III
After one month, Shift and Shatter were called up by Signas, as well as X and Zero. This was urgent.
"We've received reports that Sigma has shown signs of new activity," Signas said. "We need to look into it."
Shift stepped forward. He looked at Shatter and she nodded, signalling her willingness to help. "We will do it," he said.
Signas shook his head. "This mission is for X and Zero. You two have a different task that I will explain to you later."
He turned to X and Zero. "You two will report to an area near here in the city. Alia will explain the rest."
Shift folded his arms, plopped down and huffed. At this rate, he and Shatter would never be able to correct their mistake. Shatter sat beside him and looked into his eyes.
What's up?
I want to help X and Zero beat Sigma, but…
We still don't know how powerful Sigma's gotten since his release. Let's see what he's up to.
Shift looked at her and smiled. "Thanks, sis," he said.
Signas, looking bewildered, asked, "Is there something wrong?"
Shatter shook her head. "No."
Signas shrugged and continued conversing with X and Zero, explaining to them a few other things. They left. Signas turned to the twins.
"Your mission will probably be simple for you. There's a small robot making trouble for us in the ghetto. He is infected with the Sigma virus and a danger to all, having killed three humans. I want you to terminate him."
"Something I should probably warn you about before we go," Shift said, "Keep an eye on the one you call The Skiver. He seemed to be acting out of the ordinary when we passed by. He was talkin' to himself as if he had two personalities."
Signas nodded. "Will do. Now, go."
Shift and Shatter left. They thought about different strategies on the way to fight this robot, stopping only to acquire a map of the city to find their way around.
When they exited Maverick Hunter HQ, they were surprised to see the road utterly destroyed. They noticed a few robots wandering around and a Mettaur not ten feet away from their current position.
Suddenly a voice barged in. "H-hello? Shift? Shatter? Is this thing on?"
"Who's there?" the twins asked in unison.
"Oh! Good. My name's Ricardo," the deep voice said. "I'll be your navigator."
"OK, so we're straight, we only need to know when we can't see something," Shift said. "No useless babbling, OK, like telling us how to jump over holes and hit enemies."
Ricardo nodded. "OK. Now, what's in front of you is a…"
"I said don't report anything menial or obvious," Shift sternly interrupted. "We know what's in front of us."
"…OK…" Ricardo quietly mumbled.
Shatter blasted the rotund mettaur's shell. The missile deflected off the shell and into the air.
"Well, that didn't help…" Shatter commented.
Shift walked close to the little robot. Suddenly, he was popped by three quick shots, then the Mettaur slammed its' helmet down again to protect itself. Shift smirked as the yellow robot repeated the attack sequence. This time, he slashed through the Met as it popped its' head up, splitting the robot in two. It exploded.
"I forgot how to deal with those pests," Shift said as they walked on.
Shatter nodded. "As did I. Cryogenic freeze does a number on your memory circuits."
They walked on.
Suddenly, Ricardo jumped in. "Shift? Shatter? 'Round the cor…"
"Know what?" Shift said, intending to mouth him off again. He stepped around the corner and walked right into a tall purple robot with a bazooka on his shoulder.
Ricardo shakily whispered, "I have one word for you: Vile."
The purple robot turned around. The piercing red eyes of the maverick their navigator called Vile stared them down without moving. Shatter flinched back, preparing her gun for combat.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Shift said, jumping up.
Vile picked him up by the scruff of his armour. "You watch it, kid."
Vile tossed Shift aside and walked away. "Go cry to your mommy. The Mavericks are going to reign one day."
Shift got up. "Who the heck do you think you are?"
Vile snickered. "You don't know, do you? I'm going to be the one who kills X in the future, the one that makes him come under the glorious power of Sigma!"
Vile generated an energy blast. "Maybe it would be good to show you exactly what Sigma's like!"
He fired the energy blast at Shatter. She matched strength with him and split the blast in two, dissipating it.
She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "That's it?"
Vile grew angry. "Why won't you receive Sigma's blessing?"
Shift unsheathed his sword. "'Cause we know what Sigma is!"
Vile laughed. "You couldn't possibly know him! Sigma's older than you twerps!"
He fired a blast at Shift, but he slashed that in half as effortlessly as his sister had.
Vile grew angrier. "Dang it! How come Sigma's glory isn't passing to you!?" He prepared his cannon. "I guess I'm going to have to destroy you!"
Shift and Shatter prepared for battle. "Bring it on!"
X and Zero teleported in front of them. "Get out of here!"
"Wha!?" Shift shrieked. "Don't take a battle from me!!"
"Get out of the way, blue butthead!" Vile shouted. "Your little friend and I were having a good talk!"
"Shift, trust me," X said. "This guy's bad news!"
"But…" Shift whined.
Shatter stopped him. "We have to accept guidance from X 'cause he's lived in this era longer than us."
Shift swore, then turned and ran away from X and Zero. He realized his sister was right. He hated that, but he knew that it was for their benefit. They hadn't the knowledge of how to fight them.
Suddenly, Shatter screamed after him, "Missile heading for you!"
He quickly snapped his legs in a leaping motion to give him a little extra power. It wasn't enough. The missile crashed into his foot, exploding and destroying the appendage. He swore again, rolling on the ground. Shatter whisked him onto her shoulders and ran as fast as she could away. Shift made sure to defend his ride from the back as best he could with his sword.
They rounded a corner behind a building. Shatter radioed for help.
"You didn't tell me it was Vile!" she shouted when Signas' voice came on. "I thought you said it was a minor robot!"
"You ran into Vile!?" Signas exclaimed. "That can't be! He's dead!"
Shift laughed. "Apparently not, buck. He destroyed my foot. Can't walk. Can't escape."
"We'll get you back to camp," Signas said.
They stopped, then teleported into HQ.
"Well, that was a disaster," Shift said. He swore as he was let down. "I should have been more careful."
He limped to the repair docks assisted by Shatter. He was set up on a bed, and Lifesavor came to take a look at him. The robot was gruff, but he knew medicine. Shatter left her brother in his care and walked off to her room. She stretched and flopped on her bed. Staring at the ceiling, she contemplated the day's events.
"If we're to survive, we may as well have to let them see all we have," she mumbled. "Then they'll know how to bring our old technology up to par with this new stuff. Shift got owned out there."
A sharp pounding on the door interrupted her thoughts. She sat up and called the invitation.
Alia stormed in. "Why didn't you listen to your navigator??"
Shatter looked at her, then looked at the floor, not saying a word.
"You could've been killed out there, you know that? Why did your brother…" she stopped.
"Shut it." Shatter firmly replied. "We made a mistake. We know what we did wrong. I don't need to hear this."
Alia stumbled back. In her short time of knowing the little robot, she had never heard her speak so sternly.
"You must understand that this is a matter of international security," Alia informed.
Shatter nodded. "Yes, we know. I could put the blame on my brother, but I admit, I was a little cocky as well. I'm willing to go through your testing so you guys are completely aware of our powers. I think Shift will be as well."
"Shift has already confirmed his support," Alia said. "He's willing to do anything to get stronger to be able to kick Vile's butt."
Shatter stood up. "First, I want to meet Ricardo and apologize for the snappy attitude we had on the field."
"I thought so." Alia wrapped her arms around Shatter's shoulder and led her out. "Your brother said the same thing."
Moments later, the trio were standing in the control room. Alia called for Ricardo. Shift and Shatter, having met up in the lobby of the control room, stood together with the lead robot, intent on allowing Maverick Hunter headquarters to learn everything they could about them so they could be improved as required.
A second later, Ricardo descended on a wheelchair. He was a pale robot, made of yellow armour and three white stripes across each appendage. His black hair was in a messed-up frazzle, and his thick glasses were perched at an odd angle. He coughed, as if ill.
"Shift… Shatter…" Alia said. "This is Ricardo."
Shift and Shatter both gasped. The reploid was a mess! An arm was missing, a leg was mangled, and three large holes were visible on his chest.
"Ricardo! What happened?" Shift shrieked.
Shatter slapped her forehead with her hand and slowly shook the cranium she held out of disbelief.
Ricardo smiled. Despite his young appearance, his voice was quite raspy, and he spoke with a maturity that deceived even those who had known him since his creation. He began to tell his story.
"I was once a lowly farmer reploid. I was a rotor tiller model, used for tilling up the earth. I was ploughing one day alone, as usual, and suddenly a purple robot with a cannon built into his shoulder attacked me. He had no morals, no respect, no anything. He claimed to follow the 'world's saviour', someone he called Sigma.
"Anyways, he had no respect for life. He attacked the humans I worked for and killed them. I was helpless as he decapitated them right in front of my face. Being a newly-built robot, I didn't understand the value of life then, but something in my programming told me that this robot had committed a terrible crime, both upon me, and upon the earth.
"He had thought to pass the so-called blessing of Sigma on to me, but when he saw the state I was in, he figured I wouldn't be alive for much longer. He abandoned me, and went on to start whatever twisted revolution he concocted."
"A month later, just as I was contemplating self-destruction, Alia appeared. She was wandering around aimlessly, looking for some type of relief. She was headed where I was – nowhere fast. So, using her immense knowledge of programming and her limited construction skills, she constructed the shredded body you see before me now… but don't be fooled – the body I possess now hasn't always been like this. It was once a beautiful model, designed with flotation capabilities from an old, junkyard scrap robot she found, one with a domed, green body and what appeared to be radio-controlled arms."
"And two small spheres. Don't forget the spheres." Alia added.
"Right," Ricardo looked over at her. "The research crews are still doing research into what, exactly, those spheres are and what they're made of, as they're nigh indestructible. Right?"
Alia nodded. "They're really confused right now."
"Anyways," he continued, "we were walking along near Maverick HQ's airport, where we were met up with a different robot. It was a large robot, probably ten feet in height and with a wingspan nearly twice that. He proclaimed himself as Storm Eagle and proceeded to assault us with such ferocity I swear his circuits would've overloaded. Alia managed to escape, but my body became what it is today."
"When I went to repair him, he insisted that he be left as he was," Alia frowned. "I wasn't very impressed, but when I checked his programming I understood that his creator, a certain Dr. Keiji I., had built him to be a peaceful model, an-"
Shift yawned. "Can you speed this up? I need to get to upgrading."
"Shift!" Shatter snapped. She couldn't believe her brother.
Ricardo laughed. "Don't worry, Shatter. I was feeling like it was taking too long as well. However, I'm almost done. Basically, Signas picked us up and brought us to HQ, where I learned to be a decent navigator and Alia was finally able to put her skills to good use, in addition to becoming X and Zero's trusted navigator herself."
"That, as in our arrival, was about ten years ago, during the period where the X Hunters were attempting to kill X, and Sigma's second attack ended in failure."
"So, you're a farmer-turned-navigator," Shift summarized.
Shatter still couldn't get over Ricardo's appearance. "Whan an awful mess…"
Ricardo patted her on the shoulder. "I keep myself this way to remind myself of what I've survived. I'm not suffering in the least."
Shatter smiled. "Alright. I'll put it out of my mind."
Ricardo returned the grin and stepped back, eyeing the two young twins both with his kind, albeit damaged eyes.
"Now, we're going to send you through the Hunter's Training Program to better understand your construction," Ricardo directed. "We will test everything from your speed to your power, from your battle prowess to your physical structure. Even your unity will be tested."
Ricardo got serious. "Are you two ready to become full-fledged Maverick Hunters?"
Shift and Shatter replied militarily and in perfect synchronization…
"I am ready to join the Maverick Hunters in the fight against Sigma."