The sound of muffled yelling roused X from his dozing. He looked up sharply, only to frown as Zero still slumbered. He stood up, picking up Zero's hand as he did so. He released it, and with a heavy thud it dropped back into place.
"Come on, buddy," X whispered.
The yelling grew louder, closer. Annoyed, X marched out of the lab to see who or what the problem was.
"Commander X! Commander X!" X heard as he stepped out into the hallway.
"I'm here," X called back. "Stop shouting!" He rounded a corner and came to a stop when he almost ran into another Hunter. The latter jumped back, equally spooked by X's sudden appearance.
"Sorry, sir!" the Hunter said, saluting. "Commander, we have received a communication that requires your urgent attention!"
"Explain."
"From the Mavericks. The claim they've planted a bomb old headquarters, and that we have four hours to locate it!"
X put a hand to his chin. "Any demands?"
"No sir!"
"None whatsoever?"
The Hunter nodded.
"Have you verified the message?"
"A Maverick delivered it to the men at our sea base an hour ago. Looked like an old man, but he injured our men when they tried to arrest him. He said you would know who he is."
X's eyes lit up at the mention of the Maverick's appearance. "So we have three hours. We evacuated headquarters at least. Have men search for only an hour, then get out- I don't want to risk any lives for just a building."
The Hunter's mouth opened, but words caught in his throat. He shifted on his feet.
"What is it?" X asked.
Words rushed out of the Hunter's mouth. "Sir, the building is not evacuated. Many of the human civilians refused to leave when we issued the evacuation order."
"What! How could they refuse? Did you even try to persuade them?"
"Of course," the Hunter said with a huff. "But the humans are stubborn. The Hunters there need your presence right away."
X sighed, checking his frustration. "Right. I'm sorry. I know you and the Hunters did the best that you could." He shook his head, unnerved by this latest crisis. "Okay. I'm on my way headquarters now. Dismissed."
The Hunter saluted, and X turned to hurry back to the lab. His mind turned over the possibilities for why the X-Hunters threatened the old headquarters. Was there a strategic value to the location that he did not recognize? Did it contain something equally valuable? Or was this mere petty revenge for defeating them? Or due to some other fit of madness he could not understand?
He passed by Zero in the lab, still reclining, still repairing himself. X peered over him, checking once more for any sign of consciousness. When none came, he sighed and headed for the teleporter pad.
Chaos surrounded X upon arriving at the scene. A din of sirens, heavy vehicle motors, and excited voices filled the air. Hunters mounted atop trucks and ride armor attempted to keep order with their presence, but instead found themselves surrounded by angry and terrified mobs. X's ears caught a troubling exchange between one such mob and a peacekeeper:
"Where are you going to herd us this time?" a civilian asked.
"Yeah! Then happens when that shelter gets blown up by Mavericks?" another rejoined.
"Why can't you Hunters do something useful for once?"
Perched in his ride armor, the Hunter replied, "Just stay calm. We are going to deal with the situation, but above all, we will keep you safe so long as you follow our directions."
"Bullshit!" someone in the crowd hurled back at him.
"Yeah!"
Galvanized by the tension, X pushed through the crowd toward the ride armor. He needed to help his man, and to diffuse the strong fears coming from the humans. He sympathized with the Hunter attempting to reason with the crowd. Few Reploids understood that many humans act upon their fears first, and reason second.
"Hey! You're X!" someone said.
"Thank God!" another said.
"X?" The question bubbled through the crowd. The telltale blue seemed to answer them as X hopped onto the arm of the ride armor.
"Sir!" the Hunter greeted.
"Listen, everybody!" X announced, cupping a hand to his mouth. The chatter died down, not just for the crowd before him, but every soul in the vicinity quieted and turned their attention to X.
"I know you are scared. You have lost a great deal already. You want just want peace and normalcy! But so do we, the Maverick Hunters. We are on your side. I am on your side!"
X allowed a pause for the words to sink in, then continued, "I will be leading a team to search for the bomb. I hope to succeed. But if I fail, I want to know that you survived. That you carried your loved ones to safety. That innocent people didn't die for our mistakes. That's why we, the Maverick Hunters, exist. To fight and to die in your place."
People in the crowd looked at one another. Someone asked, "What should we do?"
"Follow them, and remain calm," X said, tapping the ride armor's plating. "If you trust me, then please trust them to take care of you!"
Without further protest, the civilians followed the Hunters, evacuating the premises in an orderly fashion.
Meanwhile, X took on Hunters as volunteers to assist him with the search. He instructed them to prioritize vulnerable sections of the building first. X also instructed them to leave the building within the hour if they turned up nothing.
However, none accepted the last order. All insisted they would find the bomb or die with X. Their dedication boosted X's confidence, and felt a pride in the Maverick Hunters like never before.
Thus they scoured the building for any sign of explosives or tampering. With scanners they searched weak points in support, storage facilities, laboratories, and other vulnerable areas. After an hour of coming up empty-handed, X felt a wave of apprehension. Not because they may not find the bomb, but rather he suspected something else, some other piece of the puzzle was missing.
They came upon the two hour mark. One of the Hunters accompanying X said, "It's been an honor, sir!"
"Don't give up yet," X replied.
Three hours passed without any major event. No explosions, no earthquakes. Though the danger seemed to have passed, the silent building confirmed X's suspicions of a bogus plot being at work.
"Are we sure the communication said four hours?" a Hunter asked.
X said, "It doesn't matter. I am starting to think there was no bomb here in the first place, but we will continue to search the building."
An additional hour passed before they completed the search. The search teams trickled in at a designated rendezvous point just outside the building. As X joined them, the Hunters questioned him:
"What's going on?"
"Why haven't we seen an explosion?"
"What is the meaning of all this?"
X shook his head at the barrage of questions. He said, "I think we've been had. The Mavericks sent us on a wild goose chase."
"A what?"
X said, "They tricked us. Tricked me. And I'm trying to figure out wh-," Suddenly, he froze.
"Commander?" a Hunter asked.
"A diversion," X said. Panic gripped him. "I have to get back to Dr. Cain's. Please take care of the civilians!"
He hated that way it looked: abandoning the scene and leaving the Hunters to their confusion. However, one sole focus overrode his professionalism: Zero. X hoped, dearly, that Zero revived sometime during the past few hours. Maybe when he returned he would see the manor and the laboratory safe and secure. Maybe Zero would be waiting for him with open arms.
X rematerialized on the teleporter pad in Dr. Cain's lab. The scene was nothing at all like he hoped. It was exactly as he feared.
He stood frozen, horrified by the scene all around him. Save for the teleporter, it appeared that every bit of equipment had been overturned, ripped out, destroyed. Strips of metal, broken glass, and flickering bits of torn wiring littered the space at every step. For all intents and purposes, the bomb went off there in the lab. X felt a heavy weight dropped into his stomach as he stepped off of the pad.
"Zero!" X called out, expressing a senseless hope that Zero somehow escaped the destruction. He dashed over to the repair capsule, only to see it smashed and empty.
"No!" X howled. His hands flew to his face, covering it as he reproached himself.
"X, is that you? Oh thank goodness."
X turned to see Dr. Cain enter the lab The latter glanced around in shock as X did moments ago. The doctor said, "I heard a terrible commotion. When I got here, I dared not open the door. In my gut I knew. I hid myself until you could return. Oh dear, I'm sorry I couldn't stop them!"
"No," X said. "You did the right thing." He ran his fingers along the broken capsule. He tried to hold back, but his lip quivered with sorrow. He felt tears pour from his eyes. He collapsed to his knees, fighting back sobs. He mourned all his work, and all their effort. It all now lay in ruins because he was a fool. Now, the ruse was all too obvious. He thought if he had been wiser, more experienced, he could have realized the X-Hunters' true intentions before it was too late.
"Oh my dear," Dr. Cain said, coming over to place a comforting hand on X's shoulder. The doctor continued to look around as X convulsed. "Oh no!" he said suddenly.
"What?" X said, wiping his eyes.
"The computer! Zero's blueprints!"
X looked up sharply toward the central computer. The chassis and input panels were split wide open, with torn wiring spilling like entrails out of a stomach wound. X rose from his knees to examine the damage, but he realized very quickly that the vandals tore out its memory storage and additional components.
"How could they have gotten away? Or here in the first place?" X asked.
"They must have hacked our teleporter," the doctor said. "I never thought it was possible."
"Me, neither," X said. "Can we pull a log, see where they might have gone?"
"Certainly."
Then, a single viewscreen switched on- the only screen still intact. Alarmed, X and the doctor turned toward it.
X reeled when he recognized the face on screen. "Serges!"
"Good evening," Serges said. "First, some advice. You should never leave your backdoor open. You don't know who might wander in!"
X trained his buster on the screen, too overwhelmed to consider the absurdity. "Tell me what you've done! Where have you taken him!"
Serges chuckled. "Secondly, I wish to thank you for completing our work. And for taking the bait so predictably."
Overwhelmed with anger, X's arm shook. "Tell me where you are!"
Serges chuckled. "Patience. We also have an invitation to deliver from the master," he said. "You will come to these coordinates. He insists that you survive until he can show you the results of your work, but we'll see about that."
The coordinates appeared on screen: 90.0 degrees North, zero West.
"The North Pole," X breathed.
Serges continued, "I know you want to see him again. I look forward to our rematch. Especially since you're all alone now!"
X lowered his buster. He said, "I accept the invitation. I will find you, and your master, and I will destroy you both!"
Serges laughed as the feed cut out.
Humiliated and outraged, X took a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm going. Now." He expected the doctor to protest when the latter knitted his brow.
The doctor said nothing of the sort. He touched X on the shoulder, looked at him in the eyes and said, "You give them hell!"
A/N: angel-kamui: Thank you! Glad you enjoyed that chapter! I worried for a minute that it might seem confusing, but I'm glad that was not the case.
Enci987: Oh yes, all your questions will be answered VERY soon! I anticipate only a few chapters left after this latest one- which I can't believe. But I hope to make them worthwhile. I may not get to finishing it until after the holiday, though. Maybe with the New Year? :cD