MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction ❯ Midnight! ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Alright, after about forever, I finally have Chapter One up! Enjoy!

Bass paused outside of the city. It was dawn, and gray light peeked out from behind skyscrapers and tall office buildings. The city was faced by a tall cliff, upon which Bass now stood, looking down at the mess of buildings below him. Bass had no idea how long he'd slept, so he had no idea how much the cities had changed while he'd been gone. However the silhouettes looked similar to his memories.

Bass jumped down the cliff, an easy feat. He landed catlike on the ground below, only raising the tiniest amount of dust. He must've been upgraded while he'd slept. His movements were lighter and easier, thoughts and facts were processed more quickly, and his armor seemed tougher. Bass paused, examining this new discovery. He was suddenly hit with an impulse to shoot at something. He armed his cannon, aiming it out over the horizon, not at the city, because he remembered that he was no longer on Wily's side (Although the image of the buildings collapsing and burning was very tempting…), but out over open terrain. He wished he had a target, but there wasn't one to be had, so he contented himself for the moment by firing at a rock miles away whose shadow he could see on the horizon.

The bursts fired easily and quickly, zooming across the open ground faster than anything Bass had seen fly before. Even so, following it was not hard, and soon, to his delight, the rock buckled and shuddered to the ground, struck square by the bursts.

Sweet, he thought.

Alone, Bass walked into the city, still not compelled to hurry and just kind of wandering around the sidewalks. Cars began to throb down the streets; the sound of early morning traffic filled Bass's ears as he strolled along the sidewalk, and reploids and people began to join him, passing by in all directions, and the only difference between him and them was that they walked briskly, eyes focused straight ahead and thinking only of their goals for the day, while Bass ambled along, taking in the entire picture and letting his thoughts wander as ideas or memories were triggered.

Soon he came to an intersection, and when he stopped walking he also stopped thinking for a minute, and then was reminded of his purpose in the city. Bass wondered whom he should ask. He hadn't thought to pay attention to the signs on his way in, so he had no idea where he was. Of course he would ask a reploid, after all, would a human actually stop for him? Bass's prior experiences told him no.

Bass picked a reploid that didn't appear as stressed as the other pedestrians and approached, just planting himself in front of his target.

"Hey, any idea which city this is?"

The reploid paused, "Are you kidding?" and walked around Bass, melting into the crowed with ease.

Bass sent a rude remark after him, miffed at not being taken seriously, and looked around for another even remotely friendly face. He had to find out where he was.

This time he tried talking to a female reploid. She stared at him just as the other had done, finally muttering, "…Creep…" and hurrying away as well.

What problem these people had that they couldn't even answer a simple question Bass didn't know, but he was beginning to get angry. All he wanted to know was the name of the city, darn it. It wasn't like he asked a really hard question. Bass crossed his arms and scowled, crossing the street at the light. The screens on the different buildings came on, showing various advertisements and TV interviews, adding to the babble of noise beginning on the streets. More cars and Taxis appeared on the streets, more reploids and humans flooded the sidewalks. Tantalizing smells wafted from restaurants Bass passed and aircraft began to streak across the sky.

It was getting late, Bass realized, reading the time off of one of the clocks displayed in a shop window. 11:07, and he still had no idea of where he was in relation to Light's lab. What a waste; he hadn't entered the city to wander, after all. Bass passed another fast-food restaurant, and the gripping smell of French Fries made him pause. He couldeat; any food he ingested would be burned into extra energy… but Bass was fine right now, any extra energy would have him bouncing off of walls, sugar or not.

Bass passed by the building, trying to ignore the smells following him. If it had been any other time, had he not been on a mission… but right now, he needed to process things clearly with thought, not by impulses brought on by hyperactivity. He needed to find Dr. Light…

The briefing room in Hunter Base was full. The tiny office, ideal for a Captain and the General to meet, just hadn't been made for a four reploid and one human research team, plus Signas, Dr. Cain, and Alia to squeeze into, but somehow they all managed to get inside without sitting on top of each other. Three chairs were grouped at the entrance, occupied by the human scientist Myhi, her assistant Roto, and the werewolf like Ryo. X stood next to Myhi, leaning against a wall, and Dr. Cain sat behind the small, wooden desk with Signas and Alia standing behind him. It wasn't comfortable accommodations, but the mission they were preparing for was top secret, and this room was the only one they would have privacy in.

No one spoke for a few minutes; Dr. Cain was shuffling papers around in front of him, getting his thoughts in order. In spite of himself, X was getting bored. He looked over his shoulder a couple times during the silent moments, hoping to see Zero, who he thought had volunteered for this expedition as well, but the red Hunter never showed up. Unusual, it wasn't like Zero to miss a mission, even a voluntary one. Maybe he was sick? A virus had been going around the HQ lately. X hoped he was okay.

Finally, Dr. Cain began to speak, "What happens in these following forty eight hours stays in this roomunderstand? The public cannot hear of this expedition to Wily's ruin, which we have just discovered the location of via a lost record found in Light's lab."

A murmuring of assent passed across the room and the old doctor continued, " Any information you discover cannot be shared with anyone other than the persons in this room…"

Again, despite himself, X's thoughts were wandering. He knew somewhere in his mind that he should be paying close attention to what Cain had to say, but he couldn't help it. The old man's voice was an incessant droning, and the room was stuffy with so many people in it. No one could focus in these conditions; X noticed even Signas being inattentive, following the path of a fly on the wall. Myhi was doodling on her clipboard, and Roto's eyes were glazing over. It seemed that everybody knew how secret and important the mission was already.

…X wondered of the 17thwould be able to handle itself if an emergency come up while he was away. He really needed to train them a little more strictly. Zero's Unit responded instantly to a snap of the fingers. X was just wondering if his friend threatened his Hunters to get them to obey (something that he could very easily see Zero doing), but then why would they be so unshakably loyal? X himself wouldn't respect someone who constantly threatened him, just fear them if they were superior. Zero must have some other way, X decided. He was trying to figure out how he would train his Hunters to quiet down when he snapped his fingers; sometimes they got noisy, when the tone of Dr. Cain's voice changed, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"…have a hunch about the origin of these "Zero Viruses"…"

Wouldn't that be something to tell Zero if he found out about the Virus? Oh, wait… X remembered that he couldn't speak about the mission to anyone. Maybe Signas could bend the rules a little for him. X decided to ask later, assuming he wouldfind out about the Zero Virus, of course.

It hit X suddenly that the reason Zero hadn't shown up was because Cain didn't want him on the mission. Unit #0 was probably on drag duty for the next two days to keep Zero occupied. How unfair, thought X. If he was Zero, he would want a chance to find out more about himself very badly.

" Remember, be very careful." Cain continued to say, " There is a high chance that Wily somehow preserved himself and is alive, so stay on guard…"

Drat. If Cain had said anything else about the Viruses, X had missed it thinking about how unfair Cain was being.

`That'swhy you pay attention, X' he told himself silently, ` So you don't miss important details like that!'

The meeting was over; it was time for the team to leave. The three chairs scraped against the floor as Myhi, Roto, and Ryo stood. Dr. Cain began to shuffle papers again, and Alia was typing on her laptop as she walked, maybe she had committed Cain's words to memory and was recording them. It was a very Alia-like thing to do.

X followed Signas out of the room, the second to last to leave in front of Cain. They all trooped down the hall, Signas, Alia, and Cain parting with the research team as they passed the control deck. The team, alone, exited Hunter Base and began to head to the Ruin, hopes of finding useful information very high.

Artemis opened her eyes slowly, taking in the scene around her. An old man stood before her, gazing happily at her. His face sagged and wrinkled horribly in some places, and in others it seemed to be stretched very thin. He had little hair left, just thin wisps around his ears and a few bristles where he must've once had a mustache. Some of his body parts were mechanical, giving him a slightly stooped posture and a shuffling walk; the mechanical parts were crudely put together as if he hadn't had the time or patience to put them together properly. The old man's white coat was ragged and dirty, and permanently stained with pen ink and oil.

" Good" he croaked, "You are awake. I was afraid you had not been completed. I don't have the resources to fix you right now."

"Who are you?" Artemis asked, "What's going on?" Slowly, her brain was beginning to function past the basics, reasoning things out and making guesses about the situation. Still, Artemis preferred being blunt and getting an answer, even if she offended.

"I am your master."

Deji vu. Artemis shook herself out of it and focused on the old man; having been in a similar situation before was illogical. She had no prior memories to this moment at all, so why did she have that creepy feeling that she had experienced this before? Artemis brushed blonde bangs out of her eyes and focused more intently on this strange old man.

"You are Artemis." The old man said.

Artemis felt like yelling, "DUH!" but didn't. Angering this old man, no matter how frail seeming he was, was probably not a good idea. He could have powers she did not know about, or "friends" hiding somewhere in all of the surrounding rubble, tensed and ready to leap out and kill her, "Right," she said instead, slowly, "But who are you?"

Deji vu again; Artemis felt as if she experienced this feeling of frustration before, and again, she scolded herself for being illogical. The old man chuckled, his dark eyes flashing.

"Exactly…" he muttered, "Exactly like him…" the remark was so quiet that Artemis actually had to read his lips to understand what he'd said.

"Like WHO?!" she wanted to know, feeling like an owl, "Who am I exactly like? Who-are-YOU?!" Artemis was beginning to get impatient. She wanted answers, and she wasn't getting them. She could see herself shaking the old man until he told her, but a sudden intuitive rush told her to stay put.

Pain…she remembered pain… trying to get back up and follow…

Artemis flinched, coming out of a memory that did not belong to her. What was happening? Why was she channeling somebody else's memories? The old man watched as she unconsciously put a hand to her head, as if she had a headache. Then Artemis opened her eyes and looked at him, all attitude vanished from her expression.

" Will you tell me who you are?" she asked, as polite as she could manage to be, "Please…" Artemis paused, steeling herself to continue, "….Master?" Despite her efforts, the word came out with a tiny bit of sarcasm. The old man laughed suddenly, and then wheezed. Coughing and sputtering, he said,

"Get up, Artemis, get up…"

Artemis thought it best to stand. Otherwise pain, something told her, and you don't want pain; It hurts. So she lifted herself out of the capsule she'd woken up in, gently placing her feet on the rubble in front of her. Another question popped up into her mind, and it had almost passed her lips before she remembered that this old man didn't like questions. So Artemis contented herself with the obvious fact that, where ever this was, something had blown up here.

"My name is Dr. Wily." Said the old man, "Congratulations, I never told himthat."

"Who?" Artemis couldn't help it this time. She had too many questions. Questions tended to stick in her head until they were answered, and it was getting kind of crowded in there with all of the new questions popping up every few seconds.

"You don't need to know," said Wily, a nasty gleam in his eye. Dr. Wily suddenly began to look around him, as if he'd lost something. After a minute he paused, eyes locked on something behind him. Artemis followed his gaze to an empty black capsule lying on top of the debris that littered the sandy ground. The glass, not yet smashed, but merely lifted open, gleamed in the buttery sunlight, and the devices insides were illuminated, showing ripped cables and other workings inside. Wily had an almost wistful look in his eyes, staring at that empty capsule, and Artemis wondered what regrets he felt. Another unanswered question.

Wily suddenly snapped back into the present, "Dig." He snapped.

"What?!" demanded Artemis, who hadn't been listening, "What did you say?" She looked down at him, and saw an evil sneer crossing his sagging features. He thought she was being disrespectful.

Uh-oh… thought Artemis.

"Dig" Wily repeated firmly, malevolence clear in his gritty voice. Even though he had to crane his neck to look her in the eye, he stared Artemis down, making her bend to his will. A faint "W" appeared in the Amethyst she wore around her neck and her eyes cleared until they were devoid of any emotion other than obedience. Dimly, Artemis was aware of a stinging sensation running through her limbs, but it wasn't important, nothing was important except obeying her Master…

What?!

Artemis shook her head, clearing away the fog that had settled into her thoughts. What was that rubbish? Someone had invaded her thoughts. Wily had done it. Rage boiled inside of Artemis; no one forcedherto do anything she didn't want to. No one was going to invade her right to make her own decisions, do what shewanted, not some pathetic old man. No one was going to read her thoughts, either. No one.

"No." Artemis said clearly, staring back at Dr. Wily, "No."

Dr. Wily grinned, a maniac expression that distorted his features even further, making him uglier than before, "No?" he asked, in a fit of hysterical, happy, rage, "NO?!!"

The "W" appeared again, this time more bold and visible.

That same something that had warned her about the pain earlier was back inside her head, I told you so, it said, I TOLD you so!!!! Pain ripped through Artemis, and she leaned back against the capsule behind her, clutching the side to keep her legs from giving out. She was not going to drop to her knees, she would not give in to Dr. Wily. She wouldn't.

"Didn't you hear me?!" she demanded through her teeth, which were clenched against the pain, " I- SAID-NO!!!"

Suddenly, the chaos stopped. Artemis allowed herself to sit on the edge of the capsule, and once again, she put a hand to her head, only this time, the pain there was real, not imagined. Dr. Wily was the one who kneeled on the ground, gasping in his own pain. A slow grin spread across Artemis's face. She had won, she realized. She had won the battle, but some instinct told her that she hadn't yet won the war. More similar confrontations would occur.

But not now, decided Artemis. Recovered, she stood up, shaking out her long hair and tossing it over her shoulder where it would stay out of her way. Then, with a cocky wave and a smirk back at Dr. Wily, she walked out of the ruin.

"…Where…are you….GOING?!" demanded Dr. Wily, "You….CAN'T….. l-LEAVE!!!! I ORDER YOU TO STAY!! YOU OWE ME YOUR LIFE !!!!!" his voice was desperate and it cracked as his pitch grew higher with his rising panic. Not again…he couldn't let anothergo! This wasn't part of the plan!!!!

Artemis ignored him. She could see a city ahead of her, and decided to head for it. In a city, she could figure out where she was and what she wanted to do. Maybe the city had something fun for her to do. Maybe it had somebody she could fight. The desire to fight was a strong tug at the back of her mind. Artemis knew without looking that she carried a Saber at her side and that she was equipped with a low grade Buster gun in her left arm. She knew how fast she could run, and she knew that she could bring that boulder on the horizon down with one punch; it would be more fun to break it if it was really as big as she estimated from the distance she was at.

She needed to fight. Then she needed to find the person whose memories she unconsciously channeled. Then, maybe she would fight again. It all depended on her mood….