Previously on Mega Man X: Maverick Buster...
X had woken within Hunter Base to find that he was left with a note from the mysterious Reploid who rescued him. The "Sexy Reploid Thief" -as she called herself- warned X that the Maverick Virus hasn't disappeared just because Sigma's gone. And after filling Commander Signas in on what had happened to him, X was left within the repair wing to recover. After X had fully recovered, he and Alia were sent to track down the mysterious X-Hunters.
Meanwhile, the X-Hunters were using nanites to slowly rebuild and repair Zero. The nanites had apparantly been exposed to the Maverick Virus, which is what gave the X-Hunters hope that Zero would be revived as a Maverick! Fortunately -after a dream where he and X fought each other- Zero seemed perfectly normal when he awakened.
Now that Zero's awake, can he escape from the X-Hunters? Who is the "Sexy Reploid Thief?" Will X & Alia be able to defeat the Mavericks loyal to the X-Hunters? Can X & Zero be reunited at last? Find out next in Mega Man X: Maverick Buster!

Mega Man X: Maverick Buster
Season One: The Search for Zero

Episode 3 - Chapter Three: Shuffle & Deal in a Web

X & Alia soon arrive outside of what was left of Sigma's Palace, when X suddenly stood still as he looked at the slanted island...
"X? You OK?" Alia asked, getting the blue Reploid's attention.
"Yeah. I've just got this feeling that the X-Hunters are waiting for me in there..." X replied, before changing his right hand into his X Buster. "You'd better keep yourself armed while you're in there, Alia."
"Right." Alia then switched her right hand for a Buster similar to X's, before she and X ran towards the front door of Sigma's Fortress. When they reached the front door however, X put his hand out in front of Alia, telling her to stop. "What's wrong?"
"Now that I think about, I don't like the idea of the both of us going in there... I think I'd better search this place on my own."
"What? But X, my orders were to assist you! How can I do that when we're seperated?" This made X turn to Alia, and place his hands on her shoulders.
"You'll be guarding the entrance so I can have a safe exit. Besides..." X then looked into the dark ruins past the door. "...if Zero really is gone, I'm worried I'll lose another good friend if you go in there..." X then looked back at Alia, who seemed to understand. "...so I have to do this alone. I'm sorry, Alia..."
"No, it's okay. I understand. Good luck, X." After they gave each other a friendly smile, X re-armed himself and walked into the ruined palace.

Once X was gone from her sight, Alia started looking around while keeping a tight grip on her Buster, when she spotted a strange black device not far from the entrance...
"Layer?" She asked as she aimed her Buster at the device.
"*bzz* Yes Alia, what is it? *bzz*" Layer asked back via radio from Hunter Base.
"Do you think you could scan what I'm aiming at right now?" Asked Alia, with a serious look on her face. "I don't like the look of it..."
"*bzz* I'm on it. *bzz*" Layer replied, before a green grid-like hologram shot out from Alia's Buster, and started phasing through the device she was aiming at...

At that moment, X was sneaking through the halls filled with rubble and destroyed Mechaniloids. One Mechaniloid which was still functioning managed to fire at X, but the Maverick Hunter quickly evaded the shot! While he aimed at the Mechaniloid that shot at him, he quickly looked at the pile of rubble it was lying under.
"(I'd better not...)" He thought, as he lowered his Buster. "(I could cause a cave-in if I destroyed that one...)" As X continued deeper into the palace, he spotted some electricity crackling from recently defeated Mechaniloids, which made X a little nervous as he tightened his grip on the X Buster. "(I was right... I'm not alone in here...)" X then started aiming his Buster in different directions around him. "I know you're in here! Show yourself, X-Hunters!" Just then, a small card was thrown into one of the recently destroyed Mechaniloids. When X stepped closer to investigate, he noticed that the card was a Jack of Spades... when the card started flashing purple and beeping at the same time, making X's eyes widen in horror. Just as X jumped away from the card, it exploded, creating a huge hole in the ruins! This hole also caused water to start flowing into ruins, as a black Reploid with blue hair and a black top hat appeared before X.

"X-Hunters? That's not me, I'll say that much..." He said, making X aim at him.
"Who are you, and what are you doing in here?" Asked X, making the Reploid lean on a fragile pillar as the water level continued to rise.
"Name's Spider." He casually replied. "And I'm here to find what's left of your buddy Zero for my client." Spider than got a good look at X. "Although... since he's not here, I could probably take you out, and still get a decent amount of zenny..."
"Zero is here..." Said X, still aiming his Buster at Spider. "...but you're in over your head if you think that a Maverick like you is going to get away with this!" Spider responded to X's threat by throwing a card at him while sighing, but X shot the card, resulting in another explosion! When the smoke cleared, Spider was gone. "Grr... bounty hunters..." X quickly jumped up to a higher level above water, unaware that a shellfish-like Reploid was watching him from the recently created hole...
"Wheel Gator, I'm gonna need some backup for this..." He said.
"*bzz* And why's that, Bubble Crab? Are your precious bubbles not enough to keep those big bad Maverick Hunters away? *chuckle* *bzz*" Wheel Gator replied via radio, making Bubble Crab angry.
"Listen... I'm dealing with the same Reploid that defeated Sigma..." Said Bubble Crab, getting Wheel Gator's attention. "I think that if you & me gang up on him, we can bring him down with no problems!"
"*bzz* *sigh* All right, all right, I'm on my way... wuss. *bzz*" Wheel Gator replied, making Bubble Crab angry again as X disappeared from his sight...

A little later, X dashed into a room to avoid fire from Mechaniloids, when he saw a light shining from a screen at the end of the room.
"A computer terminal!" He exclaimed while approaching the screen, before he started typing on the keyboard below the screen. "Let's see... Where. Is. Maverick. Hunter. Zero?" The computer took a few seconds to compile an answer, but eventually, it showed the following data: Zero was killed during his & X's battle against Vile within this very palace. What was left of the legendary Maverick Hunter was taken by the X-Hunters in an effort to revive him as a Maverick. No further records exist. Seeing this information filled X with sadness and anger... until his communicator started beeping... "This is Mega Man X. Who's calling?"
"*bzz* X, get out of there, now! *bzz*" Alia shouted via radio, as she was still outside Sigma Palace. "I just had Layer scan this black device near the front door... it's a bomb!"
"What?!" Exclaimed X, obviously startled by the news of a bomb in the area.
"*bzz* Not only that X, but there are bombs all around the perimeter of Sigma's Palace... and they're all rigged to blow in less than ten minutes! Get out of there, X! *bzz*" X's eyes widened in horror when he saw that the way he came in was blocked by Mechaniloids using the rubble to block his exit!
"Darn!" He shouted, before getting in touch with Alia as he started running through the now waterlogged ruins. "Alia, get yourself clear of Sigma's Palace. *bzz*"
"But what about you, X?" Alia asked back, who was now expressing concern for her friend.
"*bzz* The exit's been blocked, but I think I can escape through an underwater passage." X replied as he reached a pool of rising water. "Relax, Alia. You won't lose me like I lost Zero..." With that, X dove down into the rising water, and started sinking deeper and deeper...

Just two minutes later, as X sank closer and closer to the bottom of Sigma's Palace, his foot was struck by what appeared to be a buzzsaw!
"Rrgh! Where did that come from?" X angrily asked as he pulled the saw out of his foot. Without warning, an alligator-shaped Reploid zoomed past X before revealing himself and his partner, who was a Reploid shellfish. "Wheel Gator! And Bubble Crab?"
"That's right, Maverick Hunter X..." Wheel Gator replied with a smirk on his face. "Did you find the computer room? *chuckle*" Hearing Wheel Gator's remark, X armed his Buster for battle.
"I expected Maverick behaviour from you, Wheel Gator..." He said, before turning his attention to the smaller Maverick in the room. "But Bubble Crab? Why?"
"Simply because the X-Hunters offered me a great deal of zenny, IF I helped them." Bubble Crab replied, confusing X before he remembered that he was on a clock... "Granted, they haven't paid me yet. But-"
"As much as I'd like some answers from you two, I don't have time to talk..." He told both Mavericks. But just as he jumped down towards the underwater exit, Bubble Crab shot X with some strange-coloured bubbles!
"You DARE to inturrupt one of my financial rants?! That tears it!" Bubble Crab yelled as X landed on the other side of the room. "Only two of us can make it out of this self-destructive palace..."
"...and it's not gonna be you, Maverick Hunter! Spin Wheel!" Added Wheel Gator, as he threw the same kind of buzzsaw at X, but the Maverick Hunter jumped to avoid it, and fired rapid shots at Wheel Gator.

While Wheel Gator blocked X's attacks, Bubble Crab swam towards X with anger in his eyes.
"Bubble Splash!" He yelled as a large bubble formed around him, which took all of X's shots before he slashed at X's chest, knocking him away from the exit! "Now's your chance, Wheel Gator!"
"Spin Wheel!" Shouted Wheel Gator, as he threw another buzzsaw at X before turning to Bubble Crab. "And FYI, you don't have to tell me when to attack. I know when I have to attack!"
"You say that, but when I tell you where to aim, you always miss!" Bubble Crab replied, just before X jumped out of the path of Wheel Gator's Spin Wheel. Both Mavericks saw this, then looked at each other in anger. "You see? You missed again!"
"Well, MAYBE if you'd used your Bubble Splash to distract the runt, I would've had him this time!" Yelled Wheel Gator.
"Yeah. And I could've taken him out while you were busy missing!" Bubble Crab replied, while both Mavericks were unaware of X slowly making towards the exit.
"How 'bout you & me have some... close-combat practice?" Asked Wheel Gator, as he let one of his Spin Wheels get close to Bubble Crab's forehead.
"Dammit, Wheel Gator! You know that I'm weak to your Spin Wheels!" Just as Bubble Crab swam away from Wheel Gator, he noticed something... "Hey... where'd the Maverick Hunter go?"

While Wheel Gator & Bubble Crab were busy arguing, X managed to escape from Sigma's Palace with less than five minutes to spare, when he saw a light shining in front of him...
"A light? Down here?" He asked before running towards the light. Seconds later, he saw the familiar sight of a Light Capsule. "Another Light Capsule? But I thought I found all of them..." Detecting X's presence, the Light Capsule opened up, and started projecting a hologram of Dr. Light himself. "Dr. Light..."
"X... if you are receiving this message, then I fear you are in the middle of another difficult battle." The Light hologram told X. "If you step into this capsule, I will give you the ability to fire btwo/b Charge Shots at once. Please... step into the capsule, X..." Hearing his creator call out to him, X stepped into the Light Capsule, which closed on him once he was inside. After a few seconds of different lights flying around the capsule, it opened up, and X's hands & arms looked different; his arms were once again white, but his hands were now red. "Good luck to you, X. And be careful..." As the Light Capsule closed again, X had a good look at his hands... before clenching them into fists when he heard Wheel Gator & Bubble Crab arguing again as they swam out of Sigma's Palace.

"Ah-ha! There he is!" Exclaimed Bubble Crab, as the two swam towards the Maverick Hunter. Little did they know that X was building up energy, as he slowly changed his new hands into Busters...
"You're not gettin' away this time!" Wheel Gator pointed out as he revealed another Spin Wheel in his right hand. "Spin Wheel!" The instant Wheel Gator threw his Spin Wheel, X fired a Charge Shot at the Spin Wheel, quickly followed by a second Charge Shot aimed at Wheel Gator. X's first Charge Shot destroyed the Spin Wheel, while his second Charge Shot managed to paralyze Wheel Gator! "W-w-what?" X took this opportunity to jump up to Wheel Gator and place his hand on the Maverick's head, which let him absorb an attack from Wheel Gator.
"You left me no choice, Maverick!" X warned as his armor changed blue-and-cyan to green-and-white, while a Spin Wheel appeared in his right hand moments later, frightening Bubble Crab. "Spin Wheel!" After X threw the Spin Wheel at Bubble Crab, it sliced him half before X landed on the seafloor. As X touched what was left of Bubble Crab, he absorbed one of his attacks like he did with Wheel Gator. "As for you, Wheel Gator..." As X was building up energy again, his armor changed back to blue-and-cyan as he aimed both of his Busters at Wheel Gator. X fired one Charge Shot at Wheel Gator, which knocked him towards the exit of Sigma's Palace, but X's second Charge Shot blasted him inside. Seconds later, X started dashing away from Sigma's Palace, as it was now starting to explode! Once he was far enough away from the palace's interference, he teleported before the explosion could get him.

Meanwhile, Zero was using his Buster to shoot through Mechaniloids he could as he tried to escape from where he was being held. With some quick attacks, Zero even managed to take out one massive Mechaniloid that was over ten times his size!
"Heh... no Mechaniloid can beat me..." He thought out loud as dashed past a massive explosion he caused. "Still... I can't help but wonder if that was just a dream I had... or was it a vision of the future?"
"It wouldn't be the first time you've fought a Maverick Hunter, Zero..." Said a voice that made Zero stop, because he knew it all too well...
"That voice... it can't be!" Zero said as a large Reploid started walking towards him. Once the Reploid emerged from the shadows, Zero could definately recognize who it was; The bald head with pure blue eyes and the purple scars, the green chest armor, the saber attached to his waist, and the spikes around his feet. However, now he also a black cape with red lining. "S-Sigma?!"

END OF CHAPTER