Maverick Hunter X - Next-Level Insurrection
Chapter 1: A Taste of Things To Come
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters originating from the Mega Man X series. All characters in that respect are property of Capcom. Please support the official release!
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Earth. A once beautiful, populous, and inheritly good planet was brought to the brink of destruction...by its own people.
In the year 2027, many of the world's most powerful nations came to blows by power, ego, and greed, and thus starting the third World War. A war that lasted seven long agonizing years. By the war's end, there was no clear winner. Billions of lives were lost. Soldiers, innocents, political leaders, even the plants and animals were lost to the conflict.
People began to live in fear in the years following, as those that remained or succeeded the deceased pondered how to rebuild from the damage done to the world. The answer came at 2041, where Professor Kristine Rimmer unveiled an invention from the final days of the war: an android that could think, feel, and act upon its own free will. The robot's designation was simply `X'.
Soon, four similar androids emerged, along with a fifth over a decade later. These androids became known to the world as the prototypes for the new sentient life on the planet. The replicant androids, shortened to Reploids, began to flourish from assembly lines and were put to use in labor work, to rebuild the world around them. Their durability and hyper stamina allowed them to perform tasks normal humans could not, and in five years' time, the world was remade to how it was before and even greater. Humans and Reploids would work, play, and live in harmony.
But with every gift, comes a grave cost.....
The date - March 26, 2050. Reports swarmed in of a Reploid attacking a high school in Lovington, New Mexico, killing 150 students and staff. This would only be the first of a strong wave of incidents involving rogue Reploids rebelling against their human creators and even committing criminal acts. These rebellious Reploids, known as Mavericks, appeared throughout the world and disrupted the peaceful times the world had seen.
No one was able to discover the cause of how the Mavericks came to be. The consequences of free will? A mysterious computer virus? A glitch in their systems? Perhaps even inability to mate? The case was left unsolved, but not unresolved. A year after the initial Maverick attacks, the United Nations approved of the formation of a Reploid military to deal with major threats, known as the Repliforce, as well as a global Reploid task force made to detain or destroy Mavericks throughout the world, with most of its outposts and memberships in Western Europe. Led by Sigma - the strongest robot created by mankind - this group became widely known as the Maverick Hunters.
It is now 2053. Maverick crime is still on the rise, with need of Hunters growing more and more. X has now joined the Maverick Hunters, alongside two of his fellow prototypes - Zero and Vile - in hopes of stopping the Mavericks before they can cause any more pain and bring everlasting peace to the Earth.
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16:00 - UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
A large warehouse door opened up as we see our heroes: the Maverick Hunters. Several hunters of different styles and nationalities quietly rush in, waiting for a command by their leader. The Reploid was a large, bald, humanoid machine, with light skinned face, blue eyes with no iris, a flattened and refined chin, and a red circular gem on his forehead. He had black underarmor and green chest armor and shoulder plates, with a red gem on the left hand side of his chest and some silver and red accents thrown in. He had red Reploid ``ears'' with some armor behind his neck, blue arms, and brown legs and boots. This was the Maverick Hunter Commander, Sigma, and the world's most powerful Reploid.
A few hunters quietly crept in, from different positions carefully observing the surroundings for the Maverick target. Among those in this small group were a purple armadillo Reploid with metallic armor covering him and a red jewel on his forehead, named Armored Armadillo; a small purple penguin Reploid with yellow markings, a silver beak, and twin tanks on his back, named Chill Penguin; and a humanoid Reploid with long blonde hair, a sharpened red helmet with white detais and a blue triangular gem on his forehead, red armor and white circular shoulders, with a purple `Z' on his left hand one and green gems on his chest; this was the elite A-Class Hunter, Zero.
Zero motioned for a steady approach, as he could feel his target was nearby more and more. Zero touched the communicator on his ear to contact. ``Commander, the enemy is nowhere in sight. But I have a feeling he's lurking close....''
``Good work, Zero.'' Sigma said. ``Nana, are you able to get a fix on the target?''
``Already on it, Sigma sir!'' said a voice over the communicator. ``The Maverick in question is a vampire-like Reploid, calls himself Vampro Alucard. The analysis says that he attacks victims, drains them of life force and uses it to grow his own power. His abilities seem to be in, and I quote, `dark alchemy'.''
``Vampire, huh?'' said Sigma. ``Then he will most likely be somewhere here where there's little light. Hunters, be on high alert. We don't know where or when he'll strike, so check all surroundings.''
``Copy that, sir.'' Said Armored Armadillo, over his radio.
The Hunters crept steadily and carefully, trying to find the Maverick for themselves. But Vampro Alucard's snarls were too quiet to be heard. One of Zero's teammates steadily walked about, but then stepped in some liquid. He had hoped it was some sort of lubrication. It was far worse; blue blood. Blue blood that could only be of a Reploid. He slowly looked up, turning his light upwards, and looked in horror at the sight. The sight of Reploids cut open, mangled, bleeding out, and far past dead.
Before he could scream at the sight, he was grabbed rather tightly. This caused him to scream, his crewmates looked on, and saw what appeared to be a black and purple winged monster biting into his neck.
``Nicc, no!'' shouted a Hunter.
Nicc screamed in agony as the creature chewed at his metal casing. Zero and his Hunters took action and shot at the Maverick, but Nicc took the full brunt of the assault. His body was in a bad state and was thrown by the monstrous Maverick, now identified as Vampro Alucard.
``Commander, Sigma, we've located the target!'' Zero said over his communicator. ``Engaging now!''
``I could tell from the screaming, Zero.'' Sigma said matter-of-factly. ``All hunters, form around Zero and engage the enemy.''
Zero's lower right arm and hand transitioned into an intricate arm cannon, or buster, and he prepared for battle. A few hunters attacked by shooting Alucard, but many of their shots had little effect on the Vampiric Maverick. Zero's shots were only a fair bit better, when Alucard lunged at him and bit at his shoulder. Zero squirmed only a little, before kneeing the Maverick in the gut several times to release him. He followed up with some punches all around, but the most it did was just daze the beastial Maverick.
Alucard threw several fire lasers all around. Armored Armadillo was able to use his shields in time to protect his team, most others were not as lucky, either being destroyed easily or were heavily damaged and writhing in pain.
``I love my Maverick Hunters fresh.....'' snarled Alucard in a sadistic tone.
Before he could finish off a hunter, he turned around as if he had sensed someone. He eventually felt a hard kick right to the kisser, which sent him a few feet away. He turned at his attacker, who was in a fighting stance. She was a humanoid Reploid, with short orange hair, blue eyes, and white undersuit. She wore an orange short sleeved top armor, had orange and silver arms, and wore black sweatpants with an orange sash, making it look like a fighting attire. All that could be seen of her robotic legs were her orange and white feet, which resembled more sneakers.
Her name was Nellia and was one of the very few Maverick Hunters that used next to no weapons at all. She instead used close quarters combat in fights, her own self-taught martial arts known as Daguva-Zeba Arts. Nellia wasn't single either, as she had a lovely girlfriend. Though she would still scare some Hunters with how capable she is and how easy she can break them down should they anger her.
Nellia charged in and began throwing punches and kicks at Alucard. The Maverick was doing a good defense in absorbing and blocking every shot she had, then threw a gravity attack at her, sending her hurling a bit. However, Nellia landed on her feet and clasped her hands together.
``ZUGOBATA!!'' she shouted and thrusted her hands, sending a red fireball in the shape of a dragon at him. Alucard countered with his own attack, then as they collided summoned fire pillars which hit several of the Hunters.
Sigma had enough standing around and jumped up with a downward punch, flinging the enemy back a bit.
``You insolent Hunter!'' shrieked Alucard. ``I'll turn you into dust!''
``An unlikely outcome of this scenario.'' Sigma said with a smug grin on his face.
Vampro Alucard glided right at Sigma. The Hunter Commander didn't even flinch and stopped him dead in his tracks, and gave him a loud boot right to the gut. Then picked him up, suplexed him right onto the floor and punched him right in the chest and hard.
``Commander, Cinnamon is being dispatched via teleportation as we speak.'' Nana said over the comms.
``Affirmative.'' Said Sigma, casually throwing Alucard into some metal crates. ``She may be busy....''
As soon as Alucard collided with the crates, an angelic blue light appeared around the soldiers. Then a female nurse Reploid appeared down, as if she were an angel descending from the heavens. She had blue eyes, fair lengthed blonde hair two white and blue buns, a white cap with the red cross, black arms and small angel wings on her back. She wore a white nurse's outfit with blue parts and accents, including a blue heart on her chest area, as well as white lower arms armor with four red rectangular gems, white gloves with blue crosses on them, white and blue boots, and long black stockings.
She was the young but helpful medic of the Hunters, Cinnamon. She jogged to some of the casualties. She was horrified at some of the bodies, moreso in the fact she would not be able to save everyone. As Alucard got up and charged, she puled out a small pistol which she shot to blind him and keep him back. Sigma proceeded to return to their fight as Cinnamon tended to a wounded Hunter.
``Hang in there, guy!'' Cinnamon said, taking out her med kit and getting right to work. She took out a med torch and began fixing up one of her patients. It hurt a bit, but it was better than the pain they were already in.
Meanwhile, Sigma was dragging Alucard all across the area, not even breaking an oil sweat. Zero, while as impressed as his fellow hunters, was also irritated at himself. He felt useless and anxious, wanting to do something else than just stand idly by and watch as someone stronger took control.
``Commander, request permission to back up!'' Zero shouted.
Sigma tossed Alucard a few meters away, then turned to Zero. ``That may not be necessary, Zero. I understand your desire to help, but focus and patience is what's most important. This isn't yours to - ''
Before he could finish, Sigma found himself bitten hard by the enemy Maverick. Sigma caught off guard is something that rarely happens, and the Hunters were shocked. His energy being drained, the Hunters attacked at the Maverick, but with the few seconds he was able to grab enough power to blast many of the Hunters to dust.
Cinnamon had fixed her fourth patient, but now she saw she had very little to work with. With Sigma brought to one knee, Zero stood his ground and charged up his buster. Vampro Alucard flew up and downwards at the Hunter, which is when Zero unleashed his power at point blank. The result was both Reploids being blown back, but ALucard was still airborne, while Zero had trouble standing up. As the Maverick was about to strike, he was blinded by a light from an explosion in the wall.
From the wall emerged a humanoid Reploid with an arm cannon in blue armor. The Reploid had light blue undersuit and a blue helmet with a line across it with a refined red gem on the end of it. It was the original Reploid himself: the Maverick Hunter X!
``Heh, sure love to make an entrance....'' Zero snarked.
X ran to his commander. ``Apologies for the delay, Commander Sigma. The traffic was impeccable, but I'm here now.''
``Yes, you are.'' Sigma said. ``I'm glad you made it. Now hurry and engage, X.''
``Understood.'' X said and dashed ahead, laying a shot of his fist at Alucard.
Alucard countered back with some claw strikes of his own, but they barely scratched X's outer shell. X shot with several yellow energy bullets, which made contact and di only a slither of damage. Alucard would throw fire pillars X's way, but the Blue Bomber was able to jump dash backwards out of harms way. X fired a fully charged shot which sent him in Zero's direction.
Zero threw a massive kick to the chest which hurt a lot, but as he staggered, Alucard yanked Zero's hair, tugging the red Replloid along with him. X prepared a finishing shot, but stopped when he saw Alucard now holding Zero in a choke hold. He was willing to use Zero as a Reploid shield for him. X hesitated. This was common of him to stop dead in his tracks, when knowing to take action, he could hurt innocents and civilians. It was now happening once more.
With X struggling to shoot, Sigma rose to his feet and leaped up into the air and landed a massive clothesline on the both of them, Zero taking the blunt of the punishment, but Alucard not immune to all the damage suffered. Sigma picked him up and ignited his light saber. The Maverick Hunters would have two options in what to do with a neutralized Maverick. They would either destroy it, or detain it. Sigma realized how much of a danger a Maverick like Alucard was. It did not take him long to decide. Without hesitating, he drove his blade through Alucard's body. More and more as it slipped, the Maverick struggled and shrieked until he finally exploded and was done for.
``Commander Sigma to HQ.'' Sigma said through the comms. ``Target destroyed. Preparing to head back.''
``Copy that, Commander.'' Said Nana through the comms. ``We'll be readying a detailed report by the time you return.''
The hunters began heading out. Many were lost to the battle, but Cinnamon was able to save and heal the 12 wounded and the 7 more that had survived the ordeal without much difficulty. Zero was the last to be attended to by Cinnamon. He really didn't like being nursed so much, but there was little he could do.
``I told you, Cinnamon, it's not a big deal!'' said Zero.
``Oh it is a big deal if you're acting like a baby about it.'' Cinnamon teased. ``Just one more adjustment to your boots...and all good. Now what flavor lollipop did you want?''
``Very funny.'' Zero rolled his eyes and got up.
X was walking towards the exit, the hole in the wall he had created on his way in. He was stopped by the voice of his own commander.
``X! A word, please.''
X turned around to see his commander looking sternly at him and slowly approached him. He could see unhappy faces on Armadillo and Chill Penguin. He had a feeling what he was going to hear from his commander; the same kind of scolding they would give him.
``X, is there something you wish to talk about?'' asked Sigma. ``Are your combat systems not at full capacity?''
``N-No sir. They are.'' X said.
``So there is nothing wrong with your circuits or systems?''
``Not that I'm aware of....''
``Then why did you not attack? Why did you not finish the Maverick when you had the chance?''
X froze. He had to think hard on this question. He knew the answer why, it was because Zero was in danger. He could not risk any harm to one of his closest friends. But he wasn't sure if his Commander would accept an answer like that. It was clear with how he attacked even with Zero as a hostage and killed the Maverick.
``Your aiming capabilities are more than adequate to have done the task, and there was but a slight chance Zero would have been destroyed in the blast. You understand that, correct?'' Sigma asked.
``Y-Yes sir. But I couldn't risk....'' X said.
``Listen well, X.'' Sigma interrupted. ``You know the risks and rewards of being a Hunter when you joined us four months ago, yet despite your promise, you continue to hesitate. I will say this once: there are times where you cannot hesitate in pulling the trigger. Any slight hesitation could end in a disastrous outcome. As Maverick Hunters, we must become both sword and shield to those that cannot defend themselves. Never forget that.''
X said nothing for a moment, taking a bit to let Sigma's words sink in. While his intents to not fire were noble and selfless, he realized a bit that what he said was true. There may be times where he could not hesitate for even a moment, as that would only doom more than those already at risk. After thinking about and accepting this, X nodded seriously at his commander, who smiled and walked past him.
``Don't let it get to ya, X.'' Zero said, walking to him. ``It was my fault for being careless. Guess we both have a lot to learn. Now come on, let's head back to base.''
``Y-Yeah....'' X nodded, falsely reassuring Zero.
The Hunters began heading out. But as Sigma was preparing, he saw something out the corner of his eyes. It was a human construction worker and a Reploid in some sort of argument. He could not hear all of what was happening or what they were discussing, but what he saw next shocked him. The human kicked his co-worker in between the groin, causing the bot to fall in pain. The human would proceed to punch him in the face and then continuously stomping on the Reploid.
At this point, Sigma heard nothing but screams of pain, pleads to stop, and massive cussing and abuse from his attacker. Sigma had almost thought that this human was just a Maverick, but his sensors saw no metal parts. No wiring or circuitry. Just flesh and blood. How could a human be so cruel to Reploids, ones he works with? More egregious is how no one else seemed to notice or care.
``Is something wrong, Commander?'' Armored Armadillo snapped him out of his thoughts.
``It... it is nothing, Armadillo.'' Said Sigma. ``I will tell later. Let's depart.''
Armadillo nodded and proceeded to leave. Sigma looked back at the scene in disgust, as the Reploid laid on the ground, beaten and crying. Something like this could not happen. Never happen...
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17:15 - MAVERICK HUNTER BASE - LONDON
This high-tech, state of the art facility in the heart of London, England, was the main headquarters for the Maverick Hunters. Words here could not properly describe the base in its entirety. X and Zero entered the base and walked through its corridors. X had honestly gotten lost a couple of times in the base himself, but he eventually got the grip of things.
As X and Zero entered one of the control rooms, they saw someone being escorted away by two hunters. It was a purple Reploid almost entirely in armor. He had a black undersuit, advanced upper armor with white and yellow specs on his stomach, with purple lower arm and lower leg armors, and a large cannon over his shoulder, with what appeared to be a long golden magazine strapping it to his backpack. He also had no face to speak of, only a purple helmet with grey patterns on the sides and a tinted black T-visor, with a red ``V'' on his forehead. In general, he looked like a strange mixture of Boba Fett and Vegeta.
It was Vile, arguably the most hostile Maverick Hunter ever made. He often clashed with others, mostly X, refused to listen to orders, and would go too far on Mavericks in missions. X heard rumors on his way there that Vile was being discharged and labelled Maverick after allegedly killing some innocents the night before. Seeing him handcuffed and escorted out seemed to have confirmed those rumors.
``I knew Vile was going to end up like this sooner or later. He always was a jerk.'' He said.
``Jerk is putting it nicely, X.'' said Nellia, passing by. ``Vile was just a straight up asshole.''
``My sentiments exactly.'' Smiled Zero.
X chuckled a bit, but was still lost in thought. He was thinking of what Sigma had told him, how he needed to be better on the trigger; that he needed to protect and serve all those that cannot defend themselves. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone grab his waist tightly. X was shocked and tried breaking free....until he was softly bitten in the neck.
``Nom. Nom.'' Said the voice.
X sighed in relief and annoyance. ``Not funny, Nana.''
``You're right, X.'' she giggled, letting go. ``It was hilarious.''
``After just coming back from facing a semi-tough vampire Maverick, no. It really wasn't.'' said Zero.
Nana was the chief navigator for the Hunters, who knew to take the job seriously but wasn't afraid to be laidback and borderline adorable. She had a black undersuit with a beige armor with orange accents on her upper chest, arms, and legs. She also had two 7's on her chestplates, to signify some sort of luck, a belt in the shape of a horseshoe, short pink hair with one white fringe on her forehead, blue eyes, and a wireless headset with red buttons on her head, with an antenna on her left side.
In truth, X always had some sort of admiration for Nana. Her usefulness and cute personality always seemed endearing to him. Not to mention she was kind of cute, though X would never say that out loud. He wanted to keep his relationship with her professional, so as to not endanger the both of them.
``By the way, Commander Sigma wanted to see you, myself, and Zero.'' She said. ``He says it's important.''
``Hopefully, it won't be to rub in where we both scrapped up again.'' Zero joked.
``The commander isn't like that, Zero. Now let's just go.'' Said X, nonchalantly.
They walked a bit to the main control room, and found Sigma with another female British Reploid. Zero had thought he saw an angel. She was physically older than Cinnamon, yet younger than one of their scientists in Alia. She was a humanoid with long brunette hair, green eyes, white limbs, and red armor with blue patterning, in the form of a dress. The end of her dress had gold lining, and the chest was covered with some sort of banner with the Repliforce insignia on it. The girl smiled sweetly as she saw her company approaching her. Zero blushed a tiny bit. He was not good with women, despite girls finding him extremely attractive.
``X. Zero. Thank you for coming.'' Said Sigma, then gestering to the girl. ``This is Iris. She's the younger sister of Patton, Colonel of the Repliforce.''
The girl called Iris bowed respectfully to the two. ``It's an honor to meet you, X and Zero. I've heard so much about your exploits.''
``Well, that's shocking. Considering I'm still B-Class, and Zero's still A-Class, at best.'' X said modestly.
``No need for modesty, X. I see you as a great hero, as well as Zero, quite much!'' Iris said, holding their hands.
Nana was getting very figgity with how close she was to X. She thought Iris looked cute alongside Zero, but Nana had always had a crush on the Blue Bomber. The prospect of Iris potentially stealing X away was nerve-racking.
``Ahem!'' Sigma cleared his throat. ``Iris will be staying with us as an intern and assistant navigator. I want you three to show her the ropes and how we do things here. X and Zero can give her a tour of the base.''
``With all due respect, sir, why can't you just brief her yourself?'' asked Nana.
``Unfortunately, I need to go to Professor Rimmer's estate in Fulham.'' Sigma explained. ``It's of upmost importance, so I leave you three to tutor her.''
``Not really the tutoring kind of person myself, sir.'' Zero said.
``Don't worry, Zero. It should not take me that long. I know she will be in good hands with you all.'' Sigma walked over to Zero's ears and then whispered. ``Besides....I think she likes you.''
Zero's face turned redder after that, X just smiling at Zero's reaction. With that, Sigma took his leave and the four began their bonding.
``Humans say that the greatest threat to this planet is the Mavericks.'' Sigma thought as he left. ``But could they also be Mavericks as well? Only Professor Rimmer could find those answers...''
TO BE CONTINUED.....
