Mega Man OMEGA X

= PROGLOGUE =

“Sir we ask that before you enter you put your cigarette out,” the Security bot politely asks me.  I ignore its request and keep smoking.  
“Sir, please put your cigarette out before entering.”
I shrug and finally comply, after one last puff.  I place the cigarette in my portable ashtray I keep in my coat pocket, “May I go in now?”
I sound a little bitter, and perhaps I am.  It has been rough last few days.  Ordinarily I wouldn’t comply with the robot.  It has no Artificial Intelligence and couldn’t really do anything to stop me from smoking inside.  
However considering what I’ve learned recently, I just can’t bring myself to torment the thing for doing its job.  That doesn’t mean I have to let it or anyone else know that.

I enter the courtroom.  It is dusty and old.  It’d never pass the white glove test.   I consider relighting a cigarette but decide against it.  
“Thank you for coming Mr. O’Connell,” a voice calls out from the judge’s chair.  I turn, noticing him for the first time.  He looks old, real old.  He doesn’t look all that much like a politician, so odds are he’s someone else who has strings enough to get me here.  Perhaps he is a wealthy financier of the Police Force or maybe a scientist who is studying the outbreaks.
Now when I say out breaks I’m referring to the one that is affecting the machines, not any human or animal based disease.  I mean we call them computer-viruses, so it could be considered a computer-epidemic.  
“Do you know why you’re here Mr. O’Connell?”
“Detective,” I correct the old man, “And I was told to give you a report on my last assignment.”
The old man nods, “Forgive me Detective, I meant no offense.  Yes I would like to hear about your last assignment, but not really a police report.  I want to hear it from you as a human being.”  
“I don’t understand,” I don’t.  Why would this guy want to know about my assignment?  How did he know about my assignment?  Is this some kind of secrecy test?  If so, why was the commissioner who sent me?  This is too weird.  
“I’ll explain it to you later,” the old man smiles understandingly, “But if I explain my reasoning now, it might affect your tale.  I wish it to remain uncontaminated by politics or police influence, just how everything happened from your point of view.”
I get it.  This has to be some kind of psycho-analysis.  They want to know how I’m coping with everything that has happened.  I can handle that.  I know it has been rather rough but I can easily give him my opinions without worry.  Worst case scenario is they give me some R and R to recover, which I can deal with.  
“Alright then, this is how my last case went down…..”

= Chapter 001 =

The jeep bounced up and down on the rocky dirty road.  Why the military didn’t have the road paved was none of O’Connell’s concern, but right now he really wished they had paved it.  O’Connell sat in the back seat, next to one of the escorts, who he had bummed a light off of in exchange for a cigarette.  The escort’s insignia said Chapman, and his rank insignia showed him as a Lance Corporal.  Besides the exchange of smokes, Chapman hadn’t really said anything, and neither had O’Connell.
Chapman’s partner and O’Connell’s partner never seemed to shut up.
Chapman’s Partner was an “El Tee” and much younger then Chapman.  Probably he got the position through officer school rather than actual experience.  O’Connell hadn’t managed to yet capture the young man’s name, but had noticed that Chapman seemed to not hold the “El Tee” in any higher respect other than that of normal enlisted to officer respect.  This caused O’Connell to assume that they had never worked together before.   This also supported by while Chapman’s sleeve insignia showed him as a regular marine, the “El Tee” proudly paraded around his SpecOps insignia on both his sleeve and beret.  
This also meant this was not your run of the mill case which didn’t sit well with O’Connell.  The military had its own people to look into it, why then did they need two police detectives?  O’Connell was no expert in any field and had no past military history.  Neither did his partner.  So why were they chosen for this case?  When O’Connell had expressed this to Austin the older man had just shrugged it off claiming that thinking too hard before they know any facts will just cause them unneeded stress.
Austin was O’Connell’s partner.  He was both a ten year senior in the force as well as a fifteen year senior to O’Connell in age.  This seniority had made itself quite clear which of the two was the leader which suited O’Connell just fine.  While everyone would talk to Austin, they usually let O’Connell alone, which gave him the opportunity to observe.  Observation was sometimes a more valuable method of gaining evidence then testimony.  Also this allowed O’Connell to observe the witnesses body language.  He had gotten quite good at picking up the subtle hints the body makes when a person was lying,
 Perhaps that was it.  Maybe the Military picked him because of their usual hard to read expressions.  Probably not.  Technically the commissioner assigned them to this case.  That might be why the Commish assigned them, but not why the military wanted them in the first place.  
This train of thought was interrupted when a bump knocked the cigarette from O’Connell’s mouth and down into the cloud of dust that followed them.  O’Connell cursed.  It was going to be a very long day.

Detective Austin kept a friendly face as his partner, their two escorts, and himself entered the small military base.  More correctly, a military outpost, as its size was nowhere comparable to a true military base.  
Also the outpost was rather old in design.  Even the doors themselves were manually opened rather than with a computer terminal or a sensor to open the door automatically.  There was also no automated defense in the first corridor but rather two armed human guards equipped with standard rifles.  
It was probably better that way.  Many facilities, military or civilian, preferred mechaniloids as their “watch dogs,” as they were completely loyal and would usually follow orders to the letter.  However they are still just simply machines.  They can’t use judgment and they can’t really do anything to stop human intruders due to the First rule of Robotics, A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.  Even the smarter and sometimes more human Reploids could not harm a human and were still limited by being essentially a glorified security camera.  
No you needed a human guard to keep things safe.  Or at least a small handful who were there to take care of human threats.  Though with the robotic epidemics going around, very few people would risk confronting robot guards, less they meet with a gruesome fate.  
Austin pushed the thought out of his mind, Machines are machines, and they can never be anything more than a helper.  
The Lieutenant showed the guards his ID and his orders to allow the civilian detectives past.  However it appears the Corporal who had also escorted them had to remain here.  Something the higher ups must have to keep secret from the grunts?  Interesting….
Austin and his partner O’Connell followed the young officer through the guarded doors into another hallway, this one not as long as the previous and finally in to a large computer room.  Compared to the relatively low tech of the rest of the base it was a bit surprising to see how high tech this room was.  Many of the computers were state of the art, and some more powerful than the civilian models.  
Surprisingly enough the entire staff working the computers were human.  In fact, there was not a single, scratch that, only one robot in the entire room, which seemed to just be standing at attention, awaiting orders.  Stranger still was the fact this robot was not a bulky military grade fighter but rather he looked like a young teenager, or as teenager as a Reploid could get.  
He had a youthful appearance that gave him the illusion of being about 17 to 18 years of age.  The Reploid’s body was mostly blue in design minus his face with a red jewel marking his camera installed on the helmet.  The helmet itself was a bit of a surprise.  It actually looked as if this Reploid was a civilian model, one more suited to being a laboratory assistant, which had been upgraded into being a combat or security unit.  
Attached to the Robot’s right hip was a military grade blaster pistol.  Beyond that the Reploid seemed to show no other form of weapon, though the blaster rifle leaning up against the General’s desk next to him could likely belong to the robot as well.    
Austin turned his attention to the General, as the Lieutenant reported in.  He was listening into the conversation when O’Connell elbowed him gently in the arm to get his attention.  
“That Reploid,” O’Connell whispered, “it’s watching us.”
“That’s his job don’t you think.”
“No,” O’Connell shook his head, “it isn’t a military model.  I don’t think it is supposed to be here.”
Before Austin could respond the General stood up and walked over to them, “Detectives, glad you could make it.  General Bonne, commander of this outpost.”
“Detective Dell Austin, and my partner Detective O’Connell,” Austin replied shaking the General’s hand, “We were told you were in need of our services.”
“Unfortunately yes,” the General sighed, “but I have to warn you before we continue.  The information you are about to here is top secret for the moment at least.  You are not to share it to anyone, not even your families.”  The General looked both detectives in the eyes, “Until we know for sure this could be a matter of national security.”
“That begs the question then,” O’Connell replied, “why ask for the police’s help then?  Can’t your own people take care of this with less risk of a leak?”
“Yes they can son,” General Bonne replied, retaking his seat behind his desk, “but we don’t want anyone to know the military is involved yet.  Please, take a seat.”
Austin sat down in one of the two chairs the Lieutenant had brought over.  O’Connell chose to remain standing.  The General didn’t seem to notice.
“At this time we don’t know who or what it is, but something has been attacking our supply depots all over the city and a few outside it,” the General began.  “During these attacks, nearly all guards and staff on duty are eliminated and nearly all arms and ammunition have been confiscated by the attackers, even down to the side arms carried by the staff.”  
“Sounds like the depots are being raided.  Probably radicals who-,” Austin began but was quickly interrupted.
“We thought that to for a while however we aren’t so sure anymore,” the General slid a picture across desk to Austin.  Austin picks it up and examined it.
“As you can see,” the General Continues, “there is only one person in attacking and they are already equipped with heavy weapons.  Weapons that we haven’t kept in our depots.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those aren’t human weapons,” Bonne let his response sink in before continuing; “They’re Reploid based weapons.”  

O’Connell felt his stomach lurch.  Reploid weapons!?  He slowly peered over at the one Reploid present, who had yet to move from its position.  However O’Connell managed to catch the robot watching them again out of the corner of its eye.  It was watching him.  Why?  
“A Maverick?”  Austin asked out loud what O’Connell had been thinking.
“Save for one detail.  Robots that have gone Maverick usually don’t plan out capers.  There is too much thought involved in this to be just a regular Maverick attack,” The General Explained.
“And that’s why you want us to investigate,” Austin added, “That way if someone else is pulling the strings they won’t catch on that the military is involved.”
“A poor reason I know, but every soldier we’ve had on the case has been one of the victims in the attacks.  Perhaps you’ll have better luck as the attackers will believe you are not involved.”
“One last problem,” O’Connell interrupted, “if this is a Maverick attack we are not equipped to deal with it.”
“Oh I already have the answer to that,” the General smiles, “we have a squad already prepared to work alongside you.  In fact their representative arrived just before you did.”
Suddenly the blue Reploid approached the desk and held out its hand to O’Connell.
“Greetings, I am Squad 0114 Unit 05T, but my designated name is X”