Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Megaman X and Capcom would rip me a new one for even suggesting that I could own it.
Chapter 4: The H-Hunters Appear
Civitan Park
X and Alia had decided for their picnic to go to the nicest, cleanest park in Mega City, Civitan Park. The two of them in their human forms, found a nice spot under the shade of a large oak tree and Alia spread out a blanket and started unpacking the picnic supplies. Meanwhile X layed back and worried about how Zero and Axl were doing on their mission, feeling bad that while they were out doing dangerous work, he was out in the park relaxing and enjoying life. The spotter looked at the Blue Bomber and could his brow furrowed deep in thought and she had a pretty good idea what he was thinking about.
"Come on X, don't let it bother you too much, I'm sure Axl and Zero will manage just fine, they are two of our three best hunters," Alia said trying to improve X's spirits a little.
X looked over at Alia before sitting up with a small sigh.
"I guess your right, but I can only imagine how things will turn out if a fight breaks out," X said with a grin.
Alia finished getting everything unpacked and set out for them then moved over to sit beside her new boyfriend.
"What do you mean?" Alia asked.
"Zero will be all, I'm not afraid of you come on and attack me if you dare, his chest all puffed out and serious like and Axl will be floundering, trying to figure out what weapon to use while trying to avoid the enemy attacks that are sent his way and looking like a general clown." X said.
X knew that none of this was true, he just wanted to see Alia smile and hear her laugh. The image she got in her head based on what X said made her do those very things because it was actually humorous, especially his poor imitation of Zero.
"You have a beautiful laugh," X said never really noticing it before despite having heard laugh a number of times in the past.
"Thank you," she said blushing so red that she looked like a tomato.
"You can tell we're new to this relationship thing," the Azure Hunter said seemingly at random.
"How so?" Alia asked.
"Well, the only person I've ever had to trust is Zero, he has been with me since the start of all of this and all the two of us have ever known is fighting," X said.
The spotter stared at him intently wanting him to finish.
"As I've already told you my biggest goal is world peace, a world where reploids and humans can finally live together in harmony, as such I secluded myself from everyone except Zero and even Axl after we got on better terms, but you, I wanted to keep you away, didn't want you to get dragged to the depths of hell with me," X continued.
"You still haven't answered my question," Alia said.
X blushed a little feeling slightly embarrassed at what he was about to admit looking directly at the lady.
"Well, I've never really been in female company besides the few times I was around Iris when she was our spotter or when she was with Zero, the only company I'm really used to is Zero and Axl nowadays and well, they're guys," the Blue Bomber said.
"Even though Zero could be mistaken for a girl at times," Alia said jokingly.
"Oh that's just horrible, that's my best friend you're talking about," X said.
X tried to keep a stern stare on the spotter but finally he couldn't maintain his straight face and the two of them started laughing.
Bauldir Mine
Zero and Axl patrolled the seemingly empty mine. The two had been there for at least an hour and a half and hadn't seen or heard anything.
"Maybe Signas was wrong on this one Zero," Axl said quietly.
"No, they're here somewhere, I can feel it," Zero said.
The two continued quietly on until at last they heard voices echoing in the shaft.
"The master will be pleased," came an odd stern commanding type of voice.
"Quickly Gold Vallant, we must make haste before those accursed hunters show up," came a sultry seductive female voice.
"I agree, Black Sniper and Silver Gallant, you two will carry the cargo, the rest of you return to base and prepare for the next phase of the master's plan, and hopefully by then Red Blade will have taken care of our other little problem," Gold Vallant, the one with the commanding voice said.
Zero and Axl heard three teleport sounds as the others apparently left the mine.
"Okay Axl, let's go welcome our guests," Zero said.
The Crimson Killer and the younger reploid stepped out of the shaft they were in and came face to face with Black Sniper and Silver Gallant.
"Who are you?" Silver Gallant asked with uninterest in his voice.
"I am the one who is going to retire you and this my partner,"Zero said.
"Ahhh, Maverick Hunters Zero and Axl I presume," Black Sniper said.
The two put down the capsule like item they were carrying and faced the two hunters drawing their weapons.
"We have orders to eliminate you on sight," Silver Gallant said producing a large energy lance.
Black Sniper had vanished and Zero could only imagine where to as he drew the Z-Saber and charged Silver Gallant. The two engaged in a duel with the silver reploid proving to be a worthy adversary for the Red Death. As those two dueled it out Axl was avoiding shots from the hidden Black Sniper while he himself was trying to snipe the sniper. The only problem was he couldn't seem to locate him. Silver Gallant growing tired of what he perceived to be a mindless fight brought his right hand down hard on Zero and bashed the Crimson Killer in the head. The force of the hit caused Zero to fall forward and Silver Gallant brought his foot up hard and caught the blond haired reploid with a kick that sent him sprawling across the ground.
"Zero!" Axl called out turning his gaze toward the fallen Zero.
That was fatal for him because as soon as Axl broke concentration a bullet found its way into Axl's helmet crystal with such force it threw him to the floor as well and he landed beside Zero.
"Too easy," Silver Gallant said.
"I'm really disappointed. With all the hype behind these two hunters I expected an actual challenge," Black Sniper said.
"Let's finish them," Silver Gallant said.
However to their dismay and surprise the two unconscious hunters teleported out.
"How?" Silver Gallant questioned.
"It matters not, their time will come soon enough," Black Sniper said.
"Yes, yes I suppose it will my old friend," Silver Gallant said deciding to let the issue go.
Civitan Park
As X and Alia enjoyed their picnic and each other company the people started running around screaming in terror and fleeing, jolting them from their peace.
"That can't be good," X said.
That's when a giant red reploid the likes he had never seen before showed up. He was easily a good four to five feet taller than Zero and he had large spikes coming out of his elbows and knees and on his belt all the way around were different sabers of different types. The Blue Bomber and the spotter got to their feet.
"Who are you?" X asked putting himself in front of Alia.
"I am Red Blade and I have orders to execute you Megaman," the giant reploid said.
"X, you know you can't fight right now," Alia warned.
The Azure Hunter hesitated at hearing Alia's worried undertone. After fighting a brief inner struggle with himself X called on his armor.
"X, think of the patches Gate installed when he and Hydro repaired you, you can't fight right now, if you do one of the patches may fail," Alia said in a hurried tone trying to get X to reconsider.
Then with one fluid motion unseen by the untrained eye Red Blade grabbed two of his sabers and activated them flinging two beams of energy at the Blue Bomber. X grabbed Alia pulled her out of harms way. The spotter noticed this simple effort took a lot out of X and that alone told her that X wasn't anywhere near ready for combat.
"Alia run, as soon as you do evacuate the park so no one gets hurt, after you do contact me and I will pull out, don't worry, I won't fight him but if my strength can hold out I plan on at least giving him a run around," X said knowing what asking her to do right now was hard for her.
Alia struggled for a moment with herself and if she really wanted to leave X's side right. Finally realizing she would be more of a danger to him, she begrudgingly agreed, trusting the Blue Bomber to to do what he said and ran off.
"What do you want from me?" X asked stalling.
"Your utter and total destruction as ordered by my master," Red Blade replied.
"Why me?" X asked trying to buy the spotter and himself as much time as possible.
"It's not just you Megaman, it's your two friends as well," Red Blade said.
"Zero and Axl?" X questioned.
"By now they should be disposed of," Red Blade said trying to taunt X into attacking him.
"No, if anything they've eliminated whatever you set up for them," X said firmly, a hint of anger underlying his voice.
"X, all civilians are clear," Came Alia's voice.
Red Blade notice that X had gotten distracted by something and took advantage. He again threw the two energy beams from his sabers and this time they connected knocking X to the ground. X weakly and slowly got to his feet as Red Blade started to move toward him.
"Warning, patch XD4 has ripped, major energy drain, cannot contain, systems critical," X's internal systems warned.
X watched as Red Blade prepared for another attack on him, feeling his life literally draining out of him. He knew couldn't avoid or afford to get hit by another attack so he thought quickly.
"Well, this was a quaint little chat, lets not do it again," X said quickly teleporting out.
The Blue Bomber hated to run from a fight but in his current state, especially with a patch rip, he knew he didn't stand a chance against this Red Blade.
Maverick Hunter Headquarters: Medical Bay
After all of the hunters had managed to make it back to the headquarters, Alia went off to report to Signas what had occurred at the park knowing X was in capable hands with Hydro. While in for his repairs X explained to the medic about how he had come under attack by a Maverick known as Red Blade and how the patch had ripped. The Blue Bomber then asked to be updated on what happened to Zero and Axl. Hydro explained while she worked that the two had somehow teleported out of the mine while still unconscious. How they had managed to do it was a mystery to everyone and no one could come up with a possible explanation outside of dumb luck or some sort of freak accident. Hydro also explained that after the duo awoke they told her they had fought against two reploids named Silver Gallant and Black Sniper. When Hydro had finished bringing X up to date on his friends and fixing his other battle damage, Hydro went to work on his patch. Good thing for X, Gate had left instructions on repairing X's patches should something happen to them and with them the Medical Chief was able to get the one that ripped fixed before any real damage was caused.
When the repairs were done on him X left with a thanks to Hydro. The Blue Bomber decided to walk about the headquarters quietly to do some thinking. He found himself thinking about his fight with Red Blade and the second hand retelling Zero and Axl's encounter with Silver Gallant and Black Sniper. Three random reploids, two of which that had found something in Bauldir Mine, had been a match for the three of them. That alone troubled him and he didn't even know yet the full story of his friends encounter in the mine. After awhile and realizing that thinking on these recent events would get him nowhere right now he headed for his room in the Seventeenth Units quarters. Much to his surprise Alia was there waiting for him. As he walked in X knew he was in trouble. Alia glared at the blue reploid long and hard as he, trying to avoid her direct gaze opened up his capsule. He knew she was mad at him which made him realize he had to do something about this sooner rather than later. Not giving the spotter a chance to rebuke him he went to speak.
"Okay Alia, it's time I actually started the repair process," X said.
After a moment Alia let off a sigh and her face went soft and she nodded at the Azure Hunter, realizing that yelling at him or antagonizing him right now over what happened wouldn't help things. Getting into his capsule, X activated the appropriate and still working internal programs needed to repair himself.
"I am going to stay here for now if you don't mind," Alia said softly.
X smiled and nodded at her.
"Of course, I will feel better knowing you're right here with me," X said thankful he had managed to avoid her ire for now.
Alia watched as X closed his capsule and shut himself down so his systems could go to work. The spotter watched over him while he slept waiting for the okay from the systems to reactivate the reploid she had fallen in love with. After a day of the Azure Hunter being sealed in his capsule and no rest for Alia who took the time to catch up on reports, a flash went off at the computer terminal she was near stating his repairs were completed. Alia instead of waiting for his automatic reactivation systems to kick in walked over to X's capsule, opened it, and reactivated him. The Blue Bomber slowly stirred about at first but then came to his full senses.
"Part one is finished, my systems have done all they could. I am in a little better shape but they only fixed minor things. Now I just have to locate one of Light's capsules, can you scan the area for me and see if any new ones have shown up?" X asked.
Alia nodded and started the search knowing what energy signatures to look for. X stood behind the spotter watching her work. He also took notice of how tired she looked realizing she must have stayed with him the entire time and refused to rest herself while he got plenty of it. The Azure Hunter berated himself for asking her to do this right now.
"By the way, Signas asked me to inform you when you woke he wanted to see you, Zero, and Axl," Alia said tiredly.
X frowned a little not wanting to leave Alia right now. The spotter knew X probably saw how tired she was and would try to protest but she didn't want him to worry about her right now so she thought of a way to get him out for now.
"This will take a little while so you should probably go on ahead and take care of that," Alia said softly.
Slightly frustrated X listened to Alia and turned to leave.
"I will be back soon," the Blue Bomber said.
"I hope so," the spotter said lovingly.
After he left the room X contacted Zero and Axl and told them he was on his way to the Command Chamber. X figured the other two had most likely been informed of this meeting by now and didn't feel he needed to tell them. When X arrived at the Command Chamber he noticed his friends had beaten him there. With a nod at the three hunters Signas decided to get down to why he had called them for a meeting.
"We did a little digging on the group that attacked you three yesterday," Signas said.
"What did you find?" X asked.
"Not too much sadly, we found out they just recently appeared and some surviving witness accounts say they go by the Head Hunters, or H-Hunters for short," Signas replied.
"This is going to turn into a headache isn't it?" Axl asked looking between his two friends and the Commander.
"Unfortunately it would seem so," the Commander and Chief answered.
~A/N~
Another one bites the dust. R&R good or bad I don't care.