Mega Man X: The Beast Within
Summary: My very first Mega Man X fic. An ancient reploid is uncovered on a dig site. When the Maverick forces find out, chaos ensues. But who, or what, is the enigmatic warrior in black combat armor?
Disclaimer: I do not own Mega Man X. I think Capcom does. I'm just fiddling around with the setting and the characters. I, however, own Cheran, the Knights, the Brotherhoods and the Stormhammer, plus a nice amount of Storm technology.
(--¤¤--) Author's Notes/Review Responses (--¤¤--)
First off, I would like to apologize for all my (few) readers. I hate long delays myself, but I could not help it. I had a MASSIVE case of writer's block, and when I finally got to writing, my hard drive failed. I finally ended up writing four different variations of this chapter to see which one would be the easiest one to write and continue writing from. This one is variant #3. From now on, I'm trying to squeeze a little more of my time into writing this.. Ok, back to the point. It's Review Response Time!
Blade Dancer: Thanks for reviewing. Um, wouldn't the spikes be a bit of a problem? Just kidding.. Hope you enjoy this chapter. The fun part is, I still have NO idea what he looks like beneath the helmet.
None: I know, I know.. Long delays suck.
Chaos of the Midnight Sun: Thanks for reviewing. I'll write more as soon as I can.
Ignorantly grinning: Thanks for the review, and special thanks for pointing out I wasn't accepting anonymous reviews. I thought that I was accepting those, but.. oh well.. Anyway, big thanks.
And then, to the point. Enjoy:
Mega Man X: The Beast Within
(--¤¤--) Chapter Five (--¤¤--)
"What did you need us for?"
Zero was the first to reach the briefing room, followed closely by X and Cheran. Cain was waiting for them there, an odd smile on his bearded face.
"Signas and I have been talking, and.. Well, we've come to the conclusion that Cheran could be a valuable ally. First of all, we would like to offer you, Cheran, our hospitality. I believe the Seventh Unit had some vacant rooms in their barracks?"
X nodded. "That is correct, Doctor. Several of our troopers were lost in the last Uprising. There's more than enough free space there."
"Good. That's settled, then. In addition, I understand you had sustained some damage to your memory unit, Cheran. If you accept, I would like to get you through some training later on- learn of our situation, of our allies and enemies, that sort of thing. Perhaps you would even like to join the Hunters?"
Cheran bowed slightly to Cain. "I would be honored to accept your offer of hospitality, Doctor. Currently I have no where else to go. I will consider your offer to accept me to the noble ranks of the Hunters. Perhaps we shall fight side by side in the future."
Cain blinked and smiled. Zero leant slightly closer to X and sent a short radio message- the Reploid equivalent of a whisper- to him.
Zero-X Since when did he speak like sir Lancealot?
X had to hold back a grin. X-Zero It's sir Lancelot, not Lance-a-lot. Since right now.
Zero-X Whatever.
X coughed discreetly. "Ahem.. It is late. Perhaps I should show Cheran to his room? Tomorrow I could show Cheran around the base and show him the training areas."
Cain smiled and nodded. "That would be good, X. I'll see you again tomorrow, Cheran."
(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)
X lead Cheran to an empty room near his office. It was one of the standard Hunter rooms; a small table, some lockers and four bunks in the corners.
"Well.. here it is. Not exactly luxurious, but it's the best we have for now."
Cheran clanked his way to the back of the room and stood between two of the bunks, facing the door.
"It is all right. I have no need for luxuries."
"Right.. Well, I'll be going now. Good night."
Cheran crossed his arms over his chest. "Good night, X."
The green light in Cheran's eyes flickered out and he stood perfectly still in the back of the room, like a statue made of black and copper steel. X shook his head and left the room.
(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)
The following day X gave Cheran a quick tour in the Hunter HQ, showing him the main through the main facilities: the various training areas, the hangars, armories, recreation areas, medbays, everything that the Hunters needed to keep the base operational. They began with the recreation areas, continued with the hangars and armories, and finished with the training rooms. Cheran found that though the technological level of the Hunters was not quite as high as Storm technology, they had developed systems the scientists of the Storm had not even thought of. Cheran had taken the oppoturnity to uplink with one of the computer terminals in the hallways, downloading whatever data he could need into his suits memory core. He had in particular been interested about the information on the various robotic drones that were used in both civilian and military applications. And speaking of drones..
Cheran was kneeled down on the floor, examining a small robotic drone before him. Schematics, tactical data and possible weak points flashed before his eyes as he scanned the robot.
"So this is a 'Met'. May I ask its purpose?"
The Met in question looked like something small had crawled under a construction hardhat to hide there. Small eyes stared at Cheran from under the edge of the yellow, domelike helmet. It was roughly twenty centimeters high.
X chuckled faintly. "The Met, short from Mettaur or Mettool, is an automated robotic drone used in construction and mining duty. It's equipped with a low-power plasma cutter which it uses to clear pathways through rubble or stone."
Cheran reached a hand to grab the drone and the Met withdraw into its helmet like a turtle would withdraw into its shell.
"Oh, and the helmet is designed to be able to withstand anything short of eight tons of junk on top of it. If threatened, the Met will hide under it until the threat passes by."
Cheran knocked the helmet with his knuckles and the Met scurried away from him.
"Is it armed?"
"Not exactly. The plasma cutter can be overloaded so it becomes a low-power cannon, but it's really not much of a threat. Funny, really- over thirty years ago Wily had the bright idea to convert an army of these things into attack drones, and Sigma apparently got the same idea in the first Uprising. Not much of an original thinker, if you ask me."
The idea of a Met trying to wreak havoc in a city seemed odd to Cheran.
"Attack drones? These?"
X snorted oddly. "Well, not exactly attack drones. They'll just sit still hidden under the shell, and when something would come near, they'd open up to shoot a few times and go back to hiding to recharge. The trick is to shoot right when it pops up, because the helmet reflects Buster shots. Dangerous? Not. Annoying? Hell yes."
"Right. I can definitely see why."
"Hey, that's nothing compared to-"
SCRREEET! SCRREEET! SCRREEET!
Klaxons suddenly blared to life. Suddenly everyone was moving, gathering weapons and getting suited up in their armor.
"What is going on? What is the alert for?"
X's face showed worry. "That means we've gone up to red alert. Mavericks detected in the city. Come on, we'll need to get to the command center!"
(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)
The command center reminded Cheran of an anthill someone had prodded with a stick. Humans and Reploids alike in were in constant movement, shouting commands, operating computers, or just generally trying to be useful.
When Cheran and X entered, one of the operators looked up. "X!"
"What's going on, Alia?"
Alia was a female Reploid with a small, round red gem in her forehead, short blonde hair and blue eyes. Her armor was dim red and brown. She looked like she was about to say something, but stopped and stared at Cheran.
"Who.. Isn't that.."
"Cheran Torr, Third Knight of the Beast from the Brotherhood of the Flame. Yes, he's the one we found in the caves. Cheran, this is Alia, our navigator."
Alia blinked. "Right. Nice to meet you."
Cheran bowed slightly. "M'lady."
X glanced around, but didn't see the familiar red and white helmet anywhere. "What's the situation? And where's Zero?"
Alia motioned towards a holographic map on the largest viewscreen. The map of the city had all Hunter units marked onto it with green markers and Mavericks with red markers. Currently a wave of red dots was moving south in the western city. Only one green spot was seen, but more were rapidly appearing and approaching the Mavericks.
"Zero was out patrolling when the Mavericks attacked. We don't know for sure how many of them are there- they keep destroying our surveillance systems as the pass them. We need all the Hunters we can send out."
"I'll need to get out there. Cheran, you'll have to stay here."
"What? Why, in the name of the Storm?"
X shook his head. "You don't know of the enemy. You would just get in the way. Besides, some Hunter could think you were a Maverick and shoot you."
Cheran was about to strike back with a fitting retort when blue light flashed around X and he vanished out of sight. Cheran's sensor pack picked up a high-intensity energy signal moving rapidly towards the west and disappearing. He turned slowly towards Alia. "Where did he go?"
"Um.. He warped out. He'll be arriving in the area right about now."
A green spot appeared in the map some distance away from the Mavericks.
"There he is.. Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh? What 'uh-oh'?"
Alia turned towards her keyboard and began tapping commands. Cheran saw several live video feeds opening on her monitor. Various types of robots could be seen running around the streets, firing away with different energy and projectile weapons. He could even see a Met moving slowly down the street, firing small pulses of plasma as it went.
"Don't tell me.. I'm picking up a strong power signature from one of the Mavericks. It could be a Commander."
One of the camera views showed a large, dark mass advancing down the street before the camera was destroyed. Alia shook her head. "It's a Commander, all right. X? Can you hear me?"
It took a moment for Cheran to realize that Alia was speaking to her internal commlink.
"This is Alia to X. X, if you can hear me, there's a Commander in there somewhere. Be careful."
"What's going on in here? Cheran, what are you doing in here?"
Cheran turned around to see Signas standing before him. "X brought me up here. The Mavericks are attacking. X and Zero are down there."
"How many of them are there?"
"We are unsure of their exact numbers" Alia said, "but there is at least one Commander in there."
"A Commander? This is not good.. and X and Zero are out there? Cheran, where are you going?"
Cheran gave his suit a series of commands. Signas and Alia saw how the exterior of his suit produced rows of lethal spikes and how his eyes lit aflame with a fearsome red glow.
"To fight."
"You can't! X told you to stay here!" Alia called after the leaving Knight.
"Try and stop me."
(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)
Cheran made his way to the landchaser hangars as quickly as possible. Landchasers were small, single-person vehicles like motorcycles with antigrav pads and small jet engines. They reminded Cheran strongly of Storm gliders except that gliders were slightly larger, were equipped with collision shields and could reach up to Mach 2 with their afterburners. He, however, had no need for landchasers. He just needed a quick exit.
Hovjet mark Two thrusters: Engaged.
He could hear someone shouting for him to stop as he activated his thruster systems. There was a nasty sshenngg-sound like a sword drawn from its sheath as two bladelike stabilizers sprouted out from his shoulders. Blue light flashed from the exhaust ports in his back, and moments later blue fusion flames erupted with a roaring sound from them, lifting him some inches off the floor. Thrusters in the bottoms of his feet activated to keep him airborne and the jets from his back were directed straight backwards, propelling him forward and out through the open hangar doors with enough acceleration to give a normal human whiplash.
His communications unit chirped as it received a transmission from the MHHQ.
"Cheran, this is Signas. What do you think you are doing? Get back here! That is an order!"
Though Cheran was gliding down the street at nearly 90 km/h, his computer increased his reaction time so everything seemed to move in slow motion.
"I cannot do that, Signas. You forget that I am not one of the Hunters. I am not under your command."
Cheran heard Signas pound the communication unit frustrated, and closed the link. He was approaching the combat zone- he could hear sounds of fighting over the screaming of his thruster kit. Some of the buildings had been damaged, walls had crumpled and burnt before the Maverick onslaught. He detected several small energy discharges nearby. Flashes of purple light could be seen farther away. Cheran deactivated his thrusters and retracted his stabilizers, landing softly on his feet. The concrete had a pair of steaming trails where his thrusters had passed.
Thrusters disabled
Entering Combat Mode
Disruptor Gauntlet on-line
Blade Burst on-line
Shields engaged
Disruptor Nova Generator armed, standing by
All systems nominal.
Cheran's sensor kit detected slight movement in a narrow alley right before a short burst of small plasma shots hit him in the chest. The shots just fizzled against his tridithium armor without even doing any superficial damage.
Analyzing weapon.. Weapon analyzed. Shields reconfigured.
A second burst of plasma rounds followed, but this time they were absorbed into an invisible barrier around him before they could hit him. He saw a small, yellow creature blink in surprise and hide back under its helmet. A Met.
"Dangerous? Not.." Cheran mumbled to himself and charged power to his right Disruptor Gauntlet. A targeting grid appeared in his HUD and centered on the Met.
ShorrmmMMM..
The Met made the mistake of opening back up to get a second shot at Cheran.
"Annoying? Hell yes!" He released the trigger.
CHREEOONN!
His gauntlet released a screaming noise as it fired. The Met flew back as if punched by an invisible fist, bounced off a wall and went straight through a window. A small explosion followed.
Cheran shook his head and continued to advance, ready to give anything that would even think of attacking him Hell. The sounds of fighting lead him towards the west.
He activated his advanced sensor unit. A small hatch opened in his backpack and a small sphere no larger than a tennis ball, colored jet black, shot out and hovered up to fifty meters.
Sensor probe deployed. Receiving telemetry/sensor data.. Updating automap.
A map of his surroundings, updated real-time, appeared in his HUD. The probe kept transmitting information about detected enemies and Hunters, his enviroment, everything he needed to know. It appeared that the fighting had spread over a large area of the city. He was in one of the calmer zones, but Mavericks were approaching rapidly. Cheran could not help grinning to himself; the fools were coming to him! He set his Disruptor blasters to full power and maximum spread. This would become interesting..
(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)
X cursed fiercely and leaped straight up, dodging a Ball De Voux rolling right beneath him. He spun around in midair and unleashed a blast of supercharged plasma from his X-Buster at the Maverick drone, which exploded in a brilliant flash of light and miscellaneous machine parts. The destroyed drone left behind a small unit of spare power cells, which X promptly snatched.
X stopped and glanced around him. It was quiet. He could see Maverick drone remains littering the street, but nothing besides himself was moving. X shrugged and began charging his Buster just in case. Rule Number One in combat situations: If you're not firing your Buster, charge it!
X's communication unit chirped at an incoming transmission. "X? This is Alia. Do you read?"
"X here. What is it?"
"It's Cheran. He left the base right after you warped out. I think he's coming your way. I can't pick him up on any scanners, but he was last seen coming that way."
"Aaw, frackit.. It must be the armor. Whatever that stuff is, no scanner we have can get through it. Must be designed that way.. Aah!"
X was interrupted by an enormous flash of pure white light. Two of the buildings next to him just collapsed and Maverick drones came pouring out and X found himself literally kneedeep in the things.
(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)
Cheran ducked as a birdlike drone equipped with rocket engines -a Tubamail, formerly used as a high-speed delivery unit modified into a kamikaze bomber, his computer reminded him- flew over him fully intent of taking his head with it. The drone missed by several feet and spun around in midair for a second swoop when Cheran blasted it into shreds with a well-aimed Disruptor blast. Blasts of laser-fire hammered into his shields and he spun quickly around to see a large scorpionlike drone, a Scorwarbot, fling a small explosives charge at him from its tail. Cheran activated his thruster engines and jetted forward under the grenade and straight into the 'bot, tearing through the metal armor with his thorns and his sheer speed and weight. Now he was truly in his element, facing down enemies with only his armor and skills to aid him. His onboard tactical computer was constantly updating his now considerable database on robotic drones, their offensive and defensive patterns and recommended countertactics.
Suddenly a bright flash of white light not too far away caught his attention. With a single command, the sensors probe hovered closer. It immediately picked up several Maverick power signatures.. and one already familiar energy emission. X and his X-buster.
Cheran's own sensors kit detected movement behind him moments before he heard a familiar voice.
"Cheran!"
Cheran turned around to see Zero. He looked like he had seen a fair share of action; his armor and blonde ponytail were covered with stains of black oily liquid, and the ignited Z-saber in his hands hummed menacingly.
"Zero."
"What the fracking Hell are you doing here?"
"I came down here to offer a helping hand. Come- X is out there with a horde of hostiles." Cheran clenched both his hands into fists with a satisfying crrench.
Zero grinned beastily. Cheran was strongly reminded of Silverflame, the Draconian engineer aboard the Stormhammer.. Except that Zero was lacking the claws, scales and fangs, not to mention the tail.
"Then let's go crash the party, Spike."
Before Cheran could answer, Zero had already dashed off- literally. Cheran shrugged and activated his own thruster unit, speeding after the crimson warrior. Closer to the actual battleground, he could see the hordes of various drones attacking X. There were too many for his liking.. A surprise entrance would be his best bet.
Still gliding, Cheran spotted a section of metallic wall still standing next to a large pile of debris. He grinned and shot the wall with a halfway-charged Disruptor blast. The wall toppled with a groan and fell onto the pile, creating a narrow slope.. or a ramp.
A small change of course and a burst of speed were all that it took for Cheran to reach the top of the ramp. The ramp flinged Cheran, screaming a combat challenge on the top of his lungs, up in a high arc.. that ended in a particularly dense part of the drone swarm. He came down like a barrelful of Draconian thornbombs; full of spikes and ready to blow.
(--¤¤--) Author's Notes (--¤¤--)
And here we have it, Chapter Five of MMX: The Beast Within. I hope you enjoyed the (short) ride. There's just one thing left to say: review, please! On a sidenote, feel free to ask any possible 'technical' questions you have in mind. I originally just planned out the Thorn Beast armor and started playing with the idea of a Knight of the Beast in MMX universe, and here is the result. The point is, I have the exact specifications of our favorite juggernaut stashed away in my drawer. Just ask and I'll be happy to answer.
Oh, one more thing: If one of you happens to be a Star Fox fan, check my other fic on my profile page. I know the title sucks, but I haven't got around to changing it yet. I want to know if I should even bother writing that one on.
Now then, thanks for reading and see you (hopefully) soon in Chapter Six of
Mega Man X: The Beast Within