Birth of the Demon

By: SylentStryke

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Capcom owns. It sucks. But that's life. Bob Dole.

A/N: Welcome to the prequel of Paradise Never. This story takes place a few years before Paradise Never, which is set in between Megaman X7 and Megaman X8. If you've read this before, then you haven't. Meaning that I rewrote basically ALL of the story so far (Chaps 1-5). So, read on! Or read off, read up, read down. Just read!

Chapter One: Awakening

MHHQ
Time:
-17:35-

"The streets of Arcadia. Once the most technologically advanced city in the world, nothing more than a ruined memory as of now. All thanks to Silph." Megaman X looked on at the halfway ruined city of Arcadia from just outside the MHHQ perimeter. He clenched his fist as he thought about what had happened a few months ago. Red Alert, Sigma, and now another nuisance, the Silph Syndicate. It's because of them why the city was so dark. But he was still stuck on the fact why an organization would be able to even manifest. Here he was, powerless to stop them. If they didn't have anything to do with Mavericks, hell, some of them were human, then the Maverick Hunters need not worry about them. Government's order.

"Even though we aren't part of the government, they prevent us from doing anything. Says it's their business." He said to himself as he clenched his fist. He flinched when a gloved hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"It's a mess, hunh?" A familiar voice spoke to him. "Damn government won't let us do anything about it either, while they just sit on their asses and watch." Zero said while staring at the city. X removed his friend's hand from his shoulder and walked towards the doors of the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. "Zero, let's go. We gotta patrol the area for remaining Mavericks." Looking at the city one last time, Zero turned around and walked back into the bustling building, letting his long golden hair snap at the air around him.

The main lobby of the MHHQ was bustling with commotion. The recent defeat left them busy with paperwork, people wanting to sign up with the Hunters, and a huge mess to clean up. Namely, the rest of the remaining Mavericks. X had recently rejoined the Hunters after resigning for a while. During the Nightmare incident with Gate, the Hunters received a crushing blow to their ranks, leaving them quite vulnerable. They barely made it through the Seventh Maverick Revolt intact, and now were hard pressed to rebuild their ranks. X and Zero walked down the main lobby past the long lines of reploids wanting to join, busy hunters carrying files and data disks, and people just in the way.

"Boy, this sucks! How long do you think it'll take for the base to get up and running again?" Zero asked as his blue friend as he crossed his hands behind his head. "I don't wanna even think about it right now. I shouldn't have ever resigned in the first place..." X said to himself. Zero caught him before he could start moping.

"Ah ah ah! We'll be having none of that! It's not your fault, X!" Zero said as he waved his finger back and forth. "Don't start moping over something you had no control over. Alia wouldn't like that." Zero threw that last part in with a grin. He got instant results when X elbowed him in the gut.

"Come on, Zero! I told you before that we're friends! Just friends!" X said as his face was blushing furiously. Zero chuckled as he was doubling over. "X, I never implied that you two were anything more than that. But you seem like you're hiding something..." X realized that Zero was right. He turned forward and started walking briskly, with Zero hot on his heels.

Silph Development Lab Central
Time:
-17:56-

The Development Lab Central at Silph is a cold, clammy place. This was the main Development Lab, which branched off into Weapon Dev., Armor Dev., Siege Dev., and Special Dev. Without this place, they would not have anything to gain power with. The Central Lab itself held a multitude of personnel, all of which never sat in one place for more than a few minutes. A man in a white coat with a computer chip in his hand walked into the large laboratory. He had a mask on, so his face was obscured from outsiders. He walked over to the door on the far side of the lab labeled Special Dev. He pulled a thin card out of his pocket and slid it into the slot that took place of a door handle. Special Dev. required level 8 clearance, which was only held by the lead scientist and his assistants, the three high commanders and the syndicate boss. The light turned green and he stepped through the doorway. As soon as he was on the other side, the door closed behind him and spat out his card, locking in the process. He walked down a long hallway and showed the door guard his card. Stepping aside, the guard let the lead scientist into the SDL.

The SDL is the smallest of the four divisions, but produces the most unique equipment; from suspended plasma containers for plasma based weapons, to the short ranged plasma shield emitter found on most of the personnel of Silph. He sat down in a chair next to a computer with various wires and cords running from the back of it. It hummed to life as he messed around with the keyboard.

He pulled up a program that he had to enter three passcodes for before he could view a file labeled 'PROJECT VARIABLE'. The file showed diagnostics of air pressure and programs. After pressing a button on the table, a panel on the floor in the nearby corner of the room slid back, and a large blue capsule rose out of the floor with the 'V.2' labeled at the top. He spun around and gazed at the large, blue cylindrical object next to him. He inserted the chip in his hand into the PC, typed a few keys on the keyboard, and stood up in time to see the capsule whirr to life. He called out to Icon and Essbi, his two assistants.

Panels displaying gauges and internal temperatures glowed and moved around at random intervals. The dark globular piece of the capsule remained dark. The scientist pressed a key on the capsule's panel, and the dark globe became translucent, revealing the face of a not-yet-activated reploid in suspended animation.

She had light blue hair that floated around aimlessly in the liquid. To a passerby, she would look like a dead girl that some sick minded person was preserving. This was not the case, as she had never been activated. "Dr. Torious, have you figured out the problem with her systems yet?"

The man was about to say something when his communicator beeped furiously.

"Yes. What do you want?"

"(Indistinct words)"

"It's ready! Well bring it up!"

"(Indistinct words)"

"Alright, alright! I'll be right there." He turned off his communicator and faced his assistants. "They have just finished analyzing the Legendary Data as well as the Control Program. I'll be back in a few minutes. Watch over her until then." With that the man sprinted to the sliding doors and flew out of them, not even bothering to lock them up again.

The white-coated man ran halfway down the hall and turned right. He hopped on the elevator and descended into the basement of SDL. The guard walked slowly around the hallway. He stopped when he saw a distortion in front of him. "What the-" He started but soon found himself being picked up and flipped over on his back. He jumped up and held his pistol at the ready, looking for anything suspicious. There was no one there but him. "Man, I need a break." He continued his patrol. While he was checking for imaginary intruders, he failed to see and hear the unlocked door slide open and close.

All was quiet in the lab except for the soft hum of the capsule and the whispers of the assistants. They were ogling the capsule with much anxiousness. "The doctor said that everything should go smoothly this time, right?" Icon asked the female assistant. Essbi nodded. "Yes, this time he slowed her memory recovery, so that she won't rebel like last time. And the Control chip should make sure that she doesn't defect. Once this is complete, we'll have the upper-" She suddenly stopped talking. "Essbi? Where'd you go?" Icon looked around the lab for his partner. He suddenly felt himself being restrained by an unknown force. Then he was flipped backwards and landed on his back, knocking his head on the hard ground as his body came to a rest. He caught a glimpse of a female that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Cloaking...field..." He said before passing out.

This mystery reploid stood at about 5'6", with lavender and chrome trimmed armor. She had tanned skin and some kind of visor covering her eyes. She pressed a button on the visor, and it flipped up to her forehead, forming a head band of sorts. She blew a puff of air at the silver-tipped black bangs of hair covering her emerald eyes. She walked towards the capsule.

She stopped at the capsule and looked at the face inside. "Ok. This looks like her: blue hair, suspended in animation." A small vibration in her right ear told her that she had a message coming through. She brought a finger up to tap a dial on her headband visor.

'Echo, did you have any trouble getting in there?' A male voice spoke through her comm link.

"Nah. Heh, the security around here is a joke, Scar." Echo said in a cocky voice.

'Good. Now hurry. That scientist is due back in about 3 minutes. Let no one see you. They know our faces too well, and we can't risk a conflict with them directly. Yet.' Scar said in a calm voice.

"Gotcha. The job will be done in a matter of seconds." Echo said with confidence as she felt the comm link deactivating. She thought to herself as she rushed over to the capsule. She began messing around with the keypad on the capsule, pushing random keys hoping for the best. A loud explosion was heard before a fierce pain coursed throughout her left shoulder as she screamed out in pain.

She halted her progress on the capsule and turned her head to face the source of her pain. It was the guard from the hallway. He held up a standard issue E-Pistol, with the sight set on Echo's heart. He walked over to her while reaching for a device on his hip and bringing it up to his face. Echo realized what it was and quickly spun around.

"HEY! I need some help over in the SDL area! Send some back..." He shouted but was cut off by a swift kick to his abdomen. This also caused him to fire a shot which missed her completely and struck the capsule, and another which shorted out the lock on the door. As his body lifted off the ground and formed a bent, hunched shape, another quick blow sent him further into the air, knocking off his helmet in the process. As it clattered to the ground, Echo jumped into the air after him and jammed a dagger into his power processor deep in his chest cavity. She landed and replaced her dagger. The body of the guard exploded from a leak in his power core unit. A warm wave of wind surrounded the intruder as she gripped her wounded shoulder. Blood and other mechanical fluids gushed freely from the wound, staining the lavender paint a bright crimson. She turned around and saw that one by one, the panels on the outside of the capsule were turning off. The lights emanating from the capsule faded and the liquid inside the capsule could be heard sloshing around.

"Shorted the circuit for me. Well, I'm off!" Echo whispered. She pressed a button on her headband and activated a program. The visor slid down over her eyes as she started flashing a negative color. She looked behind her as she saw the door forming bulges. With a bright flash of light, all that remained of Echo was her trace amounts of blood and fluids on the ground near the deceased guard's helmet.

The capsule had drained all of the fluid and was now releasing the locks. The pounding at the door became more intense as each lock released. The final binding unshackled as the capsule doors slid open. Clouds of white air escaped the capsule as a figure slumped down to the ground. The guards broke through the barrier and rushed to the far side of the lab. They froze in their tracks.

"What the...hell is that?" One of the guards asked. He looked down at the empty helmet of their comrade and snarled. "Ready your weapons!" He shouted as they aimed their weapons at the awakening reploid.

The capsule flashed and a female voice spoke from it. "Prototype 00-00-0-2 Raydia Deltion. Systems activated. Warning: premature activation may result in undesired actions. Proceed with caution." The blue haired prototype's head snapped up and her eyes shot open. This struck fear into the guards, as her eyes were pure white with no absolute color. Then what's worse, they started to shine. Next, a bright flash engulfed everything in the room as the sapphire reploid levitated into the air.

Then, just as quick as the light came, it left. The guards turned their heads back around to face the azure reploid. There she was; just standing there, eyes glancing cold, empty stares at them. She looked down at her hands she flexed her fists, closing one finger at a time in rapid succession, then opening them in the same manner. Feeling desperate, one of the guards fired a shot at her, which grazed her left cheek. Her head snapped up in reaction at the guard, who flinched wildly and didn't know what to expect next. She held out her hand, then what seemed to be a piece of debris rose up and flew into her hand. She then raised her hand and it started to glow. The little cube she held morphed into a medium sized sub-machine weapon. She brought a finger up to her cheek, then stared at the blood on it for a few moments. Her eyes snapped up to meet with the eyes of the guards. Too bad for them that she was activated in 'Combat Mode'.

To be continued...

Okay! That's one! Four to go! Not much to say! Review please! Those notes you leave authors after you finish a chapter is of great inspiration to them! I like reading them! Give me something to read! Enough yelling! Stay tuned!