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bobcatmoranAfter re-reading it a few times, I decided that I still was bugged by some of the massive overdose of OCs (OCOD?) in "So You Want to be a Maverick Hunter". So I rewrote it. Now with more Zero, fewer OCs, and large chunks of dialogue plunked down in a different setting. Sister sibling says she liked the original better, but I feel better about this one.
Chapter 1: X
Rated G
Mega Man X is property of Capcom, as are most of the other characters appearing in this fic. Anybody else is entirely my fault.
~~~
Trying to recall everything that had happened since he had signed up and joined the Maverick Hunters made X’s head spin. There had been a chewing out by Dr. Cain when he found out exactly what his extremely valuable discovery had done, a whirlwind tour of the base given by some young human, and basic training. He wasn’t even sure if he’d retained anything from that last bit – there had been a tall reploid who yelled at him a lot, but he’d never been quite sure what the reploid had been shouting about. Then, this morning, he had received a message that he was to report to Simulation Room C-4 at 0800 for induction into the 10th Unit. That had been followed by another message, instructing him to report to Commander Kappa of the 10th Unit an hour before the induction.
Thus, X was walking slowly down the hall where the commanders’ offices were, trying to figure out which was the one he was supposed to be in. He was so intent on his search that he didn’t even notice the other reploid until he bumped right into a backful of blond hair.
“Hey, watch it,” the owner of the hair said.
“Sorry,” X apologized.
The other reploid eyed him suspiciously. “You a Hunter? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”
“I’m being inducted into the 10th today. Do you know where Commander Kappa’s office is?”
“Down two doors on your left,” the reploid said, pointing. “But if you’re not even officially a member of the unit yet, I wouldn’t be bothering her if I were you.”
“I got a message to come here before the induction,” X said.
“Oh? Huh. You didn’t happen to see Commander Sigma on your way up, did you?”
X frowned, trying to recall if he’d run into the leader of the 17th Unit. “No, I didn’t see him.”
“Nuts,” the other reploid said. “I’ve been looking all over for him. A whole bunch of the guys were acting pretty weird yesterday – really overly vicious during some of the saber drills. Boomer Kuwanger almost lost an arm, and I wanted to talk to Sigma about it. He might be able to get them to chill out a bit. I know I sure couldn’t.”
“Is that his office?” X asked, indicating the door the other reploid had been lurking in front of.
“Yeah, but he’s not in there, either.” The reploid sighed. “Well, I think there might still be a hanger or something I haven’t checked yet. See you around, kid.”
“See you,” X said to the reploid’s retreating back. Two doors down on the left, he counted. The door to the commander’s office was shut, and the red light on the access panel indicated that it was locked. He knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked a bit harder. Still no answer. He pressed his earpiece to the door. It didn’t sound like there was anyone in there. He gave another half-hearted knock, not really expecting an answer, then settled in to wait. It wasn’t like he was early – not anymore, anyway. Although he had arrived on the right floor ten minutes before he was supposed to meet with the commander, she was now nearly five minutes late, according to his internal chronometer.
The blond-haired reploid came back down the hall, frowning as he walked by Sigma’s office.
“He hasn’t been by here,” X said.
“What?” the other reploid asked, obviously distracted. “Oh. Okay. Yeah. Good. Fine.” He then seemed to notice who was talking. “Still no sign of your commander either?”
“No. Maybe there’s some sort of meeting going on?”
“Cripes, why didn’t I think of that?” the other reploid said, slapping his hand to his forehead. He pulled out a palm computer and hit a couple buttons, eyes darting back and forth as he read something on the screen. His frown deepened. “There’s nothing scheduled for this morning . . .”
X shrugged. “It’s an unscheduled meeting?”
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound very convinced. “Well, it looks like Kappa’s here, anyway.”
X turned to see a female reploid with short, black hair peeking out from underneath the helmet of her yellow-green armor. She was walking briskly down the hall towards them.
“I’ve got a couple rookies to tutor, so I’ll see you later,” the blond said. He intercepted Kappa, asking her something that X couldn’t make out. She shook her head “no,” then said something else in reply. The blond’s eyes widened in alarm, and he took off at a full sprint towards the nearest lift.
The commander smiled as she neared X. “So,” she said in a clear, alto voice, “you must be the famous Mega Man X, father of all reploids.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She looked him over. “I always though you’d be taller,”
X tried to stand up straighter.
“I apologize for being so late,” the commander said, punching in the code to unlock her door, “but there’s been some rather serious developments in the growing Maverick threat.”
The door opened with a soft whoosh, and X followed her inside. She moved a carton of brochures off a chair and motioned for X to sit down, continuing to talk. “Technically, this isn’t supposed to get out until the official announcement is made, but I have a feeling that rumors are going to be flying today. You might as well hear the true version first. Overnight, several high-ranking Hunters have defected, and they seem to be organizing some sort of Maverick Army. Spark Mandrill, Launch Octopus, nearly all of the 17th…” she ticked them off on her fingers, naming several reploids even X had heard of.
X was shocked. He’d heard about how, recently, some Hunters had started going Maverick, but for it to happen at this scale…
“However, that is not the main reason I asked you to come here,” Kappa continued. “It seems that due to your rather unique status, here’s concern that if anything should happen to you as a Maverick Hunter, it’ll be a PR nightmare for the organization – possibly even worse than this mass defection.”
“I don’t mean to be a problem—“
“I know you don’t. But as your commander, I’m the one responsible for making sure you stay in one piece. Not,” she added, “that I don’t have that responsibility towards every member of my unit. Still, I’m going to order you to attend some additional training sessions. I know your rookie group was rushed through basic training. The idiot higher-ups seem to have gotten it into their heads that we need to raise our numbers as quickly as possible, never mind whether the newest recruits can even hold a charge on their busters.” She rolled her eyes. “Dangerous and stupid, that’s what that is.”
“Ideally,” Kappa continued, “I’d have you working with Scar Rhinozorn, since he’s going to be your squad leader and he’s an excellent teacher. However, he’s already going to be working with the rest of the unit’s rookies, filling in on what you all missed in basic training.”
She tapped in a string of commands on her desktop computer. “Are you up for training at 0500 tomorrow?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. You’ll be working with Lieutenant Nagane. She’s not as experienced as Scar, and her methods can be a bit unorthodox, but she should be able to help you finish out the basics, at least.” She keyed in something else. “I’ve got Training Room B-6 reserved for you two.”
“Thank you, commander.”
She typed in a few final commands, then looked up at him. “Just remember that this is a war we’re in here, and folks get hurt. Try not to be one of them. You’re a very unique reploid, and it would be a great loss to us all if anything should happen to you. Not to mention,” she added with a grin, “that Cain would probably have me decommissioned. I’ll see you down in Sim C-4 in a few minutes.”
As the door to the commander’s office slid shut behind him, X tried to assimilate what he’d just been told. Sigma was leader of the 17th and head of the Maverick Hunters. If most of his unit had gone Maverick, could that mean that he… no, that would be crazy, practically impossible for him to turn like that. At least, that’s what X hoped. There’d be time to worry about that later, though. Right now, the immediate challenge was how exactly he was going to find Simulation Room C-4.
~owari~
Chapter 1: X
Rated G
Mega Man X is property of Capcom, as are most of the other characters appearing in this fic. Anybody else is entirely my fault.
~~~
Trying to recall everything that had happened since he had signed up and joined the Maverick Hunters made X’s head spin. There had been a chewing out by Dr. Cain when he found out exactly what his extremely valuable discovery had done, a whirlwind tour of the base given by some young human, and basic training. He wasn’t even sure if he’d retained anything from that last bit – there had been a tall reploid who yelled at him a lot, but he’d never been quite sure what the reploid had been shouting about. Then, this morning, he had received a message that he was to report to Simulation Room C-4 at 0800 for induction into the 10th Unit. That had been followed by another message, instructing him to report to Commander Kappa of the 10th Unit an hour before the induction.
Thus, X was walking slowly down the hall where the commanders’ offices were, trying to figure out which was the one he was supposed to be in. He was so intent on his search that he didn’t even notice the other reploid until he bumped right into a backful of blond hair.
“Hey, watch it,” the owner of the hair said.
“Sorry,” X apologized.
The other reploid eyed him suspiciously. “You a Hunter? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”
“I’m being inducted into the 10th today. Do you know where Commander Kappa’s office is?”
“Down two doors on your left,” the reploid said, pointing. “But if you’re not even officially a member of the unit yet, I wouldn’t be bothering her if I were you.”
“I got a message to come here before the induction,” X said.
“Oh? Huh. You didn’t happen to see Commander Sigma on your way up, did you?”
X frowned, trying to recall if he’d run into the leader of the 17th Unit. “No, I didn’t see him.”
“Nuts,” the other reploid said. “I’ve been looking all over for him. A whole bunch of the guys were acting pretty weird yesterday – really overly vicious during some of the saber drills. Boomer Kuwanger almost lost an arm, and I wanted to talk to Sigma about it. He might be able to get them to chill out a bit. I know I sure couldn’t.”
“Is that his office?” X asked, indicating the door the other reploid had been lurking in front of.
“Yeah, but he’s not in there, either.” The reploid sighed. “Well, I think there might still be a hanger or something I haven’t checked yet. See you around, kid.”
“See you,” X said to the reploid’s retreating back. Two doors down on the left, he counted. The door to the commander’s office was shut, and the red light on the access panel indicated that it was locked. He knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked a bit harder. Still no answer. He pressed his earpiece to the door. It didn’t sound like there was anyone in there. He gave another half-hearted knock, not really expecting an answer, then settled in to wait. It wasn’t like he was early – not anymore, anyway. Although he had arrived on the right floor ten minutes before he was supposed to meet with the commander, she was now nearly five minutes late, according to his internal chronometer.
The blond-haired reploid came back down the hall, frowning as he walked by Sigma’s office.
“He hasn’t been by here,” X said.
“What?” the other reploid asked, obviously distracted. “Oh. Okay. Yeah. Good. Fine.” He then seemed to notice who was talking. “Still no sign of your commander either?”
“No. Maybe there’s some sort of meeting going on?”
“Cripes, why didn’t I think of that?” the other reploid said, slapping his hand to his forehead. He pulled out a palm computer and hit a couple buttons, eyes darting back and forth as he read something on the screen. His frown deepened. “There’s nothing scheduled for this morning . . .”
X shrugged. “It’s an unscheduled meeting?”
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound very convinced. “Well, it looks like Kappa’s here, anyway.”
X turned to see a female reploid with short, black hair peeking out from underneath the helmet of her yellow-green armor. She was walking briskly down the hall towards them.
“I’ve got a couple rookies to tutor, so I’ll see you later,” the blond said. He intercepted Kappa, asking her something that X couldn’t make out. She shook her head “no,” then said something else in reply. The blond’s eyes widened in alarm, and he took off at a full sprint towards the nearest lift.
The commander smiled as she neared X. “So,” she said in a clear, alto voice, “you must be the famous Mega Man X, father of all reploids.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She looked him over. “I always though you’d be taller,”
X tried to stand up straighter.
“I apologize for being so late,” the commander said, punching in the code to unlock her door, “but there’s been some rather serious developments in the growing Maverick threat.”
The door opened with a soft whoosh, and X followed her inside. She moved a carton of brochures off a chair and motioned for X to sit down, continuing to talk. “Technically, this isn’t supposed to get out until the official announcement is made, but I have a feeling that rumors are going to be flying today. You might as well hear the true version first. Overnight, several high-ranking Hunters have defected, and they seem to be organizing some sort of Maverick Army. Spark Mandrill, Launch Octopus, nearly all of the 17th…” she ticked them off on her fingers, naming several reploids even X had heard of.
X was shocked. He’d heard about how, recently, some Hunters had started going Maverick, but for it to happen at this scale…
“However, that is not the main reason I asked you to come here,” Kappa continued. “It seems that due to your rather unique status, here’s concern that if anything should happen to you as a Maverick Hunter, it’ll be a PR nightmare for the organization – possibly even worse than this mass defection.”
“I don’t mean to be a problem—“
“I know you don’t. But as your commander, I’m the one responsible for making sure you stay in one piece. Not,” she added, “that I don’t have that responsibility towards every member of my unit. Still, I’m going to order you to attend some additional training sessions. I know your rookie group was rushed through basic training. The idiot higher-ups seem to have gotten it into their heads that we need to raise our numbers as quickly as possible, never mind whether the newest recruits can even hold a charge on their busters.” She rolled her eyes. “Dangerous and stupid, that’s what that is.”
“Ideally,” Kappa continued, “I’d have you working with Scar Rhinozorn, since he’s going to be your squad leader and he’s an excellent teacher. However, he’s already going to be working with the rest of the unit’s rookies, filling in on what you all missed in basic training.”
She tapped in a string of commands on her desktop computer. “Are you up for training at 0500 tomorrow?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. You’ll be working with Lieutenant Nagane. She’s not as experienced as Scar, and her methods can be a bit unorthodox, but she should be able to help you finish out the basics, at least.” She keyed in something else. “I’ve got Training Room B-6 reserved for you two.”
“Thank you, commander.”
She typed in a few final commands, then looked up at him. “Just remember that this is a war we’re in here, and folks get hurt. Try not to be one of them. You’re a very unique reploid, and it would be a great loss to us all if anything should happen to you. Not to mention,” she added with a grin, “that Cain would probably have me decommissioned. I’ll see you down in Sim C-4 in a few minutes.”
As the door to the commander’s office slid shut behind him, X tried to assimilate what he’d just been told. Sigma was leader of the 17th and head of the Maverick Hunters. If most of his unit had gone Maverick, could that mean that he… no, that would be crazy, practically impossible for him to turn like that. At least, that’s what X hoped. There’d be time to worry about that later, though. Right now, the immediate challenge was how exactly he was going to find Simulation Room C-4.
~owari~
