Mirrors of Truth

[Cyclone EXE]

Meh? Hrm...that's odd. Hehe...it's really interesting...bit of mystery in there eh? Yay!
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[Aria]

“Oh my god,” X muttered to himself, quietly suffering. The coast guard team, Reploids and humans in black armor and matching uniforms, showed every sign of enjoying the trip. They had volunteered to man the small gunboat X had borrowed from the coast guard. X had known better than to think he could steer it himself. His knowledge of naval matters was somewhere on the bottom of the ocean and so was his ability to cope with it.

Fortunately, the heavy weapons battalion practiced with naval weapons as well as land based ones, so the Hunters had provided that much of his backup. A mixed crew was manning all the weapons diligently, ready to take care of any Maverick who dared pop up. Last but not least, two girls, one from his own unit and the other from Zero’s, were accompanying him.

Everyone on the ship was female, except for him. X had been a little embarrassed when he’d had to make the request for only female crew, but everyone had complied cheerfully when he’d explained. The only real issue had been whether or not he should be along. Signas had finally decided that the others could keep him safe, as long as they stayed awake, and it would be worthwhile to see exactly what effect this Maverick weapon had on a male.

They knew, from the testimony of the girls, that the sound would take a few moments to affect the women. They would have enough time to shut down their audio receptors… except for X and one of the crew, who were going to be monitored to see exactly how they reacted.

Still, when X finally heard the music, it almost got him. The sound was so beautiful… it made him feel so wonderfully peaceful. And it promised things. It promised peace and love, if only he followed it… X walked towards the rail, and started to climb over…

Until rough hands jerked him back, and he cried out. Why were they keeping him from it? From that loving warmth?

There was a quicksilver pain across his face, then another. And someone was shouting in his ear, almost drowning out that glorious sound.

”X, turn off your audio receptors! Turn them off! NOW!” X wavered, blinking in pain. Yes, he was supposed to do that. He wasn’t quite sure why anymore, but…

He mentally deactivated the circuits, then blinked as clarity returned.

“What happened?” He glanced around, and saw the other crewmember who had kept her audio circuits on lying on the deck, asleep. The woman across from him shrugged, and her reply came as a text message on their communications circuit. The humans in the crew were all wearing ear protectors and holding datapads to let them send and receive messages.

She passed out and you starting trying to jump overboard. Michele managed to grab you, and Spice slapped you a few times. Didn’t really bring you out of it, though. We were going to tie you up if you didn’t shut off your audios. She grimaced, then looked towards a nearby island. It must be coming from there, sir. The tanker passed by close to it, too. X nodded, his eyes narrowing.

Alright. He glanced down at the girl, who was being shaken awake. We’ll start circling around the island, with one of you sometimes checking to see how loud the sound is. It was the best idea he had for how to find the one making it.

It didn’t take them too long to locate the source of the sound. It helped that once they were alert for it, brief exposure to the music wasn’t enough to make the girls pass out. X didn’t dare activate his own audio sensors.

The source was a cave by the shore. It was full of water, but the ceiling was too low to admit the boat. X looked down into the water, and grimaced. It was brackish and full of weeds. Swimming in it would not be fun. Walking on the bottom would be even less fun, and wearing their armor, they would have to. Reploids were buoyant enough to float without armor, but they sank like rocks with it on.

X and the two girls started into the water, while the rest of the team stayed on the boat. X was confident he could deal with whatever was here with their help. They were the best female Hunters HQ had to offer.

The bottom of the seafloor was as gooey as X had feared. Seaweed clutched at them, but couldn’t hold on. They slogged through, eventually coming out into the cave, their legs coated in mud. X coughed at the horrible smell.

Then frowned, realizing the smell was only partially from the mud. The two girls were grumbling, helping each other pick seaweed away from their armor. One of them had long blonde hair, which needed even more attention. X ignored them both in favor of sniffing the air, even when one of them carefully pulled seaweed away from his armor.

X’s sense of smell was better than the average human, although nowhere near the level of a dog. He frowned, trying to separate the different scents. There was fish, oil, rot… and a peculiar smell that X associated with Reploid bodily fluids. Oily, but sweetish. He grimaced. It was a smell he’d encountered many times before, but he never liked it.

Let’s go. X text messaged the two girls, who left off their grooming. The one from Zero’s unit ignited a beam sabre while the other readied her arm cannon. They slipped deeper into the cave, watching warily for enemies.

Enemies were hard to find, but dead bodies weren’t. They found the first one not too deep into the cave. A male Reploid with his throat torn out. X recognized the armor color… it was one of the crew from the tanker.

The cave became stranger further inside, as well. Phosphorescent fungi gave off a great deal of light, and strange crystals imbedded in the walls also gave cool illumination. The floor of the cavern was wet and slimy, providing treacherous footing. They gradually found more bodies, and it was clear many small vessels had fallen victim to the Mavericks, the victims dying unnoticed. They found the remains of several humans. X hesitated, then kneeled down beside a relatively fresh body as the girls stood guard. Unlike the Reploid bodies, it looked partially eaten. But why would a Maverick want to eat humans? Although technically, they could…

X shuddered at the thought, and stood again. The cavern widened into a much larger chamber, and they finally found the source of the singing.

X was astonished and repulsed. There were two Mavericks, lying in a pool of water at the center of the cavern. It was spring fed and clear, lapping around the scales of the two creatures inside it.

They looked like women, but only partially so. Their upper bodies were those of women, but scaled and diseased looking. One was wearing a collar of cloth, and shreds trailed down between her full breasts. The other was wearing the remnants of armor, and as X watched, she reached up and clawed some of it away, ripping it free. Their skins were fish belly white, and their eyes were a luminescent green as they looked at him.

One slid beneath the water, and X gasped as a long, sinuous tail emerged from the water. It was perhaps three times as long as the rest of her body, and it reminded him of a water snake.

“Who are you?” One of the girls demanded, activating her audio receptors. But the two Mavericks showed no sign of understanding, and the girl swore, turning off her receptors again as they started to sing.

Retire them quickly and neatly. X instructed the other two. This looked easy, but he was willing to bet it wouldn’t be. As he watched, one of the creatures eased herself out of the pool, moving surprisingly quickly. Her snake-like lower body adapted to the ground easily, propelling her swiftly across the cavern floor. She opened her mouth to sing again, and X caught a glimpse of pointed shark teeth. Her mouth was full of them, more than one row. Careful of their teeth.

The battle was vicious. The scales on their bodies seemed to protect them like armor, and the one with the cloth collar lashed out with her lower body, coiling the girl from Zero’s unit in her tail. The girl slashed down, raising a terrible wound on the unprotected tail, then screamed as the Maverick bit her on the arm. Then X’s buster hit the Maverick in the side, and she reared back, nearly tearing the Hunter’s arm off but letting go.

The other Maverick was clumsier, and her lower body seemed somehow malformed to X. It wasn’t as long as the first, or as agile. And neither of them had any weapons beyond their teeth and long, sharp claws. X and the girl from his unit overcame the clumsier Maverick just in time to see the girl from Zero’s thrust her beam sabre through the first ones chest. There was a terrible smell of burning flesh, and the Maverick slumped, taking the sword with her.

X blinked, and suddenly sniffed the air. The smell wasn’t right. It wasn’t…

Everyone, turn on your audio receptors. The creatures were dead, and X didn’t want to speak this way any longer than he had to. He walked over to the dead creature, kneeling down beside her as the girl from his unit staunched the other one’s bleeding. The wound was deep and painful, but not life threatening.

X sniffed again, smelling burnt pork, then tentatively touched the scaly flesh. He shuddered as he realized that his senses weren’t playing a trick on him. At one time, this “Maverick” had worn regular clothing. And she wasn’t a Maverick at all.

But what had turned a human into this?

~~~

When Lifesaver looked over the two bodies, he confirmed X’s tentative hypothesis.

“This was once a human.” Lifesaver lifted up a hand, then let it drop back to the examination table. “I could use the help of a specialist in human autopsies. This isn’t really my field.”

“You’ll get one,” X promised, turning to glare at some Hunters that were peeking into the repair bay to get a glimpse of the gruesome remains. He didn’t appreciate the morbid curiosity, although it was probably inevitable. Everyone had heard about how this human had nearly torn off a teammates arm with her teeth, and resisted several hits from X’s buster without any armor. Added to that, she looked like something out of a horror movie. It was guaranteed to make anyone curious. “Do you have any idea who she is?”

”And how would I know?” Lifesaver gave X a scalding look. “Check her dental records?” X tried to maintain his patience, reminding himself that the medic had a lot of things on his hands.

“How about her fingerprints?” He said reasonably, and Lifesaver shrugged.

”This isn’t a crime lab, X. I don’t have any equipment to take fingerprints and send them for identification-“

”Lifesaver, WHAT is your problem today?” X finally burst out. “Send someone down to admissions! We take fingerprints and do security checks on every human we allow into this building!” That was routine. Lifesaver stopped, a startled expression on his face.

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. Rory! Go down to admissions.” One of his assistants, a older human, immediately nodded and dashed off. “I can tell you more about the Reploid.”

“Thank you,” X said wearily as Lifesaver took him to the second corpse. This one had been opened up and examined, unlike the first. Lifesaver knew his limitations, and conducting a human autopsy was beyond him. Exploring a Reploid, though, was right up his alley.

“I believe she was originally an old Sim model, class B.” Lifesaver threw up the schematics of an original of that line, then the schematics of the female he had examined. X nodded… he could see the similarities. Although there were plenty of differences. “What happened to cause this, now, that’s hard to say. It appears the nanities in her body began restructuring her to an alien template. Also, the semi-organic components have undergone a strange growth and mutation. Her lower body in particular is mostly organic. We’ve been able to locate no virus or agent that would account for these changes.”

“And her vocal weapon? How does it work?” X asked intently. Lifesaver grimaced, raising an empty hand.

“We don’t know. We’ve checked her over thoroughly, but while her vocal unit is capable of producing sounds that will carry over vast distances, there is nothing unusual about it. I can’t explain the effect it had on you.” Lifesaver poked one of the scales. “I can’t explain these, either. They seem to be some kind of unknown, organic polymer. Her teeth and claws are also made of an unknown substance.”

“Hm.” X looked at the body thoughtfully. “Do you think you could figure out who she is?”

“We already have.” X would never have credited Lifesaver with a sense of drama, but it seemed he was wrong. Lifesaver threw up the data onto the screen, and X blinked as he saw a pretty Reploid with dark purple hair smiling from the screen. She wasn’t stunning, but her face was friendly and had character. “Her name was Wyna. She was built to be a caretaker to an elderly woman. She served there until the woman died, and inherited a share of the estate. Since then, she’s been traveling. We got this picture from the old woman’s son.” X nodded… there was a happy old woman in the picture, with a face like a wrinkled apple but wearing a wide smile. A middle-aged man was also in the picture, most likely the son who had sent the picture to Lifesaver.

“Interesting… do you think the second one could be a friend?” Lifesaver frowned, but nodded.

“It’s possible. We can’t say for certain, though. Apparently, Wyna kept only sporadic contact with the surviving family and they knew nothing of her personal life, so they could tell me nothing about that.”

“Well, tell me if you find out anything about the first one.” There was nothing more to be learned here. Lifesaver nodded.

“Just find me someone to do an autopsy on this one, before she starts to smell worse than she already does.” X winced at that, but nodded. Both the bodies had a fishy odor, and the first was worse. “Maybe we should send her down to the morgue, instead of doing it here.”

”I’ll ask about that right away,” X promised. He wanted answers very badly.

~~~

Elsewhere…

The two female Reploids from the tanker ship were standing by the rail of a new ship. They had been accepted back by their company, and placed on a new vessel doing the same job. Not many people enjoyed being almost completely inactive, so it hadn’t been hard to find a place for them.

The crew of the vessel was not familiar with either of them, so the way they had nothing to say to anyone but each other did not seem strange. Nor did all the time they spent at the rail, looking into the water… although it was a bit peculiar, when one of them used a spear to try to catch fish. But everyone had hobbies.

This night, though, the ship was blown off course. It was a very stormy night, and no one noticed the quiet splashes off the stern of the ship. Who would jump into the ocean in a storm?

But they did notice the empty control room the next day. It didn’t seem worthwhile reporting it to the Maverick Hunters… the two females had obviously been traumatized by their experiences. A pity, but only worth reporting to the port authorities, who received it as a slightly odd missing persons case, and nothing more ominous.

And so things went on.
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That which does not kill me... shall be the basis for my revenge.

[Cyclone EXE]

Heehee! I love this chapter. Keep up the writing...it gets better and better all the time!
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[Aria]

Azak grunted, snarling softly to himself as Reploid vital fluids dribbled over his armor. The corpse he was carrying was old, old… but Reploid vital fluids took longer to turn viscous than human blood. The dead boy in his arms was still oozing.

They were deep in the heart of Maverick territory, in what had once been Earthsaver II. The ruined city had been left to rot like an impaled corpse. Dead bodies, dead cars and crumpled towers were everywhere. The human bodies exposed to the air had mostly skeletonized, while the ones buried in the shattered buildings were more preserved. Azak knew because he’d been digging many of them up.

“Why did we get this shit job?” Lyos complained, to Azak’s annoyance.

”Because someone must do it,” he rumbled, his voice deep and rumbling. “And we are strong.” Lyos snorted, but didn’t comment as they dumped the bodies in the square they had cleared.

They had no fear of Mavericks stumbling over them. Ordinarily, that would have been a very definite danger. They haunted the ruins of dead cities like maggots in rotting meat, but lately, even Mavericks were afraid to enter Earthsaver II. The more sensitive suffered a creepy feeling, a sense of malice and something dark and unknown surrounding them. The very sensitive had waking nightmares, sensing, dimly, the truth of the matter. Their dreams would have told them, if they could have untangled the symbolism and faced the heart of it. But there were few sensitive Mavericks, and less who could ever understand what was happening. All they knew was that something did not want them here.

And it was taking active steps to keep them out. Maverick patrols had developed a very nasty way of disappearing, and reappearing in all the wrong places… and conditions. Sigma had finally stopped any patrols when a Maverick General had turned up dead, without a mark on him… but his fusion generator entirely drained. They had heard rumors that Sigma was considering bombing the place, in case there was a resistance cell hidden in the ruins. As far as they were concerned, he could go right ahead after they left. The dead wouldn’t care about a bit of extra defilement.

Azak dumped a second corpse in the square, then scowled down at the young Reploid female. She had taken a plasma shot through the chest, and her weak, civilian armor had been no help at all. In life, she had likely been pretty. Her hair was a sun-kissed golden blond, she possessed perky, mechanical cat ears and her eyes were grass green under their coating of dirt. And she appeared to be looking straight at him, her unblinking eyes fixed on his face.

Azak turned away, going to retrieve another body. So he didn’t see the green eyes following him. The head could not move, but there was enough of something to animate those pupils, and keep them centred on him until he was out of range.

Not that it would have surprised him. In fact, he would have been supremely unsurprised if he had noticed. He knew what was happening here.

~~~

“So, have you figured out who she is?” X kept his gaze averted from the dead woman. Her body had been opened up by the coroner like… a filleted fish. Several specialists in physiology, marine biology and even a medical doctor had all looked at her. Their reactions had ranged from horror to bafflement, and they had dozens of theories about what had happened to her, but no solid facts. Lifesaver had assisted them, interested in expanding his skill with humans. Now he was standing in front of X, the formal report of their findings in hand.

“Yes, actually. We had to check every database, but she was once a police officer and her prints were on file.” Lifesaver took out a picture. It was a full color glossy, obviously staged and probably provided by her family. It showed a middle-aged woman who was pretty, in the way of someone who had been beautiful before age had started taking a toll. X blinked at the picture, then glanced at the body, focusing on the face.

“She looks younger,” he observed. The dead mermaid-woman did indeed look much younger than the picture would suggest. There were no lines on her face, no hints of age spots. If you overlooked the teeth, fish-belly skin and unnatural green eyes, she was actually quite beautiful.

“Indeed,” Lifesaver said sourly. “Probably because, from what we can tell, something was overwriting her DNA. We suspect a viral agent, although we could find no trace of it in her body.” X looked at him, startled.

“Sigma has never used biological warfare before,” X protested. It was actually a little strange that Sigma had never tried it. There was speculation that he had no Maverick scientists capable of it, but X doubted that. Engineering viruses and bacteria was actually quite easy. Perhaps the Maverick Virus had some pre-programmed limits… biological warfare had been banned for a long time… or perhaps there was some tiny speck of the original Sigma still in there, the Sigma that had once commanded the Maverick Hunters. Perhaps.

“I doubt Sigma had anything to do with this. It’s entirely too roundabout.” Lifesaver briefly examined the woman, then shrugged. “Also ineffective. These creatures are moderately dangerous at best.” X had to nod. Once they had gotten past the vocal weapon, killing the creatures had not been too difficult.

X was leafing through the report, walking back to HQ, when Alia’s call had come.

X, we’re detecting some really strange energy emissions from what’s left of Earthsaver II.

“Alia, that’s deep in Maverick territory.” X said with a grimace. Any attempt to investigate would be dangerous in the extreme.

I know, but this is so terribly unusual… Signas wants you and Zero to investigate. I think this could be related to Axl. That news arrested X, and his eyes narrowed as he snapped the report shut.

“Oh? How so?”

The emanations are similar to the last incident when you saw him, and seem to be almost as powerful. If what he’s doing has to do with these kind of power signals, he could be there. X hmmed softly to himself. That conclusion was a bit of a stretch, but it was a lead.

They had been looking for Axl for weeks, with very limited success. There were several reports OF him, mostly associated with strange phenomena, but it was nearly impossible to predict what he would be doing next. X winced as he thought about all the reports from China. Not that Axl had hurt anyone, but a lot of people had died. And no one could figure out exactly what was up with that strange place, or how Axl had created stable entrances to it. The scientists were mumbling things about alternate dimensions and twisted spacetime, but it all amounted to ‘we don’t have a clue’. A lot of people wanted very desperately to talk to Axl.

X wanted to speak to him rather desperately too. Strange things had been happening all through the world, and he was absolutely certain Axl could tell him what was going on, if he chose to. So…

“Alright. Tell Zero to meet me there.”

~~~

“Ho, hum, what a ghastly place. Dynamo, you do know how to pick your assignments.” Dynamo grimaced as a bit of stone crumpled under his hand. “Yick. Disgusting place.” Dynamo had been tapped to go check out Earthsaver II. After the loss of so many patrols and a Maverick General, Sigma wanted to send out someone a bit more clever and expendable than most of his Mavericks. That meant Dynamo, and he was charging Sigma through the nose for it.

Dynamo wasn’t too worried about the expendable part. He was pretty sure the only reason Sigma hadn’t gotten information yet was because his Mavericks were stupid as hell about running away. It was easy to put up a communications jammer, and most Mavericks were totally unable to turn around from a fight. So communications loss + superior forces = no news for Sigma. Although why a resistance cell would be lairing in some place so gruesome…

It was a funny place, too. Dynamo looked up at the sky with a frown. It was heavily overcast. There seemed to be a really weird fog formation constantly over this place. Sigma was pretty good at giving info for assignments… he wanted Dynamo to succeed… so he’d mentioned the weird energy readings and cloud cover. Some of the more meteorologically inclined Mavericks were wasting their time on it, apparently. Earthsaver II sat at the banks of a river, so fogs weren’t unusual, but this was still weird.

Dynamo cocked his head to one side as he heard voices, and slinked towards them. Who else would be here? Sigma had pulled out all his patrols.

“Oh ho!” Dynamo murmured with a grin as he saw blue and red armor. “Someone else is explor-ing…” This would give Sigma fits, but Dynamo didn’t much care. He could follow the Hunters and let them trigger any problems… hell, maybe they were meeting with a resistance cell! Sigma would love to have that information and-

Dynamo yelped far too loudly as something SHOVED him. The brutal push came as a complete surprise, and he went tumbling out, to X’s and Zero’s surprise. The two Hunters stared at him as Dynamo started to swear.

“What in hell?!?” Dynamo turned around to glare at the surroundings, trying to spot what had shoved him… but he couldn’t see anyone. There was a surprised gasp from behind him, and Dynamo whirled to confront X and Zero. Shit, his cover was SO blown! Zero was looking… surprised, while X was looking… grossed out?

”Dynamo, you’ve got some… stuff on your back.” Dynamo blinked at X, then reached behind himself to touch his back and-

Felt something wet oozing under his fingers. He glanced over his shoulder, and to his utter disgust, saw that someone had smeared some MEAT on him. Old meat, full of maggots and squirming…

“Argh, SHIT! Get it off!” Zero laughed at his evident distress, and actually helped out, using a piece of stone to scrape the mess away from him. Dynamo put up with it… he really wanted that crap off him. Blood was one thing, but rotting meat? “Christ, who PUSHED me? Who would do something this sick?” It was totally bizarre.

“How about you tell us why you were watching us, instead?” Zero said conversationally, and Dynamo sighed. His cover was blown, but it wasn’t a total loss. He could just lie to Sigma about how he’d gotten the info.

“Well, ya see, Sigma’s kinda interested in why all his patrols go missing. So, Dynamo to the rescue!” Dynamo spread his hands with a smile. “So, mind if I tag along?”

”Can we get rid of you, short of shooting you?” Zero said wryly. Not that he would object to shooting Dynamo in the head, but it might distress X a bit. He had gotten a bit fond of Dynamo, in a bizarre way, probably because the mercenary could make him laugh. Dynamo looked thoughtful.

“Well, if you tied me to a tree and beat me like a piñata I MIGHT be a touch discouraged…” Dynamo said with a grin. “Also, whips and chains would be a little off putting. Well, unless X did it, then it’d be sexy.” X blushed, then laughed.

“Pervert! Okay, you can come along.” X didn’t care for the way Dynamo would work for anyone who would pay him, but that couldn’t stop him from liking the blue-haired mercenary personally. And he was pretty sure that Sigma would learn nothing useful from Dynamo’s report on this place. There was no resistance cell, only something weird…

Zero’s eyes went wide as he saw something blue-white flash through the air, and he pulled out his saber, activating it. X and Dynamo both turned around just in time for the light to glow flashing through the air, straight for Dynamo. Zero swung at it, but missed, and it passed directly through the mercenaries’ chest. Dynamo gasped in surprise and horror, then collapsed to his knees. X knelt down beside him, gripping his shoulders as he curled up, shivering violently.

“Dynamo! Are you alright? What happened?” X asked him, concerned. Dynamo shook his head, wincing in pain.

“My generator… it drained me.” He gasped out. “So cold…” He felt horribly chilled. Like a finger of ice had gone right into him.

“It’s coming back!” Zero shouted, and X jumped up as the light arrowed back and put himself in between it and Dynamo. The light abruptly slowed, then stopped in front of them. At first it was formless, and reminded X of an ancient story he had read, about a demon creature called Willowisp. But then it stretched out, and assumed a form.

It was like looking at a hologram, but one that wavered and pulsed oddly. To X’s horror, the light took the shape of a little girl, no older than ten. A horribly maimed girl, her left arm torn away and his face and body brutally burned. She looked at X with large, soulful eyes, then started to cry. It was as if the sound was coming from very far away, and X stared at her in shock. A ghost? The little girl pointed at Dynamo and X accurately interpreted her expression… a combination of anger and questioning.

“He’s not really that bad. He only works for Sigma sometimes,” he reassured the little girl, who looked at him with sad eyes. “He doesn’t kill people.” That was a bit of a stretch, but Dynamo really didn’t kill defenseless civilians. The girl seemed to consider that for a moment… then she slowly disappeared, fading into nothing.

“Holy crap,” Dynamo said, his voice cracking, as he stared at the place the girl had stood. “What was that?”

“A ghost, it looked like,” Zero said with admirable calm. “There’s all kinds of weird shit going on lately.”

“That’s an understatement.” X muttered, and tensed. “There’s more of them.” He could see faint lights in the distance, and he didn’t think it was from flashlights. “Come on, Dynamo.” He helped the mercenary up, who coughed and massaged his chest.

“Thanks, X. I owe you.” Dynamo really did appreciate it. “God damn. That must be how that Maverick General bought it.” He shuddered at the thought of being invaded so completely by that terrible coldness. Just the touch he’d gotten was more than enough.

“What Maverick General?” X questioned as they headed towards the greatest concentration of power. Zero glared around warily, at the shifting lights of soulfire. Some got close enough for him to almost make out features, but then they darted away. Perhaps the ghost girl had told them something?

X suddenly stopped abruptly, and Dynamo almost ran into him from behind. “Huh?” The mercenary looked over the smaller Reploids’ shoulder, then blanched. “Holy shit! That’s disgusting!” Someone had gathered up hundreds of dead bodies, dumping them in this courtyard. The scent of rot was heavy in the air, and Zero coughed at the cloying smell.

“No more disgusting than anything that’s happened here,” X said quietly. “At least they were dead before this was done to them.” X delicately stepped through the field of bodies… then suddenly staggered, looking down. “…Zero? Could you maybe pull me back?”

”Huh? Why…” Zero followed X’s gaze down to his ankle. “Oh unholy crap.” A dead hand was tightly gripping him. And if one of them could move, then… Zero dashed forward, his Z-saber slashing down and severing the wrist holding X. He quickly grabbed X, yanking him back, and not a moment too soon. The dead bodies shifted and stirred with a sound like wind through dry leaves. Slowly, jerkily, they pulled themselves to their feet.

“What is this, Resident Evil VII?” Dynamo stepped back, repulsed. “I think I’m gonna- OW!” Another spirit went through him, and Dynamo collapsed again, gasping and shuddering. X whirled around and fired at the spark, which disappeared. Then the dead began to move… to either side. They were clearing a path, looking at X, Zero and Dynamo through rotting and cracked eyes. One stepped forward… a young female Reploid, she would have been beautiful when she was alive. Her dirty green eyes looked into X’s, and he shuddered faintly as he realized there was something alive in there. Or rather, not alive, but aware and suffering.

“Come,” she said, her voice as rusty and corroded as her body. He could just barely understand her. “Come see her. Come.”

“See who?” Zero said warily, his beam saber pointed at her. She was indifferent to the danger… which only made sense. The worst had already happened to her. What more could he do?

”She gave us form. She gave us a voice. Come see her,” she said. “Come see the Queen.” They exchanged glances, and then Dynamo spoke.

”Can I have some promises that nothing will go through me again?” Dynamo had pushed himself to his feet, and he was shivering violently now. The dead woman looked at him, and her expression could charitably have been called a smile. But the bitterness and malice in her eyes was endless.

“We hate you. You work for him. Only that you are not infected keeps you alive. We will not suffer our murderers to live.” Her smile grew more terrible, and Dynamo actually looked away. “We are the dead, and our pain has a voice.” X took Dynamo’s arm, but the mercenary had had enough.

“Sigma can stuff this contract. I’m leaving.” Dynamo’s expression as he tried to teleport away made the dead Reploid laugh. “You… you bitch! What are you doing?”

”It is easy to enter the land of the dead,” she replied. “But not so easy to leave.”

“It’s alright Dynamo,” X said softly to the blue haired mercenary. “We’ll get through this.” Dynamo looked at X uncertainly, but nodded. He had the feeling that without X’s obvious support, he would have been killed a dozen times over by now.

They walked between the lines of dead, not looking left or right, the dead Reploid leading. She took them to a second, cleared courtyard… but one that was different. The ground had somehow been fused into a black surface that looked slick as glass, yet was somehow rough enough that they did not slip when they stepped on it. The buildings surrounding this space had partially melted into a similar substance, and there was a throne in the centre. A woman was slumped in the middle of it, looking like a broken china doll in the midst of the black throne. Her skin was very white, and her hair was flaming red, spilling around her face and flowing in the wind.

The three Hunters slowly stepped forward, and her eyes snapped open. They gleamed green, glowing faintly in the dark. She slowly straightened, and stood. She was wearing a filmy black gown that clung appealingly to her curves. Zero tilted his head to one side, and stepped forward, intrigued. There was something very dangerous about this woman, and to him, that was interesting.

“Hello, beautiful,” Zero said with a winning smile. X winced… somehow, that didn’t seem at all appropriate, under the circumstances. “What’s a lovely lady like you doing in a place like this?” The dead Reploid girl stood silently to one side, as the woman cocked her head to one side.

“I am the focal point for this place,” She said softly, her voice sweet and thick as honey. “The Queen of the Dead. What do you want here, Hunters? Mercenary?” She glanced at Dynamo, who shifted nervously under her glittering gaze.

“Erm, well, Sigma sorta wants to know where his patrols have been going?” Dynamo glanced warily over his shoulder, on the lookout for more spirits. The woman tilted her head to one side, then gave a magnificent, one-shoulder shrug, her gown swirling around her.

“This city was murdered by Mavericks, and the shades of their victims far outnumber the Maverick dead,” she said, then smiled poisonously. “And those taken against their will by the virus come here angry, as well. This place will never be safe for them. Tell Sigma to leave this place be, and stop wasting his time.”

”Sigma might decide to bomb it,” X said cautiously. “Maybe even a tactical nuke.” Ordinarily, nukes and other large weapons could not get through the defensive screens. But Earthsaver II was in Maverick territory, a dead city, and nothing protected it. But the woman only shrugged again.

“The dead don’t care.”

“Huh… what’s your name, lady?” Zero asked brightly.

“Domina,” she purred, stepping closer to him. X and Dynamo watched… this was beginning to feel surreal. Well, more surreal than before. Zero was flirting with the self-proclaimed Queen of the Dead? And unlike many who would claim such a title, she had a lot of evidence to back her up.

“Domina. So, where’s Axl?” Zero asked innocently, but her eyes hardened and her smile turned a touch dangerous.

”My master? I’m sure I could not say.” She said demurely.

“Your master?” Zero pursued the question, ignoring the warning glitter in her eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

”I think,” she said slowly, her voice meltingly sweet. “That you should go elsewhere for your answers, Hunter. Or you might never leave at all.” There was a soft, shifting sound behind them. X cautiously looked over his shoulder, and tensed… the dead were there, watching them. And they seemed rather ominous… well, moreso than before. Zero’s eyes hardened, and he stepped closer.

“Look, lady, we really need to know. Axl seems to be the only one who knows what’s going on, and we need the truth!”

”You can’t handle the truth.” Domina smiled wryly as they all groaned. Zero had set himself up for that one.

“We still need it, and you’re damn well going to tell- FUCK!” Zero tried to leap back as she moved with blinding speed towards him. He activated his beam saber to ward her off but she ignored it-

“Zero, no!” X cried out, then gasped in horror as the woman ran herself ONTO the saber. Then Zero was flying through the air, hitting Dynamo with a tremendous crash, knocking him down. X blinked… had she backhanded Zero with one hand? She was still standing, and X gagged at the smell of cooking flesh. Then he stared as she gripped the beam saber’s hilt, and slowly pulled it out of her body. She smiled viciously, as the horrible, gaping wound slowly rebuilt itself before their eyes.

“And how will you make me?” She asked Zero sweetly, as he rolled off Dynamo with some sulfurous swear words. Domina switched off his saber, throwing it back to him before she turned away and walked back to her throne. She seated herself on it, then spoke. “So… tell anyone who cares to know that this place is the Necropolis, and they can come here to speak to the dead. Although they may never leave. And now… GET OUT!” Blue spirit fire suddenly surrounded them, cold as the dead, invading all of them. X managed to scream before he blacked out…
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That which does not kill me... shall be the basis for my revenge.

[Cyclone EXE]

Excellent, excellent! Luff this story...great descriptions and powerful emotions...
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=]

[Elizabeth]

Another Awesome chapter! I really love this fic and hope you update it more often.