Mega Man X1.5
by Tremor3258
Disclaimer: I don't own Mega Man X, Mega Man, Mega Man Battle Networks, etc., etc. Capcom does! This work is intended for enjoyment, not for profit.
Last Dance of the Hunters: Part Two: Choosing your Partner
Two days after the initial announcement of the Viral information, morale at Hunters was at its lowest since Sigma had turned most of the Hunters, trashed the Headquarters, and announced that he was going to kill humanity for the sake of Reploids. Isoc was trying to handle the Public Relations end, but just when it seemed the crisis ended, another new point of information popped up.
"Isn't it true, Isoc, that the two Reploids in this photograph are the same as the Ancients found roughly a year ago, destroying much of a maintenance squad?" said a human reporter, "And is it not true that the Control Center lately started malfunctioning wildly and started a fire that nearly wiped out one of the most-repaired ecosystems on the planet?" The scene was played out on a view screen in the Hunter's cafeteria. One hundred Hunters, almost everyone off duty, and a few who weren't, was watching the drama play out.
Signas groaned at the monitor, "I KNEW we forgot something. We were going to send someone to check the Control Center, but then Douglas attacked Headquarters, and we were too busy with setting up the Vaccine research to go check on Douglas's handiwork."
X added grimly, "Don't forget that Yammark was tied into those computers, so if they did program something in, Douglas taking out Yammark probably took out the system as well."
Zero groaned, "This isn't going to make Gate look very good if Isoc tries to pull the anti-Virus trump card, isn't it." Iris sat next to Zero, soaking up his presence, and the Crimson Hunter forced himself to calm down from the gentle pressure on his arm. X looked at Zero with a slight expression of worry. He obviously was in a bad mood due to the loss of the 'Ninja' Unit, which was perfectly understandable. Death was never easy, not even for the Crimson Hunter.
"Quiet!" growled Jazz, being a bit more brusque, in armor and hovering nervously in the air, as the Hunters were on standby alert status due to the situation, "Isoc's going to try and say something."
"We detected a Maverick signature, and with much of our strength diverted, we were forced to use Jazz and Bebop, despite some questions remaining about certain irregularities in their scans. It should be noted that those are NOT computer diagnostic tools in the photograph. Those are high energy rifles, as Cain Lab and other analysis show." A few pictures flipped up behind Isoc.
The Maverick Hunters let out a cheer. Isoc had a lot of mysteries, but the Hunters knew he was a heck of a speaker. Especially with some decent contingency planning, they may finally be holding their own. Most of them relaxed and headed off to do something less nerve-wracking, like prepare to face armies of Mavericks.
Jazz settled to the ground with a grace that was surprising considering how bulky she looked with a flight pack and said brightly to Zero, "We don't have training duty for a few hours, so Bebop and I were going to head outside? Care to come? We'd invite X but technically he's supposed to be overseeing repairs, so we'll make it more of a family thing."
Zero seemed to be a bit uneasy about it, but Jazz was insistent, and finally, Zero, with a nod from Iris, agreed, though as the group wandered through the HQ dome, Zero kept muttering warning about Frisbees. Iris looked in between the two, with something approaching a grin on her face. The two seemed very different, but that was mainly a matter of body language and construction. Jazz was done up in sandy earth colors, despite claims she had originally matched Zero's color scheme, and was a bit shorter than Zero, as was Bebop to his slightly older brother. Jazz definitely looked like a combat model as well, what with her obvious armor and jetpack. Zero looked more like a slightly reinforced dancer. Plus, Zero had pale skin and green eyes, while Jazz had a slightly dusky color as well as brown eyes. No one could say they were related, but with Reploids, similarities were usually buried more than skin deep.
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"Let me get this straight. This cat-bot here, who incidentally, doesn't match your construction in almost any respect except maybe a bit of cat ears in both your helmet designs, is your prototype model and sister," Iris said quietly to them in their quarters several hours after Douglas's destruction.
After the rush with Douglas, the various cats, who hadn't been through the Repliforce war, unlike most of the other Reploids, whether Hunters or not at the time, had been eager to learn more about this strange skirted figure. The rather preposterous claims from the two, who seemed to be made of smoke the way they moved silently and to a set of directions all their own, had caught Iris by surprise, as she was SURE that Zero hadn't had any relatives when she had last known him. As soon as they reached Zero's quarters, Iris had confronted him about it.
Zero was surprised by the reaction. She had barely reacted out in the hall, but as Zero spent more time thinking about it, it made sense. Iris was probably scared out of her mind, despite reassurances, including those from Isoc and Gate, that she was apparently stable. Zero shrugged, "Listen, Jazz has got enough stories about me under construction to keep the Ninth Unit busy through every holiday part imaginable. Jazz sat down one day recently, and managed to come up with a working, 20 centimeter high Gemini Man with only a little help from Bebop to put it together," Iris smiled at that, and Zero thought it was silly too. Jazz had wanted something so she didn't have to dust, and created the insta-clone Gemini man. It was too small to rig a fusion generator into, so Jazz had rigged a plasma feed off her recharge bed to keep it running. It was a useful conversation starter, and a helpful little drone, rigged even with a Gemini Laser system to 'deal with bugs'.
Zero continued, "and Bebop's produced plans for every support animal known. Those plans DON'T exist. There's little record of them, but Light kept the whole X project under wraps, and Wily didn't have press conferences, and they've proved themselves in battle several times. For that matter, Light gave both of them upgrades. Partly because their minds would have dissolved into mush without them, but he doesn't even give ME upgrades, and I've been a Hunter just as long as X." Zero mock-pouted, and Iris's lips quirked into a smile for a moment.
Zero's design was too different for the capsules to do a lot for, and it had taken Jazz and Bebop's auto-repair systems several hours to finish adjusting the armor into something usable. Besides, Zero didn't especially want upgrades. He kept up with the opposition fine on his own abilities and skills. Sigma had definitely upgraded his mobile power since his last destruction, but Zero was confident if Sigma gave him the chance, Zero would chop the next body into so much scrap metal.
"Well if you're sure. I mean, what is it with the Hunters and attracting mysterious Reploids with no pasts?" Iris asked, "Sigma bragged about Double, and I think my retort worked, because he stomped off," Iris closed her eyes and recited, "They'll always be able to tell your spies, because they have picture perfect pasts." Zero winced, until he saw Iris was giggling slightly. Zero grinned broadly, it was the first time he had seen her laugh since his revival, and joined in, letting his problems drop away for a moment.
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"That stupid, status-quo keeper has proven very resourceful," Number One mused as he examined various inputs. Isoc had managed to keep things fairly even for the time being. The Maverick Hunters had been at extreme measures, but the fact they had stopped the final Skull Fortress suggested that such measures had been necessary. After all, as Isoc was quick to remind the public, the Hunters had nearly taken out the fortress before it activated.
"So, obviously, the trick is to remove Isoc from the equation. Hmm, it may be time to renew my contact with Number Two, even if he still sulking." Number One quickly brought up his most secret connection.
It took several minutes for anyone to answer, but soon, the digitally altered voice of Sigma snapped, "Yes? I'm a little busy here. The Hunters seem to have found a way to defeat my Virus, and I'm busy experimenting."
"I can do better than that, my ally," said Number One, "After all, Zero's current data signals would come in a great help, yes?"
"You're offering me something," Sigma said warily, "You must be desperate. After all, the Hunters aren't quite being burned in effigy like you wanted them to be, are they?"
"None of that now," Number One almost snapped. He would not lose his calm to Sigma. After all, Sigma's plans were laid out well enough to the point Sigma could usually claim a partial victory, but his elusive goal of banding together Reploids under his flag failed time and again. Number One continued more equitably, "Are you familiar with a piece of equipment known as a DNA Soul Eraser chip?" Sigma paused in astonishment. The Eraser chip had the ability to transfer, remotely, the personality matrix and control chip patterns that made up a Reploid's mind into a storage unit. The patterns were nicknamed DNA after the helical shape the data signals had graphically, Sigma had once used an attempt to gather various Reploid researchers to him to improve the Virus. Unfortunately, his associates had gotten ... overenthusiastic and used the chip too often, calling down the wrath of X. Number One now had a slight bit of bloodlust in his voice, "Why settle for breaking the lock and sieging the walls when you can get the lord's keys to the castle?"
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Isoc had two Hunters, rather junior, but full-scale Class B Hunters, assigned as bodyguard as part of his duties as head of Cain Labs, and Chief Administrator of the Hunters, whenever there was at least a standby alert. His knowledge of access codes was limited within Hunter HQ, but Cain Labs was one technological treasure house for anyone trying to outfit themselves with, and even beyond the various prototypes, Cain Labs' technical database was among the best in the world, and their library had some of the original copies of information the LAST great revolution in robotics, the design theories and some blueprints from Drs. Light and Wily's initial nine humanoid robots.
So, though Cain Labs was protected by Hunters, so was its head. As Isoc hurried along the streets to reach his apartment, he was preoccupied with various matters. Budget discussions for the Hunters were coming up, and the Hunters needed extra money if they were going to be training and outfitting new staff.
Isoc was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize when two shurikens came flying out of the shadows of an alleyway, slamming into the Hunters. These carried a charge to temporarily immobilize the victim once the outer hall was penetrated. Taken completely by surprise, the two Reploids stiffened into immobility for a moment. Suddenly, a golden energy beam wrapped around Isoc, who yelped once before being pulled into the shadows. "Hello Isoc. There's someone who would like a chat with you," said the Reploid who had grabbed him. A tall black armored figure with flowing white hair, Dynamo didn't know exactly why who had hired him. But as a bounty hunter, many of Dynamo's clients had similar requests of secrecy. Still, all Dynamo had to do was attach a small data structure to Isoc's forehead, and then wait for the Reploid to be teleported away. In a white flash of energy, Isoc's structure dissolved to energy, shooting up into the sky. After a moment, Dynamo's pay arrived: a set of credit chits to untraceable accounts, and one of the latest discoveries in weaponry: a beam staff, capable of emitting a beam saber blade from either end. "Now to go about getting some techniques into you," Dynamo murmured, testing the blades quickly before teleporting away. He would work on the blade later. No point to stay around for those Hunters to wake up, when he had money to spend and a new toy to play with.
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Despite the cloud the Hunters were under, the parklands surrounding the sparkling silver dome of HQ itself were as busy as ever. It was a beautiful early summer day in Tokyo, and crowds were out enjoying it. Kites flew, and a few battled, along with some people sketching, walking or talking. Oh yes, and frisbees.
Jazz and Bebop had armed themselves with some of the best of their massive arsenal in preparation for going outside, and had switched to street clothes with T-shirts and jeans. Despite
the spring wear looking a little odd in the heat, the two didn't have exactly perfect copies of human bodies, with several small silver ports on their torsos and legs that fed to dash thrusters or controls for the former adapter units with their armor. If the two wore loose clothing, then the biggest comment would be their eyes, for which they had sunglasses.
Zero didn't bother so much about those things, and had his heavy chest armor removed and a thin T-shirt on, took one look at the discs strapped to belts, held in each hand, under the arms, and even one each on top of their head. "No," Zero said simply and stared at them. After a moment, the two groaned, and turned around. They'd probably have thrown up their hands except for the loss of frisbees. The two cats quickly deposited them and returned. When they arrived back in the hall, they discovered Iris had arrived, and switched from her usual uniform, which was equipped with a bit of armor, to a tank top and shorts for some park activities.
Jazz surveyed her for a moment and snapped her fingers gleefully. "Alia owes me three hour's pay! I KNEW it wasn't just the uniform." Iris blushed slightly and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Jazz lazily wrapped an arm around Bebop, "Oh relax. I'm not jealous. Considering that I'm possibly the first female robot Wily had built since Roll, I'm glad I could at least look pass for human." Something flashed across the ancients' eyes, but Iris didn't seem to notice the words left unspoken before I was infected and mutated. People made cat Reploids, cat Reploids with some humanoid features, and human Reploids. They didn't typically make a humanoid Reploid with cat features, so even among Reploids with the infinity of design, things were bizarre. Jazz lightened up when she thought of the excursion. Humans were notoriously bad about noticing small details, and as long as they were careful and didn't call attention to Zero's leg armor, they could pass for a human double date. The quartet set off.
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"Okay, Gate. Talk to me. How bad is it?" X had his arms crossed and sat in a chair inside the laboratory they were using to test the Vaccine program on innocent Metools. Zero got to go off duty and have a good time, and had been gone for an hour or so now, but X had work to do. Gate had been busy locking himself out of their voice-recognition circuits, so the tireless workers should refuse to obey him. However, upon hearing an order, the Mets had jumped to it. When gate had disabled their aural receptors, the little hard-hatted workers had seemed to sag down after a few minutes with no one telling them what to do, and were acting listless, bizarre for little drones.
Gate shrugged, "Well, considering pretty much everyone with some basic coding skill and a knowledge of where a Metool's input jack is can reprogram them, this isn't telling us a lot. I've tried putting conflicting orders into the programs to try and stimulate a Viral attack, but the Met's ignoring them. It's also ignoring every attempt to limit its behavior to accept orders, but that could be improved diagnostics. I'm still not sure what I have. I've been so stone-walled that Alia needing me to tweak her new battle costume's response circuits was a relief, and that's mind-numbingly dull and painstaking work." X nodded. Jazz and Bebop had done a good job, but there was some feedback that was basically causing Alia to itch. Gate had taken a break and fixed it quickly.
There were other technicians working on the project, so Gate could get a rest as needed, or take a small break and get a bite to eat. He usually didn't, as he seemed to live on energy capsules alone, which most Reploids only used when they needed a quick boost, and ignore more human niceties. X could understand that thinking, but most Reploids got taste sensors equipped merely to make it easier to fit into human society, and cause less fear. But then, Gate was an oddball. However, he was also one of the best troubleshooters X had ever seen in his life, and that was saying a lot.
Right now, the problem was to try and create a Vaccine when possession of the guarding material was an instant death sentence for any Reploid caught with it. So, Gate was trying to iron out the definite programming defects in the system, and then install it in some Reploids and see if they went Maverick or not.
It was cold-blooded, but not as cold-blooded as what the Vaccine was based on. The warrior trance that the Reploids whose personality patterns Gate had based the Vaccine's primary structure on described was a bit chilling to X. Seeing the world in such cold terms, especially with the seeming loss of emotions and higher thought processes, put them in the unique situation of seeing what the Maverick Virus was probably like without hunting down humans. Then again, X thought they might take down a human who got in their way in those special modes. X thanked his lucky stars that Light hadn't ever given him something similar, and then X reflected that Jazz and Bebop's problems might have had something to do with it.
"I'll thank them later," X decided. Gate looked up, and X then realized he had thought out loud. "Nothing much. Just a personal matter. So it's possible we either have really strong-willed Mets, or absolutely no-willed Mets, and our test cases return the same result?" Gate nodded. X stretched and said, "I'm going to go see about the Units reorganizations. If you can figure out if we've got a slave program for Reploids or not, send a runner up at any time. This lab still isn't on our new communication network." Gate nodded in response and X wandered out the door.
He didn't get very far when the operator on duty at the Hunter communication console called X, "Commander! We have a problem! Isoc's guards were immobilized and then he disappeared! We can't track the teleportation signal at all!" wailed the officer.
X snapped over his radio, "We're now on full alert. See if you can get some of the orbital stations to try and add us some sensor coverage. Recall all Hunters, and have armory prep my armor set. Send some Cain Labs people to check the guards. On second thought, send any Hunters in the immediate area to sweep for clues, call the police in, and see if we can find someone who can break the news to the public."
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It had been a lovely walk. Jazz was gnawing on some teriyaki chicken she had begged Bebop into buying for her, and the four really just made their way aimlessly through the area, enjoying the chance to be outdoors and away from the constant war for awhile. Enough Reploids were scattered throughout the park as well as to make their presence not to noticeable. Zero's heavier leg armor hinted at more advanced capabilities, but not enough to instantly peg him as a Hunter, so the four were able to enjoy a bit of anonymity.
"Jazz! Bebop!" Alia suddenly shouted over their radios. The group had been keeping them open due to the Hunters' alert status, and winced at the sudden noise. Alia quickly explained the situation, and finished with, "Since the Ninth has the best integrity right now, we've been tapped to do some perimeter work, keep people from messing up the scene."
"Right," said Bebop, "We've got Zero and Iris here too. Should they come along or head back?"
Alia seemed to be discoursing slightly beyond pickup range with someone and said, "No one thought to ask Zero yet because we're going down the active Unit checklist. He should probably check this out. Where are you, anyway?" Bebop quickly explained their location, probably near Alia's head if she was in one of the operations centers. Alia's voice got tinged with bitterness for a moment, "That must have been nice," It was impossible for Wolf to quite hide exactly what he was, but Alia's professionalism soon crept back into her voice, "Come on, get moving! We need to secure the area!"
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About five minutes later, the quartet were blocking off a street to hover and regular vehicles. Alia was staying at ground level for now, sending her new improved dragonfly drones out to act as traffic signals to get everyone out of the way. "I really do wonder how the two make it look so easy," Alia muttered. Suddenly having the mental connection to four individually operated wings wasn't as easy as the flight mode Jazz and Bebop used, and even Alia's multi-tasking was a bit stretched to handle what was essentially an extra set of limbs. Considering she'd only had the armor for a few days, she was making good progress, but she was officially considered a flight hazard for the time being.
Several blocks inside the cordon of police and Hunter troops, Zero was searching around the alleyway. The two Hunters weren't much help, as Isoc had been managed to be taken in under the ten seconds it took the two Reploids' systems to recover from the jolt. Lifesaver had examined them and pronounced them fit for duty, and was currently going over the shuriken with the help of some Cain Labs staff.
Zero, with Iris in tow, had checked the alleyway and had taken only a moment to picture exactly how the battle, if you could call it such, flowed, with a human adjutant taking notes. Zero stood and pointed in the middle of the alleyway, and looked at a slight depression. "Judging by the marks in the dust, Isoc was dragged here, and if Lifesaver would get a shuriken, I could tell exactly where he was standing. Have you checked the teleporter trail?"
"We've got people working on it, but whoever it was did a good job of hiding their tracks. There was an a shuttle right overhead, and it obscured the trail with its heat from reentry. It's taking a while to try and isolate a teleport pattern. Lifesaver set up the echoes from the teleport in the area, and we're working on it, and we're trying to back trace the manufacturer of those shuriken. It's slow going. If it's going to be some nifty weapon designed to disable opponents, ninety percent of designers make it look like its from the old ninja clans." Zero nodded. Unit 0 was nicknamed Shinobi, after the old term for ninjas, and they were ALWAYS being approached for product endorsements, as they had real live ninjas. Reploid ones, but ninjas nonetheless. Zero simply placed it on the 'Things I'll Never Understand About Civilians" mental checklist and moved on.
"All right. Finish up, take everything to the lab for analysis. We'll be pulling ever data feed we can to figure out what's going on. I suppose this means X is in charge, poor bastard. I'll report back in, you finish containment," Zero ordered, before heading over to Iris standing near th edge of the alleyway and then teleporting out in a flare of light.
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"Track my teleporter?" murmured Number One, "You and what super-scientist?" Number One patted the tiny piece of circuitry that his associate's underlings had dropped off. Dealing with them had been a hassle, decided Number One. They obviously wanted to rip much of the staff to bits, but at least Sigma was getting better about keeping people in line. "Well, mustn't keep the guest waiting any longer." Number One opened his connection to Isoc for the first time on a secure channel, and prepared to enjoy this.
"Oh, no!" laughed Number One, "Poor Isoc, the good Reploid Doctor has gone missing. And at the worse possible time for the Hunters." Isoc, tied up with coils of energy, and his vocal synthesizer disabled, glared at the image piped into his cell. "Shame on you Isoc! You've done a marvelous job disabling each of the time bombs the Maverick Hunters have left for themselves. There may be a bit of stain on their reputation, and they would probably simply receive a mere warning to curb their enthusiasm. I'm afraid, dear boy, that's not good enough."
Number One turned to face the monitor, "Obviously, any program eventually has a counter found, and Sigma's time is about up. That's why he's been holed up and playing the behind the scenes manipulator, something that isn't in his nature but he seems to have discovered a knack for. So, he gets the Hunters to fight his allies, rather than send out the horde of raging Mavericks he's been carefully developing. Poor Sigma's looking to upgrade the Virus, and its too complex for him to be able to do so."
"But, Sigma realized there are a few Reploids who possess the ability to increase their own parameters over time. X would probably destroy himself rather than be infected, but luckily, there is another Reploid with the original strength of the circuit design. Zero's power, if exposed to the Virus, wouldn't be content to increase at its usual slow rate, instead Zero would upgrade himself to the maximum potential power, a weapon that literally would raze the land!" Number One paused for a moment to calm himself down.
"So, Sigma, naturally, rushes right in and tries the Maverick Virus on a Reploid that was already partially infected. As usual, Sigma got overeager and pushed too fast, meaning Zero now has a great deal more strength available without that delightful temper. So, Isoc, I do know that your team managed to replicate much of what we're trying for with Zero. A delightful temper, leading to insane amounts of strength. And now that my partner has FINALLY come through with his little piece of technology, you're going to tell me EVERYTHING." Isoc twisted futilely as a humanoid figure, Isoc wasn't sure if it was Reploid or biological, quickly pointed a small device at him. Then everything was darkness.
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The next day, Lancer had taken his Ninth out to the Amazon to do a search. Lancer, frankly, was glad to stretch his wings. He didn't spend a lot of time at Headquarters, and not much more time in the quick-response outposts the Hunters maintained. He was definitely an outdoors type. Still, the area he flew over wasn't the best piece of the outdoors he had ever seen. Mavericks had tapped into the Amazon Outpost and used the weather control systems to torch the area, as part of the continuing plot to vanquish the Hunters. Thus, this area was one of the first to be carefully examined, as even if Isoc wasn't found, there may be Mavericks.
Lancer winced at that. It had been the Ninth's job normally to watch out for this sort of thing. His Unit was mainly a Unit for administrative purposes, generally consisting of fast, lightly armed loners whose job was to watch for trouble, yell for help, and keep the Mavericks busy until the big guns arrived. However, now the Ninth was in the best shape of any Unit, as they were trained to dance around enemies stronger and better armed, but slower than them. So, now the Unit of Maverick Hunters whose job was mainly to guard, now were the temporary premier attack unit of the Hunters. It was a mind-boggling abrupt change for Lancer.
Still, with Sigma apparently laying low, the Ninth had been at least called to do their specialty work of finding their way through rough terrain. The search for Isoc was on, and Lancer was wondering why they hadn't tagged the scientist with something to make it easier. Cain's body was fragile, and drugs or torture would probably cause him to collapse or go into shock. Thus, no one had really tried for Cain, since they figured he'd be dead before they'd get any use out of him. And, people had gotten so used to Cain having some sort of invulnerability shield that protected him from Maverick attacks, that no one thought Isoc would be a different case.
A spark of light alerted the bat-like Reploid's attention for a moment before he relaxed. Alia was definitely one of his best troopers, calm under fire and innovative, but she hadn't been built with the reflex programs that allowed a Reploid to maneuver with wings, like Lancer, and Jazz and Bebop's jetpack systems had literally been built alongside them, with a semi-autonomous control module that allowed simple movement commands to be turned into precisely judged bursts of thrust. Though they had seemed to have something planned today, different with their jetpacks, as they had spent a few careful moments checking the adapters.
Alia, on the other hand, handled like a drunken bumblebee in a hurricane, to put it politely. Jazz and Bebop had gotten her new armor working perfectly with some help from Gate, but unfortunately they had been intending her to get some training time. Alia, however, felt the extra firepower would come in handy while they were on alert status, and kept trying out the flying systems. Lancer wondered if he had been that bad in the hazy first few days after activation.
Meanwhile, Alia, of all people, rang up Lancer on his communicator. "Something's ... not quite right about the area up ahead. The energy scans don't quite line up, and the satellite photography's a bit off." Lancer thought that over. The Amazon offered excellent cover from most forms of detection, with heavy canopy and plenty of additional heat sources. Alia, however, could take a picture from multiple points of view, thanks to her drones, and mos t shielding systems tended to have anomalies if you compared the same spot from two directions. If the Mavericks had uncovered something that wasn't authorized in this area.
"Nice work Alia. Keep flying ahead normally. Well, as normally as possible," Lancer grinned as a bitter retort got snapped back. His grin grew wider with some fangs into it. The Ninth didn't have a lot of heavy firepower, but if someone thought they could get away with something under his snout, they were in for a surprise. "All right. Tell Jazz and Bebop to put their jets to good use. You've all got ice weapons, so use them. Try to make it look like you're putting down hot spots, and I'll be along shortly."
Lancer noticed two more light specks join the air, and started pushing himself forward. The small, blue flecks of the ice special weapons weren't visible at this range, but Lancer was sure the group could put down a decent holding pattern. Lancer took advantage of the spotter system the Hunters had installed by bugging HQ into rounding up his unit, rather than having him call each squad leader individually. Soon, over forty Reploids were converging on the disharmonious location. Lancer's sensors picked up the energy flare as plasma cannon hungered upwards, and Lancer's grin grew much more feral.
"Where does everyone keep getting all this artillery?" Jazz demanded as she launched a missile set off. Six concealed, high-wattage plasma cannon had revealed themselves when the ice had splashed against a holographic shield. Now those barrels quested hungrily after the Reploids, and Bebop was content only to dodge for the time being, though he had equipped the charged version of his kinetic lance, which put up a force shield around him. There was a limit to what it could take, but it kept the near-misses from singing him at all. Alia's lightning gun wasn't much good against the military-level hardened circuitry, but the fact her drone's now carried plasma cannon meant that one of the barrels was half-melted through from repeated stings.
"I don't know. I always assumed that there's some off-world colony having a fire sale on old meteor busters or something," Bebop said. This didn't seem Maverick, there would be drones along with the cannon. Bebop thought for a moment and then shouted into his communicator, "Lancer! Get an anti-teleport shield out here NOW! These weapons can only delay us momentarily!" A moment later, a small device dropped down off to the side of the base. The cannon fire picked up a tempo, seeming almost angry.
Except there was a fourth member of the squad. Alia didn't quite trust herself to use her new beam saber AND fly at the same time, and suddenly setting down could spawn a new problem from the bunker or possibly get her electrified. Laser Wolf, however, had been working his way towards the base, and quickly air dashed onto the side of the bunker, before leaping through the air and igniting his saber. The brilliant blue blade left an arcing ionized trail behind it, an all too real afterimage. When it struck the cannon, the blade slit its way through the cannon's outer shell for a moment, and Wolf hung there, suspended by the powerful field keeping the saber's plasma intact.
However, saber power cells are only good for a second or so before they have to be recharged, hence recharge packs on armor. The large Reploid looked up as he heard the hiss of air filling the space that only shortly before contained hot plasma. "Please don't let there be a spike trap when I look down," muttered Wolf to himself. He sighed with relief when he saw merely ground, and he was able to easily take the multi-story drop on his hydraulics. Putting the falling time to good use, Wolf had charged up his direct laser system and carved a thin red line in another barrel.
Alia, still dodging all over the place, managed to fire a bolt of electricity that ground itself in the slash Wolf had left in Cannon Number One. The cannon's mouth exploded with a shower of sparks and it drooped downward to the lowest limit of its maneuverability, silent. Alia tried a similar trick to Cannon Number Two, but Wolf had only damaged the outer layer and the electricity grounded itself out harmlessly. Jazz, however, fired her giga attack into the weak point, and the massive stream of energy cut the cannon in half, the barrel falling to the ash-covered forest floor with an earth-shaking boom. Wolf winced. That hadn't been entirely necessary, and though Jazz was carrying a full load of Hunter-made heart tanks, she could only carry two sub-tanks, and Wolf doubted that with her short range technique system not requiring weapon energy, she'd be carrying a weapons sub-tank.
Bebop grimaced. Alia, Wolf, and Jazz had managed to take out one for each of them, but he'd been playing the Reploid target decoy. Plus, his adapter system couldn't keep him up for more than about five minutes, and his time was running out. Of course, there was a nifty feature most people didn't realize about Jazz and Bebop's dash engines. Specifically, besides normal ground-dashed, they also had the airborne version. They didn't use it a lot since they had full-borne flight capabilities, but it did have some uses, like adjusting your falling pattern when the thrusters ran dry.
Bebop waited until the thrusters ran out, as his companions continued hammering away at the other cannons. He cut the shield out as he fell, and then air-dashed, using his claws to snag a cannon and pull himself on top, before cheerfully unloading with his lasers. Unlike Wolf's, which were pure light, Bebop's used a hybrid system that put a small ion beam in the center, doing more damage, and he quickly managed to cut through the side wall of the cannon. Bebop quickly started to run down the barrel. He doubted the cannon could fire at each other, and he was in a good position to deal with the other two. Unfortunately, the cannon was about to fire, and plasma erupted through the gap Bebop had created. The cannon hadn't been built to take that kind of stress, and with the screech of tearing metal, the canon collapsed, split in half near the base.
Bebop had managed to take to the air, and using the limited recharge on his thrusters, landed on the ground amid the splinters and small fires the super-hot plasma had ignited rather sheepishly. Alia said pointedly over the communicator, "That's why I didn't try that, you know." Bebop shrugged.
Lancer, however, had finally reached position over head on his wings of night. Lancer quickly spat out his attack as a dark cloud of mist that settled over one of the cannon. The cannon promptly made a noise like it was firing, but all that happened was that the mist dissolved. "Who wants to bet I can keep an energy drain over their cannon mouths faster than they can blow them off?" Lancer asked rhetorically, spitting off more shots. He also had a small plasma cannon built into the tip of each wing, but he couldn't use both at once. Still, it was possible that all they were facing were automated defenses, as no one had come out to fight them, and those heavy cannon seemed more ready to deal with airships and tanks rather than quick, agile Reploids. It was entirely possible that the anti-teleport shield generator had arrived too late. Lancer shook his head to focus his thoughts. Break bunker first, recriminations and questions later.
With more Reploids arriving, and the cannon's firepower nullified, the rest were destroyed quite quickly. Alia, on solid ground, managed to isolate a hidden door in the side of the bunker, and two rodent-like Reploids quickly applied small explosives and blew the door softly out of its frame from a safe distance. Lancer quickly moved forward, and suddenly stiffened into immobility and fell backwards, a large, probably six-pronged shuriken sticking from his torso with energy crackling over it and circuitry faintly glowing within.
The Ninth wasn't even given time to blink before more shuriken started flying out of the darkened doorway. Prepped and ready for action, the Ninth started firing, but there weaponry had been charged and ready for the doorway. Several small explosions lit the area with a flash, as whatever had been launching them seemed to be destroyed. That still left the projectiles to be dealt with. Several Reploids stiffened into immobility as their systems were overridden for a moment. Wolf had his beam saber ready, and quickly slashed it through the air in a wide arc. The delicate internal wiring of the shuriken was melted beyond repair, so even though the mighty Reploid was punctured several times, a bit of the energy transfer fluid/lubricant that made up Reploid blood oozing out, but he remained on his feet.
Alia's armor had generated a double-sized cloud of drones for preparation of a barrage coming out of the door. She couldn't maintain power to more than three for more than about ten seconds, but during that period, she could use them to block and launch more plasma. Now, they took up a few shuriken, but the rotating drones left a gap that allowed one to catch itself in her arm. A small spray of red went out before the projectile activated itself, dropping Alia to the ground amid a cloud of dragonflies.
Jazz and Bebop, nerves on edge, had their stress levels moved high enough to trigger the Shadow Armor when Lancer had suddenly fallen. With minds operating on an irrational level above fear, the two launched off a small squadron of missiles and the combined energy output of all four of Bebop's cannon. When that disabled only a few, as the shuriken's speed meant the tracking devices on the missiles, designed for larger targets, flew past and then tried gamely to auto-correct, the two reached behind their backs and each withdrew a cylinder with a cross-guard from apparently underneath their adapters. Operating at speeds impressive for even a Reploid, the cylinders emitted a brilliant beam of plasma, Bebop's green and Jazz's red. The two drew the sabers through an arc, slicing through the shuriken with enough force to get their circuitry to overload and explode. The sabers cut out as the two closed their eyes, armor lightening to their usual shades.
The tableau held for a moment, singed and broken shuriken lying on the ground amid paralyzed Reploids. About eight had managed to dodge or luckily shoot their way through the cloud. Wolf gaped at the two cats. They had been nearly behind Lancer and in the densest portion of the salvo, but the two had come through completely unscathed. Wolf's professional training caught up with him, and he quickly told Headquarters to bring in a medical team. The Reploids were stirring, but it would probably be awhile before they were fully on line. Leaving behind a member who had gotten a shrapnel shard in a leg servomotor, crippling his agility, to watch the downed team members, the other seven moved in. There was nothing immediately inside the door, and the group spread out to cover each as they walked in slowly.
Bebop said over his shoulder in a hushed whisper, "Thanks for those sabers, Wolf. They came in handy. Of course, that was the one swipe we got, as we're going to have to get them recharged back at HQ. Nice little desperation move, huh?" Bebop said in a too-light tone. Wolf had noted the two always seemed overly cheerful after using those Armor modes, as if trying to convince themselves their emotions were back. Still, the sabers were fairly useless cylinders that had gotten stowed back on the undersides of their adapter systems. Beam sabers were too delicate to be recharged off just any random power source, as their containment fields had to be adapted to match an individual plasma generator's frequency precisely, or else Wolf would have used his recharger for the hilts for a moment.
The hallway into the bunker was deserted. No cannon emerged or anything. In fact, everything was dead quiet, and except for the lights, everything was off. Still, after the recent experience of Unit 0, everyone was on guard, with people watching all directions as they moved cautiously. Kicking in doors and jumping backwards, before peering in, busters leading before heads. It took about forty-five minutes to reach what was probably the farthest area away from the door, as even the Control Center had been mainly shut down and deactivated, though Wolf had cut through every power cable the Hunters could find as a precaution. Meanwhile, the revived Hunters watched from outside, reinforced with other Hunters who could be spared while they were on a skeleton crew.
The last room Wolf kicked the door down to, as he had the best armor, merely contained Isoc, held with energy bonds to a chair. "Thank goodness you made it!" the researcher cried, "They were going after access codes to the Hunter mainframe!"
"Doesn't everyone have those by now?" Jazz muttered, before Bebop silenced her with a quick kick.
Wolf quickly called Lancer waiting outside, "Disable the anti-teleport shield. We've found Isoc, of all people! Get a medical team in here." The squad leader then asked, "Do you know who they were? Or where there base was? We can send a team. Most of the Ninth is recovered by now from that last trap."
Isoc shook his head, "Standard mix of Reploids, possibly a few humans. I didn't have a lot of chances to tell." Isoc struggled for a moment with his restraints, "Could someone help me with these, please?"
Bebop shrugged, and grabbed one of Isoc's arms to steady him as he extended his claws. "Hold very still, this may jolt," he warned, before slicing through the force field bonds. Sparks traveled up both their arms for a second, and Isoc used that opportunity to twist around with his other arm and slam Bebop in the face.
The Hunters gawked for a moment as Bebop went stumbling backwards. Isoc merely grinned as confused and afraid, Bebop shifted over to his enhanced mode. Isoc, meanwhile appeared to be counting to himself, and holding his belt. Once Bebop's armor had darkened, he launched himself forward, firing off a few ice blasts to restrain his prey before destroying it. Isoc, however, had apparently been anticipating it and teleported away as the shotgun ice spread out to cover the far wall. Bebop paused for a moment, and Jazz quickly grabbed his arm before Bebop reacted to a being surrounded by a group pointing weapons in his direction.
As Bebop was regaining hold on his senses, Wolf was barking, "We've got a situation Lancer! Get the teleport that just came out of here tracked and we may need a medical crew for Bebop. I'm not sure what energy level he's at, and Isoc may have hit him with something." Lancer gave startled acknowledgment.
Alia's voice came over the communicators next. "You don't need to bother guys. Nothing much happening out here and Lancer didn't want me flying, so I was watching a news channel. Isoc just demanded entry to a meeting of the World Council. He says he discovered something about the Hunters while imprisoned. Try channel 28."
The Hunters quickly tapped the global communication net as they held in the area, waiting to see if the teleport had happened there. Most of the time, an image was projected upon the Reploid's 'retina', a small square box overlaying the view of the outside world.
Isoc had walked up to a microphone before the arrayed Council, seated in horseshoe-shaped tables around a central holographic projector and before a podium where Isoc stood. He limped slightly, but his voice was strong as he spoke, "Council members, I bring you dire news. As most of you know, I was captured approximately yesterday by my internal clock by unknown forces. However, I saw something there all of you should know." Isoc pushed a few buttons on the monitor, and Bebop and Jazz hissed as their pictures appeared, with schematics.
"These two Reploids are designated Bebop and Jazz, and as some of you might guess from the naming convention, are products of the two great roboticists of the last era. However, as I was escaping from captivity, I was accosted by an all-black Reploid, who I believe to be familiar to me. I'm downloading the footage now." A shot was shown of Bebop coldly firing ice blasts. "Though I managed to dodge him, I also managed to grab some schematics from the memory banks of the base. These are partial, but damning." The schematics to Bebop's arm assembly and weapon system floated in mid air, and after a moment, Bebop's main schematic appeared and floated over, with a near-perfect match.
"He also nearly grabbed me on the arm during the search, and if you do a scan, you should find deactivated nanomachines there similar to the Maverick Virus. I believe now that the current Viral research being preformed by the Hunters is an outgrowth of the plan to increase Hunter strength by disabling much of their personality. I called out to Bebop, but he definitely didn't stop his attacks even if he did recognize me. If this isn't so, I challenge Bebop to find his way within the next five minutes, which should get him here accounting for warp times from anywhere on the planet, and present himself for examination."
"Well, off you go!" said Wolf urgently. Something was happening, but immediate damage control before ripping Isoc's fusion tank out.
Bebop shook his head, "It's no good. If I warp from here, someone will call a quick couple of Maverick signatures in the area to the Council's attention. Even if that wasn't the case, I'm COVERED in nanos that most scanners mistake for the Maverick Virus from my Armor. How did they break Isoc like that so fast?" Bebop wondered. No one could give an answer.
"Time's running out, Bebop. You should really get over here, unless you've got something to hide," taunted something that almost certainly wasn't Isoc.
*******************
Number One watched in satisfaction as HQ and the Council dissolved into chaos as the ultimatum ticked down. He chuckled, "Shame on you Bebop for losing your composure from one lousy punch. Still, it made things so much easier, getting a current scan of at least some of your most interesting blueprints, as well as a sample of those Shadow nanos." It had definitely been worth the loss of that research station, Number One decided. His operatives had done a good job removing all identifying remarks, and it was unlikely the Hunters would have time for a thorough search any time soon, and the quick Amazonian vegetation would make it more difficult if anything had been missed.
Now, he had that last great gift of Dr. Wily, probably at least partially unintentional, as well as most of the access to the Cain Labs database, which more codes being decoded from Isoc's chips as time went on. Number One reached forward and triggered the operative who was controlling Isoc's shell, "Keep things moving. I've got one last thing to nail the Hunters with, and it should all be over if the current plans I'm reading are right."
Number One patted the folder on his desk affectionately. Listed across the top was a date from about a year and a half ago, the signatures of Cain, Gate, and Isoc, and a simple title. It was one of the little off-shoots of the attempts to get Iris's two personality sections to function together. Gate had innocently created some integration technology to try and allow remote access into a Reploid's patterns, trying to hack the two sections together. Isoc and Cain had developed it a little more before they realized they had a system that could grab any Reploid's control over its body away from it.
"Nightmare Control Virus. Top-level Secret. Eyes of Cain Labs Executive Only. DO NOT USE!" read the tape on top of the folder.
"This," said Number One, "will come in useful."
To be continued....
I always wondered where Gate had gotten his Nightmares from. Well, Bebop may be facing execution now. Isoc's apparently turned against the Hunters. I think I'll try and figure out how exactly you switch one Reploid's brain out for another next time.
Admittedly, the end of this moved a little fast, but I figure the Hunters would be gasping for breath as well, and if Isoc was scanned, there's probably a chance someone would notice there's a difference in his data patterns.
Maverick nanos coating a user after Shadow Armor showed up back at the end of X.5, and displaying a Maverick signature wasn't very clear at that point, but became more obvious as time went on. For the record, three of the seven days Number One figured would destroy the Hunters has been used up, and he seems to be getting ahead of schedule.
I've finally put together a story guide for this series. I may post it once I'm done with the current arc (Last Dance) into this file, or perhaps a second new file in either lists or MM itself. Part of the problem is I'm not sure how ff.net's policy would handle something like that. Review or e-mail if you have any comments on that, or anything else in my works.
The reason for this, is that things are getting awfully long and complicated. The little goodies they were trying to get for Isoc were referenced a while back, when Isoc told Signas that he hoped most of the off-shoots of the Iris project would never see the light of day.
Since this part has been so big, I'm going to finish it up before the author's notes get too long.
Next time:
The Shadowed Reploids may very well have to be destroyed to save the Hunters, but will that even be enough? For that matter, will the Hunters manage to discover the source behind the current plot before it destroys them. Will we even learn WHY Number One has been so eager to destroy the Hunters? And as if there wasn't enough problems, Sigma's latest plot promises to be the last thing the Hunters need.