Chapter 9 - Rage Of The Machine
Shoryu kneeled comfortably atop the closest building to the Hunter HQ, his blue eyes skimming over the entrance to the ruined base, parts from the destroyed force Sebastian had sent were littered all across the terrain in front of the base.
'Anode did that.. He's the only one with a powerful enough buster.. At least.. He was the only one at the time of the Reploid demise..'
The Maverick closed his eyes and sighed lightly, setting his hands lightly upon the twin lances at his waist, twirling his thumbs slowly around the ends of the metallic shafts. He opened his eyes, and while grinning beneath his face mask, pushed off the rooftop. Mid-jump, he activated the thrusters in his boots and air-dashed along the sky, dropping steadily.
Anode and AX walked side by side, watching as Panic and Piro an on ahead, pretending to be fighting, shouting out the names of their attacks before making the motion for them, sending 'blasts' at own another. Lizzy strolled along behind Anode and AX, glancing back and forth along the collapsed road, her thoughts on other things.
"Samurai Cutter!"
"Redemption Wave!"
"Shut up the two of you!" Lizzy burst out, glaring at the two of them.
Panic and Piro both stopped, straightening up at the sound of their commander's voice, glancing at each other. They stood stalk still as Anode and AX walked past, a stealthy smirk on AX's lips. Lizzy stood in front of them, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"There will be no more of that. You understand me?" The two of them nodded quickly. "That's good. Now stop fooling around and scout ahead. We're almost to the base, but we don't know what this Sebastian might have waiting for us."
"Yes ma'am." Piro's visor slid down over his eyes and he turned and ran across the road, leaping up the side of a building to the rooftop to get a better view.
"Of course, Commander Lizzy." Panic pushed his helmet back down over his head and turned and ran off, passing by both Anode and AX, leaping on to a broken lamp post and jumping on to the roof of one of the smaller buildings, his hand morphed into his gatling buster.
Lizzy walked over to Anode and AX, who smirked down at her. She shook her head, giving them both a deadly glance and walked on ahead of them. AX laughed lightly, following after her, closely followed by a smiling Anode.
Shoryu landed on a shifting metal panel and quickly leapt once more as it slid off it's peak and slid down amongst the rubble. He landed a few feet in front of the pit where the metal slab fell. He looked toward the massive metal doors of the HQ, nodding lightly as he made his way toward it. As he drew close to the door, a few feet away from his destination, the sound of voices caught his attention. He twisted his head to the side, his eyes widening, and then dove out of sight.
"You work much faster than I can, Shift. I appreciate the help."
"It's my job to help you, Faern. That's why I was sent here."
Faern put the finishing touches on the core of Blues, as Shift stood at the head of the lab table containing the red robot. As Faern drew the welder away from the robot's chest, Shift lifted Blues away from the table and inserted a few memory chips into the back of his neck, allowing the few seconds it took to process all of the data, and then removed them.
"We're ready now, doctor."
Faern slowly walked around the tables and set the welder down on a small trolley. He turned and nodded to Shift, who laid Blues back down against the table and stepped away from them both. Faern picked up a control from the trolley at his side. He tapped a code into the pad, before inserting his thumb into the glowing blue area. As he lifted his thumb away from the control, the two robots on the table shook slightly. Mega Man lifted his head from the table and sat up, setting his hands to either side of his helmet, shaking slightly. He twisted his legs off the table and landed on his feet, opening his eyes and turned to Shift and Faern, "Where.. Where am I?" Blues hadn't moved yet, but at the sound of Mega Man's voice his body shifted. He leaped to his feet on the table, spun and aimed his buster at the human and unknown Reploid.
'Who are these two? And why is my chronometer spazzing out? This time can't be right.. It can't be.. No. I refuse to believe this! I HAVEN'T BEEN DEAD THIS LONG!'
Panic leaped across the gap between the buildings and landed on a roof of a brick house, his footing slipping slightly on the wet red stone. He walked forward slowly, his gatling aimed before him. He noticed Piro's position on the opposite side of the street, his sniper rifle drawing over the street slowly, waiting for something to appear so that he could shoot it. Panic's attention returned to himself as he heard the sound of someone skipping up the side of a wall. He ran to the opposite side of the building, but before he got there, a jolt of electricty shattered his reality and sent him sprawling across the rooftop, splitting the 'rail' on the opposite side and sending him crashing to the alley flooring.
Shoryu smirked lightly as he flipped over the side of the roof and landed in a crouch on the brick roof. He laughed lightly, setting his hand to his face mask to keep it from being heard by the Hunters down on the road. His head spike spun back around into it's place, after twisting around to fire the electrical attack it could produce.
'That Hunter was extremely weak.. I hope that's not the best they have..'
A shot rang out, and Shoryu flipped to the side, the plasma shot ripping through the roof, forcing it to crumble. He landed on the side of the hole and leaped upward, another blast splitting the air at his side, almost hitting him. He glared at the Reploid on the rooftop across the street.
'This one will die slowly.. I'll make sure of it.'
"Lizzy!" Lizzy set her hand to her comm. unit, staring up the street. "Panic's been hit. We have Maverick activity."
"How many?" She waved for Anode and AX to catch up. "A single unit, took Panic with one hit, I believe. Melee-unit, I believe. I should be able to keep him at bay until you three arrive."
"Keep it up, Piro. Avoid injury!" Lizzy turned to face the two male Hunters with her, a dark grin on her lips, "He hurt one of my units. I'm going to kill him, don't even try to stop me you two. Or I'll have to split you apart as well, you got it!"
Anode smirked, nodded and activated his foot thrusters, exiting their presence rather quickly. AX quickly followed, his beam saber in hand and activated, the azure blade creating a small aura as he dashed after Anode. Lizzy grinned darkly and whipped out her baton, activating both sides of the axe, spinning it around in front of her as she quickly followed after them.
Shoryu's arm morphed into his buster as he leapt from the brick roof, multiple blasts emitting from the end, tearing through the house that Piro was positioned on, but never hitting him. Shoryu landed into the ground with a massive thud, dashing forward before Piro could get another shot off. He leaped from the edge of the sidewalk, slamming into the side wall of the house, firing a shot straight upward through the ceiling. He turned and dashed straight back out of the house, the spike on his helmet spinning around to face before him. He twisted in his dash, coming to a stop facing the house. A jolt of electricity spiraled upward, wrapping around Piro's form, sending him flying backward across the roof. He turned to see three other Hunters beginning to arrive.
"Hello Hunters.. Welcome to my nightmare.."
AX came crashing down first, his saber hitting nothing but the street as Shoryu leaped backward, his buster forming and firing straight at him. Anode appeared in front of AX, whipping his double-ended saber through the blast, canceling it out with the electric end of his saber. Shoryu growled, but dashed to the side as Lizzy leaped over the two of them, swinging the axe for Shoryu's head, slamming into the ground and spinning the axe out in front of her.
Shoryu snatched the twin beam lances from his waist and leaped over Lizzy's axe, sweeping both blades for her face, but she leaped backward away from the attack. He landed where she was just standing and dashed to the side, drawing the two blades into an 'X' in front of him at AX, who couldn't avoid it quick enough and he went spiraling backward across the street.
Anode slammed his saber down in front of him, swinging it quickly. Shoryu drew one blade upward and caught the plasma end, spinning the spike around to the front of his helmet once more. Anode swung the electric side of his saber into the electric jolt, catching it inches from him, the current trying to draw him into it.
Lizzy slammed her shoulder into Shoryu's side, sending him crashing into the middle of the street, but he immediately flipped to his feet, his spike sparking with electric current, before launching a jolt at Lizzy. She leaped over it and brought her axe down upon Shoryu, who tried to evade, but the axe cleaved through his left arm, removing it entirely from his body.
"GRAH!" Shoryu yelled out in pain, leaping away from Lizzy and her axe, sparks showering away from his arm.
"Get back here, Maverick!"
Lizzy quickly dashed in for revenge upon her team members, but Shoryu slipped to the side of her axe swing, slamming his still able hand into the middle of her baton, the shower of sparks raining upon the road as her axe deactivated. Shoryu leaped toward Lizzy's still dashing form and slammed his foot down into her back, sending her crashing into the pavement. Shoryu stood upon the downed female Hunter, deactivating the beam lance and setting it back to his waist, his hand morphing into a buster and aiming toward Anode.
"Give this message to whoever's in charge.." Anode's buster aimed back, as Shoryu continued speaking, "I'm going to kill all of you."
Anode's buster went off, but Shoryu had already began his retreat, escaping through a nearby alley-way and vanishing from sight. Anode turned his gaze to the sound of footsteps behind him, AX joining him at his side, sparks leaping from the cut in his chest panel.
"Stupid damn Maverick.."
Anode smirked and helped AX over to where Lizzy was slowly getting to her feet. She coughed loudly, reaching for her ruined baton and returning it to its holster. She pushed herself to her feet, dusting off the carbon rubber suit, multiple tears in it across her mid-drift and legs.
"Remind me to kill him harder for ruining my axe, that bastard.."
The three Hunters turned their attention farther down the street, watching Panic limp toward them. But he stopped and waved for them to come to him. They walked over to their fellow damaged Hunter, who's armor was split in half and his helmet was missing.
"I got felled in one god damn shot.. Dammit.." Panic wiped the blood trickling from his lips, turning his head as Piro emerged from the rooftop and dropping down beside them all.
"Hey.. At least we all lived.." Piro said optimistically.
"He has a point." Everyone turned to look at the only non-damaged member of their little group; Anode.
"Shut up!" They all cried in unison.
Shift's body created a hole in the middle of it as Blues' buster went off, creating a small hole in the wall behind him. Shift fired off a piece of himself that clogged Blues' buster, shorting it slightly.
"Dammit.."
Mega Man set his hand lightly on Blues' shoulder, which got Blue's attention. They stared at each for a moment, before Blues morphed his buster back into his hand, throwing the glob of silver goo back at the silver Reploid, who absorbed it back into his chest. Mega Man turned and looked at Faern and Shift, clearing his throat slightly.
"Anyone wanna tell us what the hell is going on around here?"