Birth of the Demon

By: SylentStryke

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

Thanks to Xangel-Rebirth and Archaon for reviewing. (Archaon reviewed before I reposted this story.)

Chapter Three: Safe for now

Arcadia Ruins
Time:
-18:14-

The tank barricaded the only door into the building. Now she was stuck. She was either going to die, or turn herself in. Or think of something else. She raised her weapon and fired a few shots to test the mettle of the tank, which reflected off of it. Impregnable. She gritted her teeth, trying to think of another plan. A loud voice emanated from the tank.

"You there! You are to surrender under orders of Silph! Failure to comply will result in your destruction! What is your decision?" Raydia contemplated over a solution. This was funny. She could hear, but could not speak as of yet. Suddenly, she realized the tank was operated by a pilot, not automatic. A sly idea popped up in her head, she only hoped that it would work. Holding up her hands, she released her weapon in a mock surrender. "That's it. Now walk slowly over towards the tank," the same deep voice said.

"Good girl," the voice said in a dry tone. Raydia stopped a few inches away from the large plasma cannon which made up 45 percent of the digisteel tank. Puffs of white steam escaped from the seams on the side of the tank. A small panel folded out and stopped when it hit the ground. Two guards wielding large shields stepped out of the tank and approached the mysterious reploid.

One shielded guard moved slowly behind her. The guard in front of her wielded an auto-plasma pistol and aimed a laser at her head. "Put your arms behind your back," the guard with the pistol commanded. Raydia moved her arms down towards her back slowly. At about halfway, she phased in her sub machine gun and aimed it at the pistol guard. He wasted no time in firing a string of shots at the blue-haired reploid. Quicker than lightning, Raydia felt something take control of her and jerk her head to the side, avoiding the shots. The guard behind her screamed out in anguish as the bullets pierced through his helmet and throat. As he fell back, Raydia proceeded to draw her blade and rush at the mortified guard. "Shit!" the pilot screamed as he drew the door back into the tank.

Raydia jumped at the guard with her blade held out. He put up his shield in an attempt to deflect the katana, but was surprised when she shot him instead, then kicked off of the shield as he was slumping over towards the slowly closing tank panel. As she was sailing through the air towards the door, the tank swiveled its rear thrusters to the side in order to pivot around and deny the girl entry. She swung her blade at the tank as it did so, striking the side of the cannon and sending sparks everywhere. She landed on the ground and eyed the tank.

"Dammit! You're dead! Toast her!" the tank commander shouted as it fired a plasma repeating cannon at the reploid. She turned and ran for the nearest wall, dodging the multiple plasma bullets that peppered her footprints. She didn't slow down when she came to the wall, but instead ran along it at an angle. The bullet trail followed her up and down the wall before it the gun overheated. As soon as she hit the ground, she rushed towards the tank. She shot a few rounds into the large metal drum, which caused the giant metal machine to whine unhappily. She took a swipe at the tank with her blade as she stopped in front of the massive cannon, removing a sheet of armor from it. She prepared another strike with her blade, but stopped when she felt the air behind her shift and heat up. She saw a familiar blue glow form deep in the center of the large cannon.

She dropped the blade and jumped back as she felt a wave of air rush towards the cannon. A loud screeching sound filled the room as the plasma cannon erupted. The large, bulbous sphere of plasma tore through the ground, leaving a trail of broken tiles and dirt, along with a one foot deep divot in the wall with multiple hairline cracks spreading from it. Raydia turned her attention back towards the tank, grimacing in the process. She stood up, clenching her badly charred left arm. "Missed her!" The tank hissed.

The tank charged at her with a roar. Raydia painstakingly jumped out of the way, just barely avoiding the large tank. She tucked herself into a roll when she hit the ground and unfurled when the tank smashed into the wall. She pulled out her submachine gun and pulled the trigger. The tank began whirring unhappily as each bullet smashed into its unprotected side. Then it blew out sparks in every direction, causing it to stall. She paused when she saw this, and ran towards the tank with her blade drawn.

Each step she took jarred her loosened arm, sending dull spasms of pain through her battered limb. Multiple alarms in her head were screaming at her, all of which she ignored. The tank had managed to turn in her direction, although it had been damaged greatly. Raydia stopped in front of the tank and reeled back, preparing to cut through the open panel of the cannon. As she swung her blade down, she felt something pull out of her. She was surprised when the blade in her hand involuntarily phased out. She was even more surprised when the cannon suddenly howled and glowed with incandescent light. She barely had time to hold her good arm in front of her face before the cannon discharged the blast. Raydia let out a loud scream as she was engulfed in the ubiquitous heat of the never-ending plasma wave.

Her entire world went white as she tumbled around in the stream of plasma. Her back slammed against the previously weakened wall, this time tearing through it. She bounced haphazardly along the jagged ground after the beam dissipated. She cried out each time she skidded along the ground, her tumbling becoming slower as the pain in her body increased. She finally stopped bouncing around and slid a few yards towards a cliff on her front side.

The back of her armor was riddled with scrapes and peeled paint. The thin gray jumpsuit was all but torn to shreds. Even in her battered condition, she somehow managed to flip herself over and stand up. She looked down over the cliff at the crashing waves below. Her sight, mainly her left eye, was more than a bit blurry. She turned around slowly when she heard the sound of a damaged hover vehicle. What she saw as a large blob of matter was actually the badly damaged tank, slowly approaching and giving off a ton of smoke. Her vision quickly faded until it everything became black. She felt her sense of touch give way, and she took slow, steady steps backwards towards the cliff. Before her hearing cut off, she heard footsteps rapidly approaching her while a voice called out to her. Then a deafening explosion drowned out everything. She fell back, not hitting solid ground.

MHHQ
Time:
-18:30-

Zero knocked lifelessly on the door. He had been knocking nonstop for five minutes, and by this time he had already dropped his bags. Needless to say, he was getting agitated by being ignored. He had thought that renovations would be a good thing. He had no idea that it meant his room would be first. Sighing, he began thinking up a scheme that would expose Signas for the mean bastard he was.

"Hmm. If I could get my hands on a spare rocket...no, that won't work. Maybe I can snag a video camera and set it in his commander's chair...no, well, maybe."

"Zero? What are you doing?" X asked his friend while eying the bags suspiciously. Zero took in a long sigh.

"X. Remember when you said 'What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine'?"

"...No..."

"Long story short, I need a place to stay. Lo and behold, you were the first person to pop up!"

"...why do you need a place to stay?"

"Signas made me involuntarily volunteer the 0th quarters for renovation. Hence, I'm standing here, waiting for a friend to give me a home."

"Zero, don't you have any other friends that'll let you room with them?"

"Of course I do...'cept they're all in the same situation I'm in." Zero said sheepishly. X clapped a hand to his face, seeing no way to escape the torture to come. Sighing greatly, he turned toward the blond menace with clenched teeth.

"Don't. Destroy. Anything. Got it?" He said while looking down at his friend, even though he was physically shorter than he was. Zero nodded and walked into the room. He immediately walked to the closet and lobbed his belongings in before grabbing an energy soda out of X's mini fridge. He then proceeded to plop down on the old style Lazy Boy in the corner and turned the large T.V. in the wall to a movie. X just stared in awe. Zero knew his room better than he did!

"X! You should check this out! It's called 'Plastic Cog Gaseous 3: Gorilla Feeder'." Giving in to defeat, X went along for the ride. "What's it about?"

"Dunno yet. I heard it's based on a hit video game." Zero said as the T.V. showed a man with a bandanna grab an enemy soldier and throw him to the ground. X was about to sit down when his unit phone rang. Grunting, he picked up the phone and answered it with a yawn. After a few indistinct words, X slammed the phone down on the receiver.

"Zero, Signas wants to see us A.S.A.P. He says it's something about Arcadia and that organized syndicate."

Rebellion Secret Base
Time:
-18:56-

Raydia felt like she was falling. Falling down an infinite pit of darkness. Was this death? It had to be. It wasn't so bad. But she would be eternally bored just falling forever. But she still had questions. Who is Raydia Deltion, or rather, who was she? What was her purpose? None of that even mattered now. Her surroundings were lucid. Suddenly, the darkness around her shifted to a shade of blue. Surprised, she positioned herself upright to take in the sight. Such a fluorescent col...wait a minute. Sight? She could see? Hello? Then there came a bright light. Shadows Hello? towered over her. They seemed to be talking to each other? Hey! Or were they talking to her? It didn't matter she couldn't... not hear them? Alright, she's awake. Let's turn on the rest of her systems.

The shadows took form now. She determined the tall one to be male, and the one closer to her to be a female. Also, she felt a dull chill spreading over her body from her back. It seemed like all of her systems were on, though still waking up.

"Hey. How do you feel? Can you sit up?" The female asked her. Raydia looked at her sluggishly and began to sit up. They...didn't look like enemies. She spun herself around on the table, dangling her legs off of the edge. The floor seemed to spin. "Ehh..." She hopped down to the floor and tipped over forward. The male jumped in front of her and caught her in his arms. "Whoa, not so fast! You need to rest for while. Let your motor systems boot up completely." He said as he helped her back over to the maintenance table. His voice was strangely soothing, the voice of a well seasoned doctor. She climbed onto the table and began to doze off.

"Alright, she'll be good to go in about an hour." The female said. "Great work, by the way. Maybe now we can all sleep easier tonight." The man said. Then they walked out. Raydia rolled over, trying to get comfortable. Rest is what she needed right now.

Silph HQ
Time:
-18:37-

Shin stormed into the main base of Silph operations. He was a tall, muscular reploid with crimson red hair and armor to match. He stomped divots into the ground around the meeting hall until he found his company's commander. "Harl!" Shin shouted through clenched teeth. The nervous sub-commander's blood froze as he broke away from his group and fell in before his commander. "S-sir!" Shin immediately vice-gripped the smaller reploid's throat and lifted him into the air. "Tell me exactly what the hell happened? Why did one of my tanks get destroyed? WHY DIDN"T YOU SUBDUE THE ENEMY?" The helpless reploid squirmed in the death-hold grip of his superior. He couldn't really talk, but he managed to choke out a few words. "Spit it out!" Shin said, fire leaping from his eyes.

"S-sir. While we were doing so, ack, another reploid appeared out of nowhere! He destroyed the tank and a few of my men! I, ack, don't know where the girl went!" Shin's face twisted up in anger before he dropped his squad leader. "Get outta here!" He barked at the smaller and now shaking reploid. Harl scuffled to his feet and ran for the door. Shin walked out of the other door and heard a lone clap.

"Very good, Shin. You've somehow managed to not snap this one's neck." A female voice said while clapping. Shin's eye was twitching. "Maybe I should have! I swear Mira, I always get rejects who can't do anything without someone holdin' their damn hand!"

"That makes two of us..." Mira remarked under her breath. Shin caught wind of it and got in her face.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

"It means that Mister Silph himself wants us to appear in front of him." Shin quickly let his malice subside and ran off down the hall. "Well, don't just stand there! Let's go!" Mira smirked as she pushed herself off the wall. She stood at a whopping 5'6". Mira has glacier blue eyes along with a fair complexion and medium length silver hair. She wore a sky blue combat armor and carried a type of beam weapon.

"I wonder if reploids can get ADD?" She pondered as she walked down the hall after Shin.

To be continued...

3! Three! III! In case you were wondering about 'Plastic Cog Gaseous 3: Gorilla Feeder', it's a Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater parody/reference. I've been playing that game a lot, which is why I haven't done much with this story, but fear not! Two more to revise, then you shall have new, never before seen chapters! Stay tuned!