A/N: Back to posting after a little break. I decided to charge ahead with MMX2 and make it a little bit more of a reimagined story rather than just ficlets. This may have been a terrible decision. You tell me!


In the following days - once X felt well enough - he requested that his memory be wiped of the eight Mavericks he defeated during the war. Though they followed Sigma, and despite the usefulness of their abilities, X still believed the officers he had slain deserved to be laid to rest. He did not forget that they once were his allies. The idea of holding onto their essence, as if some kind of trophy, went against his sense of honor.

He leaned back in his seat, careful not to detach any cables connecting him to Dr. Cain's computer. He looked over to the monitors, seeing readouts trickle down. Blueprints of Rolling Shield, Boomerang Cutter, Storm Tornado, and the more of his arsenal cycled by onto the screen as they loaded for analysis.

"I should be able to purge the data in a few minutes," Dr. Cain said, turning from a his control panel.

"Thank you for doing this again," X said.

The doctor nodded. "I admire your integrity. I'm not sure if anyone else could overcome the temptation to keep such power."

"After seeing what power did to Sigma, I can overcome it quite easily. Besides, the war is over now."

"Yes, and all thanks to you. I don't think the press will ever stay off my lawn," Dr. Cain said with a smile.

X's face fell. "I hope I'm not imposing too much. With headquarters in such a bad shape, I'm not sure where else to go right now."

Dr. Cain chuckled. "You should know better than to worry about that."

X smiled. His eyes drifted again to the monitor. He jolted when the last blueprint loaded. The sight of Zero's wireframe readout wrenched him.

Dr. Cain followed X's gaze. The doctor said softly, "Do you wish to remove his data, too?"

X continued to stare at the image. He then turned his head and glanced up at the ceiling. "I don't know," he breathed. "He deserves to rest, too, doesn't he?" He looked down at his buster arm. "But it's the only thing I have left of him."

Dr. Cain studied him, then said, "You don't have to decide right away. Maybe you should hang onto the data for now until you are ready to let him go."

"Yeah," X replied, his thoughts drifting off. He shut his eyes, remembering the last time he visited the lab. He then looked over to the empty lab table nearby. Zero sat with him there and watched over him when they removed Misty Scorpion and Tremor Longhorn's data from his memory. Most painful of all, he remembered Zero's affection towards him, and what he would not give to feel that soft peck on his head again.

He wiped one of his eyes with the back of his hand. He doubted whether he could ever delete the remainder of the only friend he ever had. Zero's data was no trophy- it was a keepsake.

On a clear day, X could view the Maverick Hunter headquarters tower from Dr. Cain's home. The pillar of cracked concrete and exposed steel sat against the sky as a looming reminder of the annihilation the world faced. As X feared, a gulf emerged between humans and Reploids, and many humans expressed dubiousness to downright anger at the Maverick Hunters for allowing Sigma to follow through with such a catastrophe.

He became acquainted with such strong emotions first hand. When they learned of X's recovery, the five members of the human oversight council for the Maverick Hunters requested a meeting with X. No, X thought. They did not request so much as insist that they speak with him. Reluctant to face the world and deal in politics, X thought to decline. Dr. Cain, however, persuaded him to hear what they had to say.

For lack of a suitable alternative, the council designated the Dr. Cain's home as the location- one of the few private residences in Abel City that remained still structurally sound. The living room served as their floor.

"You created him. You should have tested him more before releasing him into the world," one of the council members said, pointing as he leaned forward in a recliner.

"And I would have, had the people in this very room approved my request for an extension," Dr. Cain fired back. He brought a cup of tea to his lips.

"You had extensions. One more would not have prevented your obvious incompetence," another council member said. She paced the living room, her heels clacking on the stone floor.

Standing between the doctor and the council, X said, "You can't blame the doctor for this. No one could have predicted Sigma would turn out this way."

"Forgive me, but I have trouble believing that," the councilwoman said, pausing her stride. "I cannot believe that given all the attention and resources they could ever need, that the Maverick Hunters simply had no idea."

"Exactly," the councilman in the recliner said.

"Sigma corrupted anyone who could have blown the whistle," X replied.
"Everyone else feared him."

"And not one Hunter thought to speak out?" the councilwoman asked.

"To whom? With all due respect, the Maverick Hunters were the only authority that could have done something about it."

The councilwoman huffed, and the councilman leaned back in his seat.

X continued, "Sigma made his choices. He had the clout and the opportunity. But he also hosted malicious programming, which he tried to infect me with also. I resisted him, but I cannot say the same for any of the other officers who rebelled along with him."

Some of the council members gasped. Another councilman, older and grayer than the rest, crossed his arms and leaned himself against a wall nearby.

Next to him, a bespectacled councilman stepped forward and asked, "If he was infected with something, then where - or who- did he get it from?"

The question gave X pause. He hesitated to admit that he never considered the origin of Sigma's sickness until then.

He swallowed and said, "I'm not sure."

"Then it could have just as easily originated from Sigma himself," the councilwoman said. With a withering look toward Dr. Cain she said, "Because there was a mistake from the start!"

Dr. Cain set down his tea cup with a clatter. "Now, listen here! I am human, and thus I am capable of mistakes. I supervised Sigma's creation, yes. I gave him the attention and care as I would my own son. I was so proud when he dedicated himself to justice and became such an exceptional leader. The sorrow I feel now for his downfall is incomprehensible."

A grim silence hung in the air as the doctor continued, "However, Sigma would have been nothing like X if I denied him free will. And that, I'm afraid, I will not pretend to stand trial for. I am less so inclined if he did in fact contract a virus that broke down his sanity and pushed him to rebel."

The councilwoman crossed her arms. "Yet it was you who promised that Sigma was immune to any infection."

"Any known infection," Dr. Cain said.

Sitting on the armrest of a loveseat, the last councilman said, "Whatever the case, Sigma is not our problem now. Our primary concern is how we are going to restore a peacekeeping force. You could cut the tension in the city with a knife.

The gray man straightened from the wall and approached X. He said, "That's why we chose to meet here, isn't it?" Surprised by the older man, X tensed when he put a hand on X's shoulder. "We are in need a go-between, and here we have one who is uniquely qualified. You are not human, yet nor are you quite Reploid."

"Me?" X said.

"Indeed! You must carry on Sigma's mantle. You must be our liaison. You already have the admiration of your kind, and while the human population may not trust Reploids, I believe they will trust you. You defended us from a great evil, and no one will forget that."

The gray man turned to the other council members and said, "Unless there are any objections, I move to designate X as the new Commander of the Maverick Hunters."

"No objection," the seated councilmen answered.

The bespectacled councilman said, "None."

"I concur," the councilwoman said. "There's no one else."

"But-," X started, stunned by the commission.

"Come now," Dr. Cain said, waving his arm. "The boy's been through hell and back. We should not burden him further!"

"I am sensitive to that, but I'm afraid this is inarguable. X must obey," the gray man said.

"There's not anyone else? In all the region?" Dr. Cain pressed. As they continued to argue, X looked between the humans in the room. He took in the knitted brows, the tight lips, the crossed limbs. Collectively, they demonstrated a heavy unease that drew on his sympathy. He considered the consequences of inaction, and came to the grim conclusion that recovery would never occur if further clashes broke out. That the humans sought him out made perfect sense.

"No," X said, shaking his head. His voice interrupted the argument, and all present turned to him. "It's okay. I will do as ordered."

"Oh, X," Dr. Cain sighed, slumping.

The gray man smiled. "Very good. That settles it, then." He bowed his head. "Thank you for your time and your accommodations, Doctor. And X- headquarters will need your presence as soon as possible."

The state of Maverick Hunter headquarters stunned X as he toured the grounds. He learned that during the two months he spent recovering, the demand for aid overwhelmed Abel City. Many thousands of people and Reploids lost their homes and businesses. To deal with the demand, the remnant Hunters were pressed into opening headquarters to make room for the displaced population. They converted much of headquarters into makeshift shelters and food banks.

"Focus only on repairs that keep this place from falling down. Otherwise, we will do our best to make our guests as comfortable as possible until they can return to their homes in the city. And if I hear about any mistreatment, you can be sure I will correct the problem myself," X ordered. "In the meantime, we will commit as much as we can to cleaning up Abel City."

As far as administration, Dr. Cain's home became de facto headquarters while the original continued to shelter displaced people and Reploids. X preferred the arrangement, as he found the seclusion of Dr. Cain's lab comforting whenever he had a rare moment to spare between debriefings and resource management meetings. Though the human population remained wary of Reploids, X's focus on aiding the survivors did much to persuade them to accept the Maverick Hunters' help. The brewing animosity lessened, allowing X to deal with a more alarming problem.

Even without Sigma to lead them, pockets of Maverick activity persisted throughout the region. Though leftover violence was to be expected, X expected the frequency to dwindle over time. Instead, as the weeks went by, outbreaks continued unabated. In fact, they seemed to be getting worse as more and more Hunters - already weary from the war - returned from the field maimed or worse.

As weeks turned to months, and with little resources to both restore Abel City and put down Mavericks, X struggled to maintain the goodwill he enjoyed from the general populace. If he did not hear complaints about hunger, then it was the complaints about security failures, or vice versa.

Then the big one hit.

A report of a coordinated Maverick attack at a large factory came to X through a plucky young Hunter, clad in the brightest green armor X had ever seen. The Hunter escaped the calamity and rode through the night on his hoverbike to reach Dr. Cain's manor and deliver the news to X personally.

"I'm glad the Hunters still have dedicated soldiers like you," X said to the green Hunter. Gladdened by the praise, the Hunter thanked X robustly and saluted him.

Though he felt uneasy, X decided to spearhead the counterattack himself. Fed up with the ceaseless attacks, he needed to demonstrate that the Hunters were still in control. In addition, he saw an opportunity to find out how and why Maverick activity persisted.

"After I fetch my bike, will you lead me to the factory?" he asked the green Hunter.

"Yes, Commander!"

"Await me out front."

"Sir!"

Along the road, it was not long before X could hear the chaos miles before he could see it. The noise began as a low hum, but as they grew closer, the sounds of battle grew far more crisp and distinct. The sounds of bullets, explosions, and emergency sirens cut through the air. He grimaced when the stench of burning fuel walloped him. The combined sensations sickened him. Nearly six months passed since Sigma's destruction, but his memories of that time came roaring back as though the war never ended.

X and the green hunter made a sharp turn, and put their hoverbikes on course towards the factory entrance. Carved out of a mountainside, the factory's craggy exterior showed no obvious weaknesses where X could infiltrate. However, as they approached, X realized the entrance's large bay doors were open. He thought to signal them to stop so he could assess the surroundings for a trap.

Before he could motion to the green Hunter, a shot rang out from within the factory. A bullet hurdled past the entrance and sliced through the air along the road.

"Look out!" X shouted.

X looked beside him and, to his horror, the green Hunter began to swerve. The bullet punched a hole clean through his chest. The hoverbike banked sharply, then overturned, crashing and throwing the green Hunter's corpse even further along the road. X glanced behind him at the gruesome scene, then snapped forward, gritting his teeth and revving his hoverbike. In a blind rage, he pushed it to its maximum speed.

He yelled, using his voice to drown out the noise in his ears. As he passed the factory entrance, he leaped off of his bike. Like a missile, it slammed with full speed into the first Maverick it encountered - a bipedal mechaniloid, with dual cannons mounted along its center line. A fireball erupted from the impact, and nothing but the mechaniloid's legs stood intact.

Anger continued to boil within X as he charged through the factory, ensuring that he destroyed every Maverick in his way. For the sake of his fallen companion and Hunters like him, he wanted to ensure that none of their enemies escaped.

Now embroiled in the conflict and focused on his mission, X failed to notice the gazes tracking his every move...


AN: Moment of silence once again for green biker dude. RIP in pieces