Mega Man Fan Fiction ❯ Warmachine ❯ Chapter 5: A Time to Rest ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 5: A Time to Rest

The terminal in the archive room was still humming loudly as it hadn’t been shut down. It still displayed the records Nana had downloaded. Down below the Maverick Hunter Sergeant’s unconscious body still lay on the grids above the lowest level of the server room.

Suddenly the form gasped loudly, his eyes shooting wide opening and his back arching upward awkwardly. The Reploid felt his systems reactivating and sat up, the jerking motion putting a strain on the scorch mark on his chest. The Reploid hissed in pain and reached for the damaged spot on his frame.
“Damnit… What a cheap shot…” The Reploid groaned as he slowly got up, the disorientation fading as he remembered what had happened. He straightened his back and stretched once, taking a deep breath.

Slowly, a bright blue light began to envelop the Reploid’s body. His eyes flared up a bright crimson before vanishing in the light. The silhouette began to change, his body transforming as the Copy Chip inside the Reploid shifted him back to his original form. When the light faded and the process ended a very different Reploid stood on the shards of broken glass. He was slightly shorter than the Sergeant, his frame black with dark green trimmings. His knees, elbows and shoulders elongated into sharp, talon-like spikes and his chest armor displayed a fluorescent green orb with a yellow-white core. The helmet protecting his slender, tanned face consisted of three cylinders that were joined together and stretched back into sharp, iron needles. The several silver bangs that escaped the confines of his helmet sometimes hid the two, intensely crimson eyes that quickly looked around the room to make sure there were no witnesses of his metamorphosis. The Dark Reploid checked his belt next, finding only one of his blades attached to it. He reached for it and quickly stored it on a special backpack on his back with two indents crafted to hold energy sabers securely. His eyes spotted his other saber and soon it was added to his backpack. After running a quick check of the damage he was pleased to find that no internal systems had been hit and that his armor had absorbed the blast entirely.

The New Generation Reploid raised his left arm to chest-height and opened a small panel on the armored plating that covered his lower arm. The panel lit up and revealed itself to be a view screen. After pressing a few small buttons he attempted to establish a stable communications link. It took a while for the other end of the line to accept the request and after scrambling the signal the view screen showed a completely dark room. The silhouette of a large man could be seen, seated in an armchair of some kind. It was impossible to make out any details on the man’s appearance and his voice was deformed by another device as he spoke.
“Report.” Was all the shadow said.
“I was able to reach the archive room in the facility. But there were… Complications.” The Reploid stated, cautiously choosing his words and hoping he did not incur his employer’s wrath.
“Complications? I trust you dealt with them accordingly?” The shadow asked, the barely intelligible outlining of his eyes narrowing.
“Not exactly. I was caught by surprise by an unknown factor. I think you’ll be interested to learn what that factor was, however.”
“Oh? Do tell, Spectrum. And pray it lessens your failure.” The man on the other end stated, his voice taking on a threatening property.
“It was Vile. He was here, in the facility, looking for something.” The Reploid named Spectrum replied.
“I think he might be looking into his past. Could he be on to something?” He asked next.
“I highly doubt he has the mental capacities to do anything beyond firing that cannon of his. What about this “Nana” from Giga City? Did you deal with her?” The shadowed Reploid leaned forward slightly as he spoke.
“She was here, looking into the Maverick Hunter records stored here. Vile stepped in before I was able to dispatch her.” Spectrum admitted. His eyes narrowed in semi-shame as he averted his gaze from the small screen.
“Then you’ve failed miserably. Make sure there’s no trace of the records or your presence left behind. You’ll be reprimanded accordingly when you return. We shall see if your team mates can do a better job than you.” The silhouette ordered emotionlessly before sitting back in the chair again. Even though the Reploid kept his cool it was painfully obvious that he was less than pleased with Spectrum’s results.
“What?! They’re not suited for this task! I’m the master of subterfuge!” Spectrum protested, but was quickly silenced by his employer slamming both fists into the arms of his chair.
“You will do as you’re told and remember your place! You might be nothing more than hired hands but I still give you your paychecks and if you value your life you will obey!”
Spectrum winced at the scolding and gritted his teeth as he suppressed his anger at being preached to like a disobedient child.
“As you wish…” Spectrum finally uttered after a long silence and the view screen deactivated. The panel closed and disappeared into his arm.
Spectrum reached around his back, grabbing hold of a small device that was attached to his belt. Priming the explosive, he attached it to the side of one of the servers and briefly looked up at the hole in the glass wall, several floors above him.
“I’ll get you for this disgrace, Vile. I swear it.” With that said, the very slender Reploid vanished into the shadowed corridors of the facility, the device’s red HUD light bleeping rhythmically.

~~*~*~~

“What a mess… I can’t believe we lost 8 Hunters to those two. One of them was an operator no less.”
Two Maverick Hunters had entered the Archive Room, inspecting the scene. The one who had spoken slowly walked towards the hole in the glass wall and looked down into the server room. The other approached one of the destroyed Reploids and began inspecting the damage to the frame.
“Odd… This damage wasn’t done with any shooting weapon. These cuts and marks were made by an energy saber.” The Hunter stated, his fingers tracing one of the cuts lightly.
“So? What’s your point? Vile used a saber on these guys.” The other replied, shrugging once as he turned around to face his comrade.
“Vile never uses Sabers. I don’t think he’s even trained to use them. None of the other hunters reported he was armed with an energy saber. And the other suspect was an operator. Operators can’t even use a simple Arm Buster without extensive training.” The Hunter explained, looking up at his partner.
“That means there must’ve been a third infiltrator? Radio it in. This one might still be on the premises.” The other nodded in acknowledgment and reached for the communications device installed over his right ear.
The Hunter by the server room raised an eyebrow slowly at a beeping sound that seemed to be coming from down below.
“Do you hear something?” He asked before turning around and looking down into the Server Room. He leaned over the side, the sound increasing in frequency and pitch, as if something was charging. He then noticed the flashing device and narrowed his eyes to try and get a better look at the thing.
“What is tha-“ The Hunter wasn’t able to finish his sentence as the device exploded. The massive blast destroyed the entire north side of that floor. The server rooms, the terminal, the entire archives were wiped out in a single, violent explosion. All around the facility people, Hunters and security personnel were startled by the blast and turned their eyes upwards.

Spectrum grinned once as he looked up at the smoke that rose up like a plume from the building. The Reploid turned around, all the while transforming into your everyday, generic Reploid, perfectly melting in with the crowds outside and vanishing from sight.

~~*~*~~

The small room was briefly illuminated by the bright light of their arrival. Once both Vile and Nana rematerialized they stepped down from the transfer platform. The room’s walls, floor and ceiling were completely steel plated and only one large overhead light had been installed to light the room. Nana moved through the darkness to the light switch and flipped it on. Now revealed to him, Vile spotted a large console with a chair which was most likely the control station for the transfer module. Looking back over his shoulder, the renegade didn’t recognize the type of module that had been installed. It did however seem much more modern and advanced than the one they had used to escape East City. The few extra pylons probably boosted it and the much larger operating console also meant it had plenty more functions.
“Come on, you’re basically standing in the closet. Through here.” Nana commented before leading the way out of the Transfer Room through an automatic, sliding door.

As he followed the operator, Vile found himself in a much larger room which was separated from two other, smaller side rooms by a thick, steel wall along its length. The doorways were open however but the Ex-Hunter didn’t doubt they could be sealed off by strong blast doors. The larger room was about 8 by 18 feet and didn’t have much furniture beyond a table, a closet, a bookcase, a file cabinet and a large terminal. The table was covered in papers, books, datapads and more. It had clearly been used for some kind of research. A small window over the table was all that provided natural sunlight and a view of the outside. The terminal itself was a large, high-tech workstation and was currently offline. Its view screen black, Vile could see his reflection in the deactivated canvas. He once again realized what poor shape he was in and his eyes turned to look at the palms of his hands.

“Welcome to my little hideout.” Nana smiled slightly as she walked further into the room and sat down in the rotating, comfortable chair by the terminal with a deep sigh.
“Where are we exactly?” Vile questioned as he peeked through the nearest doorway into a side room. This room was long and stretched to the far back of the apartment-like floor and had some facilities to eat and rest. It seemed this place was once used by Humans as Reploids had no need for food.
“In a small apartment in Central Giga City. It’ll be hard to track us here because Giga City is neutral, and we’re actually in a pretty open spot. They won’t really think about trying to look here for us.” Nana explained as she crossed her legs and folded her hands on her lap.
It didn’t immediately sink in with the renegade as he walked into the side room, looking around calmly. He spotted another room in the back but finally realized what she’d said.
“Giga City?” He repeated in a questioning tone before returning to the main room.
Nana nodded with a wider smile, seemingly proud of the place and the fact that she’d transferred them halfway across the globe with an untraceable signal. It was no small feat indeed so she had every right to be a little smug.
“How did we get past the barriers? Giga City can only be entered through official transfer points, if you don’t have the proper access credentials, you don’t get in.” Vile spoke, crossing his arms across his chest.
“Easy. I know this place inside and out. My transfer module can receive and send anyone from anywhere to this place as long as you know the proper passcodes and procedures.” She replied, the smug smile still not leaving her lips as she seemed to swell further with pride.
“And how did you go about doing that than?” Vile questioned further, his single red eye narrowed behind the visor of his helmet. “And just who are you?” He quickly added as he didn’t even know who she was yet.
“My name’s Nana, I’m an operator and current… Ex-Communications Expert for Giga City Central. I was also in charge of the restoration effort for the floating city.” She introduced, bowing her head once in a greeting.
“I see… you’d have access to just about anything you need here.” Vile commented before turning to the bookcase, idly reading some of the titles.
“What do you mean by ex, anyway?” He then asked.
“Ex as in I used to be.” She replied. “I resigned from my position a few days ago, when all of this began. I couldn’t risk exposing any of my friends and colleagues to the dangers that would be involved in my investigation. And it was safer for me too. If I have no ties to anything anymore, it’ll be hard to find me.” Nana explained as she watched the other Reploid reach for a book on the maintenance of a Transfer Module.
“I’m guessing you got this place as a favor from someone than? It doesn’t look like something an official would decide to live in.” Vile placed the book back as he couldn’t understand a word that was written in it and now moved to a small control panel attached to the wall beside the bookcase.
“Yep. I called in a favor from an old friend. This used to be his residence before he moved to the Research Laboratories here on Giga City, in the Forests.” Nana replied.
“Don’t touch that, please. It’s the panel that controls all the security systems. I made sure that any transmissions in and out of this place are jammed and scrambled, it’ll be almost impossible for anyone to trace back anything we do on the terminal to us.” She quickly added when she saw one of Vile’s fingers heading for one of the sliders on the panel.

“Now you know who I am. You’re Vile, that much I do know…” Nana commented, suddenly realizing again that she could well-be in a life-threatening situation. If Vile decided to go haywire on her she wouldn’t be able to stop him.
Vile than turned back to her, grunting slightly at her tone of voice.
“Nice to know my reputation precedes me.” He paused briefly as he seemed to note the change in her mood. “Relax, if I wanted to kill you, I’d have done so already. I have better things to do than waste energy on operators.”
“Energy you don’t have a lot of anymore…” Nana added quickly. She hadn’t fully realized yet what bad shape he was in. She needed his help, he needed hers. She could do her job, but in his condition he would be lucky if he could destroy a Batton Mechaniloid.
“You need to recharge. There’s a pod in the room on the left that you can use. It’s state of the art so it’ll do you some good.”
Vile stared at her. He was hesitant to comply as he had no idea what she could try to pull while he was offline.
“Don’t give me that look. I’m not going to try anything. I need your brawn so turning you in would be shooting my own foot.”
“No problems with getting me involved with the danger, huh?” Vile chuckled. But she had a point.
“And you really need a full check-up. I have a friend who could help you there? As long as you’re willing to shutdown while he works on you.” Nana offered. She knew her friend wouldn’t exactly like the idea he was repairing a dangerous Reploid like Vile or the fact that he’d also be fixing up weapon systems. He was a bit of a pacifist after all. But then again, so was she and she was dabbling with a walking weapon.
Vile had to think about her next offer even harder. He’d been used many times in the past, sometimes against his will by others who had had the chance to get their claws on his body. But if he was to be of any use to anyone, including himself, he’d have to be working fully operational again. A nod was all the operator got from the Maverick in reply before he moved to the other adjacent room.

This room was roughly the same size as the main room, only square rather than rectangular. There were heaps of tools and equipment and materials scattered across the place. The equipment was either stacked up on the floor or filled the shelves of several open closets. In the middle was a long, steel table that could be used for a variety of purposes, not just as a workspace. In the back of the room stood the pod Nana had mentioned and after setting it to a full recharge, Vile laid down into the device. Slowly he deactivated his systems and ‘slept’.

“You want me to do whaaaaat?!” A high-pitched and very shrill voice filled the room. Nana had closed the door to the pod so Vile could rest in peace and quiet. She knew her old friend had quite the annoying voice on him.
“Professor Gaudile, I know it’s a lot to ask. But please? For old time’s sake?” Nana pleaded, using her sweetest voice and cutest expression to further entice the strange Reploid on the other end of the line.
Gaudile sighed. “Alright. For you. But I urge you to get out of there while you still can. Not only does the whole Maverick Hunter business sound like a hornet’s nest, but now you’ve attracted a Maverick. Vile, no less!”
“I know it’s dangerous and risky. But you have to trust me. If there was any other way to find out the truth I’d take it. But I’m not just doing this for my conscience. I’m doing this for Chief R.” She replied, smiling softly at the old professor.
“You’re too kind, Nana. Now there are two girls whose smiles make me melt…” Gaudile shook his head. After a short while he looked up again and nodded.
“I’ll be there shortly. I’ll bring Cinnamon along too. You two haven’t spoken in ages. Besides, I could use her help as from the sound of things Vile’s in pretty bad shape.”
“Thank you, professor. I look forward to seeing the both of you. And thank you again for this place. You’re a lifesaver.” Nana waved at the professor through the visual comlink before shutting it down and returning to work. She needed to decrypt and analyze the files she had stolen from the Archives. Maybe Vile would loosen up a little if he heard some good news.