Me: Still no feedback... Mustn't be too good...
Roto: I like it. Can't speak for anyone else though. Needs some action, though.
Brav: Face it Sypher, you suck. Just get over it. Stop writing and don't quit your day job.
Me: Whoa man, that's harsh. You're kind of a dick.
Brav: That's what I do. Just like I told Null, don't like it take it up with... Oh that's right, YOU'RE my creator, hahaha! You made me this way, so suck it up babycakes.
Me: ...my own characters give me shit... Can I get a disclaimer please?
Brav: Sypher sucks and doesn't own shit but OC's and this horrible excuse for a story. Rest is Capcom's. Can I go now?
Roto: ::blasts Brav off the page:: Jerkoff!
Chapter 5- Dying Breed
Zero, once again in his signature red armor, sliced his way through another section of debris opening up another of the collapsed corridors in the base. He and Iris had discovered that almost 80% of Hunter HQ was inaccessible due to cave-ins. Working tirelessly since they came out of stasis, the pair was attempting to dig out what they could. After several hours, however, no real progress had been made and Zero began to wonder if all this back-breaking labor was for naught. A beep from his helmet-comm cleared away the pessimistic thoughts.
"What's up, Iris?"
"According to my analysis of the infrastructure, that hall seems pretty stable. If you can access the main terminal down there, I can get the self-repair systems going to start fixing the damage." came the static-filled reply of the former Hunter Operator.
"Got it. Zero out."
Zero heard a giggle from Iris before ending the communication and smiled. She had always said he was too official sounding, even when not involved in missions, and although he tried not to be when talking to her it always slipped out. 'Old habits die hard.' He continued on into the darkened corridor.
The faint glow of the emergency lights in the hall behind him quickly faded as he moved deeper into the corridor and Zero activated the IR/DV (Infrared/Dark-Vision) in his helmet. The corridor painted itself in a pale yellow-green in his HUD(Heads-Up Display) as it translated the little-to-no light into the visible spectrum. From the looks of things, this particular area was in bad shape, with large pieces of ceiling and stone blocking off most of the way. With a sigh, Zero adjusted the light filter in his helmet, activated his Saber again and got back to work hacking his way through the corridor. After several tedious minutes of clearing he located the main terminal and contacted Iris.
"Terminal located. Accessing now." Zero stated matter-of-factly.
"Zero, wait. I'm not reading any power from the terminal, emergency or otherwise. I'll have to reroute power to it before you can access it. Just need a second."
"Understood. Holding position."
Another giggle from Iris. Zero responded to this one.
"Is something funny, Ma'am?"
" 'Ma'am'? Am I an old lady now, Mister Zero?" Iris responded, a mock tone of hurt in her staticky voice.
"Technically, we're both 'old folks' now." Zero dead-panned trying to keep a smile from his face.
"How rude! I do NOT look my age, sir." Iris said laughing brightly over the comm.
Zero joined her. He relished the sound of her voice, knowing that he had almost been responsible for taking it away from the world. Every time he thought about that battle on the Final Weapon so long ago, he couldn't help but wonder how different his life would've turned out without her. 'Endless fighting, probably. Most likely until it killed me... You saved me from that, Iris, and I can never thank you enough.' Shaking away the dark thoughts of 'What if', Zero returned his attention to the terminal noticing it was beginning to boot up. Iris chimed through the comm a second later.
"Power reroute successful. You should be able to activate emergency power now. After you've done that, I should be able to get things moving on repairs from here."
"Ri-" Zero's reply cut off as a strange feeling washed over him. Looking back the way he came he saw nothing, but would swear something was skulking around the corridor watching him. Iris was questioning him via the comm, but a finely honed battle-sense was muting her voice subconsciously. Saber gripped tightly, Zero moved back toward the open corridor preparing for an attack. A quick search revealed nothing. However, Zero was never one to ignore a 'bad feeling'. Iris' voice had taken on a more frantic edge and Zero activated his comm.
"Sorry about that... Thought I saw something."
"You could've just said that! I thought something happened to you." Iris replied both irritated and relieved.
"Seal the doors to your area, just in case it wasn't my imagination playing tricks in the dark. I'll maintain radio contact and keep you updated."
"Be careful. I've been monitoring your performance output, and you're still not at 100% fighting fit. And, who knows how tough things have gotten in a thousand years."
Zero rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence..." He replied flatly. 'She worries too much...' Dashing back to the terminal, Zero quickly activated it and sent a link request to Iris' station. After a moment Zero saw that Iris was connected and had the emergency lights turned on. Quickly disengaging the light augmentation program, Zero tried his radar only to be greeted with a burst of static.
Before heading out into the base, Zero had run a check on his Primary and Secondary systems. Everything was in operating order, except the radar. As he wasn't one to rely on radar during combat, or much else really, Zero didn't care and set out. In the early hours of the repair effort, after a wrong turn that collapsed the corridor ceiling behind him, Zero tried the radar again. Hoping his self-repair had fixed the radar issue he was irritated when it was diagnosed as 'Operational'. Designating the self-repair to flag the radar as needing maintenance immediately and devoting full resource allotment to the problem, Zero continued on.
This time, after the radar's systems were purged and rewritten by self-repair, the static remained and Zero was on edge. Between his senses telling him something was amiss and the lack of radar, he knew something else was close by and he wasn't about to be caught off guard. Thinking quickly, he radioed Iris.
"Iris, sweep the base with a security scan and feed it to my HUD. My radar is still down, and I'm positive there's something in the base that shouldn't be."
Zero's HUD flashed and displayed the scan data, locating energy signatures near the Garage but not near him.
"Keep your eyes on the feed and relay data as needed." Zero told Iris as he headed towards the Garage. A crisp "Right!" was the reply. Dashing through the corridors, Zero came to a staircase he'd opened up earlier and bounded up them to the Main Floor. Using his Saber when he reached the floor, Zero sliced the debris away from the doorway and leapt out into a roll that narrowly avoided two incoming Buster shots. Completing the roll back on his feet, Zero brought his Saber into a ready stance and took stock of the situation.
Three grey and black armored Reploids stood against him. Two, obviously armed with Busters, still trained on him flanked one with a Beam Saber. The Saber wielder dashed toward Zero, began to shimmer and promptly disappeared. 'Cloaking Tech... Wonderful.' he thought. The 'Buster Bros', as Zero had mentally dubbed them, opened fire again to cover their comrades attack. Zero snorted as he deflected the small onslaught of uncharged Buster rounds, took a step to the side and unleashed a kick that, somehow, found the invisible Saber fighter and sent him flying back into a wall slamming him with enough force to knock him out. The cannon fire slowed as one of the 'Bros' seemed shocked at Zero's lucky hit and hesitated. Zero took full advantage.
Leaping high and twisting, Zero evaded the the all but useless shots of the single Reploid and landed next to his still stunned partner. Lashing out with a left hook that nearly shattered his target helmet, he connected with a jumping knee that lifted them both back into the air. Once airborne, Zero unloaded with a spinning kick that sent his victim spiraling into a pile of debris, taking him out of the fight as well. The other Reploid ceased firing and called out to his fellow, then roared and fired a semi-charged Buster shot. Zero let his body fall naturally and the shot sailed past him and diffused harmlessly into a debris pile, creating a massive dust cloud. Dousing his Saber to keep an advantage, Zero closed his eyes and listened. The frantic breathing and quick steps of panic filled his hearing and, stepping to the right, Zero reactivated his Saber and gave a lightning fast swing. A howl of pain and the thudding of a cannon hitting the floor followed a moment later, and Zero found his opponent on his knees clutching the stump of his severed arm. He activated his comm.
"Threat neutralized. Beginning interrogation."
"Be careful. Two of those energy signatures are still operational and battle ready." Iris' voice came back.
"Operational, maybe. Battle ready? Not against me." Zero said icily staring at the one armed Reploid.
"I got nothing to say, Imp-Dog." growled the injured Reploid.
"I'm not Imperium. I'm Maverick Hunter. And you're trespassing."
"There are no Maverick Hunters anymore..." the Armada Reploid said with little conviction in his shocked voice.
"I keep hearing that, yet here I am. Where's your boss? Grunts never come alone."
"That would be me." came an airy and aristocratic voice from above.
Zero glanced up to see a violet and grey armored Reploid drop lithely to the floor and toss her hair back out of her eyes. Zero stepped away from the injured Reploid and approached the new threat, pointing the tip of his Saber in her direction. This brought a laugh from her, a sound that could've been sweet had it not belonged to a Maverick.
"You're Null?" Zero asked plainly.
"My word, no. You asked for THEIR boss. She is the Armada's Commander, I am theirs. Lieutenant Vale, at your service. And, if I'm not mistaken, you would be Maverick Hunter Zero. I must say, to meet a Legend such as yourself is... Exhilarating..." Vale said with an all-too-friendly purr in her voice and Zero heard Iris growl over the comm.
Zero never moved his blade, keeping her within his range as she walked around him. As she completed the round, she stopped just inches away from the Saber point and winked.
"Come now, there's no need for this. I can think of much more fun things for us to do, handsome."
"You must be a Maverick, talking crazy like that. I know about your Armada, and the terrible things it's responsible for. And if you think I'd join forces with something like that, your information about me must be sorely lacking."
Vale raised a brow, "Is it?" she said simply. "Did they NOT call you 'Red Death'? 'Crimson Blade'? 'The Omega'?" She laughed. "You've committed a fair number of atrocities in your day as well, Zero. I'd be willing to bet you and Null aren't as different as you believe. But, it would seem you're bent on Falling under the Vale. Pity, I wish you'd have just fallen FOR me."
Vale jumped back and unsheathed two short swords. With a slight shake of her wrists, the blades segmented into whip-like weapons and ignited in violet energy. She smiled a sweet yet predatory grin at Zero as he took notice of her weapons. In a flash, she attacked with a whirlwind of movement her Beam Whips leaving little space to move. Zero parried, rolled, jumped and, finally, dodged away from the whirling light strings creating some separation between the pair. The Whips were unpredictable in their movements, but Zero had faced off against enough Exotic weapons when dealing with Sigma and the Mavericks that's he'd developed several specialized tactics for confronting out-of-the-norm attacks.
"I expected better of you Zero. All you've shown me is how well you run away. Could your legend be more hyperbole that we've been led to believe?" Vale snickered.
Zero just smiled at her and activated the Sougenmu program, which instantly kicked his systems into overdrive and created a solid-light afterimage with his movements. Blasting forward with alarming speed, Zero caught Vale off guard with his increased velocity and ferocity. It was now her turn to twist, spin, duck, dodge and jump away as Zero attacked with combo after combo attempting to land a decisive blow against his foe. Although she had the element of surprise at first, Vale soon found herself at the mercy of the merciless Hunter, and in a move of desperation tried to parry a sequence of attacks that led to the destruction of one of her Whips at the hands of one of his afterimages. She howled in pain as the weapon overloaded and burst like a fire-filled balloon, charring her hand. She glared daggers at Zero, who was standing several feet away in his stance still smiling.
"How DARE you mock me, you outdated scrapyard reject!" Vale spat. "I'll show you the error of that!"
Zero stood his ground as she dashed forward and unleashed a flurry with her remaining Whip. Easily deflecting, thanks to Sougenmu, Zero waited until Vale was only steps away then struck. Standing behind her with his Saber fully extended to the side and a current of crimson electricity marking his path, Zero heard Vale gasp in shock and horror at her mistake as a livid gash opened across her mid-section, through her armor and shattered the armor into pieces. Falling to her knees as the current dissipated, Vale started to chuckle through the pain. Zero sheathed his Saber and moved to stand in front of her once again. She looked up at him, a pained expression painted on her features as she slowly expired, and saw the 'Red Death' of history. Again, she chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Zero asked icily.
"You. You truly...are...'The O-Omega'. Of course you are... Only D-Death would..." She coughed and a mixture of 'blood' and fluid spewed from her mouth. She wiped it away, the grin never leaving her face. "Only Death... Could look as good... As... You." With a shudder, Vale collapsed to the floor and started the familiar overload of dying Reploids. Zero dashed to a safe distance and watched Vale explode in a violet blast of flame. The beeping of his comm brought Zero's attention away from battle.
"All clear Iris. No damage sustained."
"Good. That harlot deserved what she got for taking you on." Iris was still flustered over Vale's flirtatious approach of Zero.
"Are you...jealous?" Zero asked, barely stifling a laugh.
"Absolutely not. No Maverick could turn your heart... Could it?" Iris' tone dared Zero to make a joke. He wasn't foolish enough to try.
"Not in a thousand years."
A/N: First legit combat sequence. Had to make it a 'Perfect' victory for Zero. Just to show that time or tech doesn't matter against pure skill. Hope you all enjoyed Vale as well, sorry she didn't make past our Hero. As usual, please R&R. Although I intend to continue writing this with or without feedback, just a little something would be helpful. Until the next chapter.