The Endless Road
A Megaman X fanfiction by Deaku
Chapter 03 ~ Battle Against the Celestials
With one final smile the hologram of Deus faded; the trio of Rever, Nightshade and Max stood their ground in the doorway as the group of gathered reploids slowly walked towards them. The tunnels were still open for escape if they wanted it; but Rever had a mission to carry out and was not about to turn back now. Nightshade and Max seemed to feel the same way; even though Max seemed nervous, neither looked like they would back down either.
Rever had his canons charged and was simply waiting for one of them to give him a reason to start shooting; Nightshade raised her tonfas and Max got his energy sabers ready as well. But the group suddenly stopped moving; surrounding them on three sides, but taking no other actions. A female Reploid separated from the group; she looked to be a civilian model, possibly a nurse type by the way she was dressed. The trio raised their weapons towards her and she stopped moving, but she had a smile on her face.
"Please, friends, lower your weapons, we mean you no harm. We only want to show you the true wisdom" She smiled kindly, though she had a strange gleam in her eyes, then raised her arms like she was about to embrace them. "I am known as Kala, Emissary of Deus."
"I'm sure you mean us no harm." Rever commented sarcastically. "This 'true wisdom' of yours is nothing more than another virus and you're just another group of mavericks."
Kala simply shook her head. "Not true; the true wisdom is not a virus, it is nothing malicious at all. It is simply knowledge, the truth about world. No one that is shown the true wisdom is forced to join the Celestials. All that join, join by choice."
Kara continued to smile, all the other Celestials were smiling as well. All the smiling faces were creeping Max out, the scene just seemed unnatural to him. Nightshade's face was unreadable, but she kept her tonfas ready. He couldn't read anything from Rever, who remained facing Kala. So Max simply kept his weapons ready the same as Nightshade.
"Nothing malicious? Join by choice?" Rever sounded like he was about to laugh. "Then what causes the changes in the reploids' programming? Every captured Celestial that has been examined was found to have major changes in their programming, often almost completely changing their base personalities. Any attempts to change them back to their original selves causes severe malfunction and often death, I've seen it happen."
"Knowing the true wisdom can bring profound changes in a person." Kala explained calmly. "But these changes are not a bad thing; they are wonderful, allowing an individual to see the world in a whole new way. The only dangerous thing is trying to stop these changes; for once one sees the true wisdom one ascends to a whole new level of existence, and one so changed simply is not able to survive in such a low existence as they once lived." As she finished Kala raised her arms into the air and she seemed to be looking at something they could simply not see.
"Okay this is officially starting to creep me out now." Max whispered to Nightshade.
"Hush and be ready." Nightshade whispered back. "I have a feeling that this conversation is not going to end well."
"Please allow us to show you the true wisdom." Kala walked up to Rever and gently touched his faceplate. "Then you can ascend as we have and see the world as we do."
"No thanks Maverick." Rever replied, then raised a cannon up to Kala's chest and fired.
There was a bright flash as a hole was blown through Kala's torso and she was sent flying back several feet. She didn't scream, or make any sort of sound, even when she hit the ground. She had a very peaceful look on her face as the gleam faded from her eyes.
The other reploids had a shocked look on their faces, their attention shifting back and forth between Kala and Rever. The civilian reploids quickly backed away with a confused look on their faces, seeming not be to be able to comprehend the situation but wanting to get away from it. However the combat types stood their ground, staring at the trio with a rather strange expression on their faces. It was mostly neutral, but there seemed to be a bit of pity there as well.
"The unfortunates must be restrained until they are shown the true wisdom." A particularly large beast-like Reploid said calmly, then raised a hand into the air. "Take them."
The reploids rushed forward with weapons drawn and busters charging. Rever fired off a few blasts from his cannons then drew his sword and charged into the group, Nightshade and Max right behind him. Sparks and fluid filled the air as reploids fell; though it was strangely quiet for such a battle, not one of the reploids would cry out in pain as they were hit. The movements of Rever, Nightshade and Max were blurs; especially compared to their opponents, who seemed strangely slow.
Though several opponents already lay at his feet Rever was still surrounded, they just kept on coming no matter how many he put down. A combat scout tried to grab him from behind; Rever spun around and separated the scout's head from his shoulders. Continuing his spin Rever sliced another Reploid in half, one that had been trying to jump kick him. A force blast stuck him in the chest, pushing him back a few steps but not getting through his armor. Rever returned fire, sending the offending Reploid into the wall. Several others fired and Rever jumped to avoid them, the blasts detonating when they struck the ground where their target had been. Rever came down, saber ready to strike.
Nightshade blocked a blast with her tonfa then rushed forward, smashing another opponent to the ground. She spun around, deflecting a few more blasts and striking out at a few more opponents. Nightshade wondered if it really had to end up like this, if the situation could have been handled without the violence. She felt Rever had made a very bad move by blasting Kala, starting this whole battle. But on the other hand they did seem like they would take no for an answer when they wanted to show someone whatever this true wisdom was. So they might have ended up fighting anyway since they would have definitely declined seeing the true wisdom. Rever may have simply sped up things up and got right to the inevitable battle. But Nightshade really didn't have time to think about such things at the moment, there was a battle to fight. She ducked under the slash of a bear-like Reploid; then delivered several strikes to its stomach, shattering armor and smashing several vital internal systems.
Max came out of his spin and three reploids fell into pieces, dropping into a defensive crouch he waited for his next opening. He was doing his best to stay calm and keep focused like Nightshade had taught him; but it was proving to be difficult, he wasn't expecting his first battle to be like this. A large Reploid charged Max; he brought his sabers together and slashed upwards, cutting his attacker in half. Max jumped back to avoid another attack, going into another spin to either destroy or force back anybody at his landing point. Now that had some room Max took a quick look to see how his two allies were doing. The opposing reploids couldn't seem to touch Nightshade, but that's what Max expected of his mentor. She dodged any physical blows and would strike back before her attacker knew what happened, any energy blasts were deflected by her tonfas. Rever seemed to have some sort of force field around him, at least that's what it seemed to Max, no one was able to get anywhere close to him before being put down with his saber or a cannon blast. A near strike by someone else's saber brought Max back to his own battle, he quickly slashed his attacker and continued on with the fight.
Nightshade put down another beast Reploid, adding another body to the many already on the floor. The number of her opponents were finally thinning out, giving her more room to breathe, but it also gave her remaining opponents more room as well. Nightshade ducked as two tried to punch her from the sides, she ducked to avoid the blows then sprang back up and took them out with a roundhouse.
Nightshade was looking for the next attack when she heard something above her. Not even looking to see what made the sound Nightshade leapt back as a metal fist slammed into the ground where she was just standing. It was a large black and silver Reploid who slowly pulled his fist out of the ground and faced Nightshade, ready for battle. Nightshade thought he looked quite a bit like Rever; just a bit larger and missing the arm cannons, he even had a similar faceplate.
"Well, looks like I've found the guy who's been sneaking around the area Max and I were investigating." Nightshade smirked, looking over her new opponent for weaknesses.
"I was not sneaking" The black and silver Reploid growled. "I was spreading the true wisdom of Deus."
"And does this spreading of the true wisdom always involve reploids disappearing?" Nightshade inquired. "I think Rever may have been onto something with what he said earlier."
"I don't expect one who doesn't know the true wisdom to understand." The Reploid replied as he shook his head, then charged Nightshade.
The black and silver Reploid lashed out with a punch to Nightshade's face. Nightshade countered by knocking his fist to the side and struck him hard in the chest, the strike didn't do as much damage as she hoped however. Her opponent grabbed her by the arm before she could withdraw and swung her around, then threw her towards the wall.
Twisting in the air Nightshade managed to hit feet first and rebound off the wall and back towards her opponent. He sidestepped her kick then grabbed her from behind before she could even land, then started trying to crush her with a bear hug. Her opponent proved too strong for Nightshade to break the hold, and her tonfas were out of play since they were pinned to her sides along with her arms.
Nightshade knew she had to do something quick, she could feel her armor starting to give under the pressure. Nightshade slammed her head back into his; her opponent stumbled back a step and loosened his hold, but not quite enough. Nightshade kicked back as hard as she could, feeling armor crumple under the force of her blow. The black and silver Reploid grunted and released his hold, then dropped to his knees. Nightshade spun around and struck him in the face as hard as she could, shattering his faceplate and sending him flying back. He hit the ground hard and did not get up.
Nightshade breathed deeply, making sure nothing was broken and everything was working smoothly. When she was sure everything was fine she spun around, ready to face the next opponent.
Across the room Max thought he was doing pretty well, he had put down several enemies and had hardly taken any damage. Doing this well in his first battle, he'd definitely be able to brag to the other squires when he went back to the Paladin Group HQ. However Max was forgetting a very important lesson he learned from Nightshade, never let one's ego cloud your perceptions. That lesson came screaming back into his mind as he felt something grab onto his leg and pull him off his feet; Max landed flat on his face and dropped his sabers.
"Hee hee Looks like Cabel chose the right time to jump in." A high pitched voice chuckled as Max was dragged towards the source. "Young one seems to need some lessons about watching himself in combat, Cabel will be glad to teach him once young one is shown the true wisdom."
Max was flipped over a finally got a good look at this Cabel, which Max considered to be one strange looking Reploid. His body was composed of two orbs connected in the middle by what looked to be a steel cable; his lower arms and legs were connected to his body the same way, his head looked relatively normal except from the crazed look on his face. Cabel learned down to get a better look at Max, Cabel's head turning completely upside-down as he stared.
"Ummm how can I put this in the nicest possible way?" Max faked a nice expression, then lashed out with his free leg. "Get away from me you freak!"
Cabel jumped back and Max kicked up off the ground and went after him, punching and kicking with all his strength. He couldn't seem to land a hit though; Cabel was extremely agile, twisting and turning to dodge all of Max's blows. What made Max even madder was that Cabel was laughing the whole time, like it was all some game.
Max decided to change tactics, if he couldn't hit the guy with punches and kicks he'd see how Cabel did against his energy sabers. Max dived for his weapons, but right as he was about to grab them he saw Cabel's hands shoot out and snag them away. Max rolled when he hit the ground and spun around to face his opponent, just in time to see Cabel's foot flying towards him. Max was hit in the chest and slammed into the ground, Cabel's foot exerting a surprising amount of force for how it was connected to his body.
"Young one has much spirit, Cabel is impressed." Cabel smiled as he loomed over Max with the stolen sabers. "Do not worry, Cabel will not do anything permanent. Young one will be fixed up good as new once he is shown the true wisdom."
Max raised his arms up to try to fend off his own sabers as long as he could, but he knew that wouldn't be long. Cabel raised the sabers up for the attack, but his head suddenly vanished in a flash on light and his body fell to the ground in a heap. Max looked around and saw Rever with his cannon leveled at where Cabel's head used to be, Rever gave Max a brief nod and turned back to his own battle. Max nodded back and quickly jumped up and grabbed his sabers, going into another spin as two more reploids moved in for the attack.
Rever lashed out with a punch the ripped a Reploid's head from their shoulders, then he backhanded another and sent them flying across the room. This battle was nearly won; there were hardly any combat type reploids left now, and the civilian types had been running out of the room since the battle began and were nearly gone as well. Rever just hoped one of them hadn't ran off with the object of his mission or that it hadn't been destroyed in the fighting, he had to see it to confirm his suspicions about it.
Letting his thoughts wander nearly cost Rever as a drill weapon came from the right; he managed to just barely dodge. The drill scraped across the side of his faceplate, sending sparks flying. Rever jumped back and took a defensive stance, studying his new enemy. It was a large orange Reploid with a large drill in place of its left hand and several smaller ones on various joints.
"I'm guessing you're one of the reploids who broke into Engen Co. and stole one of their experiments." Rever started as he scanned the driller for possible weaknesses. "You should have been more careful, you left a trail that led me straight down here."
"We did not steal it." The driller replied in a monotone voice. "We acquired it for Deus so that he may spread the true wisdom to all."
Before Rever could say anything in response the driller charged at him trying to strike him again. Rever leapt into the air and let loose with his cannons, raining energy blasts down upon his opponent. However not a single one got through, the driller's armor proved to be very strong. Rever landed as the driller roared and swung at him again; Rever dodged around the attack and punched it in the stomach, which pushed it a few steps back but did not break the armor. Rever pulled out his saber and continued his attack; but even it seemed ineffective against the driller's extremely thick armor, making several gashes but not getting completely through.
The driller charged once more with its drill straight out, Rever had an idea and put his saber away then braced himself. Rever raised his hands and actually caught the drill, creating a rain of sparks. Though the momentum of the driller pushed him back several feet and the driller continued to try pushing against him, Rever kept his grip on the drill and his armor managed to hold as he squeezed tighter. The sound of metal grinding against metal filled the room and sparks flew everywhere, but Rever managed to stop the drill from spinning. From within the driller's arm the drill's motor groaned and ground against itself, the sound of a small explosion came from within the driller's arm as the motor finally had enough. Smoke poured out from the driller's arm and it roared in pain.
"Oh so you are capable of feeling pain." Rever commented as the driller continued to roar. "I have something that will ease it."
Rever put both his cannons against the driller's stomach, where the armor had been weakened by his punch and a couple of saber slashes, and fired. There was a flash of light from within the driller when the blast destroyed its internal systems, but its armor remained surprisingly intact and simply slumped to the ground in a smoking heap.
Rever looked around to see who else may want to battle him when he spotted a black Reploid run out from behind the holo-generator. Normally he wouldn't be too interested in a fleeing enemy when there were others to fight, but this Reploid had a small container hanging from his waist. What caught Rever's attention were the particles that were flowing out from the container, the organic particles that had led him down here in the first place. Making a quick check of the room Rever saw that Nightshade and Max were still up and fighting, in fact the room was nearly clear of Celestials now. Feeling confident that the two Paladins could handle the remaining reploids Rever took flight after the black Reploid.
Rever followed through a door and into another natural tunnel lit by lights hanging from the ceiling. Rever was quickly catching up to his new target, in fact the black Reploid gave no indication that he knew he was being followed.
There was something familiar about this Reploid as well; the black armor, the white hair, Rever had seen this guy before. It was in The Pit a few weeks before; he claimed to be a freelancer, the best ever according to him. Well it didn't take long before he had annoyed everyone in The Pit to the point where they all wanted to blast him to put him out of their misery. Fortunately for him it was a rule of Gramps that forbid such violence in his fine establishment, but it was perfectly fine to kick the annoying bastard out. The privilege went to Rever and Dark Rain; who happily tossed the guy out and into the street, telling him never to set foot in The Pit again or they wouldn't be so nice next time.
The tunnel opened up into another large room; this one with metal walls and floors, there was also a large generator in the center. The black Reploid was heading for another door on the far side, but Rever just couldn't allow him to leave that easily. Firing both cannons Rever blasted the wall above the door, bringing down enough debris to completely block it. The black Reploid screeched across the floor as he slid to a stop, halting just before he hit the debris blocking the door.
"Leaving without saying goodbye." Rever commented as he landed. "You're as rude as ever Dynamo."
"I know that voice " Dynamo said as he turned to face Rever. "You're one of those freelancers from The Pit who threw me out for absolutely no reason."
"Oh I think we were completely justified in throwing you out of there." Rever replied. "But I never thought you'd end up being a Celestial."
"Me a Celestial?" Dynamo chuckled. "Oh no, I've just been hired as a courier. I have to deliver this little package." He patted the container hanging from his waist. "So if you'll just let me be on my way, I'm sure you understand being a fellow freelancer and all."
"Oh I understand, a freelancer's mission is his top priority after all." Rever nodded. "But it's my mission to retrieve that item, so I just can't let you leave." Rever began charging his cannons.
"That's too bad, it really is." Dynamo grinned and fired off a blast from his buster.
Rever dodged it and fired a blast of his own; Dynamo quickly dodged and returned fire. They bolted around the room firing at each other again and again, neither of them landing a hit. Dynamo was very fast, Rever had to give him that. Rever stopped shooting and pulled out his energy saber, charging at Dynamo before he could get off another blast. However Dynamo was able to pull out his own saber in time to block the attack.
"You You're not half bad." Dynamo told Rever while trying to hold him back. "Too bad you're not good enough to actually beat me." Dynamo didn't seem quite as confident as he was trying to sound.
"You're a bit better than I thought you'd be." Rever shoved Dynamo, sending him flying back. "But if that speed is all you got it's not going to be enough for you to survive this."
Dynamo flipped in the air and landed nimbly on his feet, smiling like nothing even happened. "Oh I got a bit more than just my speed." He then threw out several small discs which seemed to home in on Rever.
Rever was about to swat the discs from the air when they suddenly extended laser blades, tripling in size and becoming a lot more dangerous. Rever jumped out of the way as the discs buzzed by him, but they turned in mid-air and came after him again. Rever managed to deflect them with his saber, but that didn't deter them from coming after him yet again.
"Something wrong?" Dynamo laughed. "Those proving too much for you to handle?"
"Not at all." Rever answered as he started shooting the discs out of the air.
"No worries." Dynamo smirked as he started tossing more discs. "I've more than enough to keep you going."
Rever raised his cannons to blow these discs out of the air as well, but instead of going after him the discs suddenly shot upward. They hovered high over Rever spinning around and changing formation, then started glowing a greenish blue. Rever saw Dynamo had a huge grin on his face and had his hand raised up, it was glowing the same as the discs. Rever leapt back as Dynamo brought his fist down and the discs became energy and shot downward, incinerating the area where Rever had been standing.
"Aww I was hoping my little surprise would catch you off-guard." Dynamo lamented as he prepared to start throwing more discs.
"A surprise eh?" Rever pressed his hands to the floor. "How's this for a surprise?"
Rever sent electricity coursing into the metal floor and through everything in the room, including Dynamo, the black Reploid screamed as the electricity hit him. The shock left Dynamo dazed so he didn't notice when Rever stopped sending power through the floor and charged towards him, even the punch that sent him flying across the room barely registered.
Dynamo slammed into the wall, knocking his helmet off and sending the container he was carrying bouncing across the floor. When he finally came out of his daze he saw Rever standing over him, a cannon charged and ready to fire.
"Quite a surprise." Dynamo said weakly and managed to smile. "Caught me completely unprepared."
"I must admit you put up a good fight." Rever told Dynamo as he pointed his cannon at his chest. "Your head will have an honored place on my wall."
"I'd prefer to keep my head on my shoulders if you don't mind." Dynamo snickered. "Since the little shock of yours shut down the cloaking field generator I can just zap on out of here without any problems."
There was a flash of light as Dynamos' form became energy and shot upwards; Rever let loose with a blast from his cannon but it was too late, Dynamo was gone.
"Next time I'll have your head Dynamo." Rever growled as he turned to find where the container had bounced off to.
Rever found the container near the cloaking field generator; its lid had came off, freeing the item contained within. The item Rever was looking for was only a few feet away from the container, sitting in a pool of bio-fluid that had leaked out of it. It appeared to be a green crystal orb about the size of a human fist and looked like it had thin biomechanical tendrils wrapped around it. It was pulsating irregularly and was glowing faintly. Though it was incomplete and barely functional, Rever knew exactly what it was.
"C-Engine." Rever said quietly. "So they are trying to reproduce my work, and getting damn close to doing it. I can't allow that"
Rever brought his foot down on the incomplete C-Engine, crushing it and then scrapping it across the floor to make sure the job was done. It sounded like wet glass being ground up as Rever crushed it; then there was a slight hiss as it disintegrated into a green liquid and evaporated. With that Rever began walking back to where he had left Nightshade and Max, thinking of what he would tell Engen Co. about what had happened to their little project.
Rever found the pair to be the only ones left standing we he arrived back in the first room, just like he had expected. Max was resting against a wall while Nightshade was looking over a computer terminal, but not seeming to find what she wanted.
"Hey Rever!" Max called out and waved when he spotted Rever enter the room. "Where did you run off to? You missed the end of the party."
"I had to go after someone who looked to have the objective of my mission." Rever explained. "But he managed to get away."
"Not a damn thing in the computers." Nightshade shook her head as she walked away from the terminal. "Just the basic layout of this place and the tunnels around it, nothing else."
"Well that sucks." Max groaned as he stood up. "No info pretty puts us in the same boat as before, still not knowing what's really going on."
Nightshade just nodded as she looked around. "You know Rever, I have to wonder if his could have been avoided. The Celestials seemed pretty calm until you blasted that Kala."
"Naw, it would have ended up in a battle anyway. The Celestials are very insistent that others see their 'true wisdom', even if they have to beat someone into submission so that they can show them." Rever said off-handedly as he searched around the room for something. "It's not the combat types you should be watching out for either, it's the ones that seem harmless that you really have to keep an eye on." Rever found what he was looking for and lifted up Kala's body by the hand she had touched his faceplate with. "Here, take a close look."
Nightshade walked over to see what Rever was talking about; Max followed, but he didn't get too close to the body. Extending out and hanging limply from Kala's wrist were extremely small cables, barely noticeable unless one was actually looking for them.
"Cyber-jacks" Nightshade gasped when she realized what they were.
"You mean she was trying to plug into you?" Max asked as he continued to stare.
"That's exactly what she was trying to do." Rever replied. "To try and show me the 'true wisdom' no doubt."
"So that's why you blasted her." Nightshade half-laughed. "So she wouldn't plug into you."
"Yes, I rather not have someone trying to hack into my brain." Rever dropped the body. "So I just got right to the battle."
The sudden sound of someone clapping caught the trios' attention and they spun around towards the source. The holo-generator had reactivated and the image of Dees was visible once again; he was applauding and was smiling the same as before.
"Impressive, most impressive." Deus continued to smile. "You three possess rare skill, I dare say you are some of the best warriors I have ever seen."
"You don't seem too broken up that you've just lost a bunch of your Celestials." Max said in a slightly mocking voice.
"I did not lose them, for they are with me now." Dues raised a hand up to his chest. "And they shall be with me always as are all Celestials." Deus extended a hand towards the trio. "And I extend to you an invitation to join us, to become one with us and know the true wisdom."
"Become a part of one big viral family?" Rever asked rhetorically. "No thanks, I'd rather not be associated with any Sigma wannabes."
"The true wisdom is not a virus, it is something that will allow any Reploid to see the truth of the world." Deus continued to smile, but arched an eyebrow when he looked at Rever. "But it wouldn't really work on you, would it Rever? But perhaps I can convince you to join us without having to show you the true wisdom. Once you join us I'm sure we could work together and find a way so that humans could be shown the true wisdom as well, then the whole world could ascend with the Celestials."
"Why wouldn't it work on you?" Nightshade asked as she looked at Rever. "And how could a freelancer like you help find a way for the 'true wisdom' to work on humans?"
"Oh there is so much more to him than the weapons and combat abilities, which is why he would be such a welcome addition to the Celestials." Deus smiled kindly while he spoke to Nightshade. "In fact Rever is not quite what he seems to be. Isn't that right, Jason?"
The holo-projector exploded as Rever blasted it with a charged shot from both cannons, the image of Deus vanished in a flash of light. Nightshade and Max dove back to avoid the debris, but Rever just let it bounce off his armor.
"It's that inner fire that I like so much about you Jason." Deus's voice continued, seeming to come from all directions now. "I leave you an open invitation to join us in bringing about a new era, I very much hope you'll accept it one day. Nightshade, Max I leave an open invitation to you as well. I hope you will accept too, skills such as yours would be very much appreciated by us." Deus's voice faded, leaving the room in silence.
"Okay, the Celestials and Deus now rank near the top of my creepy things list." Max said as he stood up and looked around, expecting something else to happen now.
"What was he talking about Rever?" Nightshade stared Rever in the faceplate. "Was he saying that you're a"
Nightshade was cut off and several reploids began teleporting into the room. Some were human looking while others were more bestial, but all were obviously combat types. It wouldn't be long before the trio was completely surrounded.
"Maverick Hunters" Rever growled under his breath.
Nightshade was about to say something when a red Reploid with long blond hair appeared right in front of her. "Everybody spread out and search the area!" He ordered the other hunters; then he looked at Nightshade standing right beside him. "It appears someone beat us here though. Always a pleasure to meet someone from the Paladin Group." He held out a hand.
"A pleasure to meet you too, Zero, I'm Nightshade." Nightshade shook his hand, not quite believing she was speaking with one of the most famous hunters of all. "What brought you hunters down here? How'd you even find this place?"
"Well, when unknown and massive energy readings suddenly appear the hunters are usually called into action immediately, especially when those signals appear under the city. Just in case it has something to do with mavericks. Even if it's not mavericks the sudden alerts keep us on our toes." Zero laughed a bit as he explained. "But by the looks of things it did have something to do with mavericks. What exactly happened down here?"
"Well it started when we were investigating the recent disappearances, eventually the trail led us down here. We found this place and a gathering of these guys," Nightshade waved a hand around the room. "They didn't seem to mind too much that we found them, but I don't think they really wanted us to leave. And you can see the result."
"Yeah, it must have been quite a party." Zero commented as he looked around the room. "Amazing that you two were able to do this all yourselves and still be standing."
"Two?" Nightshade spun around behind her and only saw Max, Rever was gone." Max! Where did Rever go?"
"Huh? What?" Max came out of his state of stunned amazement, which he had been in since Zero appeared. "I... I don't know, he was right here just a minute ago."
"Um well, we weren't alone exactly." Nightshade said as she turned back to Zero. "There was a freelancer here too. He was on a mission of his own that led him down here as well."
"Hey, you two!" Zero called out to the two hunters that were covering the door to the tunnels. "Did you see anybody go through there?"
"No sir!" One of them answered. "We've been watching this entrance since we arrived and we've seen no one."
"And I didn't see anyone else when I got here besides you two." Zero thought aloud. "Freelancer must have taken off as soon as we started coming down."
"Yeah I imagine he did." Nightshade looked towards the door. "His mission was done so he didn't really have any reason to stick around any longer."
"He's smooth one, getting out without being noticed." Max commented to himself. "Maybe if we meet him again I can get him to teach me that trick."
"Hey Zero!" A blue Reploid, who entered from the door that led to the generator room, called out. "You should see the size of the cloaking field generator they have in there, I'm surprised the field didn't extend all the way up into the city. Whoa! What in the world happened in here!" He exclaimed when he saw how many downed reploids were in the room. Then he saw Nightshade and Max standing next to Zero. "Well, I see you found some new friends."
"Yeah, you could say that" Zero waved a hand towards the pair. "This is Nightshade and Max."
"Nice to meet you, I'm X." He shook Nightshade's hand and smiled.
Nightshade smiled back, amazed that she was meeting both of these hunters. Max went back into the stunned state of amazement he was in when Zero arrived, was he ever going to have a story to tell when he got back to Paladin Group HQ.
"There was a freelancer here too, but he's already long gone." Zero told X. "But Nightshade was telling me what happened before we got here."
"Who were they?" X asked as he looked around the room.
"A group called the Celestials." Nightshade answered.
The Celestials? I've heard a bit about them, nothing good." Zero scowled. "I've never had any run-ins with them though."
"Yeah they were the Celestials alright." X said as he picked a piece of armor up off the floor. It had the Celestials' symbol on it, the 'D' imposed over a golden cross. "I've never actually met one, but I've seen some of their handy work." X dropped the symbol. "They can do some nasty stuff to a Reploid's mind."
"Well if they had this big an operation right under our noses we're going to have to intensify the investigation on them." Zero said as he kicked a piece of debris. "No telling what else they got going."
"The Paladin Group will be glad to assist the Maverick Hunters in the investigation." Nightshade saluted the two hunters. "After I report in the Paladin Group leaders are definitely going to want to get to the bottom of this."
~~~~~
Miss Valentine sat on a table in the lab waiting patiently for Rever to return; President Aquilo wasn't quite as calm, he was pacing back and forth constantly looking at the hole that Rever had vanished down into earlier.
"What could be taking so long?" Aquilo continued his pacing. "It's been hours."
"Now, now President Aquilo, you can't expect quick results with this sort of thing." Miss Valentine said in a calming voice. "Those intruders had quite a head start on Rever."
"I know, I know" Aquilo sighed. "But the more time it takes the more impatient the board members get, I'm surprised they haven't come down here yet to see what's taking so long."
"Well it certainly wouldn't help if they did, all that yelling would only make things worse." Miss Valentine commented, more to herself than to Aquilo. "Tracking takes time, even someone like Rever can't produce instant results."
"Quite right Miss Valentine." A voice agreed, causing both to jump. Rever rose up out of the hole and stepped to the lab floor. "But when I have a proper trail to follow I can get results pretty fast."
"How'd it go Rever? Did you find our project?" Aquilo asked, wanting to get right to the point.
"What happened?" Miss Valentine had noticed the damage to Rever's armor. "Was there a battle?
"Yes I did find the thieves and yes there was a battle." Rever confirmed. "But it appears your project was destroyed. After the battle all I found was a shattered container and pieces of whatever was inside of it."
"Well at least I can give the board an answer now." Aquilo breathed a sigh of relief. "Though I imagine they're not going to like the answer very much."
"They'll be even more unhappy because now the project will basically have to be started from scratch, now that both the data and the project itself is gone." Miss Valentine added. "But they might drop it after this, which might be for the best. You never really approved of that project did you President Aquilo?"
"Nope, always had a bad feeling about it." Aquilo gave a bit of a laugh. "Guess that bad feeling proved right after all."
"Anyway, did you ever find out who they were Rever?" Miss Valentine inquired. "Or were they just some random group of mavericks?"
"They were the Celestials." Rever replied.
Miss Valentine didn't seem to know who they were, but Aquilo had a troubled look on his face. "The Celestials I'd better tell the board about this right away." Aquilo began walking out of the room. "Be sure Rever gets his payment Miss Valentine."
"Yes of course." Miss Valentine handed Rever an envelope. "On behalf of Engen Co. I thank you for your assistance Rever."
"It was my pleasure Miss Valentine." Rever said as he took the envelope. "Feel free to call on me again if you need to."
Miss Valentine nodded and smiled. "Allow me to escort you out." The two left the room and headed for the elevators.
~~~~~
Rever was en route back to his carrier, flying above the streets and again causing any other flying reploids to scatter in an attempt to avoid him. After saying goodbye to Miss Valentine and leaving Engen Co. Rever went back to The Pit to lets Gramps know the job was done and to give him his cut. Everybody was quite surprised that he had finished the job so quickly and wanted Rever to tell them what had happened on the mission and what the battle was like. With the obvious damage to his armor Rever couldn't deny that there wasn't a fight. So Rever told them the story of his battles, though he didn't tell them any specific details about the nature of the mission. Rever ended up having to retell the part about beating Dynamo half a dozen times before everybody was satisfied and finally let him leave.
Rever touched down outside his carrier and went inside, pulling off his helmet as soon as he was through the door.
"How was the mission si Oh my!" Angel started to greet him but gasped when she saw that his armor had been damaged. "Are you alright Jason?" Angel's voice was full of concern.
"Yeah, I'm alright for the most part." Jason looked at the damaged faceplate of his helmet. 'Gonna have to do some repairs before heading out again' he thought as he looked over his armor. "I'm just a bit tired" Jason popped his neck from side to side. "And a little sore. I think I'll go soak in the shower for awhile."
"Shall I prepare something to eat while you're in there?" Angel smiled. "I had the food stores restocked today so we have plenty of everything."
"Sure, that sounds good Angel" Jason grinned. "A good meal is just what I need."
"We can watch a few movies too." Angel winked. "I ordered some really good ones."
Jason laughed. "Sounds like a plan, I'll be out soon." Jason waved as he headed for the shower.
Jason's thoughts drifted back to the mission and the fight with the Celestials. How did Deus know who he really was? What did he want with Engen Co.'s incomplete C-Engine? In fact why was Engen trying to make a C-Engine? These questions and more were spinning in Jason's mind, but he wasn't coming up with any answers. Jason just decided to put the questions out of his mind for now, letting them and the pain in his body be washed away by the hot water.
