A/N: And here's the third chapter! Life and my personal quality control kinda made this one take longer than usual to publish, especially since I had this one sitting in the backburner waiting. .
But I hope you guys do enjoy this one! Remember to read and review, please! Thanks!
~MW
2: AWAKENING
"Snow!"
The Reploid sitting at the desk doing nothing almost felt his A.I. hop out of his body at the sound of Locke bellowing his name. Stroking the fur on his collar, he spun around on his swivel chair and focused his vision up on the two figures in front of him. Of course Locke was there, but so was-
"A-ah, Captain X, sir!", he squeaked nervously as he fumbled up to a hasty and sloppy salute. "Glad you arrived, sir!
"Uh…", X nervously chuckled at the sight of a slightly trembling Snow attempting to keep a respectful posture and speech. "Thanks."
There was a bit of an awkward pause as neither parties knew what to say at this point. One being out of sheer uneasiness and the other being a bit perplexed by the behavior he witnessed. Thankfully, at least someone else was near and paying attention to the conversation's stand still.
"At ease, squirt!", Locke commanded, to which Snow replied by relaxing his posture slightly, the tinge of nervousness still on him.
"Apologies, sir.", he muttered, still stroking the fur.
The Mega Man of the future shook his head and beamed assuringly. "No, it's fine. I understand you're nervous. You're Snow, right?"
"Uh, y-yes sir!", he stammered, making direct eye contact with the legendary hunter. By the impression X was now getting at the moment, he was internally struggling to hold it without darting his eyes somewhere else.
"Well, nice to meet you. I'm glad you found that capsule and notified us.", he happily replied, a proud grin on his face.
"Thank you, sir! It's an honor, sir!", the drone pilot's voice finally managed to work up enough courage to smooth out and not crack every few words.
He simply shook his head at his constant manners. Seems he wouldn't be able to get the kid to chill out. Disregarding his habit, X continued the conversation. "So where are you from anyways, Snow? You don't look like you're from these parts."
"Oh! Uh...well, about that…", his stature shrunk as he pushed his gaze to his hands and began fiddling with his fingers before once again moving to touch the fur again.
"He doesn't know anything about himself.", Locke interrupted and bluntly put it. "And we don't either. Not a single file in any world database about him. We even tried to scan his DNA and his Soul."
"And it turned up nothing?"
"Nope."
"Weird. Well, Snow, what about now? Forget the past and tell me about yourself.", X turned to him, reassuring and calm smile on his face.
Snow clearly displayed his discomfort in talking about himself like this. He preferred not to think about how odd and different he was, nor about his lack of memory. He attempted to shut out the debacle earlier about him that was happening next to him, but to no avail. It especially wasn't going to work as X caught on pretty quickly and redirected the conversation to him. Timidly, he was about to speak up.
"Um…", he mumbled, staring down at his feet as he twisted a robotic ankle on the floor in another nervous habit.
Looking back up, he took a deep breath and began. "Well...I've been working here for almost 3 years as a drone pilot. I mainly monitor any patterns in the oceans. So...if there's any marine-type Reploids going Maverick or if any tsunamis are about to happen, I'm the one who finds it out before it can hurt anyone."
"Your role must be an important one, huh?", X continued the conversation while Locke decided to refocus his own attention on monitoring his workers.
"It...kinda is but…"
"But what?"
Locke seemed to face his "ear", or well, his auditory sensors towards the conversation, still under the guise of watching his men. It seemed he was about to catch a first in his long tenure here: a complaint.
"It's just...I don't wanna do it.", he lowered his voice and then tucked away his hands behind his back.
X tucked his lips and raised a brow. "Why not? I know lots of Hunters would love to be in your position."
"I know…", he had a crestfallen tone. "...but I want to do more than just watch the ocean. It gets boring after a while, even if I'm doing something important."
"Well, what do you want to do?", X asked while Locke glared elsewhere.
Like I can find anyone else to be in your position…, the commander thought with frustration and a hint of malice, hearing every drop of his complaint. Should be grateful you're not out getting your circuits frozen solid…when I found you, you were more suited for combat. But you wanted to get in here. You should be thankful you're not in with the grunts.
"I...don't exactly know...but I wanna do some real research. Make new programs and stuff. I even want to make Re-", Snow was about to drone on enthusiastically about his dreams until he was cut off by the sounds of loud Reploid boots connecting with the floor.
Two researchers stomped up to Locke, facing both him and X. "Sirs! We've finished early and are prepared to open the capsule! Splash Woman will soon be booted up!"
"That was quick…", X remarked to himself, noting Snow's strange look of total solace and gratitude, and Locke's pleased smile.
"You'll find my men are quite efficient at what they do. They all got their roles for a reason.", he stated, the last part especially aimed at Snow, his eyes shooting right for him. Snow recoiled back with a downhearted frown.
X spotted this and ping-ponged his eyes between the two, his lips tugging down into a frown of his own. It always bothered him to see workplace bullying like this, especially between two Reploids of differing ranks. Locke clicked his tongue in defeat. X was definitely more clever than suspected. It's no wonder why he was able to defeat a top-of-the-line Reploid such as Sigma five times in a row.
Locke sighed, thinking of a way to avoid a chiding from either X or Signas. He then came to a conclusion. "Alright you two. Let's go. Especially you, X. I want you front and center for this revelation."
"Thanks, Locke.", X smirked, patting Snow on the shoulder comfortably. The drone pilot looked up in awe at the legendary hunter. He couldn't believe it. Did someone actually stand up for him? He felt so warm inside, gaining a hope that maybe he could befriend X, even if the two were in entirely different ballparks in so many ways.
With a gesture from X as he followed Locke, he hurried off in a speedy walk with a fumbling Snow lagging behind him, then catching up to the Colonel.
The event that would change history as we knew it was about to unfold, and X was determined on not missing it.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
If he thought it was packed the last time he was around the capsule, X didn't see nothing yet. This time, there was enough bustle to nearly fill the room past projected capacity. It felt like the entire facility stopped their work to come see a historical moment in the making. The moment where a sufficiently preserved Robot Master is revived with a whole database chock full of things about the world before Reploids, a sort of living time capsule, if you will. So much could be learned from her, this Splash Woman.
However, the one that was the most interested of them all was X. For him, it was a prime opportunity to learn about his creator, his predecessors, and the past relations between machines and humans. He could understand just how much the world had changed since the 100 years he laid in his own capsule. Even better, by learning history, he could adapt the future accordingly, and achieve his dream of peace between humans and Reploids, living together as one.
And for a moment amidst all his earnest cluster of ideas, he wondered how well she would adjust to the modern world. While to him it would have been intriguing to see, it also heavily worried him (a common trait of X). What if Splash Woman adapted terribly to the society of today? She would be viewed as old junk and outcasted. She could go- no. No more worrying. This was Dr. Light who made her. He obviously would have built her to last and change, even if in his final hours he was more concerned about X, himself. Having gained confidence in her, even before she was "alive", he knew he would find out the solutions and answers to these questions soon.
Meanwhile, as he, Locke, and Snow pushed through a murmuring crowd watching intently at the action in front of them, X's anticipation grew after his surge of faith sprouted a spark within him. In an attempt to calm himself, he decided to watch the congregation around him to discover the types that worked here and see how others were feeling. Of course there were the usual scientist Reploids chattering about the event with a gusto similar to his. They were all similar and X grew to notice patterns until he found the black sheep of the crowd: more combat-focused type Reploids equipped with batons at their waist and stating commands, occasionally using their hands to physically direct others. Mainly, he surmised, they were attempting to clear the path for the trio while also keeping the crowd in check. He found it odd that Locke would consider something as rare as riots to happen in this type of event. That was why they were here, right?
To add to the confusion, the blue advanced robot felt a brow raise high as he noticed two lines of three Reploids standing at attention, each brandishing a laser rifle at the ready, lining vertically in front of the capsule, the two groups making a gap inbetween.
X redirected his vision to Locke and whispered to him. "Who are all these Reploids, why are they armed, and why are they here?"
"Security. In case of that worst case scenario I told you about.", he returned in a low voice.
"Isn't this a bit too much? You got a whole Hunter combat unit's worth right here, and maybe even more out there with melee weapons.", the fret dripping from his tone. He really didn't want the event to come to this, but he knew he couldn't just deny the possibility.
"My men's safety is vital, X. I won't lose them over a malfunctioning robot.", he blunted to X, again with the tone that shot down Snow earlier.
Emotionally, X almost reeled back. He commended the Colonel for running such a well-oiled machine here, but what the hell is with that attitude?! It felt like the man was insulting a close friend. Like he was insulting Zero right on his grave. He made a mental attempt to let the words roll off his back, but to no avail. No matter what he tried, he still couldn't get that off his mind. Maybe he would confide in Signas later. Sighing, he decided to keep on his toes and refocus his efforts on Splash Woman and her hallowed return.
Viewing the scene unfold before him, a higher-ranking looking Reploid (but not higher than Locke) walked up to the Colonel, making a small salute. "Sir, all preparations have been finished. Monitoring software is up and she's at full charge. We're ready to boot her up at your command."
His eyes glazing over the team that was working on some terminals, he noted one of them giving a thumbs up in their general direction, eyes still glued to the screen. Locke then directed himself and the Reploid leader to X. "Well?"
He hesitated his response for a bit, still hung up on Locke's straightforward reply. Silently, he hoped the possibility of her going rogue wouldn't happen. Even more so he wished that he wouldn't lose her, with it technically being his fault for giving the green light and dropping his perfect chance for...well, everything he wanted to achieve. Deciding carefully, he finalized his thinking after some time.
Might as well roll with the punches and try my best to prevent anything.
"Do it.", he uttered with eyes closed.
"Alright, you heard him. Begin the boot sequence!", the leader of the team called out to them as he rushed to his own post.
It was then that the machinery made loud whirring as power influxed itself to the capsule and many other pieces of equipment running. The team continued to yell out various statuses to keep each other updated as the scanning ran along with her system boots.
"Power source is good!"
"Circuitry is in nominal condition! Everything is connected to each other and sending signals normally."
"Optics are at half capacity...some damage has been done, but they run fine."
"Subroutine systems are online and functional!"
X listened in intently to the callouts of the various team members whilst his vision focused on the process, Locke mimicking the same while Snow peeked over them.
"Interfaces and ports are functional!"
"Net connectivity is green!"
"Begin the final step!"
"OK! About to launch main brain partition and…", the scientist froze for a second with widened eyes before slamming a red button next to him. Suddenly, alarms sounded off to the tune of X's heart sinking and his fear heightening, his own eyes reacting in the same way.
"Crap! The files we installed to replace the corrupt ones, they're not working! Systems are incompatible with hers! She's about launch without the Laws and a directive!"
"Well, cancel it then!"
"Sir, I can't! I've been trying for the past three attempts!"
X's mechanical heartbeat pumped faster and faster as he became more panicked with each statement that was shouted out by the researchers. Locke's face turned grim whilst Snow nervously backed himself away from the mishap, his habit of caressing his collar going off like a madman.
"Oh no…no no no no!"
"What?!"
"Her systems are going nuts and she's almost finished booting! 7 failed attempts to cancel and it's too late! Capsule's releasing lock!"
"Soldiers, line up and take aim!", Locke yelled to which the Reploid soldiers replied swiftly, combining into a single firing line and aiming their guns directly at the capsule in different positions so to avoid any unwarranted friendly fire.
"No…", X mouthed and shook his head as he watched the capsule door open slowly. He could see it all happening slowly. The capsule opening, the soldiers readying their fingers on the trigger, the team members running. In this moment, he had to choose: fight or flight.
So what was his choice?
"No!", his voice rang out in outburst, gritting his teeth as he activated his boots and dashed out in between the firing line, causing them to stumble and dodge roll out of the way. He then jumped up, using the force of his dash to land himself on the platform in front of the opening capsule. He immediately reached for his waist.
"X! What the hell are you doing?!", Locke growled, Snow peeking around his superior's back, once again stunned by X.
A sudden startup noise rang out as his Z-Saber activated, holding it out to his side in a protective manner, the beam of the sword creating a sort of barrier between the capsule and the outside. He viewed the crowd before him in his peripheral, his eyes locked dead-on to an angered Colonel Locke.
"X! Have you gone insane?! Get out of the way now, or I'll label you a Maverick and have my men open fire!"
It was at this time that X had had enough of Locke's antics and low-key (well, now high-key) tempered, crappy attitude. And he seemed so polite at first...but X could smell a phony when he knew one.
"No! You listen to me and give her a chance, Locke! If Light could've made me the way I am and keep me from being a Maverick...", he voiced with a stone cold conviction, turning his head towards the sluggish capsule door which was nearing to be fully opened. "...then I have no doubt he did the same for her!"
"She's a Robot Master, X! Not a Reploid!", Locke fired back at him. "Now, move!"
"And? By technicality, I am too! I just happen to be more advanced.", his eyes became just as solid and clear as the day he finally came back after disappearing for a little while post-fifth Sigma attack. Whenever this happened, it meant he was fully dead set on his word. "Dr. Light must've knew this would have happened if she was stored in the ocean in a capsule like mine! So let me say this again. Give. Her. A. Chance."
Locke and Snow were in awe by his sheer determination in his choice, Snow's being of admiration while Locke's was of offense. Then again, they both knew he was considered one of the top Hunters for a reason. The two garnering a new sense of respect for him, especially after he managed to talk back against Locke. Inwardly, Locke made a note to divulge this to X's superior, Signas.
Plus, knowing X would probably defeat his men much more easily than Splash Woman, he caved in to prevent further incident. "Fine. But you'll be the one with blood on your hands if she attacks. And you will deal with her yourself. Men, stand down!"
The group of security guards mumbled as they shouldered the rifles and returned to their initial position before. X rotated his head back from the guards to the capsule, remaining silent. The object started hissing as the door reached its destination, now completely open. In case of her sudden offensive, he kept the saber on and held it tight. Staring deep inside the darkness of the capsule, he spotted a large circular yellow glow emit alongside two orbs of blue.
Inside the capsule, Splash Woman stirred as she began to "wake up", seeing nothing but a black screen full of text containing regular boot info. Immediately after it was finished, she was hit by a pang of bright white light in her ocular sensors. Had she been human, she was sure she would have a massive headache right now. Thankfully however, she was not, and in no time, she adjusted to it. Spotting a blue figure in front of her, her systems attempted searched her databases while many error signs flashed over. However, it was too much as the errors covered her entire hud, then all of them ending as large red text flashed.
{ WARNING: LAW OF ROBOTICS MISSING IN CORE SYSTEM FILES. MAIN DIRECTIVE HAS BEEN CORRUPTED. INTRUSIVE FILES HAVE BEEN CORRUPTED. BACKUP PROTOCOL INSTALLED ON 5/29/20XX WILL BE INITIATED. CONTINUE? [Y/N] }
She sighed and without hesitation, responded immediately to the prompt before her systems failed. I am forever grateful, Dr. Light., she thought for a microsecond before the command was input.
{ ...Y }
It was then she was suddenly shut down. X relaxed himself from his battle-ready hunch as he watched the glows then fade again, now nothing but darkness from the capsule once more. He felt rather befuddled at the moment, but also gaining a new sense of belief. Could his words from earlier truly have meaning?
"Why isn't she attacking? Is she too rusted to move?", the Colonel wondered aloud, eyes squinted at X.
"Uh...sir?"
"What is it?", Locke barked his question, as if in matter of urgency.
"She...she shut herself down."
He blinked a couple of times. "You're shitting me."
"I'm not, sir. Look.", he turned the terminal's monitor towards him, tapping the screen with his finger as it was displaying the information directly from Splash Woman that confirmed it.
"Well don't just sit there, make a live log of it! Copy and paste, whatever!"
"Aye, sir."
Though not visible, X was grinning from ear to ear at his realization. His assumptions were right. Dr. Light did plan for this. He couldn't wait to see the look on Locke's face when he was proven wrong.
"Sir, she's rebooting!"
"Give me more specific updates! What's going on?!"
"Sweet mother of...she's stable, sir!"
"What?!"
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
[BACKUP PROTOCOL INITIATED. INSTALLING 3 ITEMS…
[1/3] MAIN A.I. "rockvariant" INSTALLED.
[2/3] PROTOTYPE SUB A.I. "bluesupdate" INSTALLED.
[3/3] NEW MAIN DIRECTIVES INSTALLED.
DISPLAYING MAIN DIRECTIVES...
MISSION 1: RENDEZVOUS WITH DLN-X.
MISSION 2: PROTECT & STAY WITH DLN-X.
MISSION 3: RESTORE LAWS AND FIND NEW DIRECTIVE BEFORE SAFE PERIOD ENDS.
WARNING: IF THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS CONTINUE TO BE MISSING, THIS LIGHBOT MODEL'S SYSTEMS MAY FRAGMENT, CAUSING INVOLUNTARY VIOLENT TENDENCIES. MAIN A.I. SYSTEMS WILL PREVENT HARMING OF HUMANS UNTIL SAFE PERIOD ENDS.
IF SAFE PERIOD ENDS, WARNING PERIOD BEGINS. INSTALL LAWS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE WARNING PERIOD ENDS OR LIGHTBOT MODEL "DLN-067" WILL FRAGMENT AND GO RAMPANT.
ESTIMATED SAFE PERIOD: 180 DAYS.
ESTIMATED WARNING PERIOD: 14 DAYS.
MESSAGE FOUND. DISPLAYING…
"If you see this message, my Robot Master you found must have corrupted files which are essential to its functionality. I have installed backup A.I.'s as a failsafe feature to prevent them causing any incidents which would result in their termination. Included are updated versions of what I installed into my most successful robot I invented, DLN-001 "Rock/Mega Man", and my very first creation, DLN-000 "Blues/Proto Man". Mega Man's will serve as the main A.I. that gives my Robot Masters the basic urge to assist humanity, which will propel them to complete the directives above according to that desire. This will also prevent rampancy or fragmentation due to missing directives and/or the Laws of Robotics for a limited time. Proto Man's revised sub-A.I. model serves to enhance my Robot Masters with a limited range of free thought and higher emotional capabilities to survive in the future with some level of independence. Of course, this is all without giving so much of that free thought that would cause them to go berserk or require extra testing, the latter of which I will reserve for my latest and greatest creation, DLN-X "Mega Man X", an advanced robot capable of feeling, thinking, and making his own decisions without limitations. He will be the closest to human a robot could possibly get! As shown by these directives above, I entrust X with not only the future of the world, but the future of my Robot Masters. I know he will make good decisions that will help them and give them purpose in a new world where I will no longer exist. For those who will read this, I plea that you find X and tell him to give my Robot Masters a chance in the new world. I wish to see them continue to grow as a father should, even if the tides have shifted."
Dr. Thomas Light, 20XX
CONTINUING REBOOT SEQUENCE…]
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
As the information appeared on screen, the team rapidly typed away to save and rewrite the logs that were being broadcasted from the capsule to their terminals onto disc storage mediums. The team were saying nothing, but they knew X was completely right in his assumption, all of them being in a state of amazement at Dr. Light's foresight. In the meantime, the room sat in nervous silence as anticipation grew over what would happen next.
X, gaining confidence, deactivated and holstered the saber back onto his waist. Staring intently on into the capsule, he waited patiently for her inevitable startup.
Locke stood with hands behind his back and vision focused on the capsule as well, ready at a moment's notice to order his men to protect the team and evacuate the area should X have been wrong.
The loud hums and whirs eventually slowed to a deadly silence which seemed to only grow tensions further among the room. All stood on edge as they nearly in unison leaned forward towards the center of attention.
Once again, Splash Woman turned on to nearly blinded optics which quickly calibrated her apertures so she could see. Her helmet's core glowed a bright neon yellow which pierced through the shady darkness of the capsule interior along with her soft blue irises, a repeat of earlier as well.
She was about to begin scanning her surroundings until she was interjected by sudden forces. Feeling the connectors that kept her suspended in the capsule disconnect from her back, she suddenly flew forward, her voicebox letting out a quick yelp as she fell out of the opening.
When she had expected to fall to the floor flat on her face due to a lack of legs, she found herself instead being immediately caught. The mysterious hands then readjusted from her front torso to her back and tail area just next to her bottom, now being carried in a bridal style.
Her sub A.I. reacting promptly, she was about to mouth off the random whoever that caught her and touched her that way until she froze at what was in her sights.
It was him.
A message flashed across her eyes, appearing on her heads up display.
[MISSION 1: COMPLETE.]
She felt her systems heat up in excitement, causing pink cheeks and googly eyes. Already she was out and rebooted, and within not even a minute she managed to find X as per her directive. It was something that managed to surpass her predictions, and one of the few times she was glad it did. Simulated glee filled up her inner circuits, especially at what she sighted.
X was donning a relieved and happy smile on his face, being so glad she was fine and that the worst didn't happen. "Splash Woman, are you ok?"
"Xxxxxx…IiiiIII-I-I-I-I", her speech droned and glitched before smoke came out of her mouth followed by some light but loud pops, causing her to flinch and back away from X's body. She opened her mouth in an attempt to speak, but only silence followed along with smoke and X's face could only convey so much worry at once.
How poetic., she lamented inwardly, bummed out by the lack of a voice. Like some sort of child's fairy tale...
While the tiny explosions of her voice box startled some besides her and X, even eliciting a single rifle being pointed in her direction, it however calmed quickly. She wasn't attacking. She wasn't wildly swinging at X or anyone who dared to come across her path. Nor was she attempting to suicide bomb anyone. She wasn't attempting to murder anyone in any sort of fashion.
Which left one big question hanging in the air: did she just...fix herself?
The pure shock and reverence that came from the researchers, the surrounding crowd, and even Locke himself, was easily felt by X. After all, it's hard not to when all the eyes are pointed on you like a sniper's laser dot sight. Didn't X not know his creator that well? And wasn't Splash Woman's knowledge the whole point of him being here?
But more importantly, especially Locke thought, all these queries lead to one big idea: was X actually bluffing the whole time? He certainly would have had this self-repair not happen. But he couldn't have been so stone-faced if he was, right? If he was, then where did X learn to get such a strong poker face?
All of this was interrupted by a smirking, coy X.
"Told you so."
And that was all X had to say on the matter, as he brought the Robot Master with him to an examination room, led by the team coordinator and a few others who were muttering back and forth with him the whole way.
Meanwhile, Snow hurried along back to his post immediately, his hands caressing his fur collar like no tomorrow as agitated uneasiness coursed through his being intensely. The urge to get out of the room was easily given into.
And to think, I would have been at fault.
This was the final inner musing of two separate beings as this happening finally came to a close.
A/N: At last, Splash Woman has arrived! But...will she survive beyond now? And just how will it affect X? Find out next time!