Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 5: It's heating up

By Genoscythe

Disc: Why do I bother?

Magnas was bored out of his skull. It was nothing like being with the members of special unit 0. The members of the 17th took this mission too lightly; acting like it was just a walk in the park. 0 members were serious about their jobs, and they were the most successful of all of the units. Why, then, did these fools goof off instead of concentrate on their mission? " Hey, centipede guy! Why so blue? Did someone step on one of your brothers?" The driver asked. The hunters around him burst into loud, hearty laughter. How could they laugh like that when they were moments away from entering the most heavily guarded building next to MHHQ?

" Give him a break for god's sake! This isn't even his unit." A female hunter interjected.

" Jesus, Calliope, we're just havin' some fun! Is it a crime to poke a little fun at somebody once in a while?" A hunter in jet-black armor replied. Seeing that she wouldn't win the argument, the female made no reply.

" Yo! We're here!" The driver called back. Magnas got up and reached for the door of the van, but a large hunter pushed him aside.

" Move aside, lobster-face. Make way for real maverick hunters." He slid open the door and the other hunters stepped out. The female gave him a pitying look as she got out behind the others. Magnas was going to enjoy killing every last one of them.

A.N: The next scene is very graphic and violent. It contains decapitation, limb loss, and some dumbass hunters getting what they deserve. Y'know, just FYI.

Magnas pulled out the security codes for the level 1 lock and slid it into the door. Then, wires shot out of his hand and he plugged into the door himself. Several minutes passed as he deciphered the code in the system. Each of the locks on the door had two codes to bypass. One required the security card to be inserted, and the other needed a code inserted directly into the mainframe. He unlocked the door, and just as he did, a maverick hunter screamed in terror. Mavericks poured out of the adjacent hallways and the maverick hunters began firing. Magnas did nothing. One hunter, while firing, had backed up next to Magnas and was panting heavily. " We need your help, Magnas!" He shouted. Magnas recognized him as the large one who pushed him in the van. Magnas smirked (half-smirked, since he only has mandibles for a mouth). Suddenly, he thrust out his hand and the hunter's pistol flew to him. The hunter's mouth opened in shock as Magnas crushed the weapon in one hand and reached his other three for the hunter. Then, he felt his armor begin to tug in the direction of Magnas's hands. As he was pulled in closer, he let out one last scream as Magnas's tail swung down and crushed his head in its pincers.

At that signal, all of the mavericks stopped and scurried off down the halls. The hunters looked around them to see if it was real. Magnas calmly walked over to another hunter and proceeded to chop his head off with his tail. The hunters looked aghast at him, then at their fallen comrade. His arms shot out and ripped the limbs off of another hunter. The hunters snapped out of their trance and began firing at him. "Traitor!" One yelled as he charged at him. Magnas simply blasted him into the wall with a reverse magnetic shot. Bullets flew away from his magnetized body before they even hit, and the hunters began to lose faith in their abilities.

One hunter tried to run, but suddenly Magnas was in front of him. He wrapped his arms around the screaming hunter's neck and twisted, snapping the artificial bone like twigs. A female fired a beam rifle at him, but her aim was off and it hit the wall. He grabbed some debris with his magnetic hands and flung them at the remaining hunters with unimaginable speed, smashing their faces and killing them instantly. The carnage continued for several minutes, and there were only two hunters left. It was the female from before, and the one in black armor. Several times the female had attacked him, but he spared her for last because of her generosity. The other was just too terrified to attack. With his rage for his fallen comrades, he mustered the courage to attack. He gave a yell as he charged forward and began firing. He leapt in the air and took out a beam knife. Unfortunately, he never got to use it, for Magnas's tail came down on his chest and punched clean through. His mouth gaped in surprise as the tail was pulled free, letting blood flow freely. In a last effort, he activated a booster on his back and flew back to the female in purple. She scooped him up in her arms and ran away down the corridor.

Magnas did not follow them. He didn't feel the need. He had taken his revenge, and it was not necessary to kill them all. He flipped on a communication relay in his head. " This is Magnas. I have the codes and the hunters are dead. Permission to proceed to the master computer?"

" Yes," A deep voice said within his head. " I was a bit worried that I couldn't trust you. After all, your ties run deep with the maverick hunters."

" No worries, master Sigma." His interface wires connected with a wall panel and he activated the security system. " I have just activated the security system for floor 1, and I'm now heading to the top floor." He stepped through the door and into an elevator. Moments later, he was on the 51st floor of the Central Computer, staring at an enormous super computer. It was similar to a giant pillar, with various wires protruding from all angles. An interface panel was located at the base of the pillar, and he connected to it. Instantly, information from all over the city began flooding into his electronic brain. It was a simple matter to manipulate any electrical device anywhere on the entire island. " Perfect," Magnas hissed.

" By the way, Magnas. As an official maverick, you need a new name. It is a symbol of your liberation from your human binds." Sigma said into the comm. link.

" I know, and I've thought this out. My new name will be Magna Centipede." Magnas replied coolly.

" Excellent. I will contact you for further instructions. Sigma, out." With that, the maverick leader's connection was severed.

" I can't see anything! There's too much smoke," X grunted through his comm. link. He waved his arms around to clear the smoke, but it was virtually impossible. Smoke vents all around him were pouring out toxic gasses. Any human would be dead within minutes, but X had a program installed in his lungs to filter out any dangerous material. He was at the base of the mountain and was searching for a way up into the volcano. Finally, his hand felt rock, and he gripped it tightly as he placed his anti-grav boots on the surface. He started wall jumping his way up until he was clear of the smoke. Unfortunately, this left him without cover and a maverick beetle spotted him. He continued up the side of the volcano until he felt a warm gust on his back. He looked back to find an enormous beetle staring at him hungrily. He froze in fear and completely forgot to dodge. It rammed him with full force, and he cried out in pain. The blow was so strong that the wall behind him gave way, and they both flew into a cavern. It was lined with pumps and lights for the workers.

X recovered surprisingly quickly, and he dashed off towards the wall, with the beetle close on his heels. When he reached the wall, he kicked off with his foot and landed on the maverick's flat back. From there, he jumped again into the corridor above. The beetle wasn't exactly designed for agility, and it was soon stuck in the cavern below. Several security guns protruded from the ceiling and began firing triple shots at X. He retaliated and blew them apart with a charged shot. He repeated the process again by climbing up the wall and past another corridor. Soon, he was at the top of the zigzag and found himself perched above a pit. Without thinking twice, he leapt off of the ledge and plummeted down the hole, with gunfire closely following him. At the bottom, he noticed a grill, which seemed to be almost bubbling over with lava. He gasped when he realized that the volcano was ready to erupt. Instantly, he began running, pumping his legs as hard as he could, violently cursing under his breath. They led me into a trap, He thought, they rigged the volcano to blow just to stop me… Seconds later, there was an explosion that rocked the whole mountain. Lava burst from the grill and began flowing quickly into the two corridors, filling them with magma. The flow was gaining quickly on X, and he tried ever harder to speed up. The walls were a blur, and he didn't even notice that the corridor had become vertical. The will to live combined with his momentum and anti-grav boots stuck him to the wall like it was horizontal. He saw light, but also felt the terrible heat behind him. He winced as the lava touched his toes and pain burst up his leg. Almost there, he though.

Just as he reached the top, the boiling lava and gas exploded, boiling over the top of the cinder cone and propelling X high into the air. He made several flips and landed gracefully on the sloping rock. He tapped his comm. link again and heard V.R.'s voice through the static. "…X…you…Can you… hear…X! Can you hear me?"

" Yeah, I hear you. What is it?" X responded.

" I lost contact when you entered the volcano. I tried to warn you, but I couldn't,"

" Warn me of what?" Suddenly, X felt a wave of heat wash over him and he was sent sprawling. When he got up, he saw a tall reploid in front of him. He had brown fur and armor covering his chest and legs. Half of his head was white, with red streaks around his eyes. Fire spouted out of the sides of his head, shaped in deer horns. The reploid held out his hand and another wave flew X's way. He rolled out of the way and fired several shots. They hit nothing, and then the reploid was in front of him, fist raised. X turned around and fired his dash boosters. The maverick was in hot pursuit (no pun intended) and was gaining very quickly.

V.R. rushed to the top of the cliff as fast as his legs would go. He was carrying a huge backpack full of equipment, but it hardly hindered his movement at all. When he reached the top, he had a birds eye view of the volcano and the energy plant inside it. He turned a dial on his helmet and his visor began zooming in on the top of a small cinder cone near the entrance to the volcano. There, he saw two forms, one blue and one brown and red. His comm. link crackled on. " I can't hit him! He's gaining on me, V.R., I could use some backup."

" Roger that," he replied. He took off the backpack and set it on the ground. Immediately, it folded open and there were many components for weapons inside. He pulled out the sniper rifle pieces and began putting them together. There were at least ten pieces to it; three pieces for the muzzle, a power core, two parts for the main body, a side handle for stability, the trigger, The scope lens, and shock buffer. He had assembled half of it when X frantically called on the comm. again.

" What's taking so long? He's right on me and my boosters are almost out of energy! Can you hurry a bit?"

" This is delicate machinery, X. I have to put it together, otherwise it won't work properly," V.R. said calmly.

" I can't outrun him any longer! Can you…" The comm. link went dead.

End

A.N: What a cliffhanger! I was going to finish the volcano level in this chapter, but it was already so long that I decided to add it into the next one. Besides, we all need a cliffhanger every now and then to keep your pulse up… unless you're up at one o' clock like I am right now. Please R&R, as always. Sayonara, folks!