Some Author's Notes: Welcome to Chapter Two! It's been forever since I first started this fic so it's well overdue for an update. What took so long? Well other stories mainly. Then there's the fact that I just have trouble coming up with, and then naming the animal-themed Reploids of the X series. If anyone of you reading this has an idea or two on Maverick designs, I'd GREATLY appreciate a helping hand. The other problem came from a lack of originality on my part. I had no idea where the story was going. Finally, by fully integrating the story with elements of Megaman ZX and ZX Advent, as well as truly crossing the story with multiple games in the Super Robot Wars series, I had a direction to go with.
Truth be told, I'm testing how well people accept SRW. If this goes over well, I might actually do a more SRW oriented fic set in this universe.
Storywise, the fic combines elements of the Alpha and Original Generation series of Super Robot Wars, so anyone who has read earlier works of mine that used SRW might get things they hadn't expected since Original Generations and the Alpha series are rather different universes with certain similarities.
This chapter will introduce various SRW characters and terminology. While I'll let the characters develop themselves (Partly because some of them have VASTLY different roles and backstories), I'll actually explain new terminology at the end of the chapter.
Speaking of chapters, their titles come from the respective theme songs of certain characters and those familiar with SRW might get a hint to the plot through said titles.
Anyways, on with the chapter! Please read and review!
Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own any Megaman related characters, that's all Capcom.
Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own any SRW related characters, that's all Banpresto.
ENJOY
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Robots can protect us. They can make our day-to-day lives easier. Robots will help usher in an era of human growth and prosperity like none the world has ever seen. If you have told me that even a few hours ago, I would have called you an idealistic fool with a death wish. At the moment, I'm not too sure anymore.
Honestly, it hasn't even been an hour since I saw the impossible. I saw a robot attack and destroy another robot with the intent of protecting humans. Well, maybe he wasn't aiming to protect humans. I still can't complain about the results. He practically tore apart a Maverick in seconds, one that almost killed my closest friend and surrogate sister, Excel.
Bass.
How to describe him…how CAN I describe him? He's too unrefined to call graceful. He's too elegant to call crude. He's powerful and he's forceful. He's an untamed fire, raging out of control, looking to consume all in its way. Perhaps I'm overstepping things. I've only known him for a moment and I'm talking like we've been together for years.
He's so much like them, the other robots in our lives that cast fear and chaos in their wake when amongst humans. By them, I'm not referring to the day-to-day Maverick Hunters. Instead, I refer to who they answer to. For the machines that live behind the walls of their society, they are known as the Four Heavenly Generals. For us humans that have to deal with them and their tactics, we call them the Violent Four.
Gate, the Thinker. It was his scientific mind that led King to him. Through his research, robots further transcended their limitations and a new race was born, Reploids. More advanced than their Robot Master predecessors, they perfectly portray emotions as if they were human. Sometimes, it makes the skin crawl just thinking about how humanlike they've become. While not as powerful as the others when it comes to brute force, Gate's computational abilities are perhaps the greatest in the world, even greater than King's, but he's too loyal to test that. Rumor has it that he has a special robot in a lab that most of his technological prowess comes from, but it's unsubstantiated.
Red, the Commander. With his military prowess, he controls King's vast army. The Mavericks in his army are all put through rigorous training and afterwards, if they've proven their worth, they're sorted into the four commands of the Heavenly Generals. Other than commanding the most dangerous military force on the planet, it is because of his high sense of honor that King heralds him as his bodyguard. Unfortunately for us humans, he sees no honor in us, believing the greatest act we can accomplish for our planet is to sacrifice ourselves so that the world may grow and prosper.
Vile, the Relentless. He and his Mavericks make up the Extermination Squad, a harsh group based around the belief that if we humans are kept at a certain number, then we won't grow out of hand. He ruthlessly enforces population caps on our cities in order to limit their growth and he and his Mavericks particularly enjoy their job. Out of all of the Violent Four, Vile is the most dangerous and psychotic of them all. He often openly tries to commit King into exterminating the human species once and for all. Luckily, King feels he's better than us if he allows us to continue to exist, rather than make us extinct as our ancestors have done with so many animals. The last I ever encountered of Vile was years ago, when I was nine. His Extermination Squad razed our city and in the casualties was my mother.
Finally, X, the Fallen One. Practically a fall from grace, the story is that X was intended to be a defender of humans, but that might as well be a lie now. He's spent his life as the fourth General in King's regime, often serving as his voice to others, issuing his decrees and enforcing them. Oddly, even though he's practically King's right-hand man, he would prefer a life of non-violence. It doesn't mean he's weak, because if pushed to fight, he's a frightening sight to behold. Another weird thing about him is he shows the most compassion towards us of any of the Generals, but that's still not saying much. Out of all of them though, it's him that I feel Bass wants to fight more than anything.
Bass.
I'm back to him again. The robot that stands against its own kind and of all things, has a piece of my mind if I understand what actually happened between us. Ever since he defeated Buster Tri-horn, we've made a steady trek back to the city, injured Excel unconscious in Bass's arms. While I'm glad he's willing to carry her back for us, I feel uneasy with how Excel's actually unconsciously snuggling into his arms. Sigh, that's just how she is.
But now, as we enter the gates of Arcadia, I notice the eyes fixated on us. Armed guards who've spent their lives guarding our gates suddenly train their weapons on Bass, who lets out a growl. I try to quell the situation while Bass sets Excel down and as I draw their attention and calm the guards, I look back to introduce Bass…and he's gone. No 'goodbye', no 'we'll meet again', no nothing. Just…gone.
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Entering Arcadia, things progressed quickly. A medical team claimed Excel while a member of the Guard debriefed the two girls, Alfimi and Ellie. The retrieved refractors aside, the meeting behind closed doors was a harsh one. The man interrogating them had in fact been the commander of the men that had escorted them and they were all dead for what he had considered a pathetic cache of refractors. What made it worse was the fact that Excel, one of the city's only two Maverick Hunters, was officially out of action, albeit a hopeful temporarily.
As the duo recounted their tale of how the foray had gone terribly wrong, Alfimi had been careful to not mention the fact that Bass, their questionable savior, was a robot. It wouldn't do any good to let the Guard know that a robot was out there with enough power to reduce the city to ashes and it had no affiliation with anyone. In fact, through constant pushes and nudges, Alfimi kept her sister from recounting any information on Bass, Wily, or the cloaked lab in the middle of the forest.
"You didn't let me tell them about that robot," Ellie hissed to her sister. Released from questioning, the haggard girls had been set free to roam the streets of their city, Arcadia. Though their dirt-smudged faces and mud-laden clothes garnered the attention of passersby as they walked along the sidewalk of a main road, the two girls took no notice. Eventually, Alfimi halted, leaning against a building and waited for her sister to join her.
"Look," Alfimi began, "It's bad enough that we landed Excel in the hospital and got an entire squadron of men killed. Do we really have to go off on a tangent about an invisible lab and a two-hundred year old robot with enough power to rival the Violent Four that has no allegiances to anyone?" Rolling her eyes, the younger of the two replied, "That's exactly WHY we need to tell someone. We've only got Bullet to rely on if we have an emergency so we should inform of definite emergencies!"
Alfimi sighed as she looked up into the sky, slowly replying, "I don't think he's an emergency. Frankly, I just think he doesn't want to be bothered with humans right now. Look, for my sake, can we just keep this between us for the moment?" Distress grew in Ellie's eyes for the moment before she acquiesced. "Alright, for you, Alfimi." "I mean it, not even to our father." "Yeah, yeah, I know."
"Well," Alfimi started, "I'm going to visit Excel and see how she's doing before getting cleaned up, what about you?" The younger girl stretched and fought a yawn as she replied, "Alfimi, I'm tired, hungry, and filthy. Please, give my regards to Excel. She'll understand if I see her tomorrow." "Alright," Alfimi said with a nod, "get some rest."
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Fire surrounded a town, encompassing all within it. The flames climbed to the heavens, billowing smoke that blotted out the sun as numerous wild-cat Mavericks (See previous chapter) ravaged the streets, slaughtering any human they came into contact with, a lone figure chuckled. Tall and standing straight, the figure was predominantly black with his purple greaves and gauntlets barely illuminated in the fire. His bullet-shaped helmet only had a careful 'T' shape, showing nothing of his face. Gold accented his shoulders and joints with a cannon slung over his right shoulder.
"Going a little overboard, aren't you, Vile?"
"What do you want, Gate?"
Standing slightly smaller than Vile stood Gate. The thinker had far thicker boots and gauntlets, colored black. In fact, most of the robot was black. Only a few splashes of blue and white graced his armor, covered in his lab coat which reached his ankles. Hands in his pockets, the machine had a less protective helmet, exposing a handsome face with sharp points accentuating the helmet. Gate, the thinker, had arrived via his airship. The long vessel had been completely obscured from sight thanks to the ever growing cloud of smoke and its already quiet engines had been drowned out by the roar of the flame and scream of the humans.
"I'll ask you again, what are you doing in MY business?"
"Relax Vile," Gate replied to the on-edge robot. "Can't I stop in and greet a fellow reploid? Especially one of us legendary Heavenly Generals?" "I don't particularly care for that name," Vile responded as he added, "I prefer what the meat sacks call us." "As you wish," Gate replied, "But watch where you refer to yourself as one of the Violent Four."
"Whatever," Vile spat, "Now tell me why you're bothering me or we'll be renamed the Violent THREE." Gate shook his head in pity as he said, "I merely realized we were in the same area. I thought I would inform you of a development. Buster Tri-horn was killed. He was one of your closer officers, wasn't he?"
Vile looked off as he pondered for a bit, the two reploids oblivious to the carnage around them as he replied, "I guess I picked wrong is the meat sacks could gang up and kill him." "That's the thing," Gate said. "We're thinking it was only one and accomplished quickly based on the radio transmissions. The fight lasted thirty seconds." Taken back, Vile shot back, "None of my forces are that weak. Was it a Double G?"
Rubbing his chin, Gate gazed into the hypnotic dance of the flames and replied, "I don't know. To date, we've only seen two Dynamic General Guardians, which is disturbing as it is. Sometimes we forget that the humans are rather intelligent. Taking refractors and converting them into so-called 'Live Metal' and using data and parts from our Mavericks to acquire powerful armors just to fight back. One-on-one, most Mavericks are still superior to your average Hunter, but those two, the Double G. I've never faced them in combat but it's said their power rivals our own."
"Feh," Vile spat, "I'll believe it when I see it. So is that all you wanted to talk about?" "Not quite. I was going to let you know that I'm on my way to Arcadia, the city closest to where the incident took place. It's been a while since I've talked to their ruling power and I can glean the information I want out of him without razing the city to the ground, so we'll soon know if we have a third Double G on our hands. I wanted to know if you wanted to attend."
The screams and wailings of victims in the background brought Vile's mind back to the task at hand. "No thanks, I need to wipe out a few hundred more of the monkeys for their own good, then report my status to King's errand boy." Gate chuckled a bit before replying, "Heh, watch what you call X. We both know how fond King is of him. We never know who's watching at his behest. You need to be patient and wait for the correct opportunity to strike."
Vile turned his back to Gate and paused for a moment as he pondered Gate's statement. "Just what do you mean by that?" Silence. "Gate—" As Vile turned around to face his comrade, there was nothing. As he looked into the sky, Vile saw Gate's personal airship leave the area and said, "Hmph. Gate. You're loyal to King on the outside, but on the inside…just what are you planning?"
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A knock on the door bid a playful voice to say, "Come on in."
Alfimi's red curls stuck through the door of the solid white room housing Excel. Laying on the stiff mattress of her bed, clean, white covers up to her waist, Excel's eyes shifted from boredom to happiness as Alfimi entered the room.
"If it isn't one of my favorite girls," Excel exclaimed. "I didn't expect any visitors, what's the occasion?" Alfimi shrugged, "I was just checking up on you." Excel smiled as she replied, "I'll be fine in a little while. Most of my injuries were fixed with an application of machine cells, so all I need to do is rest for a while before I continue my duties." While relieved, Alfimi still shivered, "I can't imagine letting those things crawl around in me like that. I think I'd rather take the broken bones…"
Excel let out a light laugh as she said, "Well it does seem a bit creepy to have mechanical cells repair the body, doesn't it?" Alfimi nodded before she asked, "What about your Live Metal?" "Heh," Excel said as she looked off and replied, "It's completely trashed. Seriously, I mean it's the equivalent to a rock made out of scrap metal." Alfimi's eyes grew wide as she asked, "Is it really that bad?" Excel nodded with a sheepish smile as Alfimi sighed and said, "Dr. Shirakawa is going to kill you when you give it to him."
Excel thought about it and smiled a little too deeply for Alfimi's taste. "What?" Alfimi asked. "Oh nothing," Excel mused, "I was just thinking it's a good thing that Bullet came to visit me and I got him to take it to Shu instead of me." Alfimi looked blankly at Excel before saying, "That was incredibly cruel of you…"
"I know," Excel said, "Kyosuke would be proud." "He's still in East Lake City, testing the Wildraubtier, isn't he?" Excel nodded to Alfimi's question before looking down, for once, a frown on her face as she missed her boyfriend. She didn't care if the Wildraubtier's insane performance required someone with skills like her boyfriend's. Further, she didn't care if it was to be the first transforming, flight capable Live Metal. She just wanted him back with her so she could 'annoy the hell out of him' as he would put it.
"Listen," Alfimi said, trying to change the subject, "We need to talk about today. That guy who saved us…" "Our knight in jet black armor," Excel mused, "What happened to him?" "He practically vanished when we got to the gates," Alfimi explained, causing Excel to brightly smile as she said, "Oooh, a mysterious hero, how romantic." Alfimi thought back to it, as far back as how she kissed him to wake him up and she blushed, but quickly shook her head. "Excel, about him, his name is Bass…and he's…one of them…"
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Tapping his foot in his tan boots, Brooklyn "Bullet" Luckfield descended multiple levels of the city, via elevator. Standing tall in heavily starched gray slacks and a neatly trimmed dress-shirt with combed back, short blonde hair, he would say he'd dressed casual.
Lost in his thoughts, it took him a moment before he realized that he elevator had stopped and its doors had parted, revealing his destination under the city. Day in and day out, prized minds from the scattered cities across the world pooled their minds together in places like this. With advanced technology developed in secret from their machine oppressors, they used refractors, along with advanced technology, Maverick data, and Extra Over Technology (EOT) that had mysteriously fell from the sky decades ago.
Passing laboratories left and right with the prized minds of humanity well at work, Bullet found his destination outside the laboratory of the one man he knew could fix a certain problem at hand…or tear him limb from limb with the situation. Well, Dr. Shu Shirakawa had yet to actually resort to violence on his part, but one could never be too sure.
The purple-haired Shu Shirakawa had an imposing stature about his sharp face. Dressed in immaculate white shoes, and matching black shirt and slacks, just enough dashes of purple graced his clothes. Covering his outfit was his own personally tailored lab coat, more a suit's jacket than a simply lab coat, it sported purple on the outer layers of its lapels, shoulders, and coattails. Slung around his neck was his crimson scarf with more gold lining the tips as three triangular points extended past the tips.
Typing away on a computer whose screen encompassed half his back wall, Shu made no notice to the blonde man that entered his office. Instead, he turned to his left, examining his latest work on Live Metals, looking for some sort of new outcome. The devices were small enough to be handheld, attached to life-sized mannequins. Soon, one activated, resembling a far slimmer version of Excel's Weiss Ritter armor, even sporting an Oxtongue rifle, but predominantly blue with white splashes and six protrusions extending from the back.
"Bullet," Shu said, quickly straightening Bullet's back and making him halt in his tracks. "I already gave you back your Live Metal. What are you doing back so soon?" Nervously, Bullet looked around before reaching in his pocket and retrieving a Live Metal. Not smooth and bright like the Live Metals on Shu's mannequins, but tarnished, chipped, and broken, with hunks missing.
Bullet cleared his throat before saying, "Excel came back from her mission. It was a total disaster. She's uh, in the hospital right now, but she'll make a full recovery thanks to an injection of machine cells." Shu said nothing, not even bothering to acknowledge the information with a nod. Instead, he merely looked back to the blue armor and mumbled something along the lines of, "The Wildfalken's progress is suitable for pilot use. Where did I put the files on suitable subjects?"
Bullet grew nervous as he continued, "Excel still got messed up pretty bad and she needs some uh…repairs to her Live Metal." "Alright," Shu said, still in his work, "I'll take a look at it. I needed to upgrade it anyways to keep up with the Wildfalken's design. Just put it down and I'll pencil it in later." Bullet heaved a sigh of relief as he set the hunk of broken metal down and began to walk away, "Bullet," the man in question gulped deeply. "Where's the rest of her Live Metal?"
"That…that's it," Bullet said with tension in his voice. Like I said, the Maverick she fought really did a number on her." "It's a wonder she wasn't killed," Shu replied before adding, "This is going to take longer than just a simple repair. I might not even be able to salvage this thing and until I get the new pilots for the Live Metals here, you're going to have to defend the city all by yourself or pray that Irm can correctly synchronize with the new Grungust Live Metal."
"Y-yes, I know," Bullet slowly replied. "There's the problem," Shu continued. "Irm can barely synchronize with the Grungust and loses the form and you're too used to your old Mk II Huckebein to fully utilize the Mk III. If we get attacked, we're doomed." "I know," Bullet said, "It's just the Mk III is just…so different from the old Mk II. Can't I go back to using that?" Shu shook his head. "You can't halt the wheels of progress and hope to survive. There are only five Huckebeins in the world and you have one of them and one is the ill-fated Mk I. The Mk III still only gives half the performance of the original model, but that's still twice as much as the old Mk II. With your sleeping potential, that Mk III should let you outperform Excel and Kyosuke at the same time, but you barely tap into its power."
Bullet defensively began to say, "I know, but—" "But nothing," Shu cut him off. "Bullet, you have a Live Metal second only to the original Huckebein and the Double G units, AND you're an excellent psychodriver! Your kind is rare and your potential is incredible! Your telepathic abilities give you an edge on reaction time and West Brigade's SRX team has a pair of psychodrivers who turn their abilities into telekinetic (TK) weapons! It's no wonder that Ingram's team outperforms mine with attitudes like yours. Open up to your potential and stop worrying about the consequences or we're all going to be dead before you can even regret it."
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Finally back home, Alfimi realized it was getting dark outside. She looked at her house, easily twice as large as any one else's home and she grimaced. Sometimes she felt her father used his status to throw his weight around too much. Then again, maybe her family deserved the wealth that came with her father's position. It was her family's bloodline that held the trait that allowed her and her sister to sense refractors, and while they're considered psychodrivers for the sake of simplicity, there had been no other documented cases of her variation.
Entering, she slumped her shoulders and sighed; tired of a day that still had a few hours to go. Ignoring her surroundings and ascending a spiral staircase to the upper level of her home, she wearily waved to a servant who quickly bowed to her presence and Alfimi entered her bathroom. The size of most people's bedrooms, Alfimi directed herself to the back of the room, to the tub and drew a hot bath. She yawned as she disrobed, letting the dirty, dusty clothes hit the floor as she eased into the bath, heaving a sigh of contentment. Laying back, she let her eyes flutter closed and she reviewed the events of the day, quickly finding herself thinking about him again.
Bass.
She couldn't get the Robot Master out of her mind, ironic since, in a sense, it was part of her mind that helped create his. No, that wasn't right. Wily had said that the entirety of her brain had been scanned and copied by him. Who knew what that held in store for either of them? Only time would tell…or now.
Pain.
Something hard and flat slammed into her stomach, making her cough as she sat up, frantically searching for the direction of the attack, but she saw nothing. More blows came. Invisible strikes to her came from every direction.
"FIGHT!"
The word came through clearly as she attempted to grasp her situation.
"Bass, you worthless pile of spare parts! I didn't build you to be a weakling! Stop holding back!"
The voice was eerily familiar. She was sure it was Dr. Wily, but the weariness in his voice from earlier was gone. Instead, there was fierceness, hatred, and violence in his voice, fueled by an inner fire that had yet to be burnt out from years of regret.
An image.
Something large and green reaching for her. Alfimi writhed, trying to get away, but she reminded herself that she was alone in the bath and she calmed herself. She waited, eyes closed as she tried to make the imagery clearer. Monstrous, bulbous figures came into view. There were six, made up of some unusual green liquid. In their centers, each had a single metallic eye, pulsating with electricity. She could feel herself getting up, slowly, staggering and she realized that she was still laying in the tub.
The movement was all in her mind and the person moving had white gloves and boots with black gauntlets and greaves over a gray jumpsuit. The design was too similar to be coincidence. She was Bass. Or rather, she was viewing things through his eyes.
"W-Wily," Bass stuttered as he readied himself. "This is insane, why…why are you doing this to me? Megaman never fought six of these…" "Fool! Don't EVER put yourself on the same level as that blue nuisance! You are better! You are superior! If you can't see that, I'll simply have to bring it out of you!"
The green monsters slammed into Bass again, punching him, kicking him and beating him into submission before Bass howled in anger, lifting his arm and letting energy build up inside himself before retaliating with a sizzling display of power that ate through one of the viscous monsters and blew the eye out of it, causing it to dissipate. Like an animal, Bass roared as he leapt to his feet and thrust his arm into the second one, fighting untold pressure as he ripped the eye out of its place in the body and crushed it in his hands.
"Good, good," Wily said as he watched his creation yell like a maniac and reduce his enemies to dust. "We've made progress, Bass."
Alfimi breathed heavy as the images stopped and the feelings of pain went away. However, her hopes that it was over soon went away as new feeling came. Electricity flowed through her body like a current, sending ripples of pain through her nerves.
"GYAAAAHHHHH!!!" Bass continued to shout as the overwhelming pain drove him insane. As it subsided, he panted. Relief was only fleeting as he saw the blue form of Megaman with his ever-cheerful smile and the painful shocks came again.
"Hate him," Wily's voice called out from behind the image of Megaman. "He is your enemy. Your sole purpose is to destroy him. Prove you are the strongest robot the world has ever seen and destroy him and everything else in your wake! Do it or the pain will only continue!"
Bass struggled against the powerful electricity and took aim at the image of Megaman and fired, knocking it back and then that animal ferocity came back as he leapt upon the image and began to beat it, bashing against it again and again before firing at it, over and over again until the test dummy was a scattered pile of ruins. The electricity went away as Wily's maniacal cackle could be heard. As pain subsided, relief didn't join Bass. Instead, it was anger. Pure hatred for Megaman, Wily, and everything around him was boiling inside the Robot Master.
Alfimi began to shake her head, trying to free herself of these thoughts, but more came. This time, no pain, just anger as Megaman came into view, followed by countless Robot Masters and endless fighting, before it came to a single individual, a girl with blonde hair with a bright expression on her face who was apparently showing concern for Bass. A warmer feeling came to her now, but while Alfimi was no stranger to the feelings of kindness, from Bass's point of view, it felt awkward, almost completely foreign.
Finally, nothing. Alfimi's thoughts were her own. Once again alone in her bathroom, Alfimi thought about Bass once more, this time of her own choice. As the sky above grew ever darker, she asked, "Bass, just what are you?"
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Nervously pacing back and forth in his lavish dining room, the balding Norman Esther, governing figure of Arcadia, grew anxious. "Where is he?" Norman asked his question to the air as he waited. "Gate's never late and this isn't one of his scheduled visits…where, oh where is he?"
"You look nervous," the calm voice of Gate, quietly standing behind Norman startled the man before he realized Gate had entered via his teleportation system aboard his airship. "Gate," Norman said, trying to hide the tension in his voice, "You're looking quite well! I wasn't expecting your visit so soon after last time."
"Yes," Gate said, calm as ever as he walked across the table from Norman, eyeing a piece of delicate china on display. "Care for anything to drink? We've prepared a meal. I will warn you," Norman continued, "That it isn't the best since we didn't expect you so quickly." "It's alright," Gate replied as he sat at the far end of the table, sitting directly across from Norman, who claimed a seat at the other end.
As frightened servants brought out platters of food, Norman began to say, "So Gate, about—" "Let's cut to the chase," Gate said as he neatly picked his knife up and began to neatly cut into the entrée before him. "Have your scientists created a third Double G?" "What?" A surprised Norman asked. "Another Live Metal as powerful as the Daizengar and Aussenseiter. I know there were talks of creating a third and I want to know if it has been completed."
Gate nonchalantly took a bite out of the food and let its flavors dance on his advanced palette as Norman stumbled about on his words before saying, "The RaiOh is nowhere near close to completion and there's still no one that could properly synchronize with it." "Hmph," Gate mouthed before continuing, "So that's its name. So, believing you aren't lying to me, that would mean that your people have developed a new kind of Live Metal with extensive characteristics. You see, one of our Mavericks attacked your daughters today."
Fear gone, a level of anger grew in Norman as he replied, "We had a deal! None of your Mavericks were to touch my daughters!" "Yes," Gate said before picking up an ornate glass and let fine brandy swirl around in it before taking a sip, stretching Norman's patience as a tactic before replying, "It was one of Vile's. They often don't care about rules or deals as long as they get to kill your kind. It doesn't matter, as your daughters are fine. What bothers me, however, is that Maverick was destroyed in rather quick fashion. Normally I wouldn't care, but when a single Hunter practically slaughters a Maverick, it sends up a red flag."
Norman stared at his plate for a while before he said, "I honestly don't know anything. Dr. Shirakawa's into high performance Live Metals still doesn't produce anything close to a Double G, not since the Vanishing Trooper incident." "The Huckebein Mark I, designation 008R," Gate said, noting Norman's flinch at the mere mention of the word 'Huckebein'. "How many people got out of it alive again? Only three? A pity."
Gate placed his utensils on the table and solemnly said, "Do you know that I appreciate the Maverick Hunters and their constant efforts? It keeps this world alive. We progress and evolve through conflict and chaos, not the utopian peace that so many people claim to desire. It is times of war where technology flourishes and prospers beyond imagining, not peace and tranquility. It is why I allow your small city to continue its research into Live Metals in exchange for information on your achievements. This is why it is unfortunate that I must raze this city to the ground."
Startled, Norman got to his feet so quickly that he spilled his drink, the glass rolling off the table and shattering on the floor. "Y-you can't! We have a deal! I supply my end with information and you keep Mavericks out of my city!" "Yes, I'm aware," Gate slowly replied, "But in such a situation where something as powerful as a Double G is loose and you have no information, you aren't keeping your end. Not to mention, without anything to go on, I have to do this to enact justice on those that slaughtered my brethren." "But we didn't…." Norman tried to protest as Gate said, "It won't matter."
Gate looked off, a plan in his eye as he said, "Unless…you give me one of your daughters…the eldest one with the more developed abilities." "Out of the question," Norman roared. "You forget your place, human," Gate coldly responded. "I'm fascinated by psychodrivers. They've existed all throughout history. Human beings with extra abilities. Psychics who read minds and see the future to lowly others who merely felt someone's presence or saw something move out of the corner of their eye and didn't realize that they themselves had moved it. Labeling such situations as ghosts and other such nonsense until they had an explanation, that it wasn't supernatural, but biological. Some of your history's greatest men were psychodrivers. Chinese strategist Zhuge Liang, Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga, and even the German Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel. They were all Psychodrivers and look how they influenced history."
"What does that have to do with my daughter," Norman demanded. "It's simple. All the psychodrivers in the world follow the same pattern. Telepathic, empathic, and telekinetic manipulation develop due to a mutation in the brain. But, you daughters are different. They're a different type of psychodriver, practically a unique species that can actually track refractors. I wish to test such power in a controlled environment. You have my word that she will be alive and…generally unharmed, but only if you cooperate. Now, for your daughter, Alfimi…"
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Plainly visible under the night sky, the lab that gave Bass his second chance at life was illuminated in the pale glow of the moon. From the roof, Bass caught himself staring deeply into the moon. He'd never realized just how big and bright it was up in the sky and he caught himself in a moment of wonderment which changed when he heard footsteps.
Whirling around and aiming his buster, Bass demanded, "Who's there?" A weak smile flashed in the light as the nervous, lithe form of Alfimi came into view and she quietly said, "Hi." "Oh, it's you," Bass said, a little too disappointed, "How'd you even get here anyways?" "I can hear it," Alfimi vaguely replied, "I can hear the soft song of the refractor in your chest. It's different from other ones and I followed that to you. Dr. Wily showed me how to get to you. At first he was angry to see me again, but then he said our interactions would be 'interesting', so he let me pass."
As she got closer to Bass, showing her highly decorative mandarin gown and the ribbons in her hair, catching Bass off-guard for a moment before he snapped out of it. He couldn't explain it, but that awkward feeling had come back, the same as every time he'd looked into the eyes of that one female Robot Master. "What do you want," he harshly spat.
"I wanted to thank you for what you did for us, earlier today." Alfimi's sincere comment was accompanied by a flush of the cheeks, giving her a rosy complexion as Bass waved down her thanks and said, "I wasn't doing it for you. I just needed to field test my new abilities." "Oh," Alfimi quietly replied, "And?" "My new weaponry? I'd really prefer my old buster but two hundred years in the future, I doubt it would have the needed force to actually hurt anything."
Alfimi stayed quiet, which was fine by Bass as he found himself looking at the moon again. "What are you looking for," Alfimi asked. As Bass turned to the girl, illuminated by the pale light of the moon, he replied, "I don't know. In the past, I didn't even care that it was there. It was more a hindrance at nighttime since it could blow my cover, but now that I look at it, it honestly calms me down." A bit startled, "Alfimi replied, "It does…the same for me."
Bass didn't reply, merely taking in the quiet atmosphere as he gazed at the moon, but he felt it, an awkward tension growing in the silence that began to gnaw at him. She was still here. She was still looking at him. She even looked beautiful in her cleaner attire under the faint glow of the moon. Wait, was that right? It didn't sound right. He mumbled in frustration, sure that Wily had messed a little too much in his programming and he asked the quiet girl, "Why are you dressed like that?"
The question was surprising to Alfimi, so it took her a moment before she replied, "I just wanted to…look nice when I saw you again. It wouldn't be proper to just show up as a shambled mess when I came to thank you." Bass nodded before asking, "Where's your escort? You didn't get THAT group killed too, did you?" "N-no," Alfimi stumbled over her words. "No one's allowed to leave the city's inner limits at night so I had to sneak out. It wasn't too hard. The real difficulty was getting through the wooded area around your lab without messing up my clothes…" she chuckled lightly but stopped when she realized Bass hadn't changed his harsh expression.
"Bass," she began, "If it isn't too much to ask, why isn't the lab cloaked like last time?" Bass crossed his arms as he looked away, replying, "The place is ancient. Most of the power was used to keep my capsule functioning. One of the generators just died and there isn't enough power to keep the lab invisible."
"Oh…" Alfimi replied as the silence sank in again. She waited, eager for him to say something else, but he only gazed again at the moon. It hit her that if she were home at the moment, she'd be doing the exact same thing. She would simply stand at her window and gaze at the full moon for hours without ever moving. She wondered, if she was experiencing what she thought were his memories, had he gained some of her mannerisms?
That was why she was here. Sure, it was only proper to give her once-savior proper thanks, but she really wanted answers. Why was she experiencing parts of his life? It didn't make sense, everyone's mind is their own, right? No one is ever forced to read another's thoughts, not even psychodrivers.
Gulping, Alfimi finally asked, "Why did…Dr. Wily subject you to it? All that painful training and torture?" Paranoid, Bass slowly inquired, "How do you know about it?" "I…saw," Alfimi slowly replied, "I saw him hurting you. Why would he put you through all of that?" "You were looking at my files?" An annoyed Bass asked. "N-no, I saw it…I literally saw it in my mind a little while ago. I could…feel it, how bad it hurt. I wasn't trying to spy or anything, honest! I just…I was taking a ba—I was alone and over and over again, I saw memories. I think it might have something to do with how you copied my brain waves."
Bass nodded, turning his back to the girl as he whispered, "Damn it, Wily, now some girl's in my personal life, just perfect." Alfimi looked down, a tad bit humiliated as she admitted to unwittingly invading the Robot Master's thoughts. That same nerve-wracking silence reigned once more before she broke it. "Were…were all humans that cruel to robots? Maybe the way the world is now is just…a fitting punishment." "No," Bass said, "A lot of your kind were too afraid of Robot Masters to try and fight back and the ones that weren't were eager to prove that we deserved as much right as humans. Wily was just a different breed. All that pain and torment you described was just a training regiment. I was to be…conditioned to take pleasure out of fighting. I was also conditioned to have a severe hatred of Megaman. It was mostly successful, I still can't stand him, but it wasn't until he beat me in combat that I actually wanted to destroy him."
Alfimi quietly nodded. His words meant something. If a robot made to destroy didn't see never-ending cruelty in humans, then maybe there was hope. "If you're wondering," Bass added, "I don't think this is right. I hate to say it, but I think I'd like to see a world where destiny isn't controlled by what species you are, but the way things go, we'll only get a world like that if we all become weapons. Then we wouldn't discriminate, we'd just destroy other weapons." Alfimi sighed before asking, "What about a world of peace?" Bass looked over his shoulder at the girl and replied, "There wouldn't be a place for humanity OR robots in a world of peace."
Alfimi wondered if his words were true as Bass sat down on the edge of the roof and let his feet dangle. The new weight of his boots hanging freely made him feel awkward and he sighed. Wily said that his armor could be removed and stored in what he'd referred to as 'compressed space'. He didn't like the concept of becoming vulnerable, but sometimes his new weight made him off-balance, so finally, after lengthy debate within himself, his armor lit up and broke away, practically shattering in a startling display with irked Bass's paranoia until an internal message eased his mind with, "Armor successfully stored, ready for deployment."
"At least it works," Bass muttered as he looked over his gray jumpsuit, unrestricted by the protection of his armor. He ran his fingers over his hair, short and white, before running his fingers down his face and still feeling his distinctive, purple scars under his eyes. "Weird," he muttered to himself as he adjusted to being far lighter. "I think it makes you look handsome," Alfimi told him as she sat beside him. Now seated, she realized how tiring a day it had been and she yawned heavily.
Nervous at first as she approached, Bass felt his personal space had been violated as the girl next to him rested her head on his shoulder in lazy fashion and it took all his might to resist the urge to push her back. "Look," Bass said, "Why don't I just take you back to your home?" "Can it wait?" Alfimi sleepily replied. "I haven't told anyone about you yet and I'm just too tired to explain you to my father right now." She arched her head enough so her eyes met his and she added, "Please?"
"Tch," Bass replied, "Do what you want…"
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"You're making me angry," Gate told a distraught Norman as they scoured the domicile and found nothing of Norman's eldest daughter. Little did either of them know that she had left for a late night rendezvous. "I suppose you want me to destroy your city. Is that what you want, Norman? Think of the damage to our relationship if you're dead." "P-please! I don't know where she is," Norman hastily replied. "J-j-j-just let me send a few of the Guard to look for her, please!"
Gate turned to face Norman in the man's spacious living room, his sharp face illuminated by the light of the blazing fireplace, and as he began to reply, the sleepy, heavily groggy Ellie stumbled into the doorway and asked, "Dad, what's going on?" As she asked the question, she noticed the form of Gate and her eyes grew wide. Her father meeting with the Heavenly General was no new thing for her, but this was the first time she'd ever been present for it.
"Perhaps we can come to compromise," Gate said as he eyed Ellie. "What are you…" Norman began as Gate interrupted, "Since we cannot find the older, I shall simply abscond with the younger." Startled, Ellie asked, "What's he talking about?" Ignoring her question, Norman shot back, "I can't let you take my daughter, either of them!" "How unfortunate," Gate lamented, "You cannot see the larger picture. It seems that your city must be made an example."
Gate snapped his fingers, a signal that summoned a small group of the same generic wildcat Mavericks from earlier and he commanded, "Secure the girl. Make sure she is unharmed. As for the city…go wild." "N-no! You can't," Norman shouted, "Ellie, run, get away!"
Not needing to hear it a second time, Ellie ran from the room with the eager howls of her pursuers, hot on her heels. With impressive speed, the girl bolted through her front door and into the open air of the night, Mavericks quickly at her heels. One leapt, clawing at the girl as, in her haste, she tripped, and it overshot her and crashed into the ground. As a second leapt, she rolled out of the way, screaming.
"HEY!" The shout caught the attention of Ellie's attackers. "It looks like Shu was right to be paranoid about Gate's visit." "Irm?" Ellie asked. "The one and only," he replied. The blue-haired man bore a mullet that looked unusual on his well-chiseled face. An ever-present, confident grin graced his features. Clad in jeans and a stylized leather jacket, the man known as Irmgard (Irm) Kazahara looked to Ellie and said, "Stand back. Bullet should be here shortly. Shu didn't know if Gate would go after our injured White Knight.
Jumping back, he revealed his Live Metal, flat and blue with three protruding spikes with a golden center with two slits like eyes. "Alright," he said, "Don't bug out on me now, Grungust! Time to come!" Startled, Ellie said to herself, "When did Irm get a Live Metal?" No true answer came, only a bright glow before his body mass expanded considerably, becoming a hulking, nine foot tall giant. The blue and white color scheme was accented with splashes of gold on the massive turbines on the shoulders, wrists, knees, feet, two spikes jutting downwards from the chest, a spike going straight back on its head, and the large star in its chest. Two large boosters on its back and long stabilizer fins next to said boosters gave it a sense of mobility, but it was questionable.
"Okay Grungust, LET'S GO!" With that yell, Irm reared his powerful arm back, boosters at the elbow beginning to flare up as he shouted, "BOOST KNUCKLE!" He threw his fist forward with tremendous force and his armored forearm separated from the rest of the unit and shot forward, exposing his human arm encased in black mesh. With its startling speed, his forearm crashed through one of the Mavericks before turning back with that same speed towards Irm and he quickly caught it, connecting the arm.
As the Maverick exploded, its comrades leapt onto the Grungust, digging sharp claws into the armor, or at least trying to. They barely accomplished scratches to his thick plating and Irm quickly pulled them off, tossing them aside as he shouted, "FINAL BEAM!" The star on his chest hissed as the points shot forward and energy charged in his chest. Suddenly, a thick stream of energy erupted from his chest with such force that he was pushed back, unprepared for its destructive power.
Claiming two Mavericks as victims, the powerful beam kept going, much to Irm's horror as it melted through the Esther's home and continued on its path of destruction. Thinking quickly, Irm aimed upwards, casting the beam into the sky as it dissipated. "I didn't think the results would be so positive," Irm said to himself, "It's almost as strong as a Double G! I can barely control this thing!"
The remaining Mavericks growled angrily as they advanced on him without fear. "Okay," he told himself, "I can't do that again, not in the city." Concentrating, Irm focused the abilities of his Grungust, extending a golden handle from his shoulder. Pulling it free, he revealed his weapon, "Calamity Sword!" The boosters on his back burned, pushing him forward with incredible velocity for his weight and he leapt into the air, higher and higher until nothing was seen. Quickly, the shine of his armor reflecting the light of the moon was seen as he fell to the Earth, blade emanating a golden light in the darkness as he cleaved into the first Maverick, pulling free as he spun, sinking the blade into the second. Ripping the blade free, he impaled the final Maverick. "Slash!" he shouted and the Mavericks quickly exploded.
"What power," Gate said, clapping as he exited the house. "Not a Dynamic General Guardian, but that just proves how far you humans have progressed. Magnificent." "I'm glad you feel that way," Irm responded, "Because you'll be my Grungust's next victim!" Boosters roaring to life, he sped for Gate, blade ready, when without warning, the armor that had evened the odds against the Mavericks broke away. With the sudden loss of size and acceleration, Irm impacted the ground, skidding to a painful halt.
"D-damn it, not now…" Irm spat in disgust. A sinister look of glee appeared in Gate's eyes as he said, "Pity, it seems you can't control that power just yet. Unfortunately for you, you'll never get a chance to try. Don't worry, I'll study your Live Metal VERY carefully." As Gate reached down, aiming to retrieve Irm's disturbingly powerful Live Metal, a streak of thin, purple energy struck his hand, damaging it.
"How? WHO DARES?" Gate roared as a new opponent crashed into him. Caught off-guard, Gate couldn't defend himself as multiple swings of an energy saber cut into him, furthering the damage as his attacker jumped back, aiming a sleek, yet long rifle and firing several beams of energy into him. "I-impossible," Gate mouthed as he finally saw his opponent. "Vanishing Trooper?"
Standing tall, barely visible in the night thanks to its dark blue coloring with black highlights, only the patches of gold on its knees, shoulders, and the jutting v-fin on its head made it visible. Tall and lean, it sported large missile pods on its shoulders. A large, thin block was stored on its left arm. This was the latest in the ill-fated Huckebein line, the Mk III with its pilot, Bullet.
"A Huckebein with the performance of the original," Gate said, "Interesting. Let's see how well you handle combat with," As Gate reached to remove his torn lab coat, he halted. It was too painful to move. "Amazing, you damaged me that badly…so…quickly." "I'll finish you, once and for all," Bullet declared, an eerie glow coming from his armor. "A psychodriver…very well," Gate mused, "Tell Norman that I concede defeat. We will meet again."
Gate vanished, teleporting to his airship above. "I can't believe we won," Bullet said. Irm looked to his companion and said, "Doubtful. See that airship? Who knows how many Mavericks he had on board, let alone how many bombardment weapons his vessel has. He LET us win." Bullet, armor fading back to his Live Metal, said, "He's the weirdest one out of the Violent Four. What's his agenda?" Shaking his head, Irm replied, "Who knows? I'm more concerned with why he's testing us. I wonder if King even knows what goes on in Gate's mind. Come on, let's report back to Shu. I have a feeling we're going to need the other Live Metals."
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So, here I am. A girl sharing her mind with a Robot Master. I snuck out of the city just to see him again. Now, I'm actually spending the night with him, trusting him. Is this safe? Probably not. Not to mention, my family will be worried sick when it awakes and realizes that I'm not even there in the morning. I haven't told them about him yet. Not about him, not about this lab, and not about Wily. How long can I keep it a secret? I think, for my sake AND for the sake of Bass, I'll have to come clean. It'll be one heck of a day tomorrow.
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Ending Notes: Long chapter? I think so too. Not my longest, but still over eight thousand words of story. One of my better lengths for a chapter. Read on to learn some SRW-related information.
-Introduced in this chapter were Gate of Megaman X6, Red of Megaman X7, and of course we all know Vile and X. History has taken a radically different turn thanks to simply leaving Bass out of it for a little while. Named the Violent Four by their enemies, they get the name from the Inspectors of SRW OG2.
-SRW characters new to the scene are Shu Shirakawa, Irmgard Kazahara, and Bullet Luckfield, all prominent characters in the many series'. Also mentioned was Kyosuke Nanbu, Ingram Plisken, and the SRX team. With them came mentions of the Wildraubtier and Wildfalken and the Grungust and Huckebein Mk III were seen in action. There are actually quite a few in the 'Wild' series of mecha.
-The Grungust is simply a giant, hulking, doom bearing Super Robot, incredibly powerful, but Irm currently lacks the ability to bring out its full potential. Due to…PAINFUL circumstances, the Grungust lacks its ability to transform. Seriously, think about it. Canonically, the Grungust was the first Super Robot designed in the OG universe with others like the Dyzengar and Aussenseiter coming later, but in this story, the Grungust serves as a sort of attempt to catch up with the aforementioned machines, as they already exist.
-For the Huckebein, as it was designed by famous mecha designer Hajime Katoki—who's done numerous Gundams—it shares its design with Gundams, down to the golden v-fin. Canonically, Bullet piloted the Mk II before gaining the Grungust Type 3, but I upgraded him to Mk III because…well…the Mk II was rather neutered compared to the old Mk I. Speaking of the Mk I, it's the reason the Huckebein has a bad reputation. I made multiple situations where people shuddered to the thought of one. In the SRWverse, the design is feared by nearly everyone because of its initial test.
The Huckebein was developed using EOT (Extra-Over Technology) that literally fell from space inside a meteor and humans thought it was a good idea to build giant robots using the totally untested and highly dangerous technology inside. As of such, the RTX-008-R Huckebein R, equipped with its experimental Black Hole Engine was involved in a catastrophic, yet oddly life-saving, disaster.
Shu Shirakawa had discovered a dangerous flaw in its design that would make the engine go critical and realized that EOT was a test by outside forces and while he confided the secret to Irm, he made no effort to actually CORRECT the mistake. Thus, the Huckebein exploded with the force of a MINIATURE BLACK HOLE and destroyed the entire facility, leaving only three survivors, oddly enough, including the pilot, Raidiese F. Branstein. While a catastrophic event that gave the machine a reputation of being 'cursed', Shu in fact saved the planet by letting the Huckebein, now nicknamed the Vanishing Trooper from the event, go off and explode. Like I said, the built-in flaw was a test. If Shu had corrected it, humanity would have been deemed a threat to those who sent the EOT and a full-scale invasion would have occurred.
Further, the Huckebein is insane in its speeds, moving so fast as to leave after-images in its wake, however, the Mk II design was FAR inferior to the original. Truthfully, the Mk III was better than the Mk I, but I decided to make the Mk III inferior to the original.
-EOT was sent by a race called the Balmarians in the SRWverse as a test to humanity's potentiality as a future threat. In the current universe here, it is only of 'mysterious' origin. Who sent EOT? Future chapters will tell.
-Machine cells are something I've used before. They're nano-machines used to repair any kind of structure, though they have the unique ability to upgrade things as well.
-Perhaps the most important term introduced in the chapter is 'Psychodriver'. It refers to anyone with psychic ability, like a Newtype from the Mobile Suit Gundam series. Some can predict the future, others read minds, some move things with telekinesis. Such a power could be very influential and I imagine that if true, some of history's greatest people could have been psychodrivers. From the combat point of view, a psychodriver could utilize their telekinetic or TK power as a weapon. Some of the SRWverse's greatest pilots are all psychodrivers.
Thank you for reading Chapter Two. Please read and review, but don't forget to read Chapter Three, coming soon!