Well, this is my second take at Code Overlord. I've edited this slightly so that it is more like a fusion of the Rockman and Rockman X sagas. This is very, VERY AU!!
Oh yeah, and read my bio. I might not update this for a while, and likewise I might not update my other stories for a while. Depends on what my random brain is working on. Just leave a review if you like it or have a question or comment about my other works.
We're moving on to the story.
Salvation
Prologue
What had been a casual day at the Resistance base had now become a confused cosmic dance. Men and Reploids – the more advanced free thinking version of robots – raced around the hanger bays. A single floating black tanker covered in burn marks from both fire and plasma floated into the nearest hanger. The crew inside this tanker either fell from the ship or more gracefully slid down the exit ramps. Fire crews raced inside to kill the blaze before it killed them.
A single glass tube shaped like and approximately the size of a coffin came sliding down into the waiting arms of six Repliods. The glass lid was covered in frost, allowing only one small piece of the interior to be seen -- a bright blue triangular gem on the central point of a large golden 'W'. The six Repliods lifted the coffin and marched off. Their path was parted by the firemen desperately attempting to quell the blaze.
The coffin traveled through the rocky passages of the base. A boy seemingly aged twelve years, with rat's nest style brown hair and sparkling blue eyes, watched the precession pass. He gulped in reflex when he saw the golden 'W' about where the head of the coffin's occupant should be. Out of habit, he tightened his yellow scarf around his neck and pulled the full length red jacket he was wearing tighter around his white shirt and red jeans. Just the very sight of that symbol brought a chill to his memory. A chill of how he had found his creator, his father, with an expression of terror and bewilderment upon his face at the betrayal that had caused his untimely death. A chilling sigh, forever locked in his memory, of when he had first found him -- a man whispering his finial words while swimming face up in a pool of his own blood. Those last, desperate words, which still echoed in waking nightmares.
He pushed these thoughts out of his mind. There was a mission to complete. His human sister – sister only because his creator and her birth father were one in the same – was waiting for him in what was lovingly dubbed the X Nursery. It was probably the most secure room in the whole facility and, as such, had been drafted to hold not only the capsule containing his father's last creation, but also his sister's infant daughter. The capsule's occupant was a clone of types of his younger bionic brother. The first of its kind, the clone's design specs had granted birth to the Reploid race and allowed him to join in its sentient ranks. This same clone was still in status.
Apparently, he was too strong to be allowed freedom in the real world without further testing of his character type. The Reploids that had been modeled after him had a far lower power level than their originator. As for why this strange boy had not been placed in a similar status after receiving a 'sentient upgrade'? The memories of what had happened to him in the past kept him far away from turning against humankind, he supposed. He had never really gotten a technical answer to that one.
He stopped at his destination. His fingers had just begun to brush the access panel when the door opened with a great whooshing sound. A feminine figure bounced right into his lower leg. He arched an eyebrow at that. Looking down, he found that the figure in question was none other than his niece. Laughing lightly to himself, he swooped down and captured the child.
"And just where do you think you're going?" he questioned the infant. He was already well aware that the child could not talk as of yet. However he didn't ask this question for a response. He asked it to see the smile spread across a face once shrouded in annoyance.
"Oh there she is!" a woman whose outfit was hidden entirely behind a white lab coat laughed aloud. This woman quickly reclaimed the infant without so much as a word of protest from the boy. "Thanks for stopping her, Blues."
"Hey, what's kind of an uncle would I be if I let my only niece out and about with him inside base now?" Blues answered with a shrug. The woman's shoulders notably drooped in sadness.
"So the capture was successful?" the woman questioned.
"Looks that way."
Blues idly walked over towards a coffin-like capsule that lay at a slight angle against the wall. He gently ran his hands over the foggy surface, leaving small trails of where his fingers had been. The being inside looked so peaceful... so much like his little brother when he was in recharge... Blues sighed to himself. His father had whispered something in his dying breaths about having resurrected a rock.
"Hey, Rockman... If you're sleeping inside this guy's programming, be glad of it. This world's turned into hell." Blues whispered. For half a second he could have sworn he saw the familiar blue eyes of his youngest brother open and his mouth whisper out some unheard sentence. Needless to say, Blues jumped back.
"Blues?" the woman questioned.
"...Wake me up..." Blues whispered.
"What?"
"Wake me up... He just said wake me up!" Blues laughed, pointing at the coffin's occupant.
"But Blues, the tests aren't complete yet. That and the power to his capsule has been at a minimum. How could he have asked you to wake him up? Unless..." the woman let her sentence hang.
"Unless what?" Blues demanded. The woman replaced the infant in her crib. Once certain that this time the child was secure, she took a seat at the computer.
"Unless what!?" This time Blues came close to shouting.
The woman pulled up a display of what appeared to be a Reploid. He was wearing Blues' scarf around his neck, a grey skin tight body suit, red chest, forearm, shoulder, and leg armor, white colored armor over his feet, and a red helmet with an apparently unmovable black visor covering his eyes. Blues instantly recognized it as himself in full battle armor. A second Reploid appeared next to the first. He wore a pure light blue skin tight body suit, dark blue forearm, chest, shoulder, and leg armor, dark blue armor covering his feet, and a dark blue helmet accented with light blue with a single red gem centered in the middle of his forehead. Blues also recognized this Reploid to be the clone of his younger brother, the same which rested inside of the coffin.
Blues watched with wide eyes as the two images were set to show schematics alone, then overlaid on top of one another. The two had no differences. The woman leaned back in her chair, fighting hard against a fit of shocked, joyful laughter.
"Good lord!" the woman laughed. She quickly looked up at Blues. "Blues, do you have any idea what this means?" Blue was so shocked, he simply nodded his head no.
"It means that Rockman's still alive! His memory core was transplanted into his clone! When you found father, you said he was whispering something about reviving a rock? What he was saying was that he had given Rockman a second chance! He had transplanted Rockman's memory core into Rockman X!" the woman practically fell out of her seat laughing in relief.
"Our brother's still alive!"
Blues' eyes snapped back to the coffin. A small smile played upon his lips.
"Then what are we waiting for? We need to get him the hell out of there!" Blues laughed. The woman stood from her seat.
"We'd better get permission from Signas first," the woman sighed.
"Screw him; I'm getting my brother out of there." The woman only laughed.
"Alright, alright." The woman walked over to the door. Unbeknownst to her and the overexcited Blues, the small infant from before was slowly creeping her way out the door with her mother.
"I'll tell Signas. You just better be ready to have your faceplate handed to you when I get back."
"Whatever," came the stiff reply. She laughed again, exiting the room.
The infant also left. She toddled down the corridors, heading in the opposite direction of her birth mother. Her oddly silver hair flapped lightly against her silver infant's top. Both her top and her hair accented her oddly green eyes. However despite these oddities, none of the Reploids or humans walking down the same corridor as her seemed to take heed in her progression. In fact it seemed as if she was alone in the world. She toddled on alone now, taking a side route through a small cooling vent. With a plop, she reached her destination.
The room was dark and dusty from years of being kept in a state of standby. A few dials clicked here and there, illuminating the room for a few moments before fading out and returning everything to darkness yet again. The child, not at all frightened by this darkness, toddled forward towards a small door. On this door was inscribed a single message all in capital letters.
"Dr. Cossack: Forte. Do Not Enter."
Being unable to read, the girl ignored this warning. All she had to do to cause the door to open was to place her hands upon the door. With one little push, it fell flat onto the floor. The movement of the rusted piece of metal sent dust flying through the revealed room. The infant let out a small giggle of wonder at the beauty of the dust falling to the ground, each particle being called out before her by the ominously awakened green glow located in the center of the room.
A glowing green tube filled with a strange off-color liquid stood centered in the middle of the room. Wires streamed through the liquid like pasta through spaghetti sauce connecting to a Reploid floating in the center of the strange liquid. If not for the liquid, it would have easily been seen that the Reploid dawned black armor accented at the feet, thighs, forearms, and shoulders in a desert tan color. The Reploid's helmet folded back from a point behind where his ears should be like two fish fins colored pure tan and outlined with a straight black line going vertically through the center and around of the fins. This last touch added an even fishier look to the Reploid. His eyes were closed, making it impossible to tell what color they were.
Floating as he was in his liquid prison, the Reploid dreamed. He stood, floating in a room without floors, without walls, without ceilings. Everything, including himself, was bathed in a beautiful white glow. Before him stood a figure whose looks were lost within the glow of the room.
"You've come..." His voice was a rich, simplistic, soft baritone. The figure nodded.
"You wish...for me to awaken? To meet you in reality?" Again the figure simply nodded.
"But...But Dr. Cossack... He has not given me permission." The figure lowered its head in sadness.
"He is gone... My creator...is dead...? I feel pain at this..." The figure seemed to sing.
"Emotion? I am showing the emotion of sadness?" The figure continued with its wordless explanation.
"...So his final act with Dr. Thomas Xavier Light was to transplant the memory core of unit zero-zero-one into prototype sentient unit Rockman X... and then to install a sentient circuit within me...? He wished...for me to be free of Wily's betrayal..." His eyes snapped up to meet the glowing form of the figure before him.
"Who are you? Why is it I see you here, in this world? Tell me! What would my name have been? What is my name?!"
The figure was gone. The room began to fade. And then, there was nothing.
A feeling of cold splashed over him. He opened his brilliant blood red eyes, gasping for air as the green liquid within the tube fell away down draining pipes. The wires that had been attached to his flesh snapped off, pulling themselves back into the roof of the strange capsule. He pushed his hands against the glass of the capsule in an effort to stop himself from falling face first against the cold, smooth surface. Slowly, his fearful eyes fell upon the infant that had traveled so far to see him. She sat with her legs crossed, staring intently up at his panting form.
The glass dome slid open, allowing him to exit. He weakly walked out of the capsule, stumbling slightly as he moved. The child watched him with unblinking eyes. He walked over to the fallen rusty door. Looking down, he read the message in capital letters aloud.
"Dr. Cossack: Forte. Do Not Enter." He looked back at the girl.
"You ignored the warning? Why?" Much to his shock, the girl simply rolled over onto her back and let out a small giggle. Frustration grew slightly.
"What is so funny?" The child sat back up, looked at him, then yawned. Somehow he seemed to understand.
"You are tiered. It's time for your nap then... You are too young to answer my questions, aren't you? You followed a wish, as many children your age do, and found my capsule. You are rather...cute." A warm feeling tugged lightly at his flesh.
"Yes, you are cute. I will watch over you, cute child, and care for you as I saw Dr. Cossack care for his daughter. I wonder... Do you not have a mother and a father whom are worried for you?" The child yawned again.
"My apologies. I am keeping you awake, you who are cute and too young to answer my questions." He walked over to the yawning infant, picking her gently up off the floor.
"My name is Forte, cute child... May pleasant dreams come to you while you rest within the safety of my arms."
Now with a sense of self and a true name, Forte surveyed the lab he was in. There was no place for him to sit and to simply stand with the child seemed pointless. So, he sat down with his legs dangling slightly on the uppermost level of the capsule that had held him previously. The child looked up at him as if expecting something. Seemingly catching on to the child's thoughts, Forte pushed his lips together and began to whistle. It was a soothing lullaby – the same he had heard his creator sing somewhat off key to his daughter whenever she could not fall asleep. Now truly content, the child slept within her new protector's arms.
While Forte was busy awakening, someone completely different was trying to come to terms with his new situation.
Rockman X's capsule awoke with a snap and whir of steam. The cables supplying his systems with power snapped off with little protest. Slowly, the blue Reploid stumbled out of the chamber. Blues quickly caught his disgruntled brother in his arms.
"Hey, take it easy there." Blues warned at a whisper. The light blue eyes of the Reploid slowly fluttered open.
"B-Blues...?" The voice, the feel of his armor under his flesh, the look deep within his eyes... There was no doubt in Blues' mind who this Reploid truly was.
"Rockman!" Blues held back his emotions no longer. He pulled the disgruntled Reploid tight against him in a brotherly hug. "Rockman, it's really you! I thought... I thought for so long that you...were dead..."
"Blues!" Rockman's voice echoed, this time with more force. "Blues, point aside, you're squishing me!"
"Not possible, little bro. Dad did a serious upgrade on your armor. Only a high burst plasma blast could dent this thing." Blues countered, his grip instead of lightening, tightening ever harder against the Reploid.
"Blues!" Rockman groaned. His eyes suddenly snapped wide in shock. "Blues, where's dad? And Rush, Roll, Dr. Cossack, and...? Where is everyone?"
Blues slowly pulled back. "They're dead, Rock... Dad...Dad died in my arms... He...couldn't get you out of his head, even as he was dying. He's the one that told me your memory core had been transplanted to X's frame."
"X? You mean the...the what-cha-ma-call-it dad was working on before Fireman malfunctioned?" Rockman questioned blankly.
"Yeah, the Reploid. You're memory core was transplanted inside of his frame, so technically you're X now." Seeing as his explanation was getting nowhere fast, Blues pulled his brother back. He closed the lid on the capsule his brother had just awakened from. It still held its reflective properties, allowing Rockman to see his changed features.
"...Holy..." Rockman whispered. He reached his hands up to feel his face, followed by looking down at those same familiar yet unfamiliar hands with a blank expression.
"And if you think that's a shock, you're going to absolutely love the number the past twenty years pulled on Caroline." Blues chuckled.
"Well excuse me!" Caroline's voice snapped from the entrance of the room, "Who am I to argue with fate shoving a lovely man right into my arms?"
Rockman's eyes widened in shock and he felt his mouth slip. The girl he had once known as a bouncing little infant had grown into a mature looking older adult.
"Caroline!?" The woman in question walked over to the awakened Rockman. With one figure, she closed his gapping mouth.
"Don't drop the jaw yet, bro. You've still got your niece to see." Caroline teased. At that, Rockman did a double take.
"My What?!"
"Yeah, that reminds me. The kid hasn't made even the littlest peep. I wonder..." Blues stopped mid sentence as he saw the crib was empty. "Damn. How the hell does she do that?"
"Huh?" Rockman echoed in confusion, where as Caroline followed Blues' gaze to the infant's empty crib.
"Ah no! In all the excitement, she must have slipped out!" Caroline released a deep sigh. "I guess we'll just have to do a floor by floor search again."
"Hold it!" Rockman snapped. "Who or what are we talking about?"
"Allure Tatiana Light, my daughter and your niece." Caroline explained, pointing first to herself then towards Rockman. The newly awakened Blue Bomber felt his knees go week. Before he could fall flat on his aft, Blues had him sitting down in a chair.
"Not only do I find out that dad's dead and half our family in ruin, but also that I'm the prototype dad was working on and that I'm an uncle. All of this in one day..." He took a deep breath. "For a robot, stuff like this sure is hitting hard."
"Technically you're not a robot anymore. Robots have to listen to orders. You're a Reploid – a robot with free will." Caroline explained bluntly.
"Oh, great," sarcasm was practically dripping off those last two words, "I guess I better get up then and help find the wayward infant. What does she look like anyway?"
"Blues will go with you, so you can get three things done in one."
"Yeah; a tour, a history lesson, and hopefully an introduction to your niece." Blues answered before his brother could ask.
"Well in that case, make it four things. He should see him." Caroline whispered the name with slight disgust.
"Him?"
Blues' hand came to rest upon Rockman's shoulder.
"Don't ask... At least don't ask yet. Let me fill you in on everything fist." Blues whispered. Rockman threw his arms in the air.
"Fine. Let's go then. The faster we get moving, the sooner I see Caroline's daughter, and the sooner I find out what the blue blazes is going on around here!"
Caroline and Blues watched as Rockman stormed out the door.
"Yep. He's still our bro."