Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 14: Escape

By Genoscythe

Disc: Don't even try it.

Pain. Pain coursed through every fiber of his being. Pain embodied his legs, his arms, and his chest. As he slowly regained consciousness, the pain grew in intensity. Cooling and energy fluid rushed down his battered helmet, obscuring his vision. He could tell that he was at the bottom of a stairwell. The stairs had collapsed and rubble littered the floor. Part of the stairwell had collapsed on his legs, and the gash in his chest armor still hurt.

He was vaguely aware of something hanging over his head, so he twisted his neck as best he could to see what it was. The elevator that he had fallen down in had smashed through the floor and he had fallen out. Part of the wall was jutting out, barely holding the elevator up. He strained, but his joints would not respond. The elevator creaked, and it was obvious the wall wouldn't hold up much longer. Finally, one of his arms responded to his brain's call. He gripped a large piece of rubble and hurled it away.

Cracks were beginning to form on the wall, and bits of rock were falling from the ceiling. He worked faster to free his legs and arm. By the time he had freed his other arm, the elevator was sinking closer to his head. He quickly brushed the rest of the concrete off of him and managed a weak jump out of harm's way. Right behind him, the elevator tumbled loudly to the floor, pulverizing the rubble in its path.

He leaned against a large piece of debris to catch his breath and try to heal. After several moments, he remembered who he was and what he was doing there. He was Commander Genoscythe of the 17th Maverick Hunter Division, and he had just lost a fight to the leader of this compound. He remembered the battle clearly, wondering how his opponent could be so fast. Then, he was knocked into an elevator and fell down the shaft. The elevator tipped to its side and smashed through the floor, sending him tumbling out of it. He landed and rolled under a stairway for cover. Then, the elevator smashed the stairs to bits and covered him in debris.

Genoscythe shook his head to clear his mind. Things could still work out well for him. He looked along the hall, noticing that he was in a storage room. The room was long, with the walls stacked high with crates of building supplies and materials. There was a large cargo door at the end of the hall. The pulverized stairwell led to a door, possibly leading to another storage room. Next to the cargo door, there was a directory server. Genoscythe rushed over to the small console.

It was a newer model, nearly inaccessible for someone without a server cable implanted into he or she. Fortunately, he just happened to have a server cable in his left wrist. They were very expensive, but he had been built with one in him to begin with. He extended his arm, and a small hole appeared on the underside of it. A small cable slithered out and he commanded it to enter the directory server. It plugged into a plug on the side of the viewscreen.

He sent his mind through the cable, but was suddenly blocked by a password. Sending his mind into a sort of trance, Genoscythe's unconscious began to hack the password without actually doing anything. This was a trick he had picked up from Kain, a deeply spiritual Maverick Hunter in the 14th Division. He was told that the conscious mind was fearful, and that it refused information it was afraid to know. The unconscious mind, however, does not fear. It processes information many times faster than the conscious, and it will accept all kinds of data. Kain said that this is why humans can never be as smart as they can potentially be, for most of their brain is used up by the unconscious.

He came up with the answer, unlocked the password, and headed for the main data download unit. Suddenly, his mind was flowing with information. He knew the exact layout of the compound, he knew what their fighting force was, and most importantly, he learned what the mavericks were going to do with that monstrous Dinosaur Tank. Everything was becoming clear, and he knew what he had to do. Silently, he unplugged the cable and opened the cargo door.

The first noticeable difference about the outside of the compound was that most of the jungle had been torn down or caught ablaze. Calliope, X, Drake and VR stumbled forth into the evening light and the smell of death and burning embers. Directly in front of them, two Cerberus class transports were waiting to pick them up. The Cerberus was the largest and most powerful of the Maverick Hunters' hover transports, with five double-shot cannons on both sides of its tube shaped chassis. The ridge on top of it had six small unguided missile launchers that could be operated by the copilot. The cockpit, in the front, was rounded with a bulletproof viewscreen near the top. The entire thing was propelled by eight hover units, four on each side, and it was roughly 30 yards long and 10 wide. The 17th was falling back to the two hulking Cerberi while keeping their fire trained on the mavericks in the jungle.

The four hunters made their way to the hover vehicles, with only Drake to carry, they could move much faster. Suddenly, bullets sprayed all around them and a maverick charged from the brush. In a flash, the creature was flung back in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. The Cerberus pilot gave them a thumbs-up sign, and X nodded in appreciation. Within moments, they were through the Cerberus doors and into relative safety. The Cerberus was divided into three sections, the small cockpit, the main troop carrier section, and the medical bay. There were rows of cushioned benches along the walls of the troop section. X looked to Calliope.

" You look tired, Cal. You should get some rest, me and VR can take care of Drake." Too tired to argue, she flopped down on the bench and managed a weary smile.

" Thank you, X," She said softly.

***

Pretty soon, the order to retreat had been verified. Only a very small handful of the 14th had survived, and less than half of the 17th made it back. This battle could be considered one of the worst losses for the Maverick Hunters yet. Most of the survivors were in other Cerberus, Calliope noted. There were only four hunters other than she, X, VR and Drake in this one. VR was in one corner of the troop carrier trying to repair a damaged hull piece. X was still checking on Drake, and the other hunters were asleep. They were getting nearer to the city limits, and the mavericks had stopped following them long ago.

She took off her helmet and undid her ponytail. She released the locks on her chest and shoulder armor and set them aside. Calliope stood up, stretched, and walked to the medical bay. She slid the door open and closed it behind her. X was standing in front of Drake's table. She walked up behind him and slid her arms around his waist.

" How's he doing, Dr. X?" She asked him. He turned his head to face her.

" He's doing quite a bit better, that's for sure. His vitals have been stable since I gave him the antidote for the drug they gave him. His wounds aren't very deep, but he'll need a good rest and a shower. When we get back to HQ, I'll need to have one of the technicians take a look at his right arm. It seems a bit loose."

" How are you doing?" She asked softly.

" I'm tired, hungry, and in need of a good sleep, but otherwise I'll be fine," He said, smiling. " How about you? You look bushed,"

" I'm exhausted like the rest of us, but there's no need to worry about me. I can take care of myself," She replied. He turned around in her arms.

" I'm sorry we couldn't have our date," He said solemnly. He was expecting her to be disappointed, but instead she just pulled him closer and gripped him tighter.

" I couldn't really give a crap about the date," She said with a light tone in her voice. " I'm just glad we both made it out once again," he took her hand in his. " Besides," She said. " As long as I'm with you, this is as good as a date,"

"Calliope…"

"Yeah?" Suddenly, time seemed to slow to a crawl as X cupped her face in his hands. She leaned closer to him until their lips met in a soft, yet powerful kiss. All of the emotion they had tried to suppress came out in that instant. Emotion and love coursed through their wires. X suddenly realized that this feeling that he was experiencing was not real, that it was something created by the powerful computer chip in his electronic brain. As much as he wanted to deny it, this was not 'true' love, and that reploids could never attain true love. It was just a thing his brain was telling him to feel. But then, he thought, what is 'real' feeling? When it comes down to it, our feelings are just the same as humans. Their brain tells them what to feel, the same as ours does. The only difference is that our love is born of programs and triggers inside our head. Calliope made a slight moan and arched her back. The kiss became more powerful but not at all less tender. After what felt like hours, but was really only about a minute, they released their hold on each other. They just stood there in each other's arms for a while. Then Calliope laid her head on his shoulder and gave a sigh of satisfaction.

" You know that I love you, right?" X whispered in her ear. She smiled and closed her eyes.

" I know, X. I know,"

" Then can you do me a favor?"

" Anything, my love,"

" Can you call me Rock? That's my real name, but I've never told anybody that,"

" You've never told anyone?"

" Nobody except Dr. Cain. He promised to keep it a secret,"

" Thank you, Rock," Calliope said, nestling closer to him. He remained silent and stroked her light brown hair.

" We should get some rest," He suggested. She nodded. They sat down on one of the small benches in the medical bay and soon were in a deep sleep, nestled close to each other for comfort. On one of the operating tables bolted to the floor, Drake managed a weak smile. Good for you, man, He thought. Good for you.

It was nearing 4:30 AM by the time the hunters returned to HQ. Outside, they were surprised to find a large number of the hunters outside the building waiting for them. In fact, it almost looked like all of them were outside. Even Dr. Cain was in the crowd, which was pretty unusual. When the hulking troop carriers came to a stop, several hunters ran over to the Cerberus full of hunters. " Is Megaman X here? Hey, is Megaman X over here?" One of the smaller hunters piped up. A large, foreboding hunter from the 14th pointed to the other Cerberus. The hunters rushed over and flung open the door. " Megaman X! Is Megaman X in here?"

" What?" Came a groggy reply. Megaman X stepped through the doorway to the main body section.

" Come on! Now! There's something you need to see," another hunter said. X stepped forward. " Bring your armor," the hunter added. X went back to the medical bay and put on his armor, then came back to the small mob of hunters. "Come with me," One of them said. The rest of the hunters stayed behind as they walked to the large HQ.

" What the hell is going on? Why is everybody outside?" X asked.

" About an hour after you left, a strange maverick appeared at the HQ. We still don't know how it escaped detection, but to put it simply, we tried to eliminate it but failed miserably. It was so fast…" A haunted look came about the hunter.

" What did it look like?" X asked him.

" He started asking to see Megaman X," the hunter said, almost as if he hadn't heard X's question. " We wouldn't tell him where you were, and we couldn't fight him, so we had to give in to him. He made us stay outside of the building until you came."

" A whole base brought down by one maverick?" X asked incredulously.

" The losses were staggering. We had to pull back to cut our losses. From what we could tell, he would not go back on his word and attack us,"

" What did he look like?" X asked again, with a bit more edge to his voice.

" He was purple, with armor almost like a jester's. His eyes were bright yellow and he seemed to wear a perpetual smile," X's eyes narrowed. He began to walk faster toward the HQ. The other hunter was having trouble keeping up. X's fast walk soon turned to a jog, then a run. He dashed through the curious crowd in front of the building and kicked open the door.

End