-Zero's Dilemma-
The Captain's Allegiance...
The Captain, one of Repliforce's elite commanders, individually capable of downing fifty soldiers with little more than a sidearm and their bare hands, was being cornered despite having numerical, tactical, and technological superiority. The Repliforce had a code for this, a Dangerous Anomaly, or in layman's terms, a ridiculously competent, walking, death machine.
"Impossible!" Captain cried in disbelief, firing all available weapons on his Ride Armor.
The battered and broken bodies of his men lay flat...and scattered across the floor.
"I'd like to think otherwise Cap," Zero retorted, slowly walking towards the Repliforce commander with his Saber extended.
"I agree," Layer followed, "it's really a shame to have to fight like this, didn't you also take an oath to fight Mavericks?"
"..." Captain halted his weapons systems and landed his ride armor in front of Zero.
"See, that wasn't so ha-," a sharp pain throbbed in Zero's chest, "Wha-?"
A 4-foot long energy blade from the Ride Armor was locked into the Maverick Hunter's chest.
"Sorry Zero," the Captain said apologetically, "but my new commander will give me my revenge."
"I'll kill you," a soft voice said from behind, "with my own hands!"
Layer discarded her saber and rushed at the Captain with a savage ferocity.
"Tch, just because you dealt with my men does not mean that you could deal with me," Captain shot back, "and without Zero, you have no chance of getting out of this unscathed."
The Captain activated his blaster cannon on the left and fired it at full power.
*BOOM!*
The wall before the Repliforce leader was reduced to dust.
"That all you've got?" the purple-haired Navigator challenged.
Layer stood fist to face with the Captain.
"How did you-?" the reploid said irritated, "Gah!"
Layer's punch knocked the veteran soldier seven feet away.
"Zero was the one who taught me," the Navigator said calmly.
"It's not enough huh? Dammit," the Captain cursed, "until next time then."
With a devilish grin, the Captain teleported away.
"He got away..." Layer whispered, "Zero!"
The red hunter was laying face first on the facility floor.
"I'm okay...mostly," the swordsman answered his Navigator as he clutched his sides, "that converter thing still in here?"
"Y-yes, it should still be straight ah-," the woman was cut off by a large explosion.
The facility was now displaying a wonderful view of the night sky, courtesy of a large explosion from within, Hunter and Navigator acknowledging the futility of continuing the search for the converter.
"Mission not accomplished," Zero sighed, "ow..."
"We need to get you back to base," Layer said with a commanding tone.
"But we could find a few clues before..." the Hunter attempted to resist.
"...no buts, we can leave that to the investigation teams," the Navigator countered, "do you have any idea how many Hunters it would take to do your workload?"
"..." the red warrior conceded, "All right then, beam us up."
The two were then engulfed in a bright light and vanished.
...Maverick Hunter HQ...
-Infirmary-
Ever since the Sigma Virus had been transported to the moon, the infirmary had been mostly empty, while this relieved some of the staff due to the excess workload in the past, it made them feel lax, so to their delight, at Zero's expense, one of the greatest Hunters popped in for treatment.
"Commander Zero," a medical reploid reported, "you've sustained some grave injuries, we're gonna run a few tests to see the extent of the damage."
"Meh, I've been through worse," Zero shrugged.
"Sir, the blade seems to have blown through both your armor and some of your important circuitry," the medic analyzed.
"I could tell that much with a fist-sized hole in my chest," the Hunter joked.
"Well, the problem sir is that your design being unique and a-all," the doctor fidgeted, "we're running low on your spares, in fact, we've been refurbishing some of your damaged armor with more modern materials and procedures."
"Whaddaya mean by that?" Zero said gravely.
"We can repair the damage, but you're gonna have to be more careful with your health because we just can't keep coming up with spares anymore, the end of the Sigma Virus really put a lot of arms manufacturers out of business," the medic answered.
The medic left Zero to rest, but the veteran Hunter was in a trance, counting the years that had gone by.
"Looks like they don't need me anymore huh?" the red Hunter asked himself.
"Must be some reason they don't make spare parts for me anymore," Zero worried.
"I'm not like X," the swordsman mused, "I don't have his level of adaptability, he can fit any parts in this day and age, I've always had to keep my own shelf in R&D."
*Door Opens*
"Hey Zero, you okay?" a familiar voice inquired.
"X?" the infirm Hunter snapped back to attention, "What're you doing out here?"
"Axl wanted to come too y'know," X explained, "good excuse to get off of paperwork for everyone y'know."
"That slacker," Zero realized that he hadn't seen Axl in days, "where is he anyway?"
"Hunter Base sent him to Giga City," the blue Hunter smiled as he remembered the old team, "help establish an outpost there and deputize some familiar faces."
"You mean Massimo right?" the red Hunter laughed, "'cuz I don't see the Hunters looking forward to Marino's record being dragged into the picture."
"Hey, we haven't visited the gang in a while, she might've had a change of heart," X was quick to defend the thief.
"You're probably right though, Cinnamon is practically a good influence on her," Zero replied with snark.
"Haha, great to see that you're in a mood for telling jokes," the veteran Hunter laughed at his partner.
"Hmmm," the blonde Hunter was lost in thought.
"..." X squinted his eyes, "Something's been bothering you Zero, I can tell."
"It's my armor, Doc says that they're running out of spares," the red swordsman replied, "next I'll be out of spare parts and be relegated to a desk job, if I'm lucky."
"C'mon Zero, we'll find a way through this, I'll have Alia get in touch with one of her old contacts, or maybe Professor Gaudile's Lab in Giga City," the blue-clad hunter countered.
"I sure hope so," Zero sighed.
-X leaves the room-
"X?" a purple-haired reploid called the commander's attention, "How is he?"
"Hey Layer," X waved at the navigator, "he's fine physically, but he's broken up about how 'outdated' he's starting to feel since we're running out of his spares."
"Oh my..." the swordswoman was stunned, ",but you don't have that problem X and you've been in operation almost as long as Zero has."
"Thing is," the blue bomber began, "Dr. Light built me up to be highly adaptable physically, Zero's creator designed him to have adaptability in the form of an advanced learning program, even better than my own. "
"..." Layer listened to the lecture attentively.
"Don't get me wrong though," X backtracked a bit, "Zero can copy enemy abilities into his software like I can, but not to my extent, whereas I can copy some of their attacks, but not within Zero's level of 'choreography'."
"I see," the woman placed a hand under her chin, "thank you for your time X."
"No trouble at all Layer," the veteran Hunter smiled, "where you heading out to now Layer?"
"I'm off to make a call to RayTech," the Navigator replied confidently.
-End-
AN: So, this is the 2nd chapter, hoping for some reviews, it is a rather underused pairing, and I started it because I realize that I haven't seen a new release for a Mega Man game in a while. Anyway, I have around two more intro chapters to write before I can kick start the main story.