[AUTHOR'S NOTE]
And here we go! I'm on a roll for writing for the time being. Two chapters being posted up here. Enjoy!
Chapter 32: Another Killing
The snow in this part of the Federation didn't seem to obstruct the battle between the Hunters and now White Axl. In fact, it mattered less now that White Axl's extensions of his self made more destruction everywhere. The merged Maverick entity laughed maniacally even more.
Hunter blasters seem to have no effect on White Axl for all their gunfire. They nonetheless kept firing; well, those that wished to fight. The radius of carnage increased, so a majority of Hunters had to evacuate the humans and Reploids in the new areas and not fight.
"Die die DIE! Die for the new world!" White Axl laughed. The autonomous lance swung around repeatedly, releasing numerous shock waves that damaged multiple buildings at the same time. "This is only the logical end! Bwa HA ha HAHA!"
Axl's rapid bullets didn't help. That several Hunters banded together to fire multiple missiles at the autonomous grabby-clawed hands also didn't help. X dodged the autonomous rapier that aimed to cleave him. Zero grumbled as he thought of how to destroy the lance.
"Hey, evil guy!" Axl stopped on the ground and glared upwards at White Axl. "You want some enjoyment tearing me up? Then come down here and let's have a fist fight!"
White Axl raised an eyebrow. "Well, I do enjoy close-up fights." White Axl assessed its circumstances – the Hunters were having a hard time fighting its self-extensions, Axl seems to look desperate to take him down. Concusion: might as well have some fun.
"I never thought I could fight like this with the original. You're on!" White Axl descended and made an offensive posture. That statement ticked off Axl a little.
"Man, you are so NOT my clone." Axl made a defensive posture. White Axl dashed to Axl and the two engaged in close combat. "Have some of these and that!" White Axl bared his teeth while throwing very speedy punches at Axl. Axl could barely dodge the Maverick's moves, but he was able to keep up just as well. "Not bad, prototype! Not bad!"
"Ngh! Hah, good show, but you're not as good as bro. Lumine, I mean!" Axl said.
It was White Axl's turn to be ticked off. "What!? What did you say!?" He grumbled. Axl hurriedly ducked and swiped White Axl off his feet with a sturdy kick. "AH!"
"Oh, we had a fight." Axl beamed down on White Axl. "He's more powerful than whatever energy play you're doing. He crushed buildings in an instant and slammed its pieces on us. Can you do that?" White Axl gritted his teeth and continued his close-range fighting.
"I can't do that, but I sure do know how to crush you!" White Axl continually flung his fists and legs in the air to inflict some kind of damage on Axl. Behind the scenes, the Hunter batches stopped firing on White Axl and turned their attentions to the autonomous parts.
"AH! Take these!" A Hunter said dramatically and twenty super-big missiles flew out of the Hunters' arsenals and exploded heavily on the autonomous grabby hands. Only outward damage. "Run!" She said as the grabby hands swooped below to attack.
"Don't use normal gunfire!" X could be heard shouting amid the smoke. "Bring out the armour-piercing rounds! Zero and I will take care of the thinner targets! You take care of those hands!" The Hunter rushed to convey a new set of unified commands.
"Much better." Zero beamed as he dodged the autonomous lance's attacking on him. "Finally see you issue commands to coordinate everyone." X jumped upwards here and there to reach Zero, narrowly missing the autonomous rapier attacking him. "Feels right."
Zero and X fought against the autonomous lance and rapier – Zero jumping in mid-air, saber moves, getting hits, X firing charged shots. On the ground, Axl and White Axl were fighting it out alone, undisturbed. Axl found himself at a slight disadvantage, but he stood firm.
"Damn you, prototype! If only you hadn't subjugated that traitor! He would've led all new generation Reploids into the new world!" White Axl sent some punches at Axl's ribs and sides. Axl of course grunted in pain. He only managed a few square punches in the nose.
"URGH!" White Axl fell back a little. "Oh, right, as if you'd let me be in your corrupt new world." Axl sneered and charged forward. "I'm glad I turned Lumine over then!"
"AH!" White Axl got a punch in the head. "Urk!" A kick in the sides. "No!" A slam in the cheek. "You!" A roundhouse kick to the back. "Damn it!" A kick in the face.
The autonomous lance swung around and targeted X, making it difficult for him to fire his charged shots. It wasn't paying attention to Zero – how fortunate for it.
"Take this!" Zero held his saber really hard as he forced its energy to cut the lance in half. White Axl jerked as the autonomous lance exploded, allowing Axl to deliver a strong punch to the face and have his opponent off rolling. "You … you won't get away with this!"
Axl figured out what was going on. "If you know loss of some of your … parts will only hurt you, then why is it a part of your systems?" Axl dashed to the Maverick.
"That's not up to me to question! The human responsible for making me like this died in your human's hands!" White Axl grunted. "I will avenge him!" Axl blocked an incoming fist with his arm, but he was a second too late to protect himself from the other incoming fist.
"URGH!" Axl groaned as the pain seared in his chest. "Silly prototype, just die and let us newers one live!" White Axl grabbed Axl by his head and slammed his knee straight into the latter's gut. Axl didn't even shout. This allowed Axl to be thrown off the streets.
"Alright, one down, two to go, and then the head honcho!" X sighed with relief and then fired another round of charged shots at the autonomous rapier. The rapier swung around again, this time firing many more shockwaves than before throughout the entire city.
"Urgh!" The blast from the many explosions blew him off briefly. He managed to get some footing on a building's satellite pole though. "No good … huh?" He saw Zero wield another fullycharged saber attack and slice the autonomous rapier in half, which exploded and unbeknownst to them, White Axl jerked on the ground and looked upward maliciously.
"Dang it, it feels like my buster moves are not so productive …" X groaned as they descended. "It's fine, the enemy probably has unexpectedly different properties this time." Zero could only console him. "Just focus, X. We can do this. It's the last round."
"Ah! Retreat!" The female Hunter conveyed this order as fast as possible. The autonomous grabby-clawed hands swiped all over the Hunters. X came down from the skyline.
"W – what's going on!? Stats now!" X asked the female Hunter. "The armour piercing weapons we have are just no good too! We tried firing so many rounds at those vile hands! Only external damage registered! We have no choice but to retreat!" She replied.
"Unlike those other things you just destroyed, it seems the hands are meant to be stronger and more versatile!" Alia reached out to X via his commlink. "We've been running analyses on them for quite some time, but … still nothing! Give us more time!"
"Why don't we go and tackle the Axl copy for now? Should stop both them and that thing." Zero popped in and suggested. X nodded. "You're right. Let's do this."
The mood was completely different back at Prez Corp. Silent and keyboard typing.
"Everything's done, Lumine." Iris sighed and leaned back against her chair. "What should I tell Axl in case he was really expecting you to come in?" Lumine pondered on that for a while and answered: "I'll be there when the timing is right. Sorry, I'm also rushing some things in my mind for the time being." Iris face-palmed herself briefly before leaving.
Lumine placed his chin on both arms and thought of more issues in his head.
White Axl had darted off to tackle X and Zero, using plasma energy on his arms to neutralize X's charged shots and block off Zero's saber moves. The grabby hands terrorized the Hunters all over the streets. Axl grunted as he stood up and tried to push aside the pain mentally.
"Argh … I should've dealt him more … them? But they operate like me … whatever … argh, ow. It hurts –" Axl stopped talking when his head registered someone enter his body.
Hey, Axl. I'm back. Iris spoke softly within his mind. Whoa, now you choose to come back!? He thought inwardly. Sorry, Lumine wanted me to stay with him for a bit of work. And ow … looks like you're in a huge mess already.
Man, seriously, what is bro doing? We could really use some help here! Axl groaned inwardly. These two as evil me had their power exponentially amplified, according to Layer's calculations! I'm sure bro's fighting from Abel Sector-Two will help us here!
Uh … I'm really sorry, Axl. He said that he didn't want to come in yet, plus, he really was handling a lot of affairs back at the Corp, so hang in there!
"Well, that stinks." Axl almost spat but controlled his emotions. Hey, I know Lumine is a bit weird, but don't think of him as a bad guy! Iris protested back.
He glanced around. A majority of the Hunters retreated from fighting the autonomous grabby hands. X and Zero were fighting furiously against White Axl with whatever they had, the carnage has reduced dramatically as the grabby hands moved to assist White Axl. The grabby hands often turned into fists that successfully threw of X and Zero, and White Axl often had his own arm morph into outright guns and blaster that dealt more damage to them.
"Didn't expect this, did you!?" White Axl snarled. "Or would you prefer this!?" The Maverick warped pistols similar to those of Axl's and fired huge blaster fire back at the two.
"Axl! Can you read me!? I've found the weakness to those hands!" Layer called Axl via his commlink. "I – I read you loud and clear! Talk to me!" Axl responded. "If you see a crusted jewel on each of the hands' palms, try and head for it and blast it real deep inwards! That should effectively deal with the Maverick for now!" Layer answered.
"Man, I wish I had bro's ability to fly as he pleased." Axl remarked, earning Iris' scoff. He ran and tried to catch up with the autonomous left hand, swiping down on Zero. Zero narrowly dodged it; he was a little tired. The grabby hand was open wide.
"We need to strike at the jewel thing in the center of his palm!" Axl blurted out, and White Axl noticed with a shock that the Hunter was back. Everything happened in a second or two – Zero flung his saber hard, stabbing the left palm's blue jewel and came out flying through the other end, and X for his part luckily found himself facing the open right hand, so he fired a huge charged shot at the right palm's red jewel.
"AAH!" White Axl screamed and jerked heavily. The simultaneous explosions rocked his body systems hard. "Nghh … you!" His arms morphed slowly into more blaster guns and fired haphazardly all over the place. "You won't get me!"
The Hunters dodged the attacks all over (X felt horrible that all the buildings and other structures around them bore the brunt) and they in turn tried to fire back at White Axl. It was a huge mess of a fight. Gradually, each Hunter got a chance at close-up firing range.
White Axl yelled in pain each time he felt the direct damage of attacks – first, X fired at least three huge charged shots; second, Zero stabbed through his limbs and torso multiple times, and Axl shot through his torso and neck multiple times. He limped backwards.
"No …" He could only grunt. "Come on, give it up already, or at the very least surrender." Zero taunted lightly. "N – Negative! There's something in his – their – body that allows them – him – almost perpetual regeneration!" Alia's call came in to all three Hunters. "This fight is almost a dead end! We still ahven't figured out a way to finish them – him off!"
"Hahaha …" White Axl's body staggered. "I can go on forever and ever … you may have destroyed my self-extensions, but … as long as the core of this body is not destroyed, you're out of luck … and at this rate, luck will never be on your side!"
White Axl's body suddenly glowed and flared purple. Axl recognized that colour any time – it belonged (sort of) to Lumine. "Wha – what are you doing!?" He demanded.
"The ultimate killer move that Reploid has! I will access it! Paradise Lost!" White Axl smirked wickedly at him. X and Zero paced back twice. "I will kill all of you now –!"
"Urgh! No!" Electric sparks reverberated throughout White Axl and even shot out of his body. "What!? The access to Paradise Lost is … denied!?" White Axl grumbled. "H – how could this be!? The master had copied traitor Reploid's data! It should've worked!"
"Haha." Lumine smiled to himself as he watched the scene on his monitor. "Silly Mavericks. Paradise Lost is a special move. Not only does it need an immense amount of energy to execute, but it needs my exact soul to even be accessed. Call it a special feature made by dad. Any less will severely damage a Reploid if not outright destroy them. I can only surmise that your human scum didn't analyse my data properly, that's why this is happening to you."
"For now, I'll prepare the instructions and funds for restoring the damage done to that part of the city and aiding the Hunters. Explain to everyone all your carnage is thanks to the nasty humans and the human scum." Lumine sighed. "Oh boy, I will extract the price with your literal heads. I will enoy this when I come in."
Iris sighed with relief. Thank goodness. I don't want to see that attack ever again. It was so frightening moment back on the Moon … luckily X defeated Lumine on time previously …
"Well, I don't know what's wrong, but I'm heading in!" Axl rushed ahead. "This time I've got your back, Axl!" X sprinted as well. "Leave some for me!" Zero charged in.
It was a mess. Axl and X fired their shots non-stop to damage White Axl's armour, and Zero hacked and slashed furiously to damage the Maverick's innards as much as he could. White Axl barely had the time to respond. What no one noticed was White Axl gathering strength in his left fist, and he thrust it out sending a huge wave of explosions to the Hunters.
Everyone shouted, even Iris inside Axl's mind. They ended up on the road. White Axl looked even more maniacal than before. Almost as if he was panting in desperation.
"This is YOUR END!" White Axl's arms flared brilliant blue. "This body's entire reservoir of energy is here, surely enough to end you this instant! It's not as good as Paradise Lost but it will do the job!" His maniac eyes glared at the three struggling to get up.
"Don't you dare." Everyone heard a creepy voice and before they knew it, White Axl was stabbed in the head from behind with a purple flare of laser Lumine's hand. White Axl couldn't scream in pain, the pain was too overwhelming. Lumine glared at him coldly.
"You've lost, Mavericks." Lumine had teleported over, guessing the time was right for him to help the Hunters overwhelm White Axl. He kicked White Axl down, and he was on his knees. "Time to just give up and … don't exist."
"You … you're an insult to the master …" White Axl's voice buzzed to have Adel's and Agmar's overlapping voices snarling at him. "You should've built the brand new world for new generation Reploids and the master months ago … you are a failure …"
"I've heard enough." X, Zero and Axl watched as Lumine walked around, purple energy flaring in both his hands and faced on White Axl directly, with his cruel-looking face of disgust. "Time's up. The old era is gone." Lumine's fingers pressed into the plastic and metal that were White Axl's face and head armour, and tore White Axl in half with his bare hands.
Pulled in half, the machinery within the Mavericks were similarly torn in half. Axl glared at it as the oils and other fluids that kept the Mavericks' body splurted out. Every other Hunter around also stared in utter shock. Lumine gritted his teeth and simply threw the body pieces aside. Fierce electric sparks shot out of every cervice of the pieces, and they finally exploded.
Suddenly something clicked in Axl's mind. His memories from when he first woke up after Lumine made him enter a coma, the news he read on that day itself, and connecting those dots with Iris and Lumine and Prez, a happy family, and how to make the world peaceful …
"No … no! You … did those!? You … you did exactly what dad did!? To all the bad humans?! Is this … about blood!?" Axl realized that he had forgotten a crucial piece of knowledge in his quest (or desire) to become involved with the human interactions and a family with Prez. He fell on his bottom, scared.
"Yes, Axl … I did all that. Exactly how dad did it. For the better of mankind and Earth itself. It was sad that you've forgotten, but … it's all the more you've forgotten that's why me and Iris wanted to preserve the way you were … and didn't remind you of what needed to be done. Iris was an accomplice … because she knew all too well the correct actions to do." Lumine sighed and turned around, looking at Axl sadly.
"Feels horrible, doesn't it Axl?" He asked. "To take on Mavericks whom you don't relate to, but to have to do something when you're able to relate to the human race … like I said, it was not an easy thing to do when I wanted to take over from dad's legacies. That's why … if you disagree with my – our – methods, you must fight me. Or … at least Iris too."
X and Zero and all Reploids and humans didn't know what they were talking about. Iris trembled as Axl shivered while looking back at Lumine's seeming-imposing posture.
"I'm sorry, Axl my brother. I will see you later." Lumine sighed, weakly waved him a farewell and teleported off. Axl finally stopped shivering, but when he tried to stand up as the Hunters and various newer Reploids moved to order normalcy back to this part of Big City, he felt his legs give way again.
"I … Iris … please … help … I don't know what's going on …" Axl could only mutter as he was all four and his eyes stared at the grey asphalt road.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE]
Yeah, Axl hasn't figured out what Prez and Lumine are doing partially because he doesn't read the news so much, or just pure luck he didn't see any TV with news of humans being executed. Hence the significance of the word 'blood'.
To be continued (for sure) . . .