Disclaimer: Long story
short: Capcom owns Megaman X.
Author's Note: This piece of
literature is centered on Vile of the Megaman X series. Reviews are
welcome. I am lazy, so if I accidentally abandon this story, email me
or something telling me to get back on track. Suggestions welcome, as
is criticism.
---
Chapter 1:
Awakening Road
The sky will be forever red in the business
district of Able City, as the fewer and fewer individuals traversed
on the awakening road, a once-bustling highway. After Sigma's
relentless assault from the missile base, most of the highway was
destroyed, and due to the lack activity, it became a den for rogue
mavericks and reploids who opposed humans. Lately, however, there
have been more skirmishes between Maverick hunters and rogue
reploids. As a result, Sigma, a recognized leader among mavericks,
announced a rebellion against the human oppressors. Fighting broke
out between the hunters and the Mavericks, and one of the many common
battles had just taken place. An ex-hunter branded maverick named
Vile defeated B-Class hunter Megaman X, but before Vile could finish
X off, an S-Class hunter named Zero saved Megaman X. Vile now stands
on the awakening road, contemplating deep thoughts...
"X, X, X! Why does everyone like that guy?" A deathly voice almost whispered out of the purple-metallic visor, as the lean robotic figure, merely average in physical stature, cursed out again. Armed with a shoulder cannon that can switch between high-intensity plasma and paralyzing orbs of electrical energy, as well as hidden weapon armaments in his limbs, the menacing reploid was opposed by few. However, the few that did opposed him were the elite of the maverick hunters, and he could not afford to be cocky like he was a few seconds ago.
"Whatever. When the time comes, they'll all know the truth." Speaking to himself, the borderline-maverick left the highway, abandoning the trail of destruction he had left mere seconds ago. When his fearful figure was engulfed by the dusk's horizon, two surviving mavericks emerged from their hiding place.
"Who was that guy, and what's his problem?" The first maverick to speak out was a reploid of average stature and build, taking on the basic humanoid form and carrying a plasma rifle strapped on his back. He would've looked like a natural reploid, had he not carried the mark of Sigma on his chest which confirmed his allegiances. The robot who he was talking to only stood in disbelief.
"Are you serious? You don't know who that was?", The second maverick only stared at his oblivious friend. Unlike his friend, the second maverick had a very non-humanoid figure. In fact, many individuals (Reploids, Mavericks, and Humans alike) argue if its line of robots had a figure at all. Hailing from the infamous 'metool' robot line, its physical appearance could only be described as a "black ball with a hat, legs, and gun for a mouth." Of course, that did not hinder the surprised expression that appeared on the met's face.
"If it's not a woman, I really don't care. Besides, that guy seemed pretty self-centered and cocky." As the humanoid robot bantered on, the metool noticed something on the ground that was left behind by the purple-armored maniac that was present a few moments ago. Through some strange form of electro-magnetic manipulation (or amazing footwork), the metool was able pick up the strange trinket.
"This thing seems to be a data cube...'Ex-Hunter Vile - Personal Log', huh? I guess Vile dropped it." The met looked over the electronic device, not sure what to do with it exactly. If it was returned, Vile might think the metool stole it, and would, in turn, kill the metool. If the met kept it, Vile would eventually find out, and kill the metool anyways. "What do you think we should do with it?" The metool knew that its partner was incapable of giving an intelligent answer, but there was no real harm in trying anyways. Or so it thought.
"He has a personal log? You mean like a diary?"
The humanoid maverick's imagination took hold of him. "Only women
keep those things around nowadays. Maybe Vile is really a girl. I
mean, all she could do is put on a helmet, use a voice changer, and
no one will be the wiser. In fact, that's probably her secret! Give
it to me!" This particular
comment would forever
scar the metool's memory life.
"Are you crazy? Or just stupid? There is no way in hell Vile would be a girl. Did a stray piece of shrapnel collide with your head, or are you normally this retarded?" The metool was quite offended to say the least. Even if its mental circuitry wasn't horribly scarred by this fool's comments, if Vile found out about this statement... The metool shuddered at the thought.
"So are you going to give it to me or not? If you don't, I, Halberd of Sigma's elite cavalry, will scrap you!" Obviously Halberd the humanoid retard was quite set on getting Vile's personal information. Apparently, Sigma's elite are very dense. This sudden outburst, however, did not intimidate the metool in the slightest. Instead, the metool simply crawled under its met hat, closed its eyes, and went to sleep.
Halberd was pissed to say the least. "Why you worthless piece of-." Before he had a chance to finish his remark, though, Halberd was interrupted by a very menacing reploid. Although one could not tell, due to the helmet, the reploid was thoroughly pissed off.
"You have one chance. I dropped something. If you've seen it, you will hand it to me. If you don't, you will die. If-." Just as Vile had interrupted Halberd, so too did Halberd interrupt Vile. He was convinced that Vile was a woman, and forcibly glomped Vile.
Suffice to say, Sigma lost another soldier that day.
"Hmph. The world gets closer to insanity every day." Vile's monotone voice convinced the metool that it wasn't noticed by Vile, and its prediction came true when it heard Vile's footsteps fade. Slowly peering out of the sanctity of the invincible hat, the metool confirmed the absence of Vile, and quickly dashed off, hoping to never run into that homicidal reploid again.
---
'Well, that was a bad day. Not only did I not destroy X, I lost the only thing that was worth my time.' Vile thought to himself as he walked into his latest "home", an abandoned warehouse lacking any redeeming quality. His life had been like this ever since he was freed from Hunter base by Sigma. Not that he was complaining, since he was a free robot. Besides, his building had a working recuperation capsule, albeit old, and a communications device so that he could contact and taunt Sigma from time to time. A light source was not needed, since his visual preceptors were more advanced than most other reploids. However, none of these trivial items mattered as Vile drifted back into his thoughts. 'To make matters worse, Zero's declared a personal vendetta on me, blacklisting me from almost all weapon dealers, and I ran into some defunct sigma fanatic. Not like my day can get any worse.'
Tossing his helmet aside, Vile rested his head on an obsolete mattress discarded by the old owner of the warehouse. Now that he thought about it, the warehouse was pretty used, but there were no real reasons why the previous owner would abandon such a place. He could not blame himself, since the place was empty when he got here. From what he could discern, the makeshift living quarters were sufficient for humans, since the building seemed to run on its own generator. Nourishment could be provided by a water well located mere footsteps away from the front door, as well as the marketplace two blocks down. The more he thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. It all came to place, however, when he heard the noise.
The sound of a female shrieking in fright pierced the room. Peering outside of a shattered glass window, Vile noticed a group of reploids harassing a female reploid. Normally, he wouldn't care for the outcome, but he was already annoyed by the events of today. The event taking place outside further irked him, and he really could not stand it anymore. Not even bothering to put on his helmet, Vile got up off of his resting spot and charged up his shoulder cannon. Taking only a moment's glance at the situation, Vile had already discerned the likely ring-leader of the maverick gang. All he had to do now was wait for his gun to charge.
She was taken by surprise, and had let out a scream. As the female reploid looked at her assailants, she realized the futility of her situation. At first, she only saw the two humanoid mavericks in the dim light of the waning sun. Both of the mavericks were identical in terms of appearance, as they seemed to be the same worker-class reploid model. The dull green metal was hardly threatening, so she paid no attention to them. However, she soon saw that there were much more than two, as she was soon surrounded by a group of those mavericks. While most of them were armed with crude weapons, a single one stood out. Weilding a more modern, but still outdated, plasma rifle, the maverick stepped forward and stared at his female captive.
"You picked the wrong place to take a walk." The maverick grinned as he leveled the barrel of the gun to the reploid's face.
She immediately knew her life was going to end. She had finally gotten a desk job at Hunter HQ, where she could help maintain peace, but her hard work had been for naught. She did not expect to be jumped by rogue mavericks who had no intention of keeping her alive. As soon as she finished this thought, the maverick sharply kicked her aside. A small cry was all she could muster, as tears welled up in her eyes. The mavericks laughed among themselves, delighted by the reaction they recieved from their newest victim. This little noise stopped, though, when a large reploid appeared behind the mavericks.
"What's so funny?" The voice of this new arrival seemed to instill fear into the mavericks, as each one became deathly silent. The reploid who had just appeared was quite different from the rest; Its body structure resembled that of a snake with arms and legs, and it was covered with bright red plating. However, the most notable feature of this reploid was the insignia carved onto its chest. T108. She instantly remembered the news report she had seen on TV earlier today.
"This is an important message from Maverick Hunter HQ that all citizens in Sector B3 of Able City should be aware of. Earlier yesterday morning, a security class reploid had been found to have had some problems in its programming. However, before the reploid could be properly contained and reprogrammed, it escaped. Witnesses have reported that the reploid-gone-maverick has created a small gang. Please be advised that should any citizen see a red, 7 foot tall, bipedal reploid resembling python, engraved with the serial number T108 on its right chest, they should immediately contact the nearest hunter facility. Be warned that the maverick still retains combat functions, and since it used to be a rank-A security droid, should be considered very dangerous. Thank you for your cooperation."
After swatting one of the mavericks aside, the maverick security reploid stared at his latest prey. After gathering up a bunch of old defects and forming a gang, it had finally established power. All that was left was to abuse the power by forcing the weak to submit. Focusing all of his attention at the unconscious female reploid, he did not hear the faint humming of a charging energy weapon. When he finally did notice the noise, a burst of plasma burnt a hole into his chest as he fell to the ground lifeless. Staring at their fallen leader, the remaining reploids stood frozen in fear.
The wall was already in poor condition, so Vile felt no regret about breaking the entire thing down. After firing his plasma cannon, Vile kicked the remainder of the wall down. He then walked right in the middle of the group of reploids that encircled the seemingly unconscious female reploid. With the sunlight already absent from the horizon, much of his features were swallowed up by darkness. The only distinct features that the helmet-less maniac had were that of his eyes. His right eye was violent red glow, while his left eye hummed a more silent blue. Despite this, however, no one could deny the glare that emanated from Vile's eyes.
"Uh...Hey, you there! This is Hell Python's area." One of the generic mavericks called out at Vile in a doubtful tone. While Vile did find it amusing that the maverick tried to enforce his late commander, Vile could almost admire the blind courage and stupidity that belonged to these robots. Almost. "If you think we're going to let you-." With a swift kick to the head, Vile destroyed the maverick before it could finish its sentence.
"You annoy me." Those were the only words that the mavericks could hear before being completely overwhelmed by Vile's unexpected attack. With just a few well-placed kicks at critical areas, Vile was able to take down fully half of the mavericks without difficulty. By the time he had finished with his latest target however, he already realized the rest were gone. The remains of reploid parts, shattered by the velocity of Vile's attacks, lay strewn about the alley way. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like he destroyed anything worthwhile, for every single piece of scrap seemed to be as low quality as the mass-produced worker reploids themselves. Vile only took a short moment to gaze on his destruction, as he often did. 'Well, that was pointless. That one shot to the snake was worth more than five times this many worker reploids. I can't believe I spent so much time pounding on scrap.'
Vile only looked at the female reploid for a few seconds. She looked back at Vile for a second, then collapsed. Vile assumed she was either unconscious or dead. 'Either way, she's not my problem.' Vile's thoughts were pretty nondescript as he entered the new door he had made in his wall. 'Note to self: find new house...or fix wall.'
