Another Kind of Nightmare
A Megaman X fanfiction by Black Mantle
A Real NightmareE checked his internal chronometer, 5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second… 0. For the moment it seemed like a pretty big event, it was exactly 7 years ago that he was reactivated in his new body.
(7 years old… I feel like 70.) He thought about it for a moment; given that he was originally built by Dr. Light over half a century ago, 70 years would be pretty close; but that only made him feel that much older. He turned to the left to look out the window; flying past at a break neck pace was a dimly lit passage and the flicker of the tunnel lights.
Sitting across from him, Dr. Cain saw dire curves on the ancient robot's face. "You don't look so hot."
"I've got a lot on my mind." E glanced back, thinking that Cain was well into his sixties, possibly a newborn babe when Wily was still wreaking havoc on the world or born shortly after his defeat.
"It's been a hard few months, but we can't give up."
E turned back to the soothing voice. Sitting to his right, with a face bearing equal parts calm and concern, was his only reason for being in this era of his life. A good head smaller than his towering frame, finely crafted blue, and silver armour shielded and accented the body of a beautiful woman with two anomalous features; a large tail, and a most inhuman face.
"It's been a tough few years."
Katie leaned over towards him, resting her anthropomorphic head on his round chest plate. He responded by wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
Dr. Cain turned his attention away from the pair. Next to him, Armored Armadillo looked at the couple, thinking it rather queasy that they would be holding each other in public like this, but learned long ago to leave them be.
E returned to the window and the dark walls of the subway.
(It's been a tough 7 years.)
3 years ago…
Life had been relatively constant for 4 years, it seemed that everywhere you looked, there was a reploid infected by the Nightmare virus, and whenever you found one, there was a Hunter close behind. There had been a few minor attempts from Sigma to turn the tables and destroy the Hunters, but all had been repelled; until now…
Sigma made his grand move, bringing a huge uprising of infected reploids to battle, a war that brought the world to the brink of Armageddon. The Hunters, combined with the remnants of Repliforce and the human armies countered the surge; casualties were enormous, destruction was catastrophic, but in the end, Sigma had fallen once and for all.
It was a poorly gained victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Rejoice was short lived.
1 year later…
The reconstruction had begun, but a new battle had formed; humans no longer trusted reploids, and soon political power was rising to remove any chance of more reploids turning on the humans that built them. It was not enough that the cause of the reploids' maverick behaviour had been traced back to the Nightmare virus and that an anti-virus existed, fear continued to dominate human emotion, just as it also dominated reploid emotion. In some places, the construction of more reploids was halted totally, others considered outfitting all reploids with tracking beacons to monitor their movements, but some extremists were moving to simply destroy them.
Reploids were not content to sit and watch the possible enslavement or extinction of their race. Many sought aid in compassionate governments, hoping for a political end to the persecution, while others took the matter in their own hands. In parts of the world, gang violence was soon commonplace, as militias of humans and reploids fought to determine who had a right to exist, and who did not.
E returned to his world and time, continuing to stare out at the flickering lights in the darkness. It seemed as if all he knew were his traveling companions. Everything he remembered from his past life were long lost, almost everything he gained in his new life had been violently taken from him. X hadn't been seen since Sigma's defeat; it was he who faced the tyrant, and E believed that he died in similar fashion to his predecessor. But X wasn't the only one lost, most of the Hunters perished during the great battle; Signas, Douglas, Axl, none were heard from after the war. Alia somehow survived the destruction of Hunter HQ; she and a few others started to coordinate the remaining reploids, trying to help each other, trying to stop the hatred and fear that was spreading like wild fire. He, Katie, Arm and Dr. Cain were heading to city hall for a meeting regarding that very issue.
Production of reploids had almost completely ceased about a year ago, and now the condition of the remaining reploids was up for debate. Less than 200 km east, the city of Arcadia had already enacted some of the strictest reploid control laws in the region, and it was quickly spreading to other areas. There, reploids were forced to carry control chips that could shut them down by authorities if they conducted in any "malicious" action. Those that refused were captured and either forced to take the chips or be reprogrammed into mindless drones, which was if they weren't destroyed by the "Crusaders".
A new breed of reploid warrior, the Crusaders consisted of reploids that were considered loyal to humanity, charged with the duty of seeking out those deemed "maverick" and to bring them in for reprogramming. They were ruthless and were granted the power to destroy any maverick that proved too resilient, which was usually any reploid that so much as shook their head the wrong way. Although it seemed appropriate to continue to name the miscreants with the old "maverick" tag, the irony was not lost that many of the remaining Hunters were now classed with the criminal notation that they once fought against. Many reploids tried to escape Arcadia, a few made it to nearby cities, only to find that anti-reploid sentiment was spreading, forcing them to move on again.
E shuddered that such hatred could spread here, and feared what would happen if the local city counsel voted against him and his kind. He couldn't allow that to happen, not to him, not to Arm, and definitely not to Katie. They had been together for 7 years, it's not everyday that you're rebuilt one morning, then have a date that very afternoon. Although it certainly didn't seem significant at the time, E could still recall the first time he saw Katie, the klutzy reploid skunk who was also in for repairs, who came over to him one night. Back when E was still known as Elecman, nothing more than a decimated shell, before he knew anything of friendship or love, he saw her. Unfeeling, uncaring, no knowledge of the world around him, he still remembers that night with perfect accuracy.
7 years and 2 days ago…
"Awake are we?"
Elecman only blinked, but the visitor wasn't dismayed.
"Hi, my name is Pheromone Skunk, but the last three digits of my serial number are 'K8E' so everyone calls me 'Katie' for short."
The disfigured Robot Master tried to reply, but his voice was crackled and broken. "I… ammmm… Elec-c-c-cmaan."
"'Elecman'? I think I've heard that name somewhere." Katie shrugged it off and continued to talk.
"So, what happened to you? Did some Mavericks do this, or was it an accident like me?"
Elecman didn't respond.
"O.K. Maybe it's best you just lie there. But tell me if you find me boring."
Elecman blinked.
"Don't worry about your injuries, Lifesavor is the best, he fixes me up." Katie got a little over confident and tried standing straight up. "Ack, like my foot." She started to limp again.
"So, are you in pain?"
This time, she drew a very robotic but clear vocal response. "No, I cannot feel anything. My sensory adapters have been disabled."
Katie jolted when she realized that the voice was coming from the table Elecman was resting on.
"Oh, they connected you to the table. Very good, now we can talk."
She got another robotic response. "About what?"
"Well, like, where are you from? What do you do? I'll start. I was activated about a year ago, and I started out as a dancer, a beautiful, graceful creature who flowed with the music."
"That is nice. How did you come to join the Hunters?"
"Well, actually it wasn't nice. My kind of dancing was more for the seedy side of the 'entertainment industry' rather than the high-class artsy stuff. You know, strutting in front of a bunch of rabid guys, human and reploid, who look like they've never seen a female before. Ogling me and my rather shapely design. A bunch of perverts if you ask me. My friends call them 'furverts', with me being a skunk and all. Anyway, I got bored with being just some pretty face and wanted a job with respect. So I joined the Hunters, unfortunately, I'm the one who usually ends up getting hunted."
"I was created for maintenance of large scale power facilities. I was designed to withstand high electrical discharges."
"Really, that would explain the name. You from around here?"
"I do not know where 'here' is."
"Oh."
Elecman thought for a moment, trying to strike up some kind of small talk of his own. "'Katie' is it? That is a nice name. Interesting. Your serial number ends in '8E'. I was the 8th in a series and my name commences with 'E'. Actually, I would be 9th if you count the prototype."
"Really, were the others in your series designed for the same function as you?"
"Negative. We were all built for different functions."
"And where are they now? Do you know?"
"Affirmative. They have been terminated."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"'Sorry'?"
"Yeah, I mean, it must be hard to lose your friends, how ever they died."
Elecman was confused, he didn't feel sorry, grief or regret.
"I see I've touched a nerve with that. I think it's getting late and I think we both need some sleep. I'm sure Lifesavor will fix you up good tomorrow, there's no need to be scared."
Katie limped back to her bed and laid down, leaving Elecman with his thoughts.
('Sorry', 'scared' what does she mean? I don't feel anything?)
His first memory of her, etched into his mind until time itself ends, a vision of a kind, gentle flower; and he was a brain-dead moron.
("Affirmative." "Negative." Yeesh.)
He sat back and thought about the hearings they were all headed for, meetings with intellectual dimwits and emotional renegades who couldn't be swayed by a mountain of calm argument and logic over the slightest hint of hearsay or panic. Convincing them that the real cause was the Nightmare virus and that it was now under control wasn't good enough. It had been brought up before, but it was always pushed to the back burner, sighting that it was just one example of what can go wrong with reploids and that reploids as a whole were problematic; a common ploy by those clearly too motivated by upcoming elections and public opinion polls than by their own conscience.
For 7 years, E had held one card very close to his chest. E had considered it before, but now would seem to be a situation so dire that he might have no choice but to play it.
The walk up the city hall's steps was all too familiar for the quartet, as was the route through the hallways, and the chairs in the auditorium. They sat down along with everyone else as they filed in, Dr. Cain sitting quite normally while each of the reploids had to make certain adjustments to account for their unique body structures. After 10 more minutes, everyone had taken their places, and the chairman at the tables in front of the theatre had called the meeting to order by banging his gavel on the table.
"This meeting will come to order. This session of the Burlington City Council is to further discuss the planned bill, B-154 on the current status of reploids in our city. To recap, this week we've received a strongly worded opinion from some of the nearby communities who are rather concerned over our lack of progress on this matter."
E was also growing impatient with the proceeding, but more so with the interference that certain "outsiders" were running. ('Strongly worded opinion' my metal ass; why doesn't he just say a 'kick in the teeth'?)
"We've heard over the last few days local opinion on this, and today we are going to hear from local cybernetics expert, Dr. Sidney Cain. Dr. Cain."
The doctor stood up and approached the podium at the center of the room, something he had done many times over the last few months. Were the situation not so dire the reploids sitting next to him might have chocked back a small giggle, knowing that he was a doctor of archaeology, not robotics. But while Dr. Cain wasn't the master of robotics that the legendary Dr. Thomas Light was, he was the most deeply involved with the reploids and one of the most knowledgeable, even if all he did was copy Dr. Light's masterwork.
"Thank you, councillor. Members of the committee, I thank you for giving me this time to address the public. I know that I've already spoken before, and there is really little else for me to say, but I do want to refute some of what we've discussed in the last few days."
E was sitting rather impatiently in his seat, tiring quickly of all this pomp and circumstance.
"The most recent comments regarding reploids have been regarding the lack of trust in them and that they have 'betrayed' us. I don't deny that some of these 'creations' have turned bad and have caused immense trouble for humanity, but they living sentient beings and each one should be treated with respect, even though there have been those that have caused turmoil. And to those who still believe that they are just machines and that we have the right to destroy what we don't like, it was man who created the reploids, and we are responsible for what happens."
E could tell that Dr. Cain's words were not really getting through to everyone around the meeting hall. The words had been heard before, all these arguments were discussed at length, and nothing had really changed; but everyone had something dire on their minds. They all knew that Arcadia had been pushing nearby communities to introduce legislation to contain the "reploid threat", and there had been rumours as to what happened to those who tried to slow the passage of such laws. Everyone here was antsy and wanted to put the issue behind him, but they were also concerned if they struck down B-154; they doubted Arcadia would unleash all out war, but it was the largest city in the area and had a lot of economic power.
"Excuse me!"
The congregation turned toward the three reploids that came in with Dr. Cain.
E stood up. "I'm sorry if I'm speaking out of turn, but I think that I have as much right to speak; I am a reploid, and this is about my kind."
The chair called him down. "Your name is?"
"E."
"Step forward, E."
E took center stage and stood at the podium, Dr. Cain moved to one side.
"Yes sir. My name is E, I am a reploid, and I want to express my concerns over what is happening." E almost choked on his words, not because he was that shook up or emotional, but because he had a lot of pent up rage and was trying to contain it to act diplomatic.
"I know that you've all gone through Hell since the first reploid went maverick more than a decade ago, we all have; I've been a Hunter for 4 years, and I've been here in the three years since. I have seen what has been happening, and how everyone has been hurt so much. We're now in a phase where we have to rebuild, to repair the damage that's been done; and that's going to be a lot of work. But there are those who have been hurt so badly, that they won't let it go, and they seek restitution against those they blame for their misfortune. I know that this war was caused by reploids that went 'maverick', but not all reploids should be held responsible for what some did."
"All throughout human history there have been certain groups that have been persecuted because of some individuals and their atrocious actions; in one of the wars of the 20th century, Japanese living in Allied countries were persecuted because Japan was an enemy at the time. But that was something that happened many years ago, long before anyone alive today was even born, and cannot truly understand. Well, its happening now, and reploids are taking the blame for something a few had done, something that even they were not really responsible for. I know that you feel much pain, just as the people in the west were hurt after an attack on Pearl Harbor; but let me tell you what I'm feeling, probably just how Japanese-Americans felt in that war. I'm feeling scared, scared that there are people who will decide that I will have no freedom, that I won't have any rights, that I won't have the freedom or the right to even live in a world that I fought to save."
"Reploid history is short; it started only a few decades ago when one man, Dr. Thomas Light created the first, Mega Man X, the one who was the basis of all reploids, and he wanted a future of hope and freedom. But Dr. Wily, just as he interfered in the past, wanted to stain the future by creating a virus that would drive us to madness. The first mavericks, Repliforce, the final battle against Sigma Neotus, and the current situation in Arcadia; all of it can be traced back to the warped plans of a maniacal mind."
The councillor interrupted E's monologue. "It has long been debated that the Nightmare virus was created by Dr. Wily, but there's been no proof of that."
"I am telling you that it is true, all that has happened up to now was caused by a curse delivered on us by a madman who's been dead for over half a century."
"And what proof do you have that the Nightmare virus was created by Dr. Wily?"
"I was there when he made it."
E's statement certainly set off a storm, and for the next two hours he was grilled by every member of the committee regarding his previous self and the infamous Dr. Wily; this lead to several embarrassing questions over why one of Wily's old robot masters was upgraded to a reploid. After a while, the committee wanted hard proof of Wily's involvement; the only thing E could offer was his memories, a complete recording of his memory banks. It was a sacrifice E was hesitant to make, considering it was his own freedom that he was fighting for, but it was necessary at this juncture to give a little, if he wanted to protect everything else.
4 days later, the council studied the recordings made from E's memory banks.
"They wouldn't believe me!!"
E stormed out of city hall, followed closely by Katie and Arm. Dr. Cain lagged a little behind, slowed down by his age.
"Hold up, E. Getting in a huff isn't going to do any good." The elder human called out, hoping that the others would slow down.
"I told them what I know, I gave them a recording straight from my memory banks, and they still refuse to believe me. If anything, they trust me even less—if they trusted me at all!"
As always, Katie tried to calm him down. "Please, don't get like this, you did what you could and…"
"And nothing!" E finally stopped, allowing the four to regroup.
Dr. Cain was the last to join. "Let's just go home. There's nothing we can do here right now."
One of the longest hours in E's life passed on the subway trip home, to him it felt longer than the 60 years he spent as a piece of scrap in Wily's lab. E didn't say anything; he just sat in his seat, gazing at the rapidly passing lights of the subway.
Back at Dr. Cain's house, E continued to mope over the recent events; the other three also felt the defeat, but for them it would be better to console the one who had put so much on the line, and who grieved enough for the four of them.
Katie was by his side, as always. "E, you did all you could."
"You're not doing yourself any favours by moping around the house like this." The good doctor added.
"Snap out of it." Arm blurted out rather uncompassionately.
E ignored all of them, simply sitting with his chin resting on his folded hands.
Dr. Cain broke the silence. "You can't blame yourself. You were sitting in that pile of rubble for over half a century; you're lucky that your memory wasn't totally corrupted."
E started to rant, snidely mimicking the comments from the committee. "'The data is too faded', 'we can't analyze the validity of a copy', 'there is nothing that actually connects Wily and the Nightmare virus.' These people are impossible! I swear they're being paid off by those Arcadian slime."
"Getting angry gets us nowhere; believe me, I've had to deal with bureaucrats before, and getting angry is a sure fire way to get yourself thrown out into the street."
"Yeah, well these guys are sure good at pissing people off. That should be illegal."
"And they're the ones who make the law, go figure. E, you need to be passionate, without acting like a raving lunatic."
Katie had been rather quiet, having little to say she let Cain speak for the most part; she didn't like the way E was tearing himself apart. "E, it's getting late. Let's turn in and worry about this tomorrow."
"What? I can't turn in…"
"Shhh. You need some sleep."
"E, why don't you take some time off, you need some rest." Dr. Cain walked up the large reploid. "I'll go back to the council tomorrow, you take the day off."
E sighed; Cain was right he was too worked up, even though the situation was quite dire, and could easily get worse. "Alright."
Katie took E's arm and guided him to the stairs.
With only the two of them left, Dr. Cain sat down and Arm took another seat next to him. "What do we do now?"
"Well, I can try to get a hold of Prof. Sherman in Quincellon, he's studying most of the remains of Wily's robots, including E's old shell. Perhaps he can extract the proof from one of them, but considering the shape that Elecman was in, I doubt any of them would have what we need."
"So we've got nothing."
"What we need is someone who was there, someone who knows that Wily created the Nightmare virus, someone who is in much better shape and whose memory is far more accurate."
Dr. Cain leaned back in his chair.
"We need Zero."
To Be Continued
This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Capcom and are used without permission. Pheromone "Katie" Skunk is © Black Mantle.