Legends of the Halcyon Era – Revelations: Nytefall

At long last…

My turn.

Be sure to check out the notes at the end for more on that.

—–

Legends of the Halcyon Era

Revelations: Nytefall

by

David Oxford/LBD “Nytetrayn”

*****

Previously, in Legends of the Halcyon Era…

The gang received a strange transmission, in which it sounded like MegaMan Magnus was being tortured somehow. They went to investigate, only to find the Air Pirate, Trevor Creed. Once both parties realized the other wasn’t responsible for the mysterious call, Sherman East revealed himself to be the culprit. Having taken the power of the refractors within the archive, he also corrupted MegaMan Magnus and wooed Creed to his side.

After an intense battle, Magnus was able to free himself, while Creed, turned on his would-be partner, and allowed the Diggers to leave, albeit not unscathed. Steel and Janine got the worst of it, with the former revealing his feelings for the latter in the process.

It’s been two days since the destruction of Archie Island. In their apartment on Monroe Island, Nyterayn was in the living room, where he was finishing up work on the two latest of what he calls “GunRobos.” Celeste sat on the sofa, her attention divided between the TV and her boyfriend’s tinkering.

Elsewhere in the apartment, the pair of Janine and MegaMan Magnus, their newest roommate, could be heard from what was once Fenix’s room. It sounded like they were arguing about something, though they couldn’t make out the words. Celeste chose to ignore it, as did Nytetrayn, who was used to ignoring anything that came out of Fenix’s room – including Fenix himself, sometimes.

Suddenly, Janine bursted out of the bedroom door, and slammed it behind her. She was wearing a pair of Fenix’s old pajama bottoms, a sports bra, and little else beyond a panicked expression. She leaned against the door as she panted heavily and looked around wildly.

Meanwhile, a knock came at the front door. “I got it,” Nyte said, not paying Janine any mind.

Celeste, on the other hand, approached with trepidation, and matched Janine’s expression with a perturbed one of her own. “…you okay?” she asked.

“No!” Janine replied. “East changed Magnus in ways we didn’t even suspect! Oh god, it’s horrible!”

“What did he do, add a horn that plays ‘La Cucaracha’?” Nyte asked, before opening the door to find Black Steel waiting on the other side. “‘Sup?”

At that moment, the bedroom door burst open, and several long, writhing metallic tentacles erupted forth, crawled across the floor to grab Celeste by the ankles, and hoist her into the air with a shriek. Janine died laughing.

“Hey Nyte,” said Steel. “Um, what’s going on?” But Nyte was already on his way to get her down, as Magnus peeked out the door, cursed, and the tentacles dropped Celeste, allowing Nyte to catch her.

“Damnit, Jan,” said the oversized Annihilator Unit, “you said the others wouldn’t be here!”

“What the…” Celeste started to say.

“…hell was that?” Nyte finished.

“Sorry,” said a giggling Janine. “The opportunity was too good to pass up.”

“Real funny, Jan,” said Nyte, as he put Celeste back on her feet. Meanwhile, Magnus had stepped into view, and the tentacles that had sprouted from a pair of panels in his chest quickly retracted before the openings sealed up.

“Did… did I come at the wrong time?” Steel asked, his face a mix of amazement and disgust.

“No,” Nyte said. “Why should we be the only ones to suffer?”

“The look on her face was priceless,” Janine howled, as she was practically rolling on the ground and literally laughing out loud.

Magnus, for his part, looked downcast. “I’m sorry, Celeste… she told me you’d enjoy it.”

Nytetrayn just stood there, unphased, while Celeste tried to catch her breath. Janine sat up, and said, “I did not! I said she’d think it was funny!”

Then came a knock at the still-open door. “Oh, for the love of… DOOR’S OPEN!” Nyte shouted.

Adam entered, sword on his back and a curious look on his face. “What’s going on?”

Magnus muttered quietly to himself, “Great, now everyone is going to think I’m an enormous pervert…”

“Jan, please don’t do that again. I don’t think Cel’s heart can take it,” Nyte said.

“Do what?” asked Adam, as he glanced back and forth between the two girls.

“Awww, she’s fine. Right, kiddo?” Janine said, as she patted a still-gasping Celeste on the head.

“…and I can’t help but shake this feeling that maybe Magnus is an enormous pervert,” Nyte said. Magnus thunked his head solidly against the wall, before Nyte added, “not that it’s much different from anyone else who’s stayed in that room. And still less of one than Fenix.”

“Yeah, he disconnected the camera equipment,” Janine said. “Big whiner.”

“I don’t think anyone could match Fenix for that, Nyte,” Adam said.

“Maybe if he strives for it,” suggested Nyte.

“I’m not sure that’s something he’d necessarily want to strive for…”

“Hey, if you want to run a male beefcake ring, be my guest, but I will have no part of it!” Magnus told Janine, as he crossed his arms and turned his head away, as if to say, “Hmmph!”

“I told you, that tape of Nyte was an accident!” Janine said.

“Then why was it marked ‘special’?”

Janine turned red. “I’ve been very lonely since Fenix left…”

Magnus shuddered. “All I know is I washed my optics for an hour and I’m still haunted by that sight…”

“And here I thought I’d need to go to a ruin to test these guys out,” Nyte said of his GunRobos.

Celeste, for her part, did not look amused.

Nyte gave Steel a gentle push towards Janine. “Why don’t you talk it out with Romeo here?” Steel turned bright red, and scowled at Nyte, who added, “And leave me out of it. I’m spoken for.”

Janine blinked. “Oh, hey, Steel! Didn’t see you come in!” But Steel found he suddenly couldn’t meet anyone’s gaze, and instead attempted to appear amused with the TV. Janine walked over and hugged his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. “Something on your mind?” Steel felt his heart race, and grasped for words. It was never this hard before. If only he’d just died that day, he thought.

Adam was confused to Hell, but was pretty sure he liked it that way now. Magnus’s left optic twitched. “I have entered a place of madness,” he said.

“You get used to it, after a while,” Adam assured him.

Meanwhile, Nytetrayn finished up a few bits on one of the GunRobos, closed the panel, and stated, “There we go.” He turned to the others, and said, “I’m going out for a bit to give these guys a test run at that little ruin just on the north edge of town. I’ll be back soon, you guys have fun.” Then he turned to address the GunRobos. “Twirl! Surefire! Blaster! Let’s go!” With that, the small robots came to life, and followed Nytetrayn out the door. “Later!” Nyte said, as he closed the door on his way out, completely missing Steel’s pleading look as he went.

“Bye, Nyte,” Adam said.

“Apparently so,” said Magnus.

“Just wait until you meet Radi,” Adam said. “And Blade wants me to inform you that he’s just as confused as you are, Magnus, so don’t feel too bad.”

“Thanks.”

Steel groaned internally as Janine stared up at him with wide, red, innocent eyes. His forte, this was not. He looked down into those eyes, and felt his heart melt, and once again struggled to speak.

MegaMan Magnus went over to Celeste, and offered her his hand, which Celeste took with a confused look. “I really am sorry about that,” he said.

“Er, oh,” she said, turning a bit red in the process. “Uh, it’s… it’s alright… just… please don’t do that again,” she said, a little nervous at being approached by the giant war machine in such a chivalrous fashion.

Magnus nodded, “I won’t. The tentacles were originally intended for offensive purposes, anyway.” This didn’t put Celeste any more at ease. “I’m only testing out East’s modifications… at Janine’s insistence. She seems to find it highly amusing.”

“I… see…” said Celeste, who looked a little freaked out by the implication she had effectively just been the subject of a weapon test.

Elsewhere, at the north edge of town, Nytetrayn arrived at the ruin gate and entered, his troops in tow. Inside, he rubbed his right arm a bit, as it was still giving him some trouble. That last battle didn’t help much, either. Fortunately for him, his new companions were supposed to attach to his left arm.

Back at the apartment, Steel said, “I just wanted to… come by, and…” Feeling the pressure of the moment on him, he continued. “I just wanted to see you again… and be near you. That’s why I’m here.”

Janine smiled and snuggled against him a little, unconsciously pressing the soft skin of her bosom against his arm. “That’s very sweet,” she said. Steel couldn’t help but let his arms wrap around her, and he hugged her close, and welcomed the warmth of her touch.

Magnus sighed. “I just hope I won’t have to use them any time soon,” he said of his tentacles. “Being forced to fight your friends for the past few times has sort of soured me on violence.” Celeste nodded.

“Hey, Magnus,” Adam said, “Blade is interested in the modifications East made to you.”

“Yeah,” Celeste added. “How are you guys doing now, anyway? Any better?”

Inside the ruin, Nytetrayn ventured in a short way before a Horokko spun into view. “Ah, perfect,” Nyte said. “Surefire, transform!” He held out his left arm as Surefire transformed into a Powered Buster, and attached to his arm. “A perfect fit,” Nyte said, before opening fire and blowing the Reaverbot away. Once Surefire disengaged, the group carried on.

“My internal systems have completed repairs to my physical damage. I just need a day or two for my power cells to build back up to their normal levels,” Magnus said. “Janine seems fine,” he added, as she nuzzled Steel’s neck, purring contentedly.

“Blade is none the worse for wear… although I’m still a bit sore. Kinda expected, though,” Adam noted. Magnus nodded.

Celeste turned her attention to Steel. “What about you? You weren’t looking so hot last we saw you…”

Steel closed his eyes, and laid his head against Janine’s. Celeste’s words came to him through a dream-like world he found himself lost within. He managed to respond, “I’m just fine… just a limp in my leg… but… it suddenly doesn’t matter… at all…”

Magnus raised a hand. “Question,” he said, getting Celeste and Adam’s attention. “Does anyone else find it odd that those two are cuddling in a state of semi dress in the middle of the living room?”

Celeste raised her hand a little, not exactly sure.

“If it was anyone else, I would,” said Adam.

“Right,” Magnus said. “Just checking.”

Janine stirred just enough to give Magnus the finger.

Further into the ruin, Nytetrayn came across another small group of Reaverbots. These were a batch of Foo-roos – small, floating Reaverbots with no means of attack beyond swarming their enemies and effectively ramming them to death. They were also pretty easy to take down, and Nytetrayn had just the weapon for that.

“Twirl, transform!” he shouted, as he held out his left arm while Twirl converted into a Gatling Buster and latched on. With a spray of energy bullets, Nytetrayn was easily able to mow down the mob as they approached.

Twirl disengaged, and they continued on, with Nytetrayn equipping Blaster early. He entered a room at the end of the ruin’s main tunnel, and found more Horokko lying in wait. “Here, catch!” he shouted, before firing a grenade off into the center of the group, where it promptly detonated, blowing the Reaverbots every which way. Blaster then returned to robot mode.

“That was fun, and everything seems to check out,” Nyte said, as he looked at the small robots. “You guys ready to head back?” The GunRobos replied, which sounded like modems dialing up.

“You get used to it,” Adam reassured Magnus. “Of course, when you’ve seen someone full-blown get it on in the middle of a dig, not much surprises you.”

Celeste nodded. While she hadn’t seen that, exactly, she still got where Adam was coming from after living here for a while.

Magnus’s eyes were wide as dinner plates. “You’ve seen them –”

“Not them,” Adam corrected. “Lessee, who was it…? I think I’ve seen her score with both Fenix and that pirate… Xenos Geist, that was his name! …in a ruin. While digging. But not both at once.”

Out of the shadows stepped the tall, imposing figure of Trevor Creed, who strode with slow, grim purpose towards Nytetrayn from behind. He decided to surprise the Digger, and did so by backhanding him in the back of the head with his mechanical hand.

Nyte staggered forward with a grunt, reeling from the blow. “What the…?!”

“MAN! Don’t you just hate it when you take your kids out for some fun, and some jerk comes along and just RUINS it?!”

Nyte turned with his Buster to face his assailant, but before he even had a chance to fire a shot off, Creed delivered a kick right to his kidneys, dropping him to a knee with another grunt, wincing in pain.

“I mean, honestly? What could be more rude? It’s not like you asked to get punched in the face. Wait, have I punched you in the face yet?” As Nyte tried to stand back up straight to fire at Creed, the Air Pirate cupped his chin in his hand, as if in deep thought. “Hmm, nope. Don’t think I have!” Creed threw a punch, which Nyte ducked, and returned the favor with a right of his own.

Unfortunately, Creed caught Nyte’s fist with his mechanical right hand, and charged the arm with electricity. Nyte winced again and let out another pained cry as electricity flowed through his arm, while he tried to keep it together.

Creed hoisted Nyte up into the air, cackling. “Look, Mommy, I’m flying!” He then swung the Digger around and into the ground. Nyte’s shoulder let out an audible snapping sound as he impacted the ground. He would have screamed, were his face not buried in the pavement.

After releasing his grip, Creed straightened up and brushed off his cloak. Just then, all three of Nyte’s GunRobos jumped Creed at once, with one hanging from his neck on his back, and one on each leg. Creed drew his saber and stabbed the ones on his leg, while gouging the one around his neck with his clawed hand.

Nytetrayn struggled to his feet after a few moments, his right arm hanging limp at his side as a bit of blueish electricity crackled around it. He breathed heavily as he witnessed the pirate pick off his creations one by one, and went after Creed with the aim of delivering a left elbow to his stomach, but Creed countered by swinging Twirl – or what was left of it – into him, knocking the Digger flat on his ass. “Twirl…?” As he sat up, Nyte quietly said, not seeing any signs of activity from the fallen robot.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? I mean, here I am, the most powerful pirate on the face of the planet, aligned with a literal god, offering her everything she desired… and instead, she picks a worthless, arrogant little pissant like you.”

Nyte returned his attention to Creed, as he carefully set Twirl’s body aside. Still breathing heavily, he got to one knee, as he tried to stand again.

Creed said, “I would assume the sex was unusually good… but that would imply you were ever man enough to give it to her,” then lobbed a blast at Nytetrayn from his cybernetic arm. Nyte’s eyes narrowed at the comment, right before the blast hit him, blowing him backwards again.

Celeste looked at the time. She just shook her head, and figured he’d be back soon.

“So, what is it?” Creed asked. “I’d really like to know, actually. Maybe then, I can comfort her better after you’re gone.” He strolled over to where Nyte laid on the ground, and booted him in the ribs.

“…b-bast–UGH!”

Celeste tapped her fingers on the arm of the sofa.

“Of course, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I don’t begrudge you that chubby little bitch. I could have any woman I wanted,” Creed said, as he moved to stomp down on Nyte’s left arm.

“Gee, I didn’t think it would take this long for him to test those bots,” said Adam.

Nyte rolled out of the way, and fired a blast at Creed, using his left arm to hold his Buster up to aim.

“Yeah,” said Celeste, “this is taking too long. The ruin isn’t that far.”

Creed raised a shield to block the shot, and kicked Nyte right in the face.

Steel broke out of his reverie to realize what had been occurring around him. “Nyte isn’t back yet?”

Nyte was sent flying back from the force of the kick, his glasses shattering from the impact as metal sole met transparent plastic. Vision blurred, he nevertheless got back to his feet quickly, and tried another shot, but Creed knocked it aside with his energized mechanical arm, laughing.

“I think maybe we should go check on him,” Adam said. Celeste nodded enthusiastically.

“What is this, a joke?” Creed cackled. “You’re actually fighting back?”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Celeste said. “Let me get ready.” She went to get armored up, and was surprisingly quick about it.

Creed unleashed the missiles in his shoulder plates, which hit the walls beside Nyte, hammering him with the shockwaves.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” said Steel. “He did go toe to toe with Trevor Creed, afterall.” He sighed, as he saw Celeste standing there, making sure everything was secure. “But I can’t let you go alone…” He forced himself to let go of Janine, and prepped his equipment. He made sure to come ready for anything, this time.

“Let’s all go,” said Janine, as she went to put a shirt on. “We can tease him!”

Caught by the missiles’ explosions, Nyte was blown away from the wall. “Ya frickin’ newbie,” Creed called out. “I was playing this game when you were still in diapers! You hear me, boy?!” The pirate then pulled out his pistol, and shot at Nyte’s legs. Nyte winced at the further pain, though fortunately, his armor withstood most of the attack.

That didn’t stop Creed from taking the opportunity to grab Nyte by the collar, and yank him upwards. Nyte’s head was slammed into the ceiling, putting a nice hole in it in the process.

A jumpy Celeste waited at the door. Black Steel moved alongside her and rested his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry, he’s a tough one.”

“I’m sure he’s just fine. Let’s go,” Magnus said, as the group moved out.

“You’re nothing to me… and nothing compared to me,” Creed said. The rather bloodied Nytetrayn spit a bit of the red liquid into Creed’s face, before the pirate let him fall the nearly two meter drop to the floor.

As the sun began to set, Celeste moved hurriedly towards the ruin gate, with the others right behind her. Steel followed, free of concern. The day had been good.

Creed slowly wiped the crimson fluid from his face, smirked, and rubbed it onto Nyte’s head, like a father tousling his son’s hair.

Soon, Celeste and the others arrived at the ruin entrance. She paused for only a moment; she still dreaded going in there, but now, somehow dreaded not going in even more.

“Our first two encounters were merely flukes,” said Creed. “You’re no more of a match for me than the brat was.”

Nytetrayn struggled to his feet, facing Creed. “Y-you won’t… get… what you… want…”

Creed stepped back a few feet, as blood-red power raced down along his cybernetic arm, forming a ball of power in his hand that hummed and swirled like a small star. “Fool,” he said, “don’t you get it by now? I always get what I want!”

“If I can’t get her with bargains,” Creed said, “then I’ll take her by force!”

“NO!” Nyte shouted.

Creed raised his hand, and unleashed the blast.

“DIE!”

Nyte tried to get his shield up in time, but failed, taking the blast full-on. After being briefly engulfed by the sphere of energy, several small explosions began to erupt all around Nytetrayn, bathing the room in an orange glow as his silhouette became lost in a growing, blinding white light, before one final explosion echoed out through the ruin.

Once the light faded, Nytetrayn stood before Trevor Creed, now crackling all over with the same blue electricity his shoulder had exhibited before. With one last groan, he dropped to his knees, then flat down onto his face, where he remained, laying motionless.

Creed stared at the sight, somewhat surprised. “Interesting… I’ve never seen Digger armor explode like that before…”

“Guys,” said Celeste, “did you hear that…?”

“Yes,” said Magnus.

“Let’s move,” added Steel.

“Nifty, Nyte’s blowing stuff up real good,” Janine said.

Celeste ran in the direction of the sound, not slowing down for anything, and surprisingly managing to keep ahead of the others.

Creed walked over, and prodded the body with his toe.

Finally, Celeste arrived at the scene, much to her horror. “N…Nyte…”

The others arrived right after. “Nyte…” echoed Steel.

“Creed…” said Adam.

Creed looked up, a smirk of triumph on his face. “Oh, oh, oh… look who’s here…”

Celeste didn’t know what to say. Her head lowered, she trembled, as tears welled up in her eyes…

“…get… away…”

“Now, now, don’t cry,” Creed said smugly. “I’ve got a nice coil of rope waiting for you on the –”

Creed’s words were cut short as Celeste had drawn her saber, and began to swing it wildly at the Air Pirate. “What the hell?!” he shouted, taken off-guard by the sudden outburst – particularly from her, of all people.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!” she screamed, slashing at Creed.

“Celeste! Don’t!” shouted Steel.

“Celeste!” Adam called out, hoping to stop her.

Creed drew his own saber, and barely parried one of Celeste’s swings, shock written all over his face. What she lacked in form, she was able to make up for with ferocity and desperation.

“She… almost got him!” Steel said, as surprised as anyone else.

“Well, well… the kitten has fangs!” said Creed. Celeste kept up the assault, not even fully aware of what she was doing. Creed’s surprise gave way to a savage grin as he backed away, parrying each attack.

“Damn it all! Don’t just stand there!” Adam shouted.

“Just get away! Just leave us alone!!!” Celeste shouted, as she kept swinging blindly at the pirate.

“What, you’re not glad to see me?”

Celeste just yelled, intensifying her slashes.

“If we get too close now, we’ll only risk hurting Celeste!” Steel said.

“Damn…!” said Adam.

Creed swept her saber out of the way for a fleeting moment, as he planted a quick kiss on her forehead, then somersaulted over her, and suddenly rocketed towards the others, leaving Celeste there to tremble with fear, rage, and maybe a few other emotions.

“Cripes!” Magnus shouted. Janine leaped in front of the pirate’s path, only to be bowled over. Adam tried to slash at him as he rocketed past, only for Creed to evade the blow and disappear, cackling. “You lot aren’t worth my time right now… But I’ll be back…!”

“…asshole,” said Adam.

Celeste just walked towards Nyte, and dropped her saber next to him, before falling to her knees herself, crying. Creed’s insane laughter faded slowly, ringing in the tunnels for several moments before finally going quiet. Celeste’s spine was chilled by the laughter, and the sight of what had happened.

Adam came up next to Nyte, and checked his pulse and breathing. Steel made certain Janine was alright, before turning to regard Nytetrayn, knowing it was best to keep his distance. Janine appeared dazed and was leaning on Steel a little, her eyes somewhat unfocused.

Using some scanning equipment in his shades, Adam found that Nyte was still registering some life signs, but only barely. Weak ones, that probably wouldn’t last long unless he got help.

MegaMan Magnus walked over. “Is he… alive?”

“Nyte…” Celeste said through tears. “I… we…” Then she just cried some more.

“Dammit,” said Steel, as he looked back at the dark tunnel through which Creed had escaped.

Magnus patted Celeste on the shoulder, before bending down next to Nytetrayn and seeing if he could lift him without causing him further injury. “Wh…what do… we do…?” Celeste asked.

“I suggest we take him to a hospital,” Magnus said, as he gingerly lifted the injured Digger, doing his level best not to move him too much. Celeste simply nodded.

“He’s alive, but barely,” said Adam. “He needs to get to a hospital, fast.”

Nytetrayn’s GunRobos barely managed to get to their feet, and over to the others. They beeped a little, in sad shape themselves.

“Right, let’s go,” said Magnus. “Janine! Can you take care of these little guys?”

“Whoo… someone get the number on that bus…?” she replied. “I don’t think I got off at the right stop…” Steel held her close, and made sure she wasn’t badly injured, before stopping to pick up the robots and fit them into the supply satchel slung over his shoulder. He then hefted up Janine, and got ready to follow the procession.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Magnus said. He hovered a few inches above the ground, and floated swiftly but gently across the ruin floor. “We’re outta here.”

Adam assisted Magnus as needed, and showed him where the hospital in town was.

***

The group soon arrived at the rather small local medical facility, and Nytetrayn was hurriedly admitted into emergency. The group now waited outside to hear from a doctor, and Celeste was pacing and fidgeting.

Janine clung to Steel somewhat nervously; now that she’d come to her senses, she seemed really scared. Steel held her tightly, as his mind wandered to all the times he’d known Nyte. “Rival or not, he is a good friend, and a damn good man.”

Adam stood with his arms folded across his chest, seemingly deep in thought. MegaMan Magnus was speaking to one of the doctors, explaining what had apparently happened.

Eventually, a doctor – the one working on Nytetrayn – stepped out. He was an older man in a white coat, with a head full of pale lavender hair, black-rimmed glasses, and a big, bushy mustache.

Celeste rushed up to him. “Howishe? Ishegoingtobeokay?!”

Magnus chuckled just a little at Cel’s outburst, while Adam approached the doctor, and asked, “What’s the prognosis, doc?” Janine and Steel also perked up, listening.

The doctor sighed a bit, as he removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well, I’ll give it to you straight: It’s not good. His life signs are weak, but they have stabilized… for now. It doesn’t look like he’ll get any worse, at least for the moment, but nor does it look like he’s going to get any better right now, either.”

“Why not?” Adam asked.

“I don’t know,” the doctor replied. “We’ve used every tool we have available here, and nothing seems capable of properly analyzing him.”

“What do you mean, ‘properly analyze’? You can’t scan his internals?”

The doctor shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. With our limited facilities here, there’s not much we can do. I’ve even contacted some of the larger hospitals on other islands, but no one seems to have a real solution. The best thing we can do right now is to wait, monitor him, and hope that maybe, somehow, he gets better.”

“Odd…”

“It’s not much,” the doctor continues, “but we do have a room where you can stay, in case anything changes. You’re more than welcome to stay there for now.”

Celeste nodded, while MegaMan Magnus lowered his head and combed through his hair with his fingers. Something seemed to be stirring deep in his memory, though he declined to say it aloud.

“We have him set up in a bed, if you want to see him…”

“Doctor?” said Steel.

“Yes?”

“What is it exactly that cannot be healed? If there’s a lack of supplies or help, then I’d be glad to transport and fund anything you need.”

“I wish it were that simple. Truth is, we aren’t entirely sure just what is wrong with him.”

“I see.”

Adam appeared to be in deep thought again. “You have x-rays?” asked Magnus, and the doctor nodded. “They don’t seem to scan him properly, though.” Adam looked up at this, and glanced at Magnus, who was staring hard at the floor.

“What… do you mean?” asked Steel.

“It scans externally, but doesn’t go much further than the skin, and other scanners are confounded by erroneous or nonsensical info.”

“That… shouldn’t be possible,” said Magnus.

“No, it shouldn’t,” said the doctor. “Again, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. The only other way to dig deeper would be to involve invasive surgery, but we want to give him a chance to recover on his own before we resort to anything as drastic as that. But if his condition starts to worsen…” The doctor shook his head.

“That would mean he has muscles made of a substance as dense or denser than lead,” Adam whispered quietly to himself. “That’s not possible… not for an unaugmented human.”

Steel, overhearing Adam’s words, gave them consideration, and asked, “How long till we know something, Doctor?”

“I… wish I knew. Hopefully within a few days. Hopefully by then, something will have changed.”

“Yes… hopefully,” Magnus said, as he shook his head and looked up.

“I… wish I could tell you more, but that’s pretty much all I can say for now.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” said Adam.

“How serious were his injuries?” Magnus asked.

“Oh, yes,” said the doctor. “There is that. I… wasn’t sure if you’d want the details. While we couldn’t scan his internals to uncover the full extent of his injuries, what we did find was telling, and maybe a bit gruesome. He was quite beaten up; his right arm seemed to be torn from its socket, and there was some heavy damage to his head and face. Numerous scorch marks, and his kidneys seem like they should be in bad shape, too. Thankfully, from what we can tell, his armor seemed to protect him from most of the other damage, though he is beat up all over.”

Steel looked to Janine, who gripped him tighter at the description of each of Nyte’s wounds, as tears welled up in her eyes. He wished he could do something to reassure her, as he held her tight. His gaze then fell on Celeste, and his heart welled up. It wasn’t fair to her. He then looked past them, to the room where Nyte laid. A part of him didn’t want to see Nyte like that. It wouldn’t be… right, he thought.

“Best thing for now is if we all get some rest,” the doctor said, as he turned to go to his office. “I’ll be sure and let you know as soon as anything changes.”

“Thank you,” Magnus said.

Celeste just sighed despondently, and wiped some more tears from her eyes.

Soon, a nurse came along to show them the room where they could stay. It wasn’t much in the way of furnishings, but might be suitable for one or two people. “Celeste will stay, there is no doubt,” said Steel. “But someone should stay with her. There’s not much room for all of us, I’m afraid.”

“The rest of you are welcome to keep to the normal waiting room, if you wish,” the nurse added.

Steel nodded, and said, “Thank you, nurse.” Despite everything, he simply couldn’t shake the sense of wrongness in all of this.

MegaMan Magnus walked over to Celeste, and laid a hand on her shoulder. Despite being the metallic claw of a robotic killing machine, the touch was oddly gentle. “Come on, why don’t you lie down?” he asked. Celeste quietly nodded, and went with him.

Jan sighed deeply, and let her head slump against Steel’s shoulder. “Damn him,” she said. Steel remained silent, his eyes fixed ahead as his hand absently stroked her hair.

Adam appeared to be in deep thought again, while also listening to Steel and Jan. His eyes flashed red for a moment, then faded, while his face twisted into a scowl.

***

One day later…

It was long after night had fallen over the medical facility, and little had changed. Celeste was in the other room, sleeping, while the rest were doing the same as best as they were able in the main waiting room. It was fortunate that the facility had relatively little traffic, as none of the group wanted to go back to their ships or homes, in case something happened… whether it was Nyte’s miraculous recovery, or an attempt by Trevor Creed to finish the job.

Outside, on the other hand, came whispering.

“I think this is the place,” said a youthful voice.

“You sure?” said another deeper, gruffer voice. “Let me see that thing, I don’t think you’re reading it right.”

“Hey, cut it out, I’m sure! The signal’s weak, but I’m sure it’s coming from inside here…”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, it better be. C’mon, let’s check it out…”

The first stranger eased the door open, and quietly snuck in, with the second one following. Both made sure to move extremely quietly, so as not to draw any attention from those who were sleeping, or otherwise. Silently, they entered the room where Nytetrayn was being kept, as his condition remained the same as when he had first been brought in. Unfortunately for them, Nytetrayn wasn’t the only one in the room.

“What the?” said the doctor, who had been checking up on Nytetrayn. “Who are you?”

“Scrap,” said the first stranger. The two looked at one-another, before the second stranger turned his attention to the doctor.

“You’ve got something that sorta belongs to us,” he said, as he moved towards Nytetrayn. “Now, if you don’t mind staying back, we’ll just take this and be on our way.”

The doctor moved between the stranger and Nytetrayn. “I’m sorry, this man is my patient,” he said, firmly. “I can’t let you touch him.”

Meanwhile, outside in the waiting room, Adam woke up and groggily got to his feet, moaning something about seeing a man about a horse as he shuffled towards the washroom.

Back in Nyte’s room, the second stranger sighed. “Y’had to go and make this hard, didn’t you?” With practically no effort, he picked the doctor up by the collar and tossed him to the side with a loud “OOF!”

The commotion was easily heard from the waiting room, and MegaMan Magnus awoke from his rest mode and rose to his feet. “What the hell?”

Janine blinked awake as Steel leaped up, his plasma pistol drawn at once. “From Nyte’s room!”

Adam stopped his trip to the men’s room, and now fully awake from the sound of the crash and the call of nature forgotten, he rushed to Nyte’s room.

“Nice. Subtle,” said the first stranger. “You’re a real master of stealth, you know that?”

“Aaah, shaddup,” the second replied. “Y’think it’s him?”

“Yeah, no two ways about it.”

As the group rushed into Nyte’s room, Magnus demanded to know, “What the hell is going on here?!”

The second stranger, the taller of the two, looked at the gathering in the doorway. “Aww, damn.”

“Um… we’re from… a hospital… elsewhere, and… we’re here to… um, treat the patient!” said the first stranger. He then elbowed the second stranger.

“Er, yeah… that’s it.”

Adam looked at the doctor on the floor, then attempted to grab the taller stranger by the collar and lift him off the floor. However, the stranger didn’t budge. Despite this, Adam maintained his grip, and said, “Why do I not believe you? Maybe it’s because you attacked a doctor.”

The stranger picked up Adam in much the same way Adam had attempted. “This what you wanted to do, kid?”

Steel narrowed his eyes. He didn’t think it would be that easy, as these two were closer to Magnus’s height than anyone else here. “Are you working for Creed?” Janine’s eyes glowed fiery red at the mention of his name.

“Who? Creed?” said the first stranger. “No way, grunge is out.”

MegaMan Magnus began to rise from the floor, his tail twitching behind him as his hands began to throb with power. “You picked the wrong guy to mess with. You have two seconds to get the hell out of here before I get mad…” He then formed an energy broadsword in each hand.

“NO!” Steel shouted. “We can’t fight here, dammit!”

The second stranger said to the first, “Maybe he’s cuter when he’s angry? God knows, he can’t get much worse…”

Adam snarled in the second stranger’s face, and used one of his fingertip cutting lasers to blind him. “Aah, what the hell?!” he cried out, tossing Adam over next to the doc while he rubbed his eyes.

“Dammit,” Steel said.

As he attempted to carefully remove Nyte’s still form from the danger zone, the first stranger put a stop to his efforts. “Sorry, guy. Can’t let you do that.”

“And I can’t let you hurt him,” Steel said, as he pointed his gun and Magnus pointed one of the swords in front of the stranger. At this point, both strangers stood between Nytetrayn and the others.

“Hurt?” said the first stranger. “But we want to help him…”

“Yeah. I’ve seen enough people ‘help’ him lately,” said Steel, as Adam drew his sword.

“If you want to help him, then leave and let him heal,” said Adam.

“What can you possibly do for him?” Steel asked.

“They ain’t gonna listen,” said the second stranger.

“Right,” Janine added, “that’s why you attacked the doctor.”

“Hey, he had a choice,” said the surlier stranger.

“So, you half-killed him?” Steel said. “That’s not kosher.”

“Oh, he’s not hurt… unless you people have really gotten soft on us…”

“Enough. You want him, you go through us,” Steel said.

The second stranger pulled out a rather sizable double-headed axe with energy blades. The first stranger reluctantly followed suit, revealing a pair of energy blades from his forearms.

Magnus said, “I think it’s a fair assessment to assume you don’t know what you’ve gotten yourselves into, so let’s all back away from the patient and have ourselves a nice chat, hmmm?”

“Funny,” said the second stranger, “I was just going to say the same thing.”

“I agree,” said Steel, “this area is too risky to battle in. What say we step outside, gentlemen?”

“Gladly,” said Adam.

Suddenly, a voice came from the doorway. “Just… just get away…”

The group parted to see Celeste, standing there with her pistol aimed at the intruders. Steel found himself again impressed with her unusually strong demeanor.

“Celeste, get back! We’ll handle this!” said Magnus.

“No need for anyone else to get hurt,” added Janine. “Don’t worry, we can take these jerks!”

“Huh?” said the first stranger, as they both shifted their focus to get a good look at Celeste. At once, both strangers’ eyes widened in complete surprise.

“It… it…” said the first stranger.

“…CAN’T be!!!” the second one finished, dropping his axe in the process.

Both took a step back slowly, much to the others’ confusion.

To be continued…

—–

Ah, here’s another one I’ve been eagerly awaiting getting to. As I said at the top, it’s now “my turn.”

But what does that mean, exactly, you may be wondering?

As I’ve noted before, these stories are based on the logs of some RPG sessions that I partook in with some friends many years ago. To that end, beyond my own characters’ participation (Nytetrayn, Celeste, and various NPCs), I’ve driven very, very little of the story thus far. A few random encounters (we kind of traded off in the first episode), the finding Celeste part of the post-Devil’s Yard bit, the Genie ruin, and the Red Phantom (plus the stories of Nyte’s Dawn and First Date; there’s Muffin Doin’ as well, but I created that earlier this year) were the only sessions where I really drove the narrative in a significant way.

Until now.

If you’ve ever wondered what I would do when given the reins for something longer form? Strap in, because you’ve come to the right place, and it all begins here.

This is where I finally cut loose. This… is where everything changes. Hope you survive the experience!

—–

Legends of the Halcyon Era is a work of fan fiction set in the world of Mega Man Legends. It is largely adapted from a series of freeform RPG sessions, combining ideas from several contributors, and further fleshed out here in a prose format.

David Oxford, also known as LBD “Nytetrayn,” is a lifelong Mega Man fan who, along with his wife Nadia, has co-written the Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide and Mega Man X Maverick Hunter’s Field Guide from UDON Entertainment, and runs The Mega Man Network (themmnetwork dot com). You can also find him on Twitter @LBD_Nytetrayn and @themmnetwork, and on Twitch and YouTube under the name “Nyteworks.”

You can also find Legends of the Halcyon Era as it updates at Archive of Our Own.

Character designs by LBD “Nytetrayn” and Victor Campan. Character art by Victor Campan. Logos by Tabby Ramsey. Arrangement by LBD “Nytetrayn”.

Thanks for reading!