Mega Man Fan Fiction ❯ Mega Man X: The New Mavericks - Arc 1: Outbreak ❯ Splintered ( Chapter 8 )

The first sensation Nami could recall was the feeling of the hard floor beneath her knees. As her vision focused, she could see she was in a small room, dimly lit by lights along the edges of the floor and ceiling.

 

And she was alone. There was no sign of Trysta, or Axl, or any of their team nearby.

 

“Axl?” she called out, slowly rising to her feet. “Trysta? Dax? Where are you guys?” She spotted a panel next to the door, and crossed the small room to touch it. The door slid open quickly, causing her to jump slightly.

 

Cautiously, she entered the hall, her rifle loosely clenched in her left hand. “Axl?” she called again, her eyes scanning her surroundings as she walked. “Trysta? Anyone?”

 

As she ventured along the hall, she knew her attempts to call to her friends wouldn't work. She hadn't done much teleporter travel, but she knew that when one arrived at their destination, there was a teleporter similar to the one they had departed from. Not to mention anyone who traveled with them would also appear in that same room. But she had appeared in an empty room, without any of her friends about.

 

“This is bad…” she whispered to the empty hall around her. She had to find them! Leaning against the nearest wall, she activated the communicator on her wrist, attempting to reach any team member she could find.

 

“Anyone? Please, come in. It's Nami. Trysta? Axl? Dax? Can anyone hear me?” she spoke into the unit, but it only transmitted back the soft hiss of static. She was about to try again when her ears picked up the faint sound of footsteps approaching her location.

 

Quickly, she ducked behind the corner she had just rounded, her hand tightening its grip on her weapon as she waited. After several long moments, a guard appeared, dressed in armor of an unfamiliar color and style to her. He stopped a few feet from her location, his weapon sweeping the hall in a slow arc as he looked about. Nami further tensed, prepared to fight if her location was discovered.

 

Finally, appearing to see nothing out of the ordinary, the guard retraced his steps back down the hall. With each retreating footstep, Nami felt herself relax slightly, her hand relaxing its tight hold on the rifle.

 

When the steps disappeared entirely, she emerged from her hiding place, making her way down the hall. Periodically, she leaned against the wall next to her, attempting to contact one of her teammates even as she listened for signs of another approaching guard.

 

Finally, she reached a junction point between four different halls. Leaning her rifle against her thigh, she activated her communicator once again. “Axl? Trysta? Anyone? It's Nami. Can anyone hear me?”

 

“…Nami?…” She stifled a surprised cry as she heard Axl's voice through the static of her unit. “…re you?”

 

“Oh my…Axl! I'm so glad to hear from you!” she cried in response. Briefly, she stiffened, looking around her to make sure she hadn't given herself away. “Where are you?” she whispered into her unit.

 

“Do…know.. so…kind of hangar…” his voice was becoming even more distorted by the static. “…tracking…your comm…find me…”

 

“All right,” she answered before quickly terminating the connection. She knew she couldn't stick around and risk being caught. Not when she had likely located Axl.

 

Touching a small green button on the side of her unit, she waited until she heard the faintly pulsating beeps that emanated from it. Using the green button, she adjusted the tracking settings, until she found the frequency that matched that of Axl's communicator. Smiling slightly, she carefully made her way through the winding halls, following the faint beeps emanated by her unit.

 

 

 

“Hmph. Brilliant work.” The female voice was tinged with acidic sarcasm, the sentence punctuated by the sound of armor striking armor. “I thought our orders were to prevent the Hunters from infiltrating the base; you know, send them to another location entirely. I don't recall our orders being to scatter them about inside this place. Honestly, had I known you were going to botch things this badly, I would have done the teleporter hacking myself!”

 

Bathed in the light from the large computer monitor, the figure seated in the chair before the teleportation panel swiveled the chair, his eyes making contact with those of his verbal assailant. “Cool your jets, sis,” he retorted coldly. “I didn't exactly have the kind of time it required to establish a full teleport reroute. I started work as soon as I received the signal from our plant there at the lab; but their teleport system is more complicated to hack than most I've worked with. Be happy that I got any sort of reroute in at all!”

 

His sister rolled her eyes as he turned back to the control panel. “Whatever you say, dear brother,” she replied icily. “It still doesn't change the fact that they're inside the base, against the wishes of our Master.”

 

He shrugged, the gesture barely noticeable beneath his heavy armor. “So we switch to Plan B,” he answered flatly, his hands resting on the arms of the chair. “Problem solved. Simple as that.”

 

“Yes, it will be simple. Provided you don't get involved with it.” She settled into the chair next to his, crossing her right leg over her left. “Believe me, I'll make sure not to mess things up this time.”

 

 

 

X groaned, rubbing his forehead with the palm on his hand. “Ugh, what happened to us?” he asked, leaning back against the wall behind him. He felt the room spin around him, and he responded by tightly clamping his eyes shut until the sick sensation of spinning had faded.

 

“Don't know.” Dax, sitting against the opposite wall, shrugged. “Whatever it was, it separated all of us. I've been trying to reach the others for some time, but all I'm getting is static.”

 

X shot him an alarmed glance. “You don't think anything's happened to them, do you?” he asked.

 

“Hard to say,” Dax replied. “Though this base is likely large enough that we're simply out of communication range.” He stood up, adjusting his helmet to rest more comfortably on his head. “Let's walk for a while,” he suggested. “Maybe we'll find one of them, or at least a place where we can use our comms without interference.”

 

X nodded, and the two started to make their way out of the room, all the while using their eyes to scan their surroundings. All around them, all they could see were mountains of scrap metal, some pieces glinting dully in the dim overhead light. “Where are we?” X whispered.

 

“Looks like a prototype graveyard.” Dax's mouth was set in a grim line, his hands tightening their grip on his gun. “I see a lot of scraps laying around, and a few partially assembled units, but no complete ones. I'm willing to bet this is where they send the failed test projects and old combat models to be disassembled.”

 

“Hey! Look at this, Dax!” A few feet behind him, X stood in front of a figure that was half-hidden by shadows and small piles of scrap. “This one looks just like you!”

 

As he approached, Dax sucked in a sharp breath as he saw its appearance. Even with half its armor removed and most of its internal components gutted, there was no mistaking what it was. Or who it could have been, had circumstances been different.

 

He shrugged, attempting to keep his cool. “I'm not surprised X,” he said evenly. “After all, I am a retired combat model from some years ago. Had it not been for Dr. Kiloh's fastidious maintenance, I'd likely be in a number of pieces in this base.” The thought that he could just as easily have been scrapped when his model was retired gave him a slight chill. Seeing what his fate could have been, he swore he would make a better show of his gratitude towards the Doctor.

 

After several moments staring at his immobile doppelganger, Dax turned back in the direction they had been traveling. “Let's go X,” he said. “I'd really like to get out of this place before someone finds us here and adds our parts to one of these scrap piles.”

 

 

Even before she opened her eyes, Trysta's first sensation was the hardness of the floor beneath her. She opened her eyes and started to lift her head, only to lower it again as she felt a wave of nausea strike her. She pressed her forehead back to the floor, gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut until the churning sensation in her stomach had passed.

 

When her system had settled down, she dared to lift her head once again. Carefully, she opened her eyes, noting hazily that she wasn't wearing her visor. Scanning the room slowly, she spotted it laying a few feet away from her, and slowly rose to her feet so she could retrieve it.

 

“Where am I?” she asked herself aloud as she fitted the visor back over her eyes. As her vision readjusted to scanning with the visor, she saw it registered several distinct power sources nearby, but little else. “I'm sure I'm somewhere in the base, but where?”

 

She adjusted the visor's power amplification settings, now using it to scan for a possible exit from her current situation. After a few moments, it registered the unmistakable outline of a door on a wall situated across the room from her. She knew the room was large; her visor could barely register any power sources from the three walls opposite her location. Yet she figured anything was better than sitting in one place waiting for either her teammates or an enemy to show up. Being proactive had its merits, after all.

 

As she walked toward the door, her visor began to pick up several new energy readings. They were power readings, the kind she often saw when she scanned an individual who was wearing armor. If it was part of a suit of armor -regardless of whether it was internal circuitry, the power source for the user's shield, or the energy supply for their comm unit- it gave off “chatter” that her visor picked up on. And she was picking up a large group of that chatter; a group that was rapidly heading for the opposite side of the exact same door that she herself was walking toward.

 

As the signals quickly drew nearer, she cast her gaze around the dim room haphazardly, desperate to find a place to hide. She spotted a tall metal pillar standing to her left and dove behind it. She had barely secured herself in her spot when the door opened several feet away. She froze, tensing every muscle in an attempt to remain as silent as possible; one hand moving to cover her mouth and nose to stifle the sound of her breathing.

 

From her hiding place, she listened to the sounds of several pairs of boots walking through the room, waiting as silently as possible for them to leave. It seemed a rather large group of guards were passing through, too large to be a mere security patrol. This wasn't a good sign; it meant their presence in the base was known. They would all have to be much more careful from that point onward.

 

Remaining as silent as she could, Trysta knelt behind the pillar and waited to see what the group's next move would be.

 

 

Nami frowned as the beeps emanating from her comm unit stopped suddenly. She had followed the trail they pointed to for some time, but still had no idea of her location, or any clue where Axl was. She stopped in her tracks, pressing the green button numerous times in an attempt to start them again. Each time was the same; they would start for a few seconds, only to stop again before she took two steps.

 

Fighting back the tears that were burning her eyes, Nami leaned against the wall behind her, her hands balled into fists. She was literally at a dead end, not sure whether to keep walking or stay where she was. “I…I don't know where I am,” she said softly. “Axl, what do I do?”

 

“For starters, I'd suggest checking around the room more carefully next time.” Said a voice from a dim corner of the room.

 

The unexpected voice caught her off guard, and she grabbed for her rifle, pointing it in the direction the voice came from and firing two shots in that direction. She heard the sounds of someone dodging her shots, then only heard silence again.

 

Finger on the trigger, she watched a figure slowly emerge from the gloom, though the dim light made it impossible to see any details. She aimed carefully with her rifle; she had a perfect shot for the center of her target's chest. If this was an enemy, there wouldn't be much left of him after she pulled the trigger. She saw the figure pause, hands in the air, and then she heard the voice again. This time, however, there was no mistaking who it was.

 

“Hey, Nami. Are you picking up new greetings from Trysta? You know who I am!”

 

“Axl!” She quickly dropped her rifle and ran to him. When she reached him, she started to throw her arms around his neck, but felt herself hesitate. “I…I'm really glad I was able to find you, Axl,” she stammered slightly, covering her embarrassment for nearly hugging him. “I was getting scared, not knowing where I was, and with my comm losing you…”

 

“It didn't lose me, Nami,” Axl replied. “I know these units; they automatically stop tracking when you're within a short distance from your target.” He kept his hands at his sides, barely resisting the urge to wrap them around her and embrace her tightly. He'd been worried about her, had worried she wouldn't be able to track him down with only the signal from her comm to guide her. But she had, and there were more important things to do than celebrate merely locating one another.

 

Nami felt her face redden. “Oh,” was all she could manage to say. Why couldn't she have figured that out on her own? Why did it take Axl telling her that for it to sink in?

 

“Hey, at least you know that now.” Gently, Axl rested his hands on her shoulders. “And at least you found me, even if you nearly shot me in the process. So it wasn't all bad.”

 

She smiled, feeling the blush fade from her cheeks. “You're right,” she answered. “I did find you…”

 

Axl's comm crackled to life at that moment. “Axl? Ze…? An…ne there?”

 

“That sounded like X,” Axl activated his comm. “X, it's Axl. Can you hear me?”

 

“Bar…y. Th…e's lots … atic. Where … you?”

 

“Use your comm to track my location,” Axl replied. “I've found Nami already, but I don't know where the others might be.”

 

“And… ith Dax. W…meet up … ou…”

 

Axl thought about replying, but there was too much static coming from his comm. As his eyes met Nami's again, he smiled. “Well, that's four of us,” he said. “Now all we have to do is meet up and find the others, and we'll be set.”

 

“And I hope we do soon,” Nami answered as she walked back to retrieve her dropped rifle. “I'm really not liking this place one bit. Let's regroup, accomplish our mission, and go home.”

 

 

 

Trysta felt her heart race slightly as the majority of the group exited the room again, leaving behind three individuals who remained standing in the center of the room. She noted what little she could make out of their appearances; drab-colored armors with matching helmets didn't glow too brightly when scanned by a visor. Still, they didn't seem to be too big of a threat, so she stayed where she was and merely observed them.

 

After a few minutes spent straining to listen to their nearly inaudible conversation, she decided there had to be a better way to eavesdrop. Adjusting the earpieces of her visor to fit more snugly over her ears, she pressed a pair of tiny buttons located in one of the earpieces. For the few moments it took to connect the auditory system to the main sensory system, all she heard from her earpieces was a low humming sound that varied in volume. Finally, the noise cleared, allowing her to more clearly hear the sounds around her, including the conversation that was taking place within the nearby trio.

 

“So, boss wants us to scout around here?” One of them asked, his tone conveying his confusion. “What are we looking for, exactly?”

 

“Orders from above, I hear.” The second one's voice had a noticeable accent, one that Trysta couldn't place. Not that she cared enough to want to try. “Ya didn't hear it from me, but I heard tha' the whole `rerouting' attempt thing failed pretty miserably, and that lot's scattered about the base here. We're to be on the lookout for `em while our leaders correct their little mistake.”

 

“But I hear a few of them are S Class Maverick Hunters.” The first one retorted, obviously agitated. “If I remember the stories about them right, they're practically unbeatable. Personally, I'd rather not run into any of them.”

 

“Then you're a damned coward,” remarked the third. “I hear they ain't so tough. They're, what, 250 years old now? Think of how far along we Reploids have come in two and a half centuries. You think a bunch of antiques are really gonna beat us?”

 

“B'sides,” the second one added. “I hear at least one o'em would prefer to live in peace over fighting. You really think we'd lose against a bunch of pacifists?”

 

“Well…” The first one began hesitantly.

 

Trysta never gave him a chance to finish his thought. Finding she was rapidly becoming bored with listening to their banter, she stepped out from behind the pillar, pistols drawn and held in her hands. She felt a growing smirk spread across her lips as she looked at the trio before her. They had drawn their guns as soon as they saw her, even as they stared at her in mute shock. Yes, this little group would be easy to beat in a fight. Pathetically easy, at that.

 

“It's one of them! Open fire!”

 

Seeing a spray of projectiles heading directly toward her, Trysta rolled to her right in order to dodge the volley. As she straightened, she let loose with her own two pistols, her smirk growing as she watched their bullets penetrate the armor worn by one of her opponents.

 

“Ha! Like that?” she taunted as she watched him drop to the floor. She continued to dodge the bullets fired by the remaining two soldiers, periodically letting loose with her own counterattack.

 

After several minutes of dodging and counterattacking, Trysta raised her pistols to fire another few rounds at her attackers. Nothing happened when she squeezed the triggers. She tried a few more times, each time the same as the last, and she finally noticed the red lights that were blinking furiously on the barrel of each pistol. She groaned inwardly, those blinking lights told her the weapons' energy packs were totally depleted. She had just wasted a pair of her better weapons on a completely frivolous fight.

 

That moment of distraction was all the remaining soldiers needed. One of them grabbed a small gun from his belt and pulled the trigger. Trysta attempted to dodge, but felt her left foot slip on the smooth floor, causing her to drop to her knees before she could stop herself. As she tried to stand up, she was aware of something tightly wrapping around her wrists, causing her to drop her pistols. Looking down at her wrists, she saw they were tightly bound by a length of lasso cable, which had been fired from the gun held in the soldier's hands. She struggled against the imprisoning cable, which only tightened in response.

 

“Heh, not so tough now, are ya, Miss?” The other soldier was approaching her, his rifle gleaming ominously in the view field of her visor. “Where's yer cockiness now?” Slowly, he raised his rifle and aimed down the barrel, the tiny light of the sight pointing directly at her forehead. “You certainly are a pretty little thing. Maybe I'll be nice enough to let you say some pretty words before I put a shot between yer eyes.”

 

She continued to fight the cable that held her, though her eyes never strayed from the soldier who now aimed his weapon at her. If she didn't get free, there wouldn't be enough left of her for the others to find!

 

This is such a bad day to be me. She thought to herself. But I don't want it to end like this!

 

The seconds seemed to tick by like years as she was forced to wait helplessly for her foe to pull the trigger. Suddenly, the far-left portion of her visor picked up a blur of motion. She turned her head to look in the direction it came from, but her visor detected no further movement. Still, she knew she had seen something!

 

“Hey! Hold still, you!” the harsh words caused her to jerk her focus back to the reploid pointing a rifle at her. Suddenly, he let out a shout, and the barrel of the rifle was sliced off in a sudden flash of light. He fell backwards, sitting there stunned for several seconds, the ruined rifle still in his hands as he stared at it in shock.

 

Trysta's gaze followed the severed piece of the barrel as it dropped to the floor. As it struck with an echoing clink, she heard someone land a few feet in front of her. She shifted her gaze to see the crouched figure in front of her, weapon poised for another strike. It shifted slightly, allowing her to catch a glimpse of long blond hair cascading from the back of its helmet.

 

“Z…Zero?” she somehow managed to blurt out. She hated her tone immediately; it sounded too desperate, too needy to have come from her. Still, considering she was effectively helpless with her hands restrained, she welcomed his help.

 

 

 

Mentally, Zero kicked himself for rushing into the middle of this fight. He shouldn't have gotten involved; he should have let “Little Miss High and Mighty” fight her own fight. He had told himself that as they were transported here, promised himself he would stay out of any trouble she got herself into.

 

Well, so much for that promise. Maybe it was the effects of having been rerouted that affected his mind and made him quick to jump to her aid. Maybe it was that instinct to protect someone against an unfair fight. He really had no clue what made him draw his weapon and defend her, but he was there. No turning back now unless he wanted to get them both killed.

 

He was surprised to hear her say his name; he would have figured her too proud to make any acknowledgment of him. But he heard it, heard his name in a voice tinged with shock and desperation. He knew that, had he not appeared when he did, she wouldn't have survived this fight. Cocky little amateur, she'd gotten herself in over her head with this fight. Hadn't she ever learned how to be discreet and steer clear of being noticed?

 

He figured the lessons in stealth and judgment could wait for a later time, since there were still two menacing reploid soldiers to deal with. He raised his head, staring at the one who held the lasso whip gun. “Well, seems you two never learned the concept of an `honorable' fight,” he remarked. “Otherwise, this two-on-one scuffle wouldn't be one in which your opponent can't even defend herself.” He tsked sarcastically, shaking his head in disgust. “And you call yourselves soldiers.”

 

“That's `cause we are soldiers,” barked the reploid coldly. “I'd like to know who you think you are, stepping in the middle of this like you know what you're doing.”

 

“Who am I?” Zero asked mockingly. “I'm no one, really. Just an S Class Maverick Hunter. But that's pretty meaningless, isn't it?” He cast a cursory glance over his shoulder at the young woman who knelt behind him. “Why don't you let the girl go, and face me, fighter to fighter? Then we'll see who doesn't know what he's doing.”

 

“So you're one of those Hunters everyone's been talking about around here. Fair enough, I'll take you up on your little challenge. But the girl isn't getting off so easily.” He disconnected the line from the barrel of the gun before holstering the gun on his belt; simultaneously the line wrapped the rest of its length around her wrists, keeping them secured. “You beat me, red boy, and the girl can go. Otherwise, she gets a shot to the forehead. Got it?”

 

Zero nodded. “Fair enough,” he answered, ignoring the outraged glare he was sure was coming from Trysta. If she had had any say in it, she certainly wouldn't be going for such an arrangement! But, seeing as how she was somewhat tied up at the moment, the decision-making had defaulted to him. Not that he was sure he liked it.

 

He held his Z-Saber at the ready, watching as the second of the two stood up to join his comrade. “You two will likely regret this before we're all through. But I guess you'll have to learn the hard way.”

 

His two opponents glared at him. “Enough yakkin' outta ya,” growled the other, pulling a pair of long knives from their holders on his back. “When we're through with you, you'll regret gettin' in the middle of this.”

 

 

“Dax!” Nami's shout was happy as she spotted her tall, armored friend. Breaking into a run, she left Axl behind and raced to Dax, who caught her in a hug that was both firm and gentle. She knew this hug all too well; it was meant to be comforting without causing her pain. He had retained his incredible strength even years after coming into Dr. Kiloh's service, and he knew squeezing her with too much of that strength could be harmful. So he always tried to be as gentle as possible; doubly so when he wore his armor.

 

“Nami, I'm so glad you're safe.” Dax smoothed a hand against the armor's shell that covered her back, feeling her shake slightly. As he felt her tremble, he fought the sudden rush of anger at Trysta for what she had done. Nami was obviously terrified; and with good reason, as this was not the element she and Rei had been designed to be in. They were research reploids with only a few fighting capabilities available to them, a far cry from the sophisticated targeting and weapons systems he possessed as a combat reploid.

 

So why had Trysta insisted they come along?

 

She lifted her head, tears making her gray eyes shimmer. “I…I know,” she said softly. “I was so scared, waking up and realizing I was in this strange place all alone.” She straightened up, wiping her eyes with her hand. “But at least we're all together.”

 

“That's right,” Axl interjected as he approached them. “And I'm sure we'll find the others in no time!”

 

“I think so too,” X added. “All we need to do is navigate this labyrinth of a base. I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere.”

 

Nami looked around for a moment. “You guys didn't find Rei, did you?” she asked.

 

Dax shook his head. “No, we didn't,” he replied. “Personally, I was hoping you would have found her.” His jaw tensed as he saw the tears start to return to her eyes. “Now, don't get upset Nami,” he rested his large hands on her shoulders as he soothed her. “After all, we still need to find Trysta and Zero. Maybe she's found her way to one of them.”

 

Her expression was questioning. “Do…do you think so?” she asked hesitantly.

 

He shrugged in reply. “Well, it's better than assuming she's in trouble, isn't it?” He gave her a reassuring smile, which he saw returned with a small smile of her own. “Well, let's get going then. The quicker we get moving, the sooner we'll find the others.”

 

“Good idea Dax,” X walked toward a nearby door, touching a button on the control panel on the nearby wall. “All of our comms are still being jammed, but that doesn't mean we can't still try to find them.”

 

“Could…could we track the others?” Nami asked. “Use the units to try and locate the others, like I did with Axl?”

 

Dax nodded. “We can try, but I'd prefer not standing around here trying to activate the tracking system,” he explained, walking toward the now-open door. “Why don't we see if we can't get the it up and running as we go?”