Chapter 10: Beauty and Thorns, Axle the Red
One hour later...
With the electricity returned to the teleporter system, Shina was brought back to base right away, and before her entire body materialized she dashed straight for the command center. Inside she found X and Zero gathered by Alia at the laptop as she was overlooking the volcano domain. Four screens were utilized to cover the entire area, and the scars of battle against Mattrex were as plain as day.
But Shina's priorities were more focused on the obvious elephant in the room, which she inquired about the moment she approached the three, "Where's Alex?"
X and Alia stiffened up right away, while Zero gave the girl a glance aside his left shoulder and unfolded his arms. While his two comrades hesitated to tell her, he took no pause and told her, "We don't know."
"What? What do you mean?" Shina's earlier fears grew stronger upon hearing that foreboding answer, and she sprinted past Zero to prop herself over Alia's chair in order to survey what she had on the laptop. The gaze of her eyes shifted back and forth at a frantic pace, as she went over each screen at least a dozen times over in the span of fifteen seconds until Alia laid a hand on her left arm.
The girl jerked back with her 'heart' beating fast, looking into Alia's eyes as bitter regret laid itself upon her face, "I'm...I'm sorry Shina. But we haven't been able to find any signs of Alex."
Shina's pupils shrank down to dots for just a moment as she tried to remain calm and assess the situation fully for what it was, which was easier said than done, "W-What happened? Please, tell me everything!"
Sensing the clear and utter panic in her voice, Alia didn't waste any time and brushed a hand out towards the laptop as she explained, "Not long after Alex went to grab a shuttle part against my better judgment, our communications were shut off, including all the cameras in the volcano base. By the time we were able to get things up and running he was just...gone."
"Gone...?" Shina shifted her gaze to Alia for a second then went back to looking at the laptop. Her focus locked onto the sight of the lumbering corpse of Mattrex buried under hardened magma, and she slammed her right pointer finger onto that part of the screen right away.
"Isn't that a Reploid?" She inquired while trying her best to squint at the corpse and identify it ahead of the navigator. However, Alia's processing power was far greater than any humans, and she was able to piece together who the corpse was in a second.
"That looks a lot like Mattrex, a former Repliforce member..." Alia tapped away at the keyboard to zoom in on the corpse, where the closer look got her questioning, "But...last I checked he was never that big."
"Maybe he got some modifications from an illegal arms dealer?" Zero thought of with relative uncertainty towards his answer.
"Or it could be a result of the Sigma Virus." X suggested.
"No no no, it's nothing like that..." Shina shook her head and laid her hands down on the edge of the desk, molding her lips into a tiny frown as she began to recognize the abnormality in Mattrex's body.
"He must've had the artifact piece implanted in his body, and that caused him to transform."
"If that's the case," Zero responded with little regard for how strange the whole situation was, "Then that means Alex defeated Mattrex and acquired the artifact piece."
"...Mmm-hmm..." Shina couldn't disagree, and gave the Hunter a brief nod of the head. Then, her fingers curled up towards the palm, her body growing tense as she could only sense a bad omen awaiting her down the path her thoughts went down.
"...We should probably brace ourselves for the possibility that Alex's gone Maverick." Zero closed his eyes, accepting that his realistic answer would receive some negative reception on the spot. On the spot, Shina spun around and looked Zero in the eyes, laying a hand upon her chest as she sought to deny even the singlest percent of a chance that such a thing could have happened.
"A-Alex would never go Maverick! I know he wouldn't!" Her voiced raged on with a denial and sadness birthed from a growing fear of the events that had occurred in this world thus far, and yet in spite of all that she still had the utmost faith in the humanity of her friend.
"I'm not saying he is...yet," Zero opened his eyes and looked towards the girl, empathizing with her fevered plight, "But unfortunately, that's the only option we have to go on at the moment."
Not that his remarks did her any good, as her head fell into a slump while her fist tightened up and buried itself in the center of her chest. Only when Alia spoke up did she break out of that slump, "If it makes any difference, nothing about Alex seemed off when I was still in contact with him...Well, besides him being a little more irritable."
"Mmm..." Shina let out a melancholic hum and blinked rather slow, her mind unable to stop lingering on what Zero had suggested.
"Alex...what happened to you?" Her body began to shake as though she was deep in snow, and it was a sensation that would not go away until she was certain that her friend was safe. After a brief silence, X approached Shina and reached up to put a hand on her shoulder. She only gave her head a mild turn aside to look at X, who projected a kind and understanding stare.
"I promise you, we'll find him. But right now, I'm certain he'd want us to stay focused on stopping Eurasia."
"...Right." Shina still had a sour expression on her face as she nodded her head.
"Speaking of that, since Alex didn't return, what's the status on the booster engine?" Zero commented with a swift and obvious attempt to draw the conversation away to the more urgent topic.
"No idea. I'd honestly be surprised if the thing even survived the increased activity in-" Alia paused as a beeping entered her ears, and she raised a hand to touch upon her communicator, "This is Alia, you're cleared to speak."
"Uh-huh...Uh-huh...It did? H-How in the...? ...Oh, I see, I see..." Alia gave some rather vague responses, but her tone seemed positive throughout. When she was done, she turned around with a somewhat perplexed look in her eyes.
"Scratch what I said, the booster engine just arrived at the shuttle dock."
"Huh? How is that possible?" X pondered.
"No idea. There wasn't a note or a person nearby. It was like it appeared out of thin air," Alia spoke out with some clear suspicions before suggesting, "I'll contact the shuttle team and tell them to check the engine for any bombs or other kinds of traps."
"In the meantime though, one of you might as well go and get the last part." Alia turned back to her laptop and began typing in the teleportation coordinates for the last area, a forest in Brazil.
"I'll go." X offered right away.
"You sure? I can handle another trip." Zero remarked.
"Zero, I don't want you to push yourself. We'll need all the strength we can get to stop Sigma once we've dealt with Eurasia."
"Hrrr...Alright X, if you insist." There was a moment of hesitation where it seemed as though Zero would object, but then he simply passed up the chance without so much as a hint of a struggle. X nodded his head and gave his thanks, then decided to head for the teleporter.
Once he reached the device, however, Alia contacted him through his communicator, "Before you head out, let me give you the completed Falcon Armor."
"Oh, that's right. We got all the parts to that. Sure, I'm ready to accept it Alia." X stood motionless in the capsule as Alia worked tirelessly to code the machine to accept the transference of the armor parts to X's body. He had to stand and wait there for a good minute as each piece materialized around his body, finalizing in the form of a blue-and-white armor. The armor had traits reminiscent of it's namesake, with a beak on the chestplate and upward pointed wings on the back and helmet. His buster now had a pair of talons curved on the sides of the barrel.
"Looks like it went through perfectly. Good, but be careful anyways X. I can't fully repair those armors if they break down."
X glossed over the armor for a bit with his left hand. The feel of the surface was as sleek and smooth as all the others, but he could tell that Dr. Light put every bit of his hard-work and love into his work just like always. With a nod of the head, X eased his arms up and remarked, "I'm ready to go."
With one press of the button by Alia, X was sent off in a flash. Though his target destination was somewhere in a forest, the first sights the Hunter laid his eyes on were far more mechanical than natural. He was standing in a waist-deep stream of water that had filled up the entryway of a military base, which was armed with plenty of anti-air cannons beyond the thick lining of electric fences on both sides. What little nature did remain in the area wasn't even organic, and instead had been replaced with machinery meant to emulate the effects that such plants would have on the environment.
But what drew X's attention the most as he began to make his way down the entryway was that the fences were ensnared by a bountiful array of thorny metallic roses. Though he didn't have much interest in studying plants and such, even he knew that roses had no place down here. But before he could contact Alia on the matter, the tip of his toes poked at a resting thorny vine and caused it to spring to life.
With a tall, breeching splash, the vine rose forth and let out a hellish snarl before it whipped itself around in a circle trying to smash X away. The Hunter reacted with shock but managed to flip back out of the way before even one of it's dozens of thorns could scrape him. After one rough and sudden landing, X poised his buster towards the vine as another joined aside it.
"Now, what do we have here?" A sauve and flamboyant voice called out to X from afar, and the vines heeled by erecting themselves perfectly upright on the spot. Three more vines shot up from the ground, but each one had a sleek ruby bud on top. The buds blossomed and spread their petals like an open umbrella, providing a solid stairwell for a Reploid to walk down.
The Reploid was a grassy-green humanoid type with large rose petals for sleeves and three leaves acting as the shoulder plates. Atop his head was a large, fully formed rose with one petal bent down to act as a bang of sorts, and his face doesn't have a mouth to speak of. With a pair of stiff blue eyes, the Reploid gazed upon X and glided his right arm out in front of his sideways standing body. As the Hunter positioned his buster up at him, the Reploid scoffed and flicked his wrist around.
"Oh come now...You invade upon my property and yet you're the one on the defensive? Let me guess...you must be one of those boorish Maverick Hunters." He held himself to a higher standard than his company right off the bat, but X stayed cautious about firing upon the rogue Reploid until he could figure out who they were. One brief scan of their body didn't reveal a single emblem that would indicate who they worked for, thus forcing X to ask directly.
"Who are you?"
"So not only do you barge into my home, but you don't even know who I am? Ghh, your words are like a dagger to my heart, Maverick Hunter." The Reploid faked pain in his chest by lurching back and grasping at it with a clenched hand.
He got over it pretty quickly though, and then got straight to introductions, "I am Axle the Red, the caretaker of this now defunct military base."
"Did you take it over?" X pressed on with his buster still aimed up.
"Urgh...You better not be accusing me of being a Maverick. I'll have you know that this place as abandoned long before I arrived." Axle laid his fingers across the forehead and shook it in dismay at X's accusations.
"He's not lying about this place being abandoned, but as far as the other accusation goes...I'm getting an abnormal reading of the Sigma Virus inside his body."
"Abnormal how?" X remained cautious, but to the surprise of him and Alia it was Axle who answered the question.
"I can hear you both, you know. Yes, it is true that I have some traces of the Sigma Virus inside of me, but that is because I was born from it."
"Born...from it?" The idea of such a thing shook X to the core with surprise.
"If I remember correctly, it was the result of a mutation between a Reploid and a nature control unit when both were exposed to the virus." Axle explained while laying a hand upon his chin and giving it a brief rub, as though even he wasn't certain he was remembering correctly.
"Let me try and collaborate the story..." Alia could be heard typing away at the keyboard for a few seconds, "Yep. Found it. You used to work at one of the Ukraine facilities."
"'Used to' being the key word there. Uuuuugh, I despised how gaudy that facility was. This place is far, far-" Axle ceased his overdramatic behavior and swiped his arm down towards the ground, exclaiming in a flabbergasted tone towards him, "Now hang on a just a second. Why am I wasting time spilling my guts to a pair of thieves? State your business before I decide to turn you into a lawn ornament!"
X lowered his buster a bit and made his point clear and concise, "I'm here for an Orbiter Booster. If there's one in this base, we'd appreciate it if you hand it over."
"An Orbiter Booster you say? Hmmm, yes, I do recall there being one. But I'm not simply about to hand it over to the likes of you."
"What are you talking about? This is no time for games!" X expressed with great urgency while leaning forward and scowling.
"A game?!" Axle was set off in a furious fluster, and with a snap of the fingers the vines beside himself stirred back to life and aimed themselves at X.
"You're the one gallivanting your way into my abode like some thrill seeking pirate! Honestly, this is why the public despises you Maverick Hunters. You go wherever you please and try to lay claim to whatever you darn well want, stepping on the toes and feelings of whatever Reploids happen to cross your path!"
"We're trying to stop the world from being destroyed! If you're getting in our way-!"
"Then I am to be branded a Maverick sent on the path of destruction? I'll accept my fate with thunderous applause if that's the case! I would rather be destroyed than watch as you thugs strong-arm me out of my possessions!" Axle then snapped his fingers twice forward and declared, "Now my lovely roses...Strangle this intruder until his skin is as white as his body!"
The Reploid then spun around and strolled off while his vines snarled and lunged themselves down at X. The Hunter whipped his buster up but didn't have time to shoot, forcing him to leap back. The vines splashed down on the surface of water and rose in a curve immediately, following the trail of X's escape attempt.
With the vines inches away from his body, X hastily kicked his feet back and tried to use his rocket boots to dash away. However, he was in for a rather welcome surprise as his body propelled forward and stayed in mid-air, allowing him to maneuver around with the sleek control of a fighter jet. After a gasp at how weightless his body now was, X pointed his buster forward and watched as the vines twisted around each other in an attempt to loop back after him.
Charging energy into his cannon, X fired a small, fast-moving needle that pierced through the knot in both vines and broke their tips off. Both tips went flying over the fences while the rest of the vines stiffened into an unmoving state. X lowered his weapon and turned it back into a hand, spinning around to find that Axle has already rode a rose deeper into the craggy facility.
"Looks like you'll have to take the part by force X."
"I wish it didn't have to be this way, but he's left us with no other choice." X stated with determination, and after clenching his fists together he shot forward like a bullet. His body was enveloped in a barrier of energy, protecting him from harm as he went in pursuit of Axle.
Vines ripped up from the ground and impaled through the ceiling of the entrance to try and block X off, but with a quick and sharp boost X pierced through the vines with the help of his barrier. Then, finding himself in a more compressed space, he decided to land. Then, he sprinted straight ahead through a small hallway, finding signs of Axle's influence on the place all-around him.
"This place has become more of a botanical garden than a military base. Thankfully that means the weapons are deactivated." Alia commented.
"I wonder what kind of Reploids used to live in this place." X looked around, noticing that there was a lot of broken down machinery entangled up in vines whose circumferences were bigger than his body. Meshed together, the vines and trash gave off an emerald haze within the atmosphere. He was so enraptured by the scenery, that he almost ended up running off the edge of the road.
"Careful!" Her sharp alert forced his feet to dig deeper into the road, grinding him to a halt. His toes teetered off the edge, the rest of his body's weight following suit until he jerked himself back. He picked up his feet and took a couple steps back, looking ahead to find that a chasm stretched out for at least a good mile forward. All that awaited him down below was certain death via spikes.
"...Can't make a mistake here." He whispered to himself as he pushed off the ground and activated his newfound flight to begin crossing the chasm. Axle wasn't going to make the trip easy, however, as along the way parts of the ceiling and walls ruptured open and blocked his path with thicker vines than what he had encountered before.
Unused to sudden movements like the ones he had to make to dodge, X threw his body entirely into the opposing walls and smashed them apart like he was a living hammer. His body was left shaking as he tried to regain his focus, and as the thicket of vines grew more intertwined X feared that he would make a mistake and dropped to the closest platform he could.
Panting to catch his breath, X looked ahead and noticed that there was plenty of distance to cover, and thus gauged how best to proceed. He lowered his buster and thought about the new power granted to him and how best to handle it. Closing his eyes to concentrate, X found himself drawn to all the times he rode a Ride Bike or Ride Armor. The smooth way they glided around was similar to the way the Falcon Armor seemed to control.
"If I try and control it like that..." X murmured the moment before he pushed himself off the ground and took flight once more. Now, utilizing what he has learned from other experiences, he prepared a charged shot to blast through the vines and then shot forward the moment his opening was made.
The vines were now not able to keep up with his mobility, as he was able to precisely gauge and fly out of the way the second before they emerged. As he swerved through the obstacles in his path, Alia contacted him with urgent information.
"X quick! Make a sharp ascent into that alcove up ahead!" He rose up a second after hearing that, rising through the alcove and landing on the ledge in one fell swoop. He ended up in front of a Dr. Light capsule, and considering the patterns so far he knew it would be the last one for the Gaea Armor.
But there was still the matter of the questions X had wanted to ask the doctor. With all the chaos that he's had to deal with, none of which was getting any better, he hadn't the time to determine the right way to ask. Without even realizing it either, he had approached the capsule and caused it to activate. The time to ponder such details was now wasted, throwing aside like the trash spread throughout the facility.
"Greetings X. It feels like it's been quite some time since I last saw you." Dr. Light said with a warm smile on his face.
"Doctor..." X looked him in the eyes for a few seconds before lifting his buster up and saying, "Thank you for this Falcon Armor. You put a lot of work into it."
"I've put my heart and soul into every armor I make. Though that's quite ironic, considering my current state." He came off as rather humored towards himself, though X didn't particularly seem invested in laughing at the joke himself. Dr. Light tilted his head aside and looked at his creation with a stern glare.
"X, I can tell when something is bothering you. Remember, you are always welcome to speak up at anytime."
"I-I know, I know!" Dr. Light was taken aback by how agitated X came off as, but knew his reaction could only be reasonable given the circumstances. Preferring silence to offering comfort, Dr. Light waited for his creation to express himself.
"...Mmmmhh...I'm sorry Doctor. But...what can I say that I haven't already? Nothing's changed, and I'm starting to wonder if it ever will."
"Nothing can ever be changed in a day, or a week...perhaps not even a month," Dr. Light looked around the area and found inspiration from the environment, "Change is like...growing a plant, X. You start off with a small, delicate seed or bud, and if you neglect it then it shall always remain the same. But put in the time and effort to tend to it, and some day it'll blossom into a beautiful flower that you can be proud of."
"...I implore you X, do not give up on this world. Someday, a flower of peace shall bloom."
"Doctor..." X closed his eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath before flashing his creator a smile and saying, "I wish there was some way to pay you back after everything you've done for me."
"Just keep on living. That's all I ask of you, X." The doctor's voice was quiet but filled with pride.
"I will...I promise." The Hunter gave a brief nod of the head before the hologram of the doctor disappeared, allowing him to step inside and claim the last piece of the Gaea Armor. Once this process was done, the capsule sealed up with X's departure, and he rested a hand upon his buster while overlooking the edge of the alcove.
He leapt down and descended back into the chasm, spinning his body around and activating the power of flight to boost straight ahead through the remainder of the obstacles in his path. Soon enough, he'd land at the bottom of a couple steps leading up to a steel door. Axle the Red had to lie beyond it. Poising his buster for battle, X vaulted up to the top and ran through the sliding door to the secluded room at the end.
In this room, the trashed machinery was untouched by the metallic vines and roses X had come to axpect. Instead, they had been inflicted with a dry, musky moss from years of being kept alone. Observation of this strange, organic occurrence would have to wait, for the Reploid X had pursued was standing at the opposite end of the room with a fickle metal rose in his right hand and a contemplative look in his eyes as he stared at it.
"Hmph, so you overcame my precious primroses after all. I should hardly be surprised...Brutes like you are always stepping on the littler folk to get what you want." Axle didn't pay X even the slightest hint of attention, believing the indulgence of floral beauty was far better worth his time.
X raised his buster up towards the Reploid and demanded from him, "No more games Axle the Red! Hand over the Orbiter Booster, or I will be forced to terminate you as a Maverick!"
"Nothing's changed from before, Maverick Hunter. I told you...I'd rather die than be forced to part with my belongings."
"Why? Is one machine really worth that much to you?!" X couldn't quite understand the Reploid's obsession, but he would receive no such answer as instead the insulted Axle threw a bitter remark right back into X's face.
"Haw! As though I would expect a thief to understand the value another might have in their properties! Especially not the likes of you, Maverick Hunter X."
'What are you talking about..We're not thieves!"
"You can deny the truth all you want, but you and your band of rogues have pilfered from many lesser Reploids many times over. And you, X, are the biggest thief of them all!" Axle rose spun to the right and brandished the blossomed rose towards him with an accusing demureness to him, "I know all about your power to copy the abilities of other Reploids you have slain in battle. On top of that, I'm most certain that no one in your company would have the ability to create that garish armor you've forced upon my sights."
"So tell me X...Peel away the armor and stolen powers and what do you have left? Just a mish-mash of plates and wires unfit to be called a man let alone a Reploid!"
Though the comments stung a bit, as X could admit that Axle's words held some semblance of truth, he was able to fight through any lingering doubts he had to be able to tell the Reploid just who he was, "I...am the hope of this world!"
"A champion of hope, you say? Hmph, that's nothing more than the hypocrisy of a murderer trying to justify his bloodlust!" Axle then threw his rose to the ground and snapped his wrist towards it, his hand transforming into a long, tender vine. A violet aura burst into existence around his body and his eyes glowed bright red as he aimed a piercing glare straight towards his company.
"All you Maverick Hunters are a danger to this world! And I will not allow you to get your way any longer!"
Axle whipped his vine forward, coiling it up into a tight purple sphere covered in spikes that flew straight towards X. The Hunter leapt up and levitated in place with the help of his new armor, cocking his buster towards the Reploid. But then his back was impaled by three spikes as the prior sphere bounced off the wall, causing him excrutiating pain. He jerked his body around to throw the ball off, but then was constrained around the waist by a thinner vine whip.
Axle squinted his eyes shut and twirled his body back towards the wall behind him, whipping X's body through the room and grinding him against the leftmost wall before reaching the intended target. Axle tightened his constriction as X planted his hands down upon the vine and tried to push himself out, then taunted him with an elegant boast, "You will never escape my grasp. It's futile!"
X thought quick and planted his feet against the wall, charging up the propulsion until the boots reached their limit and sent his body rocketing against the grasp of his foe. He swung his body back and rammed his head straight into Axle's chest as their eyes popped open, the blow striking as hard as a one-tone hammer. Axle was thrown back into the opposite side of the room but planted his feet firmly on the ground before he struck the wall, upon which he coiled the vine back into his wrist while placing one hand upon his wounded gut.
"Ghh, you boorish cad!" Enraged beyond belief, Axle threw one spiked ball towards X then whipped his other hand forward to create another. Both bounced around the room faster than the first did, but X flipped himself around with an agile thrust of his boosters and launched himself between the center of the approaching balls. Then he pushed himself towards the ground and rolled forward, switching to a foggy blue color for his armor and holding the buster straight towards Axle's face.
For a second, X tried to perform a charged attack, but then noticed that no energy was building up within the buster. With a brief glance at his arm cannon, X wasted his oppurtunity to catch the Reploid by surprise, and Axle responded by punching the Hunter square in the face. Axle shook his open hand out the moment his hit connected, failing to pay attention to X as he then glanced over his shoulder and flipped back past the returning spheres.
"What?!" Axle widened his eyes then quickly whipped a vine out from each hand to smack the balls away a mere foot before they connected. One went up and the other dropped down, both preparing to bouncing their way back to X's location. The Hunter thrust his buster forward and changed his armor to a black and yellow tint. From the tip of the buster he fired three bolts of electricity, one forward and one up and down each. The vertical bolts intercepted the spheres and destroyed them, while the forward one struck Axle in the chest and left him frazzled for a second.
X boosted forward and switched back to the prior color, throwing his right fist up into an uppercut that struck Axle in the jaw and dragged him towards the ceiling with a summoned whirlwind. X took a couple steps back as the Reploid's head crunched down a bit from impact, then aimed up with his armor switching to a brownish color scheme. He fired two fast flying orange crescents into Axle's body to cut it up around the hip and leg, by then the Reploid being able to pull himself free and drop to the ground.
Axle's eyes were enflamed with a devilish fury, and he whipped both his vines arms towards the ground to try and crush X beneath his might. The Hunter leapt back then took flight to avoid the tremors of his foe's attack, then aimed his regular charged shot at the Reploid's head. Axle heaved his vines up and lashed them towards X, who weaved past the vines to line up his shot.
He doesn't hesitate, and like an arrow the shot pierced straight through the sky and blew a hole right through Axle's chest. The Reploid's vine drooped to the ground as his body slumped up against the wall, trembling as his functions began to shut down.
"No...no...I'll not allow this!" Axle screamed with a liveliness unexpected of one so close to death, and he burrowed his vine deep into the ground before X could get a chance to react. Then, the entire room trembled as dozens of vines erupted from the ground and ceiling to form a cage around X.
"You're a danger to this world! If I'll die...then you'll go with me!" At his behest, the vines squeezed themselves closer together, trying to trap X in an inescapable clasp. Axle's eyes stayed only partway open as he tried to maintain his desperate final attack. However, light burst forth from the cracks, flushing out all the darkness within the room in a matter of seconds.
"I-Impossible!" Axle exclaimed, and a second later a hole burst open in the center of the vines as X rocketed forward and smashed through the right side of the Reploid's face. Pressing the chunk of the head he tored out against the wall, X stood in place beside the Reploid as the spark in his eyes began to fade. With just one eye to glance with, Axle stared at the Hunter and spent the last moments of his life in defiance.
"W-What a...joke. Maverick Hunters...are supposed to stop Mavericks? If you...go rogue...then who in the hell would be able to stop...you..." The Reploid shut down without an inquiring emphasis. His head limped forward, the edge of his hole falling upon X's wrist as he began to pull his fist free from the wall. He gave Axle a brief touch to absorb his power, but his mind was a little shaken by his final words.
He didn't want to consider the possibility that he would go Maverick, but if he did...He could at least trust that Zero would be able to put him down before it's too late. With a deep sigh, X got in contact with Alia.
"It's over. Now all that's left is to assemble the shuttle."
"Yes...Even if he got in our way, we can't let these deaths be in vain. I'll bring you back to base immediately." And in five seconds, X would be returned to HQ. But little did he know that the worst was yet to come.
Next Time: Those Who Sow Chaos
