Birth of the Demon

By: SylentStryke

Disclaimer: Capcom owns the Megaman/X/Zero series. I own this nice little creation called Birth of the Demon.

Chapter Six: Infiltration

Central Blue
Time:
-21:10-

X finished zipping up the jumpsuit he was wearing and began attaching the super formfitting bracers and shin guards. Zero slipped on the chest plate and gasped forcefully as it clamped together. "Dammit! I'm not liking this...suit!" X paid him no mind as he put his own chest plate on. It clamped down in the same way as it did on Zero, but didn't fit as tightly due to his smaller stature. X stood up and tried walking. He smiled as he didn't hear any sound. He then proceeded to jump on the wall. To his surprise, he fell right on his ass. Zero laughed in shallow bursts at his fallen friend. "Well, now I know what not to try!" Embarrassed, X stood up and brushed himself off. "C'mon, Zero. Let's go," he said hurriedly as he headed for the door.

Alia rounded the corner and headed for the door. She stopped at it and was about to knock when the hallway shook violently. She screamed and fell forward towards the door. Though he wasn't expecting to, X opened the door just in time to catch her. But he tipped over backwards from both the quake and Alia pressing against him. Now they lay in an awkward position: X sprawled out on his back with his hand on her chest, with Alia laying on top of him, their eyes locked on to each other. They both were lost for words and they continued to stare at each other. Zero merely watched for what would happen next. They continued to remain in that position, reddening by the second. "Well?" Zero sighed out anxiously. Alia quickly climbed off of X as he made sure his hands didn't move an inch. He got up to his feet and started apologizing rapidly. Alia did more or less of the same. Then they both stared down at the ground. Zero couldn't tell who was redder.

"God, you guys are pathetic! But I'll work on that later. Right now, we have a job to do. So, let's go lobster twins!" He basically had to shove Alia out and slap X to get them to walk. "I'm REALLY gonna work on this later!"

>>>

Signas stood in a podium much like the one back at MHHQ. He constantly checked the holo-map in the center of the small room, looking for any places that X and Zero could hide while on this mission. They would likely be in Arcadia for two days or more. He had been interested in Silph ever since rumors popped up about them. "Silph..."

He was not only interested in them; he was basically obsessed. But the government wouldn't permit the hunters to investigate. Now that he thought about it, why didn't the government take action against this obvious threat? It's almost as if they are hiding something. His train of thought was broken as the door to his left shot open.

X and Alia walked in followed by Zero, who was shaking his head at the two. Signas also shook his head, knowing that they would never progress as long as they kept avoiding each other's signals.

"What're we gonna do about 'em, Signas?" Zero asked nonchalantly. Signas shook his head in response. "We'll figure that out later. That mild quake you felt earlier was a stray buoy. Anyway, I see you're wearing your thermal suits." X and Zero looked down at themselves. "That's right. Just what the hell are these things supposed to do? Besides be annoying," Zero said while resisting the urge to stretch his chest plate.

"I believe I can answer that," the unfamiliar voice from before called out. Signas stepped to the side, revealing a reploid sitting at a computer console. He spun his chair around and stopped when he was facing X and Zero by kicking his feet out. X raised an eyebrow.

"And you are..."

"Matte, at your service. I designed the stealth suits you two are wearing, as well as these..." He said as he rummaged through his box. Snapping his fingers, he hopped off the chair and strolled over to the door behind the two hunters. "Follow me," he commanded. Shrugging, X and Zero followed him.

>>>

When they reached the R&D room, Matte tossed X a pair of devices. He caught them and stared at them with awe. They were the same gray color as the stealth suits. They looked like ancient radio receiver earphones with a microphone line protruding from it. It almost resembled what the navigators at MHHQ wore, only without the large earpiece, and a smaller mic line. "As if you didn't know, those are portable comm links. Basically, the thing that's in your helmet." X nodded his head in realization and handed one to Zero. He placed it in his ear and heard something click. Zero did the same, although at a much slower pace. Matte used the time to fish out two weapons: a sleek black buster gauntlet for X, and a similar looking saber for Zero.

"Those weapons are modified versions of your standard X-Buster Mk V, and Z-Saber." Zero activated the saber's green blade. He looked around the blade for any differences. Disappointed and suspicious, he asked the newbie.

"...Modified in what way?"

"Those weapons will stun your enemies, should you encounter any. Instead of forming condensed plasma into a blade or rounds, it is used mostly for silencing the weapon. They now-"

"They now are no better than a Nerf gun and a foam pool floaty; gotcha. Thanks a bunch." Zero cut in, making sure to sound as sarcastic as possible. Matte sighed and gestured for them to follow him.

X and Zero arrived in the Navigation room after a few minutes. Signas noted their return and turned to regard them. Matte hopped up on his console and put on a headset. X looked around the small room as if he had been here before. Zero was stretching his limbs, getting ready for whatever was to come.

Signas drew in a quick breath. "Okay, X and Zero. Here's the rundown..."

>>>

X sat down on a Ride Chaser after much protest. "X, that isn't a Ride Chaser. It's a prototype...er, new model Sea Chaser. This thing will function like a Ride Chaser, but will function underwater." X strapped on a mask and looked at Matte with confusion.

"Why can't I swim there? I bet it's a lot safer than riding on this thing." Matte sighed. "Believe me: you wouldn't want to be swimming without a guide." X was about to say something when his mini comm went off.

"X? Can you hear me?"

"Alia? Loud and clear. What's up?"

"Um...you remember your route, right?"

"Yep. Once I reach the docking bay, I wait until Zero makes his entrance. That should draw the attention away from the area I'll be in."

"Right...That's when you proceed to their main base of ops. Sigh..."

"Alia? Are you okay?"

"X...promise me you'll make it out alive. I don't care if this operation fails, you just don't do anything stupid, OK?"

"..."

"X?"

"I...I'll try."

"X..." Signas appeared on the holo-monitor on the wall near the exit bay. "Launch is ready, X. On your signal." X revved the engine as the platform his watercraft was on sunk into the water. After letting his lungs fill with water, he gave the signal for launch. The doors before him shot open and he was jettisoned out of the U-555.

Arcadia Ruins-Bluffs
Time:
-21:48-

A girl sat atop the cliffs of what once was Arcadia. Namely, her home. Her parents had died when Arcadia was taken over, no one at the orphanage cared for her, and on top of that, she was only twelve. Tears ran from her eyes as she thought about these things. She needed an escape route; something to take her away from this hell. She looked down over the cliff and spied a glowing object in the water below. She watched her tears leap from her eyes into the sea. A faint smile crept onto her face as she continued to gaze into the mostly calm ocean. That smile turned into a gasp of horror as she lost her footing to some loose debris. Her body surged forward and began to plummet over the edge. What came next was instinct: she screamed.

Something tugged on her shoulders and pulled her back onto the edge. The frightened girl turned around to face her savior.

"Hey, watch your step!" The figure said to her. She looked up at the feminine figure with teary eyes before running off towards the orphanage. Mira looked on at the young girl with a sad expression. Was what Silph doing right? Making innocents suffer?

"...hmm..." She sighed. She turned to the cliff she had rescued the girl from and looked at it with wonder. She got up and slowly walked over towards the cliff. "What was that girl looking at anyway?" As she drew closer to the edge, something told her to ready her weapon. She did so and took another step towards the edge. Just as she peered over the edge, a violent explosion rocked the ground, almost making her teeter over the edge.

"Whoa, shit! An explosion?" She immediately looked over her shoulder and saw a plume of black smoke in the distance. Making a mental note of the cliff, she darted off toward the smoke, unbeknownst to the wet figure making its way up the cliff.

"Hah. Hah. Hah..." X looked around the area, making sure that he was alone. He dashed silently over toward a large rock sticking out of the ground. Pulling off his water mask, he turned his new comm link on.

"Come in, Central Blue. This is X."

"Good job, X. Where are you located?"

"I'm at the bluffs, west of the city."

"Has anyone seen you?"

"No. I had a close call, but they don't know I'm here."

"Alright. Proceed carefully."

"Will do."

"And X! Um..."

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"...I'm sorry for what happened earlier. You know...for falling...for you. No! I meant 'on you'!"

"Oh! Don't worry about it; accidents happen." X didn't need to see Alia to know she was blushing. Then he remembered something.

"Alia! That was the U-555 I was launched from, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! It is, isn't it?"

"But, I thought Zero destroyed that thing years ago?"

"He did. This thing we're riding in is a replica. Zero destroyed the original."

"Figures. Well, at least I got a chance to see it."

He peeked over the rock he was hiding behind to scope out the area, not expecting to be eye to eye with Mira.

He jumped back and activated his buster, keeping his eyes trained on his eavesdropper as he steadied his aim.

"Now, now. It isn't nice to point..." Mira said with a smirk. X soon heard a sound that could only be described as an army of angry weapons.

Looking around him, he saw no less than a dozen Silph guards with rifles and handguns training lasers on him.

"...shit..."

Northern Arcadia Ruins
Time:
-21:50-

Zero did everything he could to keep his screams down to a minimum as he plummeted to the northern section of the city. He didn't feel exactly safe in this 'stealth craft'. After he could see the main Silph building, he radioed in to Matte.

"Hey, this is Zero! What do I do now?"

"Zero. What's your status?"

"Falling very rapidly and sick to my stomach! What do I do next?" His voice was a bit higher than normal.

"Activate the cockpit jettison mechanism." Matte said in a smooth, calm tone. Zero looked down at the numerous amount of flashing items around him.

"Activate the thingamahooser WHAT!"

"Sigh. Pull the red candy cane lever." He found it and hastily pulled said lever. He hollered as his seat was separated from the ball-shaped ship. The wind met his synthflesh with biting ferocity as he flew through the starless sky. He noticed that it seemed like he was going faster outside than he was inside. As he straightened out, his seat ejected some sort of fabric device attached to ropes. The seat jerked back as if it hit a foam barrier. Zero's mask fogged up as he started breathing again.

Mere seconds later, the craft he was in exploded and rocked the land below. Smirking, he undid the restraint and slid off of the seat once it was about fifty yards above the landing zone. He landed with a thud and placed his hands on the ground to keep his balance. He stood up and removed his mask. Next, he untied the headband around his head, letting his long, golden hair whip and snap in the wind. Looking around his immediate area, he drew in a deep breath.

"This is Zero. I've been successfully inserted into the enemy's territory."

"Good job, Zero. Make sure you don't alert the enemy to your presence. That craft explosion should buy you some time to find a way into the main building."

"Roger that. Commencing operation."

To be continued...

Woo! New chapter! Finally! Sorry it took so long, but school is kicking my rear end. That and ROTC. But, now that the 1st term is almost over, I'll have more time to write. Also, the next update will be a double. Till next time!