Chapter 22 - Amassing Humans of War

It had been many years since the city of Neo Tokyo had ever seen any type of danger, and today wasn't going to be any different. Neo Tokyo was built in honor of the Tokyo in the age before 23XX, where the population of Reploids was diminished to double digits, to zero in the eyes of the humans. Tokyo had been destroyed back then, before then actually.

Back in 20XX, the era of Light and Wily, was when the real destruction of Tokyo began. The battles between Mega Man and Bass had decimated the city, and rarely was there enough time between fights to rebuild the lost architecture. It seemed that Tokyo was doomed for failure at the activation of those two bots.

Tokyo can still be found, beneath the amazing and futuristic architecture of Neo Tokyo. The remains of the original Tokyo are the foundation of Neo Tokyo, for it was built atop the ruins of that once grandeur city. Which is now nothing more than rubble and ruin, but a group of people have found a use for such a setting.

The lights within the room flickered a few times, before coming back on. That had been the third time in the last five minutes that the power had gone out on them, but neither of the two figures had cared. Their discussion continued whether the lights were on or off.

"The idea of moving from Tokyo is completely redundant. The Kitetsu was formed here and will be staying here, Jakku."

"The origin isn't the point! Tokyo is ruins now! We need a place where we can actually DO things, Smoke!"

Jakku and Smoke had been arguing for roughly twenty minutes on the topic of moving the Kitetsu from the ruins of old Tokyo to somewhere more fitting for them. They were a very powerful, though small, group of men and needed a bigger place to show that they weren't just a group of punks out for revenge on the world.

These two men were a few of the last remaining members of the Kitetsu outfit. Aside from them, there were three other members. Axl Renegade, X2, and Contra Kaede Phillips. All three of them were out of the base doing something mission-like that was not really required, but more on the 'should-be-done-at-some-point' list of things.

Contra's massive form strolled through the back alleys of Neo Tokyo, though the back alleys were just as bright as the main streets were, they were still where all the criminals and thugs hung out. His black hair, striped with crimson strands, swept backward as a strong breeze spun through the alleyway in his direction. The blue gem in the center of his chest gleamed as a light just above his head sparked to life. It had been ages since Contra had been in this area and he almost jolted from the sudden action, but he had spent years controlling his emotions so that the times he was caught surprised were rare and far between. The sounds of gunfire crept through the space beneath the barred door where the light had come from.

'Gunfire? Time to put these old muscles to work.'

Contra's foot swept upward fluidly, the muscles within his legs meshing into a masterpiece of finely tuned and efficient power. The flat of Contra's boot made contact with the door and it shuddered underneath the force. Contra's right arm swept forward rapidly and ripped straight through the thick metal, tearing a hole within the titanium. He crawled in through the hole he had created and stared through the darkened hallway before him, the sounds of gunfire coming from farther within the structure. The flashes from the gunfire bursts lit up the hallway as Contra strode forth, his hulking form almost touching the ceiling.

'You would think they would notice someone ripping a hole in their backdoor..'

Axl reached his hands up and tugged on his shirt, loosening it a bit. He was tired of being cooped up in this box, but he really didn't have a choice. Contra and he had been sent out to find a mob lord that was dealing out high-caliber weaponry. Not only was the Kitetsu going to stop him, by any means necessary, they were also going to take any of the weapons they felt would be an asset to them.

'Damn that Contra. He should be in this box, and not me.'

Axl slammed his foot against the wall of the box, and then bit his tongue, closing his eyes. He opened his eyes and moved his left hand to the side of the visor slanted over his gaze. He tapped it once and the visor activated, data flying down the left side of the visor, displaying images and scans of everything he stopped them on. He tapped the visor side once more, and his vision went to a dark red, displaying his vision in infrared. He scanned the outside of the box, checking for any signs of the guards coming in to check on the noise, but he saw nothing.

'Phew. Contra better hurry his ass up and get in here and open this box.'

X2 was fully clothed in human clothes, his entire body covered up by the baggiest attire that Smoke could acquire for him in the time span of an hour. X2 was wearing extremely baggy black pants and a dark blue shirt, loose enough to hang away from his metallic chest. He was wearing a black cowboy-type hat, that was pulled down over his ravenous black hair, which was a wig.

'I feel so stupid in this outfit.'

X2's job on this mission was to observe the front door of the mob lord's hideout and keep a lookout for any new customers, and take a picture of each one with the camera that Smoke had installed into his left eye. All he had to do was activate it and then blink. The camera was capable of taking pictures as fast as X2 was able to blink.

He watched as a group of men in black suits strolled right up to the door and walked in. His left eye flapped insanely quick for the few seconds that they were walking to the door, he clocked in fifty-nine pictures in roughly eight seconds. He jerked his neck to the side, a metallic crack resounding from his neck. He sighed and fell back against the wall behind him, a look of boredom etched upon his facial features.

'Contra and Axl get all the fun while I'm stuck as the photographer. What kind of sick joke is this!'

Smoke turned away from Jakku for a moment and tapped three fingers across an old keyboard that was lined with dirt and dust. A file had been transmitted and he accepted it, seeing as how it was from X2. He opened the file and found the new photographs that he had taken of a group of people entering the mob lord's place. Both he and Jakku stared at the screen, noticing the emblem on the mens' suits, Globotech's insignia. Smoke scoffed loudly at this.

"Those bastards are going to purchase weapons and then go and sell them off at their stores to kids."

"Kitetsu's involvement seems imminent at this point, am I right?" Jakku asked with a smirk, already knowing.

"Hell yes it is. We're heading out."

"Finally!"

The town of Wei-Hai-Wei was a one-horse one, down on one of the eastern peninsulas of China. It had no man-made roads, only the dirt was your road through this small town. A breeze swept through the small town, but no one noticed, because no one was outside. Everyone that lived there was inside, the news of Reploids had spread across the world, even the smallest towns in China knew that Mavericks had returned.

A young man sat in the middle of a room filled with books, half of which were sprawled open on the floor at his feet. A book was open in his lap as he was teetering the chair on its back legs, his brown eyes quickly scanning through the pages, flipping to the next page. He teetered a little bit too far back in the chair and it slipped out from underneath. He went crashing to the floor, the back of the chair cracked against the floor and shattered, with him falling right on top of it.

"Ow.."

He got to his feet and dusted off his denim jeans, wiping away the splinters from the broken chair. He picked the chair up and threw it out of the room, grabbing a new chair and setting it back where the old one was. He got into the chair and began teetering again, with the book in his lap once more.

"All these books and so very few on how to make Reploids.. Cody, you're never going to get a Reploid clone of yourself. Poo."

He grabbed the book by the spine and threw it across the room, watching it slam into the opposite wall and fume dust all over the cedar logs of the wooden house. He set the chair back down on all fours and got to his feet. He set his hand on his chin and walked back and forth slowly, pondering this predicament.

'This house has been in my family for AGES.. Since 20XX, the age of Mega Man and them. And not ONE of these books has anything in them about making Reploids! I want a Cody Clone! I want one! And I want one now! This is unfair.. I'm going to die because of Mavericks and I won't have my own Cody Clone to keep me alive. This sucks.'

Elsewhere in the large country of China, on the same peninsula as Wei-Hai-Wei, was the city of Qingdao. This city was notorious for its museums containing the relics of the past. And it was in one such museum that was on high alert. Something had been stolen, and that something was the original beam saber used by Sigma in the beginning of the Sigma Wars back in 21XX.

Ramzal gasped for air as he ran. He had to run, and he had to run fast. His legs were pumping, the denim pants he was wearing were one of the worst articles of clothing he could have worn for this type of thing. His red shirt was drenched with perspiration and his silky silver hair was shimmering with sweat. He grit his teeth and forced himself to run faster, the sounds of cop sirens reached his ears, and he practically threw himself down an alley and into the shadows, but that didn't stop him. He quickly rolled to his feet and kept on running, trying to put some distance between himself and the cops.

'Why would I steal? And from a museum for that matter! They just think I did it because I have long hair! They think I'm just a thieving punk that goes out of his way to steal things from museums! Dammit. Come on Ramzal, run faster, they're gaining on you.'

He didn't question his own thoughts, and he wasn't about to stop and give himself in and prove that the cops were right and that he had in fact stolen the relic from the museum, but he wasn't going to stop just to prove them wrong either. He wasn't suicidal. These cops would have shot him before asking him any questions, he knew the police chief personally, and that man was out for his head, all the time.

The police station was a block away from the museum that had recently been robbed. And between the time it took the museum sensors to go off and the cops to head out to find the criminal, Police Chief Vuittonet had already known who the culprit was.

"Ramzal. Find him and bring him in. He's our man. Catch him at all costs. Dead or alive."

He knew that he was going to the extreme on this one, but it was about time that rapscallion was brought in on a charge. The little punk had gotten away too many times before, and Vuittonet wasn't about to let him get away for the umpteenth time. The Qingdao Police Department would finally catch a big time criminal that had been stealing ancient Reploid-based relics from museums all across China.

'Time to call in some help.'

Vuittonet knew the perfect candidate to help the police catch Ramzal. Vuittonet grabbed for the phone and dialed in three numbers, each one representing a different area of town. The phone rang twice before someone answered.

"Yes, hello. This is Vuittonet. Put Ran on the phone."

"Booyaka Vuittonet!"

"Ran, I have a job for you."

"But who is going to watch the bar?"

"I'll get someone over there immediately to take over for you. I need you to track down a kid by the name of Ramzal."

"I can do that!"

"Good to hear."

Ran headed out of the bar, his blonde hair shining lightly in the sun. He pulled his white coat about his shoulders more and headed down the tavern steps, turning and running away from the museum that was only a few minutes from his bar. He glanced down alleys as he went, making sure that the kid didn't try and sweep out and escape through a manhole or up a fire escape.

'Vuittonet has been after this guy for a while, but I know he's not a bad kid. Ramzal checks in on my bar every now and then. He's a regular too, tips me well! He's not a capitalist, I tell ya!'

Ramzal bolted out of the alley and ran straight into the barkeep of his regular tavern. "Ran!"

"Booyaka Ramzal!"

The smaller man quickly got to his feet and dusted himself off. They stared at each other for a moment, before Ramzal grabbed Ran's arm and dragged him down the alley beside the bar. He lead him in through the back and planted him on the back steps of the bar.

"Ran.. I'm in trouble, deep trouble."