"My name is Thomas Light. I am the researcher who designed and built Mega Man X…I granted X special powers that no other robot possesses. Utilizing his conscience, he is able to worry, think, and act entirely of his own accord. This means he is also imbued with the materials necessary to facilitate the evolution of robots in the same manner as life. It is an unfortunate fact that human life is short and fleeting. I fear that I will not be able to ensure the safety of the X Project. That is why I have decided to seal him away. Perhaps he will be discovered in the far flung future, and will fight valiantly to ensure the peace of all people. Yes, I firmly believe this will come to pass…But I am not without worry. I fear he will be swept up in the war we call progress. I urge the people of the future to remember that X is mine - nay - the world's hope." ~ Final Log, Year 20XX…
The video log is shut off on the holographic projector set up on a long, wooden table. The man who controls the projector sits at the north end of the table in a chair of his own design that connects life supporting fluids to his body via four ivory pipes wrapped around a rounded, snail-like backside. The man in question was very old, his face wrinkled and his beard as long as his face and as white as the purest snow. He wore a purple and red robe that made him look to be very wise, if the age alone did not project that image.
This man was Dr. Cain, a revolutionary scientist who helped bring forth a great advance in human society with his development of the Reploids. But he was getting very close to the end of his life, with him letting out a violent, ill cough that makes him drop the remote control that allowed him to use the projector. Once his cough was at an end, Dr. Cain furrowed his eyebrows a bit and said solemnly "…It's getting worse with every day now. I predict I only have a couple months left at this rate."
He then looked to the left at his shelves that were lined with toy robots, all of which he had built over the years and kept in a pristine condition, and stated in fond remembrance "Dr. Thomas Light…History may not remember you as well as it should, but if it wasn't for your developments I would not have survived this long…Though considering the state of the Reploids I made from your designs, I wonder if it was all worth it."
He then looked out towards the windows to the right, where the bright light of the setting sun peered in safely thanks to the way they were developed, stating in a regretful tone "I wonder who is to blame here for the Mavericks? The fool who thought he could replicate your designs…Or the fool who unleashed the virus into the world…" After a few seconds, Dr. Cain then said "Heh…Here I am, speaking as though a long dead man is in my room listening…I suppose that's just my senility."
Cain's introspective conversation is swiftly interrupted by the sudden sound of an explosion very close by that rocks the building Cain is in. He looks out and sees that what appears to be a blast from a missile approaching where he's at. He barely seemed phased though, and he tapped a button on the right arm of his chair while stating "…So it seems fate has decided to kill my physical body now. I intended to use this later, but it seems I will have to now to prolong my life just a tiny bit longer…Thank you again, Dr. Light, and I promise I will keep the hope of the people protected just a little more…" He managed to press the button right as the explosion covers the building he was in, ending his life for certain…
…
It has been six months since the Maverick movement led by Sigma was put to an end by the brave efforts of X and Zero. But their victory came at two costs…Abel City suffered heavy damage and causalities thanks to Sigma's initial attack, with the worst of it being the demise of the Reploid's creator and establisher of the Maverick Hunters, Dr. Cain. The second cost was that in order for X to prevail, Zero had to sacrifice his life, his body and data buried in the sea as Sigma's base was blown apart.
However, while Sigma was put down, his rebellion lived on through other Mavericks, whose numbers were large enough that they were able to create a group that labeled themselves the X-Hunters, making it obvious that their goal is to take down X and avenge Sigma. The Maverick Hunters have been kept incredibly busy and stretched thin across the world in their war against the X-Hunters, but even with all the causalities on both sides the X-Hunters' leaders have not yet been revealed…However, the research into their activities has led to the discovery of a facility where the X-Hunter plan to create giant Mechaniloids for their army. Worried that these could turn the tide of the war, the Maverick Hunters are ready to send X to dismantle their facility…But with Zero's death riding on his mind, is X himself prepared to strike at the heart of the X-Hunters' operations?"
Mewmaster93 Presents…An Unofficial Continuation of Inafune's Maverick Hunter X Series…
Mega Man X: Maverick Hunter X2
Chapter 1: The X-Hunters
Month X, Day XX, Year 21XX; Maverick Hunter Base…
There is a desolated city ruined by a Maverick attack. Fires are burning in the wreckage of technologically advanced buildings, and standard cyclops-eyed green Mavericks wandering around with arm cannons raised as they search the area for any possible survivors. Their visors allowed them to see through the smoke raising out of the crackling flames, and they identified at least one-thousand casualties from the initial destruction of the building alone. Over half of the victims were once fellow Reploids, but the Mavericks didn't care about them now that their cause was clear.
As the Mavericks made it to the center of the wreckage, one detected an energy signature and gestured his left hand out beside his head to order at least three of his brethren to go out while the other four continue on ahead. With the groups split, we focus on the three going after the energy signature, which appeared to be mobile as it quickly escaped the sights of the three Mavericks. Pausing in confusion, the Mavericks looked around to redetect the energy signature.
It's not very long though until the sound of something charging up with energy whirs in their ears, and one of them divert their attention towards the wreckage to the upper right. This would prove to be his undoing, as he is quickly taken out by a large, single red shot of energy. The shot takes out the Maverick and creates an explosion against the ground that's just big enough to knock his two partners back.
One Maverick is knocked back into a sharp protrusion of metallic debris that tears into his chest and takes out the main circuitry, rendering the Maverick limp as sparks fly out of it's open chest. The other Maverick lands on the back of it's legs, damaged but still able to pull itself up after grabbing briefly onto it's right knee. The lone Maverick looks where the attack was fired at and sees a tiny crater and some smoke rising out of it. Detecting the energy signature from before, the Maverick looks up and points his gun to fire a small energy bullet from his gun.
The bullet punches a hole through the smoke and heads towards a shadowy figure atop a slanted metal beam. The figure leaps off and avoids the shot, and the Maverick quickly cocks it's gun and steps back towards a wall with a small broken window behind him. The Maverick sees the figure from before sprint across the ground in a flash and he quickly fires two bullets to try and hit them. The figure sprints again, but this time he past the right side of the Maverick's body.
The Maverick tensely holds onto his gun as he leans back against the wall, and he had no idea at this point where the figure was. Little did he know that his desperate act of looking back and forth would prove to be in vain as the person he was looking for was standing right behind him, holding his rounded blue arm cannon through the broken window to prepare and finish the Maverick off. It only takes a few seconds for him to fire a shot, and in another part of the ruins the other four Mavericks hear the destruction of their last comrade as they themselves stand in front of a very damaged but still alive generic Reploid.
The four Mavericks look towards the area the sound came from, but then decide to focus entirely on the surviving Reploid. As the leader of the squad bends down ready to pick the Reploid up, another red energy shot is fired out behind him, taking out two of his comrades instantly with a straightforward blast. The remaining Maverick sans the leader takes out his gun and rapidly fires energy shots towards where the red blast came from, but the figure who fired it off begins to run towards him, moving left and right to avoid the bullets until he can roll underneath the shots and aim his arm cannon at the Maverick as he puts himself in a kneeling pose
One pellet-sized attack was fired from the arm cannon, and it cleanly punctures through the head of the Maverick. The attack takes out the central processor of the Maverick and causes it to destabilize, and as it falls back it only takes a few moments for it to explode. It was then that it was clear who this figure was. It was a sleek blue human-sized robot with armored feet, a section segmented chest plate, a helmet with light-colored sharp ridges and a red triangular-like crystal on the forehead of it, and a rounded arm cannon with a glowing red inside. The robot's face looked like a human, though with green eyes instead of any of the standard colors one would have.
This robot's name is X, and he is the famous Maverick Hunter who defeated the rebellious Sigma. But right now he's reached a bit of a crisis in this mission of his, as the last remaining Maverick has picked up the Reploid and placed his gun against their head while locking the other arm around their neck. The Maverick states coldly "I'll shoot this Reploid if you don't stop, X." X, with arm cannon lined up perfectly with the Maverick's head, hesitates once the hostage is put into the equation.
Keeping the arm cannon in front of his face, X proclaims "Let him go and surrender! You have no hope of escaping, Maverick!" "I'll be satisfied knowing there were no survivors. But can you handle another lost life on your record, X?" The Maverick stated before placing the gun right against the Reploid's head. The words of the Maverick affect X a bit, but he still held the arm cannon and proclaimed "I said let him go! This is your last warning!"
Suddenly, the Reploid fights against the Maverick's grasp and swings his right arm up to try and grab hold of the gun. The Reploid struggles with the Maverick visibly while stating weakly "T-Take the shot X! Don't let him escape! H-He has the data needed to…complete a dangerous weapon!" Watching the Reploid struggle to hold on to the gun, however, makes X suddenly freeze up in immense hesitation.
He is reminded of events from six months back, when his comrade and trusted friend Zero was latched onto the back of a Ride Armor piloted by the rogue Maverick Hunter Vile, his body radiating with his own energy as he prepared to put an end to Vile in a single self-destruct. As Vile's Ride Armor shook back and forth to get rid of Zero, X hears Zero's words echo in his mind "X! There's nothing more you can do! It's over!"
Zero then detonates himself to take out Vile's Ride Armor, while at the same time a gunshot can be heard coming from reality, bringing X out of his memories just in time to see that the Maverick had succeeded in winning the struggle, using his gun to shoot the Reploid through the head, and without the need for a hostage the Maverick lets go of the Reploid and raises both of his hands up while stating "Too late X…The data has been transferred to my leader."
As X looks down at the Reploid, he feels guilty for failing to react properly to the scenario, and he hangs his arms down while lifting himself off the ground as the area suddenly changes into a series of cybernetic squares, with the Mavericks and Reploids becoming wireframes that fade from view in a matter of seconds. Once everything was gone, X was left standing in a barely lit open room with his eyelids shut and his arm cannon transformed back into a regular, metallic hand. A stand rises up in front of him with a computer screen glowing bright red and the words "Exercise Failed" placed on it as a voice stated the same thing a moment later.
X promptly opens his eyelids and presses a button on the screen to put the stand away, stating to himself as he looks down at his right palm "I hesitated again…I keep remembering Zero's sacrifice every time I try to do this exercise." Looking at his right palm caused him to think about how, in his last moments, Zero gave X his blaster to use against Sigma. The blaster proved very useful, but it was just another reminder of the fact that Zero was dead…Though at the very least a part of him lived on through X, which at least made the robot feel somewhat better.
X sighed and lowered his arm, stating quietly "I have to stay focused…I'm about to go on another mission." Looking up, X only gets a moment to put on a serious expression before he is caught by surprised thanks to a voice coming from behind him "I should've known I'd find you here again, X." X turned around, and was greeted by a Reploid that was slightly taller than him. He had mostly black metal on his body, especially when it came to his armored boots and broad metallic shoulders, but there was some yellow stripes mixed in there to make him come across as both distinct and dutiful. The Reploid wore had a helmet that was shaped a bit like an officer's cap, but with metal that wrapped around his human-like face. The Reploid approached X and stopped a few feet away from him, and he placed his left fist against the plating extending from around his belted waist a moment later.
X raised a hand up and saluted, saying respectfully to the man "Officer Signas. What brings you here?" Signas calmly said to X with a half-smile on his face "At ease X, I just came here to let you know that it's almost time for you to be deployed to the X-Hunters' robot making facility…But it seems you already knew that and decided to get a warm-up in before you left. How did it go?" Signas' question made X lower his head a bit in shame, and Signas could read his distress well enough to say as he lifted his hand to his chin "Still not doing any better, huh?"
"No…" X quietly said, but he then lifted his head up and looked firmly at Signas before telling him "But it won't affect my performance. I'll go in, eliminate whatever super weapons the X-Hunter have created, and destroy the facility so they can't use it again." The way X showed a level-headed mind and focus towards the mission made it all the more difficult for Signas to say what he was going to next.
As he raised a hand to his chin, Signas told X regretfully "Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that thanks to some details we've gotten from our intel on the place, you're going to have to have someone accompany you on this mission." The news made X grimace for a moment in melancholy, but Signas told him to try and ease his concerns and make him understanding that he was on his side in this matter "I wish I could've objected to the request the Commander made X, but he did have a valid point here…The facility is much larger than anything you've had to deal with so far. It's best to have two hunters infiltrate the place and cover more ground so nothing slips by."
X was quiet for the moment, until Signas said to him after a momentary pause to gather his thoughts "X, it's been six months. I've done what I can to make sure you would only have to go on solo missions…But perhaps teaming up with someone will do you a lot of good." X considered Signas' words for a bit, and then proceeded to ask while looking him straight in the eyes "Who am I being partnered up with?"
Lowering his right arm in front of him, Signas presses a button on the cuff of his armor and summons forth a small wireframe hologram of a Reploid with green armor, two antennae on the sides of his helmet and a red light on top of it, and a rather relaxed smile on his yellow colored face. "You'll be working with Persius, leader of our Green Biker Unit. He is well-trained in riding all manner of Ride Bikes, but he is no slouch in ground combat either. I think the two of you will get along just fine." Signas explains before shutting off the hologram, leaving X to mumble out "Persius, huh? …Ok, I'm ready to begin the mission then, Officer Signas."
"Then head to the hangar. We'll be dropping you outside the facility on Ride Bikes via air carrier." Signas says, and with a nod of his head X said "Understood. I'll head there immediately." He then walked past Signas and went for the door out of the training room, which disappeared in a hexagonal pattern thanks to teleportation technology, and with the path clear X sprinted towards the hangar by going through the brightened hallways of the base. Signas turned towards the door and said "Good luck X…"
A couple hours later, we find a small, advanced carrier jet flying through the dark cloudy skies above what appeared to be a desolate rocky wasteland. The jet flew at a standard speed and was pretty high off the ground to avoid detection. In the back of the jet, X could be seen kneeling next to a futuristic bike with a single wheel at the front that was positioned sideways so it could activate a small pulse that allow it to hover off of the ground. The bike was built so that the pedals were placed against sides of the large engine, and the entire bike was colored blue, as expected of something that X rode personally.
X was busy checking the side of the machine for any defects in the engine, calibrating a few wires past the panel he opened up for a few seconds before he was satisfied with his work and shut the panel, standing up and saying to himself "All clear." Before he was could get on his Ride Bike though, X turned to the left and was greeted by the Reploid Signas told him about before, Persius, who looked exactly as the hologram described him as before. The Reploid walked towards X with his right hand raised and a smile on his face.
"So you're X. It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm…" "Persius, leader of the Green Biker Unit. Officer Signas told me a lot about you." X interrupted Persius and extended his right hand out to greet the Reploid properly, and with a surprised expression Persius shook hands with X and said "I'm honored that you know my name X, even if it was through another Reploid. I've also heard a lot of stories about what you've done for the Maverick Hunters, all of them praiseworthy."
Chuckling a bit in embarrassment, X says humbly "I've worked just as hard as everyone else. All that matters is stopping the Mavericks from causing trouble for the humans and Reploids." Persius and X let go of their handshake, with Persius laying a hand against his left hip before gesturing out the other and saying "I've heard plenty of stories about your humility as well. Glad to see they weren't falsified. Seriously X, it's an honor to be working with the hero who quashed Sigma and his rebellion…I'll try not to weigh you down."
"Don't worry about that. We're working together as equals here." X said with a comforting expression on his face, and Persius told him in an appreciative tone "Then the X-Hunters have plenty to worry about. We'll take this facility down and perhaps find out some information on their leaders within an hour." X nodded his head in agreement before all of a sudden a radio com activates within the jet, stating clearly to the two of them as they lift their heads up to listen "We're approaching enemy air space. Get on your Ride Bikes and prepare to drop!"
"That's our cue X. Lets go show the Mavericks we mean business!" Persius exclaimed with a fist pumped into the air beside himself before he ran to his own Ride Bike nearby, which was painted green with the engines having purple on them. Otherwise though the bike looked exactly the same in structure as X's own. Both hunters mounted their Ride Bikes and revved the engines by twisting the right handlebars, and once they positioned themselves towards the back of the jet a ramp descended downward.
The ground below was revealed along with a large, constantly active facility in the distance that was built into the mountains. There were some clear artillery turrets along the rooftops of the facility, and smog was jettisoned into the sky via the long, cybernetic chimneys. With the turbulence from this high elevation blowing right at them, X and Persius revved their engines one last time and then rode forth onto the ramp, launching themselves straight down towards the ground at high-speeds. Their descent is met with the facility launching a series of heat-seeking missiles towards them, but X and Persius are able to safely raise their arm cannons and fire them off at the missiles.
Well aimed shots allowed them to destroy the missiles by puncturing the caps and setting them off prematurely, creating explosions whose aftereffects the two hunters ride through before continuing their descent towards the ground. Before they land, the two hunters lift up on their bikes to level them so the gravity repelling of their front wheel can cushion the momentum of their rapid descent. Once at ground level the two ride off towards the facility, where the front walls open up with jointed arms lifting away chunks of rock so the laser turrets could start firing away at both hunters.
The air was filled with blue-green laser fire, but X kept a cool-head and arched his eyebrows before revving the engines of his Ride Bike and activating the boosters, both of which release a burst of blue light before propelling X forward. Persius on the other hand pops a wheelie on his Ride Bike, aiming himself for the slanted rock up ahead as the speed of his bike increased. It was a very risky move to make as it left him vulnerable to the lasers, but he just kept a confident smile on his face until the bike hit the rock at just the perfectly angle and launched both itself and it's rider high into the air.
"Woo-hoo!" Persius proclaimed as his bike flew right over all the lasers safely, and to cover the rest of the distance between here and the facility he activated his boosters to propel through the air, putting him right over X before he lands on the ground with a bit of skidding in the back as he tries to level himself and continue through the last stretch of ground. X was impressed with Persius' Ride Bike ability, but focused on that only for a moment as the entrance to the facility was rapidly approaching and a bipedal bulky green Maverick with heavy armor plating was standing in wait.
Persius swerved to the right so X could have a clear shot of the Maverick, and X promptly raised and charged his arm cannon until the barrel glowed bright red. A charged shot fired through the air pierces right through the center of the Maverick and takes it out as X applies the brakes of his Ride Bike and swerves it to the side as it stops ten feet away from the exploding Maverick, while Persius stops Ride Bike beside him, though he keeps his pointed forward. "Nice shot! Looks like the ride went off without a hitch." He said as he gets off his bike.
As X does the same he turns to Persius and states "That was a smart move to use that rock to get over the lasers. I'll have to try something like that if I get in the same situation." Persius gestures towards himself with one hand and says "Your praise is welcomed X. But now we need to decide how to tackle the base." He points to it with his right hand, and X turns to it to see that there were two metallic passages, one leading straight ahead and another going down.
"I'll cover the straightaway, you head into the basement and see if you can salvage some data. Keep your comm. link open at all times." X says with authority as he grabs onto the side of his arm cannon and looks towards the straight passage, Persius whips out his arm cannon and holds it out beside himself, stating in a humored tone "You do the same. Call if something is giving you and trouble." He then sprints for the lower path while X goes his own, the two making a safe infiltration into the base easily.
X sprinted through the facility with the help of his rocket propelled jet boots, keeping a focused mind on the obstacles ahead of him as his boots burned up the purple metal floors behind him. The first obstacle was a mechanical pillar that screwed down to block the way to the next corridor, but X just stopped his advance and aimed his arm cannon forward to fire away a few laser pellets at the top of the pillar, doing enough damage quickly to make the whole thing explode.
X then leaps through the explosion and rolls along the ground before kicking into a run, where he notices a few small two-legged Reploids with screwdriver noses minding their own business near some red creates filled with parts. But the moment they turned to face X they began firing at him with miniature turrets attached to the sides of their body. X took them out with a single pellet each while continuing to sprint forward.
Another pillar gets in his way soon after, but X has enough speed to simply jump forward, going into a tumble that takes him right underneath the falling pillar without fear while simultaneously aiming his arm cannon forward to blast down three more of those screwdriver Reploids. Once past these initial defenses, X stumbled past the rock walls of the facility and entered a more wide open area, where he caught the glimpse of something very worrying to the left. Assembled across hundreds of conveyor belts were the fully constructed left and right legs of what appeared to be a gigantic Mechaniloid.
After shooting down a couple of aerials enemies, X stepped back and leaned against a nearby purple metal wall, placing a hand on the right side of his helmet in order to activate the communicator, stating to the hunters on the other line "It's worse than the intel suggested. The X-Hunters are constructing an army of Mechaniloids. I've just caught a glimpse of the leg assembly line, but I imagine there's more further in." "I can back X up on that…I've just run into the torso production line down in the basement. They're carrying the parts to a room up ahead, I'll try and check it out." Persius says on the other line.
"Advance carefully you two. If the X-Hunters have assembled enough Mechaniloids even you might be in trouble, X." Signas advises from the other line, and X nodded his head and said "I'll meet up with Persius and assess the situation, but I imagine we should be prepared to set up a bomb to bury the place quickly?" "You assume correctly. Persius was given one before the mission began just in case. Keep him safe X." Signas says afterwards.
"Roger." X says, confirming his full understanding of the orders before he shut off communications and resumed his advance. He dropped down the platform he was on and landed on a conveyor belt that was in the middle of assembling the flying drones he encountered moments ago. As he kneeled down and moved along the conveyor belt a bit, X took aim at the first orange metal chamber that was in his way and charged up the arm cannon fully, firing off a shot that burned cleanly through the top of the chamber and destroyed it, which in turn had the effect of shutting down the conveyor belt.
Forced to move on his own again, X ran forward across the conveyor belt until he had to make a jump over a pile of malfunctioning robots, though before he made it over a claw latched itself around his waist and suspended him in place over the junk heap. X grunted a bit as he tried to pry the claw off of his body, but he had to be more concerned with the incoming wave of aerial drones a few seconds later. Before he took unnecessary damage, X converted his right arm into a cannon and slammed it against the joint of the claw, blasting right through it to break himself free but finding himself rapidly descending towards the junk pile afterwards.
With quick thinking, X takes aim at the wall in front of him and fires a charged shot, the recoil thrusting his arm upward but also making his body launch backwards to safety at the edge of the conveyor belt. He slides back a bit on the belt but recovers and quickly disposes of the drones with some well-aimed pellets, continuing on by leaping over the junk pile and landing on a dead end consisting of mint-green metal. By this point X was wise enough to look up and see a ladder leading to the next part of the facility, so he leaped up at his maximum height and grab the bottom ring, disposing of his arm cannon for the moment so he could hastily climb to the top.
There he was barely given a moment's respite as suddenly the orange metallic walls on both sides of this more confined space shake, both of them being pulled closer together by a drone at the very top of them all. X made the brave leap to the right wall and used the magnetic force available in his hand to hold onto the wall while he got his feet into position against it, looking up and judging the distance he had to climb before he released the magnetic force and leaped off of the wall to the opposite one.
He rapidly kicks off both walls to scale the passage, making it to the very top just as the way was sealed off behind him. He didn't see the need to take out the Reploid behind him and continued on his way through the facility, finding another ladder that brought him up to a more open hallway where a couple of those gigantic Mechaniloids were almost finished being constructed. Pausing for a moment and gritting his teeth, X said "I have to hurry" with urgency and sprinted on ahead until he found a glass pipe leading into the deeper recesses of the facility.
Jumping into the pipe without hesitation, X activated the comm. link and said "Persius, do you read? I'm dropping into the basement at this very moment." "Good timing then! I'm sorry to say I've run into a little resistance and require your assistance, X…" Persius said, and a crash could be heard in the background that suggested environmental destruction. "I'm on my way!" X said after widening his eyes in concern for his fellow hunter. He then dropped communications and held his hands above his helmet, grasping the barrel of his arm cannon and preparing a charged shot for whatever lies ahead.
Once X made it past the pipe, he dropped into a room with barely any lighting that was filled with half-built construction platforms suspended in the air by violet girders and broken orange ladders. Landing on the platform and keeping his charge going, X only had a few seconds to register the environment before the sound of more destruction made him swerve his body around 180 degrees and focus his arm cannon towards the 'resistance' that Persius mentioned.
Standing a towering four stories tall in this room was an even bigger version of the Mechaniloids being built in this facility. The Mechaniloid had a large rounded torso and a string of spheres acting as both the shoulders and arms with a spiked ball at the end for hands. The head of the Mechaniloid was screwed on tight and it had piercing half-circle yellow eyes that glowed through the dark and gave the Mechaniloid a sense of menace as it glared down at X and quickly swung one of it's spiked ball arms down at him.
X leaped backwards and landed on a platform one tier down behind him as the spiked ball crashed right through the platform and took down it and all the support columns together. While X stood on the platform he gauged where the enemy's weakness might be when Persius suddenly proclaimed from somewhere else in the room "X! I haven't been able to damage this Mechaniloid so far! I've tried attacking all parts of the body and legs, but nothing seems to work!" Catching the words of his hunter clearly, X murmurs to himself as the Mechaniloid prepares another attack "…Nothing works on the body or legs, huh?"
He then instantly determined how to defeat the Mechaniloid and leaped back again before the platform he was on was destroyed, this time firing off the charged shot he kept in his arm cannon at the torso of his foe to not only create an explosion big enough to obscure his movements, but to also propel himself back so he could thrust his legs back against the wall. While he had the time to do so, X not only charged up his arm cannon again but he also used his wall kick and magnetic force to repeatedly climb the wall.
Once he was at the highest possible point without touching the ceiling, X kicks straight off the wall and goes right for the Mechaniloid's head. He pulls back on his arm cannon and waits until he was right above the head, at which point he thrusts it down right on the very top of the head and lets loose the charged shot within. The blast of red energy burns a hole right through the head of the Mechaniloids and goes down into the torso, shooting out at the very bottom of it and connecting with the ground to create a small explosion.
X then uses the position his arm is in to convert the cannon back into a hand and quickly vault over the Mechaniloid, landing on the ground on the far left side of the room where Persius was standing safely at the door with eyes widened in awe of what X had just accomplished. As the Mechaniloid collapses forward without the ability to support itself, X says to Persius with a professional look in his eyes "Thanks for the hint Persius. I couldn't have done it without you."
X's humbleness was accompanied by the Mechaniloid's loud collapse against the ground while it was covered by a series of explosions that dismantled the body until there was not even a single bolt left. Persius chuckled and said to X "Heh, you could've done it without my help. I almost got myself killed there…" X laid a hand on Persius' right shoulder and told him "Don't worry about it. You survived, and that's all that matters. Now lets get the bomb set up and get out of here."
Persius nodded his head, and after X let go of him he ran to the center of the room and took out the collapsed bomb he had attached to his belt. Pressing down on the button atop it, the bomb expanded out until it was the size of a small Reploid. A countdown for two minutes starts ticking down, and Persius turns around so both him and X can go straight for the door out of this room. The two make a fast sprint through the basement of the facility, working in tandem to take down any drones that try to stop them while Persius keeps the timer up on a hologram before his visor.
The two hunters eventually make it back out of the facility close to their Ride Bikes. Quickly mounting them, they rode off away from the facility, putting quite a few miles between them and it so they don't even get caught a bit by the explosion that goes off a mere thirty seconds later. The large-scale explosion sends out a blinding light through the area and consumes the facility with a dome shaped blast of fire and raw energy, the explosion itself growing larger until it reaches it's maximum size and slowly fades out, though it does send out a shockwave across miles of the wasteland that kicks up wind towards X and Persius in the process of fading out. The two hunters had a well enough grip on their Ride Bikes to not be blown back.
Once the explosion is finished and the facility's destruction was ensured, X looked at Persius and said "Mission Accomplished. You did a great job Persius. I'm glad to have worked with you." X extended his arm out from the Ride Bike towards Persius so they perform a congratulatory shake, and Persius accepted it with a smile while saying "Likewise…One day we'll have to work together again. And considering the X-Hunters are still out there, that might happen pretty soon." Their celebration is cut short when their communicators activate, and X says to the hunters on the other line "We've finished up here. We're ready to be called back."
"Not so fast there X…We're still detecting a Maverick signal in the immediate area close to your location…No wait, three Mavericks? Seven? …What's going on here…Eleven Maverick signals have suddenly appeared on our radar near your current location. X, Persius, be on your guard." Signas warns with a concerned tone of voice, but immediately after he was done speaking Persius and X start to turn their heads around only for something to come through the air straight towards Persius from afar.
A spiked wheel, without warning, slices horizontally right through the center of Persius' body, taking out his arms at the elbows as well. Persius' expression freezes at one of utter shock while X looks on in abject disbelief as the upper half of his body is dropped to the ground and the spiked wheel boomerangs back through the air. X immediately gets off of his Ride Bike and goes to Persius' fallen body, which was lifeless as sparks shot out from the wiring at the bottom where he was cut.
X picks up the upper body in his arms and hoists it up, looking him straight in the eyes while stating in a panic "Persius! Persius, please respond!" Persius was unresponsive, his life ended in that very instant the wheel had struck him. With the situation reminding him of Zero's demise, X was frozen in place for a few seconds before a guttural, beastly voice calls out to him "Hahaha! I got his worthless partner! That was very satisfying!"
X turned to the left and saw the perpetrator responsible for Persius' demise. It was large green bipedal alligator Reploid with webbed feet, white metal hands, two orange spiked wheels around it's shoulders, spikes lined across it's long tail and backside, and a vicious grin on his reptilian snout. This mysterious Reploid was surrounded by seven others of various appearances, but they were too numerous to detail at this moment. Furious at Persius' demise, X exclaimed to the mysterious Reploid "How dare you! Who are you?!"
"You shouldn't be focused on these eight, Maverick Hunter X. Draw your attention to us, if you would." A Reploid with polite mannerisms addresses X, making the robot lift his head up to see three more Reploids riding through the air on small thin mechanical platforms. The Reploid who addressed him was a suave looking robot with primarily purple metal across his body. He had boots with spiked collared kneecaps and pointed extensions of metal around his waist that extends down past his kneecaps, each one containing three red lights. On his waist was the handle of a laser blade, and attached to his shoulders were two very broad plates that looked like the metal that extended from his waist. His eyes were devoid of any pupils, but he had a smirk on his face that showed a hint of happiness.
The Reploid to the right of him was the largest of the three, with a gigantic red torso that was barely supposed by his brown-yellow legs. His arms were heavily armored, with spikes on his knuckles, wrists and shoulders, and his blue neck was also heavily spiked. His face looked a lot like a pig's, complete with small rounded snout and bulky chin. His eyes were also devoid of pupils, but glowed a ferocious bright green. Attached to the back of his head was a spiked-ball carried around by a chain of small steel balls.
The third Reploid was the smallest of the bunch, but he wore a black cape around his body that only made it so his pointed red-blue feet and metallic, bearded golden face were visible, especially since his arms were folded within his cape and a metallic Russian-like cap was atop his head. There were eleven Reploids in total, and all of them could be considered Mavericks based on the emblem of Sigma they wore on their bodies. The middle Maverick who addressed X before says with a polite bow forward "It's an honor to meet the legendary Maverick Hunter face-to-face. I'm sure you have some idea of who we are by now…"
X, fighting against his desire to rip into the Mavericks for what they've done here, cools his head long enough to see reasoning and understand just who the eleven Mavericks were. "Y-You're the X-Hunters leaders, aren't you?" He stated. "An astute observation. I am Agile, and the powerful brute you see to the right of me is Violen…The short, wonderful genius to the left being Serges. Now, you might be wondering…Why would we suddenly ambush you like this?" Agile inquired while lifting his body up and wagging his right pointer finger in the air.
X grit his teeth and cautiously waited for a response, to which Agile responds to by suddenly holding his right hand up beside his head and stating "Why don't we show you?" In unison, the three leaders of the X-Hunters suddenly summon forth an energy sphere holding within them three parts of a single robot…The robot in question being one that is quite familiar to X. X let out a gasp of sheer disbelief as he recognize the parts as belonging to Zero. The head, the body and the legs were all gathered within those three spheres, all of them intact but surprisingly not put back together into a whole unit.
"Z-Z-Zero? How is this possible?" X stuttered out in surprise, and Serges explained in a quiet but semi-senile voice "Project Revitalization…It is something I myself came up with not long after you destroyed Sigma. We salvaged Zero's parts from the remains of Sigma's base and have thus far managed to make this much progress in rebuilding him. Our endgame is to rebuild Zero and turn him against you and the Maverick Hunters."
"Why would you do something like that?! Zero's not someone you can use as your pawn!" X exclaimed furiously, something that wasn't helped when Agile replied "Do you hate us for this? Then you have a chance to stop us from reassembling Zero. We've come to greet you with an ultimatum, X…We have taken over an island in the Eastern Hemisphere and set up bases across it, each one operated by the Mavericks you see below us. Inside of these bases houses a single laboratory where we'll be working on the final parts of Project Revitalization. If you wish to claim Zero's parts back, then find us in these laboratories and defeat us. But you will also have to deal with our eight Mavericks as well."
Gritting his teeth still, X inquired "Why are you telling me this? What is your end game, X-Hunters?!" "Now why would we spoil the fun of that by telling you? Run along now X, otherwise we'll all attack you here and now." Agile says, taunting X by waving his right hand forward. Before X made a foolish move, Signas calls in and stated "We shouldn't test them…We have no idea what they're capable of. I'm bringing you back to base X…You and Persius' remains." With the appearance of the X-Hunters and Zero's Parts burned into his mind, X is teleported back to the Maverick Hunter Base via a flash of light alongside the two Ride Bikes and Persius' mechanical corpse…
Next Time: The First Maverick