Hello all. Remember me? Um, no?!

Ok, so me and Accelerando decided to team up and write this fanfic. I'm not going to bore you with details and such, except that it's set between X7 and X8.

Oh, and by the way, flames are NOT appreciated, but constructive feedback/criticism are.

So, without further ado...

Diabolic Edict by Warp Ligia Obscura and Accelerando

-- Prologue --

The year... is 21XX.

We'd - that is, Zero and I, and some Reploid named Axl - had quelled the 7th Maverick Uprising some time ago. The Red Alert War, we later dubbed it.

In any case, the following months were not very eventful. Axl had taken leave after some time for... "vacation", Signas called it, but I knew the truth... as did Zero, of course. Axl had told Zero he was going to train alone, for some time, away from the rest of civilisation... he was, apparently, hoping that I would accept him as a Maverick Hunter when he got back if he honed his skills enough. Ha, as if! In any case, it looked like he got whomped on that mission he took recently... must've taken a huge blow to his ego for him to just up and leave like that.

Course, he didn't tell ME. What? How did I find out then? Let's just say my sneaking and eavesdropping skills are better than most people say it is...

Anyway. A few more months passed after that, with no real problems... Sigma hadn't reappeared for some reason. If I know him, a shot to the head is definately not enough to put him down... well, at least that means more peace for us. Of course, he'll return... sooner or later...

Then came the... um, presentation. Apparently it was some Reploid scientist who was presenting to us about some new form of energy. Not as in the common perception of a human scientist who researches Reploids, but rather a Reploid scientist who researches... well, Reploids... and energy, of course.

So there we were, sitting in the auditorium, waiting for this... scientist... to walk in. Apprarently his name was Lucifer, but that's irrelevant. Everyone was talking to everyone else about this new form of energy, even Signas. I was probably the only one who didn't speak, besides Zero... Zero was unnaturally quiet, probably due to a lack of people to talk to - he was very fierce around everyone else except me, and I wasn't speaking. However, he still kept fidgeting, which I found kinda annoying.

Then he walked in.

No, not Zero, the Reploid scientist. Zero WAS next to me, after all.

Everyone quieted down immediately. Good, I thought. At least they show some form of etiquette...

I took a good look at the scientist, and my image of a stereotypical scientist with a lab coat, probably coming on in years, and holding a walking stick, was shattered. Not like anyone would build a Reploid like that, but I digress.

I mean, heck. He looked more like some kind of... animated suit of armour. He didn't even have a lab coat!

So there he was, talking all about the advantages of his new form of energy... how a small quantity could power a million standard Reploids, how augmenting a Reploid with it could give him powers beyond comprehension... then, finally, he produced an energy capsule from behind his back, walked to the center of the stage, and placed it on the table there.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I call this... Yin energy."

Yin energy. I didn't like the sound of that much. Although I was sitting way towards the back, I could feel the... "funky vibes" radiating off it, Zero called it later... basically referring to the huge amount of power. Just looking at the capsule and the dark, shiny, purplish energy pulsing within it gave me the creeps, and I could practically hear ominous music start to play.

Hell, even Zero, one of the Hunters most used to such power, from himself or otherwise, seemed kinda uncomfortable. The Reploid scientist allowed us all to take in the sight for a while, and I could detect the slight hint of a smile on his face. Then he removed his hands from behind his back and gestured towards the audience. "Any questions?"

I was just itching to raise my hand when Zero, remarkably, did that for me, and stood up.

"Is it safe?"

I raised an eyebrow as Zero sat down again and folded his arms. Zero wasn't the kind of person to ask that sort of question... normally he wouldn't care whether something was "safe" or not. Then again, Zero's version of "safe" was generally very different from the rest of the Maverick Hunters.

The scientist smiled.

"My research has not extended to that point. However, I have tested it with a... live subject... and so far he is showing no changes, except for a surge in power and capablility."

Signas was obviously rattled from the whole affair. He obviously didn't think it was very safe... some days later I heard him conversing with an Independent Maverick Hunter, Accelerando, about the matter.

Accelerando, Accel for short, was an Independent Maverick Hunter, as I mentioned earlier, who refused to work in any unit and reported straight to Signas. I always thought he was kind of arrogant.

Anyhow, from the conversation I managed to figure that Signas was sending Accel on a mission to spy on Lucifer and make sure there were no problems with his research. Especially with the rumours flying around... it was a common rumour among city folk, and it'd spread to the Hunters, that Lucifer was building something BIG. I didn't care... lousy rumours again, after all, we always heard of such things from time to time, and it was never true... but apparently Signas took it seriously. He later told me that rumour or no, we MUST take precautions against Lucifer and the Yin energy... he said I should've felt it too. I did... I could smell war on the horizon... a war over the Yin energy... But a week later, Accel left on his mission, and when he returned, he reported to Signas that he could find no sign of a huge project or anything wrong or suspicious with Lucifer's research on the Yin energy. So I dismissed the feeling as just me being over-worried over Sigma's eventual reappearance, that I was expecting it much too soon. Thus, life around Maverick Hunter HQ continued as usual, right up till today.

We would soon find out how wrong I was...