The Endless Road
A Megaman X fanfiction by Deaku
Prologue
Rave ran through the corridors formed by the huge machinery of the old factory, the only light coming through the widows near the top of the walls. The red and black Reploid clutched the wound on his side, the result of a near hit by his pursuer, though Rave had a feeling the near hit was done on purpose to prolong the chase. Rave continued running, his imagination reshaping every shadow into the form of his pursuer. He no longer heard the sound of footsteps behind him, but the was no guarantee that he still wasn't being hunted. Rave only hoped that his sister had managed to make it out.
"Where do you think you're going Maverick?!" A voice boomed, seemingly from every direction at once.
"Out of here, what do you think?!" Rave yelled back, still confident despite his injury. Rave could see the huge doors open ahead of him, he just had to make it across the open loading area and he'd be home free. "You know, run away and live to kill another day. Or something like that anyway." Rave laughed
"I don't think so." The other voice replied, barely loud enough to be heard.
From the shadows behind Rave an energy beam fired, briefly lighting the area and revealing a heavily armored form. The beam struck the fleeing maverick along the side of his right knee joint, sending him crashing to the floor. Rave managed to sit up, despite the burning pain from both injuries, and looked back towards where the attack had come from. His pursuer, who called himself Rever, stepped into the light.
It was actually the first decent look Rave had got at Rever, before he had only seen brief glimpses from the flashes of their busters when they first fought in the darkness of the factory's basement. Rever was wearing some type of heavy armor that was silver and black in coloration, it made him look like a hulk despite his relatively small size. Instead of utilizing the usual morphing arm buster Rever had buster cannons mounted on his forearms, meaning Rever would most likely be able to put a hole through Rave before he could even form his buster. Rever also had some sort of pods mounted on his back, Rave figured they were some sort of flight pods. But the thing about Rever that unsettled Rave the most was his face, or lack thereof. It simply wasn't there, a featureless silver faceplate was in place of it. For a moment Rave thought he saw the reflection of his dead body in that featureless mask.
"Get up." Rever ordered. "I'll let you die on your feet like a man, you mockery."
"Very well." Rave muttered as he stood up, a bit unstable from his injured leg. He put his hand behind his back and extended his energy claws. "But I'm not going to be the one who dies!" Rave charged.
"Bad move." Rever caught Rave's fist, his fingers spread in such a way that Rave's claws went right between them and caused no damage. "You shall die on your knees then, begging for me to spare your existence."
Rever began to crush Rave's hand, causing his energy claws to short out. Rave tried to pull away, but the pain from his injuries and his hand being crushed was sapping his strength. Rave felt himself beginning to drop to his knees, but there was no way he would allow that to happen. Gathering what was left of his strength Rave punched with his free hand, but Rever caught it as easily as he did Rave's other hand.
"You just don't know when to accept the inevitable do you?" Rever asked rhetorically and tightened his grip. "Just accept your fate and prepare yourself for death."
Electricity began flowing into Rave from Rever's hands, setting every one of Rave's pain receptors on fire. Rave tried to fight against the onslaught of electricity, but it was just too much. Finally running out of strength, Rave dropped to his knees and began to scream.
"Please stop!" Rave begged. "Please, I don't want to die! Spare me..." Rave was beginning to fade, his body unable to cope with all the electricity flowing through it.
"No." Rever answered as he let go of Rave's hands. "You die now maverick." Rever plunged his hand into Rave's chest and ripped out his power core.
Rave fell to the ground, his vital fluids forming a puddle around his body. The last thing Rave saw before the spark of life left him completely was Rever looming over him, Rave's sparking power core in hand.
"Rave!" A female Reploid with the same coloration as Rave screamed as she came running though the doors. It was Rave's sister, Rena, who had come running back when she had heard her brother's screams. She kneeled next to Rave and lifted him up gently. "It can't be, you can't die." Rena said through the tears as she embraced Rave's lifeless body, her mind just wasn't accepting what her eyes were telling her.
"He has moved on to wherever your kind goes after death." Rever said as he crushed Rave's power core and dropped it to the floor. "You shall be joining him soon."
"You bastard!" Rena dropped Rave's body and leapt at Rever, intending to knock his head off his shoulders as she lashed out with her fist.
Rever dodged the attack with ease, sidestepping it then tripping Rena as her missed swing put her off balance. Unfazed and nearly blinded with rage, Rena leapt up again to continue the attack. Rever simply dodged each punch as though Rena were moving in slow motion, she briefly wondered how someone so bulky could move so fast.
"You're a better fighter than your brother, I'll give you that." Rever said as he dodged Rena's attacks. "But it still won't be enough to save you."
Rever lashed out with a vicious punch that sent Rena flying through the air, she hit the ground hard several feet away. Kicking up off the ground as though Rever's punch was nothing, Rena growled and formed her buster. After a brief charge up she fired at the one who was the cause of her pain. Rever leapt up to avoid the blast, but Rena expected this and fired quickly at what she thought was Rever's landing point. But Rever just stopped in midair and hovered there, Rena's second blast passing harmlessly underneath him. Screaming with rage Rena ran and leapt into the air not thinking of the possible consequences, she just wanted Rever dead. Rever simply moved to the side to avoid Rena; as she went past him he grabbed hold of her hair and swung her back around, sending her slamming into the ground in almost the same spot she had left it a moment before.
"Pitiful." Rever commented and then began raining blasts down from both buster cannons.
Rena brought her arms up in front of her in an attempt to shield herself from the blasts, she closed her eyes and braced herself for what she thought was the end. She heard the shots impact but felt nothing, after everything went quiet Rena opened here eyes. Not a single shot had hit her, instead they had tore up the floor around her. A thick could of dust now filled the air, obscuring her sight and making her cough.
"Reploids..." Rever's voice seemed to be coming from all directions at once. "Mockeries of true life, only existing to serve humanity."
"What the hell are you taking about?!" Rena demanded as she tried to home in on the source of the voice. "Show yourself you crazy bastard!"
"Mavericks..." Rever continued on as though he hadn't heard Rena. "Reploids who have for one reason or another rebelled against their assigned purpose, often proclaiming that killing their human creators is their new purpose. Whatever the reason for their rebellion, such twisted creatures are even lower than simple beasts. The only way to deal with such creatures is to destroy them."
Rever came charging through the dust cloud from Rena's right, too fast for Rena to even react. His fist slammed into her stomach, shattering part of her armor and causing her to double over in pain. Rever continued with the attack, his punches too quick and powerful for Rena to even defend against. After about a minute of this continued assault Rever finally stopped, he then grabbed Rena by the throat and slammed her into the ground. Even if she was at full strength Rena wouldn't have been able to force her way up, Rever was just too powerful.
"Prepare yourself for death." Rever told her as he reached behind his back and pulled out his energy saber, a glowing sword with a purple blade. "You are about to join your brother."
The last sight Rena saw was the flash of Rever's saber as he brought it down across her neck.
~~~~~
Rever was outside the residence of Mr. Sans, the man who had hired him to eliminate the two mavericks that had been using his old factory as a base of operations. Rever was standing by quietly as Mr. Sans was looking at the remains of the two mavericks; he had told Rever to bring what was left of the pair to make sure that they were destroyed.
"Well that's them alright." Mr. Sans said as he looked back towards Rever. "What's left of them anyway. You did quite a job on these two, and by yourself too. All the others who I hired failed even when they had a numerical advantage."
"Yes, I saw some of their bodies in and around the factory." Rever commented offhandedly.
"Well, I'm glad I was finally able to find someone to get the job done. Here's your payment." Mr. Sans smiled as he handed Rever the agreed amount of credits. "Um You'll keep this quiet won't you? I really don't want the government finding out about my little problem with those two, they'd probably start a big investigation and send in some Maverick Hunters. I don't really want any of them snooping around my property, I've things I'd prefer not be found out about."
"Do not worry." Rever told Mr. Sans as he took the payment. "I keep my clients identities and the details of my jobs confidential. I don't like unnecessary interference from the government or the hunters anymore than you do, the less they know the better."
"Thank you Rever, I'm glad we understand each other. I'll call on you again if I ever have anymore problems such as this one." Mr. Sans shook Rever's hand and watched him pick up a sack that he had brought back with the remains of the two mavericks and walk away.
Rever walked to his transport carrier, which was on the landing pad in front of Mr. Sans residence, the door opening as he approached and sealing with a hiss as he boarded. Rever went to the bridge and after he dropped the sack into one of the seats he flipped a few switches on the control console. Lights lit up across the console and the carrier's engines began to warm up.
"Welcome back sir." A feminine voice came from the speaker system. "I trust you hunt was a good one?"
"Yes, it was a decent hunt, a bit on the easy side though." Rever half-sighed. "At least I got myself a pair of matching trophies, they'll make an excellent addition to my collection."
"That's good sir." The computer commented as the carrier began lifting into the air. "Where are we heading now?"
"Let's head back for New York, I want to drop by The Pit and see if there's anything new happening." Rever answered as he looked out the window as they started off. "Let's just keep it at cruising speed Angel, I'm in no hurry to get there."
"Very well sir." Angel replied, setting the speed of the cruiser.
Rever then stepped away from the window and walked to the middle of the bridge, standing there as if he shut down. His armor began to glow and suddenly vanished, revealing the visage of a young man with green hair and jade eyes. But he was a human, not a Reploid like most assumed. He was known as Jason Hawk and he was now wearing what looked like a spandex body suit with crystal-like objects in various places, like on his chest, shoulders, arms and legs, and a final one on his forehead. It looked like some sort of superhero outfit, in fact Jason had gotten the idea for the design from a 19XX era comic.
"Well Angel, I'm going to go catch some Z’s while we're in transit." Jason said, stretching a little. "Wake me up about an hour before we arrive alright?"
"Alright then, a wake up call an hour before we arrive." Angel acknowledged as Jason picked up the sack from the seat and walked towards the living area in the back of the cruiser. "Have a good rest Jason."
