MEGA MAN X: THE REPLOID INDEPENDENCE DAY FILES

By Eric "Erico" Lawson

2009: Working the Holidays


Statue of Liberty
New York, New York
June 4th, 2123 C.E.
11:16 P.M.

Most Maverick Hunters didn't wear clothes, and that was because most were reploids who saw them as a useless add-on to their armor. Clothes could get caught on things. Clothes could catch fire. Clothes were also incredibly unnecessary for reploids, and in many cases, not an option. Armor recall, the ability to store their defensive plating, was one of the most expensive 'add-ons' available. Most factories weren't interested in luxury models.

Luckily for Zero Omega, he wasn't from any factory. Hazil and Old Doc Cain were both flummoxed on where exactly he'd come from, but the Crimson Hunter was willing to leave the issue lay. The past, he told himself, is never as important as the present. So there he stood, atop the green copper of Lady Liberty's flame with his brown overcoat tucked around him and his long blond braid whipping out behind. The wind was coming across the bay very strong tonight, which suited Zero just fine. Wind only made him feel alive.
His commlink chirped; incoming call. Zero blinked his green eyes, and a small window overlaid in the corner of his vision. He smiled to himself. X was calling.
He reached up and tapped an inlaid button in the side of his helmet. "Hey, X. What's the matter, too quiet down in Brazil? You had to call me?"

"The night's still young. Don't go relaxing just yet." Mega Man X admonished him. "To tell you the truth, Zero, I'm sick and tired of this bull. Every year, some idiot Maverick tries something to commemorate Sigma's First Uprising. It gets old."
"So what else is new?" Zero chuckled. "Relax, X. If anybody gives you trouble, kick 'em in the balls. They bring out a weapon, you blow their head off. You come across a few drunks blathering on, hand 'em over to the cops and let them sleep it off."
"Yeah, I guess. Take care, Zero. Remember, you're buying when we get back to base tomorrow morning."
"All right, X. Discom." His commlink shut off and Zero scanned New York again from the harbor.
"Nothing on the frequencies." He muttered to himself, thinking that this might end up being a quiet night after all...
And then an explosion rattled a Skyscraper and blew out all the windows on the 32nd floor.
"Spoke too soon." Zero growled, warping his overcoat away and marking the location.
A blur of red light took his place, and then streaked off towards the city.


Zero reformed outside the entrance of the now burning building, and quickly dashed to the side to avoid a chunk of falling rubble from above. "Jesus!"
"What are ya, crazy?" Someone shouted at him. Zero swiveled his head about and caught sight of a reploid in green and white armor ducking behind a vehicle. He had one arm converted into an older Mark 17 Buster, and a thin layer of a five o'clock shadow. On the side of his chevron chestplate was a police badge; Local authorities.
Zero quickly hopped over next to the man and ducked down. "What do we have here?"
The reploid took one quick look over the blond-haired warrior in red armor. "You a Maverick Hunter?"
"Zero Omega, Zero Unit."
The reploid whistled appreciatively. "Damn, you boys are quick. I haven't even had time to call in backup yet." He extended a hand. "Sergeant Wycost, MSWAT."
Maverick SWAT, Zero told himself. A step in between the regional Maverick Hunters and local law enforcement, MSWAT units only existed within the AmeriCanadian Alliance, and only within big cities like New York. The scars on his armor indicated Zero was dealing with a veteran, which was a surprise given the survival rates in their line of work.
Zero looked towards the building's entrance, and quickly picked up several Maverick mechaniloids moseying about inside. "What are they doing?"
"This building here's the branch headquarters for U.S. Robotics." Wycost grunted as another piece of rubble dented the car's roof only a foot in front of his face. "If I was a betting man, I'd put good money on the idea that they were gonna try and hack into the servers to get intel."
Zero's eyes darkened. "Well, that's just terrific. U.S. Robotics is pretty much all military models. They get their hands on that, we'll be looking at..."
"The Third Maverick Uprisin', yeh." Wycost spat on the ground. "Look, some of my boys had already gone inside without me. I've lost communication with 'em, and I'm afraid that they got wiped out in that explosion."
"And if they aren't dead already, they will be soon." Zero muttered. "Any idea on what's waiting inside?"
"My squad radioed in some mechaniloids, a handful of human types...and one Feraloid."
When it rains, it pours, Zero thought to himself. "I'll handle this. You hold back and call in those reinforcements."
"Yeah, like Hell!" Wycost protested. "Look, those are my guys trapped up in there," His New York drawl dragged the sound out to a theyauh, "And I'll be damned if some fancypants Maverick Hunter does all the work himself."
Zero clenched his right hand, and the arm flashed as it was replaced by a far more menacing Buster than the MSWAT Wycost had. He gave the reploid a cool stare. "Last chance to back out. You go in, don't expect me to cover your ass. I've got Mavericks to shut down."
"Wouldn't dream of it, goldilocks." Wycost countered, grinning.
Zero rolled his eyes. "Smartass." He dashed in towards the building entrance, and Wycost ran in after him.


The 33rd Floor

The MSWAT task force had responded quickly to the building's silent alarms, but Laser Lynx's motley band had been well prepared. Only two of the six had survived the room-clearing explosive trap, and the both of them were lying helplessly in stasis lock for self-repairs. She had thought that would be the end of their troubles, at least until they downloaded the production logs and made good their escape...
What she hadn't counted on was a dedicated veteran MSWAT officer that would give it his all...
Much less the dreaded Crimson Hunter, Zero himself.

Over the cries and screams and noise of plasma shots and explosions, Lynx and her bodyguards could make out a few strangled lines of dialogue. "He's coming, we can't hold him, we can't..."
The radio went to static.

Lynx whipped her weapon-equipped tail furiously behind her and paced the room again. She glanced over sharply to Mazo, who was at a computer station trying to break the access codes. "Hurry it up!" She snarled, baring her metallic fangs.
Mazo paused long enough to glance up at her incredulously. "You think this is easy, Laze? The encryption on this system's ridiculous!"
"Do what you can." Laser Lynx snapped. "I don't want to be around when Zero Omega shows up to wipe the floor with us."

The door to the wide office they'd commandeered smashed in, and the powerful boot that had kicked it in retracted down to the floor. Stunned, Laser Lynx stared as Zero Omega calmly stepped through the shattered portal.
"I think it's a little late for that." Zero said calmly, raising his Buster towards her. "Seeing as I'm already here."

Laser Lynx slowly moved about, matching the Crimson Hunter's stare. "Well, well, well. I didn't expect you so soon."
"What can I say?" Zero shrugged with a calculating smile. "I'm a man who likes to skip through to dessert. So what'll it be, pudding? You care to surrender and come peacefully, or am I going to have to get crazy?"
"You are crazy, if you think I'd surrender to you, Maverick Hunter!" Laser Lynx howled. She crouched forward and aimed her tail over her head, firing a short and powerful bolt of photonic energy.
Zero ducked to the side at the last moment, and the shot took a sizable chunk out of the hallway's wall behind him. He managed a momentary glance at the damage before looking back at her.
"Nice trick...You a new model reploid, then?"
"Tiger class Feraloid. Laser Lynx." The Maverick boasted proudly.
"I can see I'm going to have to pull that tail of yours." Zero remarked, dashing towards her and charging a supershot.
"Oh, you can try...but this kitty has CLAWS!" Laser Lynx lunged towards Zero as well, and Zero watched in horror as her already sharpened Tritanium claws suddenly sprouted elongated arcs of focused plasma energy.
Well, that's new... Zero curled into a tumble at the last moment, and spared himself a quick and likely painful gutting from the horizontal slash of her plasma claws. She turned about as he came up from his quick roll, and aimed with her tail. This time, the laser bolt burned into his back armor and depleted a good twelve percent of his I.O.E...Internal Operations Energy. A few more of those would finish him off, and those claws would do him in faster.

She yowled and closed in for the kill, and Zero reacted with honed instinct. Catching her by the wrists, he quickly spun on the floor again and threw her over his head. She screamed the entire way and impacted against the wall, leaving a sizable dent with a spiderweb of cracks in the drywall. It solved the immediate problem, and gave Zero a chance to consider his options.

There was only one option, the Crimson Hunter realized. The old Three-Hit-Combo, the parting gift from Serges during his reconstruction in the Second Uprising. Two supershots to stun and batter, and a thrown arc of green beam saber energy to finish the job. The problem was, it took a good long while to charge up...and that was time he didn't have.
Laser Lynx recovered and came after him again, firing off a barrage of bolts to keep him unbalanced while she closed the distance.
A blue sphere of plasma crashed into her chest armor and knocked her backwards. Zero glanced back to see Wycost standing in the ruined doorway of the room. The MSWAT officer gave the Maverick at the computer console a steady look, then fired off a shot in his direction. The Maverick yelped and dove for cover, and the uncharged shot blew his console apart in a shower of sparks.

"What took you so long?" Zero demanded.
"Look, some of us ain't exactly packin' dash boots, ya know?" Wycost rebuked him.
Laser Lynx came to her feet again, letting off another feral scream that rattled the corner office's windows.
Zero quickly came to a decision. "Keep her occupied!" He shouted behind him, charging towards the Maverick. Wycost's eyes goggled.
"Excuse me?"
Zero closed the gap, and the Maverick slashed at him. He caught her wrist. She flipped him around. He tried to recover. She knocked him to the floor. He raised his Buster up to fire, and she kicked him in the helmet hard enough to send him scattering across the floor, through the window...And out into the warm night air, screaming as he began to fall.

Triumphant, Laser Lynx turned towards Wycost. "And now, for you..."

"Oh, great." Wycost groaned. "Real nice plan there, Mister Maverick Hunter."

He fired wildly as she charged at him, putting his Buster through its paces. The floors, windows, and walls were soon covered in smoky, charred spots where his missed shots had impacted, and still she kept coming. He kept firing right until she knocked him down and pinned him to the floor, forcing her legs on his and one hand keeping his Buster pointed far, far away from her face.
The other claw began its descent down towards Wycost's face, and he quickly raised his only free hand to stop it. It soon became a tug of war...Lynx's claw struggling to inch towards his face, and the vital circuitry inside his helmeted metallic skull, and Wycost's hand on her wrist, trying vainly to keep the more muscular and militaristic Feraloid from ending his life.
"Just give up already." She taunted him, flashing her perfect fangs. "You can't win. Today is the Fifth Anniversary of our Lord Sigma's declaration of war on humanity! Mavericks all over the world are invincible underneath His banner!"
"Lady, you got problems." Wycost grit his teeth and struggled harder.
"So do you." She countered, lifting her tail over her shoulder. The barrel of the laser cannon pointed directly between his eyes. "You're about to have a lobotomy."

The noise of a laser discharge never came, however. It was the sound of unbridled plasma fury that shook the room again, and Laser Lynx spasmed in sudden pain and surprise. She went rigid, then still...
And when her body collapsed beside the now freed Wycost, the MSWAT officer realized that two supershots and a more focused blast of cutting plasma had burned through her back armor and her artificial spinal column, killing her instantly.
Standing at the edge of the broken window, Zero Omega calmly slipped his Z-Saber back into its recharging sheath and lowered his second Buster arm. "You all right?"
"Cut it a little close there, didn't ya?" Wycost complained, shoving the corpse away from him. He picked himself up and gave his head a good shake. "Christ on a cracker."

"Any kill you walk away from." Zero answered. "You didn't do too bad there, actually. I expected she'd punch your face in before I got my shots off."
Wycost walked over and stared up at Zero. It wasn't hard to do, given that the six and a half foot tall Maverick Hunter dwarfed the stocky trooper by nearly seven inches. "Well, boo frickin' hoo hoo. You got some brass ones, lettin' yourself get thrown out of that window just to keep her from paying attention to you."

In the background, the Maverick lieutenant called Mazo slowly crept towards the door, hoping to get away. Without looking, Wycost pointed his Buster behind him and slammed a shot into the wall a foot away from the Maverick's face. Mazo let out a yelp and went stock still as Wycost turned his head about. "Did I say you could leave, you piece of garbage? You just sit the freak down whiles I finish my discussion here!"
Zero smiled again. "You've got skills, bub. You've also got a lot of attitude."
"Comes with the territory." Wycost shrugged. "In the Maverick SWAT, we ain't got all your fancy gadgets and superpowered weapons. We got what we got, and the rest we make up with in guts." He poked Zero in the chest. "Remember that the next time you feel like showing off."

"Fair enough." Zero replied honestly. "You ever consider joining up with the Hunters? I think with the right equipment, you'd make a Hell of an impact."
"What, and leave all this behind?" Wycost joked. He lifted up his Buster again and fired a second warning shot, three feet to the right of his first one where Mazo had crept to. Again, the Maverick screamed like a woman. "Hey! You got a learning disorder or something?" He sighed and looked back to Zero. "Every frickin' day, somebody's trying to bust my balls. So, thanks, but no thanks. I like it fine here. Besides, I've got a few thousand credits in my pension that'd go to waste if I bailed now."

"All right. You ever change your mind, though, the offer's on the table." Zero extended his hand.
Wycost considered it, then shook it. "Yeah, sure."
"You think you can handle things from here, Sergeant?"

"Yeah, now that backup's on the way. It's all just cleanup now. I expect you've got other places to be tonight."
"Story of my life." Zero chuckled. He turned around and jumped out of the hole in the window again, and allowed himself to fall towards the ground.
Wycost shook his head. "Man, what a freakin' showoff." He whirled about and started towards Mazo, who screamed again on reflex. "All right, Maverick! You can get those ears checked all you like down at the precinct!"


Zero warped into Central Park and took stock of his surroundings again. All things considered, it wasn't a bad night so far. A good fight every now and then, in opposition to X's thinking, helped to keep him well balanced.

His commlink went off. Dr. Cain this time.
"Yeah, Doc?"
"Just thought I'd check in on my two star Maverick Hunters. How are things in New York?"
"All quiet here." Zero answered.
"Oh, really?" Cain remarked curiously. "Our intel operators tell me there was a Maverick skirmish at the U.S. Robotics skyscraper there."
"Like I said, all quiet." Zero chuckled. "Relax, Doc. This is what I get paid to do. You might want to make a note in the Maverick logs, though. We've got a new model Feraloid to watch out for. Plasma claws, laser blaster in the tail..."
"That does sound nasty, all right." Cain admitted. "I'll take care of it."

Zero pondered things for a moment. "Oh, one last thing, Doc. Think you could mail off a set of the newest Dash Thruster modules to a Sergeant Wycost at the New York MSWAT Division?"
"Well, sure, but why?"

"Let's just call it payment...for services rendered." Zero smiled and cut off the link.

He started a lazy walk through the park, enjoying the evening.
Yes, sir.

Not a bad "Reploid Independence Day" after all.