Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 13: The Discovery

By Genoscythe

Disc: I've got an incredibly small dog that I can sic on you if you try and sue me.

AN: [***] means the story is switching perspectives

One of the raptors was saying something into a Comm unit. Calliope breathed deeply, a heavy, resigned sigh. The three hunters could barely take on three of the mavericks, and here they were surrounded by thirteen of them! She had expected them to tear into her the moment they had them surrounded, but to her surprise, they did nothing. One was speaking, in its native tongue, into a small Comm unit.

" We're doomed," She whispered to Megaman X. He shook his head.

" Not yet." He said. He didn't have much confidence in his words, but some part of him knew that they would make it out. Until he figured out how, he just needed to keep the others calm. Looking over to his left, he realized that he didn't have much to worry about, because VR had a completely neutral look on his face. No emotion at all. People often said that X was good at reading emotions, and that was why he was so easy to work with. Trying to read this guy's emotions, though, was like trying to read the emotions of a steel wall.

X wondered if he was one of the new reploids, made by Replitech. The ones that seemed to be without emotions. If he is the end result of the reploid race, then what does that say about our future? He thought. Replitech was rapidly becoming one of the most powerful corporations in the world, but ever since Dr. Cain was excommunicated from the company, Replitech had cut down on building materials, leaving more money for them, and leaving their creations without a soul. No wonder why the casualty rate of this war is at least three times as great as the first.

Suddenly, all of the maverick raptors instantly snapped their long, reptilian heads to the left. None of the three hunters could hear or see anything, but suddenly a green and gray spinning object flew out of the brush with deadly precision. It sliced clean through the lead raptor's torso and kept on going. Then, it turned direction like a boomerang. The unmistakable beam scythe landed inches from its owner, who stood where there was only air moments before. Behind Commander Genoscythe, a hail of bullets and plasma blasts flew out of the forest and tore down the ranks of mavericks surrounding the hunters, who had taken cover on the ground.

The entire 17th Special Hunter Division followed by some members of the 14th Melee Hunter Division. X beamed, and Calliope just shook her head in amazement. " Sir, your timing is impeccable." VR said without a thought. Genoscythe bowed.

" My pleasure." He said, pulling his scythe out of the ground. " Did you take care of all of the guards?"

" I wouldn't know, but since there were about twenty guards outside the entire complex, I guess we took care of all of 'em." Calliope replied. VR stepped forward.

" My apologies, Commander, it was I who persuaded these two to follow me here. If you intend to punish us, then please leave them out of it."

" Well, I was going to court-martial all of you for disobeying direct orders, putting nearly fifty lives at stake and stealing Maverick Hunter property, but since you did such a nice job of disarming the shield and outer defenses, I think I'll let it slide for now." The crimson-eyed Maverick Hunter replied. " Just out of curiosity, why the hell did you do that, anyway?"

" One of our comrades may be a captive in there." VR said, pointing to the compound. We were afraid that we would not make it in time had we gone on a regular transport. Had I known it would have taken us this long to navigate the forest, I would've gone with your force."

" That's alright. The important thing now is that we've got an open shot at these maverick freaks. I'm going in with the 14th to fight with the units inside, while the 17th will sweep the outer perimeter so we don't get caught in a trap." Genoscythe nodded to the three hunters standing in front of him. " You three can go in and find whoever it is you're looking for."

" Thank you sir." X said, nodding. The commander gave a hand signal and the 14th were instantly at his side. The 17th departed to their set patrol paths.

***

" Who would have thought this place would be so huge?" X asked no one in particular. They were standing in a vast storage chamber one level below the first floor of the compound. They had to fight through five more raptors in the hallway to the elevator, but the 14th hunters took care of them with ease. The hunters moved stealthily through various crates of ammo, energy reserves and other supplies. The 14th was in the front, while the four other hunters were covering the back. Virtually nothing made a sound in the storage room, making the Maverick Hunters that every breath was impossibly loud. They wound through the metal crates carefully, searching the beige walls for any sign of a gun turret or secret wall panel.

They navigated the large cargo crates without any trouble, but the next door was electronically locked. The large silver shutter was easily big enough to fit five cargo crates through at once. At the head of the 14th, their captain bent down to examine the lock. " It's a simple one. Looks pretty old, too," he muttered. " Give me thirty seconds and I can get this thing unlocked." He said to the group of hunters behind him. They waited anxiously, but when the door was finally open, they were a little surprised. In front of them was a small catwalk that went past the wall and split off in two directions. There were doors on either wall to the side of them, but the most puzzling thing about it was the wall in front of them. It was green, and had many plates of armor on it, but it just didn't fit with the surroundings.

The hunters cautiously walked forward and onto the catwalk. Half their force went left, the other half right. X, Calliope, VR and Genoscythe went right. The catwalk seemed to stretch on forever, but it looked like the green wall curved away half a kilometer away. They walked across the catwalk, carefully watching their backs. When they reached the curve in the wall, the hunters were floored with what they saw to their left. What they had mistaken as a wall was really the right side of an enormous tank fashioned after a dinosaur on all fours. Far across the giant hangar, they could see half of its massive cockpit, with a huge yellow viewport shaped like an eye and a horn on top. Its armor was bristling with cannons and missile launchers. The tank's mouth was a giant beam cannon with fake jaws built around it.

It was obvious that this thing knocked out the IT satellite. The problem was this thing looked nearly impossible to destroy. It was so big; it had to have at least ten layers of armor, if not more. " Impossible," VR breathed.

" It's massive. We'll never destroy it!" X exclaimed. Genoscythe muttered something under his breath. Then, he turned to the three hunters next to him.

" You three can go find your friend. We'll be here trying to destroy this thing. If you get lost or if you can't find him, meet back here." The three hunters nodded, then saluted. They ran back to the two doors they saw earlier, with X in the lead. They were just about to enter the door on the left when bullets began flying out of the door on the right. VR turned and trained his magnums on the door. He turned back to the other two.

" I'll hold them off, you two find Drake before it's too late!" X and Calliope spun around and dashed off through the door. They ran through a short, nondescript corridor as the sounds of gunfire receded behind them. At the end of the hallway, there was an elevator. They called it up, readying their weapons in case anyone was inside the elevator. Sure enough, the doors opened and two raptor mavericks were inside. Calliope leapt and cut into the left one's throat and X fired two rounds into the other one's stomach. They both crumpled to the floor and the hunters stepped inside.

Fortunately, the floor names were marked in English, so all they had to do was pick the floor labeled 'cell block' and they were going down. " I'll go out first," X said to Calliope. " If I see anything coming, I can shoot it before it gets too close. When it's all clear, I'll signal you." She nodded. X slowly stepped out of the elevator with his buster raised. He took several cautious steps out into the hallway, then once he saw it was clear, he opened the elevator again and Calliope came out. The hall they were in was very short and turned right to a flight of stairs. Calliope quickly poked her head around the corner. Suddenly, she swore and pulled her head back.

" There's a guard down the stairs. He might have seen me." She whispered urgently to X. They waited a few moments, but nothing happened. They both crept slowly around the corner, and in a flash, something slammed into X, pinning him to the wall. He cried out as the creature's clawed legs closed around his boots, locking him into place against the wall. The raptor raised its clawed hands, ready to strike the killing blow, but he brought his own hands up to push the maverick off of him. They grappled for several moments, neither giving way.

Suddenly, X saw a blinding flash of green, and blood poured over him in waves. The raptor's grip weakened, and he pushed off the maverick. It landed with a splat a foot away, its head and shoulders severed. Calliope grinned at him, coated in blood. " Sorry about the mess." She said.

" No problem," He replied. She pulled him to his feet and they looked down the hallway. It was in considerable disrepair, with mold growing on the walls and stains of various liquids all over the place. One of the overhead lights kept flickering on and off and many of the lights were out completely. There were holding cells on either sides of the prison hall, five on each side.

" I guess they didn't plan on taking many prisoners," X mused. Calliope nodded. The cells were old-fashioned; sliding doors with a little window slatted with bars on the upper part. Eight of the cells were open, so they assumed the other two had Drake and the other survivors. Overcome with relief, they ran to the nearest cell. The fact that anyone had been taken prisoner meant there was a chance Drake was alive.

Unfortunately, the cell door was locked with a handprint identification lock. If it had been any human lock, the standard Maverick Hunter gloves would have conformed to one of the matching prints based on the database in the lock. This handprint lock was shaped for a raptor, though. Thinking quickly, X grabbed the dead guard's arm, which had easily pulled out of its torn socket. He put the hand on the lock and it began scanning.

Calliope cocked an eyebrow at him. " Where did you learn to do a thing like that?" She asked him.

" Movies." He replied nonchalantly. The lock beeped, and the door opened. It was extremely dark inside, so the hunters had to squint. Light began spilling into the small, dank cell, and their eyes began to adjust. A Maverick Hunter lay on the floor, dead. A small cry escaped Calliope's lips, and X shook his head as he bent down to examine the corpse. He stood up a moment later. " He died recently; his body is still warm. The emblem on his armor is from the 15th. I don't recognize him," he said softly.

" The other one must be Drake's cell, then," Calliope said. X noted that she put emphasis on the word 'must'. X silently prayed as they opened the next cell. As the door slid open and dim light began pouring into the cell, the two hunters heard a familiar voice.

" You're three goddamn days late," Drake choked out from inside the cell. A small smile crept across X's face.

" If you want to be left here, that's what's gonna happen if you keep up that smart mouth," Calliope shouted at him. The grimy, tortured reploid just managed a cheeky smile.

" Just… get us out of here. The service here… really sucks," A shadow moaned in the corner of the cell. " C'mon, Briggsy, we got… ourselves a ride," The shadow merely groaned again. The two hunters rushed into the cell to help their comrades out. Drake wasn't too bad, considering he had been locked in hostile territory for three days. His uniform top was torn to shreds, and dried blood from cuts and lashes covered his chest and back. He was covered in grime, like he had been dropped in a sewer a few times. His eyes had a glazed look to them, and X suspected that he had been drugged several times.

Briggs was pretty bad, though. He looked just like Drake, but with one exception. His eyes had a terrible, lost look to them, like his soul had been taken. He stared blankly over Calliope's shoulder at the door. " Commander Briggs? We're here to break you two out," X said to the commander. There was no response. He just kept staring at the door. Suddenly, X realized that he wasn't blinking. " Sir? Sir, please say something,"

" My eyes… can't feel… my eyes…" Briggs moaned. He lurched forward, but Calliope caught him. He gagged a few times, then struggled to stand up. The gunshots upstairs were getting louder.

" We have to get you out of here now, do you understand? I need you to cooperate with me," Calliope said soothingly. Briggs said nothing. They walked out of the cell and up to the elevator, listening to the sounds upstairs. Just as they reached the elevator, it opened and a heavily armored figure came barreling through and almost ran into them with his shoulder. VR looked up from his charge and grinned at his friend.

" I thought I would never see you again, my friend," He said, looking at Drake. His armor was scarred and damaged in places, and his visor was cracked in the upper-left edge, but otherwise he seemed okay.

" Good to see you too, man," Drake replied. " How's the party upstairs?"

" Bad. Many of them are heavily armed, and we lost Commander Genoscythe halfway through the battle. The maverick's leader also apparently disappeared. Our melee fighters are no match against their heavy weaponry, so if we have any chance of escaping, we had best do it quickly," X, Calliope and Drake nodded. " On my way here, I downloaded a map of this compound. It shows that the floor above us is like some kind of central hub for all of the elevators in the compound. One of them leads to the top."

" Sounds simple enough," Calliope said.

" Indeed, but I cannot stand the fact that we would have to leave our allies upstairs behind," VR said.

" Neither can I, but these two can't fight, so we have to get them out of here first. The others still have a realistic chance of making it out," X spoke up. The others considered this for a moment.

" We really don't have much choice either way… damn mavericks…" Drake murmured.

" I guess we'd better get going before they find us," Calliope said. The five of them got into the elevator and VR put in the floor number. A short time later, they arrived at the hub. As soon as they opened the door, they could tell they were not alone. Suddenly, a blur of movement skirted across the center of the vast circular room lined with elevators. Another blur followed it to the other side. Then, there was an explosion and fire burst from the right wall.

A blue figure could be briefly seen through the flames, but then it rocketed away, running on the walls to catch up to the other blur that had used the explosion as a distraction. The blue one dashed to the wall in front of the blur. The blue thing slowed down, and they instantly knew who it was. It was Commander Genoscythe! Genoscythe jumped forward and spun in mid-air, impacting his foot with the other creature's face. It flew back, and they could finally see what it was.

It was one of the mavericks, only it was bigger and its reptilian skin was a dark brown, almost black. The big maverick crashed to the ground and skidded several meters in their direction. Genoscythe looked at them. " Run! He's too dangerous! I called for backup; HQ said they'd send some Cerberuses our way. GO!!!" He yelled.

" The surface elevator is three elevators to the right of us," VR whispered to everyone. Immediately, they began going right as quickly as they could with two wounded soldiers. The raptor was getting up, and Genoscythe turned his attention back to it. The creature let out a deep growl then flung its arms out. Twin beam sabers erupted from the gauntlets on its arms. Genoscythe dashed for it, but the raptor whipped around and slammed the beam sabers into the commander's side.

He flew, chunks of metal flying in the air in a trail. He put his foot down to slow himself, then spun around and charged again. When he reached the raptor, as he expected, his enemy swung where he would normally be. Genoscythe ducked to the left to avoid the slashes, jumped into the air and spun around, bringing his right arm blade to bear. To his surprise, the raptor brought up his own blades, parrying the blow. He bounced back from the impact, realizing with horror that he had been left open. The raptor sent his right leg into Genoscythe's chest, and the commander was soaring again.

He flew into a closed elevator door, which splintered like glass when he hit it. He collided with the elevator inside and it began to rock violently. He tried to regain stability, but the pain in his chest and hip were too great. He barely saw the monster charging at the elevator. Suddenly, the beast jumped into the air and Genoscythe thought he was safe.

***

X watched in horror as the raptor jumped at the wall above the elevator their commander was in. It drove its beam sabers into the wall so deeply; it began cutting the elevator cables. Genoscythe's elevator snapped forward suddenly, and X realized one of the wires had been cut. The maverick began cutting deeper, and he began fearing for his commander's life. Without thinking, he raised his X buster.

The elevator still hadn't come yet. It was an old cable model, and it had to travel forty or so floors down to get to them. X hesitated, remembering that they had two injured soldiers and that drawing attention to them would only be worse than not doing anything at all. He lowered his buster. The raptor slashed at the wall again, and this time the commander's elevator dipped down and pitched forward. Genoscythe was finally regaining his stability, but with one final swing, the battered elevator dropped suddenly and plummeted out of view. X couldn't help but yell and the maverick turned its icy gaze on them. He took a step back, fear showing in his eyes.

A soft ping emanated from their elevator, and they quickly backed up into its relative safety. To X's utter horror, the raptor crouched down and leapt into the air, landing right in front of them. Calliope punched in the floor number and the doors began closing. The maverick grabbed the door sides and held them open, grinning at his captors. Suddenly, Briggs jumped forward, wielding a pipe he had torn from the wall. He smashed the maverick in the jaw, knocking him against the door. Briggs ran toward it with all the strength he had, ramming the maverick with his shoulder. They both fell out of the elevator, and Calliope screamed as the doors began closing again. The maverick got up and strode toward Briggs, who was still regaining his breath, and the last thing they saw before the doors closed was a shower of crimson. As the elevator began its ascent, they heard an animalistic roar from the bottom of the shaft.

Tears slowly slid down Calliope's cheek, and X held her close to him. Drake was slumped against the wall, his head in his hands. VR was completely silent and motionless. When the elevator arrived at the top, none of the hunters made a move to leave right away. They stood there, pondering the loss of two more of their commanders. Both had died valiantly, and there was no doubt they would receive the highest honors at their funerals. Still, this did not change anything. If this war was to continue, there may not be any more noble soldiers left to fight for justice.

End