Disclaimer: I don't own Megaman Battle Network or any of its related properties. Capcom does. All other characters are the emotional property of the Chaos Coalition.
Author's Note: Well, no reviews...but some of you are responding on the forum, so that's okay. Please tell others about this fanfic, though. Very sorry that this is a day late, but the soonest I would have been able to finish was around midnight, so I figured I'd just wait until I was fully awake to finish the flashback. Enjoy!
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Shroud walked over to stand by Matthias and Irine, who were looking at the wreckage of the CU headquarters. The base had recently been attacked by their old foe, Master Shadow, whom they had thought deleted in their last battle with him. Matthias had been wounded in the struggle, a side-effect of his navi's deletion in Cross Fusion. He was fine, after having recieved some effective first aid from Irine and a day or two of recovery. But he hadn't gotten a new netnavi yet, and Shroud could only assume that he had been scarred more than it seemed.
Matthias and Irine turned their heads from the base as he approached. "Hey, Shroud," Irine said, her face brightening as she saw him. Matthias gave him a slight smile and a nod; his co-leader had been unusually stoic in the past few days. Shroud could understand the feeling. His netnavi had been deleted as well, and if it wasn't for the fact that his data had soon reformed somehow as his new navi Cloud, he'd be at least as upset as Matthias was.
As soon as the proper pleasantries had been established, Shroud looked over at the base. A group of Copyroids had nearly finished the infrastructure, and once the lobby had been fully restored, Matthias could reboot the computer system, Jazz. After that, all one would have to do is edit the building plans, and the metal in the building itself would change to adapt the new plans. But having the Copyroids here would be a great help, making sure that it was done faster.
"Have you met our mysterious benefactor yet?" Matthias asked, looking over at the 20-year old that was supervising the Copyroids. Shroud had to admit that he hadn't. This SH was still an enigma to him, but he had heard a few things about him via e-mail correspondence with the remainder of the Chaos Union. The odd computer system fused into the side of his neck was present, as was his penchant for wearing gray shorts and a t-shirt, despite the chilly winds that the day was bringing.
The personage in question soon walked over once he saw Shroud, and greeted him. "So you're the leader of this Chaos Union I've been hearing about?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," Shroud said, trying to decide whether to deal with SH as if he was a teen, or an adult. SH decided it for him.
"Oh no, I think you're mispronouncing SH. It's more of an ess-aych than a sur." Everyone cracked a smile at that, even Matthias.
"All right then, SH. Now, we're going to need to discuss payment. The team and I have several monetary resources at our disposal, but we'll definitely have to pay in..."
"Hey, hey, slow down. I don't take money for anything like this. I'm solely a Repossession Agent. I'm just testing the capabilities of these things. The fact that your Chaos Union needed a base was just a coincidence. That, and I was curious as to whether you're still taking on members."
Shroud smiled. "Of course. It'll be a pleasure, SH."
"I would certainly hope so," he replied, taking Shroud's hand in a handshake.
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Chaotic We Stand
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Chapter 5: Procellae Intellectus
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-- 5: 39 PM, Subterranean Caverns, Twilight Desert, Neo Arcadia --
The Chaos Union silently made their way through the damp tunnels. They were several hundred feet below the Twilight Desert, and even with evening slowly approaching, it was hard to believe that such an oasis could truly exist. The tunnel they were currently walking down was fairly cylindrical, about ten feet in diameter, which gave a majority of the smaller members room to walk side-by-side while those who had larger forms in Cross Fusion walked single-file.
Shroud was one of the larger ones. Granted, he was nowhere near as tall as Juno was in his full form, but even with his wings folded, it would be a tight fit to squeeze anyone in beside him. He led the group down the tunnel, and looked behind him to make sure everyone was still behind him. They were, and Shroud returned his attentions to the path before them, thinking back to the moment they'd arrived in this cavern.
He'd been the last to drop into the dank caverns, after having somewhat of a heart to heart with Matthias. It had taken him a long time to notice Matthias' attraction to Irine, but after he did, it had made interactions between them…difficult. Shroud could see that Matthias had gotten over the infatuation, especially after he started dating Alysse, but Shroud had always been able to sense the "what if?" he silently harbored. He'd almost forgotten over the years. Then again, he'd had worse to worry about.
At any rate, he'd dropped into the middle of a tunnel exactly as wide as this one, leading in two directions. For a few minutes, the group was unsure of which way to go, until SH had informed them that if they'd be quiet for five seconds, he'd be able to hear if there was anyone alive down here. They were, and several moments later, SH reported hearing something faint coming from his left. Luckily, that happened to be in the direction Shroud was facing, and they all decided to head that way so they didn't need to shuffle themselves around. Now Shroud wasn't nearly as sure. They hadn't found anything yet, and the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel was nonexistent, save for that faint glow around the corner…
Shroud's eyes opened wide and he ran ahead, the others startled. Of course, they couldn't really see the light until after Shroud had taken a few steps, at which point they quickly followed him as well. Shroud reached the corner, turned around it, and came to the edge of a cliff, which he promptly stepped off the edge of. Luckily, he had wings, but he had to quickly catch Raymond's nephew as he stepped off as well. The others managed to see the edge in time, and quickly found the rope ladder that bridged the gap between the tunnel and the cavern below.
"Thanks for saving me, Mr. Taruka," Alistor said, a bit out of breath.
Shroud was a bit more so, the boy's Cross Fused form was heavy. "It's Shroud, Alistor. You're not allowed to call anyone Mister after they've saved your life." Shroud looked down as he descended, a bit surprised at the sight below. Somehow, water had collected in this cavernous basin, and formed a lake, which looked quite deep from first glance. Above the edge was a wooden pier, which led to a metal walkway, which in turn led to the deck of a submarine, of all things. As he landed upon the ground, Shroud noted the metal doors faintly visible in the lake below, faintly surmising that they led to the ocean, and therefore that they must be near the coast.
As Alistor stepped away and began to brush his armor off, Shroud looked over at the others, descending the rope ladder. Golex was the first one down, already heading over to talk to Alistor, and Brian was flying down right above him. Link and SH were currently descending the ladder, and the last two were at the top, waiting for enough space between people to start down. He thought that he'd counted wrong for a minute, but then remembered that he'd sent Chris and Pavo home, and that there were only seven of them now…and he'd forgotten to add Alistor into the count!
"Matthias, behind you!" His second-in-command twirled to face the figure, and Shroud was able to faintly see a look of surprise on his face as their guest attempted to run back through the tunnel. Matthias quickly pursued, and returned moments later, as SH touched the ground.
"Come on, hurry up," Matthias said, his captive reluctantly going down the rope ladder. Shroud wasn't sure this course of action was best, and flew towards the ladder to tell Matthias so before the spy got too far. As he got closer, he was able to determine that the figure was a girl, and a young one at that. She looked familiar, and Shroud was trying to recall where he'd seen her when she turned her head to look behind her, and a shaft of faint light spread across the face of his daughter.
Startled, Shroud floated back down to the ground, and crossed his arms in front of him. He couldn't believe that she'd found a way to get here. While he was a bit impressed with her natural talent for espionage, he also planned to ground her when he got home. Again.
Seija began to talk to her father the instant her feet touched the deck, walking over to him quickly. "Daddy, I'm really sorry, but I just wanted an adventure, like you had when you were my age. And I left an e-mail for Mom so she wouldn't worry, and--"
"What were you thinking?" The words came out a bit harsher than he had intended, but he managed to keep himself from shouting. After all, there was no way to get her back home at this point, so he had to make sure she remained civil towards them, at the very least. "How did you get here, anyways?"
"You left your mission plans out overnight, and in the morning, when I was packing to run away, I saw them there. I knew you'd have to go to the Southern Outpost, so I snuck in and waited for you to show up. Sure enough, you were there, and I just snuck onto your ship after you all boarded. Then, when it started to leave, I got out quickly and followed you down the tunnel." Seija seemed a bit proud of herself, and Shroud couldn't really blame her. His daughter was much more intelligent than he gave her credit for, and he knew that she was smart to begin with.
"That's no excuse. You could have put us all in danger." Shroud uncrossed his arms, but continued to glare at his daughter, although with a bit less anger than before.
"I'm sorry, Daddy. Can I help you on your mission now?"
Shroud sighed. "Seija, you should go back up to the surface. We'll probably need to blow up this submarine, and you might get hurt if you're down here when we do so."
"Shroud, you can't blow up the submarine."
Shroud looked towards the voice in surprise, and realized that it belonged to Matthias, who was walking towards the group. "What? Why not?"
"Because that's what Fefnir told me on the ship. X wants the Vile 5 to think that he still doesn't know anything."
Shroud looked at Matthias incredulously. "Well, that pretty much ruined our day."
-- 5: 44 PM, Forgotten Outskirts, DenNet, CyberNet --
Surgeonman floated about the area, looking at all of the desolation around him. He currently hovered in the middle of what had once been one of the major plazas of Net City, the urban paradise of the CyberNet. A fountain had sprayed water into the air, and decorative hedges and sculptures of brave netnavis ringed the patio, along with benches for netnavis to sit in. It had been among the more beautiful areas in the city. That was over 15 years ago.
Now, that same plaza was in ruins, as was the remainder of what was once Net City. Now known by either its original name of DenNet, the Fallen City, or, for the lingually impaired, N3t Cit33, it was a corrupted realm reigned over by Darkloids, corrupted netnavis fueled by evil. Only one place in the entire server was safe from their darkness, and that was known as Freedom Square. Unfortunately for Surgeonman, the plaza he floated in was not called Freedom Square.
Still, the amorphous netnavi cared little about what might attack him, and began to utilize the Repair and Panel Return chips that he had brought with him to this desolate place. Around him, several pieces of his appendages swirled, sharp blades extended to beat back any viruses that assaulted him. The chips weren't as effective as they could have been, only normalizing the panels instead of restoring them, but it was progress. Eventually, if enough of the darkness was kept from leeching onto the new panels, they could be reformatted, and the city could be rebuilt.
Unfortunately, few people or netnavis cared enough about the Fallen City to help with the thankless task. Most people never even bothered to visit DenNet any longer, and those that did never wanted to leave Freedom Square, and do some good. Granted, Surgeonman wasn't doing it because it was good, either. He just wanted the zenny.
As he worked, a small, two-dimensional window appeared at his side, and his head swiveled to look at his NetOp. "Hello, Peter. How did your negotiations with our client go?"
Through the window, which linked to Peter's webcam, Surgeonman could see his partner frown. "Not as well as expected. He's paid the fee for us to find him ourselves, but insisted on doing the job himself. And with our…personal interest in this matter at stake, I felt that I needed to contact my father with the information. I'm sending him an email now."
Surgeonman was surprised, but managed to keep his features smooth. The only sign that he was rattled was that his appendages twitched a bit, and searched a bit more frantically for viruses to delete, but Peter couldn't see that. "Are you sure that's wise? It's a breach of our contract to notify a target or any of their accessories that they're being targeted. You know that."
"I understand, Surgeonman, but my father knows what he's doing. He made his former CU status public years ago, and he plans on pretending that Shroud has him under mind control, if he has to. He's already laid out the plans for the device, and I'm supposed to start working on it. If it comes down to protecting Shroud or himself, I'm sure that he'll choose to save himself, despite any friendly feelings he may have towards Shroud. The precautions he's already made allow me to take my own, and I don't plan on stepping out of the boundaries of the law."
Surgeonman nodded, (or rather, rolled his cerebral sphere up and down, if you'd like to be specific) and prepared to say something more when a dark tendril slashed through the screen, sending static through it a millisecond before another sliced through, dissipating it. As the screen faded, a female navi was seen beyond; writhing threads of shadow beating back his appendages.
The navi was visibly corrupted by darkness, and her burgundy bodysuit was partially corroded, revealing the data within her frame. A pair of black ribbons extended from her helmet, and the icon emblazoned in the center of her chest was a blood red circle, with a jagged black triangle pointing downwards at the top. A black ponytail could be seen behind her, and she had long nails, which began to extend themselves as he watched.
"Hello, my dear. My name is Malice. Would you like to play?" Her nails now a foot long, and dangerously sharp, she lunged at Surgeonman with her claws outstretched and glinting in the pale light.
-- 5: 46 PM, Subterranean Caverns, Twilight Desert, Neo Arcadia --
Matthias and Shroud sat across from each other, in a small building upon the deck. They were inside some sort of station, presumably meant for guards to watch to make sure that no one entered the caverns. Obviously, the Vile 5 hadn't had either the men or the desire to utilize it. It consisted of three rooms, a sitting room, where the remainder of the group sat, the conference room, where the two of them were now sitting, and a communications room, where one could watch the cavern and inside of the submarine…if it hadn't been disabled. Depressing to know their enemies had at least a little bit of foresight.
"So, as I was saying, this needs to be even more secret than we already planned. The general idea going into this was that we sneak in, find out what they're planning, and get rid of them altogether if possible. But that won't work, because I think that X wants the Vile 5 to attack and reveal themselves." Matthias looked intently at Shroud while he spoke. While his leader didn't have any of the information Fefnir had told him earlier today, Matthias didn't have any idea of X's reasons for giving the order. That was what he was hoping Shroud could tell him.
"That almost makes sense," Shroud replied. Good. It was nice to know that someone understood this. "If we find out their plan, and they don't know we've found out their plan, then we know exactly how to stop their plan, or turn it to our advantage. My best guess is that X wants it to appear that the Vile 5 are a threat to the entire world, not just Neo Arcadia. And if he gets the entire world to turn on them, it just makes global peace that much easier."
"Well, I'm glad you could make sense of it, at least." Matthias checked his watch, mentally calculating the amount of time they had been inside this cavern. "We'd best decide who's going into the sub. You, Alistor, and Link are out for sure, because of your larger size in Cross Fusion, so it looks like the rest of us are going in."
Shroud shook his head. "We don't need everyone to go in. Perhaps just you and…"
"Why, I'd be willing to go, Shroud."
Matthias and Shroud turned their heads to see SH standing in the doorway. Matthias looked over at Shroud in his peripheral, seeing an expression on his face that seemed to match his own thoughts: How long has SH been there?
"Well, then," Shroud said as he got to his feet, "I guess the two of you will go then. But you'll have to be careful." Matthias raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Shroud quizzically. There was something that their leader wasn't telling him, and something told him that it had to do with SH.
"Of course. But I have some troubling news. My son just e-mailed me from the office. Someone's looking for you, Shroud."
"What? Who?" Shroud asked. Matthias nearly answered his question, with the ONB, but something didn't add up. Shroud was one of X's more prominent advisors, and presumably, every nation in the world knew that he was there. Therefore, it didn't make any sense for the ONB to be hunting him down, at least not through vigilante channels, and Matthias said as much.
"It must be someone else, Shroud," he continued. "An old enemy, perhaps?"
Steve shook his head. "I've already checked. All of our former foes are either behind bars or dead, save your brother, Matthias. I can't see him contacting me to hunt Shroud."
"Neither can I," Shroud responded, "but we don't have time to worry about this anyhow. The two of you need to Cross Fuse and get into that submarine before it's too late. Hurry." Matthias and SH nodded and left, Matthias snagging his PET off the counter as he went.
"Shroud doesn't trust me, does he?" Steve asked after they had left the building. Matthias looked at him in shock. SH always was quick to get to the point. "He's not the most subtle person ever. And it's not just me; it's Chris and Golex as well, because we arrived late. Correct?"
To be honest, Matthias wasn't sure. But SH disliked vagueness. Absolutes were easier to work with. "Yes, I believe so. He hasn't verbalized anything to me, but I think that I can still read his body language." SH nodded and slotted his Synchro Chip into his PET.
"I shall have to prove him wrong then," he said as his gray armor began to spread along his body. Matthias nodded in agreement as his own blue armor began to spread along his body, and the two of them simultaneously broke into a smooth run, heading towards the submarine.
-- 5: 49 PM, Forgotten Outskirts, DenNet, CyberNet --
Surgeonman rolled aside from Malice again as her thin ribbons of darkness were sliced apart by his appendages. There was a certain advantage to having your body made up of spheres. It made it easier to dodge attacks. The only disadvantage was that all anyone had to do was severely damage his cerebral sphere and he'd be down for the count. Therefore, it was very important that he defeated this Malice quickly before she figured that out.
The Darkloid herself was in a crouched position, her nails still in their extended form. She watched him closely as his appendages sliced at her tendrils of darkness, and seemed to be carefully noting whether they had any effect on the spheres. Apparently making her decision, she snapped her fingers, and the tendrils moved as one, darting at Surgeonman.
Yet he was prepared, and rolled backwards as his appendages moved to protect him, forming a wall to block the darkness. While the move was effective, Surgeonman could see that the blows had corrupted several of his appendages, and he recalled them, causing them to take the form of two arms and two legs.
"What do you want of me? I have done nothing to you or any other of darkness." His blades all extended as he spoke, those at the ends of his limbs appearing to be more sword-like than the others, which protruded like needles.
"You are attempting to restore our lands. That cannot be permitted." Malice shrunk her nails back to their normal size, and crossed her arms over each other. "If you will leave, and never attempt to restore this server again, I will not delete you. But I have done so to others before you, and I will do so again if I must."
Surgeonman stood there, looking at her a moment. It would be much easier to just surrender. But then again, there was that reward to consider. "Sorry, Malice, but it looks like you'll have to delete me." With that, he quickly used her surprise to cleanse several panels, and she screeched with rage.
"Little boy, you've made a terrible mistake!" Her nails elongated themselves again, and Surgeonman prepared himself to break apart when she charged, but she dug them into the panels instead, a dark blight seeping from her fingers. Surgeonman suddenly realized that he might have made a miscalculation, as the darkness spreading from her fingers was much blacker than the darkness that had existed beforehand. He might have actually made the situation worse.
He retaliated, applying Panel Returns and Repairs as fast as he could upload them, but it barely made any difference. Every time he seemed to be making headway, Malice chuckled a bit to herself, and sharp tendrils of darkness launched forth from the panels he had just gained. She was using Panel Revenge alongside her darkness, and he couldn't fight it for long.
With the last of his strength, Surgeonman seemed to explode, his body vanishing amidst the blades that had been encased within his body. Malice only had time to look up before the blades pierced her, sending her flying into a wall, which she was pinned against. The pain she could take, but not while remaining conscious. As she passed out, small blue and gold fragments scattered about the plaza began to dematerialize.
-
Malice slowly awoke, faintly feeling pain of some sort. She looked around, to discover that she was both pinned to a wall by scalpels and that Surgeonman was gone. Good to know that, even if it did mean that she had to be pincushioned to achieve the goal. Her superiors had been adamant that he be stopped, as the highest of Darkloids had begun to put pressure on their clan, to ensure that their holdings were secure.
Malice gritted her teeth and allowed her dark powers to seep through the blades, causing them to break apart and dropping her to the ground. "Light of heaven, that hurts," she muttered to herself. She could only remember being hurt in such a way once, when she had been torn from her body, and been corrupted by darkness. Her master had told her later that he had never seen someone who required so much energy to be turned. Unfortunately, she had never been a strong navi, and the darkness within her only increased the amount she was able to draw, making her useful, but not powerful.
She knelt there, on her hands and knees a moment, until she gathered the strength to open her eyes. As she looked upon the panels below, her mouth opened wide, and she struggled to her feet. Where before the plaza had been corrupted with darkness, and growing slowly as black as night, now it was nothing more than a thin sheet of glass, through which Malice could see the very fabric of the server. It had not been purified, true, but Malice had never expected Surgeonman to accomplish that. One could only do so much when they were of Balance.
Yet somehow, he'd managed to cleanse it perfectly, wiping the data completely from the server. The Darkloids could reformat it, if they could get a member into Dentown's Central Computer System, but that would take time. Until then, it was useless to them, and Malice knew her leaders would not like that.
She looked through the glass several minutes more, until she felt her master call. He would surely wish to know the results. Malice wasn't looking forward to telling him what had occurred. With a deliberate, yet unsteady stride, she walked through a shadow, vanishing completely.
-- 5: 50 PM, Subterranean Caverns, Twilight Desert, Neo Arcadia --
Matthias crept along the passageway of the submarine, beckoning his companion Steve to follow him. The two of them hadn't encountered any opposition yet, which seemed odd, but Matthias was never one to question good fortune.
As Steve got closer to him, a paper crane flew around the corner, and he caught it, listening as it faintly chirped in his ear. "Hall's clear, and there's voices coming from the third door on the left. Shall we listen at the door, or try the ventilation?"
"Let's take the door. We can't risk getting stuck in a shaft." SH nodded and crumpled the crane in his hand, moving beside Matthias to the door. When they reached it, SH pulled out a pair of ear buds, and Matthias stuck the plug into the door's keyhole, electrically charging it to allow sound to carry. Once the faint sound of voices was heard, they each took a plug, inserting it into one of their ears.
-
The Vile 5 sat around a circular table, discussing their plans. The room was scarcely lit, making it nearly impossible for each other's faces to be seen…exactly the way that they liked it.
"Now, in summary," their only female member, Dr. Lumina said, "we are going to destroy Neo Arcadia's capital city, blame it on the Netopians, and then spur their Sharoan allies to attack Netopia, correct?"
"Exactly, Lumina. After Netopia and Sharo have gone to war, Electopia will surely ally themselves with Netopia, and we can presumably get Nation Z to supply troops to Sharo, presuming Alto is still malleable to your…persuasion." This member was known as Dr. Weil, and he was Omega's NetOp. He still believed his navi under his control, and therefore thought nothing of Omega's recording of the meeting. That would probably cost him later on.
"But it would be much easier to highjack a Sharo satellite." This next speaker was Dr. Gate, a specialist in Copyroid development that had made it possible for Neo Arcadia to supply the devices, at cheap prices. He was not known for his foresight, but was an extraordinary inventor. "Couldn't we simply focus on removing Neo Arcadia? After all, that's our general purpose."
"You're too short-sighted, Gate. A majority of the Arcadians will survive the attack, if only because they were on the Net. They'll just rebuild over the ashes if we do nothing more than destroy their city." Dr. Doppler, on the other hand, had an extraordinary sense of seeing hidden patterns, although this was hampered by the fact that he bordered on insanity. He had lost both of his arms up to the elbow in an industrial accident years before, and the agony of having his new robotic limbs surgically implanted was enough to push him right to the edge of sanity, if not over. The advantage to this, of course, was that his two netnavis, Bit and Byte, could both reside within them, and it eliminated the need for PETs.
"The fact of the matter is, we can't do anything until the treaty with Sharo is signed." Dr. Cain, the leader of their group, was completely hidden in darkness, and nothing could be seen of him. Still, his voice seemed to give one a mental picture of him: cold and caustic. "So, even if one or two of the Chaos Union members inside the cavern do survive, it won't matter, because X has to sign it, or risk decimation." Cain leaned closer to the microphone in the middle of the table, revealing a face that seemed old, yet youthful in passion. "Hear that, my friends inside the submarine? We're not here, and you're about to die."
Cain laughed as he watched the camera's field of view above, laughing at the frantic panic of Matthias and SH to escape their demise.