Megaman X: Final Prologue
By: SylentStryke
Rated: M
Disclaimer: I would write something about how I don't own Megaman X and how Capcom owns him and his crew, but I forgot how to do that. :)
Chapter 10: Trial and Error
I'm not exactly sure what happened but after the battle when the Golem was introduced, the New Type Army suddenly pulled back, giving the Maverick Hunters time to regroup and take a deep breath. A much needed breath. Zero had been recovered and a Cyber Elf retrieved. But the costs of the infiltration were too high. Overall, with the deaths of those on the front line and those inside the city, the Hunters lost thirty percent of their numbers. The New Type Army was growing stronger every day.
Two days after the costly retrieval mission...
MHHQ- Assembly Hall
Time: 2:10 P.M.
Date: 6-20-22XX
Signas sat erectly in his chair as the many hunters around the room chatted loudly. He took a drink from his can of fruit juice as set it back down next to his gavel. He looked over the reports from the mission, adding random numbers and reflecting on the info on the sheets. He grimaced many times as he passed over the paragraphs on the first packet of papers.
"How anyone could do did is beyond me." He tossed the reports back on the desk. The speaker on his right side bleeped. He depressed a button and spoke into it. "Yes?"
"Sir, the detainees are here." A gruff voice spoke. He could hear random screaming and shouting on the other side.
"I take it that they aren't too happy, either." Signas stated as he heard a string of curses.
"No sir. Well, at least he isn't happy." The voice grunted back. Signas sighed.
"Okay. Bring them in." He said, as he banged his gavel a few times, earning silence from the loud audience. A moment later, the doors on the wall across the large assembly flew open, revealing a protesting reploid in restraints. He thrashed about, yelling for the reploid holding him to let him go. Then he screamed loudly as a stun stick was jammed into his side. He was then dragged to a stand where a negative energy field set up around him. Then a second reploid in wrist cuffs was brought in. She calmly stepped up to her stand after her escort released her cuffs. Signas cleared his throat as he tapped his gavel once.
"All rise!" A reploid shouted out.
"The court martial of Vice Codecu and the court martial of Leyna Strider are now commencing." He introduced after the detainees were situated.
"I will now introduce to the audience the violations of Vice Codecu: one 1st Degree count of 'Acting Outside of Commandant's Jurisdiction' during wartime and two counts of 'Termination of Subordinates Without Reason', one 2nd Degree and one 1st Degree. I will now introduce to the audience the violations of Leyna Strider: one count of 'Acting Outside of Unit Commander's Jurisdiction' during wartime. This is a 3rd Degree offense. We will start with the highest offense case, which would be Vice Codec." Signas stated. The lights in the vast room dimmed before a couple of spotlights shone on the volatile reploid, the docile huntress and Signas.
"So, Vice, what do you have to say about your situation?" Rapid typing could be heard in the silence after Signas' question. Vice answered, though he wasn't too quick to respond.
"I'm gonna give you the same answer I did when I was thrown into holding, so why even bother to ask again?"
"Because the rest of the Hunters need to know what's going on."
"Fine. I don't give a shit about what you all think of the situation. I don't give a shit if you think I was wrong in choosing a straightforward path to get that stupid little elf. I don't give a shit if you think that I purposely killed a couple of hunters. Accidents happen. Shit happens." He said with agitation in his voice. After his statement, the room quickly filled with commotion. Signas banged his gavel to restore order.
"With that said, I will go over your violations in depth. On the count of deviating from the mission plan, you've not only disobeyed a direct order from me, but you've put your entire team in jeopardy. There were--"
"Thirty-seven frickin hunters to start out with and only seven return; I heard it all from Miss Drama over there." He pointed at Leyna with both cuffed hands. She didn't do so much as look over in his direction. He noticed that she was cuff free.
"And there is the matter of--"
"Wait a damn minute!" He exploded. "She doesn't have any cuffs on. Why do I still have them on!"
"Because she isn't as big a threat as you are, Vice. You did execute two members of your own team." Signas returned calmly.
"Forget about that! That bitch is more lethal than you think! She tried to kill me on the way back!" He retaliated. Signas looked over at the remainder of the squad that infiltrated Arcadia. Vice and Leyna did the same.
"Did any of you bear witness to his claim?" Echo moved her eyes over from Vice to Leyna, who gave her a calm look that said, "Do what you have to do." She cleared her throat.
"Sir..." She eyed Leyna once more, reading the same expression as before. She caught a glimpse of Vice out of the corner of her eye. "...we did not bear witness to his claim." She answered before looking over at Leyna, seeing a smile crawl up on her face.
"Do you all agree with this statement?" Signas questioned.
"Yes sir." The other five answered simultaneously.
"Very well then. Thank you. With that said, your segment has concluded Vice." Said reploid sat there silently, not giving any type of reaction. "Now we move on to the case of Leyna Strider." The spotlight moved to Leyna's booth. "Leyna Strider has also deviated from the orders given to her. Though she acted against the orders from the Unit Commander, she was successful in leading a small group in rescuing one of our captured Hunters." Vice started out liking where this was going, but then developed a sinful snarl.
"And, well, that's all she's being charged for. Now, for the penalties of Vice Codecu: Vice Codec is to be withdrawn from the 0th Unit. In addition to that, he is to be detained without pay until further notice and to be demoted two ranks to the rank of 2nd LT." The reploid in question waited eagerly for the High Commander to finish.
"For the penalties of Leyna Strider: Leyna Strider is to be relieved of her position as a Hunter for three weeks with suspended pay." He stated simply. Vice snickered loudly at the combination of hearing her punishment and seeing her smile.
"What? That's it? That's all that's gonna happen to her?" He asked loudly. Signas gave him an obvious nod. This poured gasoline onto a growing flame.
"THAT'S FUCKIN' BULLSHIT!" This outburst earned him a loud, unanimous gasp from the audience. He then slammed his fists on the booth he was in, smashing and crushing the metal stand with and electrical discharge. The lights in the hall lit back up as Signas gestured for security to restrain the angry reploid.
"This adjourns the court martial of Vice Codecu and Leyna Strider. Dismissed." He banged the gavel once more before placing the head of it into a small opening. It lowered into the surface of the table and a panel slid over the opening. Signas snapped his head up when he heard multiple screams.
Vice had broken free from the guard holding him. He slammed his fists into the face of a guard that was approaching him. Then two guards came at him with stun sticks. At the exact moment when they struck, he extended both arms and directed the clubs into the opposite wielder. He snarled wickedly as he realized that his wrists were free. He turned his gaze to Leyna, who looked at him with wide eyes. He dashed at her with unreal speed and tackled her to the ground. The Assembly Hall was in an uproar; total chaos. He wrapped his hand around her neck, pinning her to the ground effectively.
"I should kill you. But I gotta take care of someone else first." He remarked loud enough for her to hear. She looked at him as she struggled to loosen his grip on her neck. He turned his gaze to the crowded section of the hall. She followed his gaze and gasped.
"Echo? No!" Within a split second he jumped off of her and dashed after his target, dodging guards and various reploids along the way. Echo couldn't do so much as blink as she watched the enraged reploid move with unreal speed. As he neared her, he pulled his fist back, ready to knock her head clean off her shoulders.
"RAAGGGH!" He screamed as he felt a wave of pain surge through his body. He was suddenly thrown back into a nearby wall after the shock dissipated. He looked up to see Megaman X running at him with a dimly lit buster cannon. Vice growled loudly as his eyes whited out and started to glow with a deathly aura.
"Vice! Control yourself!" X shouted in an attempt to reach out to the furious reploid. He might as well have stuck his hand in a bear trap.
"Shut UP! X! I'll kill YOU!" X readied his cannon for another shot and fired. Vice grabbed a nearby hunter and used him as a shield, blocking the shot. X swore under his breath as Vice tossed the unconscious reploid at the famed hunter. X ducked under the body, only to be knocked to the ground with a limb that belonged to the body thrown at him. Vice stomped on X's buster and twisted his foot as the blue bomber writhed in pain.
"X, you're going soft on me again! But this time is different: I'm not distracted by cheap human emotions!" He barked out before snapping his head toward the entrance. He spotted Echo and Leyna running down the hall for safety. He immediately took off after them, gaining ground fast. They rounded a corner. He jumped to the wall while running and pushed himself off the wall when he cleared the corner.
Then he felt painful confusion as he ran into something that flipped his body backwards. He hit the ground hard and stood up sorely, that last blow doing more than a little bit of damage.
"No running in the hallways." Said a teasing voice. Vice growled at that voice. If it was at all possible, he hated this particular reploid more than anything. He wasted no time in throwing a forceful punch at Zero's face. Zero stumbled to the left, avoiding the punch completely. He then halfheartedly stepped back to dodge a blurry kick, which caused him to fall backwards, making him dodge a wild punch. As he put his hands behind him in reaction to the fall, he accidentally swept Vice off his feet. As Zero stood up, he once again tripped over his own heels, causing him to dodge a mess of attacks. Then he threw what seemed to be a random punch that connected with Vice's jaw, knocking him out on contact. The blond haired hunter leant up against the wall, breathing heavily. He watched as X and a few other reploids came sprinting down the hall.
"It's okay now, girls. You can come out." He spoke towards the entrance to a room. Sure enough, Leyna and Echo stepped out from around the corner, eying the reploid that lie unconscious on the ground.
A few security reploids knelt down and shackled cuffs on Vice's feet and wrist. Then they unrolled a grated metal roll and wrapped him up in it, then finished up by clasping a few dozen heavy duty locks on it. X sighed as he walked briskly over in Zero's direction. Zero pushed himself off the wall and grinned widely.
"Hey bud! You..."
"Leyna! Are you okay?" The black haired reploid rushed past the reploid in a hospital gown.
"Yea...I'm fine. He was going to go after Echo."
"...Miss me?" Zero finished.
"Why did he go after her?" Leyna looked at him for a second. X eyed her back. Then he realized what she was implicating. "So," He leant closer to her ear. "(You did try to kill him, then. And Echo witnessed it.)" He stated in a whisper. She gave him a small nod.
"It wasn't just me either. The rest of the squad saw it as well." Echo added, looking down the hall as Signas and the security guards were hauling the vile reploid to the brig sector. X regarded her incredulously.
"I'm sorry X, but the bastard had it coming to him. If I get another chance...I'll kill him." Leyna stated coldly. A lengthy period of silence then ensued.
"Leyna...I would have done the same thing. As a matter of fact I will kill him if I see him again." All three reploids turned to regard the one standing behind them. Then they simultaneously tackled him to the ground with joyous rapture.
Cain Laboratories
Time: 4:59 P.M.
Harold Cain waited in a secluded room deep within the world renowned reploid production company. He thumbed through numerous data disks, not find what he was looking for. Growing bored and impatient, he leant back in his chair, mildly enjoying the creaking sound it made. Then out of the blue, he started talking to himself.
"So, seems like production is nominal. It's really too bad that we lost an energen mine. But at least still have three others." He let out a yawn as his eyes fell on the clock sitting on his desk. A beam of bright light fell from the ceiling as soon as the time device clicked to 5:00 P.M. Harold shielded his eyes from the blinding light. He thought to himself how glad he was that they were in a room with no windows as the light subsided, revealing a tall figure. Harold smirked as he said, "You're late, Scar."
To be continued...
Hmm...not too much to say about this chapter. Well, except for PLEASE REVIEW! Ha ha, but seriously, if you like the story (or if you don't like it) then let me know. That not only applies to me, but to every other writer on as well. Well, my time is up!
Till Next Time!