Author:
Grenade Man
[ Edit | View ]
|
Date Posted: 19:13:45 05/23/03 Fri
The blackness lifted. His body phased out, and he felt nothing. His systems automatically triggered the start-up sequence. For a brief flash of an instant, he remembered the sight of the Sky Lagoon falling, and the look of despiration in his creator's eyes. They killed her husband, and his identity...the Mavericks....he did not forget them.(*See IO's origin: Archives!) IO awoke from the coma-like state of his crystal cocoon. The cocoon shattered, and exploded. The control room was no more. The large retaining walls shook, and the four, multi-level control rooms rattled. Techs tumbled out of their seats warily. IO disappeared in a flash of light, and was gone. Meanwhile, alarms sounded...
Moments later, he reappeared in the submarine bay. He had locked the position in as his fallback point. There were signs that something had just happened here, as well as something happening outside. He wanted to look for X, but he could sense enemy hostiles. His system also told him that a high level of radiation was coming from the water. He scouted the cavernous room. He saw a metal stair which led to a monitoring station. He did a close teleport, and landed below the stairs. He took them with caution.
Three black & green reploids leaned against the console, not caring too much about the job they were supposed to be doing. IO's threat indicator showed them to be yellow: neutral, so far! He did a scan of their weapons systems. Hmm, interesting...it seemed like they each carried a standard Reploid Arm-Cannon. These guys looked like they carried the Ri-Mark 17X Cannon. It was a decent weapon. It had a coolant system designed to channel waste heat into the weapon's projectile system. The hotter it got, the more firepower it could produce. The Ri-Mark had a rapid rate of fire, but a slow rate of charge. The weapon was good for providing a steady stream of fire, usually made effective in group settings. Three Reploids with Ri-Mark 17X arm cannons could pin a foe down while the "big-boys" took the threat out. IO guessed that they were part of the troops under command of Wave Tortise. Since Tortise wasn't around, the three Reps wouldn't be much of a challenge.
IO wasn't one to kill needlessly. But, he needed to act quickly. He held his body in defense mode, and decided on an unusual approach. He walked up the steps, and into the monitor room. The first Rep looked him right in the eyes.
"Hey, who're you?", He scolded.
"I'm no one of consequence! I just came here to ask some questions...I'm not looking for trouble!", IO answered. The other two Reps leveled their amr cannons at his chest, and the leader replied. "Yeah, well you got trouble."
IO allowed himself to show a small bit of irritation. "Aghh. Listen! I don't have time to fight you guys. My sensors indicate that a large amount of radiation is seeping in here. It is important that you seal the doors in the sub bay immediately! If you don't the radiation could damage your system, corrode your armor, and contaminate your logic CPU!"
The three reps looked at eachother confused. They looked at him, and at eachother with blank faces. Aggrivated, IO pushed past, and tried to search the control panel.
"Quickly, tell me...Which of these buttons do you press?"
"Uh..yeah...sure.", One of the reps answered, "Press the one that says, 'Operation 1, door release.' Then, press the button which operates the door mechanism. It should have an arrow on it." IO quickly keyed in the sequence, and watched with satisfaction as the doors closed. The leader watched in shock as his subordinate moved to the control panel to start helping the intruder.
"Just one minute...who do you think you are?", the leader barked. He couldn't hold back any longer. He raised his arm, and fired a stream from his Ri-Mark 17X arm cannon. A stream of bluish-white energy lanced out at IO. He must have blinked...or something!? Reploids don't blink....but it had to be that his eyes weren't working, because he could have sworn that the intruder was there just a second ago. But IO had disappeared, and reappeared behind him. What is more, IO held his arm with the cannon mounted on it behind the rep's back. His steel saber was drawn, and rested in his hand. It's edge only a hair-breadth away from the rep's throat.
"Move, and you perish!", IO ordered. The other two froze.
"Boys, kill him!", the leader ordered.
"Do you want to die also?", IO asked, "There is no need for this! You have closed the doors, and I thank you. All I ask now is that you tell me where I can find Mega Man X!"
"X! What the hell?",the leader growled. "He's a damn Hunter!" The other two reps aimed their arm cannons at him.
"Listen, violence is unneccesary at this point. All I seek is information. Such information is painless, and not worth your lives. Tell me...or he dies."
"See if I care.", The third Rep told him. But the one who had helped IO said, "We have our orders..."
"Is that your choice?", IO asked.
The two reps answered by lowering their arm cannons. Their leader stared hard at them, in disapproval. IO nodded.
"You made the correct decision.", he told the trio.
"Alright, look...If we tell you where X is, will you get out of here? If Doppler catches us, we're going to be in big trouble!" IO twirled his blade, and released his grip on the lead reploid. "Would you rather die by my hand?", he asked, as his blade flashed. The leader drew himself up, and regained his composure. But, just the thought of Doppler catching them drained him. He woefully replied, "There are worse things than death!"
"We saw Vile take X. But where he is, we do not know.", The second Rep told him. The third rep laughed, "Yeah he kicked him pretty hard. X didn't put up much of a fight!"
"It was disappointing, really.", The leader told them, "I mean everyone's heard about the great Mega Man X! But to see him done in so easilly...I mean wow!"
"Yeah, no wonder Sigma keeps coming back. X can't finish the job! Heh heh heh heh...", The third rep mocked!
The name of Sigma sent a spike of rage through IO's mind. His hand moved with lightning speed, and the steel saber flahsed. Before the rep knew it, the tip of the blade had passed within a molecule's distance of his face. IO timed the stroke perfectly, even factoring in the subject's delayed response, and adjusting the angle, and speed. Of course it had happened suddenly, and yet...unintentionally. It made him question the Mysterious Dr. Zeng, and what things the doc had put inside him!
"Watch your mouth, or I'll take it from you!", IO warned.
The leader had HAD it! "Listen, I don't care who you are...no one tells threatens me, and my men! You're toast pal!" IO turned to look at him, feeling cocky, and arogant. He was about to make a quip, when he saw that the leader had his the silent alarm. Most likely, a sqaudron would be sent down to the submarine bay to investigate.
"There's no way out of here!", the leader told him. "In a few moments, those doors will open, and three squads of troops will pour into this bay. They have orders to shoot anything that moves." IO was surprised. Three squads? More than he anticipated. "Even you can't beat that many by yourself!", The third rep spat.
"Enough of this!",IO yelled. His shield closed down, and he entered attack mode. "Wolf's blade!", he yelled.
There was a flicker of energy around his body, and the steel saber. The lashed out with a series of 45 degree angled swides. The resulting melee destroyed the three reps, and sent black liquid flying everywhere. IO teleported outof the monitor room, and onto the deck below. The troops were coming soon. He had to find a way out of here...and fast!
(to be continued)
|
Feedback: 