Disclaimer: I do not own MegaMan Zero or anything else of Capcom's. Not that that was ever in question. Read, enjoy, and review please. (And feel free to point out any spelling or grammatical errors. I proof-read pretty thoroughly, but I probably missed some.) I've never put anything online before, so support would be nice. (And if it sucks, tell me so!) This may not get updated very often, but to make up for it, I will have long chapters when I do.

Less Than Human: Harpuia's Story

By Rioni Riishu

By now, I was beginning to get used to the hollow emptiness that pervaded my being. It really had not taken a long time. Perhaps it was always there, and I simply had had no time to think about it prior to certain unfortunate events. What was worse was the fact that I was no longer positive that those events were altogether unfortunate. If the death of the cause I had worked and sacrificed so much for was truly a good thing, than my "life," as it were, was completely worthless up until this point. Beyond this point, I supposed it was my decision to make, and with that, the realization came to me that I had made few of my own decisions in the past.

At least before now I had had something. I was the guardian of the individual I had thought to be most important. The copy of MegaMan X and his idealistic view of human society seemed as righteous a mission as I could find, but in his death I was left with more questions than I thought were likely to be answered in one lifetime. Of course, as a reploid it was feasible that my existence could span several. In my hindsight I could see the flaws in Copy X's ideals, and though I assumed that my duty would naturally be to become a guardian of Neo-Arcadia itself, I wanted to decipher the fact from the fiction first.

It struck me as odd that the legendary maverick hunter Zero was the one to destroy Copy X, when the original X had been his friend and brother in arms. Zero had found Copy X's utopia to be flawed, and I was beginning to as well. But then, what would I, a mere reploid, know? I felt I was only a mockery of human kind. I found myself wondering just how involved the humans were in this war. Too many questions. Common sense told me that the humans were no more innocent than the warring factions of reploids. Other than trying to steal power sources from the Resistance forces, it seemed as though something else was on the government's agenda, and whatever it was, they were intent on keeping it more than a little discreet.

I do not know how Leviathan and Fefnir felt about the matter, or if they even suspected anything at all. The fact was, I did not expect them to share any feelings with me because they thought much differently than I did. I was more than a reploid, but less than human, and if any one truly knew that, I would never belong in a society with either one.

Regardless of my reservations and persistent indecision, I did have one course of action that, after some consideration, I felt it, if not prudent, than potentially enlightening to take. I had no idea what my purpose was in my creation; if there was any prior programming to that end it had been thoroughly wiped out, along with the rest of my memory, before I had even become a Guardian. No, my loyalty toward the humans ran deeper than programming. Though I did not know why, I was created to look, feel, act, and function as a human being. I had covered that up quite well for most of my remembered life, but while most other reploids could phase out the most cumbersome or not normally necessary parts of their armor, I could dispense with all of it.

I stood now, nude in my quarters, considering how to best dress myself to be inconspicuous. Since it was not something that I normally concerned myself with, I wanted to make sure that I did not thwart my own efforts by poor fashion sense. I caught my reflection in the polished metal of the wall. A near-perfect physique, of course- who would wish to create something obviously flawed? Long, pale green hair, which, to my knowledge, no one else had ever even seen, hung about my face. I determined to pull it back in a ponytail at the least, or the style may have appeared a bit feminine. I may be a reploid, but I still have pride in my masculinity. Vivid green eyes glared back at me from my reflection. I did look completely human. The arrow-shaped tattoos on my cheeks seemed a bit conspicuous, but I did not think that they would be a problem.

The clothing that I had acquired from a few random sources was basic and nondescript. I had my choice of several colors of T-shirt; blue, black, and Khaki pants, and three different - and rather ugly- jackets. I chose the least painful to look at, a brown leather one that was probably expensive but ugly just the same. That, coupled with a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans completed my outfit, and I looked again at my reflection in wall. Fortunately, the jacket looked better on me than it did lying on the bed. I knew that no one would suspect anything was amiss with my wardrobe, although I was dissatisfied with one thing. My boxers were bunched. This was going to take some getting used to.

Sneaking out of the base without being seen, especially by Leviathan and Fefnir, proved to be a bit easier than I had feared, though not by much. If I phased my armor on again, I would destroy my clothing, so that was out of the question. Fefnir was probably training, as usual, and thus easy to avoid. Leviathan was normally rather unobservant, but on the chance that she was wandering around- which she was wont to do- I did not want my cover to be blown, nor did I care to explain to explain to Fefnir or Leviathan what I was doing and why. My human appearance was another subject for argument altogether.

My biggest threat to exposure was the reploids who worked under us in the base. It was unlikely that they would fail to notice me, and I was sure that there were plenty of them around. The hallway outside my quarters was deserted, and I was grateful, for the whole mission could have ended right there if someone had been out there. Most of the lights in the base were dimmed because of the inactivity of the hour, and I hugged the wall as I made my way through the maze of corridors. Twice I had to stop short and wait until the footsteps and voices of other soldiers faded away.

I was nearing one of the lesser used exits when I spotted Fefnir moving toward me. I ducked back into the shadows and bit my lower lip in frustration. I began to move back the way I had come, but I heard Leviathan call out from behind me.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?"

I froze, and that is probably what saved me from discovery.

Fefnir glanced over his shoulder. "Why do you always have to ask such stupid questions?"

I ducked behind a trash bin as Leviathan walked by, oblivious.

"Relax, Fefnir. You're way too high-strung. Anyway, have you seen Harpuia? I thought he was in his room, but he didn't come to the door."

"Leave him alone, will you? He probably wants to get away from you."

The conversation moved away, and I punched in the key code and slipped out the exit, smiling slightly at Fefnir and Leviathan's sibling-like squabbling. At times I thought that mentally they seemed like children. I did not normally mind, although I could not honestly say I would miss Leviathan's constant following me around. At times I wondered if she had some kind of psychotic crush on me, and I did not like it. Fortunately, at least for me, she recently had developed more of an obsession with Zero, which, frankly, was good for me but, to be blunt, sucked for him. Especially since she also wanted to kill him, which was not too likely to happen.

Leviathan, Zero, and Fefnir aside, I was out now, and knew easily where to go and where not to go to avoid trouble. It did not take an extraordinary amount of effort on my part to get beyond the parameter of the base and into the city limits. I was surprised at how much freedom I felt, for the first time having no real obligations or responsibilities. With this came the feeling of slight confusion and unease, my burden of command being lifted off my shoulders. It was almost overwhelming. Although I had a purpose and a goal, I could reach them by my own means and at my own leisure.

Getting into the human populated region of Neo-Arcadia proved not to be too terribly difficult. Finding out what the Neo-Arcadian government was doing seemed nearly impossible. I decided to try to start with something basic; I wanted to know how the general population viewed the reploids, both Neo-Arcadian and Resistance. I was not sure how to go about it since it did not seem a normal thing to ask to a random person. I tried for a time to pick up bits and pieces of conversations around me, but none centered upon a relevant subject. I was at a loss. I had a goal, but no path on which to get there.I had only begun, but it already appeared to be a dead end.

I sat down upon an iron bench, silent and pensive for the time being. I wished to rest my mind, but even in sleep my thoughts whirled in cyclonic chaos in the form of senseless dreams. There was no easy way to accomplish what I needed, and the few ideas that came to mind would require me to be gone from the base for a maximum of several years. I only hoped Fefnir and Leviathan did not create any trouble while looking for me.

I was beginning to see my poorly thought-out mission as a complete failure but was startled from my thoughts by explosions and the sounds of general chaos and panic. A fair sized reploid of a make I had never seen emerged from around a corner, taking a large chunk of the corner with it. It took things a moment to register clearly in my mind, and when they did I was only more confused. I knew it was not one of my own gone maverick. I had never seen anything quite like this reploid before. For that matter, I knew the Resistance did not have anything like that either, and from what I knew of their leaders, they would never allow a direct attack on humans.

He bore some resemblance to a demonic beast of archaic portrayal, with skeletal wings spread behind him and thick limbs and torso which had a pseudo-muscular appearance. The head curved over in reminiscence of a snake's, but the resemblance ended there. Two spikes stood out from the top of his head that could have represented either ears or horns. The face had no human quality, completely metal-plated and shaped like some sort of animal. Burning red pupil-less eyes gleamed with a deadly anger. A powerful jagged-armored tail whipped about behind it, taking out chunks of the wall. Long blue talons of glowing energy protruded from its fingers and toes.

The design was mostly intended to intimidate. More specifically, the demon form of it seemed to point more toward striking fear into humans in particular. The thing roared and a series of dull blue tattoos over its body began glowing a brighter aqua. Energy concentrated at its mouth for a moment, and then it fired a gleaming plasma ball in my general direction. I dove from the bench, which was ripped from its bolts and crashed away. I had hidden my energy blades on my person, not expecting to need them, but wanting them anyway. I did not want to give myself away by phasing my armor on, but at this point I was not sure I had a choice.

My brief indecision, however, brought another savior to the situation besides myself. A reploid in fiery orange armor ran around the corner behind the monstrous creature and slashed at it with two scintillating blue blades. Again, this reploid seemed different than most other designs, though for different reasons than the demon. She was humanoid, more so in fact than most other reploids other than myself. The fact that the reploid was a combatant and a female was a rarity in itself, Leviathan being the only other one I knew personally. Her armor left her midriff exposed, along with her right upper leg and left upper arm. Her helmet appeared almost incomplete, covering a little more than half of her head. One eye was masked behind a black visor, the other being exposed and narrowed angrily at her opponent. Long dark hair hung from beneath her helmet and around her face all the way to the small of her back.

The demon snarled at her, but she did not flinch. The expression on her face was so cold, that I was not sure which of the two looked more deadly. The devil-beast smacked the girl with its tail, catching her across the chest and sending her flying into the wall. She got up a bit slowly, the blow having disoriented her more than I would have thought. The monster saw its opening and attacked. Its huge body dwarfed her small form and I could not see what was happening. I was about to charge in myself when the creature's head rolled from its shoulders, sparking and leaking dark mechanical fluids across the sidewalk.

The victor stood, met my gaze for a brief moment, and turned away. The people who were still around me broke their silence. A man hurled a chunk of cement at the city's orange- clad savior.

"Take your war someplace else! Get out of our city!"

She turned and speared him with a sharp glare, answering in a surprisingly clear voice. "You are all fools. That thing would have destroyed all of you if not for me."

"And you led it here," Someone else called out. More objects began flying at the female reploid, and she disappeared around the corner. Well, there's one question answered. The mentality toward reploids here is not good, to say the least. I sprinted around the corner after the reploid. I felt that she may have some of the answers that I sought, but I was not sure what I needed to ask. It did not matter. She was already gone.