"I hope you did not miss me."
"Has it already been three weeks?"
"For you, maybe."
"Heh, you never get tired of wordplay, do you, old friend?"
"Fufufu, it is far more enticing than foreplay, wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes. For me, your intellect is a far more attractive attribute than your figure."
"Hmmm, should I take that as a compliment or not?"
"Do with it as you wish, but we have more important matters to attend to."
"Well...I do, anyways."
"...A pity, but I suppose my time will come soon enough. The wait is starting to become quite maddening though."
"What is another few months compared to the last two-thousand years?"
"Hahaha, a fair point. Though, on the subject of madness, I am reminded of an analogy I've come up with."
"Really now? Do tell, I am all ears."
"Madness in a person...Is like a termite inside the trunk of a tree. At first it gnaws away at the insides, carving a small but harmless path through, but if left unchecked it begins to grow and multiply. Eventually, what was once an insignificant tick is now an all-consuming swarm, and in time the innards will be completely burrowed through until the body ceases to be anything more than a hollow shell unable to burden the weight of it all. Thus the body ceases to function as it once did, only serving as food for the famined swarm."
"And at that point, not even death can save them."
"Madness can be either a curse or a blessing...It just depends on how willing you are to be in a symbiotic relationship with it. But deep down, every living thing carries madness within them. There is no escape from it."
"So what do you think? Will that boy be consumed? Or will he accept his own madness?"
"We can only wait and see now, I'm afraid."
"Fufufu, fair enough. But for now, there is another matter I must observe..."
"Ah, yes. Then I shall see you again real soon, old friend."
….
….
Deep inside of a secret laboratory, a lone Reploid stood at his computer overlooking a single but crucial piece of hardware. A series of tiny pincers and claws nipped away at the finer cords and CPUs that rested inside the hardware, taking care not to break them. The Reploid's gloved hands were trembling with anticipation, and his teeth were bitten down like he was struck with a severe case of frostbite.
"Almost there...I have almost unlocked the secrets of Zero's DNA...!" He couldn't get rid of the smile he had, which stretched from cheek to cheek. With a dissecting laser pinced between two right fingers, the Reploid made a clean cut through the bottom of the glass plating so one of the claws could pull it up. Underneath lied a complex criss-cross of cybernetics, with a lens that pulsated with a violet, wavy light.
"This is...This is it!" The Reploid slammed their device flat underneath their palm and gripped the edges of the computer desk he worked at. A pale, almost malicious influence gushed out of the hardware like a midsummer's breeze, rustling back the lab coat the Reploid wore.
"What I've been searching for all this time...Finally...Finally it's secrets are mine and mine alone!" The Reploid's eager pupils shrank down, focusing only on the center of the hardware. His hands trembled only until the point where they gripped the sides of the hardware, where they then stiffened right up as they raised it before the chest.
"It's so...so beautiful. This...this must be what pure and utter satisfaction feels like. With this, I can finish my research...I can complete the Ultimate Reploid...!" The Reploid's ecstasy neared a point that he had difficulty breathing, and his hands once again began trembling. Then, as his irises burned with a dark red haze, the Reploid's smile rose into a smirk.
"Yes...I feel...I feel so..." Throwing his arms out with his head leaned back as though basking in a warm, steamy shower, the Reploid let out a heavy gasp and condensed all his overflowing emotions into a single word, "Liberated...!"
"Hahaha...Hahaha...! HAHAHAHA!" Embracing the glee for all it was worth, the Reploid known as Gate let his laughter echo throughout the hollow confines of his laboratory, and soon the world at large would become fully aware of the terrors his indulgences will call forth into existence.
The Nightmares...have begun!
CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 4 EX STORY 7:
MAVERICK HUNTER X6
Chapter 1: The Nightmare Awakens
It has been three weeks since the fall of Eurasia forever changed the state of the world. The Earth's surface has been covered by toxins too venomous for humans to go near, and thus they have all been forced into hiding underground while the Reploids are left to clean up.
The Maverick Hunters have been tasked to lead the operations on the surface, acting as both mediators and workers for the many construction and clean-up crews across the world. Though they are relegated to these jobs, their main mission of hunting down Mavericks has not changed. Even though the Sigma Virus has disappeared from the face of the Earth, there are still many Mavericks who seek to take advantage of the chaos by any means necessary.
Terrorist activities are on the decline, but other organized crime has only multiplied in it's place. With all the wide-scale thievery and slavery happening across the world, the Maverick Hunters have found themselves in a bit of a bind trying to deal with it all. Their numbers are at an all-time low, and the loss of one of their strongest Hunters has hit them more than they realized. Though the otherworlder known as Shina Aurora has tried her best to help while she's stuck on this world, she is still only just one person.
Even X, sharpened by the strength of his new resolve, has difficulty keeping up with the chaos that's sweeping the planet. Every day that he takes up the Z-Saber and goes into battle, he comes home hoping, praying that the world will one day know peace...
Dawn of the third week in the post-Eurasia world...
It is very quiet in the Maverick Hunter HQ these days. Not out of any hard-fought peace or something like that, but because most of the Hunters have vacated the premises to take care of assignments. It's very likely that a Reploid could wander into the base right now and not even run into one single Hunter by the time they've walked all the way to the top. The only constant in the base are the presences of Alia and Signas, who worked tirelessly throughout the days and nights.
But right now, X and Shina were at the base to recharged their energy after a long day of constant Maverick hunting. Shina was given her own room and healing pod to the left of X's, and for now she rested comfortably inside said capsule. Her hands, resting upon the direct center of her stomach, signified a blissful sleep.
With a quiet snore, Shina wore a constant smile as she drifted into the deepest recesses of her subconscious. But her mind wasn't blessed with visions of sugar plums or the breying of hopping sheep, but rather by a rhythmic ticking similar to that of an old time clock.
Her body took upon a hazy, monochrome tint as it floated through a sea of mist with a neon hue to it, falling and falling like a crisp autumn leaf towards a rift of light. Her awareness of the descent only seemed to increase once her body passed through the light and touched down upon a grassy knoll. Then her eyelids pulled right open, and she swung her hands out to prop herself right off the ground. The grass was cold, and each individual blade had tickled the back of her neck like a frozen feather.
Looking towards the sky, she saw that it was a starry night. Her brief panic melted away with a smile, and she pulled herself up and tucked her lithe arms behind her back to observe the stars.
"What a beautiful night for star-gazing...Even if it's just in a dream."
As she became so absorbed in observing the stars that her eyes twinkled from the reflection of their light, the sound of a car motor approaching almost failed to snatch her attention. With a glance to the left, Shina puckered her lips and let out a brief, curious hum as the headlights of a black four-wheeler flashed her way.
Widening her eyes like a deer would, she hopped back as the car was seconds away from ramming it's bumper right into her kneecaps. Once she landed she hastily shook her head and wondered, "Wait, why did I do that? This is just a..."
She looked down at her feet, and saw that they did not cast a shadow on the edge of the headlights.
"...Dream?" Blinking twice and then giving her puffy cheeks a couple quick pats, Shina watched as nothing changed, then proceeded to let out a frazzled groan, "Uuuungh, not again..."
Her voice, which had just a moment ago been filled with joy, was now deflated of all pleasure and sounded just as tired as someone waking up from a deep night slumber. Then, the click of the car doors unlocking entered her ears, and she turned to watch as a couple pulled themselves out.
The driver was a man almost six-feet tall with a shaved head and a face that didn't look a day over thirty. His eyes were a dark shade of brownish orange, and his cheeks and chin were scruffied up by thin hairs. His skin looked grimy and roughened up, and his foul odor reached Shina's nose in a dilluted form. The man looked as though he had cobbled up a wardrobe on the fly, as his cotton black shirt was covered in rugged patches that looked like they came from rugs. His jeans, on the other hand, were kept in tatters, and his feet left bare.
The passenger was a woman that was just under five feet tall, with blue hair that reached to the back of her knees and glistened like the surface of the ocean when viewed at underwater during a hot summer day. Her arms and legs were almost as thin as cedar tree branches, and her body looked famished. Even so, her cheeks were rosy and full of warmth, and the rest of her skin had a pinkish shade similar to the hue of cherry blossoms. Clothed in a thin aquamarine dress and skirt with a lilac woven vest draped over it, this woman topped off her ensemble with a necklace that had a butterfly carved out of wood and a bracelet with a curious stone attached to it.
When the two shut the car doors, the woman brushed her hand along the fogged up back window to clear it up and peered inside, her facing looking even warmer as she smiled. But then her eyes dampened, the ducts filling with tears until the man approached her from the left and brushed them away with swipe of the pointer finger. He then cupped his hand on the shoulder and whispered, "We already said our goodbyes dear..."
"Look at him Abraham. He's just a little boy...H-How can we go through with this?"
The man laid his hands on both shoulders and helped turn her around to face him. His face was like iron, strong and unmoving, but his eyes were delicate and already trickling with forming, tiny droplets.
"We have no other choice. If we let Prometheus capture us, you know what'll happen to your people, Lumina."
Shina raised her brows and then got closer to the couple, entranced not just by their words but the bracelet the woman wore. Engrossed in her own thoughts, Shina raised her own bracelet and gave it a rub, remarking with an inquiring murmur, "That looks just like my own..."
Looking up at the woman's face from the side, Shina tilted her head and repeated her name, "Lumina...Lumina...Have I...heard that name before?"
After a sniffle from the woman, the two turned and made their way past the car, her left hand barely making it to edge of his waist while his own right hand reached under her right armpit and held her close by. Shina wanted to follow the two, but after taking a couple steps bit her lower lip and went back for the car. She peered into the back, and saw a five-year old boy with just a thin brushel of brown hair atop his head. He was tucked in under a woven blanket that spanned one side of the car to the other, looking so snug that it'd take probably the largest of earthquakes just to rattle him awake.
His peaceful, quiet demeanor brought a smile to Shina's face, but it was rather half-baked one from her all things considered. Pulling away from the window and crossing her arms under the chest as the cold winds crept up on her skin, she wondered about her predicament while staring towards the nearby hilltop the couple had gone to.
"I keep having these visions lately...But why? I don't even know any of these people..." Closing her eyes and trying to come up with an answer was a fruitless effort. She was simply just dealing with phenomenon far beyond her understanding.
"...Hmmm?" Sensing a source of great power rapidly approaching, Shina perked her head up and saw a heavenly light descending from the sky. With blinding speed, a ball of white fire crashed into the exact spot the couple was standing, as Shina could only watch on with complete and utter shock.
"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!"
Shina shot upright at the sound of the sirens blaring and smashed her head against the pane of glass in her capsule hard enough to crack it. Rubbing her head afterwards as the glass decompressed to open up, she felt her 'heart' racing against her chest as she laid her left palm upon her resting place, reassuring herself that everything was back to normal.
The sirens kept going even as she groaned and grumbled her way out of the capsule, performing a quick stretch as the weariness of her disrupted rest caught up and dragged her eyelids down. As her arms slumped down by the waist and wiggled back and forth for a bit, she looked up at the ceiling and listened in as Alia's voice filtered through the speakers.
"X! Shina! I need you both in the command center immediately!"
In the face of any crisis Alia could be counted on to keep her cool, even as her voice echoed out louder than the sirens. After smacking her lips a couple times, Shina regained her focus and prepared to rush out the door. But before she made it underneath the doorframe her feet kicked up and her heels grinded up against the cold steel floors until she stopped. Doing a complete 180, Shina made a brisk stroll over to the pristine steel table beside the capsule and looked down upon a certain amber sword.
Peering at her own reflection for a couple seconds, her brows then slanted down as she picked it up and put it on her back, using a strap of aura to hold it firmly in place.
"It's been three weeks since the fall of Eurasia..." With a stern glare Shina jerked her head back and then spun the rest of her body around, making up for her delay by doubling her speed out the door. As she turned and made her way down the hall, her mind began to be weighed down with a multitude of nagging concerns.
"And there hasn't been a single trace of Alex..." With her head hung an inch lower, Shina recalled the last time she had seen him. It was painful to remember his repulsive, corrupted appearance, but since it was the last thing she remembered of him it was the moment that stuck out the most in her mind.
"...Where are you Alex?" Shina considered the possibility that Alex may have just left the planet entirely to prevent his other personality from slaughtering everyone, but then out of a severe denial she shook her head and tried to remain optimistic.
"No. He IS out there, he has to be!"
"...Still, it's already been three weeks. There's still plenty of time to get the final artifact piece back, but...At this rate I'll run out of time if I lax off for even a moment!"
The possibility that Alex has left the world. The possibility that he may never be found even if he's still on this world. The possibility of failure to assemble the artifact. The possibility that she may be stuck on this world forever, joining X in his eternal war against Maverick kind.
Dozens of possibilities, all existing to punish Shina for even the slightest failure, weighed heavily on her conscience and slowed the pace of her run to a steady crawl. But with a swift raise of the hand she slapped herself across the face twice like she was waving a fan and then bluntly told herself off, "No! There's no time to mope around! Alex needs me!"
Reaching the door to the command center, Shina raised her head up high and puffed her chest out with determination as the doors slid open, "Today's a new day! Maybe I'll find a clue out in the field this time..."
Walking into the room, Shina found that in spite of her rush to get there X had already arrived ahead of him and was at Alia's desk. Zero's inactive Z-Saber was glued to the back and didn't budge with the movements he made. After rushing over to the two, Shina called out with a chipper, eager voice, "Here I am Alia! What's the situation?"
X pulled away from her chair and let her turn around, her headset latched around the cranium and the mic pinched between her fingers so it was held in front of the mouth. With a her expression just a tiny bit concerned, Alia tilted her head and remarked, "I know this is sudden, but I need you two to go and investigate the Crash Site. There's been some reports from our men down there of possible Maverick activity in the area."
"Maverick activity? There? What could they want?" Shina pondered.
"Well, we'll find out once we get there. I'm ready to go whenever you are Shina." X remarked with a voice unclouded by hesitation as he passed a smile on to her.
"Don't let me hold you up X, I'll be right behind ya!" Shina perked her lips up into a smile and gave him a nod.
"I've already set the coordinates. Be careful you there, both of you." Alia went back to typing away at her computer, and X ran right for the door out of the room after giving his thanks. Shina was about to join him, but a sudden comment from Alia caught her by the legs before they even raised.
"Have you had any luck finding your friend?"
Shina glanced over her shoulder and then spun her body around, answering with an averting gaze and a penetrating sigh, "Nooo...I haven't found a single clue yet."
"I wish I could provide you more aid. But that blade of his...It's way outside my area of expertise."
Shina poked her head back and pulled the blade out of the strap, holding it before the chest. She didn't know it's origins, how it operated, or if it even had a name. And if she knew none of these things, then not even someone as brilliant as Alia could've been expected to crack the mystery behind it. Putting the blade back in it's place, Shina tried to put on a smile for Alia as she reassured her, "You tried your best Alia, and that means a lot to me."
"...Thanks." Alia murmured, her voice almost inaudible to the girl.
"It's a shame though. That blade's energies would've been our best shot at finding him, since he appears to be projecting a constant EMP field to block out our scanners and cameras."
"Heh, guess I can always count on Alex to be seclusive..." Shina tried to joke, but only made herself sad. After hanging her head for a moment, she raised it up and ran out the door after X, not wanting to keep him waiting any longer. Once at the teleporter room she hopped onto one of the capsules, and Alia's programming took care of the rest. The magic of being warped across great distances in an instant had been lost, but the fuzzy sensation that swept over her body still stuck around once she arrived at her destination.
The Crash Site was different from the last time she had been there. Now all the debris had been pushed closer together so it'd be easier to manage, creating a landscape that served as a perfect reminder of what had been lost. The sky was a volatile mix of orange and violet, and the sun's light passed through with a reddish haze. This place, this graveyard, had no place on the Earth.
Looking up, Shina saw X at the top of a slanted piece of metal performing a quick survey of the area. Running to the base of the hill, Shina swung her right hand up and proclaimed, "Any luck up there X?"
X turned around and slid down the hill, landing to the left of Shina after pacing a couple steps to keep his balance. After he shook his head, Shina crossed her arms under the chest and remarked, "Alia I know you're listening, do ya got any leads?"
"The workers out here said the Maverick was big. More than likely it's a rogue Mechanoloid. If it's still going on a rampage, you should find it by wandering around a bit."
"Thanks, we'll take it from here Alia." X remarked, then turned around and summoned his right buster.
"Wait. Stay right where you are X. I have a gift for you."
"Huh?" X looked down as his body was surrounded by a blue light so pale it was almost white. After a brief flash he was now equipped with his Falcon Armor, which had been patched up perfectly. As X looked it over, Alia talked about the armor for a bit.
"I couldn't fully repair the flight function, but I was able to modify the buster so you'll be able to charge your special weapons. Plus it comes equipped with a thin air barrier to protect you from the heavy toxins in this area."
Shina tilted her head to the left and had a bit of a frown, causing Alia to remark, "I didn't have time to make one for you, Shina."
"Aw schucks, it's ok!" Shina tapped the Gunslinger Drive on her bracelet to transform, then surrounded herself with a barrier of aura as thin as a leaf, "I can protect myself juuuuust fine."
"Don't underestimate the toxins you two. We've had reports of Reploids being brought in for repairs because they couldn't handle working in these conditions."
X and Shina began to wade their way through the sea of junk to try and find their target, along the way getting into a conversation with Alia about the afforementioned 'conditions'.
"So...the first step towards cleaning up the planet is to cut off the toxins at the source, ya?"
"Correct. If we can set up a quarantine zone around the perimeter of the Crash Site, the toxins will have nothing to feed off of and eventually dissolve"
"How long will that take?" X wondered.
"Who knows. It could take weeks, months, maybe even a year. It all depends on how much the other Reploids are willing to cooperate with us."
"And that's not even getting into the reconstruction..." Shina murmured, worrying about the planet's state of affairs.
"I hope the humans can hold out that long." X said, his concerned nature coming right to the forefront.
"Don't worry, we're sending whatever provisions we can scavenge down to the underground shelters. After all, not like we need to eat or drink." Alia reassured them.
"Whew!" Shina breathed a heavy sigh as she swung her head back a bit, "That's a relief!"
After pushing through the thicket of junk in their path, the two wandered upon a structure that had managed to survive the brunt of the collision with the planet. Not wanting to spare even a single inch from their search, the two climbed up to the door and dislodged it from the frame to head inside. X raised his buster before the waist while Shina held her pistols at the hips, the two slowly making their way through the dimly lit building.
The walls were torn apart, and nothing looked worth salvaging. This place would have been better served rusting away until it was forgotten, especially in X's eyes. After reaching a more open hallway, the two glanced left and saw a faint red light staring down at them through a thicket of blinking blue ones. X raised his buster towards the red light for a few seconds but then lowered it, unable to perceive it as a threat.
Shina looked up at that same light a bit longer, creeped out by how much the light resembled an eye. With an ugly, sneering grimace, Shina turned away from the sight and ran to catch up with X. Things were quiet, too quiet, to the point that the metallic clanging of their footsteps was beginning to grate on both their nerves. With one eye looking back while the other kept forward, X inquired, "Are you doing ok, Shina?"
"H-Huh?" She responded in a hastened fluster, then smiled and bobbed her head up and down a couple times, "Yeah, I'm fine!"
"I was just curious," X shifted his gaze back ahead, "You looked restless when you walked into the command center."
"Oh...you noticed," Shina murmured, then after tapping the side of her head with the lip of her pistol she closed her eyes and said, "...I-I've been having these strange visions ever since we defeated Sigma."
"Strange visions?"
"Yeah. It's kind of like, oh I don't know...I'm stuck in a theatre, and some events from the past are unfolding on screen. I can't interact with what's happening, but I'm definitely witnessing them," Shina pulled her pistol away and shook her head, putting on a half-cocked smile before apologizing, "I'm sorry X...All this must be flying right over your head."
"Actually, it isn't." X turned his head back all the way to assure her he was giving his full attention.
"After the Repliforce War, I began to experience the memories of my predecessor, Rock. I...saw the world through his eyes, experienced bits of his life. It was like we were one in the same..."
"And then it turned out ya were." Shina remarked.
"Yeah. Maybe that's what's happening to you. You're connecting with someone from the past."
"Ya think so?" Shina bobbed her head to the left, "I dunno...It doesn't feel like I know any of the people in my visions. Except..."
Once her raised was steadied she lifted her bracelet up and poked the rim of it, "There's this woman with the same bracelet I have in a couple of the visions. These kinda bracelets are Aurian exclusives."
Lowering her arm and shaking her head, she continued with heavy doubts towards her own thoughts, "It's just too weird. It's like an out-of-body experience while I'm still in my body..."
"I found out the truth about my visions eventually, I'm sure you will too." X remarked, so confident in his faith towards his comrade that he smiled and gave a thumbs-up.
"Thanks X," Shina laid a hand atop her chest and her expression molded into the perfect smile, "I'm not any closer to solving this mystery, but ya gave me a lot to think about."
The conversation passed the time quite well, as the two arrived at the other side of this deserted facility. The desolate outdoors became more clear once again, only this time the two could see the largest parts of the fallen colony very close by. But the sight of that would have to be ignored, as there was a more pressing matter to attend to on the ground in front of them.
At least seven Hunter-class Reploids were on the ground, damaged but not in danger of dying quite yet. Only one had the strength to move, but just managed to budge their body a couple inches up before collapsing flat against the cracked rock.
With a wide-eyed gasp, X rushed to the aid of the conscious Hunter and propped his body up onto his knees, declaring to him all the while, "Hey, are you alright?"
"Y-You're...X?" The Hunter's voice was groggy, like he had swallowed grinded up pebbles. With a few rough hacking noises, the Hunter clutched his metallic chest and hung his head in shame, "I-I'm sorry sir...We were...ambushed...by a Mechanoloid."
"Which way did it go?"
"It...it didn't...go anywhere..."
"What?"
"X! Above you!" Shina blurted out as her scouter began beeping like crazy. X jerked his head up then wrapped his arms around his fellow Hunter, dragging them away from harm with an abounding leap as a hefty machine crashed against the ground and upheaved a cloud of dust. X reached for the handle of the Z-Saber and whipped it forward, summoning it's blade with enough force to part the dust to clear his vision on the enemy.
The Mechanoloid was a construction-type, judging by it's large left pincer and thick armor frame designed to support at least a couple tons worth of weight. With a green and yellow color scheme, the Mechanoloid was far more pleasant to look at than it's surroundings, even if said machine appeared to be broken and deactivated. But the Mechanoloid wasn't alone. A second later a small orb-shaped pod with a rounded bronze-like plate in the front, focusing a signal beam upon the antenna of the Mechanoloid.
The insides of the Mechanloid rattled as it rose off the ground, it's movements clunky and puppet-like. But with a couple loud snaps of it's single claw, the machine's destructive intents were as clear as day. X held the Z-Saber along the front of his chest and held the Hunter out behind him as he declared, "Shina! Get our allies to safety, I'll handle this berserk Mechanoloid!"
"I'm on it!" Shina leaned forward and wrapped the Hunter up in her arms, nodding her head and then springing away with the speed of a bunny. The safety of his comrades assured, X sharpened his gaze on the Mechanoloid's body, observing it's data in under a second before realizing the pod was the more important target to focus on.
The Mechanoloid swept it's claw back and forth along the ground, X leaping away from every strike while raising his left buster up for a charged shot. As his heels grinded up the ground upon landing, X fired off a piercing shot straight towards the core of the pod. Despite it's simplistic design, the pod was no fool, and evaded the attack with a simple shift to the left.
But the Mechanoloid was sluggish, it's girth barely supported by the jets on it's back. Glancing back, X's attention was caught by the ledge he and Shina had dropped down from, and he hopped right back up to it to get a better vantage point of attack. His feet stayed on the edge of the ledge for just a second, but that was more than enough time for the Mechanoloid to fire a projectile off from it's forehead towards his location. X backflipped in the nick of time, the ball of blue fire erupting into a smoking hot pillar in his wake.
With a quick turnaround X held on tight to the Z-Saber and thrust his body forward, using the jets on his boots to rocket straight towards the pod. The Mechanoloid's claw was raised to get in X's path with pincers spread thin, but with his blade grasped in both hands against the chest X scraped through the claw without a scratch. Widening his eyes with a fierce fire burning within, X sliced the Z-Saber out with all his might in the right hand and cleaved straight through the pod. With a twisting spiral, X managed to land on his feet right as the pod's connection to the Mechanoloid broke. The titanic machine crashed to the ground, it's jets becoming dislodged right as X locked the deactivated Z-Saber onto his back.
"Mission accomplished." X turned his head to the right and began walking towards Shina and the other Hunters, who have all been gathered up under the sanctity of a stable outcrop of metal benders. Shina was applying her aura to the Hunters' bodies to heal them up, and the one that warned X of the threat looked up with a more energetic air around him.
"Wow...so that's the strength of an S-Class Hunter? Seven B-Class Hunters couldn't even put a dent in that thing, and he took it out in one attack..."
"Well X is the best he is at what he does, and what he does ain't pretty sometimes..." Shina remarked with a chipper tone, pulling her hands away from that Reploid and giving them a swift clap.
"There you go, you should be all better now!"
"Thanks...Uuuugh, why did that Mechanoloid go out-of-control? Now the construction team'll be set back even more..."
Shina tilted her head and then looked towards X, but as she did so her eyes perked up as she heard the subtle moans of the Mechanoloid whirring back to life.
"X! Watch out!" She screamed, leaping right to her feet and aiming both her pistols at the damaged pod, which hovered itself behind the hobbling girth of it's puppet. Shina clicked her tongue and bite her teeth into a scowl as the pod went out of range.
"Shoot! I'm not going to stop it in time!"
The Mechanoloid spun around with one heavy swing, ready to smash it's claw right into X's body. X turned around and began to reach for the Z-Saber, but then clenched his hand up into a fist and thrust it out to transform it into a buster instead. He began charging, but required three seconds to have enough power to repel the claw, whereas the claw only needed two to ram into him.
That one second of hesitation caused X to scowl in frustration towards himself, especially was the claw was just a few inches from striking him with all it's might.
"Begone."
X froze up as a voice spoke out from beyond, followed by a flash of light with an appearance similar to a lightning bolt splitting down the skies above the Mechanoloid. The hulking machine stiffened with it's claw just a centimeter from X's body, then it was cleaved right down the center in a clean, precise cut, the two halves collapsing to the ground and opening the way for X to see who was reponsible.
He couldn't believe his eyes, even though the truth was staring him right in the face.
"Z-Zero...?" Just from the shadow of the figure alone, X knew who his savior was. But as the dirt and dust parted to the four winds, X saw that there was more to this person than meets the eye. This 'Zero' did not have his crimson, heroic colors, instead carrying an odd violet hue that made him look like a walking cloud of toxin. The sword he carried was a rushed together replica of the Z-Saber, complete with a seething lilac blade. And when 'Zero' turned his head and blance back, his red eyes were hollow and devoid of all emotions.
X and 'Zero' looked at each other for a good minute with complete and utter silence. X lowered his buster, and his mind was drawing a blank for words. Then, with a brutal "Hmph!" this 'Zero' commented in a rough and vicious tone, "So this is the ultimate robot X, huh? ...How pathetic."
"W-What?"
And then, just like that, 'Zero' disappeared in the blink of an eye, warping away via a flash of raw light. X took a couple steps forward and was shocked to find his hand raised up towards the horizon. As it began to shake, he clenched it into a fist and lowered it back down.
"That was...No...It couldn't have been..." X's stare went blank and lifeless. He had seen Zero die. There was nothing left of him in this world.
"...That...That had to have been an impostor..." X shook his head and tried to relax with a deep breath.
"What's going on here...? The data readings are similar to Zero's, but..."
"We'll...worry about this later Alia. We need to bring the Hunters back to base to get them repaired." X remarked, and began to turn around to face the other Reploids. Shina walked up to X with a few quick steps and inquired, "Are you alright?"
"...I'm fine." X averted his gaze from Shina's own and looked towards the sky. Shina closed her eyes and examined X's aura, finding that it was shaking only a tiny bit. But upon performing this examination, Shina found another source of power descending towards them to the north.
"Huh?" Shina perked her head up, and X caught wind of that and turned around. High wind pressure pushed against the ground and spread a cloud of dust and toxins in all directions, with X and Shina covering their faces as the one responsible stopped a foot above the ground.
The new presence was a Reploid with a large and imposing figure made almost entirely out of pure onyx metal, with just a bit of yellow and white to differentiate it's appearance. His body looked without flaw, and with hollow triangular eyes and a neutral face it was clear that the Reploid was dedicated only to one given task.
"So, Zero was here...I knew it." The Reploid's voice was deep and stoic, with a slight robotic tic to it.
"Who are you?!" X demanded without hesitation.
The Reploid's head let loose a loud creak as he bent it to face X, "You are...The Ultimate Robot...X."
"...You know who I am?"
"I am High-MAX...The Ultimate Reploid...And your superior..." The Reploid spoke, a tiny smirk appearing on his face for a moment, "I am investigating...The Zero Nightmare..."
"What did you say?! The Zero Nightmare?!" X exclaimed.
"You saw him...didn't you? What is your connection...?"
"Don't try and play dumb! You know what's going on here!" X aimed his right buster and gripped onto the elbow, charging a shot up while exclaiming, "I don't know where you came from, but we're taking you in for questioning!"
"I was warned of how dangerous you are...but all I see is a weakling. It was not my mission, but I shall dispose of you swiftly..." High-MAX's body released some steam as he began to parted his arms outward, only for his chest to be struck straight on by X's charged shot.
The Reploid flinched, and the impact left steam percolating from the skin for just a moment. High-MAX then pushed back upright, revealing that there wasn't even a dent in his systems.
"...Futile." High-MAX raised his right hand and unleashed a swarm of four electric orbs that homed in on X's location. Shina ran in front of him and blocked the attacks with a barrier of aura, but each strike pushed her back and eventually cracked the shield to pieces.
She whipped her pistols out and turned them into SMGs, assaulting High-MAX's chest with a bombardment of at least one-hundred bullets. High-MAX floated forward as slow as a normal tank, not even wincing from the flashes of light the bullets' impact caused.
Shina glanced down at her guns then stalled their fire with a flick of the wrist, flipping back over X as he drew the Z-Saber and leapt straight at High-MAX with a violent slash. The Reploid clamped his hands together and caught the blade with ease.
"...Futile."
X swung his other hand in an arch past High-MAX's hands and rammed the buster point-blank into his face, firing a charged shot right away. However, the energy recoiled into the buster and cracked it at the lip, then proceeded to fill with a thick plume of smoke. X widened his eyes and pulled his fried hand back, with High-MAX letting go of the blade a moment after.
X dropped but landed on a platform of aura Shina made for him, and without a moment's hesitation he put the Z-Saber on his back and lunged at High-MAX with a series of punches. He smashed into his chest with one-hundred percent of his strength channeled into each blow, but all he managed to do was wear down his knuckles.
X hung his hands at the hips as pain shot through his arms. High-MAX held his palms side-by-side before X's face and began charging electricity into a condensed blue and yellow orb.
"Death Ball..."
"Ghhh...!" X grit his teeth and tried to raise his buster up, but Shina foiled his bravado by dispelling the platform he was on and then firing a rocket straight at the Death Ball the moment it was lost. The two attacks collided and blew up, the smoke being sucked into a collapsing void of electricity. High-MAX then looked down at his two opponents and floated a bit back as X tried to sneak a charged shot at his face.
"These are the Reploids that defeated Sigma? Disappointing...It is not worth my time to crush Reploids that I have already far surpassed." High-MAX boasted quietly.
"We're just getting started!" Shina exclaimed, whipping a pair of rocket launchers out at her hips.
"I see no need to bother with you any further. We will be the ones to destroy the Zero Nightmare...Stay out of our way." High-MAX kicked his boosters into high gear and rocketed towards the sky, disappearing from sight in only five seconds.
"Wait!" X ran to the spot underneath where the strange Reploid was and swung an arm towards the air, then found his hand clenching into a shaking fist as his frustration reached a boiling point.
"Tsk...!" X smashed his fist out to the left and collapsed a ten foot tall pile of heavy junk with ease, growling out his frustrations to himself, "Zero Nightmare...? High-MAX...? What's going on around here?!"
"X..." Shina murmured in concern, unable to muster up any other words of encouragement. Then, with a couple timely beeps, Alia contacted the two of them with a rather frazzled tone.
"X! Shina! Something's going on in Abel City...!"
"Another Maverick attack?!" X exclaimed.
"No...Here, I'm sending you a direct broadcast of the footage now."
With quick thinking, Alia managed to hack into a nearby camera on the ground that by some miracle functioned just enough to serve her ends. Using it to flash a televised view of the center of Abel City, X and Shina observed as a group of Reploids stood around one that stood by themselves atop a pile of building rubble. This lone Reploid was a scientist, judging by his pure white lab coat, and with a metallic yellow tie buttoned to his chest he appeared to fancy himself a gentleman too. His head was quite oddly shaped, having a horizontal cylinder attached to the back of his skull and a smaller one of those dangling from the chin, representing a goatee. His eyes were shaped the same as High-MAX's, but were pure red and conjoined to some horned eyebrows.
It was probably unwise to make rash judgments based on appearance alone, but as X stared at the man through the monitor he couldn't help but feel his caution rising higher with every passing second.
"Attention all Reploids on Earth!" The Reploid spoke with a wise but powerful voice that demanded your attention, "I know these are chaotic times, and you may find it difficult to know who to trust. Though the Sigma Virus has vanished from the Earth, there was still outbreaks of Mavericks, some appearing as though they were operating in a trance-like state..."
"There is a reason behind these outbreaks. A new virus has entered our world, one that can affect and corrupt even Reploids, showing them dreams...No...Nightmares similar to what a human would see. Once infected by the Nightmare Virus, a Reploid becomes confused, or worst of all may malfunction or be deleted entirely."
The Reploid swung his fist up and yelled with all the pride of his people, "There have been many sacrifices in the aftermath of the Eurasia Incident, and our numbers are dwindling. We CANNOT stand by and let out kind go extinct by this new virus!"
The crowd started to erupt with applause, even though the speech had not been finished. The allure of the Reploid's words had already ensnared the hapless masses, shutting down their ability to even consider or suspect that something was off like X, Shina and Alia did.
"As of this moment, I have sent my trust team of eight investigators across the planet to hunt down the source of the Nightmare phenomena. My research has led me to discover...that the source of the virus is none other than the ghost of Zero, the ace Maverick Hunter!"
"No...no way!" X leaned forward and his eyes popped open into a stuttering stare, his rage welling up deep inside as the crowd of Reploids rallied with the man's discoveries like mindless sheep.
"Zero?! The Maverick Hunters are responsible for this, aren't they?! Down with the Maverick Hunters! Down with the Maverick Hunters!"
"BASTARD!" X punched at the screen but his fist passed right through it, and the hefty swing left him with a ragged breath.
"Calm down! All of you, CALM DOWN!" The man roared, and the crowd went eerily silent.
"The Maverick Hunters are NOT our enemy. That spectre...he returned to this world out of his sheer hatred for all humans and Reploids. But we can return him to the grave where he rightfully belongs! Now, I wish to call upon all Reploids across the world! Unite with me! Unite with the Nightmare Investigators! And together we shall delete Zero's ghost!"
"Delete Zero!"
"Delete Zero!"
"Delete Zero!"
"Delete Zero!"
X grit his teeth, but before he took another swing at the screen it was shut right off.
"X, calm down. This is not the time to let your rage guide your actions." Signas contacted the two with a gentle approach.
"This isn't right. They're treating Zero like he's an infection..." Shina murmured.
"That Reploid's up to something! He might be the one who created High-MAX!" X exclaimed.
"It's possible, but we have no evidence to go on at the moment...But still, I feel like I've seen that Reploid somewhere before."
"I know who he is...He's that scientist, Isoc." Alia remarked.
"Isoc...?" X had a moment of remembrance, "That's right! He's the one who was working with the government to try and eliminate the Sigma Virus!"
"...W-Wait, huh?" Shina stammered out all of a sudden. When X looked back at her, she realized that how odd her remark could be perceived and hastily murmured while glancing to the side, "S-So does that mean...we can trust him?"
"Come back to the base you two. We'll sort out the details there." Alia had the final say in what the two could do here, and after a few more seconds she warped everyone back to the HQ...
Next Time: The First Revenge