 AM, PST)
I appreciate the positive responses to my work, it makes the whole process all the more worthwhile. If the addition of chapters seems rather few and far apart, it's because I don't begin work until some event in my life triggers some inspiration, I don't force it, look for it, or even listen for its knock at the door. I wait for it to punch me in the face!
chapter three
Morning broke. X stretched his huddled body, under the cool darkness of a thicket of trees. It had been about eighteen hours since he went AWOL, but he couldn't care less about the time.
The faint sound of traffic could be heard at a distance, but the spot where X had ended up was as isolated as you could get in a megalopolis such as this.
"*groan* Oooh," he ran his hands through his matted hair, and combed out some of the debris that one would expect from sleeping on the bare ground. "Hmm?"
X noticed what he was doing, and realized that his helmet had gone missing. As well as large chunks of the rest of his armor set.
"I must have... lost them somewhere last night..." The events following the previous day's incident were a blur to X.
~eighteen hours earlier~
The Maverick got close enough for the child to hear the low hum of a charged plasma weapon for just an instant.
A bright flash of light, and the assailant was a million bits of shrapnel. The child covered his face as chunks of armor nicked and cut his exposed flesh.
...
The child continued to stare at the battle-worn bot for a second, then immediately broke out in tears and yelled repeatedly, "MAKE THE MEAN ROBOT GO AWAY MOMMY!" He kicked and screamed in extreme terror. The rescue workers quickly placed him in the ambulance and shut the doors, departing for the hospital quickly. But X still stood, a chilling realization paralyzing him.
...
"Just... just SHUT UP!" X broke out in tears and teleported away in a half-enraged, half-devastated manner.
X didn't even bother to check where the teleport would take him, he had just punched in a random coordinate. He ended up in some God-awful back alley, miles from anywhere he should be.
X clutched both sides of his head, trying to make sense of it all. His mind was filled to overflowing with rationalizations, anger, reasons, depression, realizations, horror, regret, confusion, denial, hate. He stumbled from place to place, no memory or care of where he had been, no rhyme nor reason of where he was going. The child monopolized his thoughts.
"Am I... really..." X struggled to sort out his thoughts, "A... A monster?" He couldn't comprehend it, yet he completely understood.
Passers-by eyed the haggard reploid as he staggered down sidewalks and across avenues. Hour upon hour passed. Soon the streets were crowded with evening rushers.
Some whispered, "Is that a Maverick?" and, "Don't get near him, he looks unstable." This only served to send X deeper into his own personal hell.
"Have I become..." Another message came together in his head, "...what I swore to destroy?" Rage enveloped him, and he threw his helmet angrily in a fleeting trashcan, and stumbled on, eyes nearly glowing crimson. Entire city blocks became blurs. The surroundings took on a natural look, but he still didn't know or care where he was.
"NO!" X roared, almost like a wild animal, the rage grabbing hold of his battered mind. "I CAN'T BE A MONSTER! I CAN'T BE EVIL! I CAN'T BE A MAVERICK!" He lurched through patches of dense foliage, knocking off bits and pieces off his armor, but he continued on, eventually crumpling to his knees and breaking out in tears, completely drained of physical and mental strength. "*sob* ...can I?" He then passed out.
~the next morning~
X shook his head. He didn't exactly want to remember what had happened.
"Can I..." The last of what he had said slowly came back to him. "...."
X tore off the remainder of his armor and straightened out the clothes he had worn beneath them. Finding the whole of his protection would take hours, but he didn't really care to find them anyway. He came to his buster. Ripping it off, X threw it as far as he was able, a soft thud emanating from a far corner of the area.
"I can't go back." X figured aloud. "They wouldn't have me. Besides..."
X began the walk to parts unknown. "...I don't want to fight anymore."
~18 hours earlier, at Hunter HQ~
"YOU'VE WHAT?!" An enfuriated Dr. Cain slammed both of his fists on the table.
Zero stood at a distance with a calm exterior, but inside he was a raging torrent. He wanted to find his best friend just as bad, if not worse, than anyone. "I've lost track of X, sir." He nodded tersely, not even realizing that he had called the Doctor 'Sir' for the first time in years. "He teleported away after... after..." What followed would be hard to explain.
"After..." Cain leaned forward over the table, placing both hands on it. "WHAT?"
Dr. Cain was usually a very agreeable man, but in times of severe crisis, all that went out the window, and in came a cold, heartless dictator, one who didn't see reploids as people, but as assets, and one who had always hated Zero and his ways.
"A child called him a monster, sir." Zero knew that this sounded absurd, but it was the truth. "And that devastated him, at which point he left the scene via teleport to an unknown location, sir." Zero was too busy sorting out what had happened in his mind to give much thought to what he was saying, or how he was saying it. His basic military training showed.
"A child?" The Doctor almost laughed incredulously. "Called X a monster?"
"Yes, sir."
"So he ran away?"
"Yes, sir."
"And why haven't we found him yet?"
"He's disabled his communicator and locator devices, sir."
Zero was angered that Cain thought X was that stupid. He obviously didn't want to be found.
"This is incredible!" Cain flailed his arms in infinite anger and frustration. "In-fucking-credible!"
Zero was taken aback, Dr. Cain usually frowned upon vulgarity, but he was quite beyond the bounds of polite conversation at this point.
"The best God-damned hunter in the world, and he vanishes because some four year old brat calls him a name?!" Anger was compounded upon anger.
"...second best..." Zero mumbled to himself, a bit too loudly. Even in times of crisis, he was still a bit of an ass.
"SHUT UP!!" Cain threw his glasses down and stormed over to him in one swift motion, and eyed the crimson hunter nose to nose, a feat which few had lived to tell about. "I want you..." Dr. Cain struggled to supress his anger. "To FIND X... and I want you to find him..."
He paused, shaking violently.
"Find him when, sir?" Zero responded as a good soldier might.
"NOW!" Cain slapped him across the face. All the occupants in the room gasped. "I WANT YOU TO FIND HIM NOW, GOD-DAMNIT!"
Zero was at the boiling point. His best friend was missing, and probably hated him now. His commander was effectively insane, and hated him now more than ever. He had been punched, he had been slapped, he had been patronized. Worst of all, he had called Dr. Cain 'Sir.'
The room stared at Zero, ready for him to literally explode in a raging inferno of anger.
It took all of his will, but Zero mustered an intense nod. Now was not the time to compound the Hunters' problems. Cain would get his soon enough. Right now, X was the main concern.
"Now," Everyone prepared for another auditory barrage, but the Doctor just stared angrily at Zero, and hissed. "Get the hell out of my sight."
~that morning, at Hunter HQ~
Zero had spent the entire night, and his entire reserve of strength, searching for his friend. Some people had reported a shady-looking robot making his way through the city, but X's path seemed random at best. Rather than face another one of Dr. Cain's barrages, one that the good doctor might not escape unscathed from, Zero returned, exhausted, directly to his quarters.
"Damn it, X." He threw aside his armor frustratedly and flopped down in his bunk. "Where are you?"
Laying in his bed in his street clothes, too exhausted to even get out of them, he rolled over to go to sleep, but an object in his pocket pressed on his thigh.
Zero's eyes widened as he came to a sudden realization. He leaped out of bed and fished the item out of his shorts. Eyeing it, he smacked himself in the forehead.
"And they call him naive." Zero chuckled to himself. "I just hope he hasn't gotten rid of the damn thing." Zero began to dial.
It was a simple civilian cellphone.
Authored by Yoster
Authored on 18 April, 2001 11.25 PM, PST
All characters herein copyright their respective owners.
3rd Author's Note (added 19 April, 2001, 12.46 AM, PST)
I appreciate the positive responses to my work, it makes the whole process all the more worthwhile. If the addition of chapters seems rather few and far apart, it's because I don't begin work until some event in my life triggers some inspiration, I don't force it, look for it, or even listen for its knock at the door. I wait for it to punch me in the face!
chapter three
Morning broke. X stretched his huddled body, under the cool darkness of a thicket of trees. It had been about eighteen hours since he went AWOL, but he couldn't care less about the time.
The faint sound of traffic could be heard at a distance, but the spot where X had ended up was as isolated as you could get in a megalopolis such as this.
"*groan* Oooh," he ran his hands through his matted hair, and combed out some of the debris that one would expect from sleeping on the bare ground. "Hmm?"
X noticed what he was doing, and realized that his helmet had gone missing. As well as large chunks of the rest of his armor set.
"I must have... lost them somewhere last night..." The events following the previous day's incident were a blur to X.
~eighteen hours earlier~
The Maverick got close enough for the child to hear the low hum of a charged plasma weapon for just an instant.
A bright flash of light, and the assailant was a million bits of shrapnel. The child covered his face as chunks of armor nicked and cut his exposed flesh.
...
The child continued to stare at the battle-worn bot for a second, then immediately broke out in tears and yelled repeatedly, "MAKE THE MEAN ROBOT GO AWAY MOMMY!" He kicked and screamed in extreme terror. The rescue workers quickly placed him in the ambulance and shut the doors, departing for the hospital quickly. But X still stood, a chilling realization paralyzing him.
...
"Just... just SHUT UP!" X broke out in tears and teleported away in a half-enraged, half-devastated manner.
X didn't even bother to check where the teleport would take him, he had just punched in a random coordinate. He ended up in some God-awful back alley, miles from anywhere he should be.
X clutched both sides of his head, trying to make sense of it all. His mind was filled to overflowing with rationalizations, anger, reasons, depression, realizations, horror, regret, confusion, denial, hate. He stumbled from place to place, no memory or care of where he had been, no rhyme nor reason of where he was going. The child monopolized his thoughts.
"Am I... really..." X struggled to sort out his thoughts, "A... A monster?" He couldn't comprehend it, yet he completely understood.
Passers-by eyed the haggard reploid as he staggered down sidewalks and across avenues. Hour upon hour passed. Soon the streets were crowded with evening rushers.
Some whispered, "Is that a Maverick?" and, "Don't get near him, he looks unstable." This only served to send X deeper into his own personal hell.
"Have I become..." Another message came together in his head, "...what I swore to destroy?" Rage enveloped him, and he threw his helmet angrily in a fleeting trashcan, and stumbled on, eyes nearly glowing crimson. Entire city blocks became blurs. The surroundings took on a natural look, but he still didn't know or care where he was.
"NO!" X roared, almost like a wild animal, the rage grabbing hold of his battered mind. "I CAN'T BE A MONSTER! I CAN'T BE EVIL! I CAN'T BE A MAVERICK!" He lurched through patches of dense foliage, knocking off bits and pieces off his armor, but he continued on, eventually crumpling to his knees and breaking out in tears, completely drained of physical and mental strength. "*sob* ...can I?" He then passed out.
~the next morning~
X shook his head. He didn't exactly want to remember what had happened.
"Can I..." The last of what he had said slowly came back to him. "...."
X tore off the remainder of his armor and straightened out the clothes he had worn beneath them. Finding the whole of his protection would take hours, but he didn't really care to find them anyway. He came to his buster. Ripping it off, X threw it as far as he was able, a soft thud emanating from a far corner of the area.
"I can't go back." X figured aloud. "They wouldn't have me. Besides..."
X began the walk to parts unknown. "...I don't want to fight anymore."
~18 hours earlier, at Hunter HQ~
"YOU'VE WHAT?!" An enfuriated Dr. Cain slammed both of his fists on the table.
Zero stood at a distance with a calm exterior, but inside he was a raging torrent. He wanted to find his best friend just as bad, if not worse, than anyone. "I've lost track of X, sir." He nodded tersely, not even realizing that he had called the Doctor 'Sir' for the first time in years. "He teleported away after... after..." What followed would be hard to explain.
"After..." Cain leaned forward over the table, placing both hands on it. "WHAT?"
Dr. Cain was usually a very agreeable man, but in times of severe crisis, all that went out the window, and in came a cold, heartless dictator, one who didn't see reploids as people, but as assets, and one who had always hated Zero and his ways.
"A child called him a monster, sir." Zero knew that this sounded absurd, but it was the truth. "And that devastated him, at which point he left the scene via teleport to an unknown location, sir." Zero was too busy sorting out what had happened in his mind to give much thought to what he was saying, or how he was saying it. His basic military training showed.
"A child?" The Doctor almost laughed incredulously. "Called X a monster?"
"Yes, sir."
"So he ran away?"
"Yes, sir."
"And why haven't we found him yet?"
"He's disabled his communicator and locator devices, sir."
Zero was angered that Cain thought X was that stupid. He obviously didn't want to be found.
"This is incredible!" Cain flailed his arms in infinite anger and frustration. "In-fucking-credible!"
Zero was taken aback, Dr. Cain usually frowned upon vulgarity, but he was quite beyond the bounds of polite conversation at this point.
"The best God-damned hunter in the world, and he vanishes because some four year old brat calls him a name?!" Anger was compounded upon anger.
"...second best..." Zero mumbled to himself, a bit too loudly. Even in times of crisis, he was still a bit of an ass.
"SHUT UP!!" Cain threw his glasses down and stormed over to him in one swift motion, and eyed the crimson hunter nose to nose, a feat which few had lived to tell about. "I want you..." Dr. Cain struggled to supress his anger. "To FIND X... and I want you to find him..."
He paused, shaking violently.
"Find him when, sir?" Zero responded as a good soldier might.
"NOW!" Cain slapped him across the face. All the occupants in the room gasped. "I WANT YOU TO FIND HIM NOW, GOD-DAMNIT!"
Zero was at the boiling point. His best friend was missing, and probably hated him now. His commander was effectively insane, and hated him now more than ever. He had been punched, he had been slapped, he had been patronized. Worst of all, he had called Dr. Cain 'Sir.'
The room stared at Zero, ready for him to literally explode in a raging inferno of anger.
It took all of his will, but Zero mustered an intense nod. Now was not the time to compound the Hunters' problems. Cain would get his soon enough. Right now, X was the main concern.
"Now," Everyone prepared for another auditory barrage, but the Doctor just stared angrily at Zero, and hissed. "Get the hell out of my sight."
~that morning, at Hunter HQ~
Zero had spent the entire night, and his entire reserve of strength, searching for his friend. Some people had reported a shady-looking robot making his way through the city, but X's path seemed random at best. Rather than face another one of Dr. Cain's barrages, one that the good doctor might not escape unscathed from, Zero returned, exhausted, directly to his quarters.
"Damn it, X." He threw aside his armor frustratedly and flopped down in his bunk. "Where are you?"
Laying in his bed in his street clothes, too exhausted to even get out of them, he rolled over to go to sleep, but an object in his pocket pressed on his thigh.
Zero's eyes widened as he came to a sudden realization. He leaped out of bed and fished the item out of his shorts. Eyeing it, he smacked himself in the forehead.
"And they call him naive." Zero chuckled to himself. "I just hope he hasn't gotten rid of the damn thing." Zero began to dial.
It was a simple civilian cellphone.
