Chapter 10: Corruption

Surprised, ears twitched and perked open in attention. No one made a sound and no one dared to look away from the all-knowing and obnoxious Maverick standing high in the mounds of debris that was made during his chaotic boredom. They were all flabbergasted, speechless beyond belief of the news he had just unleashed. He had broken through the stretch of their imagination unlike any other, destroying the very limit of their understanding of the heroes they have come to trust, respect and hold dear in their hearts. He was unpredictable, just like he always was, though he may seem calm and collected to an extent, it was foolish to let even a spec of your guard down. Even Fefnir who had just laid eyes on him for the first time understood that just by first glance. A fit of aggravation made obvious resting on his face in response to accusation brought in his Master's name.

On the other hand, Axl excreted neither animosity nor aggression. His demeanor a blank slate of shock and disbelief. The Maverick Hunter didn't know how to feel at that moment. It was just too hard to process. The shock left the unwanted sinking feeling in his heart. He couldn't understand this emotion, the air of disbelief filling every running systems in his mechanical body but still yelled out the craving, the need the want to hear more. Every fiber in his body yelled out called out the information a lie, he wanted to be enraged and yet there was that looming doubt….a feeling his mind could not pull away from. A doubt that this 'lie' that his being has so rejected could in fact be the truth. Because of this he could not conjure a cry for protest as no words came into defense.

He was hating himself for that…

Vile let the dark ashes fall as his words sink into their minds. Knowing full well that he had gotten their undivided attention, the purple Maverick did not wait for a reply.

He moved his eyes among the two present reploids. There was a peculiar smile on his face full of evil intent, although Axl and Fefnir were unable to see it, one that looked satisfied and confident. Then again why wouldn't he? The staggered look on their face brought him the best joy he had in years and he can't wait to see more. He can't wait to see how he would react. 'It's a really fun story. You wouldn't BELIVE all the shit that went down those past two centuries.'

'We have so much catching up to do. Oh but where do I begin? I don't even know where to start.' Vile asked his audience rhetorically, shrugging his shoulders then crossing his arms against his chest to put on the illusion that he was hard at work, thinking of what say.

'Should I start at the part where you came crawling over to our side?' Vile spoke out in his mind, scratching his head. 'No…that's like jumping too far ahead of the whole thing…' He cupped his chin with his fingers then scratched his head. 'How about when they locked you up? Mhmm..but then I'll have to explain why they locked you up in the first place and that'll put me all the way back to that bastard and make it too long.'

'What the hell is this guy talking about?' Fefnir whispered over to Axl in the lowest audible tone he could possibly muster. He was confused beyond measure, oblivious of what was happening; not that Axl was any different. He didn't have any more, and quite probably less, knowledge than he did. Guardian could tell that there was so much uncertainty and confusion in him as well, Axl was in the dark just as much as he was even though the subject itself was pertaining directly at him. In the time he had been listening to this man's audacious babble, the Guardian was hard at work trying to process gather as much information as he possibly could about their to-be opponent. Although, he wished he could just ram his fist and melt his vintage body with his lovely cannon right then and there. And by the looks of it Axl was more than willing to agree.

In the background while he listened, Fefnir ran through his databanks that was connected to a larger server in some far off hidden corners of Neo Arcadia, which stored bountiful information whether it was new or old, and searched for the age old Maverick's profile. A privilege only given to those were of high ranking as him. It was just a precaution on his part; though, he himself would have loved to keep the anonymity in the thrill of battle, where he can learn about his opponent as they went along. However, when he was finally able to establish a connection with Neige after his explosive encounter in the lab and the small briefing Axl has given him along the way, in between their small altercations, the Maverick seemed to be quite notorious and was more than what meets the eye.

When the files came back, he could see why.

Vile, a former S ranked Maverick Hunter who served directly under the then commander Sigma. He was considered one of the best, second only to Sigma himself, during their time, before the discovery Zero. However, he was often violent, wreck havoc and shed more blood than necessary; sometimes failing to comply to orders or keep his objective and priorities straight. He had been placed under arrest and rehabilitation countless times for his reckless acts. It was later concluded that there seemed to have been an irreparable defect in his systems which made him go rouge; there also a definite speculation in which it said he was infected by the Maverick Virus however it seems the defect in his systems played a larger role. Pretty much the Virus just boosted up his already incredibly large ego, was what Fefnir had gotten out of it. He ultimately betrayed the Maverick Hunters during the The Day of Sigma, Sigma's attack on Abel city which marked the official start of the dreadfully long Maverick Wars, and thus received the label Maverick. He worked under his commander, although, even under the official files he was placed under 'No Faction' as his allegiance; the files citing that reploid had a tendency to go by his own interest and even had indication of attempting to overrule Sigma.

The files labeled him as deceased, just as how Axl had previously mentioned. During his little briefing with the Hunter. Axl had told him that he himself have made sure the Maverick was destroyed during their last confrontation in the final known mission with Sigma.

That's odd…

The files indicate death by Megaman X, in an incident that happened in Doppler Town.

For a moment Fefnir's face turned sour and glanced back at Axl. He grew a bit angered by the fact that the kid seemed to have been taking credit that was clearly his Master's.

But that didn't make sense either. The Doppler Town Incident was dated more than three centuries ago. The man is clearly speaking as if he crossed paths with his master long after that. If that was the case, the information should have been updated. And there was no mention of his involvement with whatever these New reploids either.

However, he brushed it away within a split second, deciding to take care of the gapping issue later on. History facts were never quite on point since the Elf War and with all honesty he didn't care, at the moment. But he does have to say, it was peculiar how all three main sources were citing three different timelines for just such a simple issue.

Just how messed up did this one little thing get.

After detailing the past, weapon's specification, fighting style and personality of the Maverick's was next on the list that rushed through Fefnir's systems to process fully. Although he didn't really care much for the personality since all the narcissistic and psychotic behavior can be clearly observed just by looking at him.

Though, Fefnir did take interest in one key feature about him. Vile had an odd and violent obsession in killing X for various reasons.

That fact alone was enough of a reason to kill him. Anyone crazy enough to target X was as good as dead to him.

'How about the truth for once? Why not start there?' Axl was finally able to speak out copying Vile's playful tone as he was growing more irritated by the insane reploid's incomprehensible blabbering. 'Or maybe the part where anything you say actually make sense. I haven't had a lot of that in a while. It'd be nice if you actually help me out with that one.'

None of his words were fitting….

This guy…he needs to stop talking….

Although he knew what Vile was intending to do with his immature playful display, he couldn't help but feel somewhat on guard and defensive of what he was saying. It was like he was poking through words as if he was going to get some kind of reaction. Not that he would give him that benefit. But it was working. If it wasn't for his desire to piece together the gaps of his being, that purple Maverick in front him would have certainly been receiving hell at this very moment for the slanders he was spewing out.

Still it was strange, the words sounded so surreal to the young Maverick Hunters ears. What the Maverick had said had brought that dream back out from the far corner of his head. Why was it even here? It was only making things worse. The claim the Vile had just made was downright outrageous that even a child who was still full of innocence would never believe.

Who could? It was already an unbelievable claim that there was a genocide on the New Generation reploids and to actually be successful, but to place his two friends, the two most unlikely existence he knows of to do such a thing, as the culprits…He just wants laugh.

He wished he could.

Why couldn't he? Why was something inside him…preventing him from doing so?

Then again when has anything followed his understanding of reality since he woke up?

He couldn't comprehend it, but there was something was changing inside him, as if something deep inside him was slowly creeping out of the shadows. He was growing uncomfortable as the seconds passed. A violent urge, he could not explain.

'Now why would I lie? I just said I was on your side. There's no way I would ever lie to my ally.' Vile said in the most menacingly sarcastic tone he would make. He could see straight through him, how so pathetic he was right now.

'Well that's total bullshit…' Axl blurted out, and Fefnir scuffled out a mocking chuckle. That within itself broke the small lingering doubt of trust they had in him.

'Axl, Axl…you're hurting me you know that? I know you think I'm making all this up and hell, it does sound like something that would come out fiction. But what is it that I would have to gain if I lied to you right now?' Vile asked him and received a judgmental look from the young reploid who couldn't believe what he just said. Catching it himself, Vile laughed, even he thinks the words that came out of his mouth were just stupid.

'Yeah, you're right. I can see where you're getting from. I take it back…' Vile reiterated his answer. 'But just think about this way even if I was lying then how different are those new friends of yours. I doubt they're even that useful to you anyways.' Vile questioned his rational. 'They can't provide you with the answers you want. I doubt they even had the slightest clue that the New Generation existed.'

It was a bulls-eye for the Maverick, who had left Axl unable to deny that simple fact. A fact that proved to give more truth to Vile's impending words of madness more than anything else. He couldn't deny that fact, he couldn't prove him wrong and say he didn't need any of this. That was also another mystery in fact. How could the future not know about such sophisticated robots.

'You…' Axl gritted his teeth and gripped the hilt of his weapon. He didn't know what was harder to control at the moment. The urge to charge at the maverick or block the looming temptation to accept everything that he was saying. He was falling for the bait…He wanted to know more. 'So you're saying I should just believe you in all this crap your saying.' Axl criticized. 'You're a little in out of your head if you think so.'

His façade was crumbling before him.

If you're so against him why not just kill him..?

Vile scratched the top of his helmet, shaking his head and groaned 'What I'm saying is you don't really have a choice.'

The young reploid could see the man's eyes squint menacingly through the shadows as his voice grew dark. 'When I said X and Zero exterminated the New Generation. I meant they wiped them off the face of this planet, history, blueprints, data, and anything that involves your sorry ass kind are non-existent. Zip, zap, nada. Everyone that know even the slightest clue about it have either been killed or are just for the most part dead. No one is alive. No one can give you the answers. But I do. So whether you like it or not I'm your only choice. I have all the information you need and more. I can tell you everything and anything you need to know.'

'Well isn't that convenient for you..' Axl mockingly commented to the reploid's claim. What are the chances? It made all the more things outrageous than they already were.

'Whether you chose to believe me or not it doesn't change facts.' Vile answered him, shrugging his shoulders as if he has given up in trying to convince the boy. 'It doesn't change the order went out, that the Hunters complied too. That that your so called friends, well mainly Zero from what I heard, X was too much of a wuss to take part in it but he was definitely not against it at all, execute and take down factories were shut down, hunt down innocent and that anyone that they suspected to be associated with the New Generation were cut down upon sight.'

'Are you sure we're talking about the same Zero here? Because I don't see how they would even agree to an order like that. '

'You're too naïve kid.' Vile answered him. 'Too trusting to say the least. Even now, you're blindly denying the truth of the matter. They saw you and your kind as a threat, and they wanted to eliminate you the most convenient and fast way possible, which giving you the worthy title Maverick. You of all people should know that once labeled Maverick they don't give a single damn on who it is. And the Hunters are never so rebellious as to disobey an order when it came to that subject. X and Zero are no different. They've done it a thousand times before, even you've done the same with Red Alert. Once a Maverick, you are pretty much trash. Even X and Zero have tried to kill each other once because they suspected one to have the Virus. So what makes you think you're so special? And what makes you think your Guardian friends are any different.'

'But that doesn't matter, I don't have to convince you to believe me. You've seen what they've done to you and just by the look on your face we both know what really happened.'

'Why are you telling me this?' Axl questioned unable to say any more than that.

'Because apparently we're at a misunderstanding. I'm not the bad guy here, kid. I'm actually one of the good guys. I was the one that sided with you through those times of injustice, and you well let's just put it that your being misled.. And to be quite frank that's why I'm here right now, to enlighten you on what's been happening. I'm not here to just because I want to blow up a few things or rule the world. I'm here for a good cause. The cause to free the reploids from the shackles of their human oppressors.' Vile answered without missing a beat that gave Fefnir and Axl a somewhat disgusted look.

Even with the weight of the subject Axl couldn't even keep a straight face when he heard Vile's final words. 'Is that another one of your jokes? Because it's all maverick talk if you ask me.' Axl chuckled.

'Ahhhh, there is so much you don't know kid. You should really listen to how stupid you sound. So let's just cut to through the chase and let's just go back to my place where we can take all the time in the world to talk about all the cruel things that's been happening since you've been gone.' Vile offered, extending his hand over to him.

'Get your head on straight for once will ya. X and Zero would never do something like that!' Those were projected for Vile, but why does sound like he was directing it to himself. Was he trying convince and reassure himself right now?

He couldn't deny those words, even though Axl himself was not there to witness the intensive battle between X and Zero during the Space Colony space crash. It wasn't talked about much, but he has heard whispers about it and through his curiosity back then and has found files and reports about that specific incident. And he knows it to be true…the attitudes the Hunters had. Once labeled gone Maverick, all feelings for that person are pushed aside and act accordingly to the doctrine of Maverick Hunting. It didn't matter who it was, X and Zero have proven that fact in past.

But there was still too many pieces missing.

What made him labeled Maverick? Is that even true? Did they just label him that just because they didn't want the New Generations anymore? Did they really not try to save him or stop the order?

Ahhh…why is he thinking this…Why is he letting Vile get to him. There was no way. They would never do something that.

Is so bad for Vile to be wrong…? The corner of his mind spoke out. They left you after all. You should just accept it.

'Just shut up!' Axl countered the downing voice in his head yelling out his thoughts rather than just thinking it.. He would never accept that…Especially not by someone like Vile.

Unable to resist his urge any longer, Axl took a step back into a more offensive position and whirled his pistol in front of him, a signal that the fire reploid had oh so patiently been waiting for and has brought a smile to his face.

'Finally!'

Not a moment later, the young reploid extended the flap of his wings as he leaped himself off of the ground and opened fire at the Maverick. Of course the attack itself was undeniably obvious to the eyes of the target who effortlessly hopped back several feet from where he stood in order to avoid the stream of bullets that land on his position which created a cloud of dust and small flying debris upon impact.

Vile squinted his eyes for a moment as if he was taken aback by surprise at Axl's aggressive retaliation to their long conversation. 'Woah come down buddy. Don't get so tense now.'

As he confidently dodge the series of attacks made by the Maverick Hunter, Vile suddenly noticed a sudden stop in gun fire just as his foot landed on the base of a fallen building behind. It was too late when he realized why. Out from the cloud of dust made by the sharp shooter, the fire Guardian came blazing out of the dense curtains in a rapid charge. His figure, the horn of his helmet and fire produced by his cannon, aided by the low visibly of the environment, appeared as though the mouth of a dragon bearing its sharp and deadly fangs was ready to spew out the fire building up in his throat came rushing towards the purple reploid. With the element of surprise on their side Vile had no time to react since by the time the time he had noticed Fefnir's appearance, the dragon had already taken its prey into its mouth. The Guardian's Knuckle Buster has grabbed hold of the unsuspecting Maverick crushing his sides to the best of his abilities. The force of the charge sent the Maverick's feet several inches off the ground as Fefnir rammed him to the concrete base of the structure, exerting enough force that broke the very foundation of the infrastructure that caused what remained to crumble into dust. When the speed of the dash receded in its momentum Fefnir immediately stopped in his tracks and with his inhuman strength lifted Vile parallel to the ground below them.

He followed up with a fully charged up fist on his free left side, extending it to greet the Maverick with an insanely powerful punch that raptured into a loud and gut wrenching sound, that would snap a normal human in two if he had so desired to use that much force on them. Upon contact to the reploid's abdomen, he simultaneously relaxed his hold on him to elevate the constricting force that bind them together and allow the maverick's body to fully express the brunt force of his attack.

His victim's defenseless body complied. The punch and with the aid of a small fired blast from his cannon threw him flying in a carefully calculated distance several feet into the air. However the release from the Guardian's grasp was all that Vile needed to regain his composure. Reaching maximum peak of the upward force it left him suspended there for a good notable moment, Vile used the opportunity to twist his flailing body into a standing upright position to bring stability back to his side. At the same time, knowing full well that the Guardian was nowhere near done with him just yet, Vile kick his boosters beneath him, pushing his airborne body in time as a series of fireballs came erupting out of the ground below followed by the Fire Guardian's signature combination, in which he too leaped off of the ground to meet his thrown victim and slam him into a meteor like fashion back into the surface below. Luckily for Vile, he had avoided that fate. He nimbly missed the hold of Fefnir's gauntlet which was raised up in a position to catch its prey. Without anything to stop his leap, Fefnir's body went into a higher altitude than that of Vile, turning just in time to meet the cocky look of victory in his face as their eyes meet for a quick short moment before Fefnir's body shot itself higher.

'Missed me!' he mocked.

Vile took this opportunity to his advantage. He adjust his weapon faithfully into the perfect position he wanted them to be. He fired his main cannon at the air borne reploid above him, sending a large rocket that was intended for a direct hit at the General. However, before he was able to complete his lock on his target he was once again interrupted by another distraction. His senses jolted into overdrive, systems alarming him crazily inside of an incoming attack right in front of him. Instinctively without even putting the effort to look at the danger that was coming to him, Vile bent over his back nimbly evading the projectile that had its sights set on his head. A speeding magnum bullet scratching the thing sheet of paint on his helmet. It caused him to misfire his lethal bazooka. Which fire automatically the moment Vile thought he had his aim right for Fefnir. The rocket blasted though the sky heading to the falling reploid's general direction but Fefnir felt no need to struggle or feel a wink of danger as the ballistic exploded into the high skies like a dirty misplaced firework that has failed in its purpose.

Vile had almost forgotten about the Maverick Hunter, who was steadily suspended with the help of his wings at the same time he was, waiting for the right moment. He had to say it was a clever trap on their part, since they have managed to secure him within their attack range while they protected each other such as it was in earlier case. Quickly, just as the magnum bullet had nimbly sweep passed the Maverick's head, the weapon in Axl's hand quickly shape shifted into a curvier and platinum color style of weapon which instantly sent sailing a line of laser rays into Vile's still figure. Knowing full well that he did not have the mobility nor the time to dodge the series of attacks coming towards him, Vile retaliated which his own collection of canon fire to counter the lasers directed at him. Each lucky cannon rocket collided with the small streams of lasers coming towards him causing his shells to explode upon impact while the other unlucky bullets head for the Axl's general position which was sufficient enough to halt his attacks while he tried to evade or counter attack the barrage of missiles coming towards him.

'Woah, that was close.' Axl said to himself after a particularly large missile nearly grazed the side of his hips. It was camouflaged with the rest, and due to the blast of smoke and shrapnel all over the sky by the time he had noticed his failure he had missed his chance on dismantling it with his guns before it had crossed the threshold of his defense. A certain distance that determined how close he was willing to let a ballistic missile explode in front of him without risking any sort of injury in the blast or the shrapnel that came with it.

It was a quick air battle, so to speak. Both range shooters bringing out their artillery to counter one another in brawl of shots to cancel each other's attacks while looking for strategic openings to hit their opponent. Although, the strategic and pin point cancelation was more of Axl's doing than it was Vile's as the sharp shooter placed a great deal of effort in choosing his targets and evading others while the war machine simply showered him a ridiculous amounts of his own as a means to counter him. Seeing a moment of slowdown in Vile's missile fire, Axl quickly converted one of his weapon into a Gaea shield while still firing with the other. He let the shield take some of the recoiled blasted as he suddenly decided to command his wings to accelerate into a frontal charge towards the Maverick, who also had activated his thrusters to hover in the desolated skies. Although, his flight design wasn't nearly as good as typical reploid built for the air battles, Axl's wings were at least far more superior than Vile's standard hover feature. Intimidated by the incoming large buffer guard and the speed that the young repoild had Vile ceased his own line of fire in order to evade the unnaturally wide shield that Axl had produce for the purpose of ramming onto him.

Nearing the last second of impact the Maverick activated his hover gear into overdrive once more and pushed himself to the left in order to avoid the incoming collision.

'You gotta do better than that.' Vile mocked the young reploid as he deactivated his shield the moment he did not feel a body at the calculate time of impact, but he did not stop in his course. Instead he merely looked back and turned his body towards the Maverick with a devilish smirk painted on his face, while pushing himself more.

'We're not done yet.' Axl replied, emphasizing on the forgotten presences of the other reploid Vile was too preoccupied to worry about and pointed his gun upwards to the sky as he slowed down his momentum.

It prompted Vile to follow the weapon's trail and there he realized that he had just missed.

It was another prefect distraction. Having kept the Maverick occupied by defending himself on the most advantaged reploid in the air, he had assumed that the fire reploid had fallen back into the earth and would take time to recover. Axl had used that to advantage to position Vile into a more suitable position for Fefnir, who had rushed back up into the air the moment his foot touched the soil. The dragon's mouth wide open and descending at breath taking speed direct down to his position. But this time he was unable to do anything about it, since he had just wasted the last of his boost to evade the Maverick Hunter's charge and had no time to wait to reactivate it for another evasive maneuver at such a close time lapse.

'You better not be in my way this time you little brat!' Fefnir yelled out as he snagged his prey into his Knuckle Buster and pushed Vile down with break neck force. The fire around the reploid was far more power than they were when he had taken down the golem. Axl could tell, he made sure to be further away from the target this time and yet the flames that emitted out of the reploid were not only far bigger than the ones before but he can feel the immensity of the heat was fierier than before.

'I'm not impressed.' Vile scoffed at the fire reploid the moment he was once again taken into his grasp. Meeting eye to eye just before they made contact with the ground. He released several napalms from his hidden weapon's compartment on his feet, causing Fefnir's eyes to widen when he sensed the danger.

'Damn..' Fefnir cursed at himself. Unwilling to take direct damage Fefnir aborted his crushing decent with the Maverick and instead opened a charge shot at Vile's limp body, using it as a stepping stone to push himself away from him while canceling out the small flurries of napalms in the process as he felt something open in Vile's footing.

Although, the charge shoot was enough to send Vile's already falling body hammered into the ground, the release of force was enough for him break the fall as it had given him the split second opportunity to reactivated his thrusters to aid his falling decent. Instead of making the crater that Fefnir had intended to bury him in, he tumbled over almost a hundred feet away his promised destination before he was able to twist and command his body to return its lost footing. Using the kinetic force that was already provided to him he jumped off the ground to release the remaining traction upward where there was nothing for him collide with his already beaten body unlike the ground below.

When he had finally landed he was already a good distance away from where they had started. Upon landing he took a quick glance at the sky and all around his surroundings making sure that none of the two reploids were actually after him. Looking in front of him he saw Fefnir, a portion his left shoulder blade slightly burnt due to the close proximity of the charged blast, however but made no effort to take another offensive attack. And neither was Axl who was hovering beside him.

'That was it? That's all you h-…? Vile was unable to finish when he suddenly heard a subtle click in the air followed by what he noticed were a number of red blinking light beep to life. Small cylinder like bombs planned and surrounded him without a chance for escape. When he finally realized what they were, he had lost all the time necessary to make an escape. He glanced up at the young reploid, who mimicked his boastful grin, deeming him the suspect of his new and unavoidable dilemma. He had the Blast Launcher, which his two small versatile weapons have converted into, slung on his shoulder like a small rocket launcher filled with the time activate grenades that were generously planted for Vile. They were set at the right moment, planted meticulously with the right calculated location.

'Ahh..shit…' Vile cursed to himself just when the bombs clicked its final sound and simultaneously detonated beneath him. It raptured into one big ear breaking bang that sent an aftershock of wind and broken vibration in the atmosphere within a mile's radius.

Covering their faces to shield their eyes from unnecessary small bits of debris and dust that flew as a result of the explosion. When the worst has ceased and the thrown bits aimlessly rained back down to the already destroyed earth, they remained doubtfully still, allowing their internal systems, scanners and gut instinct take its course.

'Thank goodness' they both heard the red haired reporter sigh out in relief in their ear piece. The two girls have been on edge since their battle had started, watching anxiously as the two of their warriors fought in a life or death battle, which they had to admit they have not been accustomed too in so long. But then again it was always nerve wrecking no matter how many times they have experienced it in the past. She already had her fill of nervousness for one day. However, her sound of relief was left unnoticed by the two fighters' unbreakable focus at that moment.

'Did we get him?' the fire reploid questioned unable to detect anything due to the large amount of smoke caused by the explosion. And there was no movement in his scanner that would prove otherwise.

'No, Vile can't be that easy.' Axl answered doubtful of their overall success without even batting an eye as he remained increasingly tense and defensive in their short doubtful moment of victory. If he knew anything from his previous battle with him, it's that the man was practically an indestructible war machine that small little explosives like that would barely leave a shallow mark.

And he was painful right, much to everybody's dismay. As the smoke began to thin out in density, there he stood, unscathed by the spoils of battle other than a few minor scratches on his armor's paint and some crisp smoky burns due to the tiny bits of cook shrapnel that were lucky enough to lodge themselves into his protect shell creating the illusion that he damage by the explosive. He was standing in an odd position, probably due to recovering from taking on a defensive style with his body leaning downwards and his hands releasing the cross it had over his face.

They could hear him menacingly laugh from their distance one that seemed to be both mix with sick enjoyment and satisfaction. 'Haha,' they heard the sound come out of his lips. Clearly surprisingly enough, even though from the distance they were standing it would almost only sound like a whisper if it were for the advance hearing the these reploids possessed.

'Ahh, you've really hurt me that time Axl. I didn't think you would actually go all out like that so suddenly.' Vile began to say, taking a step towards them as he was doing so, causing the two reploids to go into another defensive stand.

'But I gotta say I am very impressed. I didn't think you would work so well with the likes of someone like him. Who knew you could tolerate working with a person like him who's been killing so many innocent lives. I gotta need ask, when did your morals get so low, kid?'

'What the hell are you talking about? We're talking about morals now..?' Axl uttered taken into another one of Vile's random spur of information.

'Well they have gone pretty low if you are actually able to fight so well along side one of Zero's enemies. Right after you so eagerly fought clear his image.'

'What the hell is that suppose to mean?'

'Good question what do I mean…' Vile repeated to his audience as he looked at the fire reploid, who had firmed his stance as retaliation with his deceitful claim. He stepped out of his smoky curtain with more confidence than ever before.

'Care to explain to him. Oh great Neo Arcadian General of the Fire Squadron…'

A glimmer of surprise raised Axl's brow as he glanced at Fefnir who, which to his astonishment, had suddenly lost the embers of battle as color receded from his face becoming swallowed pale for whatever apparent reason.

'You've really got some way with words…' Fefnir replied back to the provoking reploid.

'Touché now aren't we? Why don't you just tell him.' Vile insisted.

'What is he talking about?' Axl demanded out of Fefnir, but the Guardian was lost on words unable to quickly make a suitable enough explanation that could possible justify the terrible sins he had committed in the past.

'Have you ever heard of the energy crisis that happened in Neo Arcadia recently? It was around that time that Zero came waltzing back from the dead like you.'

'Don't listen to him.' The fire reploid pleaded with the lost boy who was already having a hard time keeping up with everything.

The boy remained silent. He didn't remember hearing anything about this from Ciel from their last conversation with her. But then again, he couldn't really blame her or the male scientist since he cared less about the recent historic events than the shocking news that his friends had recently passed while he was thrown into the unrecognizable timeline. He was really regretting going into a fit of rage due to his confusion and self-pity and denial at the time which resulted into not being fully aware and ignorant of the history.

The past…it seems to be more complicated than he had anticipated it to be.

'You know the one, that had the whole Neo Arcadian government purged all the innocent reploids cause they deemed them as a useless waste of energy supply. I'm sure they told you since it was you're good buddy Zero that went and saved all of them. These people won't shut up about it actually.'

'What does that have anything to do with this?' Axl ask unable to resist the lure that was cast onto him. But it was lining up to a certain extent, Cerveau did say Zero went against Weil to stop him from wiping out a decent number of the population and he did take over Neo Arcadia for a certain amount of time, if he remembered correctly. 'The one responsible for that was a man named Weil, and he's as dead as you'll be soon..'

'Is that what they told you? Looks like your little Guardian friends aren't exactly as trustworthy as you give them credit for.' Vile added into the scorching fire, which sparked a stoic new look of curiosity back into Axl's beaming green eyes and an uneasy look on Fefnir's face.

'Well I guess that's kinda true, Weil was destroyed,' Vile agreed, chuckling beneath his breath, voice softening in a rehearsed and seemingly natural tone as he drifted through his memory. 'Oh that old fart. Scary insane little bastard really. The man is even more screwed up in the head than Sigma, if you can believe that. The Elf War that he did was just over the top deadly, even that dumbass Sigma couldn't compare to the destruction that man unleashed at that time. The Space Colony Crash won't even compare. You would do not want to be working with that guy. It's a good thing Zero took care of him before he was actually able to find me.'

'So you've been alive all this time? Heh, I'm surprise you didn't do this mess earlier.'

'Things were pretty….difficult….back then.' Vile vaguely answered him. 'The person before Wile had an iron grip on everything so…I can't really do much about it with the people I had. Tell me kid, do you know why there is a rebellion happening?'

He didn't wait for the reploid to answer.

'You'd be surprise to know I wasn't the one that started this. The reploids you saw earlier, they were the founding members if you would so call them that. But I wouldn't say it's a rebellion, no, more a liberation movement really. All for good reason kid. To free their fellow reploids from people like him, who have no regards for innocent lives.' Vile pointed at Fefnir.

'I just joined them halfway.'

Axl grew quite for a moment, glancing over Fefnir to see if he can indicate the reason. However, to his astonishment, the fire reploid's paleness had disappeared and was replaced with frightful seriousness coming from him as if he was waiting and studying each of the words that Vile was saying. He was biting his tongue, to hold in the blasphemous words he probably had built up inside of him.

Slowly Vile took another step towards them, stepping on an one deactivated bomb, that was placed for the purpose of detonating when the Maverick came with a close proximity. However, as if knowing of its existence Vile simply kicked it to his side causing it to explode while still in midair. Though, the three fighters remained unhinged by the explosive

'And let me tell you it all started because of the energy crisis that was already happening long before Weil even had a chance to come back crashing down the earth.' Vile looked at Fefnir and turned his head into one of the surviving cameras dangling by a loose thread of wire that he assumed was being use to broadcast the events back to the Guardians.

'No, no, it had been going on years before that. The very foundation of the Guardians is proof of that.'

Axl raised his brow, trying to recollect everything he knows about this time. Then one thing came to mind, though at first he did not think to have any importance at all. 'Resistance….' He whispered softly.

It made sense somehow. Now that he was thinking about it, why would the Guardians, the seeming protector of Neo Arcadia have the title Resistence embedded in them.

'He's trying to get into your head, don't listen to him.' Fefnir protested to the Axl.

'That's right.' Vile praised him in an almost melodic tone. 'The Resistance, now why would they have a name like that if why weren't 'resisting' something? You see they were a small little group who were able to escape the purge and actually fight back against Neo Arcadia. The group Zero helped out with. You know, to bring peace and what not. All that snappy cheesy stuff.

You're familiar with Neo Arcadia right? That superficial utopian dream city that X wanted to make? I'm sure you've seen it, right? Not much of utopia is it. You've seen the destruction around there I'm sure. That was all Weil's doing yes, but before that the city was already destroying itself. You see after X stepped down and disappeared another X took his place.'

'What…?' Axl uttered in confusion.

'Hah, so they hid that part from you huh? Oh Axl you need to get with the times.' Vile noticed Fefnir take a step forward, his canon ready to burst out its flames at any moment. 'Before the X disappeared Neo Arcadia was a utopia, a very strong and peaceful one. But of course, X just had to be that tragic hero that goes up and leaves without saying anything. So what happens spoiled little humans and leashed reploids do?'

'They panic. And the government went into political unrest. And you know what brilliant idea humans came up with? That's right! Build another X. I mean come on. Who doesn't want another weak goody to shoes reploid go tell everyone what to do. But you see, he wasn't exactly X, no he was far from it. This sorry of an excuse of a copy wasn't even a worthy enough opponent for me. But anyways, he favored the humans, and when the energy crisis came about, who do you think he sided with? The beloved humans of course. And his first order to solve the problem he made was to RETIRE the useless reploids. Ohh…you won't believe what the reploids had to go through, living day by day in fear of getting chosen to be thrown away into the dumpster for the human masters. Although, thanks to him and his failed actions Neo Arcadia isn't as strong as it was before, so I can't really hate the guy.'

'But see it doesn't change anything. Because all though the body is gone the root is still there. Meaning though X's copy is gone, the ones ruling the city are still the ones that worked under him.'

'Don't listen to him.' Fefnir pleaded with Axl.

'General…don't be like that now. Why don't you just tell the poor kid who you originally served under.'

'I serve only Master X and him alone.' Fefnir replied angrily.

'Master X?' Axl repeated growing even more confused. Why was he calling X that?

'Don't you mean Copy X..?'

'You…!' Fefnir balled his hand into a fist, glaring daggers at the purple reploid much to his enjoyment.

'He's making all this stuff up right…?' Axl mumbled as his attention shifted over to the rage inclined reploid.

'Don't let him get into your head!' Fefnir pleaded once more. 'He's twisting everything.'

'And here's the best part, do you know who made him? That little blonde bitch, that's listening right now.'

'How could he ha..—' Axl heard Ceil gasp in shock of the reploid's reveal of knowledge.

'What is he talking about?' Axl's eyes grew wide, turning to the fire reploid for an explanation. 'Isn't the Guardians the one that is running Neo Arcadia?'

'You still don't get it do you?' Vile interrupted. 'The ones running the Guardians are the exact same main people that brought everything to chaos in the first place!'

Axl was about to contest but before he could speak out his words, Fefnir's weapon breathed out a powerful stream of fire, forcing Vile to evade and come in contact with another set of laid out bombs.

'I'm going to have to stop you right there you…' Fefnir threatened, his red eyes burning with detest and fury at the purple reploid who did not hesitate to reveal his uninjured person.

'Ahh, general already trying to silence me for telling the truth?' Vile menacingly said. 'You're a disgrace to everything your stupid Master was fighting for.'

'You have some nerve bring up the past like that.' Fefnir yelled

Quicker than a second and much faster than the soft breeze that blew pass them, Fefnir arrived charging at the Vile's side, while he was still in midsentence, with the will to punch a thousand tons of force into his synthetic body. But this time, Vile wasn't so willing as to get caught in the General's iron fist and instead, spun himself with his feet to avoid the upcoming punch and shinned him in his exposed stomach when the fire reploid tried to halt his charge to regain his balance.

The pain seemingly unregistered in his sensory systems the Fefnir unflinchingly curved his weaponized arm and grabbed hold of his lifted leg dragging out from below him which caused Vile to slide off his stance and fly to direction of the fire reploid's will. The guardian swung him up, twisting his shoulder to go into a full circular rotation to get his desired velocity and threw the snagged Maverick into the closest building in front of him.

But he wasn't met without opposition.

'You're really starting to get on my nerves!' Vile yelled at him. With quick reaction upon his release, Vile brought it upon himself to control his body at his will sending out several unseen naplams from his feet to Fefnir before he came crashing to the building's concrete structure. And his rockets did not fail him. Due to the close proximity of the two fighters, the napalms quickly found their way to the Guardian's armored structure without delay. Able shield himself at the last possible moment, Fefnir received crushing blows into his body with minimal damage.

But before he could even recover from the impact, Vile already has, and greet the mending reploid with another series of barrages that this time he was unable to easily shield. Vile thrusted to him. Copying the same method of Fefnir normally does to take his opponents by grabbing onto their next and pushing them to the wall. Somehow, Fefnir was overpowered, much to his surprise, as the Maverick did not exert this much potential in their first crossing. But since Vile wasn't particularly designed to be a rambunctiously as strong as he was the Maverick wasn't as flashy with his attack. Instead he grabbed him by the neck and kicked him in a predictable path just for him for launch his main weapon's ballistics. The first rocket had met his target, at a point blank range, detonating upon impact. But the next one went slightly off course. However nothing but the burnt bits touched his synthetic skin. When he looked up it was Axl towering in front of him.

It was a lucky moment, in the midst of the destruction Axl had found an opportunity to come in between the Guardian and the rocket with his Gaea shield to take the brunt of missile, while he was standing right in front of the fire Guardian, with back hunched as his legs were spread wide. But because of the power of the rocket, his weapon's defensive ability was crumbling and torn all over. Even though it was repairable, it was unusable for quite some time.

He scoffed out a chuckle. 'Axl, buddy, even after all that you're still defending them? I'm disappointed.'

'You…' Fefnir gasped. It surprised them, both Fefnir and Vile for the young reploid to take action. Although his shield had taken the brunt of the damage it was still no less powerful. Small pieces of Axl's armor chipped from the explosive shock, sustaining a small bit of damage.

'Are you crazy?!' Axl scolded the Guardian. 'I told you not to charge at Vile so carelessly like that!' He said to the fallen reploid in an almost cold and ordering tone, ignoring Vile, which Fefnir obediently complied to. Although he can't say he was well approving of the tone of voice Axl was using for him.

'Such a pain in the ass.' Vile said, 'Here I was telling you everything you wanted to know and yet you decide to side with these weaklings.'

His eyes flashed a bright red light. Suddenly his voice grew hard and almost to the point of demanding. 'This is the last chance kid, come with me and we will call it a day.'

'In your dreams Vile. I don't give a damn about what you say. You'll have to drag me before you'll get me to follow you!' Axl replied, converting his guns back to their standard design.

'I was hoping you were going to say that.' Vile agreed jubilantly with him. 'I like it better that way anyways!'

Hatchets opened in all over the purple reploids body, sparing no moment as rockets in all different sizes launch out of the openings and head straight for the two reploids.

'Move!' Axl instinctively ordered. Both companions splitting two different directions as a means to avoid any kind of collision. Yet the rockets followed like a dog on a leash forcing them into a dance of ducking and hiding behind fallen buildings or solid structures to cancel the missiles.

In their efforts to avoid the incoming projectiles, Axl turned glanced over to his side, raising his two pistols at Viles direction, peeking subtly as he fired his Axl bullets while he circled around him before jumping inside destroyed structures.

One the other hand, using the brute strength that he was built to have, while in the midst of his evasion Fefnir grabbed hold onto one of the long broken steel bars of a broken building. He pulled the object from its holding, releasing the long structure and swung behind him, batting the missiles that followed him to detonate or fly out of his course. He swung wide, having the makeshift weapon reach the place where the maverick stood. However, there was nothing that the object came into contact with.

Suddenly his eyes grew wide open as the Maverick suddenly appeared on top of the standing at the base of the beam. His eyes glimmering with murderous joy.

'Hey there General.' Vile fired one of his rockets at the repolid, who immediately he released the beam from his grasp and kicked it out of his person as he skidded back into his feet. He lit the beam into a hellish inferno, a wave of flame bursted out of his arm cannon and spread like wild fire, swallowing everything its course. However, the attack was left unnoticed by Vile, who seemingly felt no pain as he accepted the flames wrath. It stunned Fefnir in when he sudden appeared almost instantly in front of him, not even letting the Guardian halt his attack when he kicked the Guardian on his side, and sent him flying on a crash course to one of the solid concrete.

'Urghh'

A rush of small napalms fire followed soon after hitting the airborne body with all their might as towering wall crumbled above him. Using his arm cannon as a shield he deflected most of them, but the weapon could only do so much. Several more came coming and in no time were burying Neo Arcadian General into his new grave.

'Sleep tight.' Vile mocking said as his main cannon fired the fatal shot.

'Make sure the bed bugs bite!' Axl's voice rang in his auditory receptors. A speedy shot from above came rushing down, hitting the armored ballistics, setting it off just before it hits the cloud of fallen rubble where the Guardian laid.

Then before Vile can even locate the other opposition another shot came from behind him, which he nimbly avoided by bending his knees as his body twisted around. He fired one instantly at the direction, causing his attacker to retreat back. Not long after the two went into another exchange of fire, as the Maverick eager tries to find a way to get close to the Hunter. However, precision was on Axl's side as he navigated through the series of rocket fire and was able to overwhelm the Maverick's own line of fire. A bullet hit Vile squarely in the shoulder penetrating close to his chest. The damage startled the Maverick enable a few more of Axl's bullets hit his hand and thighs as a reward.

In a desperate attempt Vile rolled out of the gunfire's range in order to get back on his stance. However his attempt had him place himself in a landmine once again, setting them off.

They were much for destructive than the first, debris hitting him hard. One successfully trapping him in and detonating beneath his feet, causing his fall into knees as his foot armor burned and cracked in the blast.

Axl walked over to him, staying a good distance away from him as his pistol raised for a clear shot at his head.

'Give it up, Vile.' Axl said to his kneeling opponent.

'Now why would I do something like that?' Vile asked him sarcastically.

'You lost. We both know you're no match for me.' Axl clarified with him.

'Getting cocky now aren't we. Are you going to kill me now?' Vile chuckled hoarsely.

Axl suppressed a stifled growl as his hands gripped tighter onto his weapon.

'Or are you gonna lock me up now? Put me into one of those little prison cells those Guardian tyrants have and squeeze all the information you want out of me?' Vile pointed out evilly.

Unexpectedly, he disappeared from Axl's sights. The Hunter's eyes widening when in a flash of light Vile appeared at closed distance

Unable to react quick enough, Axl felt a hard blunt metal object push through his stomach. A rocket, directly blast at him, throwing him off the ground. Then another, then a kick from the shin sending him crashing into an abandoned vehicle. The force of the impact causing the weapon to be knocked out of his hands and out of reach.

'You really are clueless aren't you kid.' Vile said to paralyzed reploid as he struggled to move his head to me the Maverick's eyes. His tried to push himself back on his feet but found it nearly impossible to do so. Everything about him was hurting.

'You should know as well as I do that know as well as I do that unless you fight with the intent to kill me, you can't possibly hope in defeating me.' Vile said as he walked over to him casually. '

He took Axl by the neck lifting him off the broken cement.

'But see you don't want to do that…' Vile said, watching was Axl grips on his arm as tightly as he would with the attempt to free himself.

'Because deep down you know you can't. You can't kill me because you need me. Because I'm the only one who knows what's really happened. You say you don't believe me. But in reality you do.' His hands gripped tighter onto Axl's neck. Axl tried to block out the pain as much as he could stifling out the pained cries, unwilling to give the Maverick any gratification.

'And yet you go and side with these low lives.' Vile continued, 'You chose to continue defending the ones that won't be of any use to you? It's really not like you at all, buddy. Why not snap out of it and wake up from this little day dream of yours.'

'Get your stinkin' hands off me!' Axl cried out, his eyes embedded with so much rage and fury at himself and the Maverick.

'God, you are such an annoying little brat. What shit did that damn X do to you?' Vile said, throwing the Hunter several feet away.

'You sure like to talk a lot lately…' Axl jokingly answered earning him a punch in the face knocking him back onto the ground.

'You know I was going to let that slide but you're reminding me too much of how much of a Hunter brat you use to be and its nice getting some pay back for what you did back in the Moon Palace.' Vile said stomping the side of Axl's helmet several times.

The weight of his feet rattled the fragile insides of the weakened hunter. Patches of black and white clouded his vision as he was pulled out of consciousness.

Something was calling out to him. Calling him to go to sleep…

No…he can't…it can't end like this….

'Pathetic.' Vile said realizing that the boy had gone out cold. He kicked him away from him a several of feet away knocking some loose debris to fall onto the boy.

'Shit!' Fefnir cursed under his struggled breath as pushed the large rubble of rock to free himself from its weight. He had just recovered from the attack, his body full of broken chips and pieces. If it were not for his heavy build, it most likely that he would not even be function right now, let alone be conscious. His wondered over to the unconscious reploid who has fallen several meters away from him. He was unresponsive, not heavily damaged but clearly battered by the direct hit he had just sustained. Above him Vile hovered closely at him, directing all his focus on the young reploid as if he was ravishing on his doing and paid no mind to the struggling Guardian an ear shot away.

He laid there unconscious, almost as if he was lifeless. Battered and beaten by the series of rockets and punches thrown at him lay wasted. His body becoming another simple décor for the bed of rubble he laid beneath him.

He could hear Ciel yelling from a distance on their open line of communication. Her loud cries echoing the worry calls she was making to the unconscious boy's ear; calling out his name, pleading for him to wake anything and her anxious mind could possibly muster to wake up the helpless boy.

'Oi! Get up!' he yelled out to Axl, following Ciel's lead as he made another push that successfully removed the weight on him.

'I'm a little disappointed,' Vile spoke to the unconscious body as if he could still hear him. 'I was hoping this would be an easy little reunion and but now I don't even know who the hell I'm talking to. But then again I guess you're not him after all. You're just that little brat. And a huge pain in the ass.'

Fefnir couldn't truly hear him from his distance. But he can clearly see, the weapon that was slung to his shoulder readjust itself to make for a clear and direct aim at the defenseless boy. The fire reploid was only starting to get the sensation back in his feet and at this rate he wasn't going to make it, even if dashed to the best his abilities.

'Axl!'

'I guess it's the end of the line then.' Vile said as a bid of farewell. Without a moment of hesitation he planned to end it and fired his weapon for the fatal shot.

Fefnir couldn't believe how much he has underestimated this maverick was to be. He wasn't indestructible…but he was certainly much stronger than he had realized. Since he did not show much resistance in their first battle, he had become too reckless, paying no heed to the warning and data he had gain beforehand. And because of his miscalculation it was as if the boy that had warned him was going to pay the price.

'Leviathan!' Fefnir yelled out in desperation just as he heard the sound of the weapon erupt and launch a lethal rocket out of the main cannon's mouth. A last resort that he hope would make it in time.

And just like that, faster than the name that formed on his lips. Swiftly the air around him became chill if only for a moment, crystalized vapors appearing from nowhere as if it fell like the soft flakes of the first winter snow. Above him a large shadow formed just beneath the clouds, coating away the ray of light in the sky.

A white dragon, slender in its form and white as snow. It had neither feet nor hands on its body but purely its head and long narrow tail with rigid scales spiked up to look both intimidating but also sharp come in contact to. Fefnir barely got a glimpse of the flying spectacle as it soared hurriedly pass the open skies, leaving behind its intricate design into a blur as it sped to the Maverick's direction, taking with it the chilling air around him.

Its mouth open as it came in directly in between them, just as the lethal rocket came speeding down to its target. The dragon swallowed it whole. Taking the rocket into its fangs as the ballistic traveled down fast from below, at a fairly safe distance from the designated location. Letting it travel into its belly where the touch of its icy insides had set it off. Bursting and breaking the ice creature from the middle back into the flakes that made its icy and snowy form. Giving way to small sigh of relief for the heavy weight that had burdened his heart.

It caught Vile's attention as he shifted his gaze over to the other reploid.

'It's a about time. I thought you were gonna hog up all the fun. I was getting so bored floating around.' A mischievous female voice say, belonging to a cyber elf that casually appeared from behind fire guardian's armor. Quite small in feature, her body was mainly cladded in an ocean blue traditional Neo Arcadian robe, much like that of X, that formed into a shape of a dress with white highlights to define the edges. Her shell like bangs that were connected to a helmet that extended in the shape of long fin like hair sophisticatedly carved to define her sharp and yet dazzling deep blue eyes. She looked different from her original form many years ago, but even so the change wasn't so drastic, even now in her miniature cyber elf form she could still be easily distinguished as none other than the Water Guardian of the four Neo Arcadian Generals.

'Can't handle him all by yourself, hmm?' she teased him. It was a drastic change form overbearing atmosphere he had been confide too. Even at the spur of the danger, his 'sister' could always find a way to make light hearted jokes that strikes a nerve in him. He was about to respond to her in his original heated irritation when another voice rang into his ears.

'Watch out!' the male voice yelled out. The same one that had spoken and scolded him before during his argument with Axl on their way to Vile. He didn't even have time to react to the voice's warning when the color red of two transparent dual wielded beam swords glimmer pass the corner of his eyes catching his attention just as the warning had processed though his cognitive systems.

Automatically, rather than turning to the direction of the sword the fire guardian turned his head and looked at the ground while the teasing elf immediately hid beneath him. In the nick of time as the beam weapon slashed through the sky. The sound of a close, very close rocket explosion raptured in his ears as he felt the aftershock of the explosive brush through his systematic body. A large gust of wind current blowing away small stones and broken pieces of solid objects at him as a result, bringing back the cloud smoke and dust back into the battlefield.

'Harpuia!' the blue cyber elf called out carrier of the dual weapons.

'This is not the time to be fooling around.' the weilder of the dual weapons scolded at the two as he flew next to the blue cyber elf immediately after his attack, the color of the red beams faded and was swallowed by the light green glow of the cyber elf. Unlike the first, his feature was painted with the color alike to the light being projected by his being a vibrant green. He wore similar style robe like the female, but instead of dress like feature it had a more flowing open trench like coat design to it. His face prompting a more male features with a green boomerang like markings that nearly covered both side of his petite face.

'Indeed.' Responded yet another male voice, however unlike the others, the sound of his voice could only be heard by the three individual, almost in like a telepathical sort of nature.

'Phantom?' Fefnir uttered in surprised. He felt his presence come inside him, entering his cognitive banks that oddly enough altered ever so slightly to accommodate the Guardian of Intelligence. A surge of data overcome his systems as the alteration completed, though nothing was out of the ordinary.

'Four more missiles incoming.' He warned the reploid guardian, who had somehow inherited the information without even the need of being informed.

And without question, Fefnir complied. He rolled himself free from the last bits of excess rubble that held his foot hostage and spurn into a dash at a random direction. The two cyber elves followed behind him. And not even a moment later four of Vile's napalm missiles found their way out of the explosion's clouded debris and landed to the exact position Fefnir was trapped in only a second before.

'Wow, today is really full of surprises. So the Neo Arcadian Generals still live huh…I heard rumors, but since all sightings were always just you, I thought that was all there was to the rumors. But to think, the others would be in that form…..' Vile paused sarcastically as he pressed on with his attacks unleashing a barrage of ballistics at the Guardian, taking his attention off the unconscious.

'Two infrared ballistics are headed your way. One at twelve o'clock. Other at three. Phantom informed his companion, detecting the special kind of rocket among the midst of the explosions that without a doubt followed them. 'Sensory has locked into target. Unable to disengage. Impact estimate in ten seconds.'

'God dammit….. Do something. Can't you see I'm a little busy here.' Fefnir scoffed at his brother as another missile detonated just a foot away from where had just passed. Glancing up to look at the skies and at his side for a moment, Fefnir located the rockets the former ninja reploid had warned him about and were going at straight course towards him. Out in the open like he was at the moment, the locked on missiles had their advantage, with absolutely no cover out for being out in the open and no shelter to perform an evasive maneuver with a solid wall.

'They seem to be designed to avoid each other so having them crash on to one another will be difficult….' Phantom paused for a quick moment. 'My shadow ability should be able to trick the infrared, if you can get them to head for a similar course at the right distance…the sensory indicator won't have enough time to—…'

'I don't care about the specifics just do it!' Fefnir annoyingly cut him off.

'Just give me a few more seconds, I have to readjust some of your framework to enable you to perform the ability.'

'All I have is a few seconds!' Fefnir reminded him, as he stopped in his tracks to get a clearer focus at his two potential killers and prepare for their plan.

'Almost done.'

'Phantom...' Fefnir uttered in a deep and anxious voice as he watch the ballistics come dangerously close.

'Impact in 3….2..' Harpuia counted down.

'Activate!' Phantom yelled out at the last possible moment, prompting Fefnir jump as if a second too late. The explosives swallowed the red reploid's figure in a vibrant light of deathly destruction burning it down as it vanished into thin air.

Vile carefully look at the magnificent destruction he had conjured, ticking his radar for any sign of movements that may indicate an otherwise fatal blast.

But there was nothing, his existence disappeared in all points of detection.

However, before Vile was able to full bring his guard back down, a shadow appeared from behind. He ducked down, activating his thrusters to hoover back. He barely missed the arm cannon swing pass his rustic skull and balls of burning ember flame that descended down from the skies. It was then the Guardian reappeared in his vision, leaping pass him as he rolled over to his unconscious ally's side. Much to Vile's dismay two undetected kunais found their way into his back sending a sharp stinging sensation down his spine, just as the reploid had landed.

Glancing back at the boy a small look of relief went to his façade as he noticed that the boy remain unharmed, well at least as unharmed as he last saw him.

'How is he..?'

'He's out cold…he doesn't look to be in any immediate danger though.' Harpuia answered him as he floated over to examine him before coming back to his hot headed partner's side.

'Ahhh…you Generals are so annoying. Always getting in the way.' He heard Vile say, his head snapping back to the Maverick whose feet have finally touched the ground once more, while pulling out the last of his kunai.

'Get ready…' Phantom warned him, sending over information to Fefnir's eyes that indicated Vile's intention to unleash another barrage of rockets. Forming a defensive stance with the expectation to fell the wrath of several missiles as he formulated a counter attack while still defending the unconscious boy, Fefnir moved his gauntlet like weapon forward. While the two elves beside him spread further slightly apart from him as they prepared their own set of abilities to support him.

'Just like your Master. Why can't you just die?!' he yelled at him earning a small growl of anger from the fire reploid.

Vile's bombardment of rockets began again, filling his hues with the sight of just how much in amount there was. There was much more, far more than the reploid had expected. Nevertheless. He was ready.

But the storm never came.

A gust of powerful wind slashed through the space between them and the Maverick. The air swirled powerfully in a circular like motion with a blanket of lightning around its outer ring, sweeping up any objects that did not have enough weight to defy its current, swirling into a tornado like formation. It was intense to to say the least, the electric current that followed the course of the wind struck aimlessly in its surroundings. Bolts of lightning struck the ground in ravenous numbers forcing anyone that was near to pull back for a safer clearing. The missiles were sucked into the vortex and collided with one another or struck by the electric current that passed through the body, while others were simply set off just by the air's touch or were thrown into a random direction away from their designated target, hitting the ground or unsuspecting buildings they have come in contact with. Though, Fefnir himself had little struggle to keep his ground, nonetheless, the tug to join the flying debris was undeniably strong.

When the explosives have stopped and the wind current died down as well. The vortex had shrunk in size as it returned to its concentrated source. Leaving behind a series of the uplifted items rain back as demanded by gravity.

'When did he…..?' Leviathan asked.

'Axl…?' Fefnir uttered in surprise, his jaws open wide in astonishment by the power and as he saw the boy who only seconds ago he had confirmed to be knocked out cold. The young reploid made no effort to look back at him as he looked dead straight at their opponent.

There was no sound, but the silence that loomed over them. Even Vile himself have stopped in his attacked to gaze upon the wonder before him. A wicked smile appeared from his helmet's shadow, as the dark eerie cloud of smoke appeared into the sky and painted their surroundings a bloody crimson color.

Heavy darkness quickly sinking down the eerie surrounding. Even the destruction that surrounded them is nothing compared to his sudden presence.

Something was off…

Fefnir couldn't quite make it out. The boy, he didn't seem quite right.

A dark impression leaking at all parts of his body.

Axl's eyes…they almost seemed murderous…malevolent, devoid of any emotions that are usually present on his face. He's seen the boy's face in battle. It was not like this. It was nothing of himself. Nothing like this.

His eyes were they always that rich golden color before?

It was different…He was different…A completely different person.

'Buddy! There you are! I was wondering when you were finally going to show up!' Vile exclaimed welcomingly in an almost menacing tone.

'I've been waiting for you.'

Author's Notes

IT'S DONE! YAY! I missed you guys!

I'm sorry it took so long. I didn't mean to update this so late. But I swear to you even if I take forever, I will finish this story….whenever that is... But I will try to keep it consistent of course.

Also, I not so recently, posted the first chapter of a new story At Least Once, it's a bit of different genre from Mission: Incomplete, with it being more comedic and a not so serious plot line, with Axl trying to X and Zero to have fun for once. It is set in the same universe as Mission: Incomplete, and after a few more updates there will be a bit of an easter egg between them (it's nothing that effects the plot, so no worries about not reading it.) But if you are interested please do check it out!

Why up with Axl all of a sudden? O.o?

And OH MY GOD the Guardians are cyber elves, who saw that coming? Lol

I got the idea after reading somewhere that in MMZ3 Phantom as a cyber elf actually helped X during the missile crisis that happened in Neo Arcadia. So I thought it'd be a fun concept to use. Especially since in MMZ3 they were technically destroyed in Omega's explosion.

A lot of things happened this chapter and it was all very difficult to write. I'm pretty sure there are some confusing parts to it especially towards the end. I don't know if I got some things across properly. So guys PLEASE tell me if there is something that sounds absolutely ridiculous and confusing. This chapters was just so long.

And no, Axl did not magically gain a new ability that got him to make a tornado made out of lightning lol. This was actually an acquired ability called Volt Tornado in MMX7 when you defeat one of the bosses. Although it wasn't exactly as strong, what had just happened is a more amplified version so to speak because well you know…xD

And yes I am aware that to some people Axl is a tad bit out of character in this chapter since he's not his usual confident self and is pretty gullible to a lot of what Vile was saying. I do agree that he is a bit out of character, but to me I think this would be a natural response from him. After all he hasn't fully grasped the situation yet, at least not in its entirety. We have to remember everything that he is facing right now from the time he woke up in the Guardian Base to Vile is all happening a in a very short period of time….if anything it's only been a good hour or two since he woke up and got the whole world turned upside down for him (even though its been like 3 month since chapter 7 was posted….haha silly author .; ) Also, a lot has changed in the future, everyone he met so far is a stranger, not to mention he is still pretty ignorant of what has transpired over the course of the century and even though Axl accepted the fact that he's in a different timeline, it doesn't mean he is so knowledgeable and trusting about everything, especially when the last thing he remembers and dream about is his two best friends being total douche bags to him. So when he actually meets someone from the past, even if it was someone as untrustworthy as Vile, their words will have a much larger impact compared to that of a stranger like Ciel.

Not to mention Vile is saying are the ugly truths and twisting the past to his favor rather than lying so it makes it all the more difficult for Axl.

Same goes for Vile, I know he's not as aggressive and psycho as he's normally represented, but remember he has bigger things up his sleeves, and right now it looks like he just wanted to play mind games with Axl, why? Who knows.

For Anonymous: haha who knows. He may or may not have it. Either way, as far as everything stands right now. Axl himself isn't aware of it if he does have it.

But that being said I'm going to make a little confession to you guys. I was actually intended in making this encounter with Vile to be a short and sweet one chapter since I feel like there isn't much progression in the plot as I would like it to be. But then as I was writing it went SO much longer than I thought it would be (which isn't a bad thing I think..xD I'm pretty happy on how it turned out)…so long in fact, at least for my taste, that I just decided to break it down to two separate chapters. A bit of laziness on my part haha. And I just had too much fun writing Vile. Lol

But it's a good stopping point I think and next chapter shouldn't be as long (and neither will the update lol) as this one since most of the main points I wanted to implement are in. And there won't be so many past references. Maybe…I'm not even going to predict anymore.

Wow…I need to stop talking…

This is a really..REALLY long author's note xD