Author: Magus
(Collaboration of Magus and Laserkid)
The hallways were lit with red lights still flashing on and off between the darkness and the deep red gloom. The sirens had long gone silent as security teams rushed to contain the Maverick situation. The entire arena had been put under quarantine now as armed troops rushed to ensure the lockdown. Fortunately Rock and Blade made it back to Rock's quarters inconspicuously. It couldn't be said for other combatants who had unfortunately fallen before the unprecedented Maverick attack.
Meanwhile Apollo marched down the long hallway that rested within the heart of the arena, accompanied by a smaller reploid who appeared to be a well-armed soldier. Apollo's mind wandered over the incident, his face now stolid and deprived of his earlier jovialness. The matters had now become far more serious and he would ensure his actions during this critical moment reflected that seriousness.
The soldier next to him held a communication device next to his helmeted ear and nodded as he heard its final transmission. "Sir, I've just received word our containment teams have secured the entire upper levels. Nothing is getting in or out. The rest of our security has yet to detect any further Maverick activity, but the causality count is near thirty two, mostly disposed Mavericks," he said, putting the device down and to his side.
"I see," replied Apollo. The disaster was smaller then he had expected, but the loss of even one civilian life was too much for him. "Don't let your guard down…yet. They're still here, I can feel them."
The two stopped in their walk. "Feel them, sir?"
"Yes," said Apollo quietly, looking around the hallway as if he could see them surrounding him. "Mavericks are not normal, at least not those infected by the virus. They're…they're different than ordinary life. More malicious, filled with some strange energy. They can be felt…" Apollo turned his attention back towards the soldier. "Yes, I can feel them, very strongly."
The soldier didn't seem to know quite what to make of this. "I see. I shall increase my team's measures then. If there are any Mavericks still here, we will find them and eliminate them. There is another issue, sir. The dead Mavericks, we weren't the ones who killed them. We're also pretty sure it wasn't any of the gladiators, however the attack did seem to be on them. As of this point we believe the Mavericks wanted to 'recruit' the gladiators, but we have little evidence to prove that, and there's still the mystery of who killed the Mavericks. We believe there may be an entirely different breach, with your permission I'd like to pursue it as well."
Apollo grinned as he looked into the soldier's artificial eyes. It amazed him how close and yet how far he was from the truth. "No, there's no need for that. That situation is under control. Concentrate on sealing off all exits, let no one through, no matter what, understood?"
The soldier snapped to attention "Yes sir! I shall send reinforcements from the search parties to all exits and exit ways immediately!"
"Good man. I appreciate your services, as always. Good luck to you."
The soldier saluted briskly. "For the Order! By your leave, sir."
Apollo grinned again as he watched the soldier leave to finish his job. He hoped what was to come wouldn't be too painful, but he would not allow such a ripe situation to escape him. He wouldn't fail his brethren.
This was a problem for Blade and Rock, who had more then felt their welcome was overstayed. They waited now, both restricted to Rock's quarters while guards paced outside in the hallways. Rock was still kicking himself inside for accepting this mission. X was right, this was certainly a stray from the normal Maverick Hunter missions he was used too. He would not admit it in front of Blade or anyone else, but coming here was a mistake, and all he wanted was to return to the work he knew.
Blade had remained quiet ever since the previous incident and the lockdown. It was obvious in his silence his mind was contemplating the situation repeatedly, or at least was in deep thought over something. It was hardly unusual and by now Rock had grown accustomed to his silence in such testy situations. Still, being surrounded by civilian class guards in a virtual Fort Knox while the threat of a Maverick presence was still all too possible did seem to put a little pressure on him, and to vent this his mind had to leap to curiosity.
"Blade, what are we going to do?" he said, finally breaking the silence since they had retreated to his quarters. Blade did not respond, not even so much as to acknowledge he heard Rock.
Rock waited a bit more for a response, and seeing he wasn't going to be satisfied he reclined back into the open capsule. He decided if Blade wasn't going to talk he'd just have to solo his conversation with his mind. "We're surrounded by technical civilians and the threat of a possible Maverick outbreak in the facility. Every exit is closed and sealed and security is monitoring every passage. Now, as Hunters, we're not even supposed to be here. Just what are we suppose to do? We can't just wait here while they scan over every contestant for infection, we'll be found out for sure, and even more so we can't raise further suspicions about us; we were already discovered near the fight scene."
Rock looked over to Blade who sat there just as still and silent. Rock had to wonder if he hadn't just become deactivated a few minutes ago and he was talking to a very elaborate statue. "This just doesn't look good. But at least we finally have what we want. We don't have to worry about that. Photographic evidence against the RAC, enough to charge them with a formal investigation and inquiry of all their methods and members."
"They're forged," spoke Blade suddenly. If Rock had a biological heart it might have jumped at Blade's sudden comment.
"What do you mean!?"
Blade looked up from his pensive position. "They're not authentic. It was far too easy, and more so I don't trust Steele."
"What reason has he to lie to us?? Didn't you check the photo codes for authenticity?" argued Rock, more then unwilling to except that this mission was not as over as he thought it was.
Blade looked up to Rock, his face was as stolid as usual. "I don't trust them, period. How much do we know about Steele, Rock? Zilch. Do not be so presumptuous, Steele has absolutely no reason to aid us, and has shown no such interest in the past. More so, we have the assignment to terminate him, you think he's going to help us?"
"Well…." Began Rock thinking over the situation as it continued to pound into him. "We…what about the photo codes and the encrypted files?"
"They pass, but something in my gut just tells me not to trust them. Look, Rock, you just have to trust me. I, have this feeling, I can't describe it, it doesn't come from any real evidence, other then Apollo. Those eyes…." Blade had begun to drift off when he remembered Apollo and that locked gaze they had shared for but a brief moment. Seeing him just drift off like that did cause Rock a bit of concern, but before he could say anything Blade brought himself back. "There's more going on here then we can see. As Maverick Hunters its our duty to gather all the information before we start putting faith into random guesses."
Rock, a bit perplexed, released his tension for once and accepted the situation, starting to get his thoughts away from how to get out of this, and with his influential sense of duty guiding him, started to plan on how to complete this mission. It was just after seeing Blade like that, well, Rock knew better than to question a 'gut' feeling of Blades. Even though his fighting seemed instinctive, the judgment calls made by Blade had always been followed through with logic and reason, emotion seemed to be forcibly removed from them. But then again, that wasn't all that unique to Blade among the Maverick Hunters, especially among the higher ups. It was a cruel fact; one Rock was still trying to understand but had learnt well, that the job of a Maverick Hunter requires dedication to such a degree. "Ok then," spoke Rock, setting things straight in his mind. "What do you plan to do?"
"I'm not sure, any ideas?" Blade replied, still in a pensive mood.
"Well, if the RAC is involved with this….these photos as Steele wants us to believe, and this arena is directly tied to the RAC…"
"But we can't prove that yet," interrupted Blade. "We don't have the evidence to link this arena or Apollo to the RAC."
"There has to be /some/ hard evidence. If the kind of money this place makes goes to finance the RAC's pockets, some sort of record would have to exist of the transactions. Even if it isn't in registered credit, there has to be a deficit somewhere from records," added Rock.
"Hmm. Right, and that kind of information would have to be kept pretty secure. Say Rock, do you still have that log-in port from Dr. Cain's revisions?"
Rock looked a bit perplexed, but his mind soon synched with Blades, understanding the plan now. "Right! But we'd have to find an access terminal that has direct contact with that database, anything else might be too remote for me to get past the security protocols."
Blade grinned. "I know just the place."
It was dark, much darker then before as only faint and distant red lights gave any kind of visibility. Obviously the power had been shut off to these non-essential areas, and unfortunately power was one thing Blade had counted on when he decided to come this route. He could only hope his earlier scouting of this place could give him good enough of an idea of where they were going, but in the dark, even for him, he knew he couldn't trust his direction too readily.
In fact, his sense of direction had just led them to a seemingly dead end. In the dark it was hard to get a feel for the room, but it was a relatively large room, two stories at least in height, with the same few and very sparse red lights just so faintly lighting up the room.
"A dead end?" questioned Rock as he squinted his eyes trying to see better through the shadow, though the red light only seemed to hinder his attempt more.
"This arena is built like a labyrinth," spoke Blade lowly to himself. "What for, the combat takes place out on the field, why design an arena to be so misleading. Nothing about this place has been right since we got here, Rock. Even Steele seemed to know that."
Rock scudded his foot across the ground out of frustration as he turned about the room. This mission just wouldn't end, all he had was the comfort that they were on their way out. But that comfort was very small and was soon to be crushed.
Rock turned around, hoping to see some other way out of the room other then the door from which they entered, in a futile attempt to convince himself they were still making progress on their way out. "Oh, this is getting old very fast," Rock muttered in discontent. "What mad scientist designed this place! No room is where it should be, and even getting to it takes so much time that-" Rock ceased his talking as he suddenly saw the shadows about him begin to….move. No, not the shadows, but numerous, and large, figures within them. In the pale red light he could just barely make out their presence but as he tried to casually gaze around the room he could see they were circling around them, circling and waiting. "Blade…"
"I know," Blade replied quietly. Rock just noticed that his side blades had already silently come out though he had yet to move from his stance.
A sound now came from the moving, circling shadows, a very low and guttural sound that slowly built up as it became increasingly echoed by the more and more beings that had by now already surrounded them. It was some beckoning growl like that of a very patient, and very hungry wild beast. No, a pack of starving beasts.
"Rock, look out!" Blade cried as Rock suddenly felt himself shoved to the ground. Out of the darkness had come a single laser beam, from which both Blade and Rock had just barely dodged. Blade had recovered and was already back to his feet holding his readied arms in front of him.
A glowing red eye appeared in the darkness, followed by a guttural laugh. What accompanied the eye as it stepped into the light was an enormous and bestial figure, easily three or four feet taller than Blade. The figure resembled that of a large and burly wild black wolf, and as the glowing of its red eye dimmed down into a normal eye, what stood out most was the thick black metal patch that seemed bolted on top of where his other eye should be, showing some scared metal underneath, a very rare site to see on a Reploid. The large black wolf grinned viciously as it laughed, showing off its rows of perfectly sharpened steel teeth.
"Maverick," said Rock lowly to himself as he took a fighting stance.
The large wolf Reploid made no sound as its laughter faded out. Its good eye was fixated down upon Blade, who stood gazing back twice as coldly into it. A connection was formed and between those two there seemed to be no other world. Meanwhile Rock was starting to look frantically back and forth at the surrounding enemies. He could see more clearly now, they too were all wolfish in appearance, circling them on all fours, although their structure seemed to indicate they could normally walk on their hinds. Rock turned to look back at the obvious one-eyed leader of the wolf pack and Blade, but neither responded. Though as soon as Rock opened up his mouth for more dialogue, he found the time had already passed.
Blade and the humanoid wolf figure lunged at each other, the one-eyed wolf making large and vicious swipes with its enormous steel claws as Blade leaped overhead and attempted to pierce him from behind. The black wolf, however, spun around with as much ferocity as one would expect from an enraged wild beast and was enough to force Blade back upon the defensive, with the wolf growling and snarling madly as he continued to duel Blade with its overwhelming speed and ferociousness in each swipe. No words had been exchanged.
Meanwhile Rock had a whole other world on his hands, as if the leader had somehow ordered the whole pack to attack in unison. The beasts attacked in swarms using their claws and teeth just like the ferocious pack of wolves they resembled. Rock held back, dodging the numerous swipes as he intended to use their fervor against them and muddle their numbers, but their attacks were so well coordinated and organized he found his strategy quickly failing him. They continued leaping and lunging at him with their claws and teeth. Already Rock had sustained some deep claw and teeth shaped gashes into his ligaments from his nearly failed attempts at dodging the pack. He thought about glancing at how Blade was holding up, but as he quickly dodged a lunge at his lower body he realized he would need all of his attention on just staying alive as it was.
The one-eyed wolf was keeping an aggressive hold on Blade, actually smiling between its toothy roars and growls as it took swipe after swipe at Blade with its razor sharp slaws. Blade had succeeded so far in sustaining no damage, but the constant and unrelenting assaults of his opponent had hardly allowed him any offensive opportunity at all. Blade kept his cool, but it was obvious he was up against a superior Maverick this time, a highly skilled and deadly one.
Deep down, as he ducked and rolled between the slashes of the large wolf like he had rarely had to do before with over Maverick leaders, he couldn't help but feel a childish grin forming. His life was in danger as each stroke the one-eyed wolf take came increasingly closer to slicing him into two, and Rock was obviously fending off the rest of the pack with his life at just as much risk. He scolded himself as much as his mind would allow him to as he retained his fighting composure. He may enjoy the fighting, but he wouldn't enjoy the killing. He couldn't let himself.
"Ha!" roared the one-eyed wolf as he swung through at Blade, with Blade rolling across the ground just in time to miss it, literally feeling the icy cold steel above his own. Blade backed up to the extensive marble pillars as the wolf walked forward. He swiped again and Blade rolled again, this time the enormous wolf's claws cleaving the pillar in half, rousing up dust and rubble. He pursued Blade again, swinging, missing, and tearing down yet another pillar lining the wall of the room. The wolf sneered to himself. This particular prey was giving him quite the entertainment. He leered over Blade as he he scrambled across the ground trying to recover. Becoming desperate to gain the offensive Blade moved swiftly, attempting to make a direct strike while the thin layer of dust still clouded the air. He moved rapidly, springing from the ground and making a slash right at the beast. The wolf, however, merely caught him before Blade could complete the attack and tossed him with its enormous strength through the corner pillar and into the wall. With the enormous force upon him Blade crashed into the wall with a pain filled gasp and a loud metal boom with rubble flying about him and onto the elegant floor.
Rock meanwhile was not doing much better. The wolves were very smart, and were quickly learning their moves and changing their own accordingly. He could do little to detur them much longer without an adequate boost. In his internal HUD he quickly checked the status of his overdrive system. /Damn, still far too low,/ he thought as he grabbed an attacking wolf by the scruff of its neck and tossed it aside. The wolf of course recovered, merely sliding across the ground taking no damage at all. Its growl grew louder and angrier as it slowly approached him to rejoin the pack. "Bad dogs! Very bad dogs! Sit!" Rock called, not really expecting them to listen. In actuality they did seem to respond, all growling simultaneously now. "Ok, how about rollover?" Rock said, raising his scratched fists in front of him as he slowly backed away from the pack that was now cornering him. He stopped just a foot short of the corner, his eyes drifting from the back of his head to the wolves in front, now realizing he had his back to the wall and was completely surrounded.
The wolves lunged at him, not giving Rock much time to think, but he had already had plenty. As the first one lunged Rock leaped above it, landing briskly on top of the wolf and "walking" on it as he kicked it towards the wall into which it went uncontrollably, despite its wailing legs and claws. Still in the air from kicking off the first wolf, Rock round housed the second one in the face that was lunging at him; it took a brief and hard crash into the ground with a newly dented visage and a thick metallic thud. As soon as he landed the other two were already on top of him, but before they could attack, Rock, in the midst of recovery, swept the ground with his leg, tripping them to the ground in time for him to leap back to his feet. The only wolf that recovered fast enough from his attacks found a large fist straight into its face as it leaped at Rock.
The large one-eyed wolf sneered with his arms crossed and his good eye intently locked on the new hole he had made in the wall. He seemed quite pleased from his efforts as he casually strolled up to check on his prey.
He leered in, seeing Blade lying there, still recouping from the throw, covered in dust with his armor filled with cracks and dents. The one-eyed wolf chuckled. "Impressive Hunter, you've got some fight in you." The wolf closed his right hand into a circle and a ball of shimmering red light formed within it. "Well, thanks for the entertainment, but it's time to say good night, little man." With that the wolf raised its hand above Blade's aching body and aimed the forming laser at him. Blade looked up with a solid look upon his face, gazing upwards at the bestial Maverick. The wolf grinned, and then released.
As fast as the laser had shot from the wolf's hand, Blade had slid down to the floor and rolled with blinding speed. The laser just grazed the top of his helmet in his escape, and before the wolf could react to his unexpected escape, Blade extended his left-arm blade and stroke at the wolf's exposed chest. The wolf attempted to react, not fast enough to avoid the attack but fast enough for it to slash across his arm instead of his chest area.
The wolf grabbed his arm as Blade followed up his momentum by kicking the wolf away, a kick that merely made the wolf take a few steps backwards to balance himself, still enough distance. Blade landed and stood with a Blade ready and forward and the other hand on his chakkra. In a swift and smooth motion, as if the appropriate end to the flow of his previous dodge and attack, he flung the chakkra at his opponent. The chakkra sang through the air, and the one-eyed wolf attempted to block it with his large paws, but the blade of the chakkra still struck, slicing, to the wolf's surprise, a moderate gash across his front claw.
The one-eyed wolf howled and roared as he grabbed his metal paw, then looked back up at unmoving hunter who stood waiting for him. The one-eyed wolf's face was filled with malice, but then it started laughing again as it stood back up and let go of its paw. It seemed pleased. "Stronger then I thought, I like that in my prey." Blood began to drip from his arm and hand. "And here I thought this was going to be quick. You know, I was disappointed when you didn't send your best here, I was looking to fight the great X or Zero themselves."
"Then you're more suicidal then I thought," interrupted Blade. He tried not to show it but every ounce of energy in him was aching to get back to the fighting again. He squinted and passed it off as nothing, but this pause in the hype only made him want to go back at it more.
The one-eyed wolf chuckled. "But now I'm rather glad, I get the pleasure of tearing you apart as a beginning."
"Just shut up and fight me," Blade called him out.
"Do you even know who I am? Trust me, hunter, you just bit off more than you can chew. You won't be leaving this arena alive."
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you."
A ball of light formed between the one-eyed wolf's claws. "The name's Laser Wolf, remember it when I send you to Hell." Laser wolf aimed his hand forward and fired the beam, with Blade twirling to the side of it. Laser Wolf raised his other hand which did the same, and began tossing his hands wildly in front of him, shooting a new beam each time. Blade was practically dancing as he leaped and spun through the volley of new laser beams, each one getting closer to piercing straight through him than the first.
Blade attempted to make a run at Laser Wolf but given the heavy fire he was under he couldn't control himself well enough to make the pose. Suddenly the fire stopped and Blade looked back to the source. He was shocked as he saw the beast raise both hands above its head, forming one much larger ball of light. Blade tried to react, but not fast enough, as a giant straight beam grabbed him and pinned him to the wall like a freight train ramming into him. As the beam ended Blade fell to the ground and tried desperately to recover well. This fight was far from over yet, even with this dimension to the battlefield. He would learn, compensate, and destroy.
Rock had suddenly found himself thrust into a similar situation. As he backed up waiting for the wolves to strike again, he noticed as small plasma cannons suddenly extended from their backs and aimed at him. "Oh shit," he said as the growling, hungry and angry looking wolves aimed them at him. "This would be an excellent time for you all to learn 'play dead'."
The sound of the cannon's charging was made and Rock braced himself for the worse. Large balls of explosive energy were launched in his directions, all of which he did his best to dodge, but as soon as he did two or three of the wolves had already retracted their cannons to follow up their attack, forcing Rock back even further as he continued to take a beating. The explosive blasts shook the room and sent dust and rubble flying all about as Rock attempted to deal with the increased threat. He turned around from fending off one wolf just in time to catch the next blast as it hit just behind him. The force flung him into the air and rolling back across the ground. He rolled back to his feet in a kneeling position, now quite thoroughly singed as well as cracked and slashed. This was it, he could not wait any longer or he might die anyway, he had only one chance for survival. /72.3% recovered. Damn, I have to use it anyways/. The wolves growled and started to circle him again, smelling that their prey was weak. They had no idea how wrong they are.
Rock sprung up to his feet, shouting, "Overdrive, activate!" Waves of electrical energy and light surged about Rock as he cried out in pain at the sudden drain and then enormous boost of energy. His hands grew larger and his hair seemed to shoot up suddenly from the surge of electricity that had encompassed him. The wolves remained motionless, trying to evaluate this change of circumstances, but Rock knew he had to act quickly, he didn't have much time left. Despite the near blinding pain and immense burning he was feeling from activating the Overdrive before it was ready, he focused enough of his attention to go into a berserker mode, tearing into the pack of wolves with incredible speed and strength, faster and stronger then they can compensate for. He slams the wolves together, against he walls, flings them into the air and generally pummels new orifices into them, it all becomes blended and hazy as he attempts to make the best out of what remaining energy he has. /Warning: malfunction, system lockdown eminent/ Rock heard to himself. /No, not yet, just a little more/ he bargained with himself, the wolves not yet taken care of. They tried to scratch and claw him as he grabbed them and beat them, but he hit too hard and quick for them to reach much. /System failure eminent./
No, not yet, too soon, just a little more. But it was too much, he was playing a game of chicken with himself and he knew he had to pull back, before he drove over the cliff. With one deep sigh his hands shrunk back to their normal size, and the amount of sparks that flew became less frequent and sporadic. All energy was completely gone, as apathy and exasperation set in he fell to his hands and knees, breathing desperately. He looked up to see a few of the remaining wolves, battered, torn, very angry and still very much functional, walk over to him, raising the cannons from their backs with the definite high pitched sounds of them charging. Without any strength left he lowered his head, praying that the wolves can't aim.
One wolf gave a death cry as the sound metal slashing metal awoke Rock from his surrender. He looked up quickly to see a very familiar sword sticking out of the dead wolf, with the other one now with its back to him. /No, not him,/ Rock thought.
But it was. With a sadistic laugh and a gleeful smile upon his face, Steele descended to reclaim his blade. With his freehand in the form a buster he blasted the remaining wolf in the face as he landed. He didn't so much as glance at the completely debilitated Rock as he moved on to bigger fish.
In a sudden flash of a moment Steele was now wedge between Blade and Laser Wolf, holding his sword in front of him while locked with Laser Wolf's claw. Both wolf and Blade seemed completely shocked by the sudden and completely uninvited presence of this newcomer.
"Hmph, I send you off to do my dirty work, and here I find you hunters quivering at the mercy of such pathetic drones," Steele mockingly chimed as he and Laser Wolf remained in a deadlock.
"Steele," replied Blade, picking himself up.
"Fine then, hunters. Leave the pleasure of killing this one to me. If it's Apollo's Chamber you're searching for, head right back out that door and down the corridor near the third level barracks. The elevator to the restricted section is hidden in the wall there."
"You fool!" shouted an angered Laser Wolf, trying to force Steele's sword out of his face. "We were going to let you live, even after what you did to betray us, but since you're so eager to die, I'll show you what being a REAL Maverick is all about." Laser Wolf raised his good eye back to Blade. "Don't go very far, when I'm done with this scrap heap I'm coming back for you. Our fight isn't over yet."
Blade ran over to Rock, seeing him completely unable to move. He kneeled down and lifted him back up gently as Rock raised his charred face with a glimpse of a smile on it as he looked up at Blade. Without words Rock had said he would still go on, and Blade nodded in confirmation he wouldn't leave him here. He then paused a moment as he looked back to Steele and Laser Wolf, neither one had gained an upper-hand yet.
Steele noticed this as he looked back to them from the corner of his eye. "You damn fools! Get out of here already! And you better stay alive Blade, because /our/ fight is still far from over as well."
Blade nodded, and helped Rock up to his feet with Rock's hand over his shoulder. He hurried towards the door, running as fast as he could practically carrying a limping Rock with him. Before he left he paused, and took one last view back at Steele before he left and vanished into the shadows of the corridor beyond. For some reason, he wanted to remember Steele as he was then, an ally, with full knowledge the next time they meet it could only be one of them who lived to talk about it.
The standstill was broken as with a sudden roar Laser Wolf flung his arms outward, with Steele jumping back effectively and landing, still brandishing his oddly shaped sword. The two grinned at each other. "Well, now let's have some real fun, shall we?" said Steele maliciously.
"This must be it," said Steele as he stopped in front of a very large metal door with an elaborate design decorating it. He propped Rock up against the wall next to it and kneeled down to him. "Are you ready?" Blade asked. Rock looked up at him and smiled, slowly and painstakingly lifting up his hand to give him a thumbs up. Blade nodded. "Good."
Blade the reached behind to the back of Rock's head and took out a small optical wire. He looked to the panel next to the door and placed the wire into it, then looked back to Rock.
"Right, accessing the security unlock," mutter Rock as he closed his eyes.
Blade remained patient and gazed up and down the hallway while Rock's whole mindscape became intent on accessing the systems of a foreign computer. "There's a lot of security here, even a few trap doors preventing me from getting close…" Blade looked back to Rock, who still had his eyes closed. "Don't worry, I can still break it," Rock replied without needing to see Blade.
With a sudden sound of scrolling metal and a gush of air, the door before them parted and opened, allowing access to Apollo's private chamber. "Got it," stated Rock proudly. The wire detached itself and retracted back into Rock's head who opened satisfied eyes.
"Good work," said Blade as he lifted Rock back up and on top of his shoulder, walking him into the chamber. "Now, let's see what the real business with Apollo is."
The inner chambers were highly ornate and well furnished, with what had to be expensive authentic wood and cloth patterns and drapes, set up like the elaborate study of a king or god. As they entered the room greeted them by beginning to play a light bit of classical music to accompany the lavish style of the chamber. Apollo was obviously quite well off to afford himself such a room on top of the arena, but this was nothing truly surprising from the amount of money the arena brought in.
After looking around the room Blade spotted what was clearly Apollo's personal terminal and walked Rock over to it, sitting him down next to it once more. "Alright, let's get what we came for so we can leave here," Blade said.
That pleased Rock, as he thought about finally leaving this place. Blade again reached back and extracted the optic wire, plugging it into the terminal for Rock. Rock again closed his eyes as the world of the digital opened up before him in a vast and complex vision. "Hmm," said Rock almost immediately."
"What is it?"
"No security at all beyond a basic root login," Rock responded. "I guess he never expected anyone to get this far. Still…"
"Just download the database and let's go," said Blade impatiently, not willing to remain in this chamber a second longer. He wasn't sure why, but something about the room itself seemed familiar to him, in such a manner that it perturbed him. He did not like this room, and he did not want to stay in it much longer, something both familiar and alien seemed present in it, and Blade did not enjoy such feelings.
"Hold on, this will take awhile, I can't work as fast as I normally can, I'm drawing from this terminal for power as it is." More awkward seconds passed without motion or word, more moments of that awkward silence that seemed to manifest in some form of repulsion to Blade.
"Blade, you have to see this.." Rock said suddenly. "This is unbelievable. We were right, the arena is connected far more closely to the RAC then expected. Look at these fund transfers, and to what? They're all hidden transactions."
"Illegal business transactions? Asked Blade.
Rock was about to say something, then paused a moment. "Holy….Blade, this computer DOES have a secured file or two on it, highly encrypted too, but I will tell you it's related to every single gladiator who has fought here. Amazing, these are charts on nearly all aspects of every reploid whose fought in the arena and….what are these? Secret fights?" Blade stared intently at his temporarily "blind" friend. "Blade, there's something big here, something really big, but I can't seem to decrypt all of it, the coding is extremely advanced, I haven't experienced anything like it before. Now what is thi….AHHH!"
Rock cried out suddenly as a surge of energy shocked him through the cable. As an instinctual reaction Rock quickly retracted the wire back into his head, though the original shock seemed to linger in him still.
"Are you alright? What happened, Rock?"
"You were looking in places you don't belong," came a sudden voice. Blade spun around and looked about himself to see a figure in the room that he was amazed he had not seen before. In strode the golden figure of Apollo, draped in his elegant red cape with a lighthearted look still upon his face.
"You know, I'm normally open to allowing Maverick Hunters to do as they will with my arena for public safety. There has even been a few occasions where I've had to work with them to retire a few rogue gladiators, but if you were going to pay me such a personal call, I really would have appreciated a notice first."
Rock opened his eyes, the vibrations from the sudden shock fading. "We're going to have to arrest you," he said as loudly and fully as he could.
Apollo raised an eyebrow and looked back to Blade. "Please, disarm and come back to HQ with us, we have a few questions you need to answer, and a full investigation of this arena and your ties with the RAC shall be done."
Apollo chuckled cheerfully. "My, you Hunters have spirit. Where are my manners though? Please, make yourselves at home; we have no need for such unpleasantry. There's even a very fine regenetive pod back there for your friend if you like."
Blade extended both of his wrist swords. "We don't have the time for that. Please disarm now and come with us peacefully, you are under arrested for suspected illegal and maverick activities."
"Hmm, I'm afraid that won't be happening," stated Apollo kindly. "How quaint though, to think of us as Mavericks."
"Us? So you admit you work with the RAC," said Rock.
"Of course I do. I am quite impressed though Blade. Coming straight to the arena, yes, of course you came here. You had every reason to, didn't you?"
"The RAC's ability to take actions is on direct suspension on the order of the Maverick Hunter's authority, upon further investigations. I won't repeat myself, come back with us. You're coming, one way or another," commanded Blade.
"Very forthright, very good. But you get to business far too fast, Blade. Why can't we just enjoy the time we have? There's so much we can talk about. It's not like you can actually harm the RAC anyway."
Blade, growing irate from Apollo's ignoring his commands, grew fed up with both Apollo and his nonchalant behavior towards him. Something else, some other hatred for him was there, a familiar one that he had felt the first time he saw Apollo. He leaped at Apollo in an attempt to incapacitate him.
Apollo however merely waved his hand and Blade was thrown back by an unseen force. The gold jewel on the middle of his circlet began to glow.
"So impatient too. Blade, please don't attack me. You're really no match at all for the kind of power I wield."
Blade stood back up, a look of shock on his face. "What the hell was that?"
"Just a taste of what I can do. Now really, why must we fight? It's already too late, it was too late long ago for you to do anything about the RAC. Wouldn't it be so much nicer to just sit back and laugh instead of all this fighting.?"
Blade made a second attempt, with the exact same result as before, being tossed back by a mere wave of Apollo's hand. Apollo took a deep sigh. "Very well then, I see that the way of pleasantry is not yours. Very well then. We will settle this your way, the way of the warrior, then."
Blade stood back up, ready to size up the situation, but this time Apollo raised his hand before Blade moved. However, what happened was not what Blade expected. The entire arena began to quake and the sound of enormous bolts and locks moving resounded throughout the air. The chamber of Apollo began to sink away, as Blade realized the room itself was now rising, moving upward, and very quickly so. He looked above him to see the ceiling open up and the floor of the room merged with what Blade noticed was most definitely the center of the center of the battle arena. Only, now there was a sky, the entire arena had risen up to the surface level and a full night sky shone down upon them.
"Alright, Blade, the atmosphere is appropriate. Show me the best you've got, show me what you've learned, and I shall show you how misguided you are, in the way you understand, warrior."
Blade took out his chakkra, hoping to catch Apollo off guard, but as he threw at Apollo extended both of his hands to his sides. A transparent, glowing barrier of light made up of many rotating glyphs and symbols appeared about him, and the chakkra simply hit it and fell dead to the ground. Blade was growing frustrated, angry, and feeling far from himself at the moment. He attempted to make another run at Apollo, trying to get to him faster then he could lower his shield and block him again. Apollo however, shifted out of the way at a mirroring speed causing Blade to miss as Apollo lowered his shield. Blade turned around to try and catch Apollo, but Apollo was already waiting with an extended palm. Blade wad frozen stiff in the middle of his attack, and fell straight to the ground while surrounded by a strange, mist like energy.
"What, is this??" Blade forced himself to say in his paralysis.
"You see, Blade, you do not have a chance against me. I salute you as a warrior, because a fine one you are, but how can you expect to defeat me when you know so little about your own self? You see, Blade, I know far more about you then even you know. I can sense the heart of a warrior as it beats inside of you, even though you deny it. In such a state, what hope could you have had?"
"The RAC….what are you up to? Why the arena!?" Blade demanded.
"Why? Because a new World Order is on the rise, Blade, a glorious and light bearing one; an Order than can bring back the last remnants of a forgotten fate that was originally this world's destiny! Peace, Blade, we can restore Peace!"
"You sound just like the Mavericks when they first started the war against humans. You can't bring peace through war."
Apollo seemed very pleased when the grand smile returned to his face. "Yes, that's quite right. We are far larger then you Hunters think. We have been growing since the first Maverick War, and we continue to grow still. We are anywhere and everywhere, we are the unseen who shall in the end hold the reigns to this world's future. What was begun here was just one part of the grand experiment, just one small piece of the puzzle, and I'm pleased to say it was completely successful, we no longer have need for it."
The arena began to tremble again, but this time not because it was moving. The wind picked up in a sudden gale accompanied by a deep and low humming. In the night sky it could just be made out, but a large flying ship was now hovering above the arena, and with a bright flash held a spotlight upon Apollo and the two incapacitated bodies. Apollo still smiled pleasantly. "You're best to not to try and meddle in any more of our affairs. Take that back to your HQ. All it would result in is more bloodshed."
"You're going to be classified Mavericks!" shouted Rock.
"If you Hunters have not yet learned your lesson from the war with the Repliforce, then so be it. What shall come will come, and then that will be that. What we do is far above your heads. You may have discovered this operation, but how many more do you think we have similar to this one?"
"You were using them, all of them! What you were doing is inhuman. We will find your other operations and terminate them, as well as you, Maverick!" Rock's anger was surging. In his helplessness he could find little else.
"You should stop throwing that word around, some people are liable to take great offense," said Apollo, very seriously this time. Blade however, glanced over at Rock by shifting his eyes, since he could not move his head. Rock had accessed the files, he could only wonder what else could have happened here.
"Inhuman, yes, perhaps that is the right word after all…" stated Apollo, half to himself. "What we do is inhuman. Our goal is inhuman. And that is why it must be us who achieve it." Apollo turned around and looked up into the light shinning down upon him from the flying ship above them. "You have been warned. We will not interfere in your business any further, so long as you do not seek us out. Be wise, Hunters, why rush to death in a blaze of glory when you can dance to the kindling flames of life?" With those final words, Apollo began to hover and rise upward to the ship, till he became so distant he could no longer be seen.
What was left was a suddenly surfaced arena, in it lying two helpless, powerless Maverick Hunters, too far from each other to act, one in need of desperate medical attention. Blade, with his back to the ground from the position he had landed, merely stared at the large airship as it sped off into the night sky, carrying aboard it the escaped Maverick, Apollo. Yet his thoughts were not like those of Rock, who thought of home and the potential new threat that Apollo had spoke of, and the potential war that could result from it. In his helplessness Blade's mind was elsewhere, miles away, aboard that ship where the words continued to echo in him that resonated upon his defeat. Those words of Apollo that had defeated Blade without even a fight.