Disclaimer: Nothin's mine but the OC's and story. Rest is Capcom's.

Chapter 2- Awakening

The elevator stuttered to a halt on Level B3. The search of the upper levels provided insightful information about how the daily lives of the Hunters typically went. X's personal Armor Containment chamber, some old records from the Medical Bay and a look at the specialized work floor of a Reploid named Douglas were the major highlights of the journey down. Now at the bottom, the elevator door hissed open and the pair exited.

Roto dashed over to a nearby terminal and linked in. In seconds, the emergency lights came up. They'd used the same method throughout their descent: Locate terminal, active lights, explore. As his eyes adjusted, Samuel was almost disappointed that only 3 doors occupied the level. Turing back to look at Roto, Samuel asked him to see the schematics again. After a glance, he understood why.

"Containment Floor." Roto said. "Bet there's been some pretty nasty things down here. Should I Frame-Up, Doc?"

Samuel shook his head.

"Shouldn't be a reason for it. This place has been buried in stone for almost a thousand years. Anything remotely alive would've expired by now." replied the doctor.

They split up as they moved down the hall. Roto took the right side leaving Samuel to the left. Stepping through the door, Samuel found himself staring at several rows of Incapacitor Cells. Primarily used for Reploid containment, they were designed to limit power output to nothing more than what was needed to keep systems functional. These cells, however, quickly lost Samuel's attention as he looked to the back of the chamber and spotted a larger, specialized one completely segregated from the rest.

Nearly twice as big as a normal cell, this one was equipped with Pulse-Jolt conductor bolts (a system designed to hyper-conduct electric bursts and surge them into the cell) and a Kinetic/Particle shielding unit. Samuel opened the cell to find, as expected, shackles that connected the prisoner to the prison. He shuttered thinking about what kind of being this cell was for. His curiosity was quickly abated when he closed the cell and spotted the I.D. plate welded on the side.

"Prisoner V-1001 A.K.A. Vile. Well. No better place to keep a monster, I'd say."

History concerning the Hunter turned Maverick was brutal, to say the least. He knew no limits if it meant getting the job done, and NOTHING was outside his moral standing. And when, eventually, he was put on trial, court-marshaled and decommissioned as a Hunter, Vile lived up to his name committing a number of atrocious crimes in his attempts to lure X and Zero into combat.

The most popular theory was that he was jealous of X and Zero long before contracting the Maverick Virus. Believing himself to be the Reploid to reshape history, Vile cut a path of pure destruction wherever he went in his ill-fated attempts to kill the Azure Bomber and the Crimson Blade. A chill ran down Samuel's spine, 'And what would the image of your world have been?' he thought.

Making his way from the holding room, Samuel heard a series of thuds and crashes from Roto's room and headed over to check on him. Leaning against the doorframe and shaking his head slightly, Samuel just stared at his young friend, who was now sporting a certain Maverick's purple and silver T-visor helmet. He was also holding, rather clumsily, a medium sized plasma cannon on his shoulder. When he saw the doctor standing in the doorway, he turned toward him with the cannon and made several 'pew-pew' noises.

"Look at me Doc, I'm Vile! Pew-Pew! Take that foolish Hunters!" Roto said in his best gruff voice.

"Very nice, Roto. Other than playing Maverick, did you find anything useful?" Samuel said with mock sternness before chuckling as the Reploid shot him with a faux pout and put the cannon and helmet back.

"Nah Doc. Mostly busted Busters and broken armor bits. Looks like this mighta been an equipment confiscation area. Kinda surprised by how many old Replifoce pieces there are though." Roto pointed to a black and gold chest plate with silver trim. "Pretty sure that was Colonel's. What was behind Door #1 over there?"

"Detainment cells, including one specially crafted for your 'toys' former owner. And, if I do say so, it's a nasty piece of work to contain one Reploid."

"Vile WAS nasty. No shock they'd wanna make sure he didn't get away when they caught him. As far as I know, though, he always managed to escape anyway. Kinda scary to think about: even a specially made prison couldn't hold him long."

Samuel nodded and waved for his young friend to follow. Together they made their way to the final door at the end of the corridor. Almost ten feet high and six across, the door rested in between smooth, seamless walls, as well as the floor around it, and was emblazoned with a pair of symbols that Samuel felt he's seen somewhere before. A digital scanner pod rested at the top.

Roto inspected the walls and floor, looking for a pry point of any sort that he could use to reach the electrical components for the blast door. Samuel, however, found himself studying the symbols instead. One looked to be a very stylized 'i' decorated in the colors of the old Repliforce banner. The other, more ominous one, was a black Omega symbol with two red lines inside the horseshoe like Greek letter connected by a golden, elongated diamond. To Samuel's eye, it looked like a 'Z'. A sharp screech of metal brought the Human's attention crashing back to the situation at hand.

"Found a seam." Roto simply said with a dumb grin that quickly fell away. "Bad news is, I can't patch my way into the door. Good news is, I can get the digi-scan workin'. Not sure if that'll help though. Probably coded for Restricted or Special Entry only."

"Get the scanner running and we'll figure it out from there. You haven't gotten us killed thus far, so I've got faith."

"Thanks Doc." the Reploid said and got to work.

Samuel stood silently as Roto worked, stroking his chin as he pondered the symbols on the door. 'Obviously, this is a special containment area.' his thoughts began. 'I do wonder, though, for whom. At least two Reploids, the two sigils being a sure sign of that. One of them Repliforce, but that Omega seems a bit dangerous. Perhaps getting inside isn't wise...'

Samuel was about to share this notion with Roto when the Reploid hopped up with a whoop of victory. He flashed the doctor his 'I'm Awesome' grin and looked up at the scanner pod. Samuel just stood quietly, an uneasy feeling slowly creeping over him.

The digi-scanner produced a green beam that washed over the duo from head to toe several times before turning red and issuing an unfriendly sounding 'buzz'. This process repeated twice more before producing a hologram which looked to be military in origin and very official in status. Samuel instantly recognized the former Command and Chief of the Maverick Hunters, Signas.

"Greetings. I am Intelligent Interface Construct Sig-0109. My records indicate that you are Unauthorized Personnel attempting to access Restricted Area O.Z.I. I am authorized to use Protocol ZX-02-14 in the event of Unauthorized Access. Exit this location immediately. Only one warning shall be given."

Samuel and Roto exchanged glances, both perplexed and amazed at the sophistication and longevity of the A.I. Holo-Guardian. Roto made a move to step forward, attempting to get a better look at the hologram and digi-scanner, when two panels in the ceiling slid away and Sentry Guns swung to aim at the pair.

Almost leaping back to avoid being fired on, Roto tripped on the flooring he'd managed to pull up and took a hard fall onto his rear. He glared up at the Holo-Guardian angrily.

"That was COMPLETELY uncalled for. Not cool, man. Not cool. Can you at least TELL us what's back there, glow-rod?" Roto growled.

Holo-Signas shook his head.

"Information regarding Area O.Z.I is Classified at the highest levels. Only Maverick Hunter Command or Signas himself can access this area. As you can see, I am able to defend this area without the use of Protocol ZX-02-14. It would be in your best interests to leave immediately."

Roto had a nasty comment ready to fire at the hologram, but Samuel stepped in before his brash companion got them shot.

"Interface. I'm Dr. Samuel Mavris. Can you access the Internet, in any capacity, at the moment?"

"Negative Doctor. All exterior forms of data or communications have been severed. I believe the base may be under assault."

"Not at all. If I may?" Samuel reached into his pants pocket and removed his micro-tablet. "Although I could explain the situation, perhaps interfacing with this will be much faster."

One of the Sentry Guns extended a grasper armature, collected the device and hooked it into a data-port. The holo-Signas disappeared for several moments before returning. Unhooking the tablet and returning it to Samuel via the Sentry Gun's grasper, Signas looked down on him with a slightly saddened expression.

"This data indicates that the year is 32XX, the Maverick Hunters were destroyed and the world is currently in a state of war. This is disheartening news, Doctor. I still maintain my original statements, however. You cannot enter this area. And, as proper clearance can no longer be appointed, I'm afraid your expedition and excavation assignment ends here."

"WHA?! That's total bullshit, fly-zapper! We're here on Official capacity!" Roto retorted to the holo-Signas. Samuel held out a hand to the angry Reploid to quiet his tirade and continued speaking.

"You must understand, now that you've updated your database, that our superiors will NOT be satisfied with us if I fail to give a fully comprehensive report on what was discovered. I understand that you are performing your duties. You must understand that I am only doing mine as well."

The hologram seemed to think about the subject for a moment before responding.

"I understand, Doctor. And in that understanding, I'm willing to do this; You alone may enter the Area. No recording/re-creation devices will be permitted to enter the Area. Several measures will be active while inside the Area that, should you manage to sneak a device past the scan, will delete memory every 6 seconds for the duration of you time inside. DO NOT interact physically with ANYTHING. Doing so will automatically activate Protocol ZX-02-14. And, finally, you will have 5 minutes for your examination. You will exit immediately upon expiration of time. Do you agree to these terms, Doctor?"

Samuel looked to Roto, who looked like he might just self destruct in his anger. 'He's pissed...' the doctor thought. 'And rightfully so, but this is our only option at present.' Reaching out to lay a hand on his friend's shoulder, Samuel gave him a sad smile.

"5 minutes, Roto. I'll tell you everything in 5 minutes."

"Yeah Doc, I get it. Still bullshit though." replied the Reploid most dejectedly as he walked away kicking a stone.

Samuel watched him a moment longer then turned back to the holo-Signas and nodded. The hologram nodded in return and disappeared and the green scanner beam ignited once more. As before, it scanned Samuel several times from top to bottom. Unlike the previous attempt, this time the beam remained green after it's final scan and the sound of heavy locks coming undone resonated in the corridor. With a hiss of depressurization, the blast door began a slow and almost silent assent. Looking back once more to Roto, who was attempting to see into the dark chamber, Samuel tossed him a 'thumbs up' and headed in.

No sooner than he'd crossed the threshold did the door begin to close behind him. The heavy snaps and clangs of the locks reengaging soon filled the darkened room, and for the first time since entering the ancient base did Samuel feel truly alone. Taking a deep breath he stepped forward and shook the thoughts from his mind, filling it instead with thoughts of discovery.

The lights in the ceiling began to come to life after a few tense seconds of total black, shedding bright illumination on 1000 years of darkness. These were the brightest lights in the entire facility, and Samuel had to shield his eyes at first. A moment later they adjusted and the doctor found himself utterly fascinated yet again at the ruins he'd accidentally found.

Easily half the size of the Command Ops chamber, it initially looked, to Samuel, like mad scientist's lab. A plethora of Busters in numerous shapes and sizes littered several racks on the left hand side of the chamber. Some of them he recognized as X's personal upgrades, however not all of them belonged to the Azure Hunter, there were just far too many for that likelihood. Hand-drawn charts, maps and files lay in scatterings as well.

To the right were data-banks. Large, old and in stand-by mode, these banks most likely contained most, if not all, of the data collected by the Hunters in their long existence. Blueprints, also hand-drawn, for a great many things were in clear-cases and wall mounted all around the banks. Samuel figured this made locating and using specific ones much easier. But the items that drew him in were dozens of small glass containers with microchips inside them.

Checking the timer, which appeared as a digital readout projected on the door, Samuel moved over to the chips to closer examine them. He found himself instantly fascinated as he began to read the names aloud listed on each mini-capsule.

"Spark Mandrill... Armored Armadillo... Magma Dragoon... Flame Stag... Slash Beast... General... Colonel... Vile... X... Amazing. Never was it mentioned that the Maverick Hunters collected the combat chips from their adversaries."

As Samuel continued to read off the names he came to one that almost made him jump back. Rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he checked the name on the container once more.

"Sigma... I'll be damned. They ACTUALLY managed to capture Sigma's battle processor. No wonder he faded away after the 5th Uprising."

As he began to step away from the chips he noticed two full-size Stasis Capsules in the back of the chamber. Even from his vantage point towards the front of the room, Samuel could see that they were still being supplied with power and maintaing their inhabitants. Curious to see what was inside he took a step forward, caught his foot on one of the legs of the microchip table and, lurching into a fall, knocked several of the processors from their resting places. That's when things went south.

The lights overhead turned blood red, started flashing and an ear splitting klaxon alarm sounded. Several ceiling panels slid away to reveal Sentry Guns hidden inside that locked onto Samuel as soon as they were fully extended. Two Automated Attack Droids emerged from from their also hidden posts near the door, raised their Buster Cannons towards him and began to charge the weapons. The voice of A.I. Signas cut through the piercing klaxon.

"Security breach in Area O.Z.I. Protocol ZX-02-14 now activated. The terms were simple, Doctor: touch nothing."

"I tripped!" Samuel shouted, trying to be heard over the alarm. He knew that the holo-Guardian was intelligent enough to understand his mistake, but not enough so to actually attempt to reason with. Samuel's mind began to race with a frantic scurry of thoughts on how to escape his current situation.

He couldn't run for cover, the Sentry Guns would make short work of cutting him down mid-stride before he came close to anything. He couldn't charge into the Attack Droids for the same reason, and, THEY could also blast him with their cannons before he got near them. The scenario looked bleak to Samuel; no escape, his companion pounding on the door and death by firing squad imminent. Hanging his head and closing his eyes, Samuel braced himself and thought 'There are worse ways to die.' None came to his mind in this moment.

"Suspend Protocol ZX-02-14. Override Authorization MHZ-00 Omega." called a calm yet icy voice from behind Samuel.

Instantly the klaxon ceased and the lights returned to normal. Samuel opened his eyes in time to watch the Droids march back to their wall-mounted hiding places and disappear. Letting out a sigh of relief, the doctor started to turn around to thank his unknown savior but the ignition of a Beam Saber put a stop to that.

"Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?" asked the same voice that stopped the security system as he stepped closer and brought his Saber up into Samuel's peripheral vision. The hum of the emerald-bladed energy weapon filled his ears as he, as calmly as possible, answered.

"My name is Dr. Samuel Mavris. I'm a Researcher for Imperium Command's Scientific Corps. Myself, and my Reploid companion in the hall, found this place during an excavation assignment. I'm unarmed, and mean no harm. I was allowed access to this chamber by Intelligence Interface Sig-0109. I had a bit of a stumble and tripped the security protocol."

" 'Imperium Command'? Never heard of it. Sounds Maverick if you ask me." replied the now ice cold voice wielding the Saber.

"To the contrary, actually. They came about after the fall of the Maverick Hunters, and based their actions directly from that example."

" 'Fall of the Maverick Hunters'? What are you talking about? What year is this, Doctor?"

'I might just survive this ordeal after all.' Samuel though before responding "32XX." The next sound was the low pitch hum-whistle of the Beam Saber retreating into its handle and a gruff huff from its owner. Samuel let out a breath he didn't remember taking and listened to footsteps moving away from him. Deciding that it was once again ok to move, he turned around to face the person responsible for saving him and was dumbstruck with shock.

Standing next to the capsules in the rear of the room, in his Human form, was the legendary Maverick Hunter Zero.

A/N: See? Familiar faces... Ok I admit it; one face, one hologram. But, hey, that counts. This is actually a rewrite of the chapter. Due to a poorly placed key stroke, I accidentally wiped out the original. Needless to say, wasn't a happy camper. As usual, R&R. Good, bad or otherwise doesn't matter to me. Every opinion is helpful and goes a long way. Next chapter will follow this one almost immediately.