I've been away for a while because I've been moving, so I apologize to anyone who might have been hoping for a sooner update. This isn't the best story, I know, but I like writing it. I got onto a Megaman X kick a while ago and have been playing Command Mission for a few weeks now. I think I'm going to try and bring in some of those characters and story ideas, to spice up this story. I haven't looked at the reviews for last chapter, so I again apologize, I won't be answering anything until next chapter. Hopefully you enjoy this one though.
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"Roll, I'll be fine. Dr. Light redesigned me for this, not you."
A short blue reploid with spiky black hair places his hand upon a female reploids shoulder. She turns her gaze downward, apparently to hold back tears. The blue reploid lowers his eyes, and steps back. He reaches down and picks up a helmet that had sat next to his foot, and places it on his head. With a quick glance, the female grabs him and hugs him tightly. A moment later, he breaks the hug and darts the other direction, obviously distraught, but with intent. A mist covers the ground and fills in on top of itself. Visibility becomes zero. A voice, recognizable as the blue reploid from a minute before, speaks clearly through the fog.
Wake up, X…
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"How's he doing, Shift?" the massive emerald hunter inquired, placing his hand on her sunken shoulder. From her appearance, she had no more sleep the night before than he did. She was slumped over onto her lab table, and had her head resting on crossed arms. She looked up at him with mouth parted, as though she hadn't the energy to close it. Her eyes had no luster as they usually did, and they had become a dull gray. Salvo cringed at seeing her like that.
Shift moved to a seated position, and rubbed her eyes. After blinking a few times, it seemed as though her eyes finally began focusing.
"Actually, more of his internal systems are up and running, but it still seems he's in a catatonic state. Well, I wouldn't say 'catatonic'… more like in a coma that he's on the verge of waking from."
Salvo looked at the bed that X had been placed on. His armor was stripped off, and numerous monitors had been attached to keep an eye on his vitals. Shaking his head at the thought of the great Megaman X being taken out, he stands next to the bed and rests his hand on the azure hunter's arm, eyes downcast.
"I think he'll be out of it by tonight, maybe tomorrow morning. I hope, for all our sakes… What's that Bass character up to, anyway?"
"He's being looked at by our doctors and mechanics. It seems he's got some systems that no reploid has these days. Somehow, they're more advanced than what we have."
"How's that possible? Dr. Cain has adapted the systems he understood from X and updated them. That means we should be more advanced than he" her thoughts left off as she finished stretching from her wake-up.
Salvo nodded one last time before turning around. "I can't tell ya, cause they can't tell me yet. They said they'd run him through our combat trainer a few times, and see what he's capable of. From just their analysis, they say he could take down X. I don't believe it."
"Nor do I, but the analysis rarely comes out wrong. Maybe it's just because they haven't looked X over in a while."
"I hope."
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"Alia find out yet?"
"No, and it better stay that way as long as possible."
"No problem there, Z. We're the only two that know about it" Axl retorts, and the two hunters round a corner. Zero looks to have been run ragged, and it's only been a day since he's taken charge. Axl got smart, or so he thought, and got a clipboard and notepaper to keep track of everything going on. It has since filled up.
"You know, we've got more things going on in this place than I had thought. X has it rough. I'm done screwing with him, the moment he gets back, I swear it" Zero reiterates for the third time that morning. His now white hair looks to have just been combed down, for the ends splay out everywhere, and his armor has dulled down a shade or so, like a layer of dust has settled upon him.
"We've got to stop sometime, Zero. I mean, there can't be anymore things to deal with yet, can there?" Axl's hopeful voice questions.
"I'd tell you no, but I dislike lying to friends, Axl."
"Then what do you call what you're doing to Alia?"
"It's called payback. Haven't you ever heard 'Do unto others before they do unto you'?"
"No sir."
"I'll have to teach you sometime. Come on, we're almost there."
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"Listen to me, you rotting corpse of a reploid! I want X dead, do you understand? Do not toy with him!" a very quiet, gruff, and angry voice came over a comm. unit.
"Doc, shut up. You know as well as I do that with Dr. Light's mods and yours, I can more than handle X and his friends. You just keep building that weapon of yours, and tell virus-face that he'll get his body in due time. I want to make sure nothing in this place survives when I'm done" Bass firmly replied, leaning against the wall next to his bed.
"I warn you, Bass… neither 'virus-face' or myself have many chances left before Megaman X finally figures out who's been trying so desperately to kill him. After so many wars, and more than enough Mavericks, I highly doubt your capabilities against such an experienced foe. He's had dozens of years of fighting, and you've been locked in a lab. Pathetic. You will-" The transmission cut short from a knock at the door.
"Yes?" Bass asked coolly.
"It's Salvo. I heard you went through the combat trainer earlier, so I picked up the analysis. I think both you and Shift want to see this" the hunter explained through the door.
"Got it. I'll be right down. I gotta put my armor back on."
"Don't take too long."
"Yes, sir."
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"This is what the analysis came out as?" Shift asked with a hint of amazement in her tone.
"Yea, and they say his adrenaline levels and power output never fluctuated" answered Salvo.
Amazement now consumed Shift's facial features. The two had the analysis papers scattered across her lab table, and were still waiting on Bass to get there. Shift had shimmied papers back and forth, comparing one to another ever since Salvo gave them to her. She appeared to have no idea what to make of any of it, yet couldn't keep from trying.
"Look, let's just ask him what's up with his systems. There's not a whole lot he can do against all the hunters here, so it's not like he can hide anything."
Shift looked at him with a questioning glare.
"You've seen this" she said, motioning to the papers, "and you don't think he could level this place by himself?"
Scratching his head, Salvo nodded in acknowledgement. He knew she was right, but no amount of proof would disdain him from knowing he had the most guns, and that always won. About to speak again, he had to stop himself as they heard a knock, knock on the door right before it opened.
"Hi. You wanted me here?" Bass redundantly questioned, a smirk on his face.
Shift stood, and realized now that in truth Bass stood a bit taller than she. The black reploid took a seat across the table from the hunters, and began going over his analysis report with an uncaring look.
"This is all you guys picked up on?" he asked.
"That's all our systems can pick up on. We've never run across anything we couldn't analyze before. I take it we missed something with you?" Salvo asked, with Shift left speechless. Her thoughts seemed to pour out of Salvo's mouth, and she thought that just maybe he wasn't as 'big and dumb' as she had originally thought.
"Of course there is. My systems inject my brain with a shot of Replidromine, and all the pain, smell, and touch systems go offline. It allows everything else to react much quicker than normally allowed. Plus, it helps when you aren't distracted by stray fire."
The lab went extremely silent as the two hunters glared at him in wonder. If their advanced computers couldn't even pick up on something as simple as that, what else had he at his disposal they couldn't pick up on?
"Wait, wait…. Replidromine? I've heard of it, but the chemical formula for that was lost when Dr. Doppler was killed. How did you come to be able to use it?" Shift sputtered as a rampant train of thoughts blazed new trails through her brain.
"Yea, that stuff was said to make the rep's who used it go mental, or end up killing themselves from psychosis. And you can make it naturally?" Salvo added.
"It's not that hard to do. I'll give you the formula later on."
Sliding the papers back to Shift, Bass stood and looked at the scientist and tank-of-a-reploid.
"If that's all you had to show me, I'll go back to my room now. Oh, but before I do, has X awoken yet?"
"No. Care to explain what happened to him yet?" Salvo replied, his anger flaring up again.
"Sure. I rebooted his old systems. Apparently it was too much information, and he went out like a light."
Both Salvo and Shift shot up, a cannon yet again aimed at the stranger reploid, and a hand against his chest.
"What do you mean, you 'rebooted his old systems'!" Shift yelled, her eyes now portraying the despair she felt for what might have befallen X.
"I mean exactly that. When X was freed from his containment unit, back when Dr. Cain found him, his systems started from scratch. New body, new mind. The systems you all know of X's, the ones he shows every time he speaks, blinks, or twitches, are all aspects of that new mind. I took note of this as soon as he entered my lab. When I tried to explain it to him, he wouldn't accept that fact, so I had to show him. I turned on those old systems… I gave him his old mind back."
Salvo's cannon could get no closer to discharging then it did at that point, but he refrained, only with the greatest of effort. Shift had leaned back against the edge of her table, her eyes downcast.
"So you mean to tell me he won't be X anymore? That he'll lose everything he's come to know since being found?" Salvo asked.
"No. He'll have all that information, but he'll have his old memories back, too."
Silence blanketed the lab once again.
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"Zero! Commander!" Alia yelled down the hallway. She carried her Metool in one arm, and a stack of papers in the other, running after the crimson hunter.
"What is it now, Alia?" Zero asked as he came to a halt. He hadn't even turned to look.
"I have information that we need to talk about, and NOW!" she snapped.
"Whoa, calm down" he said as he turned to look at her. Her face betrayed her panic, and his tone became serious very rapidly. "Tell me what's up, Alia, and we'll see what we can do."
"First off, thanks for the Metool. I removed the camera, and put an actual communications unit in his helmet."
Zero had to cringe at the comment, but kept his face stern.
"Go on."
"Well, about an hour ago, it picked up a stray signal out in the middle of nowhere. I thought it was malfunctioning, so I tweaked it. That only made it stronger. So I kept at it, and I got the message. It was coming from area I-712-45.. out in the middle of the ocean!"
"That doesn't seem right, Alia. How can nothing be sending signals? And where are they going?"
"You think I'd tell you that part without knowing the answer? The signals are coming from above sea level, which means there's something there, and as to the second question… they're going to the Lost Island facility" she answered, pushing the papers into Zero's hand.
With eyes wide, he scanned over them quickly, and looked at Alia again. They both nodded, and bolted toward Signas' office.
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"Look, I just do what I'm told, alright? Which means you gotta do what you're told, or it's my ass."
"Axl, I would, but this is against almost every rule us mechanics live by." Douglas, holding a blueprint of something odd and very complicated, answered smoothly.
"I was told to give that to you by Commander Zero, and he says you have three days to get it done. If you want to complain, take it up with-"
Axl's sentence was cut short by a rapid beep on his comm. unit. He clicked the button and Zero came over before he had a chance to speak.
"Axl! Get up here, we're leaving!"
"Zero, what's up?"
"I said get up here! Now, hunter!"
Axl was at a full run before he even turned the unit off.
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"I want you to take care of this, and make sure Commander X is safe. If it took sheer luck to catch that signal, I want no contact between any of you and this HQ, understood? Who knows what kind of technology these people may have…" Signas said, dropping his gaze slightly.
"Done. We'll make sure nothing happens to the Commander, and you can be damn sure this 'Bass' won't be within 100 clicks of him" Zero retorted. Axl burst through the door just in time to be pushed back out by a shove from Zero.
"Mind telling me what's going on, now?" the young hunter asked impatiently.
"X is in trouble, and we're the rescue squad. Make sure your long-range comm. is off at all times. We're to have no contact with HQ while we're gone."
Axl quickly snapped off the unit, and followed Zero through the maze of hallways to the transporter room. As they traversed the HQ, Axl made sure to take a good look at the place, unsure of if they'd make it back. He always made sure to memorize the place before going on a mission, just in case he'd only see it again in his mind before he got deactivated. The slick metal walls, the break-proof windows, and the feel that hunters twice his age had walked the same hallways filled his mind. The transporter room, containing a simple computer console, and a large platform across from it, was probably the simplest of all in the behemoth HQ.
"The Lost Island facility, and now!" Zero snapped to the operator as he vaulted up onto the platform, Axl on his heels. Within moments, they seemingly vanished into thin air.
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"Zero! What are you doing here?" Salvo asked as a door blew open in front of him.
"Salvo! Where's X? Take me to him, now!" the crimson hunter nearly screamed.
"He's in the med. lab. Down that hall- oh, hi Axl. Ya know what? Just follow me."
It took about five minutes to reach the med. lab, and Zero was more than impatient. He was downright furious to find out his best friend and companion was in a coma, and no one knew why. Salvo explained everything as Zero and Axl stood over X's bed.
"So this guy is a powerhouse, huh? I want to meet him" Axl quirked.
"According to the analysis of his combat training, he could decimate most of the mavericks X has fought in the past within an hour" Salvo replied in an all too serious tone. Axl's expression changed rapidly.
"I don't care who he is, or how powerful he is. He's going to pay if X doesn't come out of this coma soon. I swear to the Creator that he will pay." Zero's face had turned a dark red, and his eyes were now a dark purple color. Neither Axl nor Salvo had seen or even heard about Zero getting this way.
"Yo, Zero. I say we go question this Bass guy, and find out exactly what he's talking about" Axl said after a minute.
"He's been in the computer room for a while now, searching through the history files to see what all he's missed in the last couple decades. I think he's up to something, but no one has caught him doing anything yet" Salvo chimed in.
"Well, I'm heading over to talk to him. Z, I'd really appreciate having you there in case things go sour."
Zero was still intently watching X. As he turned his gaze to Axl, he seemed to be lost in his own mind. His eyes were glazed over, and something about them made Axl take a step back. The blade-wielding hunter stood and walked out the door, not a word spoken. Both Axl and Salvo followed.
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"I do believe it's time to leave this place…" Bass chuckled to no one. He stood from the computer console he was at, and headed for the door. Just as he was about to open it, three bodies came through it toward him.
"Salvo, I see you're still keeping an eye on me. You, however…" Bass stated, looking at Zero, "must be the great and mighty Zero, leader of Special Unit 0, correct?"
The look he'd had a few minutes earlier was now gone, and he seemed to be fine.
"That I am. You would be Bass, and this is Axl. Now that that's over with, let's get to business. Have a seat." The tone was not of a request, and Bass knew it. He promptly took up his seat again. Axl also found a chair, but neither Zero nor Salvo made a move from where they were.
"I want to know exactly what, and why, you did to X" Zero stated bluntly.
"As I told lady Shift and trigger-happy Salvo, I rebooted his old systems."
"That I know. Now tell me the details that you didn't tell them."
"Ahh… Someone knows more than they let on. I take it you know what systems I'm talking about, then?"
Zero's eyes turned downward for a moment before hardening, and returning to meet Bass' gaze.
"No. I don't. But I do know that whatever 'old systems' are in X, they have something to do with his original creation. Since not even Dr. Cain knows about it, how do you?"
"Hahaha… Now you I like, Zero. Right to the point, and even asking the right questions. I know because I know who X originally was. I was created by one of Dr. Light's associates, and not long after X himself had been created. I believe that makes me your elder, Zero."
"You may be older, but I doubt any more skilled. Get on with it."
"Such impatience. Waiting is half the fun, don't you think? Of course not. To the point- X was originally created by Dr. Light not as a warrior, but as a companion. His original name was Rock, and he had a sister, Roll. Quite the lovely family picture. After one of Dr. Light's friends went insane, the lunatic took some of Dr. Light's plans for other reploids and created monsters out of them. They terrorized the town, destroying humans and reploids alike, only to rebuild them and add to their army. Dr. Light had to do something, so he upgraded Rock with a blaster and armor. He called him 'Megaman'. Now that I look back on it, it was a rather funny name, but it was also correct. He seemed to be able to take down all of the … what you would now call 'Maverick' reploids, and even ran the creator of them far from any civilization."
"X used to be 'Megaman'? Now that's something we've got to let him in on…" Axl chimed in quietly.
"Anyway, Megaman was the town's savior, and they praised Dr. Light and Megaman alike. Most of the town funded Dr. Light's research, since the reploids helped make life easier, and as we all know, humans try to make everything simpler so as to be lazier. But I rant. You want to know of Megaman. Dr. Light's old assistant, Dr. Wily, was the culprit behind the outbreak of the original Mavericks. He, as I said, was not killed, but ran out of town, to use an ancient cliché. He returned not too long afterward with a new group of mavericks, this time intent on taking down Megaman first, then ruling the world. It went the same as before- Megaman destroyed the mavericks, and again was praised. However, Dr. Wily was still alive, due only to his adept ability of escape. There were more wars between Megaman and Dr. Wily, some of them including Megaman's brother, Protoman. Wily had stolen not only the plans for his first crew of mavericks, but also the plans for Protoman. He created Protoman as Megaman's brother, in hopes that Protoman could gain his trust, and then betray him when the time was right. Dr. Light caught onto this however, and Megaman ran out Protoman just as he did Wily."
"Wait," Zero interrupted, "you mean to tell me X had a brother?"
"Not had, Zero, has."
The room went silent for what seemed an eternity.
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Ok, I apologize, but this chapter has to be cut short here. I'm lacking for ideas, so I decided to do a background on X, even though I haven't finished it yet. It's coming in the next chapter. Oh, and as for why it took me so long to do anything with this story- I moved, and it took weeks before I could set my computer up again. Then I got writer's block. Not a great combination. Now, I'm back, and things will get violent in this story rather shortly. I apologize again, this time for not responding to anyone who reviewed the last chapter or two. I'm still semi-lacking for ideas, but they seem to be getting better. Alright, hope you enjoy the story thus far, and the next chapter should be up in a day or less. Review this, please! Constructive criticism is what makes me a better writer, and I know you all want that!