PAINT MY GOODBYE RED
Chapter 5: Order

As soon as Zero had left the room, the first thing I did was remove my armour, put my guns away, set my internal alarm at 7:30 AM, and plopped on the bed, sleeping like a log in less than 10 minutes for the first time in ages. So many things had happened yesterday. I lost my brothers, ran away from Red Alert, got hit by two cars, fought Mega Scorpio with Zero, and got involved in a horribly heated debate. And my world turned upside down. No wonder I was tired, both mentally and physically.

Seeing a small yet spacious room in place of my bigger room back in the Crimson Palace upon opening my eyes upon waking up feels weird. It's just empty—well, almost. Just a bed, a small map on the wall and a small desk. The showers must be around this corridor somewhere. Damn, I forgot to shower yesterday.

My internal clock showed the time at 7:32. I still have some time before Zero comes here. I don't remember how I looked like yesterday, nor can I find out. There are no mirrors here, but I can't start the day looking sloppy. I had upset many people already. I don't want to upset their noses on top of that.

I got up from the bed to look at the map, and quickly found the showers. It doesn't look squeaky clean, but at least there were no cobwebs. It feels different from my bathroom, but at the same time not so different. It's still a bathroom, but obviously, my things aren't here. This place is dull, and I don't feel like singing here unlike how I used to do it back home.

By the time I step out of this room, I will be completely clean. I have cleaned my programming and my guns of DNA data as well the night before I left, keeping only the basic ones, so I can still disguise myself to blend in. I did it so that if I get caught or something, my formerly-huge library of DNA data won't be exploited by the Professor. He kept asking more and more DNA data, the bastard. He was huge and creepy, I would rather stare into the eyes of a dead fish than his eyes. I never knew what exactly did he do with my data, but after seeing my friends turn weird one by one, I know that I mustn't let his dirty hands touch any DNA data anymore.

It sucks a lot seeing that my guns won't be able to do any more cool transformations until I get more data, but it's better than being caught and used for more horrible things. Even though the formatting won't stop him completely, it might slow him down.

I turned off the water and quickly grabbed a towel, my internal clock telling me that I have about 10 minutes before Zero arrives. As there was no one else in the corridors, to my relief, I could hurry back to my room to prep myself better without needing to take the towel off my head.

Morning prep was simpler with only my armour and guns around. I had gulped nothing but E-tanks yesterday, so there's no morning breath to worry about. The first thing I saw upon leaving the corridor was Zero walking towards it. I was right on time.

"Good job, Axl." It was the first thing I heard from him. "Keep this up for the future. Today is just one of many big days."

I grinned. My remaining role model likes me well enough. "Thanks, Zero. What makes today big, though?" I asked.

"More talking. Important talk. There are still a lot of things that we don't know. For example, what makes you special? Why did you run away, and why are they after you?"

Oh hoh. Do I show him now and watch his eyes pop out of his sockets while there's no one to keep his cool for, or do I wait until we're in the command room so I don't have to do the job twice?

The answer is obvious. I can't pass up this opportunity. Transforming into one of my now dearly-departed brothers, I slowly smiled as Zero's eyes widened and his mouth slowly opened, forming an "O". Coupled with his red armour and long blond hair, he looks like Warfly's pet goldfish. At least Zero, like all reploids, doesn't shit. That damn fish shat everywhere in the bowl. Oh, what I'd do to have a camera right now just to photograph his face and frame it in my room, maybe show it to X, too. Old man needs to lighten up big time.

"What the actual fff…argh! No, Zero, you do not cuss in front of kids." I had to restrain myself from laughing after I heard Zero say that. He had tried to whisper to himself, but he didn't know I could hear him. What a shame, though. Even after what we had dealt with together, he still thinks I'm a kid? Oh well, he'll know better sooner or later. I may be way younger than him, but I'm not a kid anymore.

I reverted before explaining the whole thing to him. "I can transform into other reploids and use their DNA data to power myself, that's why."

"Everything makes sense now." Zero shook his head as he spoke. "Come on, Axl, let's go to the command room. As much as I want to hear the whole explanation now, I'm sure I'm not the only one."

As soon as we arrived in the command room, I saw X, Alia and Signas, still in the same positions as yesterday. But unlike yesterday, X wasn't tense or barely suppressing his anger. Instead, he is calm, and—what the hell? His eyes. His eyes. Impossible. Yesterday they were hideous flaming balls of hate directed to me and only me. I thought his eyes as they are now only appear in dreams, my broken dreams, my broken image of him, but why are those eyes clear, gentle and slightly sad, in spite of the still-present eye bags?

"Axl? What's wrong?" X's gentle voice stopped my thoughts and made me jump.

"I—nothing."

"Okay, then." X replied with a smile. Why? Why? Why? Impossible. And yet…

"Good morning, hunters." Signas started the meeting with a greeting. "As we have previously discussed yesterday, we are going to fight Red Alert with Axl's help. The last time we left off, we agreed to let Red Alert position themselves, and they have finished moving. However, some of them had decided to cause trouble. Alia."

"Yes, Sir." After her response, she quickly showed the map, and the members involved in this duel. It looks like Red's going all-out. The Eight Generals have been positioned around this city.

"Red Alert's eight generals have been spread around the area: Vanishing Gungaroo, Soldier Stonekong, Tornado Tonion, Splash Warfly, Flame Hyenard, Ride Boarski, Snipe Anteator and Wind Crowrang." Alia gestured to the screen, naming each of the generals.

"Gungaroo and Stonekong had positioned themselves in their respective bases. They haven't done anything troubling, but given that the forest is involved, Stonekong has to be stopped. Tonion has occupied an old radio tower and attempted to broadcast…things, all over the city. Warfly has deployed a few battleships in the ocean. He hasn't done anything yet, but he might cause damage to marine life. Hyenard has taken over a lava factory and planting bombs all over it. Boarski has positioned himself in the ruins of Central Highway and rigged it with bombs. Nothing from Anteator and Crowrang so far, although we expect to see them move or act soon."

Signas nodded and spoke again. "Thank you, Alia. Well, hunters? Anything to suggest?"

I instantly raised my hand. I know them better than anyone else here—how they were before I left, and what they might do as a result of the Professor messing them up, and what they will and will not do, having lived with them for ten years. I have similar concerns to everyone in here as well. Ever since Eurasia, nature has been highly coveted, and everyone wants them safe. Besides that, my escape has fucked up this city already, and no one wants more destruction.

"I know what to do and who to beat first, until the last. All the Red Alert generals have each other's weapons as their weaknesses. It is done so that if one of them goes M-Maverick, the comrade with the right weapon can retire them. But right now, they've all..." I looked away. Right now, as much as I want to deny it, they're not my friends anymore. They are Mavericks that I must retire. But does it have to be this way?

I inhaled and continued.

"I had been with them for a long time and I know them very well—and I also saw how they were like before I left base. Hyenard is a high priority. He was raving mad when I left base. Chances are, when he rigged those bombs, he was planning to blow himself up or something, because he wouldn't even let me approach him. But he's tough. He can make doppelgangers of himself. To avoid a tough fight, we need to get his weakness; Warfly's weapon.

Warfly's fairly easy to beat compared to the others. I'm pretty sure Zero will have no problems with fighting him. As for whom to beat after Hyenard, using his weapon, it's Boarski. And then, Anteator. After that, Crowrang, followed by Gungaroo. After Gungaroo, it's Stonekong, and lastly, Tonion. This order allows us to easily get rid of the bombs first too, because it's important that we prevent further destruction to the environment. I know Stonekong values nature as much as we do and probably even more, so he's not going to let any harm come to the forest."

"Any objections?" Alia looked up after typing—probably typing out what I said into the computer.

"No." Zero answered.
"No, at least for now. When the circumstances change, we may have to change our strategy. But this looks good enough." X chimed in.

Jerk. What right do you have? You're not fighting with us. You don't know them, and you're not going to know our struggles later as much as we do, either.

"It's settled, then. We're going to do it this way." Signas approved of my strategy…good. I need to put Hyenard out of his misery first. True, I AM worried about what's he going to do with the lava factory—I was serious when I said he might blow himself up, taking the factory with him. And when he's angry or aggravated, he hits HARD. It's a good thing Stonekong and Tonion were at the last, because they're doing better than the others, last time I saw them, and I'm pretty sure they could wait a little longer. Right?

But I wish I didn't have to put them down. There's another way, isn't it? As much as I hate to admit it because of recent circumstances, I want peaceful ways too. I don't want to have to kill my friends and family. Surely, they can be saved. The Maverick Hunters is a government organization, with better access to more resources than Red Alert. Maybe, just maybe…

"If I may ask, do you have any technology that acts as a vaccine to the Maverick virus or something?"

"What?" Alia responded to me. "Why do you ask, Axl?"

"It's likely that the generals are causing all this trouble because they're infected with something. There's this Professor in Red Alert HQ that's been causing trouble for everyone, and we had been doing more horrible things to the point of breaking our own rules, all because of him. Maybe if we cure them, they'll stop."

Alia sighed and hung her head slightly before answering. "Unfortunately, even with our best efforts, such a program has yet to exist. Our lead researcher Gate has been trying his best to develop some sort of a vaccine program, but he has yet to succeed. So if they really are infected, we…"

"…I understand." before she could say "retire", I cut her off. Goddammit! I had thought that this might happen, but I really wish it didn't have to be this way. My friends and family, whom I grew up with have become enemies I have to kill? This is all that stinking Professor's fault! It's because of him that everything's gone to hell! When I see him, I will make him regret ever being created.

Maybe I can still save some of them. We'll recover, and after this everything's going to be okay again. Everything's going to be okay. I won't rest until I get my happy ending. That Professor wasn't toying with the Maverick virus, as far as I'm concerned, so even without a vaccine to the Maverick virus, something can still be done. Right?

"I'm sorry, Axl." she looked at me with sad eyes as she spoke. Zero placed his hand on my shoulder.

"That's fine. Then all we have to do now is to stop them and save them. And if we can't, we make sure they leave the Earth while they're still themselves." I responded, making myself clear that yes, I don't want to have to kill them.

Signas nodded and started speaking. "Very well. Now that we've gotten our strategy mostly settled, let's move on to other topics…"


AUTHOR'S NOTES: Overhauled the chapter completely, as always. I also moved the cutscene with Axl showing his powers to Zero much earlier, because it just makes more sense for him to tell Zero such an important thing early on. And yes, Gate survives in my headcanon, because he wasn't infected, and Alia was able to convince the government (or whatever passed for one in X6) to spare him because the creator of the Nightmare virus knows best about it-including how to exterminate it. The next chapter won't be a fight. Given that, I believe that the fic will also experience a minor structure change in addition to a rewriting.