Disclaimer: I. OWN. NOTHIN'!!!! My original characters, I DO own them.
A.N.: I would like to thank Warp Ligia Obscura for his support. Tank U!
Okay, on with this lengthy chapter.
Chapter 4: Traitorous Ways
Southeastern Parking Lot
Time:
-07:51-
Stryke breathed heavily as he took refuge behind a blockade of junked hover transports. Snow was falling, meaning that the temperature was extremely low. He struggled to press the button on the side of his energy canteen to pop the lid. Thanks to Locke, he had a deep gash on the right side of his abdomen. His auto-clot systems had stopped the bleeding, but synth nerves that were exposed had not yet been numbed by the anesthesia systems. He cringed as the crystallized water fell onto his open wound. He couldn't believe it. Locke, alone, had cleared out eighty-five percent of the maverick oppression, killed three hunters and wounded six, including Stryke. He took a sip from his energy canteen. In his current state, all he could do was hide from her while his painful wound numbed itself, and keep trying to contact Signas, X, Zero, somebody. This is not how he wanted to die. Not by one of his closest friends. They had been through so much. Combat. Classmates at the MH Academy. Somehow, he had to save her. He had to save Locke from herself. He pondered on that thought. If he had tried to knock her out again without her being distracted somehow, he'd end up with another injury. Hopefully, he would become resolute enough to execute a plan. But he was damn scared. Who wouldn't be. He peeked around the corner of the charred transport. No Locke.
Beep. "T-this is Stryke... do you read me, Signas?" He transmitted in near desperation.
'Stryke, what's your situation?'
"I'm wounded sir, actively being hunted by Locke as we speak." He peeked around the corner again. Still no Locke.
He heard Signas curse under his breath. 'Stay put, hunter. Alia is contacting X now. Do not die, Stryke.'
"Don't worry a-about that, sir. Stryke, over and out-t."
'Signas, over and out.' Beep. The signal went dead. Stryke felt the anesthesia unit kick in, as he barely cringed when snow found its way to the deep cut. He let out a sigh as he slumped back gingerly against the truck. Then, the sun behind him disappeared for a second, as if it were eclipsed briefly. He looked over his shoulder, searching everything with twitching eyes. Nothing, maybe his visual receptors are responding negatively to the temperature. This was not good. Locke was nowhere in sight for about twelve minutes. Twelve minutes before she went berserk. He took another sip of his energy. Another eclipsing of the sun. He shot his head up, just in time to see Locke about to throttle him. Without thinking, he dove ahead of him, as Locke pounded the ground with her RSBs. Snow flew in every direction, with occasional rocks and pebbles flying amongst them. He stood up and cringed tremendously as he clenched his reopened wound. Blood seeped freely from it, staining his hand. He stumbled as he tried to get away from the demon.
His vision was beginning to blur, due to the lost of blood.
"Locke, no. Y-you can't do this!" He said as his voice started to trembled.
Locke said nothing as she withdrew her blades from the small crater she created. She spun around to face Stryke, who, at the moment, was trying to reach her mind. Her eyes were still burning with amber. An evil grin possessed her once beautiful face. She let out a sinister laugh as she looked at her blood stained hands. As Stryke tried to scuffle away, she jumped into the air and landed in front of the battered reploid with a thud. She kicked him in the chest, sending him toppling over on his back. Extreme pain coursed through him as he saw her brandish her weapons, ready to end his relatively good life. This was it. He couldn't make a move. He squeezed his eyes shut as tears started to flow freely from them.
"Ungh!!" Locke hollered as she was hit with a lethal concussion field, sending her five yards away. Stryke looked up, not expecting to see Megaman X standing over him with a buster cannon that had electricity dancing around the muzzle. His savior looked down at him with a reassuring face, then, turned around to face Locke.
"It's going to be okay, Stryke. We will bring Locke back to us." X said to his comrade. Stryke gave him a weak smile, as his systems went into sleep mode.
Locke stood up, shaking off the effects of the minor concussion field. She looked up and saw X, standing with his cannon aimed at her chest. She then clenched her head and screamed in agony, as her eyes lost their glow for a moment. "Ahh! Uhh, X! St-st-stop me! P-please!" Before X could respond, he saw a red flash appear in the distance. Locke then snapped up stiff, as if she was a marionette. Another scream of agony escaped from her lungs, as she became suspended in the air. Her eyes were once again filled with bright amber.
"This is much more than an EX overload. She must be infected with a virus, but the Sigma virus doesn't have these kinds of effects." X pondered to himself as he charged his cannon. A deep amber aura surrounded Locke as she now flew at him with increasing speed. As X pointed his weapon at Locke, he heard something rattle inside. The same rattle that was heard in Douglass' other cannons was present in the cannon hoisted on X's right arm. Sure enough, it malfunctioned.
Waves of concussive energy pulsed throughout X's body from the mishap of a cannon. A bright flash, and X was down on one knee, gasping for air. Locke was three feet away from him, when a loud thud became audible. Locke froze in mid air while the aura dissipated. Her eyes rolled back as she plopped to the ground, where she lay motionless.
The damaged hilt of the familiar Z-Saber bounced on the ground near X. There stood Zero in the distance in a stance, indicating that he had just thrown said saber. He walked over to X and gave him a hand, helping him off the ground.
"Well, when all else fails..." Zero started.
"...use any means necessary." X finished as he limped over to Stryke, scooping him up.
"Man, I can't wait 'till the interrogation." Zero said to his friend, as he picked up the now dormant Locke. Though the snow had wiped most of the blood off of her, she reeked of the intense odor. "Damn! She could use a bath, before that though." He said pinching his nose with his free hand as they walked into the destroyed entrance to the building.
A figure on the cliff over the massive battlefield scoped the area where X and Zero were. Zooming in on Locke, he smirked.
"Well, well. Looks like our mission was a success." The mystery man said with a triumphant grin.
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North Corridor
Time:
-07:46-
X stared down his newly acquired foe. She was definitely a maverick. But one fact, which made him ponder, was why she was clad in hunter-like armor. Had she stolen it? No the armory was one way...
"DIE!" Echo cried as she lunged at X, attempting to run him through with her blades. X dispersed all thoughts, in order to react to the strike. He quickly scuffled backwards, the blades slicing the air in front of his face. Echo had expected this, and spun around quickly, forcing her right foot into X's chest. As he flew back, the wings automatically deployed as a counter measure to the sudden increase of speed. He slowed to a stop, inches before he hit the wall. Echo activated her dash thrusters and leant forward, determined to smash X through the wall. X drew his hand in his buster and began to charge up a plasma shot. Normally, two seconds didn't seem too long, but it did when you are fighting for your life. Fifty percent is what X managed to charge up to before he had to move, so he used the new "store" function to reserve the energy in the power slot of the arm cannon, and aerial flipped sideways to avoid the charging maverick. Once again, Echo anticipated X, and swung her left tonfa at X. The blade glanced off of his calf, and he was thankful that it did. A sliced calf was not very fun. When he landed, he began to charge the cannon again. Echo wasted no time, sending slash after slash at the azure hunter. X began to stumble as he backed up, trying to avoid losing the concentrated plasma he charged as a result of taking damage. Ninety percent charge. Echo then reared back, arms to either side. X was puzzled by this move as she stopped her melee. Then, with incredible speed, she took a step forward and swung her blades, aimed at his neck. There was a small after image of her when she was preparing to strike. X ducked, spun around on his heel and executed a sweeping maneuver which proved effective, as Echo fell backwards on her back. One-hundred percent. X quickly pointed the cannon at Echo's head from a kneeling position in an attempt to finish this duel. Echo shot a hand out on the cannon, forcing the plasma beam just left of her head. The intense beam tore through the ground, all the way to the foundation. One of her tonfas also vaporized in the process. She grimaced at the plasma particles that stung her face, but still managed to take hold of X's arm. She then pressed her foot into his abdomen and rolled back sending his into a flipping throw. Right into a support beam in the ceiling. X collided with the beam, as it bent to take shape of his form. Echo stood up, rubbing the back of her head.
"Ah! Damn, can't let him fire that cannon anymore." She said to herself as she watched him fall to the ground. Limping over to the unconscious hunter, she drew her blade and hovered over X. "Well, that certainly was a challenge, Megaman X, but it's time to end this!" She hoisted the tonfa above her head and thrusted down towards X's heart. She didn't expect his eyes to shoot open. X held up his arm cannon to let it absorb the blow. The tonfa dug into the thick metal of the buster, but before it could reach X's flesh, the wires and cooling gel layers brought it to a sudden arrest. X then proceed to slam a piece of support beam into her left upper arm with his free hand. Echo screamed out in intense pain as she let go of the tonfa. She writhed in pain as her arm hung in an unnatural manner. X stood up and yanked the tonfa out of his buster as sparks followed. Echo sat down on the ground holding her arm, which was now bruising up. It seems that X was the victor of this fight. He began to set up a S.E.F.(Security Emission Field), to confine the once deadly P.O.W. She attempted to draw a pistol while X had his guard down. He quickly whipped around, slicing the weapon in two with the Z-Saber. She winced as the offensive energy coming from the weapon dared her to make another move. She looked up at X, and eyes read pure disgust and hatred for her. His sharp green eyes piercing through her soul.
"That's enough!!" X yelled at the shocked maverick commander. "You are now a captive of the Maverick Hunters. You shall be detained under our custody until an indefinite date. You will be stripped of any weapons, and/or scanned for any foreign diseases or viruses." X recited the P.O.W. speech to Echo, who at the moment was thoroughly miffed.
Echo let out a low growl as X activated the S.E.F. barrier around her. He stood up and pressed a switch on the side of his helmet, dissipating the face guard. His bottom lip had a little blood on it. She smirked at this, seeing as how the great savior of mankind, many times over, and greatest reploid ever built, was not invincible. She moved to one of the barrier walls surrounding her, and decided to test its mettle. As she foolishly brought a finger to it, wave after cruel wave of pulse energy concentrated at the point where her shattered limb was. She cried out in pain again from the pulsing pressure in her more than fractured arm as she managed to let go. X looked at her with a "tsk tsk" kind of expression.
Beep. "This is Megaman X, do you read me, Alia?"
'X! Thank goodness, are you okay?!'
"I'm fine, Alia. I have a detainee. Send a recovery team over here, on the double."
'Okay. X, Stryke has sent us multiple distress signals. He says something's up with Locke. Maybe it's her EX drive? Anyway, are you sure...'
"I'm fine, Alia. I'll go check out the situation."
'....Alright. Sending recovery team. Over and out.'
"Megaman X, over and out." Beep.
"Recovery team? You're so kind, thank you." Echo spat at X, the words dripping with sarcasm.
"Don't be so gracious; if you try anything thing with these guys, they'll do more than just break your bones." X warned her as he was engulfed in a blue light, which then warped into the sky. This was embarrassing; here she is, second in charge of the 13th Maverick Sting Corps, stuck in MHHQ, immobilized by a broken arm. She would never be respected again. Moments later, three beams of gray light flashed into the area.
"Perfect....." She uttered, as the three hunters picked her up with no regard to her injury. "Hey! Watch the arm! Watch the AHHHHH!!!!"
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Northwest Office Area
Time:
-07:46-
'Zero, Stryke has reported that he is being hunted by Locke.'
"What?! I'll be there as soon as I deal with this."
'Zero, who are you confronting?'
"....Scar...."
'Damn! Zero, be careful! He's a powerful hunt...I mean....Maverick. If you can, bring him back. Over and out."
'I know that, Signas. Better than anyone. Over and out.' Beep.
Zero turned to face Scar. Scar was approximately 6'5", wore maverick black armor, which was styled after X and Zero's armor. He was equipped with hyper bladed shurikens. He also wielded an S-Katana. This, like Zero's saber, was a plasma blade type of weapon, but it was only plasma when the user activated the secondary function. Primary function-wise, it was a solid piece of sharpened digisteel.
"Zero, long time, no see. How have you been?" Scar spoke to the crimson hunter.
"...Traitor...." Usually, Zero always has something sharp of tongue to spit back, but he was filled with the raging flames of hatred. And Scar just poured gasoline onto him.
-Flashback-
Scar had joined the Hunters, three years ago. Why he betrayed them is still a mystery. Zero had Scar in his unit, and soon, Scar became a valued hunter, almost up in the ranks of Zero himself. Then, all of a sudden one day, Scar decided to kill most of the 0th Unit, except for Zero and a few who were on leave. Scar wanted to watch Zero suffer, as he watched Scar eviscerate his teammates. Zero was asleep in a charging capsule in the 0th's private quarters, when a disturbance on the outside woke him. He snapped his eyes open in reaction to the reploid slamming into the capsule. A trail of blood streaked down the front of the digi-glass, as Zero watched in horror. Scar drew his blade and took a fighting stance. The five hunters around him readied their weapons as well. Zero couldn't move, as his motor functions rebooted from the sudden activation. As Storm rushed at the traitor with his daggers, Scar raised his katana in front of him, blade upwards. Storm took a stab at Scar, but went right through him. Bewildered, the illusion of Scar faded, as he felt something cold pass right through him. Storm stood there, in the stance he was in just after he stabbed at Scar, as if he were paralyzed. The others in the room looked around in fear as multiple Scar afterimages appeared scattered across the room. Vincent felt a cold sting as he turned around to look for Scar. He froze. Sami ran and tried to take cover, but as she jumped, she let out a small yelp. Frozen in the air, the remaining hunters stared with a sinking feeling in their guts. Zeal ran at Zero and attempted to press a few buttons on the console. She turned around as gasped. Zero cringed as he saw a linear flash across her mid-section then another one from her head down in half, almost at the exact same time. Neo was now shaking badly, as Scar was still nowhere in physical sight. He closed his eyes, and reopened them only to find Scar at point-blank range. Before he could let out a gasp, was on the other side of him, facing the capsule Zero was in. Scar physically stood in front of Zero as the capsule opened and Zero tumbled out, landing on his hands and knees. Zero looked around as he took in the sight of his team; they were frozen in the positions they were in before Scar struck them with his deadly blade. Scar then struck a pose: standing strait up, turning his body to the wall, then turning his head slowly over his left shoulder to look at Zero. He then extended his blade, in a manner as if he was going to place the blade in the sheathe on his back. He slid the blade down into its case with a moderately slow pace. This is the part of the memory that haunts Zero to his soul: As the hilt of the blade touched the sheathe, Zero heard horrifying shouts of pain around the room. He watched with a sick heart as blood sprayed out from his teammates, just seconds before they suddenly split either in half, or in Zeal's case, into fourths. Zero vomited at the sight of seeing the insides of his comrades, blood pouring profusely from them. Zero looked up at Scar who was wearing a devilish grin. His eyes glowing red.
-End Flashback-
"I swear I'll never forgive you, you heartless bastard..." These were probably the coldest words that ever escaped Zero's mouth. They were so cold because Zero had said them, and Zero always kept his promises. Without a second thought, Zero dashed at Scar with incredulous speed. He drew his saber, and slashed at Scar, who blocked the attack with equal, if not greater, speed.
"Zero...Whatever happened to 'forgive and forget'"?
Zero let out a ferocious cry as he deactivated the saber, and gave Scar a furious fist across his face. Scar stumbled back a bit as Zero dashed at him, giving Scar a full force shoulder charge to the chest. Zero sat on top of the larger reploid and started giving him a barrage of fists in the face. Zero gritted his teeth as he continued to beat on the black armored reploid. Scar finally caught one of Zero's fists, and swung him back. Zero flipped and landed on his feet as Scar stood up and spit a little blood on the ground. Zero dashed at him with full throttle, saber drawn. Scar activated his plasma blade and deflected his adversary's strikes. He then drew his knee back and rammed it into Zero's side. The crimson reploid let out a cry as he turned in the air. Scar caught his right foot and proceeded to fling him in the direction of some hunters who made up an audience. As he slid to a stop, one of the hunters reached out to help him up. Instead, Zero shot up and eyed Scar with eyes that were glowing intense blue. He shot forward at immense velocity, connecting a fist with Scars chest. The black shadow fell back as the crimson demon drew his saber and viciously stabbed at his head. Scar leant to the side as the incoming blade seared past his face, and embedded into his right shoulder instead. He flinched a bit at the pain before head-butting Zero in the forehead. They both jumped back. Scar held a hand over the large dent in his chest armor, blood leaking out of the large gash in his shoulder. Zero stood there breathing heavily. Scar shot him a grin.
"Heh heh, well done, Zero. You're the first person in a long time who's laid a finger on me, much less cause me pain. It feels good!" Scar said with a wide grin on his face. Zero's eyes returned to normal, ending his EX drive.
"Scar, why did you betray your unit? Why didn't you kill me with them?!" Zero questioned the black ninja type maverick. Scar gave Zero another nasty grin.
"Zero, you should know that you never stay dead for long. And besides, it was much more fun to torment you instead!" Scar laughed manically as he activated his area warp.
Zero was over flowing with rage at these words. The Z-Saber hilt in his hand snapped as he tightened his fists. Scar waved him a hand, as if saying 'see you later, friend', and bolted out of the office in a beam of dark light. Zero stood there, staring at the spot where Scar was standing. -beep- Scar had caused him the most grief in his entire life, in less than a minute, most of his unit -beep- was killed by a man whom he trusted. No wonder Zero didn't really -beep- trust anyone in the world, unless their name had the letters M-E-G-A-M-A-N-X, and in that specific order. -beepbeepbeep-
Beep. 'Zero, are you alright?' Signas broke through.
"I'm okay, Signas. I wasn't able to defeat Scar, but he did run."
'That's okay, Zero. We have a detainee, so all is not lost. Pursue the...'
"I know, I know. I'm on my way over to Stryke. Zero, over and out." Beep.
Zero turned around and saw that the hunters in the area had formed up into three squads, standing at attention. "Dismissed." He ordered with an exasperated sigh. The platoon responded, and went on with cleaning up the mess in the office. Zero looked down at the broken saber hilt in his hand. With another long sigh, he warped off in a flash of scarlet light.
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Medical Hall
Time:
-08:39-
Darkness. Nothing but darkness. Her visual feed was out, but her other sensory programs were operational. She remembered being picked up by the recovery team. Then one of the members jarred her broken limb. Intense pain followed that. She proceeded to stomp on his foot to get him to loosen his grip. This resulted in her getting shocked with thermal tazers. Then, she blacked out. Some time later, unsure of how many hours passed, woke up on a cold table. She tried to sit up. No use. Something was binding her to the table. She heard a hiss of air, trailed by digisteel doors sliding open. Multiple footsteps filled the room as she felt the table she was laying on move. It spun around slowly, then suddenly tipped so that she felt like she was standing at a 78 degree angle. The footsteps came to a halt. She listened intensely for any indication as to where she was. She heard voices.
"Did she say what....."
"...she almost took his freakin' head off, man!"
"...saber hilt knocked her out cold..."
"...o way, she looks too pretty to be a maverick." A slapping sound followed that bit of dialogue. Sounds like a guy...
"Then Sigmas ordered me..." Sigma?! Maybe she heard that wrong.
"Anyway, I think she knows something about..."
"...broke my goddamn saber..." What a baby...
She tried to place the voices. She knew one of them belonged to Megaman X. Another belonged to the female X was talking to over the comm link. Another female voice, to the one who was attacking with X. The rest were a mystery. Echo gasped as she felt a tug on her face. Then strong light poured into her eyes. She had been blindfolded. As her eyes adjusted to the light in the room, she looked around, examining where the hell she was.
The walls where steel blue, bright lights overhead, shiny floors. X, Zero, Stryke, Alia, Locke, Leyna, Kicker and Signas, all crowded around her. Yep, she had become a detainee of the Maverick Hunters.
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Hmmm.... Quiet a chapter eh? Do you like? Please let me know. How are the characters turning out? All reviews are welcome. Yes, even flames, for I own a Flame Buster 22XX shield:P Until next update! Cya!