Birth of the Demon

By: SylentStryke

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

Chapter Two: Escape

Secret Development Lab
Time:
-18:03-

Raydia concentrated on the frightened guards in front of her. She had her weapon aimed at the lead guard, who was stiff as a board. The subordinate behind him looked down at the leader's palm. It silently formed a fist, followed by a jutting index finger and middle finger. That meant 'Go for the alarm, now'. The subordinate repeated the action down the line while Raydia remained waiting for some type of movement.

After what seemed like ages, the first three guards opened fire on the reploid prototype while the last two made a beeline for the alarm in the corner. At almost the same instance, Raydia pulled the trigger on the SMG, not even bothering to move out of the paths of the approaching bullets. Red energy shells erupted from the SMG, ripping the lead guard apart. The first bullet struck Raydia on the shoulder and the next two tore into her abdomen. She winced a bit, but did not flinch from the pain. The lead guard exploded into limbs, as Raydia went after the second and third guards.

The two alarm guards were almost at their destination when two more explosions were heard. Three sets of footsteps were heard as they raced towards their goal. "Damn! She's too strong! What the hell is she?" One of the guards said as he turned around. He looked back towards the capsule for the prototype. No one there. "Hurry! H-hit the alarm!" He shouted nervously.

Suddenly, a flash of sapphire appeared in front of him. Raydia held the morph cube out to the side as it took form of a katana. The guard quickly let loose a shot from point blank. Somehow, the shot never got fired. He felt a sharp, needle like pain in his mid-abdomen and lower back. He looked down at Raydia as she held him in the air with her blade impaled through him. The morph-katana shifted again into the SMG. She didn't think twice about pulling the trigger. He felt a rush of intense pain as he was lifted even further into the air with each bullet fired.

Another explosion snapped the remaining guard out of his daze. He pulled the alarm switch as Raydia charged at him with full speed. The katana appeared once more as Raydia stopped in front of him. He raised his pistol at her and pulled the trigger. Raydia grabbed the guard's pistol hand and applied pressure, causing the bullet to miss widely. Some loud whirring and clicking could be heard as Raydia crushed the guard's hand. She then proceeded to twist the screaming guard's mauled hand around until it snapped. Jumping back, she dashed towards the crippled guard and brought her blade horizontally across his midsection. A mix of reploid blood and hydraulic fluid splashed on the wall as the guard's upper body slid cleanly off of his lower half. Both parts slumped to the ground and exploded, leaving a reserve energy pack behind. Raydia picked it up and stored it in her energy reserves. She deactivated the cube and stood there, gazing at the wall for a moment. Then she suddenly gripped her head and began screaming loudly. This went on for about a minute before the pain ceased. Still holding her head with one hand, she went for the door.

Rebellion Secret Base
Time:
-17:58-

A bright flash appeared in the medical wing of the Rebellion Base. As the flash faded, Echo was kneeling on the ground near a warping pad. She stood up slowly and walked over to the recovery bed. Letting out a groan, she plopped down lazily as an automated healing program activated. It phased her armor off and phased it in over on the repair table, then it began into analyze her injury. She was left wearing a black formfitting jumpsuit that had a large rip in her left shoulder. She unzipped the upper half of the worn jumpsuit to reveal her punctured joint.

Moments passed before the room's doors slid open. Bright light poured into the room from behind a dark silhouette. Into the room stepped a tall man clad in jet black armor. On his back he carried a three and a half foot blade made of digisteel; the most solid substance in the universe. He removed his helmet as the door closed shut behind him.

"So, how'd it go?" He asked Echo while taking note of her shoulder. "Not so well. I managed to take one in the shoulder. But no one knows of my presence; I took out the guy who shot me." She said, crying out a bit as the program jammed a needle with numbing nanomachines into her bicep.

"'Security around here's a joke, Scar!'" Scar said as he grabbed himself a seat next to the wounded reploid. She put on a mock frown as he chuckled lightly. He picked up the remote lying on the table next to his chair and pressed a few buttons. Then he aimed it at the wall across from him and pressed one more button. A bright image appeared where the wall once was. A news reporter behind a rock was shouting into her mic as a full fledged war was going on behind her. Plasma beams, debris, explosions and cries of all kinds nearly drowned out her voice as she desperately tried to describe what was happening behind her.

"Scar, are those the Maverick Hunters?" Echo asked quizzically. She didn't get an answer from him because he seemed to be studying the situation. "Cause if they are, they are in some serious s--"

"Shh!" Scar hissed as Echo choked back the rest of her words. She turned back to the newscast.

"As you can clearly see behind me, the Maverick Hunters are severely outnumbered by the brigade of Mavericks charging at them! They are forced to retreat, as there is no hope. This is it, ladies and gentlemen." Just then, a bright beam rained down from the sky between the Maverick Hunters and the Mavericks. The horde of Mavericks suddenly halted on a dime. From the bright dome of light emerged an indistinguishable figure. All was silent. Suddenly, breaking the silence, a voice shouted out from the silhouette towards the camera man: "Hey! Are you gettin' this!" This voice was all too familiar.

The newswoman turned back to the camera and continued to needlessly announce what could be seen. "Astonishing! The Mavericks are... retreating! It seems that they are frightened by this mystery warrior! I knew were going to be saved! No doubt in my mind! Hey! Over here!" She shouted as the camera turned to the group of reploids fleeing from a wild man. They seemed to be shouting something along the lines of 'demon' or 'devil'. Then a bright bulb of pulsing blue energy tore through a good chunk of them as they quickly reversed directions, this time shouting out 'angel'. The two Hunters then charged into the center of the crowd, weapons charged and primed. Multiple explosions occurred and screams of terror emanated from the depleting horde of mavericks. Moments later, the mavericks that still had limbs retreated while the once oppressed Maverick Hunters celebrated rather robustly. Then the camera found its way to the newswoman.

"No way! Scar, I don't believe that!" Echo said with much surprise. "Yeah, those guys are that damn good. It's a shame that they won't help us fight Silph." Scar said with a sigh.

"Well why the hell not!"

"Well, for starters, their supreme commander says that they are 'currently dealing with their own affairs', I'm guessing that he means the Mavericks. I tried many times this morning, but the answers were all the same.

"In other words, they won't help us because they're too busy fending off a few Metools." Echo said sarcastically. The healing program now sprayed a protective barrier over her shoulder. He shook his head.

"Not exactly. The Government Council is notorious with keeping the Hunters out of their hair. You know the reploid prototype that Silph was developing? The one you freed?" Scar asked her as he stood up and grabbed a fresh bandage from the wall cabinet. "Yeah."

"Well, rumor has it that she has copy DNA consisting of Zero and Megaman X." He began to wrap her shoulder with the bandage, taking care not to press down too hard.

"But, how is that possible? The data of those two has never been able to be fully analyzed. Well, at least not by normal measures."

"Right, that's why I think it's just a rumor. But we can't afford not to check into it." He said while finishing the wrap. "Where's she gonna end up? If they don't destroy us first that is."

"She should be just out of Arcadia, by the ocean." Scar said as he applied the clamps to fasten the bandage. "So who's gonna go pick her up?" Echo asked dubiously.

Scar gave her a smirk. "I'll go next time. You need time to rest, with your injury and all." She shifted uncomfortably, knowing that he was teasing her.

"OK. Thanks for helpin' me with 'my injury'. It means a lot." She said mockingly.

"No prob. Oh yeah, do you need anything else?" He said, missing the point entirely.

"No. Some sleep should do me good. If I do though, I'll call Ghostbusters." She chuckled as he made a sour face and left the room. Oh yeah. Sleep sounded good. Especially when you're overworked.

MHHQ
Time:
-18:04-

X and Zero walked into the doors of the MHHQ, followed by their units and the media. This was a crappy day that turned into a great day, for the Hunters had finally gotten rid of the Maverick threat, for a while that is. Now they had to just get things in order, like fixing and expanding the building, filling their ranks and beating the media off of them. Despite all of this, X sighed heavily. "Huuuuhhhhaaaaaah!" Zero looked over at his distressed friend.

"What was that for?" Zero asked the blue reploid. They rounded the corner and walked down to the armory. "I still don't feel satisfied. I thought that once we defeat the Mavericks, things would be solved."

"You mean you still wanna check these Silph guys out?" Zero said, getting to the point. X looked over at his friend with a miffed expression. "...Yeah..." Zero grinned. "Same here, pal." The two made it to the armory elevator and hopped on. X pressed the down button and the lift made its descent. Zero took his helmet off and held it at his side. He was already starting to feel bored. He started to stare at the ceiling. There was a hole there that only he knew about.

It was when he was giving Axl a tour of the base. Zero was pretty much as bored as he had ever been was he caught a glimpse of something spinning on Axl's finger. Looking over at the young reploid, he saw that he was spinning one of his magnums around the trigger guard on his forefinger. Cocking an eyebrow, Zero turned his gaze to the young gunslinger.

"Where'd ya learn to do that?" Zero asked, excitement tingeing his voice. Axl grinned as he threw the magnum behind and over his right shoulder then slid his right index finger into the trigger guard as it came down and kept spinning the handgun, all in one fluid motion. "I practice in my spare time." Zero whistled. "I gotta hand it to ya kid, that's pretty damn good!" Zero said while grinning.

"Thanks!" Axl grinned as he abruptly stopped the handgun. He didn't expect a bullet to exit the gun however, and jumped when it had done so. Zero mimicked the motion then looked up at the ceiling. A small, but otherwise unnoticeable hole was visible in the ceiling. He looked down at Axl who was staring at where he left his mark. Putting his guns away he smiled at Zero sheepishly. Zero returned his smirk as the elevator slowed to a stop.

"Zero? Are you there? Hellooo?" X's voice pierced through his reminisce. "You gonna get off, or do you plan on making that your new room?" Growling, Zero stepped off the lift and trotted over towards his locker.

Silph HQ
Time:
-18:08-

Raydia walked towards the front door of Silph's main building. As it opened, bright, orange light poured into the long hallway, illuminating the clumps of dead guards before getting swallowed by darkness. She wasted no time running full speed into the destroyed city.

Cracked and uneven roads formed jagged landscapes. Collapsed buildings lined the horizon. All of this was contrasted by a beautiful sunset. Raydia had never been here before, but, it felt strangely familiar to her. This had once been a part of Downtown Arcadia. She noticed a building to the north. Sensing no one behind her, she decided to walk to her destination.

Moments passed and many thoughts flashed through her mind. Who am I? What am I? Where am I? Why am I here? Who is trying to destroy me? She scaled a wall of overturned cars and slabs of digicrete. She continued on towards her destination. She swung her right hand and a blade formed into it. It was an odd feeling and looking material, feeling like a lightweight grade of metal, black in color but the outlining edges were scarlet red. She held it out in front of her and it began to morph into a submachine gun. It had the same properties as the katana. She released the grip and let the weapon drop, but instead, it floated in midair a split second before fading away like a hologram. She began to check her systems while the ruined building came into view.

Main power unit: Silph E.P.U ver. 2.0
Status: Online

Cerebral Processor: Unknown
Status: Online

Sensory Functions: Unknown
Status: Online

Weapon Systems: C.U.B.E. (Cubic Unique Battle Equalizer) ver. 2.1
Status: Online, Incomplete

Armor Systems: Valkyrie Type Gemini ver. 1.0
Status: Online, Auto-repairs at 98 percent

Memory Bank: Unknown
Status: Online, Incomplete

Voice Unit: Loading at 2 percent

Total weight: 100 lbs.
Height: 5'8"
Physical age: 19 years
Mental age: Growing from 16 years
Gender: Female

System check incomplete. Components incomplete and/or missing.
Total system composition: 78 percent

Raydia opened her eyes to see where she was going. She looked down at her hands and inspected them. Just what had happened? The system check told her that she had just recently been activated, and prematurely at that. So why was she assaulting herself with questions? A loud cracking sound broke her out of her trance. Stopping, she looked around her for signs of enemy presence. Nothing. The twenty yard stretch of road she was walking on gave way with a loud crumbling sound. She tried to jump, but didn't get too far because she was right in the middle of the deep sinkhole. Realizing that a vast amount of liquid was below her, she reached out desperately for the edge of the newly formed pool. She looked up at the orange sky that seemed to ripple and shift as she sank lower into the water. Her eyes shrank as a new image surged through her brain.

She was drowning. Her arms were flailing out in front of her as bubbles of air escaped her mouth. The water was cold, and she saw a shimmering white moon in the sky. She looked down to see an infinite void, waiting to swallow her. Then, everything went black.

Opening her eyes, Raydia realized that she was lying on the ground. Looking up, she saw a shimmering object. She suddenly realized that she was submerged underwater. She scrambled to her feet and leapt up with unreal speed. As she exited the watery sinkhole, she landed on solid ground in a crouch, coughing up water and panting heavily. She looked back at the sinkhole with shrunken pupils as she somewhat hyperventilated. She slowly stood up before a message in her systems alerted her that water covering her outer layer was being evaporated. She ran a hand through her hair and found that it was indeed dry. Shrugging it off, she hurried towards the close-at-hand building.

When Raydia stepped into the building, she took in the stench of death and destruction. Particularly, blood and debris. She heard a baritone humming sound as she set foot inside the ruined building. The ground beneath her vibrated suddenly. The wall opposite of her glowed furiously blue. Without a second thought, she leapt into the air and sent herself into a backwards flip, barely avoiding death as a large blue bulb of pure plasma tore through the air under her and into the wall. While she was upside down, she took note of the new threat. A white armored tank, decorated with red panels and gray edging, made its way towards her, its massive energy cannon still cackling with raw energy.

She spun herself around before landing squarely on the ground in a crouch. She held out her right hand and formed the submachine. She aimed it at the tank and watched it with deadly eyes.

To be continued...

Okay! Two redone chapters! Three more before I reach...(calculator keys clicking) ...Five! Stay with me! I can do this! Stay tuned!