Disclaimer: Hey, Happy New Year! Thanx to all that reviewed my story so far, and hopefully, things will start to heat up. Well, let's get started, shall we?
Chapter 6: Arcadia pt. I
MHHQ Living Quarters
Time:
-07:45-
X woke up to a blaring alarm clock. Normally, this would be quite a task, but he hadn't been able to get much rest, due to yesterday's events. So much had happened in twenty-four hours; various parts of the headquarters were destroyed, sentry guards vanished without a trace, and Locke, a New Gen. reploid, blowing out her E.X. The whole thing had Sigma written all over it. But when he's around, so is the Maverick Virus, and it's been gone for a great deal of time. It seems like everyone has disregarded the fact that Sigma could have some part in this....except for X, that is. He couldn't shake the feeling that Sigma would return sometime soon, as he did in the past. Again, and again, and again. But still, somehow, all of this didn't add up. He felt something big was about to happen. He wasted no time as he got up and brushed his teeth. The lights in his room were set to detection, so as soon as a medium amount of motion was made, they buzzed on. He switched on the T.V. in the corner of the room to the news.
'And in regional news, another mass of destructive hurricanes and tsunamis have washed over the southwestern parts of Neo Tokyo, totaling a number of 1,405 deaths in DenTec District, 653 in Ugomishi Capital, 456 in ....'
"Damn, another storm system? This doesn't make sense; that's seven this week!" X garbled out as he turned the T.V. off and spat the toothpaste in the sink. He slipped into his uniform and headed for the door. He thought about Alia, as he was supposed to take her out today, but they decided to put it on hold until things around HQ ran a little bit smoother. He sighed as he shut off the light and moved towards the door. It slid open and X was surprised to see Signas standing there, as if he was waiting to escort him someplace. X snapped to attention before his commander and saluted.
"Good morning, sir." X said stiffly. Signas returned his salute with a sigh.
"X, I thought I told you to take the day off?" Signas said with slight annoyance in his voice.
"Well, yes sir, you did, but..." X was cut off when Signas held up a finger.
"No, no. X, we can handle anything that pops up. Plus, Zero said he could help spot for the 17th, other navigators are currently looking over the data from yesterday, Locke is doing fine, and that detainee you captured has agreed to our terms. Everything is covered. You are not needed around here twenty-four seven. You or Alia."
X leaned to the side and spotted Alia standing behind Signas dressed in civilian clothing with a look of defeat on her face. She gave him a smile and nodded as if telling him say 'Yes' or else. He thought his vision was awry when she seemed a little distorted.
"Signas, there's no way that we could just take a break fr..."
"I thought you would say something like that. X, if you don't comply, then I have no choice but to stick you with Zero all day today." X shrugged.
"I wouldn't mind."
"Okay, but I feel that I should let you know that he's been very annoying today."
"He's always annoying." Signas sighed. Something moved ever so slightly in the corner of X's eye.
"Okay, X, I was really hoping it didn't come to this." Signas made a gesture as the entire 17th and 0th suddenly materialized around him in a semi circle. Among them were Stryke, Leyna, Locke, and Kicker. X gasped as he stepped back towards his room, but bumped into something soft. He spun around and faced the one and only, annoying as hell, crimson demon himself. Yep, no way he was getting out of not taking this day off. He held up his hands in a mock surrender and turned to face Signas.
"Heh heh. 'Always annoying', huh?" Zero said under his breath.
"Sorry bout this, X, but it's for your own good!" Locke perked up. X shot her his best evil eye, but failed as a smile crept up on his face. He looked at Alia who only said...
"Told ya so!"
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Outpost Orion
Time:
-08:02-
Rayne knocked on the door gingerly. She waited for a few minutes for an answer. "............" No answer. She sighed as she knocked on the door again, for the 195th time. Results were yielded as Scar's door shot open. She nearly fell inside, not expecting the door to shoot open without an answer. She caught her balance and looked up at Scar, who looks like he was just activated.
"Hmm...? What's up -yawn- Rayne?"
"Oh, um. I just wanted to drop by and say "Hi" and..." She turned her head to hide a blush.
Scar raised an eyebrow. "And?"
Uh-oh; she lost her nerve. After hours upon hours of preparing, she goes and loses her nerve. She leant to the side to look past him, and found a loophole.
"And....are...you done breaking stuff?" She added in, hoping that he would not pry for the real question. Scar looked at her blankly then turned around. The room was a mess; books were thrown around, some ripped, others destroyed, dents and cracks riddled the wall where said books were thrown, three of the four lights were busted, and the inside of the front door was heavily dented. He turned back around and gave her a sheepish smile.
"Yeah, I'm done!" He said as he scratched the back of his head. She sighed as she quickly turned around and headed down the hall, going somewhere. Scar was lost on this fact; he knew not why she had been acting strange recently. He decided he would ask her later on.
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MHHQ- Southeastern Parking Lot
Time:
-09:56-
X and Alia walked towards a hover car, both with miffed expressions and stiff strides. Behind them, the entire 17th was diligently following them. Although you couldn't see them, the 0th was in the front of them, leaving odd footprints in the snow. Zero decided that they needed to play with, um, test Douglass' new gadget for a little while longer. A familiar shout was heard, followed by a plop. X looked down to see a Zero shaped body print in the snow. He sighed and kicked at the print, hitting Zero in the stomach in the process. Zero wailed out in mock pain as Alia stepped over the howling lump that wasn't there. They climbed in and X hurried to start the engine. He slid the ignition card down the slot in the center of the dashboard, and the hover car hummed to life. X wasted no time, as he sped out of the parking lot and onto the street leading away from MHHQ. He sighed as they rode into the city of Arcadia. Just then, Zero popped into sight, sprawled out on the windshield.
"X!! TURN LEFT!!" Zero shouted as X responded almost immediately. Zero flipped over and grabbed the windshield wipers, hoping that he wouldn't fly off in the process. Turning left caused them to nearly miss a light pole. He looked inside and saw a broken down looking Alia, sunk into the back of her seat. She was giving Zero a stare that said, 'I'm gonna hurt you in your sleep.' Zero grinned before shrieking out for X to stop. X ignored him as Zero made his way over towards him. "X! RIGHT!" X turned not a second too soon. In the rear view mirror, he saw what looked like a three-car pile up. He heard Zero stick something on the side of his door.
"Here, take this along just in case!" X rolled down his window and grabbed his communicator. How Zero got his hands on it was oblivious to him, but he took it nonetheless. With that, Zero gave them a thumb's up. He continued to stand up on the hood, and jump off the hover car back towards the HQ. X smiled as he rolled the window up. At least somebody was thinking about the current events. He faced Alia, who was taking in large amounts of air.
"X...Zero...car...almost...Zero...CRASHED..."
X laughed out loud, as he couldn't hold it in any longer. She punched him in the arm playfully, which caused the car to swerve briefly into the opposite lane.
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Downtown Arcadia
Time:
-11:48-
X and Alia walked down the snow covered sidewalks of Downtown Arcadia. Arcadia is a part of Neo Tokyo City that most believe is the most technologically advanced area on Neo Earth. The streets were lined with stores, upon stores, upon stores. X had promised to take her shopping one day when they had corresponding off-time, so today was the day. Now he knew why human males complained so much while they were out with their girlfriends or wives. He was stuck with seven heavy ass bags full of clothes, while Alia spotted ahead for another store to raid. Instead of another store, she picked out a restaurant, as it was almost time for lunch. X sighed as they made a trek to the hover car to store the bags of death. He slumped against the back of the car as the trunk slid down. Well, at least he felt lighter. X turned around when he felt an unusual cold wind. Shrugging it off, he turned back around.
"X! Look at that!" Alia said excitedly. X looked in her direction and saw what looked like a giant column. "Oh yeah. Isn't it called part of the 'Jakob Project', or something?" Alia asked the astonished X.
"Yeah. It's near Galapagos, right?" X asked as he studied the gigantic rail elevator.
"Uh-huh. It's expected to be complete by next year. Wanna go check it out?"
"Sure, but let's eat first. Didn't get a chance to since we ran into the Invisible Brigade."
"Yeah, sounds good."
So with that, X and Alia started walking towards the restaurant they were going to previously. White snow covered the sidewalks, streets and awnings. Flurries were falling from a melancholy sky. Like frozen tears that melted when they touched the two warm beings. As they walked along in silence, the cold air around them didn't seem to exist. X noticed that his right arm was around Alia's slender back. She twitched a little bit. Fearing that he was making her uncomfortable, he withdrew his arm slowly but Alia stopped him.
"It's ok, X. I'm pretty warm." She said as she gave him a smile that warmed his soul.
"Oh, o-ok." X said as he blushed a bit. Alia giggled at him, for he looked like a lobster. He got an idea to share his embarrassment. He pulled her close to him and got instant results. He looked down at her and saw that her face had become about as red as her snow cap. This invoked laughter from both of the crustaceous reploids. This laughter was abruptly interrupted when the street around the corner they turned held a horrific sight.
There, in the middle of the street across from the construction site, lay six life forms. X and Alia ran over to the bodies and examined them. X checked for the pulse of the first body: an adolescent human female, dead. Next, a middle aged male reploid, dead. Last, a young male reploid, dead. X closed his eyes and swore under his breath.
"X! O-over he-here!" Alia stammered out as she showed X a sickening sight. He ran over to her and checked the body she was next to. A dead human, who looked like he was in his twenties, had numerous gashes and punctures riddled over his body. His upper torso had a gaping hole in it, and his arteries had been completely cauterized. But, the entire hole was iced over. This sent chills down X's spine. Whoever, whatever did this was using high energy plasma weaponry. This had to be a maverick attack. What should he do?
"(Damn! Think X! Think!!)" X scanned the surroundings for any unusual activity. Left, clear. Right, clear. Behind them, clear. Front, clear. Above them, three energy shots were fast approaching, heading straight for Alia. "(Oh SHIT!)" X impetuously dove towards Alia, who was unaware of the impending death. He rolled them away from the bolts, hoping to either dodge them completely, or let the lasers hit him instead of her. X winced in pain as his right shoulder took two of the shots. He quickly stood up and scanned the sky for the attacker. Nothing. "Damn! Alia, you have to get into the restaurant, you'll be safer there." Alia stood there, shocked and terrified. "ALIA!" She flinched, signaling that she was down to Neo Earth again.
"R-right. X, what about you?! What're you gonna do?" She said with panic in her voice, as she feared that he would put himself in danger again. X pulled out his communicator and pressed a button to send his armor to his location.
"I'm gonna try to get rid of that maverick. I'll be fine." X reassured her as the enemy plopped down on the street, a few hundred feet away from them. Alia got up and scuffled towards the restaurant doors. X stood up and readied himself for the armor program to initiate. He had to remain relatively still, or the beam would miss him, and he would have to wait for a full minute for the program to send another beam. He saw a flash come from the figure, and realized that the maverick had let fly a bullet.
Time seemed to freeze for both X and Alia as the searing beam penetrated her left calf. She let out a high-pitched scream, as blood and small amounts of synth flesh followed the beam's trail. X dashed over towards Alia, just as the armor beam was about to connect. Another beam struck her in her left shoulder as she was falling towards the ground. Her blood soaked through her pant leg and overcoat, reinforcing X's fear that she was shot. Another shot was fired, but missed high. X caught Alia just before she hit the ground. He frantically looked around for something to shield her from the lasers. He spotted a round, hemispherical bulge protruding on the sidewalk to the right of them. He brushed off the snow and revealed a familiar, yellow hardhat.
"A Metool? Perfect!" A little black shape with large circular eyes popped out and looked at X. It whirred and warbled with much curiosity. X found a shielding control switch on the inside of the helmet and cranked it all the way to the right. A shot was heard from the maverick. Though it missed greatly to the left, the shielding wave from the metool deflected the shot. "Excellent. Alia hang in there! I'll call for a pickup team." X ran out towards the middle of the street were he signaled the beam and brought the communicator up to his ear. In less than a second, the communicator exploded, and the shot flew dangerously close to X's head. Now he had to be hit by the beam, or it was all over. To his fear, the maverick was charging up a beam of high energy. X closed his eyes, hoping that the beam would come soon.
"Get down, X!!!" A familiar voice called out from behind him. He ducked as several shots from rang out from where the voice was. They traveled with immense speed and nailed their intended target. X was now surrounded in a bright aura, indicating that he connected with the armor beam. When the flash dissipated, X stood up and turned around to face the person who bought him the vital time he needed. The reploid was clad in deep blue armor, and had a ragged cloak, complete with a scarf covering his face. He wielded two energy pistols, and had spiky orange hair tied in a ponytail.
"Good to see you again, X!" The reploid said to the taller Maverick Hunter.
"Likewise. Good to see you again too, Axl." X said to the shorter reploid.
Axl undid a button that held the cloak together at the neck, and whisked it away, scarf and all. This revealed an X shaped scar across his face. Yep, it was Axl alright. And he couldn't have come at a better time. He redrew his pistols and assumed a fighting pose.
"Well, shall we get started?" Axl said with a confident smirk, as X readied his buster with an equal grin.
"Yeah, let's get that bastard!"
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To those that reviewed my fic so far:
Happy New Years! Oh, a little late on that, sorry! Anyway, I had a major writer's block until I read my new reviews! Thank you guys so much! Oh yeah, and Erckie, funny you should ask about Axl, cause I had written down something in my notes about "Axl MUST come back SOON". So yeah, I figured X desperately needed help, so who better to aid him in his time of need? (Other than Zero, since he's overused) Plus, Axl's one of my favorites. Hopefully, this entire fic will somehow tie in to the Megaman Zero story line (skipping Command Mission). Maybe even Legends too? It's far from over. Anyway, I now have renewed motivation! Thank you again, reviewers! Hope you continue to review!
And for those of you who didn't review yet:
Please? Review for me? :P
Well, I'm off. I will update soon (hopefully by late Friday, early Saturday.)
Until Next Time!!!