-Aftermath-

Chapter Six - "Killing Machines"

A loud moan escaped down metallic hallways. It was dark, damp, and fairly cool there, wherever 'there' was, anyways. Lifting his head up, Snyde attempted to rub his eyes, but found that he couldn't, as he was currently shackled to the wall. Trying to break free from his imprisonment, he pulled and tugged to no avail, until he finally dropped his head back down. Apparently, he figured, he was still being affected by that blasted virus, the one Flachion had given him...

"...Flachion!" he finally realized that he must have been in his domain. Despite the heaviness that it gave to lift his head, he sharply turned to the left and right. "Where is he! Where is he!" Still nothing came, and he settled down. He couldn't believe that he had been so stupid as to have been defeated, and it didn't matter of the fact that he wanted to murder that cocky little...

"So, you're awake," he heard his voice ring, and his head shot back up. He could see him walking down the hallway, the shadows silently leaving, making him more visible. He finally stepped through the doorway, with his usual confident smile showing. "How do you like it? One of the world's few workable airships..."

"Spare me," Snyde spat, growling under his breath. He wasn't in any mood for games. "What did you do with Quisar and Gloria?"

"You wound me, Snyde," he startled him, knowing his name. He decided to amuse him. "After you fainted, Quisar couldn't stop screaming 'Snyde' this, and 'Snyde' that. It wasn't too hard to make the connection."

"You still have answered my question yet," he was met with a dagger touching his neck. He was slightly scared to gulp, thinking that It would allow his nemesis to 'accidentally' allow the knife to slip.

"You are in no place to be asking such things, my friend," he spoke grimly. Withdrawing his weapon, he began to pace the room. "Those two are fine. I let them be... since I have need of your assistance."

"Heh, you have some damn nerve, asking for my help after what you've done!"

Flachion turned his head to gaze darkly at Snyde, and then resumed pacing. "Fool, if you were to do this for me, I'd simply let you go, forget about Gloria, and be on my merry way." He faced him again. "It's quite simple really."

"Bah..." he lowered his head, not being able to take the strain on his neck. "What is it."

With a push of a button, the shackles snapped open and Snyde crumpled to the floor. Staggering back up, he grabbed Flachion's hand for support and then leaned on wall, panting heavily.

"And with that, you are now in my service," Flachion mused himself. "Try anything funny and you'll regret it. Come."

The two began to walk down the cold, damp halls. While Snyde was at a loss for where he was going, he knew that if he continued to follow Flachion he would eventually find the way. They eventually came to a dead end, with only a ladder going up. Hopping on, Flachion, motioned Snyde to follow, and he obliged, clamouring his way up. Opening a hatch, the two made their way outside--to the very top of the airship. It was breathtaking, actually. They must have been hundreds of miles up in the air. Even Snyde himself could easily allow himself to be accustomed to such a method of traveling, to rule the skies...

"Flachion, what is it that you want me to do?" he questioned, breaking out of his trance. "We were trying to kill each other a little while ago..." Just what could it possibly be?

He got a small sigh, and then a chuckle. "You really don't know?" He saw the blank look in his eyes. "Very well." He started to walk toward the edge of the airship, almost seeming suicidal. Pointing past a small forest, Snyde could see a large, factory-like building, releasing black smoke in the air. "There, that factory, is mass producing... something big. I want to figure out what it is... but I don't think I'll be able to make it alone."

"So, you want me to go in there, and figure out just what's going on?" Snyde didn't quite understand. Seemed like a waste of time to him. In fact, he would get that point clear. "Seems like a waste of time."

"Fool!" Flachion barked, but his voice was getting rather shaky. "If you weren't so stupid then you would know that... the Goldwall's are behind this."

"The Goldwall's?"

"Yes... the Goldwall's..." Flachion nodded solemnly. "They are, without a doubt, the world's richest family... Not even the effects of the Elf Wars hurt them... Lately, however, they have been buying out Reploid factories, reasons unknown. But it can't be good."

"So... we're going in here on a hunch," Snyde rolled his eyes, still obviously not buying anything. "Sounds like fun. When do we go?"

"We go now," he answered. His gaze broke when he turned to go back below. "Come, the sooner we get this over with, the faster you can get out of my face. Right?"

Growling, Snyde walked at a brisk pace. Sliding down the ladder, he went past the top floor, all the way down to the very bottom. Finding Flachion seated in front of a small control panel, he leaned up on a wall, his arms folded. He could hear the sound of typing, and felt the ship slightly turn. What the Hell have I gotten myself into... Snyde wondered to himself. The Goldwall's? Buying out Reploid factories with no apparent reason? Motives like that weren't good, but heck, he still didn't know if he was doing a good thing. After all, he was teaming up with someone who had kidnapped an innocent woman. Not to mention he had uploaded a virus into his own systems. Oh, well, he was also planning to go suicidal one day.

Landing the airship in the trees a little ways away from the factory, the unlikely pair of Reploids set out. While the trip itself through the jungle was relatively calm, they had to swing around from behind to avoid the security cameras. The two mused at the general stupidity of guarding only the entrance, but still stayed on their toes, as they then took a running start and wall kicked on up, until they reached the end that had a door. Checking for any traps, they gave each other a small nod of confirmation before pushing the door open. Gently. Flachion took the lead as the two crept down the dark hallways. It was almost like a labyrinth, except they hadn't reached a dead end nor a trap... yet. It seemed to take an eternity to go from point A to point B, and Snyde soon lost track of where exactly they were going, and how long they had been at it. Then, going through another door, the two jumped back in surprise at the sudden spring of life that the machinery around them produced. Whirring noises and things that made 'kachink' sounds mixed together to create a small beat in the atmosphere.

It wasn't soon after they heard a voice from beneath them. Carefully peering over the edge of a railing, they spotted a couple of men talking about business of some sort, and they hid themselves. It was hard to hear from all of the other noise, but Snyde was certain he could make out almost everything...

"So, professor, I am taking it everything is going smoothly? You should know that tardiness is not smiled upon here," a young man, with light blue hair spoke. He was wearing a lab coat, and had his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, of course not Mr. Goldwall! We're working as fast as we possibly can, while still providing you the best of the absolute best!" the professor almost choked on his words.

"We are working hard twenty-four seven to bring the Reploids to completion," another piped in. "It won't be very long until you have what your father could only dream of. But... I still fear that we will need a few more days... The production of creating over hundreds of thousands of these manufactured Reploids is astronomical, to say the least."

"First off, call me Straight. The name Mr. Goldwall is not my title," he stated calmly, "Second, allow me to be the one to tell you that your wish on the extra days will be granted, but you'd better hope that it doesn't reach the ears of my father. He is not so gracious as I am. If he were here, he wouldn't mind just not only firing you, but to make sure that all of your loved ones suffered from, what he likes to consider, 'selfishness.'"

"Mr... Straight, we also would like to say that the modifications on Test Subject F has been completed. We are about to begin analysis. Would you do us the honor of joining us...?" the other scientist interrupted.

"I would, unfortunately I have far too much work to be done. Perhaps at a later date, that is, if this subject proves to be another failure," he said sympathetically.

They continued to chat for a while longer, but started to edge themselves away, making it impossible to continue listening in. Snyde and Flachion both sighed and nodded to each other before running down the platform. There was something here, and they needed to find it fast.

"So, that was one of the Goldwall's?" Snyde decided to ask.

"Seems like it was the son, Straight Goldwall," he answered. "He is the most well-known of the family, but even then there is something quite strange about him..."

Making their way ever downward, they eventually came to a clearing. Test tubes lined the the walls. Some were empty, others... well, other had something that didn't look that normal. It was clear that these were more than likely test subjects A-E that... well, didn't make survive. Trying to ignore the creatures, they went through the next room, which was filled to the top with Reploids. It didn't take much to noticed that the room was filled to the top with Reploids. They were all deactivated, but they were still Reploids, nonetheless. Nothing was all that special about them; in fact, they were all exactly the same. They were on the puny side, something that not even robots in the 20XX era had. They lacked any real armor, save what was on the gloves, boots and a gladiator-styled helmet. There were no visible weapons nearby, so it was lead it suspicion on just what there purpose was.

"Just what the heck are all of these things?" Snyde finally asked, not being able to handle the questions. "Those test tubes... and these Reploids..." He took one by the head lifted it to face him, trying to find something that wasn't there. "They look like Reploids, but they sure as hell aren't your normal kind..."

"That's because they're manufactured. That makes them all the same." Flachion stated all knowingly. "As for those test tubes... no clue." Something then caught his eye. "Hold on sec." He made his way to the back, and opened another door. "Ah, a computer. Excellent." Sitting down, he started it up and began to search for any information on the elusive Reploids. "Hmm, I'm going to have to check the computer logs for some info..."

He began to scroll through some files that Snyde would never be able to comprehend. "So, your a criminal and a computer genius... Right..."

"Bah, I'm not a computer genius... I just learn the basics. And I'm not a criminal," he punched in a few things on the keyboard.

"Then what the heck do you call yourself?" he snapped.

"I like to consider myself a lover of passion and romance..." he trailed off, getting a glare at Snyde. "Ah, here are the... logs? What the heck?" Opening a file, it simply stated that it was deleted. "Bah, what a nuisance... surely there's something still intact?" He started checking every file, always getting the same response. Snyde decided to make himself comfortable by propping himself up on the wall, watching the computer frustrate his 'partner.' It was until the thirty-second log that he managed to find something.

August 24th, 22XX

:Unfortunately for us, all of our research had finally proven to be a waste. The money that had been put into our funding for so many years had finally gone down the drain, as our company had been sold the Goldwall's. Apparently, the motives behind this are currently unknown, however, we do plan to find out at a later date; presumably sometime next week. Now, before we are sold out completely, we are going to terminate any unfinished Reploids and AI programming, since it was deemed to be useless by their designs. It is a great burden that we must all carry, for everything must be restarted from scratch. We can only hope for the best.:

End Log

Letting the information sink into their heads for a short while, Flachion eventually closed off of it and went back to searching. Snyde only pondered on this. Reploids and AI programming... terminated? That was like killing a baby while it was still in its womb, to him. No matter what the Goldwall's intentions were, that was just wrong, and he would see to it that they learned a valuable lesson about life.

"Damn it, it seems that whomever deleted the logs did a terrible job," Flachion sighed. "And the one that we found didn't help us any. We need to find out the truth..." He clicked open another and closed it. "Snyde, I hope your keeping a lookout for anyone that could be coming."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Right," Snyde mumbled, and turned his head slightly to look out. It wasn't before long when Flachion said joyfully that he found yet another log.

October 12th, 22XX

:Yet another experiment failed today, at 14:33:50. Both Test Subjects A and B have been officially dubbed "destroyed" and we will now begin with Test Subject C tomorrow. We are certain that with the Glochtorate that the Goldwall's have been able to provide us, along with changing the feeding and napping regulations, the results shall differ greatly. More info will be given at a later date.:

End Log

"Glochtorate? What in the world is that?" This time it was Flachion asking the questions, as he rested his elbow on the table and stroked his chin. It was very interesting to him... after all, it seemed as if these test subjects were almost human beings... yet the end results look nothing like the sort. However, if this... Glochtorate... had some unknown effects, it could quite possibly end up leading to such a stage... of de-evolution? It hurt to think about it. "Well, best not worry about it for now." He silently closed off of it.

"Flachion, go ahead and search for what those Reploids over there are," Snyde urged him. While all of this was interesting, those Reploids were bugging him. It didn't event take that long this time, as Flachion had soon realized that the next one that was left in tact would never be right next to the other last one. Definitely a crappy job.

December 16th, 22XX

:The Goldwall's ideas have shown great success in both Reploid design and AI development. While the original model, the Fighter series, was slow, clunky, and insufficient with only an average IQ of 185, the Goldwall's model, labeled the 'Rebel' series, has surpassed all expectations. While the design may seem to be lacking in defenses, studies have proven that it increases overall speed and agility, making it much more lethal in combat. It's AI level is also outstanding, averaging at 240 IQ points. They are definitely what the Goldwall's wanted them to be: The perfect killers. All that is needed now is to find a way to cover their low defenses, and we will be ready to prepare for Operation Heltz.:

End Log

There was silence between the two as the log was closed out. Flachion stood up, while Snyde lifted himself away from the wall. They managed to figure out that the Goldwall's were mass producing Reploids to... attack Heltz, a Reploid-only city that had yet to merge with Neo Arcadia? Obviously, they had to stop this... people would die.

"Flachion, I hope you know what to do next..." Snyde spoke silently.

"Yeah... Let's do this. Now," Flachion agreed. The two made their way back to room housing the 'Rebel' models, only to hear footsteps. Hurriedly, Snyde grabbed Flachion and threw him behind a set of the blue and white Reploids, followed by himself. They watched as a shadow creep down the stairway, until a Reploid showed the connection with it. Snyde's eyes widened at just who it was.

"Well, well, what-do-we-have-here?" Jackle O'Riely whistled at the Rebels. Just like Snyde he took a good look at one of the faces, and then dropped it back down. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it were the Reploids that the Goldwall's had been putting money in to! That's a lot of money right there!"

He continued to pace back and forth, keeping a close eye on the front line. "The perfect warriors? Hah! I could easily kill them all right here with my power!" He pointed his buster at one of their heads, and then mouthed 'Bang.' Laughing at his own joke, he went down to the end and punched one square in the jaw, causing it land on a conveyor belt going down. "The fools! You aren't needed in this world! You'd be better off spit shining my boots!"

He started to walk off, laughing maniacally. Snyde clenched his fist harder, resisting the urge to run on over to him and resume bashing his face in with his sword. Getting back up, he noticed a piece of paper on the floor. Walking over to get it, he unfolded it and read 'You'll pay for what you did to me.' Slightly annoyed, he crumpled the paper up, and tossed it into the darkness.

"So, who the heck is that guy?" Flachion asked.

"Bah, some idiot named Jackle O'Riely... He's obviously pissed that I killed off most of his gang and ended up getting him arrested.." Snyde waved the question off. "It wasn't like it was my fault. He actually had me on the ropes..." It was then, that he started to hear a small beeping noise. Flachion heard it as well, as he turned to Snyde with a questioning look. Shrugging his shoulders, Snyde just said "I dunno what it is."

"No, not that..." Flachion muttered. "That sound is strangely familiar to that of..." The beeping began to quicken. Spinning around, he spotted a bomb attached to the helmet of the Rebel that O'Riely had grabbed. "SHIT!"

In the blink of an eye, Snyde found himself being shoved out of the room right as an explosion occured, sending him right off his feet. Debris fell as everything began to shake loose, and alarms began to go crazy. Over a loud speaker, a voice could be heard, repeatedly shouting "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Begin lockdown immediately! Repeat: Begin lockdown immediately!"

"God damn that O'Riely..." Snyde clammered back to his feet, searching for Flachion. He was nowhere to be found. "Damn it! Can anything possibly go right!" He felt the ground below him slightly shake, and he new there was no time to waste. Racing back up the stairs, he spotted some guards blocking the way. Obviously they were a part of what was left of the Fighter series, given their armor design.

"Wha? Hey! You!" one yelled. "Stop right there!"

"Grr, not now you IDIOTS!" Snyde screamed, pulling out his sword and slicing them perfectly in half. The screams that they emitted while their upper halves went hurtling to the floor below the platform echoed in his mind, but he had no time to feel sorry for them. He continued to race down the halls, taking care of whomever he bumped into, which were of course, Fighter Reploids. He wasn't exactly certain where he was going, he was face to face with the Jackle himself.

"O'Riely! You bastard! You killed Flachion!" he screamed.

"Hah hah hah, silly little Snyde, you should know that I'll do whatever it takes to get my revenge. Even if it requires for me to break into the Goldwall's territory..." O'Riely gave him his cheap, sickening smile.

"Cut the crap!" he pulled out his sword. "I'm going to do what I should have done back at Vurious!"

"Hah! You mean how I had you on the ground?" he began to taunt. "In that case, bring it on!"

Snyde swung his sword down hard on O'Riely. While it seemed to hit, in truth he hopped out of the way at the last second, and brought his cannon and started to fire rapidly. Not being one to fall for the same thing twice, Snyde started to swipe at the blasts, knocking them every which way, and began charging. He was shocked to find Oriely had then grabbed his blade and kicked him in the gut, causing him to lose his grip. On the ground, he watched in horror as Oriely held it by one hand.

"Say... this is a pretty nice blade you got here, Snyde," he sneered while looking down upon him. "I reckon you wouldn't mind if I used it for a bit!"

With a backflip, Snyde was out of harms way, but now he had to deal with his own sword. He started to dodge blows to the best of his ability, but he eventually began to wear and started to get nicked up. Jumping back, he clutched his arm as it was just cut, and black, gooey oil had begun to ooze from it.

"Damn it, I hate repeating the same thing twice..." he cursed under his breath.

"Heh heh, with this sword... I can't possibly lose!" O'Riely exclaimed, smiling wildly. Leaping into the air, he smashed the sword down onto the cold floor, watching Snyde scurry away. "Yeah, that's right. You'd better run, coward!"

Pushing the door open, Snyde noticed the sun was shining on his face. He had apparently made it all the way outside, but it still didn't help the fact that some crazy guy who happened to have his sword was still chasing after him. With that in mind, he bolted to the right and turned to hide himself behind the building. He was going to do something crazy, and that was to grab his sword from such a pathetic hiding spot. A few seconds later, O'Riely had come out, searching for him.

"Snyde? Snyde, where are yoooou?" he called out innocently. He saw him run, but didn't see where he went. Taking a few steps forward, he earned a swift kick to the face. Sprawling backwards, he dropped the sword and put his hands over his face. "BITCH! Agh! God damn you! I hate you!"

Grabbing his sword, Snyde took it and slammed him upside the head with the flat of his blade. Getting sandwhiched between two very sturdy pieces of metal, O'Riely took a few steps back, clutching his head in agony. Still, that crooked smile of his never left his face.

"Hey, listen Snyde, I was only kidding. See?" he put his hands up and opened them, and dropped a bomb before him. Exploding, it released a large cloud of black smoke, and he disappeared. All that could be heard was his voice. "Sucker, let's just see you survive this!"

In the blink of an eye, a beam of energy wizzed past Snyde's head. Getting into a defensive position, Snyde put his sword up to his face as he heard more gunfire, but this time it was to the side of him. Turning, he barely was capable of deflecting a few shots, which bounced off and flew in different directions.

"Ow!"

Running through the smoke, he went face to face with O'Riely's buster cannon. O'Riely smiled smugly. "Got'cha." Before he could do anything, however, he just collapsed, a look of pain planted on his face. Snyde spotted three knives in his back. Jackle coughed, senseless. "Damn you... is that the only way you can possibly beat me? Getting someone else to do your dirty work... Just you wait... I'll have my revenge..."

"Snyde, c'mon already!"

"Flachion? You're alive!" Snyde stood there, speechless.

"No time, let's just get outta here!" he said while he made his way through the forest. In a matter of minutes, the factory had turned to a pile of ruins, and the two had reached the airship. Before he could get on, however, Flachion closed the door in his face.

"Flachion! You open this door now!" he yelled from the outside.

"I'm busy Snyde. I don't have time to help you out anymore," he responded.

"What are you talking about! I was the one who helped YOU!" he accused. "Just how the Hell am I supposed to get out of here alive!"

"Meh, figure it out yourself."

"Flachion! FLACHION!" Snyde almost felt like he was about to explode. The airship then took off, leaving Snyde in the dust. Flachion could only watch Snyde from the video camera as he stormed off. He bowed his head apologetically.

"Sorry, Snyde, but I've got other things to do, and you'd only get in my way..."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Straight Goldwall had a small smile on his lips as he watched the videotape at his families estate. He watched it many times, but he just couldn't get the images out of his mind. The mysterious black Reploid... who had teamed up with that Flachion to infiltrate and then destroy a small part of the Rebel soldiers... and then fought his way through the Fighter guards... He watched as the camera followed him all the way outside, and then bashed the other Reploid, Jackle Oriely, upside the head. It was quite interesting, not to mention entertaining. While the others were just as equally dangerous, more or less, he needed to keep an eye out on him.

Pulling out a folder labeled "Insurance," he thumbed through it with his brown gloves, and then stopped as he pulled out a sheet of paper. On the very front was a hand drawn picture of Snyde, and underneath stating that he would never sit still long enough for a picture.

"Snyde the Shadow... Interesting," he finally said, quite happy with his find. "I do believe I shall do something." With that, he left to go make a phone call...

To be continued...

Author's Notes: Hmm... been a while since I updated this little piece. Don't get me wrong, I COULD have, but I like to limit myself to posting a chapter only when I complete another. I still have plenty in reserves, in case I run into a major writing block. For this chapter, it sets the start of the main focus, and things shall only thicken within the next one. Will the Rebels (do not mind the odd similarity) destroy Heltz? Or shall Snyde prevail? And what about that Straight Goldwall? Not to mention Flachion and the reappearance of Jackle O'Riely.