The Horrible Truth

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Zero sighed and said, “So, I've read your files. After the destruction of the old world, you were selected for a Black Ops unit with the same name as your current outfit for your tendency to infiltrate through waterways and sewers.” Wes nodded. “Pretty much, kid. We were the best. Well, until Shockwave took lead, anyway. Nice to retire, let me tell you. We were also your archetypes. Jake here was designed for field analysis and Medical protocol and I was revamped for Reconnaissance and counterespionage. After Wiley Hour, well, let's just say getting back in the game was not our idea of a resolution. Now, what's with Rusty's attitude over this sister thing?” Zero sighed. “Axel! Get over here! It's story time!”

Axel threw the rifle carelessly to the side and yelled, “YAY!!! My favorite time of the day!!!” Zero sighed and held up five fingers, slowly bringing one down at a time until none were left. At this point, Axel yelled, “Oh no! I threw Bob!” he ran back, picked up the rifle and hugged it, repeating apologies. Jake muttered, “Huh. Maybe we should try magnets on the Mavericks. If they got the same effect, they certainly would be far too harmless to really worry about.” Zero sighed. “Don't underestimate him. He might not look it, but not only will he trip over a cordless phone, but he'll manage to find a way to make the enemy do the same thing. He's smartest when he doesn't try to be, and that's been our pocket ace more times than I care to count.”

"Anyway, I guess we should go back to the beginning. It sort of went like this...”

Neo Arcadia, 2779, Laboratory of Dr. Light:

An elderly man was working on a computer, running final tests on the project that had taken thirty years of his life. A blond child stood there and said, “Dr. Light? What are you doing?” The elderly man said, “Ah, Roll. I was about to call for you. As you know, I won't be around forever, my child. That is why I've been working on something very special for my little girl. I just need to finish the program for this fellow and he will be the perfect...” He turned and yelled, “Roll! Don't press...” but the warning came too late. Massive amounts of energy surged through the platform and after several moments, stopped as suddenly as it had started.

A young, panicking male voice came from the platform, “WAUGH! It's completely Black! I'm dead! I'M DEAD!!! AHHHHHH!” Suddenly, the thrashing stopped and the voice said,” Wait, can you even die when you've never lived?” Roll let out a childish giggle and said, “He's funny, doctor. Who is he?”
The man smiled and said, “That would be your... well... paranoid brother.” He pulled the sheet from over his head and said, “Rock, settle down and say hello to your sister, Roll.” The child looked at the girl and said, “Hello to your sister, Roll.” The doctor palmed his face shaking his head while the two children laughed. Rock smiled and said, “Just kidding. Hi Roll. My name's Rock Nice to meet you.”
Roll smiled and said, “Likewise.” The two of them shook hands, smiling.

Zero sighed. “But the happiness didn't last. Another scientist, named Dr. Wiley felt that machines should be used for other reasons. And I don't mean trimming hedges while using really bad psycho impersonations. During that time, Rock had a unique encounter... and had destroyed the real Bass a long time ago.”

*    *    *    *    *

Maverick Assault on Neo Arcadia, 2811

Rock continued blasting the swarms of enemies using the buster shot in his arm when the enemy started to overpower him. “Slag!!” he yelled, “There's too many of them!” Knowing this would be the end of the road, he buckled down and prepared to make his last stand. “If I'm going down, I'm taking as many of you guys as I can with me!” At that moment, large numbers of the Mavericks started to explode. The enemy broke off their attack momentarily until a man with blonde hair and red armor similar to Rock's stood there. “Looks like you could use a hand.” He said. “Name's Zero.” Rock regained his composure and said, “Call me X.” Zero looked at the enemy, completely expressionless and said, “Now that we've been introduced, Let's cut the chatter and finish taking out the trash.” Rock smiled. “Way ahead of you, Blondy.”

Zero added, “Don't get me wrong. He hated violence. Well, back then, anyway. Felt that mediation was the best way to go. As you see, his attitude has gone from pacifist to 'Pass a fist through your face'. Personally, I thought he fought better back then. People always fight the best when there's a purpose. Something to lose. Rock, He's dead inside. Nothing left. He fights to exist, nothing else. Well, I guess I'd better continue about Axel before we get too far ahead of our story. Now, by this time, Dr. Light had long succumbed to age, having stopped taking the life extension treatments and Dr. Wiley had met a much overdue demise”

Neo Arcadia, 2895, Red Alert has dominance over the city as renegade Maverick hunters

A teenaged male with medium long brown hair in a blue and gray armor and a distinctive x shaped scar on his face stood in the streets of Neo Arcadia. “I don't like how easily Red is just letting me walk out of the team. Something's up and I don't like it.” A loud crashing sound came from behind him and he said nervously, “Probably just a cat.” The crash came again, along with a tremor. “A-a-a r-r-really b-big c-c-c-cat...” Another crash and a massive tremor, the teen turned around and saw a Scorpion type Walker (Later to be called Alpha-Scorpio, by the way... now back to the story...). Looking into is optical sensor, he stammered, “Th-th-that's not a c-c-c-cat...” He turned and ran as fast as he could, yelling, “OUT OF MY WAY!!!”

Zero looked around after gating to the streets and said, “What a mess. Just what happened here?” At that moment, he was hit from behind by the teenager, who fell to the ground. “Owwwww!” Zero looked at him and asked, “What are you doing?” The teen quickly, “Uh... nothing. Just need to get going.” He took off at a dash, saying, “See ya!” Zero sighed and muttered, “What was that all about?” A crashing sound came from behind him. He turned to face the Scorpion Walker and said, “Oh, great.” before taking off after the teen.

Zero sighed and said, “Well, I ran after the twerp and we wound up cornered. Luckily, he was a good fighter for his age. Good thing, too, since we let him into the hunters and fought off Red Alert. The battle with the team leader proved that he would always do the right thing when needed. Took the better part of a year to get him back into operational conditions, but he became a valuable member of the team. He's one tough lug nut, that's a fact.”

Jake nodded and said, “Nice story. Now we have a better idea about how this unit works, but you didn't answer the topic in question. What happened to Rock?” Zero sighed and looked at Axel, who had now fallen asleep on the warrior's nap, holding the rifle like a blanket. “It might not look like it, but Axel has become kind of like a son to me after his... accident. I wanted to make sure he was asleep. This is where the fairytale ends and the nightmares begin. I didn't want him to be awake for this. You want the history of Rock, You got it... and It's something, even being near immortal, I will never live long enough to forget.”