Mega Man Fan Fiction ❯ Warmachine ❯ Chapter 7: Intro the Frying Pan ( Chapter 7 )

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

Chapter 7: Into the Frying Pan

A single line of green energy descended rapidly from the skies and as it collided with the sandy ground of what used to be downtown South City it began growing until it formed the silhouette of an heavily armed Reploid. Once Vile fully materialized he opened his eyes and began scanning the immediate surroundings. His hand then rose up to rest on the side of his helmet, a communication device installed in it bleeping to life.
“Nana, come in. I’m at the target area.” Vile spoke through the com link he established with Nana’s room in Giga City. His operator quickly responded.
“This is Nana. You’re coming in loud and clear. You should be in the Downtown Shopping District… Or what used to be.”
“I’m not picking up any signs of life at all. This place is so trashed even on-the-run Mavericks stay clear of it.” Vile commented as his turned his eyes forward, towards the center of the ruins. The scene even managed to depress Vile a little, but only a little.
“I took the liberty of quickly skimming over some old reports on South City and some say you might come across a few old and malfunctioning Mechaniloids. But that’s nothing you can’t handle, I suppose.” The pink-haired operator straightened her back a little nervously in her chair. She was still not used to the idea of having to aide Vile as his operator.
“Where to?” The renegade asked as he primed his shoulder cannon in case some of the Mechaniloids decided to make this anything but a cakewalk.
“Just keep going straight ahead, the main road you’re on should lead directly to Bright’s old house.” Nana directed, using the name of their suspect.

The entire city was dead, in more ways than one. There was no sound but the cold desert wind blowing eerily through the empty, ruined streets. Most buildings had collapsed and some were covered under a dune of sand. The main street had more holes and debris on it than asphalt and Vile had to take a short detour numerous times as entire buildings had crumbled, blocking his route. Vile preferred to save up his jet boots for emergencies so he wasn’t about to use them just to hop over wreckage. Soon Vile began to wonder if he truly was alone in that city. He attributed it to paranoia but the sound of bits of glass, brick or iron dropping to the ground, finally wedged free by the wind, would make anyone jumpy. Every time he heard something behind him the Reploid had to suppress the urge to turn around, hoping to counter an attack of an enemy.
It didn’t take the Ex-Hunter long to reach the center square of the metropolis. Vile had been to South City in the past, during a mission to hunt down a Maverick. He could still remember the square in its full glory. It had been a huge, circular opening in the cityscape, the center occupied by a massive, marble fountain basin. It had once been filled to the brim with clear, cool water, kept clean by purification devices installed at the base of the giant statue that had been erected in the middle of the basin. The statue had been shaped in the image of a young Dr.Cain, the man who had created the first Reploid, and the man who had designed numerous land marks that once made South City a tourist attraction. The sight today however was very different. The statue had broken off halfway down and large chunks of marble were missing from the center block. The water had dried up some time ago and instead the entire monument was covered in dirt, sand and some debris from the impact. It was almost cruelly symbolic of the disaster caused by Sigma. Vile watched the scene for a brief moment longer before circling around the square and heading on down the main street.

“The house should be coming up on your left right about… Now.” Nana relayed through the com link. Vile took two more steps and a relatively intact home appeared around a corner on his left.
“Two story house, flat roof, lots of marble to decorate it and keep it in the style of this place?” Vile questioned.
“Yes, that’s the place. So it’s still standing?” Nana replied, happy that things were going their way for now.
“More or less. There’s some damage to the second floor, I’ll have to be careful it doesn’t come down on me when I’m up there.” The Renegade reported before slowly making his way to the front door. The sliding door was malfunctioning, or the feed that powered it had been cut off, so Vile had to force it open. Once the door had been forced to part he entered but did so cautiously. For all he knew the Reploid had set booby-traps for any trespassers and some of those might still be active.

The house’s interior was pretty intact, all things considered. The main corridor held doorways into the kitchen, the living room and the basement. The staircase up to the first floor looked a little shaky and some steps had collapsed. Vile decided to check the ground floor first and walked through the various rooms. The kitchen was messy and before the water had receded it had been inundated by water leaks. Several cabinets and decorative items had plummeted to the ground, breaking a few tiles here and there. Vile hadn’t exactly expected to find anything in the kitchen but he was going to do his job thoroughly. Moving on he found nothing but broken furniture and appliances in the other rooms of the ground floor.
Using his jet boots Vile managed to avert having to use the precarious staircase to get to the first floor. He had hoped not to make so much noise but it was preferable to going down to the basement, the hard way.
The first floor wasn’t much to look at. Most of the windows were shattered, the bedrooms had been ravaged but there was one room that was relatively intact. It looked like a study of some kind with several bookcases and a portable computer that rested on a wooden desk. Vile had found it odd that a Reploid had need of two bedrooms and a kitchen but perhaps Bright had been living with several humans.
“I’ve found a computer in his study. Analyze it for me.” Vile requested, opening the com to Nana once again.
“Analyze it?” She inquired to which Vile sighed once.
“Check it for anything suspicious, the last thing I want is for it to blow up in my face.” Vile clarified.
Nana couldn’t help but blush at what would’ve been a stupid question from any seasoned operator. But at the same time she found herself fighting back a remark, she couldn’t help it she had never done this before. Vile’s hand reached for one of the books on the nearest bookcase. He read the cover and noticed it was the same topic as many of the other books kept on the dark brown, wooden shelves. They were all books on research into the autonomy of Reploids, into how to further improve how Reploids experience pre-programmed emotion.
“This is complicated material for a Reploid working in a clean-up crew to read.” Vile whispered, speaking to himself.
“Did you say something?” Nana asked. Vile merely shook his head while mumbling a faint ‘no’.
“Well, according to my readings and scans the computer should be safe to use.” The operator reported after another short wait. Vile lifted up the office chair that had fallen over and set it down in front of the laptop-like piece of equipment. Opening the device he pressed the power button and was pleased to find its battery hadn’t died.

After about half an hour Vile grumbled in frustrations as the computer held no information they could use or that could even tie the Reploid to the incident in Central City. Most of the reports Bright had sent in were still backed up on the computer. He seemed rather neat and organized so it was hard to believe he’d not have stored the report like he had most others.
“It’s as if he was never even there.” Vile growled slightly. “This doesn’t answer our questions at all. Either he is hiding any clues on purpose or he has nothing to do with Central City. There’s also nothing indicating he left for an extended duration to Giga City.” He continued but started uploading some of the data to Nana nonetheless.
“I’m getting a bad feeling about this, Vile. This is a dead-end; activate your remote Transfer Signal as soon as you can.” Nana spoke as she began receiving the files.
“This is odd…” Nana suddenly muttered.
“What?” The renegade inquired. He then slowly got up from the chair. He had heard something and it wasn’t just the paranoia again, it sounded like an energy weapon arming in the distance.
“The files you’re sending, they’re corrupt. Well. Not corrupt but, they’re just gibberish, as if they’re fake.” Nana explained, realizing what was going on the moment she finished her sentence.
“Get out of there Vile! It’s a trap!” She shouted, quickly disconnecting the link in case they were trying to trace their whereabouts. Vile’s head jerked to the right to look out one of the broken windows, spotting a bright dark blue flash of intense light. Vile wasn’t going to sit around and wait to find out what that was and quickly fired a hole in the ceiling, escaping the confines of the shoddy structure using his jet boots. Vile barely made it out in time to avoid suffering the same fate as the entire building as a massive sphere of crackling energy collided with the study, reducing the entire house to rubble and leaving a small crater in its wake.
“The hell?” Vile cursed before landing on the ground again, the shockwave from the explosion almost pushing him down.

All around the Maverick strange silhouettes began appearing. They were all silhouettes of humanoid beings but they were translucent and would’ve been entirely invisible if not for the ripples caused by their movement. Vile couldn’t keep his eyes on them as they moved from cover to cover, sticking to the buildings and piles of debris to further camouflage them.
“Vile! I’m reading numerous energy signatures all around you! Five in all!” Nana shouted through the com. “They’re hard to detect so they must be using some sort of jamming equipment. They’re assassin!” She continued.
“Stealth Cores?!” Vile exclaimed as he clenched his fists, his single eye flashing aggressively and his shoulder cannon humming as he readied himself for battle.
The first of the enemies sprung from hiding the moment it had closed a sufficient distance and Vile’s back was turned. Vile grunted as he barely managed to roll away from a rapid slash of an energy saber. He got some distance between him and his foe again and stayed crouched and aimed his weapon.
His enemy looked like Reploids with their humanoid form. Its face was hidden by a strange, skull-shaped mask and its frame was only lightly armored to allow it to remain highly maneuverable and fast. Its body was colored a dark green with an almost black brown and a strange insignia was displayed on its shoulder pads. The Stealth Core was humming softly inside the Robot’s abdomen and quickly began crackling with ominous dark lightning. Before Vile could fire a shot at the thing it dashed aside, all the while disappearing as its stealth mode activated.

“Damnit!” The next one engaged now, once again striking from behind Vile. It had far less luck however as Vile reacted quickly and reached around, grabbing hold of the wrist of the arm that held the lethal, orange saber. The weapon hummed as the two tried to gain an advantage in the deadlock through brute strength. Vile hadn’t expected its next move however as the robot’s back opened up, revealing two additional arms that rotated until they were securely attached to the sides of its abdomen. Both fists collided sharply with Vile’s gut, forcing him to double over. The strange Reploid didn’t make a sound as it reached back for a second blade. It never had the chance to strike as Vile fired his cannon in point blank range, the impact severing both its right arms and destroying a good portion of its chest. Vile straightened again as he still held the remains of the arm he had grabbed before, his opponent stumbling back, out of balance. He gazed at the arm once, uninterested, and cast it aside calmly.
“You’re not a Reploid…” Vile muttered as he realized they were far too unresponsive, especially that close range blast would’ve gotten some kind of response from a Reploid, if only just frustration at the loss of several limbs. But this one simply continued to try and execute its orders. It was a high-grade Mechaniloid. Nothing more.
“Piece of junk!” Vile growled as he dashed at the Mechaniloid, an aura of energy surrounding him as he crashed into it before it could respond. The palm of his right hand gripped its head hard and he violently crushed it against a thick concrete wall behind it. The renegade flexed his fingers slightly as the headless drone collapsed entirely. They seemed to adapt their strategy now as they began to creep out of hiding. Their stealth was still active but he could see each of them sprouting two extra arms and drawing an energy saber for each one.

“Humph. What happened to fighting the old fashioned way? One saber not enough for you?” Vile asked, not really expecting an answer. The closest Mechaniloid engaged first, slashing horizontally with its primary arms before lunging with its secondary. The blades hummed dangerously as the slashes of energy missed a retreating Vile. Vile took aim and fired three shots from his cannon, each aimed for the Mechaniloid’s chest. The mechanical enemy rapidly dodged all three blasts however by jumping to its side, using claws installed on its elbows and knees to attach itself to the wall of the ruinous building to Vile’s left.

Vile managed to successfully dodge the flurry of slashes of two other Mechaniloids that engaged him. The Maverick’s mind was working overtime to think up a plan but those things did not let up as their attacks were endless and the one crawling across the face of a building was fast approaching. Finding no better solution for now Vile decided to risk some injury in what could only be described as an all-out brawl. The powerful Reploid set his dash boots to overdrive and tackled the nearest Mechaniloid hard, forcing it to the ground. He pinned it underneath his legs and began pummeling it with several hard punches. One of his opponents approached from behind, its blades ready to strike. Vile’s knee opened as he still kept the Mechaniloid pinned and a spherical grenade rolled out. The Ex-Hunter then quickly dashed away, the explosion of the fragmentation grenade taking out both Mechaniloids.

“Two down…” He commented, grinning as it had been ages since he last felt so alive. Two more assassins revealed themselves, joining the third who finally dismounted the wall. All three flurried their weapons and charged Vile. They moved erratically, zig-zagging and often using the sides of broken-down buildings to wall-kick over any projectile Vile fired at them. He wasn’t about to be outdone and focused on the center Mechaniloid. The moment it got close enough to strike he blasted its Stealth core with several plasma shots, overloading the device and causing the robot to explode. The remaining two got in close and personal, their blades swiping and slashing rapidly. Vile was glad Gaudile had repaired his gyro systems to optimal functionality because even though these things were no Zero they were still blindingly fast and precise. Vile swayed and backed away nimbly, dodging their strikes until he saw an opening. Another blast to the core overloaded one more of the Mechaniloids, the shrapnel resulting from the explosion damaging the last one. Seeing his opportunity, Vile jumped up over the drone, his knee opening when he was directly over it. Vile’s body crackled with electricity briefly as he released an orb of green energy that crashed into the Mechaniloid, frying and destroying it with ease. Vile landed behind the Mechaniloid and calmly rose from his crouched position, looking over his shoulder briefly before continuing on just as the drone fell back, critically damaged.

“Very impressive Ex-Maverick Hunter, or is it Renegade? Or is it Mercenary?” The deep booming voice laughed mockingly. “You don’t know yourself, do you?”
“Show yourself!” Vile called out, his eyes scanning the surroundings calmly. He quickly spotted some movement behind him, back from where he had come from along the main street. A giant Reploid stood there, 50 feet away, a tattered cloak hiding his massive frame. The silhouette slowly bent its legs and pushed off, using dash boots to jump impressively high. Vile didn’t so much as blink as the giant Reploid landed barely half a foot away from him, dust whipped up from the impact. As the cloaked figure rose to full length Vile had to tilt his head up to meet the Reploid’s eyes.
“Welcome to your funeral, little man… I’ll try to make it quick.” The deep voice uttered, the Reploid three times Vile’s size.
“Good, I’ve been itching for a decent fight.” Vile shot back, grinning behind his helmet’s visor.