Disclaimer: I own some of the rights of most of the characters here. Capcom owns the rest of them. I own a lot of the story. Capcom owns most the backstory. I own the -- Let's just get on with it.

Mega Man X13:
In Search of Lost Time

Chapter 3: "Confrontation"

The Enterprise was an RAS vessel. Her job was to carry dangerous weapons across the ocean and could put up a fight better than any other ship. Her crew's skill was second to none; her captain was a briliant tactician named Emanuel Dawson. They could easily stand up against the ragtag group of potential Mavericks that formed OMNI.

"Sir," said a bridge officer, "we're getting a strange energy reading inside the cargo hold. It could be somebody trying to teleport in."

"Activate a scatter field," said Captain Dawson. "That'll make them lose the signal. And have some men stand by."

"Done, sir," said the officer.

Meanwhile, a group of Reploids, led by a blue-and-green armored soldier called TK421, peered into the cargo hold, at all the crates of weapons stored there. On the off-chance that someone managed to get through the scatter field, they weren't going to let them live long. And the crates were proof against attack, so the rather dangerous cargo was safe.

The hum and whine of a teleport field became audible. TK421 braced himself, either for combat or for the sight of someone failing to materialize and succeeding to horribly disintegrate. A glow filled the room --

And something clicked. "Captain!" he shouted into a comlink. "They're not teleporting someone in -- they're teleporting the cargo out!"

"WHAT!?" exclaimed the captain. "Turn off the scatter field!"

The only way they could do that from here was to blast the emitters, which TK421 and his other soldiers did. The glow engulfed every single blast-proof crate in the room, evaporated, and then shot through the ceiling.

"I don't believe it," said TK421. "They got everything!"

There was a pause as that sank in. "All right, men," said TK421. "Looks like we're doomed."

They turned to leave, but as they did, a bolt of light shot down and transformed into a wooden crate. TK421 walked over to it and looked in; it was filled completely with thermal grenades, every single one of which had an LED countdown that said 7 ... 6 ... 5 ...

"GET OUT! SEAL OFF THE HOLD!" shouted TK421, dashing out. The doors closed, and the force field system was activated around the room. They was a series of muffled but loud explosions, and after a moment another, smaller one.

TK421 opened the door and looked through the still-activated force fields. The Enterprise had a hull that could withstand direct attack from guided missiles, and the hold was designed to hold explosives. With the force fields, the worst that had happened was that it made a rather nasty mess.

"All right," said TK421, "now we're doomed."

* * * * *

The way it worked was, OMNI teleported a cube of rock twenty meters on a side out of a mountain (They had chosen Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire.) and into a remote part of the Sahara desert. They then teleported the weapons into the gap this left behind, then teleported all the weapons (except the crate of thermal grenades) to the OMNI base -- located in Japan, under Mt. Fuji, in fact -- and teleported the rock back into the mountain. Since there were two warp signals from the same location in different directions within two minutes of each other, it was impossible to pinpoint where they led, except that it was on the same side of the Earth as the International Date Line, which wasn't very helpful as far as locating it.

Going through the weapons, Andante found a crate of what looked for all the world like sawed-off blaster rifles.

"That," said Jakesten, "is a machinesaber." He took it and indicated a switch. "You set it to this mode, and it works just like a plasma machine gun. Then, you set it like this ..." He flipped the switch, then closed the front handle of the machinesaber so it covered the trigger and pushed a button. This caused a purple beam of energy three and a half feet long to extend from the barrel and stay there. "It works like a beamsaber."

"Nice," said Andante, taking it and turning it off. "I think I'll use this one."

"Of course, who in their right mind would want, let alone make a purple-bladed beamsaber?" Drune wondered aloud, going through some armor.

"Me," Andante.

"That answers that question," said Arvisven, not missing a beat, as he played with some sensor jaming equipment. He turned to Jakesten. "I still say you and Andante make a cute couple."

Jakesten armed another machinesaber -- green blade -- and pointed it at Arvisven's throat. "Now do you still say it?" he chuckled.

"Not at swordpoint, I don't," said Arvisven.

"So, after this," said Andante, "I assume we're going to go investigate this Maverick?"

"Yep, that's pretty much it," said Jakesten. "Wonder if we'll do any good?"

"Well, if it helps get your hopes up," said Drune, "this is a Maverick who singlehandedly wiped out a squad of RAS's best, brightest, and most-dangerous-with-weaponry. So we probably have a better chance than we usually do."

"Very funny," said Andante. "Still, I have a funny feeling ... I had a weird dream last night ..."

"Twexty slip a Scottish monologue in your program?" asked Arvisven.

"I object to that remark very strongly," said Twexty, coming out from behind a stack of boxes holding a large bazooka. "If I had dun somthin' laek that, I wouldn't have given her Scottish monologues. I would have given her Scottish comic books."

"I hate it when you're right," said Arvisven.

"It wasn't like that," said Andante. "It was like ... I don't know. Like something was programmed into my mind before and I didn't know I knew it, and it came up in the dream ... if that makes sense."

"Uh, nope!" said Drune.

"Perfectly," said Arvisven.

"Och," said Twexty.

"Blah," said Jakesten with a shrug.

"Has everyone got a satisfactory weapon?" asked the Doctor, entering.

There was a collective "Yeah" around the room from other Reploids.

"Good," said the Doctor. "Would anyone who hasn't been on a mission before and doesn't have a helmet please report to the equipment room." He left.

* * * * *

All the helmets were in racks, had a transparent window on the forehead for the wearer's control crystal, and every single one of them was a uniform shade of grey that was precisely unappealing to the optics.

"When you select one," said the Doctor, "the helmet changes colors -- permanently -- to match your armor." He glanced around at the new recruits and noted that Andante still had green and black metal armor instead of flex-armor. "The 'window' here makes the control crystal visible and, since it is made from a modified, transparent, phenomenally expensive version of the material of Metool helmets, it is almost completely indestructible. It would take someone as strong as Sigma in a blind rage to break through it. Who wishes to choose first? Dexter?"

A somewhat chubby-looking Reploid called DXTR -- or Dexter -- had stepped forward. He examined the choices available, and chose a somewhat blocky helmet. He put it on, and it immediately glowed for an instant and changed red and blue to match his flex-armor.

"Nice choice, Dexter," said the Doctor. "Who's next? Ryu?"

The humanoid Reploid -- this one had and obvious strength, and flex-armor that strangely looked like some sort of karate outfit -- examined the selection, and chose a helmet with lots of fins and ridges that gave the impression he was about to rocket for you. He put it on, and like Dexter's, it immediately glowed before changing to match his flex-armor.

"It certainly fits your style, Ryu," said the Doctor. "Who will be next? Andante?"

Andante stepped up and chose a much more rounded helmet. She put it on. It glowed as the others had, but the light sustained itself for a moment, warbling and humming as if in confusion, until it finally settled on her green and black.

"Interesting, Andante," said the Doctor. "That helmet is an almost exact replica of the style worn by Mega Man X. Who wishes to be next? MB924?"

And so it continued, until all the others had gone after her. After a brief speech about the importance of proper helmet maintenance, the Doctor dismissed them. Andante found herself standing next to Dexter. "You're that old one who was found in the capsule, weren't you?" he asked.

"Yes," said Andante. "Why?"

"Well, is it true that you were built a hundred and fifty years ago?" Dexter said.

"About that," said Andante, mildly annoyed. She wondered why he was going on like this and where he was going with it.

"Well, I've heard a rumor that you were built by Dr. Light," he said. "And now I know it's even more ridiculous than it sounds."

"Thanks for telling me," said Andante. She looked up and saw Jakesten staring at her in surprise. "Excuse me a moment," she said to Dexter and changed course.

"Um, Andante," said Jakesten as she approached, "you're ..."

"Yeah, I know," she said. "And I'm not the reincarnation of Mega Man X."

"Last I heard, he wasn't dead," muttered Jakesten. "But no one's heard from him since the RAS started..."

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Drune, walking up to them with Twexty. "Someone else picked the X helmet!"

Andante realized for the first time that Drune was also wearing that style. "I guess no one else was bold enough," she said with a shrug.

"Aye, lass, ye've def'nitely got a fine spirit!" said Twexty, slapping her on the back. "It'll do ye good in combat!"

"Thanks," said Andante. "I won't disappoint you."

"So, when're we going to fight this Maverick?" asked Jakesten.

"As soon as we find it," said Andante.

"Will that take a while?" asked Drune.

"May I have your attention please," said the Doctor's voice in their heads. "Would all Reploids assigned to the latest Maverick Mission please report to the main assembly hall."

* * * * *

The Maverick in question paused in its siphoning of energy from the power cables. It sensed something unusual, and in its profession -- that of silent predator -- even illogical, extrasensory feelings were to be accounted for. In many cases, listening to them and acting upon them saved one's life.

And so it teleported away and fled from its landing point, but the sensation was still there. It paused, and the feeling took on a form. It suddenly knew what the sensation was and why it was there; it knew that some would soon try to oppose it, and where they were.

A wolfish grin formed under the skull-like mask. It teleported to the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan, and searched for anything that would note its presence to those beneath.

Here I am! It all but shouted these words, running, leaping, dancing among the rocks in the ancient volcano. Here it was, and then, getting as close to one these sensors as possible ...

... it teleported far away. It knew they would find it there.

And it knew that they stood no chance.

* * * * *

There was a hum, and then a dozen Reploids materialized in Colorado. This was a commonplace occurence, since Reploids were warping in and out of the Rocky Mountain State all the time, but these twelve Reploids were in a remote part of the Grand Canyon simultaneously, and they had a more military purpose than most. It was at sunset.

"Am I the only one who thinks that this was suspiciously easy?" asked Ryu.

"No," said Drune. "We all think that."

"Aye, lad, the thing's ready for us!" said Twexty. "Ye'd be a fool not t' think tha'!"

"Wonderful," said Andante. "We've got something that singlehandedly wiped out fifty of the best RAS officers, and we're right where it wants us.

"Actually, I made sure we were half a kilometer away," said Dexter. "Just so we don't get caught half-materialized.

"Okay, that makes us half a kilometer away from right where it wants us," said Jakesten. "Now where's Arvisven?"

"Boo," said Arvisven.

All eleven of the others whirled around to face him. "Thank you," said Jakesten. "Now don't do that again."

One of the others -- a catlike Reploid Andante didn't recognize -- said, "Where're we gonna find it?"

"Um ..." said Dexter, looking around and pointing down the canyon. "That way. Unless it's moved."

They started down the trail, each in their own particular set of morbid thoughts, all reasonably unaware that they were being watched.

"I'm getting a signal," said another of the others. "It's ... nothing like anything OMNI or the RAS uses. It's coming from that cave."

They approached it. "Okay," said Arvisven. "So this is where the crazy blue Maverick leaps out and attacks us head-on."

"That, or we all go in to investigate, we find a small signal-generating device, and it attacks us from behind," said Drune.

"How do you know?" asked Andante.

"Lots of horror movies," said Drune.

"Then let's not go in there," said Jakesten. "We'll wait for it to come up with some sort of long, metal object for it to attack us with before --"

"Actually, I usually attack with whatever is available," said a demonic voice above them. "I just seem to find lots of long, metal objects."

They looked up. If Zero had been a red terror, this one was a blue horror. They had all seen the half-blurred photo taken by spies, but it wasn't the same as actually facing this Reploid. It stood in a seemingly relaxed position that belied its ability to destroy, and there was a feeling of it being there, a presence, that no photograph could simulate. It was definitely a being designed to kill, and there was no question about it.

Twexty was the first to recover. He raised his arm and fired, a bolt of red energy with beams of yellow and green, as well as a regular burst of yellow and green that managed to make the blast look like it was plaid. Ryu was next, and then all of them were firing at it in a rainbow of energy that pummeled the Maverick.

All except Andante. She still had her machinesaber, but she had a strange reluctance to use it. What is it? What is this? Why can't I attack ...?

After a moment, the blasts died down. The blue Maverick simply stood there, in exactly the same position as before. There was barely any indication that they had even fired upon it. There was a moment of horrified silence.

And then, it was broken in an entirely different manner from any expected. "Who are you?" exclaimed Andante.

The blue Maverick paused. It seemed puzzled. "I have never been asked that before," it said. "I am called One Alpha." There was a short pause. "No matter. I am designed to kill, and so kill you I will!"

It leaped down, holding a large boulder over its head. Ryu punched the boulder, shattering it. The Maverick called One Alpha growled and bodily lifted Ryu over its head and threw him at the others, knocking them over. Arvisven fired a sonic blast. No effect. Jakesten and Drune fully charged their arm cannons and fired together. No effect. Two of the others charged at it, but with one powerful swipe of its hands, it knocked the head off one and sent the other sprawling towards Dexter. Dexter ducked, trying to cover his head with his hands. No effect; the Reploid crashed into him and they both fell. Another Reploid attacked with a blue-bladed machinesaber. No effect; the armor was something that they had never faced before. Three others tried to launch small missiles, but it leaped out of the way and the blast knocked boulders loose and crushed some of the defenders and --

And Andante armed her machinesaber and sliced the Maverick's arm cleanly off. She was probably more surprised at this than any of the others, including One Alpha.

"Im -- impossible!!" said One Alpha, clutching its injured side. "I -- nobody knows where the seams are! Nobody!" It glared at Andante. Those survivors who were close by thought they heard another voice, under the modifications from the mask. "You ... rrghhh ... can't ... defeat ... me ...!"

Andante swung her fist at One Alpha's control crystal. She didn't have the strength of Sigma in a blind rage, so it didn't even crack the protective covering. It did, however, cause the skull-like mask to fall off...

... and, given the twisted look of pure rage on One Alpha's face, Andante decided that she preferred the mask. Some there knew that, according to Shakespeare, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and if they had ever doubted it, they now had a living (so to speak), breathing, lying-on-ground-clutching-wounded-side-whilst-giving-Andante-an-evil-look example of this fact.

Drune wasted no time. He grabbed One and pointed his arm cannon directly into her face. "Nothing personal," he said. "This is just my job."

"You haven't beaten me yet," snarled One Alpha, and then she dematerialized.

Unfortunately, Drune was still grabbing One's arm, and she therefore took him with her.

"Crap," said Twexty. They all felt this way.

* * * * *

The Maverick known as One Alpha hurtled along in non-space, somehow aware that it, oh all right, she, was dragging her attacker with her. She needed to get away, she needed to get repairs, she needed to somehow get rid of this green idiot before something worse happened to her.

Suddenly, though, she felt her warp signal diverted. Diverted! Who was capable of changing the direction of someone else's teleportation!? She decided she must have strayed too close to a warp transciever, little knowing how many of these relays there were. She found herself shunted along, and finally downwards. Here, in the depths of some underground fortress, she materialized. So, of course, did the green Maverick Hunter (as she assumed he was), whose first action was to say, "Nothing personal. I just want to run away."

"There is no purpose in trying to escape," said a deep voice from off the teleport pad. They looked, and the green one yelped in alarm.

And then suddenly, strangely, illogically, but above all, surely, One Alpha had the feeling of being home.