Disclaimer: Don't own MMX. Never will.
Chapter 12: Advent Peril...Plot Revealed
Ikijuka Desert
Time:
-20:39-
Scar and Rayne jumped the hoverbike over a frozen dune. They had done it; they had finally escaped from the hell in their lives. Scar scanned the wide area before them. Clear. He eased on the brakes and pulled the bike to a stop.
"Ok. That should do it." Scar said to Rayne. They disembarked the hovercraft and set up a signal repeater. Scar pulled out what seemed to be a capsule of sorts. Throwing it on the ground, the capsule blew out puffs of white gas. When the smoke cleared, an off white colored tent stood where the capsule was thrown.
"Scar?" Rayne peeped out sheepishly. Scar raised an eyebrow at his seemingly shy companion.
"Huh? What's up?" Scar returned nonchalantly. Rayne hesitated for a bit.
"What's going to happen now? I mean, we didn't exactly kill Orion, and Echo should be at the base now. Do you think she'll be okay?"
"Mmhmm. If she does what she is supposed to, she should be here in a couple of hours." Scar said. Rayne nodded and started to walk elsewhere. "Rayne, wait a sec..." Scar called out suspiciously. The girl stopped dead in her tracks.
"W-what's wrong?" She asked, sweat beading on forehead. Scar walked over towards her.
"I thought you were the one who told me what the plan was." Rayne turned slowly towards the tall male, all while hiding her face.
"Oh, yea. Right. Heh heh..." Rayne said while berating herself silently. She began to blush a deep red. Scar noted this and decided to ask.
"Um. Is there a reason why you're..." He was cut off as he felt a pair of hands pull his head down some, followed by warm lips pressing forcibly against his own. He looked down at Rayne, who was closer to him then he had noticed and put two and two together. He was shocked, but found that he had put his arms around the small of her back. Once the kiss eased up some, Scar pressed forward, prolonging the kiss.
This went on for a minute before they broke off in order to get air into their synthetic lungs.
"...blushing?" Scar ended his statement, still startled. Rayne nodded with a bit more confidence then she had before. She looked up at him and gave him a warm smile. He returned her smile with one of his own and pulled her into an embrace.
"Scar? Do you think we'll have to go back? You know, to go get her in case things don't work out...?"
"I hope we don't. I hope we don't..."
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Outpost Orion - Armory Elevator
Time:
-20:41-
A soft hum filled the middle sized elevator. Zero was leant up against a wall, observing the scene in front of him. X was over in the other corner talking to someone over his comm. Probably Alia. Echo was keeping Axl company, Stryke and Locke were alone in a corner, and Leyna was leaning against the same wall as Zero. He closed his eyes and began thinking.
"(Man. As soon as we reach this cannon, and blow it the hell up, I think I'll hit the bar.)"
"There won't be time for that, Carrier."
"(! You again! Who are you!)"
"The time is nigh, Carrier. Soon, all will be as it should."
"(What are you talking about...Why do you refer to me as 'Carrier')"
"Carrier, you will lead us. It is your sole purpose."
"Zero? Are you okay?" A soft voice broke through his mental struggle. He snapped his eyes open to find Leyna looking at him curiously. Zero shook his head, as if clearing his mind.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He responded.
"You sure? Your face didn't say so." Leyna said, placing a hand on her hip. Zero looked confused.
"Could you elaborate, please?"
"Well first you had a normal expression, then a miffed one, after that a disgruntled face." She explained while showing him the faces he made.
"Ah, just one of the many qualities that makes me, well, me!" He exclaimed with a large grin. She smiled back at the bold blonde hunter.
"So, Zero, what do you plan to do after this thing is over?" She said while inching closer to him. He placed a hand to his chin and began to mock ponder, already knowing the answer to the question.
"Hmm. I think I'll spend some time at the bar." He said with a hollow grace.
"Oh. So I guess you won't be attending the party?" She asked disappointedly.
"Nah. I don't hang around much during this time of the year..." Zero said, his voice trailing off.
It turned out that tomorrow is the grim anniversary that Zero would never let himself forget. The day that would torment him possibly for the rest of his life. The day he would and did cry out all of his tears. The day he lost a huge part of himself. If only he had listened. If they had seen eye to eye, then maybe this day wouldn't exist. And he would still be here. And her. Maybe he wouldn't have to disappear for days. Maybe he would be happier. He would be able to embrace her, to be with her. To be able to fight with her and to be able to forgive each other. Today is the day that Zero was forced to kill Colonel, and his love, Iris.
"Zero. Did something happen?" Leyna asked, almost striking the head on the nail. He almost let out a gasp. He had never told anyone about his great pain. That beneath the cocky, bold exterior lies a cold, tormented soul. X was the only other person who knew why he was depressed beyond belief around this time. He about to whisper something to her, but was distracted as the rising lights from the lift slowed down.
"I'll tell you later." He said, forcing a smirk. As he walked over towards the elevator doors, Leyna thought she saw a tear flick away from his eye.
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Final Objective: Destroy Outpost Nuclear Cannon
Status: In action
Time: 20:46
"Okay, we have one minute till we reach the bottom. We can expect more of those evolved soldiers as well as some heavy blast doors. The outpost Supreme Commander, Orion, should be in the same room as the cannon as well. After we dispose of the cannon, we will short range transit jump to the waypoint set up by the 4th." Echo gave her speech, making sure that each hunter knew what was to be expected. They all nodded in response and broke off into battle formation: Echo and Axl in front; X, Zero and Leyna in the middle; and Stryke and Locke in the rear. They all readied their busters and rifles, coupled with a dagger or saber of sorts, waiting for the lift doors to open.
The elevator lights turned green, signaling that the doors will open. The doors slid open slowly, letting in the orange hued light of the hallway before them. The hunters stood ready, bracing themselves for the weaponized super soldiers.
As the doors opened fully, they stepped out into the hall. An odd, thick odor filled the hall. Echo knew the smell very. After all, she was the lead chemist of the Weapon Alpha team. They reached the first corner. Rounding it, they were met with the presence of bloodstained walls and more dead reploids. But these reploids had been subjugated by Weapon Alpha. Somebody, or something, had been here before.
"Well, that takes care of the super soldiers..." Axl muttered. They continued walking until they came to a blast door. Echo scanned over the nearby console. She tried a few sets of key-codes she knew.
"Damn, they changed the codes." She said, pounding the panel with her fist. Leyna stepped forward towards the keypad.
"Here, let me give it a shot..." She closed her eyes and placed a hand over the panel. Soon, her fingers began to move at a blinding speed over the keys, inputting hundreds of codes a second. "Echo, how many doors are there besides this?" She said while opening her eyes, which darted around as if scanning data.
"There should be two more, but once the code for one door is entered, the rest should open up as well. There's the main blast door for the armory, which is un-coded. We'll use that to shield ourselves from the explosion." Locke looked around the hall. Was it? It was! It was faint, but she could hear sounds. It sounded like voices and violins. "Hey...do you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" Stryke asked lowering his repeating rifle. He began hear a faint violin. "Yeah, I can hear something too. It sounds kinda...creepy..."
"Where's it coming from--AHH!" Locke cried out as something sharp pierced through her right shoulder. Everyone but Leyna turned around to see Locke getting pulled away from the group.
"Locke! Stryke cried out as he ran over to the flailing girl. She screamed out as the now visible chain tightened even more, causing the hook to dig deeper into her shoulder. The force from the hook thrusting into her shoulder shattered the spherical plating. Axl pulled out his Circle Blaze and fired repeatedly down the hall. Zero let out a string of shots from his Z-Buster along with X.
"Stryke, watch out!" Axl called out as he saw another foe. Stryke diverted his attention down the hall to see two large mechanoids. Both had hooked chains, one of them already deployed. Stryke jumped on the hallway wall and watched as the chain flew under him. He proceeded to bound off of it and grab the chain as it went limp. He pulled it with a great force and caused it to snap from its anchor. Locke had managed to painstakingly free herself by severing the chain with her free RSB. Though the hook was still embedded in her shoulder, she managed to start running back towards the group.
Only to have another hooked chain snag her right thigh. And another wrap around her left bicep. Now she was being pulled back even quicker. "Ah, shit!" She howled out as she slowly slid back. Stryke cursed as he ran back to help his friend.
"It's done! We need to hurry!" Leyna shouted out as she completed the hacking. "As soon as the doors open, there will be a ten second window before they shut and the codes reset!" The three hunters stopped firing and got ready to dash.
"Wait! What about Locke!" Stryke called out, finding himself in a panic.
"There's no time! The doors are open!" Echo shouted out.
"You guys go ahead! Forget about me! S-stop the cannon! Ahh!" Locke choked out as a cord reached out and wrapped around her midsection.
The group dashed off through the doors towards the heart of the massive armory. Stryke chose not to go, helping his friend instead. She seemed to be losing life energy as she struggled. She saw Stryke draw out a plasma blade and hack through the chains. He then held on to her gingerly as he tried to get them closer to the door.
"Hah...hah...Stryke...what are you doing? You should go...with the rest of them..." Locke said through rushed breaths. "No, dammit. I'm not going to leave you. I swore it. I...I won't let another person I love die in front of me..." Stryke said, his voice firm, but a bit shaky. Locke looked over at him as he guided her to the door.
"Stryke...please, there's still time...get out of here! I don't want you to die..." She begged, coughing up a small amount of red fluid. The door in front of them slammed shut, with the codes resetting.
"I won't...you won't..." Stryke said as he drew out his plasma rifle. "We will live to see tomorrow!"
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Axl rolled through the doors in the nick of time. He quickly clambered to his feet and observed his surroundings. The large room had a green hue to it. There, in the center of it, was their main objective: the Alpha Cannon. And some strange kind of music that had been growing louder while then ran through the hallway was playing faster: an organ, violin and voices. Echo motioned X to step forward with her.
"Stryke...Locke..." X muttered under his breath. "X, once the cannon is destroyed, those two will be fine." Echo said somewhat reassuringly. "How so?"
"If you turn off an electrical transformer, all electric items stop functioning, right?" She said, giving half of the analogy. X caught on to it and rushed over towards the cannon.
"So, when this thing goes, so do the mechanoids!" X said out loud as he reached the cannon.
"X, you think you hurry a little bit!" Axl called out. X turned to see and hear a small battle with Zero, Leyna and Axl against some reploids with Alpha in their systems. Echo found the control access panel and opened it. X pulled out the plasma capsules he made earlier. He checked back to see the fighting hunters backed up against the wall. Strange...
"(I would have expected more resistance. They should be defending the cannon. It's almost like they want us to destroy it.)"
"X, the core is open!" Echo called out. X turned his attention to the cannon's exposed core, which burned a bright green. He placed the capsules in the core and set the last one to a timed release. After that he slammed the casing shut and jumped down from the barrel of the large weapon. Echo and X took off towards the entrance. The other three had managed to push the uncoordinated enemies into a far corner.
"Let's go, guys!" Echo called out as she stepped through the blast doors. Zero, Leyna and Axl took off at full throttle towards the doors. As they were hurtling across the hall, Echo hit the close key for the door. The cannon began to shine brightly as Zero dove through the door. Axl rushed through, followed by Leyna. Right before the blast doors closed, bright flashes escaped into the hallway, along with a ton of shrapnel. There were two explosions, a loud screeching explosion that melded into an even larger one.
"Good job, Hunters! Now, prepare to transit jump in five." Alia's voice came over their comm links through the static.
"Alia, we have to find Stryke and Locke!"
"Four..."
"Can you hear me!" X cried out.
"Three...two..."
"Alia! Stop the transit!" It was no use, as the explosion interference caused the comm link waves to work one way.
"...one. Transfer!"
"NO!" X cried out as the group was engulfed in a dull light.
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X opened his eyes, letting the cool air sting them briefly. He was outside the complex, which was actively burning. He looked around frantically for everyone. Zero. Leyna. Axl. Echo. Oh no...
"Where are they...Stryke and Locke...?" X asked as he stood upright. He looked at his teammates. Their response was grim, as they lowered their eyes. X felt a wrenching in his gut. No. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were all supposed to make it back alive. But wait...
X tapped furiously at his comm link. Now he waited for a connection.
-Beep-
"X? Thank goodness! Is everyone alright?"
"Alia, can you scan this area for our DNA signatures?"
"Yes. One moment..." X waited for her to complete the search.
"X, I'm picking up five DNA sigs. Shouldn't there be seven? Who's missing?"
"Try checking the Outpost."
"...okay...no, nothing there. X, what happened?"
"Can you do a wide area search?" X sounded like he was losing hope.
"One second..."
"Come on. Please turn up..." X whispered to himself as he crossed his hands.
"X...I'm picking up three sigs: two are Stryke and Locke, one is unknown. They are about three hundred yards west of your current position." X twirled around in said direction and started running. Alarmed, the rest of the group followed.
X squinted his eyes to sharpen up the image before him. There were indeed three figures. The one in the center was female, and appeared to be carrying the other two in her arms. She walked with a balanced, steady pace despite her having an extra four-hundred pounds in her arms. X waited as she drew closer to him. He could see her clearer now: she had sea blue armored boots, gauntlets and chest plate, with the breastplate portion pearl white; her hair was a faded tinge of blue.
The group behind X finally caught up and saw the girl carrying their missing teammates. As she came within eight feet of the group, they readied their weapons, ready for anything. The mystery woman set the two down on their backs on the ground, disregarding the edgy reploids. All was silent as she went about her business.
"Who are you?" X said while lowering his buster. He didn't drop it all the way, just enough to observe her actions. She finished setting the two down and stood up facing towards the ruined outpost.
"I'll ask again, who are you?" X said, this time his voice more firm. The girl turned her head towards the group.
"Your allies will survive. They have multiple abrasions and puncture wounds, but I have stopped the bleeding. Stryke's power cell is running at 73, Locke's at 64. Both require immediate energy sustenance." The mystery girl reported in a firm, almost drone-like tone. The group lowered their weapons. Axl immediately pulled out two spare energy capsules from his supply.
"Give me a hand, Leyna." He said, tossing her a capsule and walking over towards Stryke. She caught on and followed. The mystery reploid walked over towards X. His posture stiffened up as she came closer. When she was kissing distance from him, she leant toward his ear and whispered: "Megaman X. Do not be alarmed." X's eyes went wide as the world around him began to slow rapidly to a crawl. The color started to drain, leaving everything a shade of black and white. Now, nothing moved, except for X and the mystery woman. To his left, he saw a ghostly image of himself and the girl, also frozen in black and white.
"Wha the hell!" X spat out, obviously surprised. He turned back towards the mystery girl. "What's going on? Just who are you?" She smiled as she took a big breath, for some unknown reason.
"You don't remember me? The Silph incident?" She started as if trying to jog his memory. He pondered for a bit longer. She held out her right hand and a red and black blade materialized in it. As she swung it around, it morphed into a sub-auto rifle. Now he knew!
"You...you're...Raydia...?" X stammered out. He was answered with a nod from her.
"Indeed. It has been a very long time."
"But, it doesn't make any sense. You died in the battle for Arcadia years ago."
"I did. But I cannot die until my mission is complete." She put the large rifle she had somewhere. X looked puzzled. "What do you mean by mission?" Raydia looked at him with a serious look.
"All beings have some kind of goal they must complete. Whether it is significant or trivial, that goal must be completed before they pass on. You, too, have a mission you must complete before you perish."
"A goal?" This was a lot a information he was receiving at one time. "What happens when a person dies before they complete their goal?"
"Though rare, if that should happen, that being will resuscitate and regress, depending on the severity of their cause of death and their mission. For example, when Zero died during the First Maverick War, he was rebuilt months later. When he died the during the Fifth Maverick War, he mysteriously appeared at a later time. This is an extremely rare case..."
"Meaning that his mission hasn't been completed yet..." X finished. "Raydia, is there some way to know what your mission is?"
"This again, is a rare case. There is usually no absolute way of knowing, but I know my goal." Raydia added. X looked at her with bewilderment. She drew in another quick breath and stated: "My mission, is to stop Paradise Eden from opening." Now it was X's turn to draw in a deep breath.
"Paradise Eden!" X felt a wrenching in his stomach.
"And X..." Raydia started slowly. A wave of ice ran through X's spine. "Zero is the Portal..."
X felt sick to his stomach. In the back of his mind, he knew that Zero would be used by someone again. But he never would have guessed that Zero would be used for Paradise Ede...wait.
"Raydia, exactly what is Paradise Eden?" X asked as the thought crossed his mind. Raydia's eyes dropped.
"Paradise Eden...is a world, no, a utopia for reploids, where the human race has been eradicated. A place where reploids can live of their own free will, without oppression." She said grimly. X suddenly felt a burst of rage and commitment.
"Raydia, does Zero know what's about to happen?"
"No, he does not. Currently, you and I are the only ones who know of this..."
"Right. And...it's better that no one else knows? At least early, correct?"
"Yes. The more people that know, the harder it will be to oppress Paradise Eden." Raydia said. She got ready to disperse the time field and gave X instructions. He nodded and ran over towards his frozen self. Trying his best to keep his exact pose pre-time field, Raydia dispersed the field with a snap. Everything broke apart and shattered like a glass pane, revealing moving life. X walked over towards the group as Raydia stood there and turned around.
"Okay, missy. Who the hell are you!" A disgruntled Zero spat out. X cringed a bit as Zero spoke. X looked at the girl in question and gave her a hidden nod.
"My name is Raydia Deltion." She said as the group gasped. They knew who she was, but not why she was really here. Zero had turned away from the group, unnoticed. Echo was hugging the life out of the poor newcomer, and the rest were shouting questions like none other at her. Stryke and Locke were alive and well, so they also were curious about their savior. And here he was, alone. Who was he kidding; he would always be alone. No one could ever fill her spot. He would be eternally lonesome. He closed his eyes.
"(...damn it all...)"
"Carrier...the time has come to open the gates of Eden. The time has come to spread the Vaccine, for you are the Carrier and Portal for our perfect utopia. You won't be alone any longer."
"(Paradise? Eden? Who are you? What the hell do you want from me?)"
"You are the one who will lead us in opening the gates...you will become one of us...a Grand Arbiter. You will become the Grand Arbiter."
"(...go away. Leave me alone...I want nothing to do with your paradise...)"
"You have no choice, Carrier." Zero snapped his eyes open to see a being dressed in a pure black robe looming over him. He could tell it was a male from his voice and burly size. "Orion!" Zero jumped back away from him. Right into another presence. He whirled around to see a smaller figure garbed in a similar green robe. His head resembled a canine.
"You must lead us, Carrier. Listen to Seeker Orion's words." Zero remembered his face. He was the 3rd Supreme Outpost Commander: Canis Major. Zero had a hunch of being surrounded and looked to his left. Sure enough, there was Cygnus: the 4th Supreme Commander, who was feminine. She was clothed in a red robe, and had wings of virgin silver. To his right, was Taurus, the 1st Commander, donned in yellow robes.
"Who are you! What do you want with me!" Zero shouted out, causing the group to pay attention to him. Cygnus stepped forward.
"We are Eden's Luminary Four." Taurus took a heavy step forward.
"And the time has come for you to open the gates to Paradise Eden."
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Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, without further ado, the pre-climax of the story thus far. I finally busted through this writer's block while drawing out pictures. Well, scribbles actually. But don't get me wrong: I'm a damned good artist. On a side note, Birth of a Demon will be edited to make it fit in to this story. Because if you read this far, then you have read a bit of a spoiler. Anyway, I ahemneed some reviewsahem. So, uh, feel free to let me know how you feel about the plot. Until next time!