MEGAMAN X: THE SERIES SEASON ONE: Poles Apart EPISODE ELEVEN: "Old As You Feel" Author's Note: Hmmm...back on schedule, I suppose. FF.net has given me a whole horde of new readers, so I may get lynched if I stop writing it now. I've gotten as much feedback as I care for, so you guys don't have to worry about reviewing it anymore. ________________________________________________________________________________________ "There is no knowledge that is not power." - Ralph Waldo Emerson The birds chirped overhead, soaring through the beautiful, clear blue sky. The courtyard of UCO's Physics building lied in a stretch of green grass with small patches of yellow along the edges of the cement walls. The field was about 100 meters each way and was used by many for various sports, except today it was empty. The small metal shard glinted in the sunlight coming from the east as it flew through the air. The shard impacted with the ground and the area was immediately ensued in blue light as the shockwave from the explosion ripped up the dirt, the walls being covered by flying grass. The light cleared, revealing a ten foot spherical crater nearly halfway indented into the ground. "Yeah, these are plasma-enforced depleted uranium core rounds alright," said Zero standing on the other side of the field. The smoke cleared from the gun mounted on his shoulder. X was standing next to him, both of them wearing green test field uniforms with the UCO logo to shield their sensors from any interfering radiation. "Where the heck did they manage to get their hands on these kind of TBRs?" asked X, referring to the advance model of bullets used by the weapon system of the shoulder mount. Zero slowly stood up and handed the gun to X. They both began to walk across the field to inspect the crater further. "Hell, I don't know. These guys weren't fooling around though, this is definitely military issue," replied Zero. "Where the heck did they get Military class weapons?" thought X out loud. They both stood over the large smoldering crater. Zero turned on his Element Analyzer to determine any trace elements left by the explosion. X noted the grass and dirt which covered the cement walls. He assumed that the groundskeeper was probably going to be pretty pissed off tomorrow morning. "I dunno," said Zero, continuing his scan, "but I'm glad I didn't get hit by this thing. That could have had a fairly negative impact on my day." Zero finished his scan and stood up. X was still stuck in his head trying to figure out who might have access to Seamus-7 equipment. They were definitely professional, no doubt about that. "Yeah, there's nearly 0.0% trace elements left by the explosion. Too clean to be anything less than the best bullets that millions of dollars can buy," said Zero, looking up at X. "The only way they could have got their hands on such expensive equipment..." started X. "...would be to steal it?" said Zero, "Well that should definitely show up in some military report, somewhere." X nodded, already opening up his Connection Fields to register with a T7 Satellite. Zero jumped down into the large crater and started digging in the dirt, noting the temperature in order to ensure that the type of bullet used really was a Model K7-TBR and not just a cleverly redesigned fake. Zero nodded in confirmation of what they both already knew. It was definitely real. X nodded back and attempted a direct connection to the Internet. Zero jumped up out of the crater and began checking the charred armor from one of the soldiers they managed to scour from before they were ordered to shut down the site. They were forced to evacuate immediately because of the wounds Anyi sustained and now the site was completely off-limits to everyone. "Damnit...I can't seem to connect," X was immediately annoyed by the disturbance in his transmission. "Try the UCO backbone, we should be able to get on that," replied Zero. "Hmmm, okay what's the IP?" "Actually, I think it automatically configures it, just plug into the old jack inside." X looked at Zero in confusion. 'Zero can't possibly mean...' "Welcome to the Machine, X," said Zero with a smirk. "Goddamnit. You'd think that the top university would update from the old T3 backbone! Those things are ancient!" said X, shaking his head. "Well, they haven't. I'm not surprised, really. What's the point of replacing something that's hardly ever used?" "Yeah...but those things are even before the Terran War!" exclaimed X. X resigned to his fate with a jerky T3 connection and started heading inside. Zero followed him from behind. They opened the doors to the inside of the old, yellow-stained building and went into the nearest classroom. X was thankful that at least they had a telephone jack installed in every classroom during the Terran War, in case of any emergencies which may have arisen. Zero sat down on one of the desks and began analyzing the material which made up the armor. X made his connection with an adapter and opened an online connection. "Hey X, this armor is pretty standard issue. It's nothing special...probably could be bought at any spy shop." X nodded as he opened a window to log into the Cluster One Military site. X suddenly got a strange beep. Zero looked up with a look of concern on his face. X got another loud beep. "...What the heck?" whispered X. "Hey Zero, what's your login id?" "My ID is 0120-9576 Alpha Charlie, Password is my name translated into 256-bit machine code." X got another loud beep. 'This is really strange' thought X. "What's that damn beep, anyway?" asked Zero. "...My login id doesn't work. Neither does yours." Zero arched an eyebrow. "What? We must have at least Level 3 access!" said Zero. X just shrugged, "Yeah, I know...I don't get it either. Our access files have apparently been deleted." "Why would the military delete our access files?" but Zero knew the answer to that question already. "I'm starting to think," started X,"we weren't attacked by a terrorist group..." "First the Military refuses to acknowledge that anything happened and shuts down the site...and now this." "Well, whatever group is behind this...they must have a lot of military persuasion," said X. X began to think. Most of the equipment used by the invading soldiers were extremely high-tech, but the Military would have used better armor to ensure that X and Zero couldn't hurt them as much. And why the heck didn't they check or take out the Jet? It should have shown up on the enemy's tactical scanners... "I'm starting to think that we were supposed to win that fight," said Zero. "...Maybe," murmured X, "that would explain the Jet's continuing existence, but then why were they using such high-tech equipment?" X was starting to hate this. If they were meant to win against those soldiers, why were they left with such obvious evidence that this was connected to the military? The whole thing was starting to look like the beginning of another Reploid war, but there were no Reploids who could ever manage getting their hands on this kind of weaponry...were there? Whatever was going on, X couldn't help but feel that someone was playing with them. "What the heck is going on?" whispered X. "Hey X, why don't we try Dr. Caine's password?" suggested Zero. "Huh? But Caine Labs shut down last week," he replied. "Yeah, but maybe they haven't deleted those access files yet." X re-opened the window and entered the login id of Dr. Caine. X knew it by heart, since he used Dr. Caine's login a number of times whenever he was under observation at the lab. Running through the steps, X finally reached the login page. He smiled and looked up at Zero. "Got it?" asked Zero. X nodded. Now they were getting somewhere, but X would have to be quick before he lost the connection. He was sure that their connection would not go unnoticed and that thought gave X the prickly feeling of anxiety. "Good," Zero continued, "search for anything involving Seamus-7 equipment." X opened the meta search engine for the database and looked for previous dates involving general weapons shipments. Zero stood there for a few minutes and started to hum, drawing various chibi characters on the chalkboard with the colored chalk lying below it. "Well...nothing has been reported stolen, however..." suddenly X shook his head. "I got disconnected from the site! Damnit!" exclaimed X. "What did you manage to find?" asked Zero, turning from his drawing. "Well, I..." X stopped as he read the little drawing on the board. It was a silly SD (super-deformed) cartoon version of X and Zero laughing and claiming victory over the soldiers at the excavation site. "You're weird, you know that?" said X, shaking his head. Zero just smiled as his reply. "Anyway," continued X, "There was something to do with an independant corporation called Yaven Enterprises picking up the funding where Caine Labs left off a week ago. If I remember correctly, they were funding research into new tracking system chips in order to correct for solar radiation interfering with satellite Internet connections between planets." Zero went over and ripped out the targeting device of the Seamus-7. "Right...," began Zero, "and since plasma from TBRs also interferes with laser-targeting..." Zero held up a small microscopic chip that he managed to dig out from the device. "Now this is indeed getting interesting..." said X. It was fairly apparent that this had something to do with Yaven Enterprises. Anyi mentioned that the mother of Mr. Lee worked at Yaven Enterprises, so maybe the attack was set up to reveal Yaven Enterprises on purpose. And since they didn't have any concrete evidence except for what was in the Military database. Now they had lost their access to that data, which would probably be deleted once they were done with it. Hacking was an option, unfortunately they would require much more complex equipment in order to succeed with the amount of security they had on military sites. 'So what is this Yaven Enterprises up to?' thought X. "I remember a Senator Genolt being mentioned as a major stockholder in Yaven Enterprises," said Zero. "Really? Where did you get that?" asked X. "It was mentioned in the news a couple of days ago...he's running for a position on the United Terran Council." . . . "...X! ...Zero! ZERO!?" came the shrilling Australian voice from outside the classroom. Anyi appeared in the doorway, a bit out of breath. "Oh, hi guys! I thought you were outside..." said Anyi, "Come on! I have something to show you!" X and Zero just looked at eachother and followed her to the basement. *** The trio came down the stairs towards the rusted door which lead into their lab. X told Anyi what they had found and she was definitely interested. X could also tell that she was a bit scared too. "So..." said Anyi thoughtfully, "Yaven Enterprises is behind that attack?" "Maybe," said X, "but it's too obvious. Either they are trying to get our attention, and ONLY our attention, or someone is setting them up." "Either way, something big is on the horizon, and someone wants us to know about it," said Zero. "I guess you guys know what you're doing," started Anyi, "but it still scares the heck out of me. Fortunately..." Anyi pushed against the door with a grunt, opening it with a loud creak. "...my work keeps me busy." X looked inside. The atmosphere of the place had definitely improved with the number of posters Anyi had up on the walls, but it still bothered him that she actually slept in here like it was her apartment. In fact, her bed was a bit messed up and a pile of dirty clothes was in the corner, acting like a laundry basket. "Oh, and to answer your question before you ask it. I checked into the University storage and found a few of your things left over...I'm still trying to get a claim check for everything, but I should have the armor back in a couple of days," said Anyi with a wide grin. X returned the smile. Anyi was definitely doing a lot of work for the two androids, and X was impressed with the speed and efficiency with which it was done. Of course, he was worried that she should take more breaks then she does, but he also knew to give her time to settle down. 'It must be tough adjusting to a new place...especially with us two,' thought X. "What's the update on that woman in the capsule?" asked Zero. "Well...I've managed to re-activate the capsule support systems and I think I've managed to get it working. We should be able to revive her anytime now." X nodded to Anyi who went to pull the lever inside the open control panel of the capsule system. The lights came on inside the capsule and the glass cover opened slowly outward, white smoke pouring from the inside. "It may take a few minutes for her systems to re-activate," Anyi began to clear the smoke. The girl in the capsule slowly began to open her eyes and her power readouts were beginning to spike, indicating that she was now online. X walked over to the capsule, leaning over to see the girl face to face. He saw a girl who was definitely short, about three inches shorter than Anyi. Her dirty-blonde hair had fallen over her face, X assumed she probably wore it back in a ponytail, it was so long. "...X?" asked the girl weakly, "Why are you activated...what's going on?" The girl looked around and began to register what she saw. "Hello...what's your name?" asked X softly. "...It's Roll Caskett," said the girl, returning her gaze of awe at X, "I can't believe you actually work." X smiled at the comment and helped her out of the capsule. X was beginning to remember the fragmented memory of Rock, of which he possessed little. This was Roll, Dr. Light's assistant and housekeeping robot. X couldn't remember much about her, except that she was also a mechanic later on. His thoughts were confirmed by her clothing. She was wearing what looked like a red mechanic's uniform, except the arms and legs were cut out to give it an almost summer look. The girl reached back into the capsule to grab her hat off the bottom edge. "Where am I?" asked the girl, re-adjusting her hat. "You're in Cluster One," said X slowly. "Well that's a relief! For a second I thought..." "It's...uh...2093." "...I..." the girl was obviously startled by the date, "see..." Anyi looked up from the panel readouts. "Hi Roll, my name is Dr.Anyi Solieu. I help these guys out with their technical stuff." "Pleased to meet you. I must admit...I think the next couple of days are gonna be really strange for me," said Roll. "Are you going to be okay?" asked X. "...I don't know. It's kind of like a dream, almost. I can't seem to access any emotional responses...I'm not sure if they're malfunctioning or not," replied Roll. X knew what it was like to wake up from a capsule. It was quite disorienting, even to him who didn't even have much of a past before waking up. "Well, personally, I'm hungry! It's about lunchtime. Why don't you get acquainted with us over some food!" grinned Anyi. "Great!" said Roll at the mention of food. X just gave Zero a knowing look which said, 'Gee, her re-adjustment to the future was fast'. Zero just returned the look with a shrug and said, "Well, let's go eat at that Chinese place I spotted on Sydney Main," said Zero. *** The Chinese restaurant was much larger than Zero expected. Even though he had seen it while passing by, he didn't actually go inside. At the time, he was still getting over the fact that "Candy & A Current Bun" was gone, which probably meant...well, he wasn't absolutely sure what it meant, if anything. At any rate, now that he was inside, he could see the black finish on the wooden walls which meant that this place was at least attempting to look authentic. Zero didn't really care, he just wanted to see how the place had changed. There were a number of tables behind the post which read, 'Please Wait To Be Seated'. An Asian waitress came over by the sign. "Hello and welcome to the new Red Dragon," began the waitress with a thick accent. Zero just started snickering at the name. Roll and Anyi turned and looked at him in confusion. "Oh...just an old nickname someone gave me a long time ago," said Zero, looking hard at X. X returned a knowing look and spoke to the waitress. "We'd like a table for four." The waitress picked some menus up from out of a slot on the wall and began walking towards the back of the restaurant. The four followed her and sat at a clean table with white cloth and fairly expensive looking silverware. "Would you like anything to start?" asked the waitress. "Could you bring a wine list?" asked Zero. The waitress gave him a strange look and then nodded. "Anything else?" "Yes, I'll have a root beer," said Anyi, "Roll, what about you?" "Mmmm...I haven't had root beer in...well, a long time!" said Roll with a laugh, "I'll have that as well." The waitress finished writing it down, X shook his head at the waitress' look. Once the waitress left, Anyi looked at Zero, "A 'wine' list? It's lunchtime!" she exclaimed. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" said Zero blankly with a smile. Anyi just shook her head at the strange manners of Zero and turned to Roll. "So, you're X's brother then?" asked Anyi. Roll nodded, "I'm his older sister by a few years. Even though Dad managed to finish building him, the military was all over it, making sure that X was never activated." "Do you have any idea why?" asked Anyi. "I don't know, something to do with security issues. Dad was really mad about the whole thing, but there was something really strange happening behind closed doors at the military. Dad thought that a war might break out soon." "It did," said Zero, "the Terran Wars took place a few years after Dr. Light's lab was destroyed." Roll widened her eyes in surprise. The waitress brought back the wine list for Zero. "Is everyone ready to order?" Zero looked up, "I'll have the vegetable tempura and a glass of Riesling, chilled." "I guess I'll have the pot stickers and a glass of," X glanced at the list, "Zinfandel." The waitress began to write it down as Anyi and Roll just looked at eachother. "I'll have a hotpot, please," said Anyi. "So will I," Roll followed in suit with Anyi. "I'll return with your orders soon," the waitress finished writing it all down and left. "Why are you two having wine with lunch?" asked Anyi. "Why are you two having root beer with Chinese food?" asked Zero with a smile. "Wait, so the lab was destroyed in the War?" asked Roll, returning to the previous conversation. "We don't know yet. All the records on Dr. Light's lab were lost...we were hoping you would know," said X. "I haven't repaired her short term memory yet, but I'll get to work on it after lunch." "What do you remember last?" asked X. The conversation continued for the next ten minutes, Roll explaining that Dr. Light had rebuilt her protocols and she was reprogrammed to a more advanced prototype which was similar to X. Dr. Light was insistent on testing his new code for free will. It was done in secret, because the military had basically deemed it completely illegal for Dr. Light to do such things. They even went as far as forcing Dr. Light to place a 30-year seal on X's capsule. Roll didn't remember much after being moved to her new body. Just playing with Tango and Rush and going on long walks with Rock after Dr. Wily had died. The waitress returned with their meals, laying it out with the chopsticks on the plates. Once she had gone, X and Zero immediately reached for their glasses of wine to take a sip. "...Not bad." "Yeah, I guess." Anyi and Roll just sat there, stumped at their behaviour. "So it's been about 30 years, I guess..." Roll started, "Everything's gone, isn't it?" "Are you gonna be okay?" asked X. "When Anyi fixes my code completely, I believe it's going to be very painful. For the moment however, I am simply attempting to re-adjust. I will require complete technical manuals to see what has changed since I was last awake." X and Zero just sat there in silence. Anyi comforted Roll, who was finishing her root beer. "How is it?" asked Zero to Roll. "I just like the feeling of the carbonic acid in my systems." X thought the response was a bit cryptic, until he remembered. "You know, in all the confusion, I forgot that you won't be able to enjoy this meal," said X. "Why? Do you mean that you two can actually taste it?" asked Roll. "Let's just say that there's been a number of improvements in Reploid technology in the last 30 years you may want to be introduced to," said X with a smile. X knew that Roll was his sister, but until she was completely repaired, X felt like he was talking with a messenger who was relaying her words then Roll herself. He hoped that Roll would be repaired soon. From what he could gather from his little bits of Rock's stored memory, she was quite a person with an infectious good mood. He knew Anyi could do the job, if anyone could. They finished their meal with talks mostly of just Anyi explaining the current situation after the death of Dr. Caine. Roll definitely had a lot of catching up to do, but Anyi said that she could definitely find some helpful information from UCO. X gave the waitress a big tip as usual and brought up the back of the four walking out to go back to the university. They got outside and Anyi checked her watch to see what time it is. "Hmm...almost 15 o' clock, guess we better get back. Come on Roll! Let's go see what I can do about that memory of yours!" said Anyi, walking back hand in hand with Roll. X just shook his head in quiet laughter. He could see that even though he may have lost a lot of his presumed past, at least he got to keep his sister. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. "So, Zero what should we start next?" asked X, turning from the pair walking off. "Zero?..." X scanned the streets, but he was nowhere to be found. 'Now where the heck did he run off to?' *** Author's Comment: You were probably expecting more from my taking a three week break. Well, so was I. This is probably the worst of the series so far, but even if it may not be a stellar, heart-wrenching episode, it's still interesting nonetheless. The rest of this particular arc will probably be in the same emotionless vein, so be prepared for the worst.