Mark of Man
Chapter 19
Chaos is rejecting all you have learned, chaos is being yourself.
"You really are something else." She heard it before she was even fully aware of what was going on around her but her eyes flickered open and she groaned as she felt the spikes of pain in her chest.
Harsh light burned her eyes and she lifted her hand to cover her face. She.. Was somehow still alive. The pain confirmed it, but the light… Where was she…?
"Easy X, I didn't spend three weeks of almost around the clock service to keep you alive just for you to go crazy and die before you heal up."
Turning her head slowly, she blinked away the light spots and stared at the now familiar Lieutenant. Her face was taunt, dark splotches resided under her eyes and her face had a few new wrinkles.
One of the downsides to being a human, you had to deal with aging.
"Lieutenant Bublick?" She asked slowly, having trouble believing it.
Why wasn't she in a cell? She'd clearly gone full maverick. Confusion must have been on her face as the woman chuckled a little and shook her head before taking off the sily white hat and setting it next to her computer on the desk.
"The world's been changing… As have you apparently. According to Hunter Commander Zero, the two of you are evenly matched now." She blinked at the revelation.
She was as powerful as Zero…? The commander?
Carlie carried on while ignoring her surprise.
"That's not to mention the fact that Mavericks are terrified of you now. Not only did you face their leader head on and had Vile not interfered, you'd have won outright, but for whatever reason, they seem to think that you're the Maverick of all Mavericks and pointed directly at them." Rokko gave a small nod.
As long as Sigma was still alive, she would be pointed at the Mavericks that he controlled. A small smile formed on the woman's lips but she pressed onward despite that.
"And you're even called the 'Goddess of Destruction' by them. High Command isn't about to ignore that sort of potential psychological warfare."
Rokko blinked and tried to get up but Carlie placed a hand on her chest and lightly pushed against her.
"Down girl."
Damn it. She sighed but allowed Carlie to push her back down onto the cot.
"They're recognizing psychological warfare against reploids gone maverick?"
Carlie lifted her hands up and shrugged.
"Apparently. It flies in the face of the official position that Mavericks are merely irregulars that had a programing failure and need to be put down for the safety of the people."
It most certainly flew in the face of that. Hypocrisy of a grand and twisted scale.
"Once you're back on your feet though, it'll be the last time we talk Rokko." That… Surprised her more than almost anything else but the woman simply smiled.
"The Maverick Hunters are undergoing drastic restructuring due to Sigma's rebellion. Apparently, just in case, there aren't going to be as many humans on base, but security is going to be ramped up drastically. Probably by cameras and the like. After nearly six thousand humans died in the initial bombing of the Irregular Hunter HQ, Eurasia doesn't want that to be repeated since that's a sizable military force to lose so quickly."
A sizable military force that could be used against the Hunters if needed. Yes, they'd lose the instant reaction and deployment ability against rogue hunters, but they couldn't be ambushed if the Hunters didn't know where they were.
"As for myself? I'll be seeking early retirement. I've had enough of the fighting. I'm not sure I'll get it, but with the Maverick Hunters being the primary military organization, I think I've got a decent chance, mop up operations or not."
You didn't even fight. Coward.
Still, she had patched Rokko up more times than she'd care to admit so she couldn't be entirely hard on the woman. Even if she was a coward and gave up far too quickly. Slowly relaxing she closed her eyes and let her hand fall back down to her side.
The next few days passed in relative quiet as Carlie worked on her and continued running checks. However, as the third day ended and midnight passed, Zero slipped into her tiny recovery room.
"Hey beautiful."
"...Commander." Zero rolled his eyes before he walked over to the desk next to Rokko's metal examination table and grabbed the stool that the human tended to use while she was here.
"What would it take to get you to call me by name?" He asked seriously.
She turned her head to face him and looked at him seriously.
"If you'd stop hitting on me that'd be a great start commander. I don't know what romance is and I don't want to know." Zero gave a small nod before he reached out and placed his hand over hers only for her to pull away and so his hand slid back down to his knee.
"...I… Look X, would I like to have a relationship with you? Maybe. Most of the time though, I don't even notice I'm flirting. Does it excuse it? Not entirely, no. I'll try to curb it for you if you promise to start using my name. I'd rather us at least be able to be friends."
She looked away from him and turned her head to stare at the opposite wall.
"Friendship doesn't seem to work very well for me."
"...Yeah, he was a good reploid. No… He was a great reploid. I don't want to replace him."
"You can't pull off his tone even if you wanted." She replied firmly, causing him to chuckle.
"Yeah, I figured as much. Look, we're going to be working together for who knows how long. At least until this entire mess is cleared up. You're far too powerful to not be out there hunting mavericks, and I'm the commander of the entire operation. Of course I'm going to be out there fighting and if there's a big cell or something I'll need to know that we're on the same side and page."
Rokko let out a short breath before she turned to face him.
"I was trained to be a shock trooper, to fight alone and die when my usefulness wore out." Zero grinned a bit and shook his head.
"Then becoming so powerful that you could take Sigma on one on one with a gaping chest wound and still win shouldn't have been in the plans. Power has consequences…" He trailed off and she tilted her head at him.
Unfortunately, thanks to that damned medic, she was chained to the bed so she couldn't get up and move around.
"They wanted to just let you die at first. 'Too much of a threat!' they said."
Rokko just nodded a little.
"...Sigma said something similar."
Zero's eyebrows rose.
"So that's why he bombed the prison area. Killing you must have been a prime priority."
She paused, part of her wondering if she could tell him about… No, best to leave that hidden since he didn't seem to know about it and if they did learn of how much of a maverick she'd become…
"...Speaking of Sigma… Something happened to him." Zero tilted his head and looked at her with an expression of extreme disinterest.
"So what? He's gone now."
She shook her head slowly.
"That's the problem. I don't think he's actually gone."
"X, his body went nuclear after you blew off his head."
"I think he's violated the law and uploaded his consciousness to a digital format. Before I passed out he told me that I wasn't the only one growing more powerful and that he was that his body was a mere shell." Zero frowned thoughtfully.
"Are you sure you didn't imagine it? You were in a bad state after all."
Rokko managed a tiny shrug, unsure herself.
"I don't know for certain. I could have been hallucinating. I know I've been obsessed with Sigma for way too long that it might have been my mind trying to keep a target for me to hunt." She admitted slowly.
"But you doubt that." Zero rose from the stool and with a tiny tap against it, rolled it back to the desk.
He began to pace at the foot of her bed, his hands behind his back and frowning thoughtfully.
"If that's the case, he'll probably be planning to take you out as soon as he can. If his body is just a shell and he's become a digital wraith or something, it's going to be damn hard to actually terminate him. We'll need evidence that he's actually digitized and connected to the web before we can request that the net be scoured for his data and erased."
Damn it, why wouldn't the humans just let them do their jobs for once without getting in the way?
Zero's agitated pacing continued for a few minutes before he exhaled and walked back to Rokko's side.
"Until we're sure of his final status, it's best to assume the worst. Keep an eye out when you're on future missions."
She nodded simply and rubbed the bridge of her nose slowly with her left hand. Being able to get off this exam table was going to be a relief.
"...Ah, right. I forgot because of the Sigma talk but I just learned that Eurasia has authorized escalation of reploid technology."
Escalation…? They were going to upgrade reploids?
"The theory is that with stronger hunters we'll be able to take out the remaining Maverick stragglers in a few months at best, so they've opened up a bunch of new facilities to build and deploy a higher class of standardized hunters. The generic hunter soldiers are going to be about forty percent stronger than the last generation and they're authorizing R&D of new super reploids to be initiated as a new generation of A Class Hunters."
If the government had the plans under wrap and the Mavericks lacked the resources… Yeah, that'd help mop them up much quicker.
Still… Just how much stronger would the next generation of warriors be?
"Any idea how powerful they're supposed to be?" X asked and Zero gave a small shrug.
"Dunno for sure, but it sounds like they're gonna be able to give us a run for our money at least."
Her eyes widened and she stared at him.
"Are they insane? Even Sigma wasn't built with that sort of specifications. If this generation goes Maverick… I don't know if we could stop them."
Zero nodded a bit before he grinned.
"Well, it'll mean that you and I will have to try to stay ahead. We old timers have to stick together, right?" Rokko rolled her eyes.
"Speak for yourself. I'm still not even a year old in actual experience yet thank you."
Zero rolled his eyes.
"Sure thing baby X."
"...Shut up." Her intention to get him to be silenced failed miserably as he started laughing instead.
"You're a pain you know that right?" She asked and he just nodded a bit.
"Yup. Comes with the territory of having been a former Irregular myself." Rokko's eyes snapped to him and her eyes widened.
He was what? And he was so open about it?
Zero shrugged a bit.
"Y'know Garma? Apparently, while I was suffering from the crazy I took his entire group out. That's what made Sigma so interested in me back then. Not proud of it, but at least I'm not a raving lunatic anymore."
Rokko tried to sit up only to curse as she felt the straps that were secured around her chest and legs protest and she settled back down.
"...I wondered what happened with Sigma after that mission. He and I talked about it before he went to face you. Apparently you did a number to him since he was in some serious need of repair after that." Zero rubbed the side of his neck awkwardly and coughed to clear his throat.
"I've had the experts run scans to make sure that whatever drove me insane is gone and it looks like whatever it was, it's completely cleared out." He shifted a bit awkwardly, a foot tapping against the floor uncomfortably.
"...I told you this despite knowing how dangerous it is because… X, can you promise me something?" She furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at Zero.
"If I lose my mind again… Can you end me? I don't want to be a slave to insanity again. It's bad enough being a slave this way but… To lose my own mind too?" He shook his head, causing his blond hair to flow gracefully over one shoulder.
"If I lose control and become a maverick… X, promise you'll kill me. You're the only one I can trust with this." A knot formed in her throat and she stared at him, struggling to comprehend the request he'd made of her.
"Why would you ask me to…"
"Kill me? Because you're the only one that can. I just… I can't bear the idea of being the mindless abomination that did the things I did ever again." Reluctantly, she gave a slow nod.
"...I hate you Zero."
"Thanks, I'm sorry to have placed the burden on your shoulders but you're really the only one I can trust with this."
Rokko looked away from him again and scowled faintly. Damn it… Why couldn't he have entrusted this with anyone else…? She took a few simulated breaths to try to calm herself and undo the knot that had formed in her chest.
"...Hey X?"
"Yeah?"
"Last few updates. Promise." She sighed before forcing herself to look back at him, scowling a bit.
Why couldn't he have just filled her in all at once?
"So, obviously the humans aren't happy with the final casualty reports. We lost something like twenty five million people thanks to the war, the concentration camps and…" He trailed off, unsure how to say the words.
"...The bombardment of the city from Storm's fleet?" Zero mutely nodded in response.
Almost half of all civilian casualties had been because she couldn't stop the attack in time. Her stomach knotted anew and she felt… Uncomfortable.
"...Yeah, that. They're passing all sorts of reactionary laws and High Command initially wanted to scrap you, but your victory over Sigma and the fear you inspire in the Mavericks was enough to make them hesitate." She nodded, remembering her earlier conversation with the Lieutenant.
"Unfortunately, you're still on thin ice so they decided to keep your potential authority down to a minimum. So… You're going to stay a B class huntress, despite being one of the best. Sorry." She shook her head faintly.
"It's fine. I don't want power over a unit anyway." Zero covered his mouth with his index finger and knuckle to try to conceal his faint chuckle.
"I'll keep it in mind when setting up the future hunter units but no promises."
Rokko just glared, causing him to laugh again.
"I should let you rest though." He laid a hand on her shoulder and she shifted a bit, pulling away from him.
His hand slid off of her shoulder and he withdrew, leaving her to her thoughts once more.
A few more days passed as her body was finally able to finish the crucial repairs needed to survive and soon she found herself ejected from the bleached blue and white repair room and on another air transport to the new Hunter HQ. Unlike her first time when she took an airship where the winds screamed across the desolate tundra, this time, it was silent and beneath her, the quickly rebuilding capital of Eurasia, Abel City.
Somehow, despite it being at the heart of the war's opening acts, the city had mostly survived intact. The skyline superhighway where the provisionary HQ had been established was cleared of the hunter supplies and heavy equipment littered the streets beneath it as they tried to repair the roadway's many gashes and wounds.
She frowned as she identified a series of mechaniloids that were doing… Something to the road with their industrial-grade laser tools. What, she didn't know exactly. Apparently, cutting holes in the road was repairing it? Shrugging aside the thought, she turned her attention back to the interior of the craft and leaned back into the bulkhead of the craft.
Closing her eyes Rokko crossed her arms, and did something she had grown used to having to do, but still hated: waited. Another long, grinding hour passed and at last, the craft touched down on the base's landing pad and she opened her eyes again.
Stepping out, she ignored the rush of wind from the engines behind her that caught her hair and sent it flying around her wildly as she lifted a hand to block the sun and looked at the base from the landing pad.
...Only two buildings? The smaller of the two was heavily reinforced with metal barriers, wiring, and armored plates protected the sides of the building. By all accounts the building's exterior was hideous and more akin to a bomb shelter than a normal facility. Across from it, a vastly larger facility had been constructed. Unlike the first that seemed designed to survive a direct hit from a nuclear bomb, this one was of a simple duracrete build. Also bland. A far cry from the last hunter HQ…
As she observed, noticing the lack of windows to the two buildings, she noticed a black armored hunter in front of the larger of the two buildings. Frowning faintly, she walked towards the figure and as she approached and the turbulence from the aircraft faded, she ran a hand through her hair, returning it to rest behind her head as it was supposed to.
Near the entrance of the base, she finally got a good look at the woman. Her armor was filled with sharp contours, sharp spikes and a palette of color. Black dominated her armored frame, true, but like X's nearly monochromatic color scheme, she stuck out. A black primary, a white secondary, and silver accents made her stick out vividly. Turning to face her, the female hunter gave a tiny wave and grinned. Despite her eyes being a crimson red, they were somehow soft and gentle.
"So you're X. I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to meet the woman that's got the Mavericks in such a tizzy." Her grin remained and she offered X a hand.
Rokko simply stared at her hand for a few moments before she spoke.
"And you are?" Her hand dropped but the cheerful smile remained.
"A class Huntress Eris. I used to be part of Eurasia's Western Division until I was called out here to the new central authority." Her hand went to the back of her neck and rubbed it lightly, causing some of her black hair to shift.
Rokko nodded a little bit.
"B class Huntress Rokko X." She was aware that apparently, Eris knew of her already but… Best to stay in the confines of what was expected of her.
Especially since she was well aware that she was probably in very, very hot water with Eurasia now. (After the disaster over the city…)
Eris just smiled warmly and shook her head a bit again as he hand dropped from the back of her neck.
"From what I've been hearing the two of us and this 'commander Zero' will be working together to try to finish the rebellion." Rokko raised her eyebrows at the comment and Eris just smiled cheerfully.
"You don't believe me? Not a surprise really, but I was built during the waning days of the war and considering how powerful Sigma was proving, they wanted me to be a backup since things were going downhill so quickly."
...In other words, someone built her to combat Sigma directly, didn't they? Rokko nodded a little.
"So… What's your primary weapon of choice?" Rokko asked as she shifted and started to walk around Eris to try to enter the building.
Eris raised her left hand upward in front of her and a single metallic spike of about 15 centimeters snapped out from a contoured groove in her gauntlet. Rokko tilted her head. An unsharpened spike? How could that be threatening?
"I use impaler heat rods. I've boiled tungsten with them during the testing period." Rokko's eyes snapped to the innocent looking rod.
Boiled tungsten? She took a half step away from the rod and Eris laughed a little awkwardly.
"Obviously, I don't tend to go that extreme. We really don't need the surface of the sun on the planet unless we've got no other choice. 6000 Celsius might melt through about anything, but that means it'll melt through anything." Including things really close to her was left unsaid.
"I assume you were built to withstand that kind of heat."
Eris nodded cheerfully.
"I could take a dip into a volcano if I felt like it and come out just fine." Technology was advancing and at an accelerated rate due to Eurasia's short sighted decision.
Would she complain about Eris being there to help crush Sigma's forces and hopefully make it easier to find her enemy? No. But… If they didn't act fast enough and the Mavericks adapted too…
The arms race would begin.
Not to mention that whatever body Sigma gained next it'd undoubtedly be made with far more power… She shook aside the thought and simply started to walk towards the doors and as they slid open, Eris began to follow.
"So, want me to show you around?"
Rokko shook her head faintly but noticed the near pout of the other huntress out of the corner of her eye and exhaled.
"...If it'll stop you from pouting I guess."
...Her freedom was still far from a possibility, and she was once again enslaved to her role as a huntress… And yet… Something had changed. Perhaps something within herself, perhaps something with the world, or perhaps both. Even after the fight with Sigma, she had more questions than answers.
But beyond all of that, the hate that continued to rage bubbled just beneath the surface, waiting for the next opportunity to drown the world in hellfire.
AN: YES ERIS HAS ARRIVED. YES! AT LAST! You have no idea how long I've wanted her to show up. We're about to start climbing towards X2. SO much is upcoming I just *vibrates in excitement*