MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction ❯ Shooting Stars and Reploid Arms ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Allow me to start off by saying... Lizith, it is an absolute honor for me to have this story be graced by your review. You are by far one of the best authors I have ever had the privilege of reading and also one of the greatest artists every. It would be an honor to possibly have you do a fan art of this story.

 

To Flaming Freak of Boredom and Windwingxs: Thank you both for your continued support. It's great to see I might actually be getting a - dare I say it? - fan club.

 

(Zero walks in with mallet hiding behind his back. Whacks me up side the head with said mallet. “Okay, time for an ego check...”)

 

To All Other Reviewers: Guess as you may, dear readers. The joke my friend and I were bouncing around which spawned this insane adventure is located in the summary of the story. Think Jack. Those are all the clues you shall receive as to what the future might hold.

 

Now, without further delay, here's the fourth chapter. With slight editing...

 

 

Shooting Stars and Reploid Arms

 

Creating Havoc from Order

 

 

There was something unusual going on in the mess hall of SGC. And it had something to do with an unusually happy Colonel O'Neill who had just recently been released from a now less than happy medical assistant.

 

Something blue seemed to be floating behind Jack. The former Black Ops operative turned, looking up to find a very disgruntled brown haired medic standing behind him. Blue food dye could be seen cascading down what was once a pure white lab coat. Droplets of the dye fell down against the ground, creating an almost inaudible splash on the unforgiving concrete floor.

 

“Colonel O'Neill,”

 

“Ah, our new assistant medic!” Jack looked the boy up and down. “I see you're adjusting to the SGC quite well.”

 

Rock's tone was not that of anger, nor was it that of annoyance. In fact, it was quite the opposite of any of those emotions. It was...happy?

 

“Yes, sir, I am. By the way, thank you for the assist with dyeing my lab coat. It saved me the extra cash of going out and buying a new blue one. Of course, I really would have liked it if you had finished the job, or at least let it dry while it was laying down. That way, the pattern would have set in better.” He sighed, a tiered yet happy sigh. “Oh well. I'll just have to finish dyeing it myself later tonight. I think Zero said he was doing a load of reds...”

 

Jack watched, blinking, as young Rock walked off muttering about blond swordsmen and crazy obsessions.

 

“It appears that your “prank” did not have the intended effect, O'Neill.” Teal'c commented dryly.

 

“Sure looks that way, big guy.” Jack sighed, returning to his waffles. Ever since the Ancient repeating time warp thingy incident, he had strived to avoid eating anything that remotely resembled Fruit Loops.

 

“Perhaps it would have been wiser to select a color which was not included in over fifty percent of his wardrobe.”

 

“Like pink?”

 

“Jack,” Daniel piped up, pulling his steaming glasses off his face for the fifth time that morning, “Dr. Light was only doing his job.”

 

“Well he didn't have to be so damn picky about who visited me.”

 

“Maybe he did it as punishment, for being hit so often. Speaking of which, when are you going to retake Ducking Bullets 101?”

 

“About the same time you stop leaning over your steaming hot oatmeal and fogging up your glasses.”

 

Daniel stopped. He pulled back away from his oatmeal, heaping spoonful still in hand, and gave Jack his best glare.

 

Sam quickly intervened, “He is right though, sir.”

 

“Which one, Carter? The doctor with bad attitude or the doctor with bad allergies?”

 

And before Samantha could answer, the familiar, annoying alarm followed by the haunted phrase, “Unauthorized Off-World Activation” echoed through their ears.

 

“Now what?!”

 

Jack was very sorry he asked.

 

*

 

It was SG-3's turn to be on Unauthorized `Gate response duty, along with SG-6, since both teams were still recovering from a previous ambush. Seeing yet another team come hobbling in through the `Gate with enough damage to pull them off active duty for a good half year made something in the back of Axl's mind flicker in frustration.

 

“That would be me, kid.” Zero's voice wafted through his mind, a warm summer's breeze serving as the herald to an ever growing crimson storm.

 

“You really don't like to see people get hurt...do you?”

 

“I don't like to see anybody get hurt, kid, especially if they don't have to.” There was a pause before he added, “Well... unless it's Sigma. Him, I don't mind seeing get hurt. Or get dead. Although I wish he would stay dead...”

 

Two people not in SG uniforms came walking down the `Gate ramp. One of the intruders, a female with short blond hair, was walking towards them as if she owned them. As if she, in her almightiness, was so high above them that they would not dare to harm her, or fear her wrath.

 

All the more reason to pull the trigger.

 

“Hold your fire!”

 

Or not.

 

Colonel O'Neill came waltzing into the `Gate Room, a very false smile on his lips. In a tone of voice which seemed to drip with sarcastic humor, he smiled, “Jacob...Freya... How nice for you two to show up. Hope our boys weren't too much trouble to baby-sit.”

 

“On the contrary, Colonel, if it were not for them, we would not be alive,” the female, Freya, smiled innocently.

 

“What a shame...” Jack whispered just under his breath. “Well, I'm sure you need to get back to whatever little underground operation you have set up somewhere in this lovely little galaxy of ours, so...”

 

“Actually, Jack, we need to talk,” the bald man, obviously Jacob, held a firm command hidden beneath his otherwise neutral tone.

 

Jack released a sigh of anguish, muttering something obviously obscene about the universe in general.

 

“Alright, fine. Everybody stand down. SG-3, get these boys to med bay.”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

“X, you have a nasty couple of cases heading your way.”

 

“Dr. Frasier already has me working on prepping for everything from arrow heads to staff blasts.”

 

“Well you can forget the arrow heads. Majority of cases seem to have injuries caused by Zats and...” Axl paused, looking at one particularly nasty wound. Old memories spun through his mind as if they were fruits jammed into a blender.

 

“Axl, breath kid!” Zero snapped him back to reality.

 

X's reaction to the burn in question was similar to Axl's. All he could do was stare at the charred flesh on his patient's side, watching with wide eyes as pure black skin mixed with the greens of army fatigues continued to bubble slightly, looking almost exactly like melted plastic, even though the damage had occurred what looked like hours ago. Memories tried to surface in X's mind as well. The Blue Hunter quickly locked them away, deep down in the part of his mind he never, ever, wanted to see again.

 

“Mark 13 Megabuster, close range, fired before it could fully charge... He's still trying to counteract to the loss of air molecules... Must have been pulled directly from the skin before it opened fire....” X muttered just under his breath.

 

And the small part of his mind which was still the young child of science thrown into the heat of a war he never wanted to be a part of was currently running panicked laps.

 

“Someone here has Megabuster tech... Reploid tech!”

 

A familiar feral grin echoed across X's mind, slowly being followed by the familiar gun-ho attitude of an inexperienced, daring youth.

 

“But we've got better. And we know how to counteract it.”

 

X took a deep, calming breath, closing his eyes and letting the world melt away.

 

Green amber eyes as hard and unforgiving as diamonds snapped open. There was no sign of the boy with a playful purr in his voice and a constant smile on his lips. Now there was only the seasoned veteran of Eight Wars which had claimed far too many lives. There was only the man who had used his father's gifts to save the world.

 

Janet never knew what hit her medical ward.

 

“Axl, you remember the test you helped me study for back in college?” X demanded. The young orange haired Hunter in disguise smirked.

 

“You mean the one on distributing IVs based on patient size and blood type? Twelve hours of my life, wasted on a carrier field I'm never gonna touch, when I could have been out practicing my Shakespeare.”

 

“IV fluids in bodyweights for everyone, oxygen masks set at ten percent pure O2 release for those patients suffering from similar scorch marks.”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

And instead of having one capable assistant, Janet had two. Within the next half hour, as two of the four members of the banged up SG unit started slipping towards critical condition, she had a third assistant moving with the same haste as the first two.

 

Blond hair flickered in her peripheral vision.

 

“X said you'd want this,” Zackary tossed her a fresh IV pack. Janet blinked, looking between red-wearing off-duty civilian and clear life saving fluid. “Who do you think X got to play doctor with during cram sessions? Sure as hell wasn't the school cadaver.”

 

Janet blinked one more time before snapping back to reality.

 

“I need three Type B positive transfusion packs hooked up to Dainties, Terrace, and Smith. Type O for Constantine.”

 

“Positive or negative?”

 

“Neither,”

 

“FAB, boss,”

 

Janet paused again. She smiled lightly to herself, shaking her head in disbelieve even as she slid the IV needle home.

 

“I can't believe people still watch The Thunderbirds...”

 

*

 

Jack leaned back in his chair. The conference room had remained dead quiet since Jacob Carter, Samantha's loveable Tok'ra father, and his less than lovable assistant, Freya and Anise (who, in a very weird way, counted as both one person and two people at the same time), had finished their explanation of how they had come across SG-4 and who, or to be more exact, what, was trying to kill them...

 

The explanation had ended ten minutes ago.

 

“Super soldiers,” Jack finally managed to spit out. “I thought we got rid of those things?”

 

“Apparently, we only blew up the main factory. Turns out there's at least one more major factory out there, with at least four or five minor ones in the works, if not already completed and processing.” Former General Carter released a long, exhausted sigh.

 

“And, it also appears as if Anubis has upgraded the Super soldier's armor and weapons. I believe one of our escorts was hit close range with the newly modified weaponry?” Anise - Jack could tell it was Anise and not Freya because the woman had yet to attempt flirting with him - hinted ever so unsubtly.

 

“Dr. Fraiser will have a report ready for you as soon as possible,” Hammond nodded.

 

Jack felt like cheering at the snake's attempt at hiding her pout.

 

“Perhaps she would like assistance? Last I recall, a suitable assistant had yet to be found.”

 

“A suitable assistant has already been found, Anise, though I'll thank you for your concern over our Chief Medical Officer's well being.” Not.

 

“General, please. This is a new energy weapon with unknown properties. There is no possible way your primitive medicine would be able to deal with the repercussions of an attack. Especially one made at point blank range.”

 

Alarm bells were going off like firecrackers on the Fourth of July in the back of Jack's head. Anise was trying way harder than usual to take a peak at somebody's chard flesh. Something about this new weapon was registering as a could be a great toy kind of idea somewhere in her snake-hollowed head.

 

“Sorry to interrupt you, sir,” Rock pushed his head in through a crack in the doorway, “but Dr. Fraiser was pretty insistent I get this report to you right away.”

 

“Absolutely no tact... Must be Anise, then.”

 

“I'll start sharpening my katana.”

 

“Ah, Dr. Light, please, come in.” Hammond stood, ushering the boy inside. The young brown haired medic walked in, file folder in hand. “How are the boys in medical?”

 

“Stable, sir,” Rock smiled politely. “Dr. Fraiser and I found some interesting burn marks on one of the soldiers. There's a full analysis on the wound, including tissue samples and chemical makeup, on page two.”

 

“Preliminary diagnosis of cause?” Anise chimed in. Rock didn't miss a beat.

 

“Energy attack of some kind. Several of the more...interesting...samples are still being run through the testing equipment. Dr. Fraiser and I have already closed up the wound as best we could and begun preliminary antibiotic baths.”

 

“Why? We made need more samples!”

 

There was a moment when pure nothingness flashed through X's gaze. A glare cold enough to freeze a sun was aimed levelly in Anise's direction. The Tok'ra gulped, slowly sinking back into her seat.

 

“Nothing, ma'am. Nothing,” even Jacob winced at the low growl added to the word, “is worth a man's life. I highly suggest you remember that.”

 

Anise gulped in answer.

 

Another moment passed, and everything was back to normal.

 

“I'm returning to the medical bay now, sir. I'll have the remainder of the data forwarded to both you and Major Carter as soon as it's available.” And with an authentic Japanese formal bow, X did a near perfect military about face, and left.

 

The room seemed to be able to breathe again as soon as the last end of his lab coat had floated out the doorway.

 

That, Jack thought grimly, is one scary kid.

 

*

 

“X... You need some rest.”

 

“Dr. Fraiser isn't back yet. I can't just leave these people alone...”

 

“I'll watch over them, X. Please... go to bed. For me?” Orange hair over big, green, adorable eyes and a wiggling lower lip made X use what little energy he had left in him to laugh.

 

“Alright...Alright, I'm going. See? I'm already out the door...”

 

“And collapsing right into my arms. Oh yeah, you're just peachy, X.” Zero teased. The Red Hunter hoisted his exhausted blue friend over his back, carrying him piggy-back style down the hallway.

 

“Just shut up and walk,”

 

“You know, you get really snappish when you haven't had enough sleep.”

 

“Zero?”

 

“Hum?”

 

“Don't make me wake up and kill you.”

 

Axl smirked slightly to himself. His eyes slowly fell on the now sold-colored newly dyed blue lab coat. X may not have been bothered by fact he had been forced to walk around half the day wearing a lab coat which said “Kick Me” in blue food dye, but he wasn't X. An attack had been made on his friend. If there was one thing he had learned from Zero, it was to never leave a challenge unanswered.

 

Paper in one hand, pencil in the other, Axl got to work.