Chapter 7: Frightful Fowl of the Internet, Cyber Peacock
It had been a long few hours for X. Ever since the attack on that supply depot, Zero had been out of commission and he was forced to take up his slack in the field. He was sent all over the place to deal with miniature insurgencies that had broken out in the wake of Repliforce's rebellion. Some of these were formed by groups of Mavericks trying to take advantage of the chaos, others were created by simple Reploids standing in agreement of Repliforce's beliefs.
Thankfully, in the broadest sense of the term, X was only forced to arrest the Reploids instead of putting them down. Of course, if any of them were discovered to be infected with the Sigma Virus, then their lives would soon be cut short anyways. When it seemed like he would finally have a break from all this work, X immediately sprinted straight for Zero's room to see how his friend was doing.
But the moment he arrived there, he found his capsule to be open and Zero nowhere to be found. Leaning a hand against the door frame, X glanced back at a couple Hunters passing by and asked "Hey, have either of you seen Zero?" One of them stopped and inquired in a puzzled manner "You don't know? He got up a while ago and was immediately sent out on a mission."
"Really?" X was not too surprised to know that. Zero was always more of a go-getter than he was, so him going out the very moment he awoke was just an inevitability. As the Hunters who answered him went on their merry way, X leaned back against the door frame and laid a hand on his chest, taking a breather nice and slow.
"Take it easy out there Zero, you looked really out of it when Iris brought you back to base…" X recapped the state of his friend a few hours ago, how Iris was carrying him back on her shoulders with much difficulty. She had a hard time as well explaining what had happened, only managing to hand over the plate showing what Colonel had absconded off with, and just what the material known as "Bassnium" was capable of.
Yet as X reflected upon that name, he found his mind hurting, as though struggling to recall something about that material. His hand moved from the chest to his forehead, and he leaned his head back while remarking "Bassnium…Have I…heard that name somewhere before?" He eventually shook his head and murmured "I must be imagining things…"
He pulled away from the door frame and rubbed his helmet a little bit before laying the hand beside himself and looking forward, remarking in a tired tone "I've been working too hard lately…But so long as these rebellions are happening, I won't be able to stop." Closing his eyes and letting out a slow sigh, the Hunter pondered if even Repliforce being quelled would truly be enough to stop this madness.
"X! X! X!" A sharp squeal from his operator was more than enough to snap his thoughts away from such a dreadful idea, though it did leave what represented his heart in a state of shock for a moment. He quickly laid a hand on the side of his helmet and asked "W-What's up Double?"
"I just got some intel from Iris. Apparently, there's a lead on Repliforce's activities in a facility that simulates cyberspace. I passed the information up to command and they gave the go ahead for you to move out!"
"A lead huh? Alright, I'll head out right away!" X lowered his hand and broke into a sprint towards the teleporters, thinking along the way that Zero was to thank for finding this information. Boy, if only he knew…
Once on the teleportation device, X was sent off to his next destination. He had heard many tales of cyberspace from Alia when she was still around, but he never once expected to be able to visit it, especially not in regards to a mission. The transfer period between HQ and this facility seemed much longer than usual thanks to the anticipation he was feeling, but soon that time would pass and he would find himself in a place far more sublime than anything he had seen in a long while.
Right as he landed on a rigid metal floor, his mind was assaulted by a mass array of data flowing around him, it all lined up in streams that went left or right, pushing itself into massive walls of information on both sides of the area. Before him lied a corridor just big enough for him to run through, but it took a moment to register such a thing with all that X could see. For a moment, the Hunter was overtaken by a childish curiosity as he waved his hand at some of the data, only for it to pass right through him without doing a thing.
"Wow…" One word was all that was necessary to describe everything that X was feeling. He was still a part of reality, but it wouldn't be hard to believe that he wasn't with what he was bearing witness to.
"Are you seeing any of this Double?" X's inquiry would go unanswered, much to his surprise, and after a couple blinks he laid a hand on his helmet and asked with more worry "Double, are you there?! Respond!"
"Hahaha! So to think it would be YOU who would have chosen to trespass on my domain, Maverick Hunter X!" A suave but sinister voice echoed across the domain, and a moment later a perfectly clear screen flashed into view before X. The Hunter summoned his buster and turned it towards the screen, which portrayed a Reploid with a tall, lithe body, sharp pointed shoulder pads, a fowl-like face, and nine green "peacock feathers" attached to it's back. The Reploid stood in a room filled with fading and reappearing red hexagons that protected a giant, data filled core, and he waved a hand before his chin as though struck with a great intrigue.
"Who are you supposed to be?!" X forcefully inquired, and the robot replied hastily "Why, I am but the master of this cyberspace domain…Or, to be more accurate to the recent information flow, I am the CURRENT master, after the previous one suffered a…Shall we say, 'untimely' demise?"
The Reploid raised his brows and wiggled a finger against the side of his beak, as though imitating the twirl of a mustache he did not have. Looking upon X's impatient glare though, the Reploid snapped his fingers and remarked "Ah, but that's not enough for you is it? You Hunters usually require the names given to us by our 'handlers' as it were…Well, remember my name well, Maverick Hunter X, for I shall succeed where many have failed and truly vex your inferior mind. I am Cyber Peacock, the Commandant of Cyberspace!"
The Reploid swung his arm out with grandiose declaration, spreading his feathers with a deep and translucent glow. X looked at them and remarked with a firm glare "So you're a Maverick. Why have you hijacked this domain?!" Cyber Peacock sighed and started brushing the front of his chest, remarking in dismay "Honestly, can one truly be so single-minded? I'm not a Maverick you bipedal brute! I'm merely a…curator of curiosity, if you would."
"What?" X raised his brows and tilted his head, while the Reploid continued to explain "And lately I've found my curiosity being itched at by a rather…complex conundrum, to put in simple terms. You see, I've been keeping an eye on a certain flow of data that has come through here lately…Pertaining to you."
"Huh…? You have to be kidding, why me?"
"Rumor has it that your potential is unlimited. Now, I find that to be a laughable indictment personally…One can not truly have 'unlimited' anything. Not even that 'Bassnium' or whatever is capable of producing infinite energy. After all, as technology becomes more advanced it requires more energy output, thus-"
"Wait, you know about 'Bassnium'? So you're a member of Repliforce!"
Cyber Peacock's eyes widened in disgust and he swung his arm below his face while exclaiming "In league with those…Savages?! You wound my pride you primitive product! No, I simply know my facts because of my position!" The Reploid coughed and then calmly explained "Regardless, news must've spread forthright about my curiosity, as here you are, as though guided by fate itself!"
"…No, I'm just following a lead my friend gave me about Repliforce's activities." X dully remarked. Cyber Peacock was left in a disbelieving state of mind for a few seconds before he tried to save face with a composed boast of "A-Aha! It matters not, then that it still the guidance of fate that led you to me! My observances of such affairs tells me so!"
"So what do you want from me?" X quietly but impatiently inquired. Cyber Peacock grinned and replied "Why, to test you of course! I have prepared this domain with three obstacle courses suited to test your powers, each one more difficult than the last!"
"I have no intention of playing your game, Cyber Peacock!" X proclaimed with a serious, growling expression. The Reploid waved a finger before his closed-eyes and remarked "Tsk, tsk…I expected such behavior from you, and that's why I have prepared an…appropriate motivator, if you would."
He then swung his left arm out and took a bow as the camera panned towards the sight of Magma Dragoon trapped on a diamond shaped magnetic plate, and he was clearly unable to speak or move. X widened his eyes and declared the Hunter's name, then swung his buster at the screen and demanded to know "What did you do to him?!"
"I've merely set him up as the bait to lure the fish, if you would. He was caught snooping around here uninvited, but I figured that it would be a waste to destroy him when he would better serve his purpose as…Well, I already gave you the metaphor, even you must know what I'm getting at by now."
As X grit his teeth in anger, the Reploid told him bluntly "But if you clear my obstacle courses, then perhaps, just perhaps…I will let him go. After all, by then I shall get the data I need."
"You won't make use of it for long, because I will destroy you Cyber Peacock!" X declared, to which the Reploid cracked a smile and replied "Then please, by all means you are welcome to TRY…But lets make this a little more interesting in that case. The obstacle courses have rankings to them…For every S-Rank you fail to grab, I will tear off another part of your comrade's body."
With a flash of his feathers as X continued to glare at him, Cyber Peacock shut off the screen with a curt "Good luck…" The Hunter then went for his communications again but still got no response.
"Must be interference…Great, guess I'm on my own here…"
X lowered his hand and looked at the chamber ahead. Dashing towards it, he was suddenly frozen in place by a reticule that descended from the ceiling and surrounded him. It stuck to the area around his body and flashed the message "Hurry up!" before his face as the data walls on the path ahead started to flash a wild series of colors.
X was on the run right away, unaware of the walls bulging and sending forth yellow spheres of collected data straight his way. One shot right before his face and gave him but a second to tumble over it, and upon landing he broke into a slide to get under another sphere. However, a wall thrust up before his path and made his legs push inward, halting his movement until he leaned up and kicked his thrusters on to leap towards the wall behind him. Jumping off the wall, X tucked in and dove under an incoming sphere, falling off the top of the first wall and landing in a kneel on the ground. Three more spheres flew his way, this time with X trying to shoot at one of them with his buster.
But the sphere split a hole in it's center and the shots passed through it. With a widening of his eyes, X leapt back onto the wall and let the spheres collide where he once stood before using his boots to rocket off the wall towards a set of hexagon platforms on the other side that stood before some sort of rounded portal. The very moment he landed on the edge of the platforms, his body slid forth until he was underneath some sort of hole in the ceiling just mere feet from the portal.
The reticule rose and shrunk to fit into the hole, and the portal before X rippled to reveal a golden "S" on it. A clap could then be heard in the air before Cyber Peacock remarked to a panting X "Not bad, not bad…But that was the EASY one. Lets see how you tackle the Medium Course, Maverick Hunter X."
X leaped into the portal and found himself in a small, more relaxed feeling corridor. The data here was more condensed to resemble buildings, likely meaning that they were archives of a sort. X glanced at them while making his way to the next portal and remarked "There has to be some info here…But first I have to rescue Magma Dragoon. Hang on, I'm coming!"
He leaped to the platforms and sprinted straight for the next portal. He could not afford to screw up even once, not with a partner's life on the line. The next area in X's way would be more compact and filled with multiple routes for X to take, each one containing differing amounts of spheres to get around.
Instincts gripped to X's brain like a vice and guided his every move forward, as he ran straight for the bottom row and slid underneath the bobbing spheres. The next set of spheres on the bottom row came forward at a blinding speed, and X's attempt to swing to the left to dodge them almost had him stumbling off into the abyss had he not quickly hopped back and used his glider boots to get back to safety.
He quickly hopped to the middle row and sprinted forward, tightly leaping over a couple more spheres and sliding underneath three more coming from the next section. He slammed his buster against the ground and used a charged shot to launch himself upright so he could immediately leap to the top row and run ahead unimpeded by spheres until one suddenly flew into view near the end.
His body just barely scraped underneath it as he broke into a slide, which in turn had enough momentum to send him hurtling towards the end of this course. As the reticule sunk into the ceiling again, the portal rippled before X and revealed another "S". This time Cyber Peacock sounded a little more taken aback as the Hunter ran into the portal "I-Incredible…! B-But you haven't seen the true horrors of the ADVANCED COURSE!"
After another intermission in the form of a tunnel, X was in the last course that the Reploid had set up for him. Now things were going haywire, as the walls were stuck in a state of spasm and spheres were flying every which way. Even worse, portals were opening up and spiked balls were being thrown at him through rifts at random intervals.
Even with chaos unfolding all around him, X was able to process it all at a rate even he was surprised to find himself going at. His body was almost like a puppet moving on it's own as it bobbed and weaved through the obstacles, leaping off walls and slipping through corridors until the end was in plain sight. But there was one last trick up this course's sleeve, as two spheres suddenly spawned to try and pinch X in, but a shot from his boots was enough to propel him to the end of the course.
As the reticule sunk in one final time, Cyber Peacock's exasperation was far greater than before as another "S" appeared on the portal "A-A-Absolute perfection?! This must be a flaw in the programming…there's no way this can be right!"
"I'm coming for you next, Cyber Peacock!" X proclaimed as he leapt through the next portal. However, he was quite surprised to not only find himself in yet another corridor, but that on the platforms before the next portal was a Dr. Light capsule. X blinked a couple times and then approached the capsule, which opened up and revealed the doctor's welcoming hologram in his presence.
"Doctor? What's one of your capsule doing all the way in here?" X said, his hands drawn back in shock. The doctor smiled and replied "I am always looking out for you X, no matter where you go."
Recovering from his surprise, the Hunter shook his head a couple times and remarked "I don't know if I have time to talk this time around. You see, there's a Maverick in this area whose holding one of our fellow Hunters hostage, and-"
"Relax, X. I sense no cameras in this area. If you wish to talk, then do not be afraid. He will not be tipped off to my presence." A reassuring wave of the hand was enough to quell X's light concerns, and the Hunter nodded his head and then mentioned "Thanks Doctor. It's…honestly really good to see you again."
"It hasn't been very long since our last talk. Is everything alright X?"
"No. We're no closer to figuring out what's going on with Repliforce than we were before. Worse of all, they stole a material known as 'Bassnium' and plan to use it for something. I heard that it's capable of producing near infinite amounts of energy."
Light's eyes were frozen in a widened glance the moment the term came up onward, and X noticed that and remarked "I-Is something wrong Doctor?" Light closed his eyes and turned his head aside, murmuring in a gravely voice "I never thought I would hear that name again…How long has it been…?"
"…Doctor, do you know what 'Bassnium' is?"
Light looked at X and slowly nodded his head. "It's an energy source that was invented in my time period by a brilliant scientist. The claims you've heard are true…In the right hands, Bassnium can produce near-infinite amounts of energy. If Repliforce has gotten their hands on something like that, they can only be planning to use it to a fuel a weapon that can cause damage on an apocalyptic magnitude."
"What?! No! That can't be right! Something like that doesn't even exist in this world!"
"Do not be so sure about that. The government already hid the existence of 'Bassnium' from the public eye…Who is to say there isn't some other secret they've hidden?" The inquiry left X silent, and in turn Light closed his eyes and mentioned "Focus on your current mission X. Let me search for a link between Bassnium and the weapon data stored in this cyberspace in the meantime."
"You can do that?" X gasped in shock, and Light cracked a big old smile and mentioned "For a limited amount of time, certainly. Once you've bested the Maverick here, I shall upload the data I uncover to the new Helmet you shall obtain from this capsule. This same helmet will allow you to use the powers you've obtained without draining energy."
"Thank you Doctor. It's always nice to have you around." X's appreciation resonated with the hologram and made him give a serene, proud grin before mentioning "I feel the same way, X. I do enjoy our conversations…"
The doctor left, allowing X to hop onto the capsule and receive his next upgrade. The helmet he got added a small, orange horned earpiece to each side and some sort of "spine" along the top of the helmet that ended on a red jewel. With a thankful nod to his creator, X hopped off the capsule and ran straight for the portal.
On the other side there was a steel door, the usual indicator to X that he had reached the end of the road. He ran at it and passed through as it slid open, finding himself right in the room that was displayed on the screen when he first arrived. Cyber Peacock was standing on the opposite side of the room, and his body was trembling just a little bit. Magma Dragoon was suspended above him.
X immediately drew his buster towards Cyber Peacock and exclaimed "It's over! Let Magma Dragoon go right now, and come quietly for questioning!" The Maverick simply cracked a beaky grin and swung his right hand up and started laughing at X.
"Hahaha! You're a fool if you think I'll surrender so…straightforwardly to such a pig-headed imbecile such as yourself!" The Maverick laid a hand before his chest and swiped it straight out, remarking crassly "Your performance in my obstacle course was but a farce! Even that dullard Flame Mammoth could've aced that course in his SLEEP!"
He then laid a hand on the side of his head and a scouter swung forth before his right eye. "I will find out your TRUE potential level with this…! And you shall be exposed for the fraud you are, Maverick Hunter X!" Cyber Peacock scanned the stationary Hunter for a few seconds, keeping a haughty grin going as the numbers climbed on his scouter.
"1000.…2000.…3000.…4000.…5000.…Heh, you're nothing more than an average…" The scouter started beeping erratically and the numbers climbed faster than Cyber Peacock could count, his voice getting more shocked and frightened "7000.…9000.…11000...13000...1-1-15000?! Does this thing ever stop?!"
The scouter blew up, forcing the Maverick's eye to close and his head to reel back in a pained grunt. He then glared at X and trembled some more, remarking in a timid tone "H-How could someone like you even exist? WHO CREATED YOU?!"
X cared not about any of the Maverick's analyzing or opinions, he simply started to charge his buster while remarking "I'm giving you one last chance to surrender peacefully, Cyber Peacock!" Cyber Peacock's scowl grinded down to the point that it was any wonder his teeth didn't break.
"To think that being made a fool of would sting so, SO much…But it matters not! If your potential is truly unlimited, then I will simply end you here and now before that power can become an unstoppable threat!"
Upon sensing the Maverick's aggression, X fired his charged shot straight at him. However, Cyber Peacock's frame turned into pure data and he warped into the air away from the shot. Upon emerging he spread his now glowing feathers and levitated in place, waving a hand before his chest and wiggling his fingers towards himself.
"Nothing you've faced thus far compares to the power of a fully-functional cyberspace AI, Maverick Hunter X! Now…I shall delete you and all traces of your existence from this world!" The Maverick swung his hand back and plucked a feather from his back, swinging out three separate feathers from it that he flung right out at X. The Hunter leapt to the right to get between two of the fingers, only for Cyber Peacock to coyly grin and snap his fingers, making them all explode.
X was launched towards the door with some smoke on his body, but the Maverick warped behind him and wrapped his arms around his chest. Hugging him tight, Cyber Peacock released a surge of electricity from his body, assaulting X with a painfully high amount of voltage that left him screaming in pain for a few seconds.
The Hunter grit his teeth though, fought through the pain to the best of his ability, and with his body turning pink and blue he fired a miniature stingray drone at his foe's feet. An explosion there forced Cyber Peacock off of X but made the Hunter stumble forward a little. The Maverick then warped back to his original location and plucked another feather from his back, this time firing just the one straight at X's body.
X switched to a black and yellow color scheme and shot two crescent blades at Cyber Peacock, slicing through his feather, only for the Maverick to swing his body to just narrowly avoid the projectiles. He glanced at the projectiles and then X a couple times before remarking "Your ability to obtain powers from falling Reploids is very, very interesting…I swear, I've heard of such a phenomenon before in the archives…"
Cyber Peacock took a moment to close his eyes in thought, but was not so unaware of his predicament that it left him unable to avoid X's next attack. After warping higher into the air, the Maverick swung his body forward and his feathers erected higher than before. With a rapid flashing glow from them, a reticule appeared around X's body and the feathers fired a series of lasers from their tips.
X had nowhere to run and he quickly slammed his feet to the ground, swinging his arms before his body to tank the lasers head on. Cyber Peacock unleashed three waves worth of lasers, remarking in an almost giddy manner "Your power is nothing! It's just theories…it's just…baseless speculation! My power is true, my power is COMPLETE. Even a thousand years of progress could never compare to the data at my disposal! I am-"
As the smoke settled from the Maverick's assault, his eyes widened as the Hunter stood there with minimal damage to his body and his buster half-charged, while his armor had now taken upon a gold and silver color scheme. X grit his teeth and yelled out "Nothing more than a Maverick!" to finish the words of his flabbergasted foe. He then fired an electric web from his buster that Cyber Peacock warped forward to get away from.
With the Maverick's eyes widened, he was unaware of the web sticking to the air behind him and yelled out mockingly towards X "Ha! Your vision is about as good as a bat's, you ignorant, STUPID-" Boasting should've been the last thing on his mind, as while X slowly and confidently lowered his buster, the web he fired spread out a dozen or so more of them, and a few of them wrapped themselves around Cyber Peacock's body and began electrocuting him wildly.
For all his posturing, he was still but a program, and as such was just as prone to short-circuiting as any other. Even as the webs faded out, his body jerked and jolted in multiple directions while his words went completely incoherent.
"The force of a jackhammer is…equal to the miles per hour of a…following the indictment of governor…the creator of Bassnium is Wi…Mega Man Mega Man Mega Man! Too much data, SOOOOO MUCH DATA…I AM THE SMARTEST THERE IS! I WILL NOT DIE, I MUST MAINTIAN THIS…THIS KNOWLEDGE…!"
Regaining some semblance of control, Cyber Peacock swung his body towards the core as he began to break down. Widening his eyes, he flew straight at the core while X swung his left out and exclaimed "NO! STOP!" But it was too late. The Maverick crashed into the core with all he had, shattering the center and destabilizing the device. The core began to blow up, breaking apart large chunks of the cyberspace domain with every blast.
Cyber Peacock's charred head was flung over in front of X, whose focus was more on Magma Dragoon than the destruction of this area. Thankfully, with the Maverick's defeat the Hunter was dropped from his entrapment, though he looked to be very shaky and barely able to stand. Taking a moment to pick up Cyber Peacock's power from his head, X threw the skull aside and ran straight to his comrade, yelling his name to try and be sure he was still functional.
Magma Dragoon slowly raised his head up and remarked "X…X? What are…you doing here?" X hoisted his comrade up by the shoulders and remarked "I was going to ask you the same thing. How did you get captured?"
Magma Dragoon laid a hand on the side of his head and shook it slowly, remarking "I-I was following a lead…B-But it seems I've lost that chance. That Maverick took the database out with him…" He turned his head towards the exploding core, as the atmosphere heated up and was slowly becoming lethal to stand in.
X quickly laid a hand on his helmet, hoping the communications were working again, but as he managed to get in contact with Double he got a signal of "Data file received" flashing before his eyes. With a terse smile he murmured "Thanks Doctor…" before Double exclaimed into his ear "X, are you alright?! I lost my signal and now-"
"I'll tell you when I get back! Magma Dragoon and I need to be brought back to HQ, pronto!"
"W-What?! Magma Dragoon is there?! …Ho boy, I missed a lot…I'll have you both back right away!" And thus, before this cyberspace domain and all it's knowledge was lost to a raging inferno, X and Magma Dragoon were safely whisked away to safety…
Next Time: The Traitor
