Chapter 8: "Raw Voltage"

Dr. Doppler clenched his beard in a fist, slowly dragging his hand off of it. His optics were glaring solidly at Bit and Byte. "All this time, and all you bring me is excuses?"

Bit shifted uncomfortably. "We screwed up at the cryo facility, but he's been diving headlong into all this stuff so fast we haven't had a chance to properly set him up."

Byte frowned, "He wasn't supposed to have so much help."

Fiery plasma gushed out of Doppler's shoulders and out from his labcoat as his optics glowed from their cores. "WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT EXCUSES!?"

The two designed Reploids eased back a step each.

"You know the master has no patience for this. X is a naive, overly loyal CHILD! He has so many weaknesses it's inexcusable he's gotten this far!"

Bit finally showed some frustration, "All of his friends are never alone enough to ambush properly! If you want us to exploit his main weakness, we need a distraction big enough to get someone alone!"

Doppler narrowed his optics, and then snapped a hand down to a comm interface at a terminal near him. "Volt Catfish, come in?"

A strangely rippled voice, deep and guttoral, returned shortly.

"What do you need, Doctor?"

"My useless strike team needs help. A massive distraction. Can you deliver?"

In a dark, dimly lit chamber elsewhere, a huge mouth slowly spread into a malicious grin as beady optics flickered in screenlight. "Oh, but of course. I can deliver immediately. When do you want it?"

Doppler slowly stared at his two henchmen.

"...Give us two hours to setup," Bit offered quietly.

"Two hours, Volt."

"Timer started."


Dex stretched his servos a bit while blinking his optics at his station. Doppler Town activity was awkwardly stable for the moment. He allowed himself to flick one of his smaller displays to security footage from inside HQ. It showed the recently recovered Hunters, Gravity Beetle and company, doing a refresher session of training in the simulator.

Iris appeared near Dex's station a moment later, datapad in hand. "Dex, have you seen these...?" she trailed off as she realized how distracted he was, glancing to the display. "...Worried about them still being maverick?"

Dex blinked, glancing up to her. "What? No, no. Just... verifying something for myself. What do you need?" He half-turned his chair to look up at her expectantly.

Iris tilted her head, now curious what he meant, but she handed over the datapad. "EM scans show a reduction in power coming from their main energy facility."

Dex's optics showed a frown over his plated face. "...How did I miss that? Slagging..." he grumbled as he turned back to his station, but he paused with a fresh glance to the security feed.

It showed Gravity Beetle and Quickman. They shared a glance as Quickman was going over something about the simulator, and then they shared a quick forearm tap. Dex huffed a mild laugh, and then shut off the feed as he pulled up the data Iris had copied for him.

Iris didn't miss a spec of this odd moment, but didn't comment. Instead, she waited as Dex looked over the fresh data himself.

"...Their power station must be working on something huge. I can't think of anything else that would call for this behavior."

Iris nodded. "That's my fear as well. You agree we should notify the commander?"

Dex was actually reaching for the comm controls as he nodded, when the readout spiked violently into red zones, the data going crazy.

"Light's Labcoat!" Dex blurted in shock, Iris just gawking wide-eyed at the data.

Dex slammed his hand down onto the alert signal instead, HQ filling with sirens and red light before he quickly announced over the comms, "ALERT! Power surge at the Doppler Town energy facility! Scramble!"


Signas stared at the holodisplay of the power facility only moments later. The entire structure was crackling with power, the towers of it surging like jacob's ladders. "How quickly can we got squads over there!?"

Alia looked back from her console. "The EM field is insane from all that power, we can't send teleportation fields into it! Safe distance is a quarter mile from the facility!"

Dex narrowed his optics at the feed he was getting. "Wait, the pattern is shifting in the surge itself! It's... It's about to redirect the entire surge toward the city!"

Alia and Iris instantly snapped to verifying that.

"He's right!" Iris cried in dismay. "The charge shift is going to send all of it this direction, and the sheer power could actually make the distance!"

Signas glanced to Alia, who just nodded urgently.

"Do we have anything capable of shielding against that level of energy?" Signas finally asked, his voice weaker.

Airstrike's voice came over the comms, "It's an electrical discharge right? Give me remote control of one of the cruisers in dry dock! It has no staff! That weapon can't possibly fire quickly."

Signas' optics widened. "Use it as a shield, then send in the squads, yes! Alia, get him a cruiser!"

Zero's voice crackled over the comms next. "Sacrifice an entire cruiser as a one-shot shield?"

"Give me a better solution before you deploy, and I'll use it!" Signas snapped back quickly.

X's voice returned next, "Squads are ready to teleport to the minimum distance, sir!"


Airstrike ran down one of the HQ hallways swarming with red lights, and dove into a control pod as Alia's magic linked it into one of the cruiser's systems. "Got it, Alia."

"Hurry! It's going to snap across the gap in twenty seconds!"

Airstrike didn't waste time replying, and instead made the cruiser haul itself out of drydock above the city in a violent, veering turn. It burst into max thrust while still spinning, and spiraled into a controlled arc down toward Doppler Town.

And just then the massive electrical storm over part of Doppler Town surged up, bent toward the central city, and then ripped across like a massive sheet-lightning catastrophe.

The cruiser barrel-rolled down into the crest of the lightning wave, and once a point of contact was hit, that instant the entire surge channeled down into it with a thunderclap that made the ground quake.

The cruiser blew apart, some of it reduced to molten metal, other parts sent flying off like comets.

Airstrike grimaced as his controls went dead. "Alia, the debris will be a problem! I'll get to the teleporter array!"


In the command center, Signas snapped a hand toward Iris, "Emergency services to the areas hit by ship debris! Alia, Dex, get our entire force other than base-defense over to that station now!"

Alia snapped her hands over her controls rapidly.

"Emergency services dispatched. It's a wide area, sir!"

"Understood," Signas simply muttered, glaring at the display of the facility.

Alia finally updated, "All squads teleporting now, sir!"

"Light help them if that thing's ready to fire faster than we think."

Alia looked back to her console with grim anxiety, and tried to keep the data flowing.


Dozens of teleport streams shot down on the perimeter of the power station, which was still crackling with power, though much less than before it fired. Zero whipped his saber out, and started to dash forward with Colonel in his wake as he quickly spoke into comms.

"The spires around the perimeter of the structure itself! We need to bring them down so it can't fire again! Squad per tower should help keep time down!"

X flickered forward among several other Hunters on a different part of the advancing force. "He's right, but we also need to take out the core systems. I'll head inside. Might be able to shut Volt Catfish down before this thing fires again!"

Zero narrowed his optics, but didn't bother arguing this time.

Airstrike took off from his position on his jet-thrusters from inside his back, while Inferno, and Deepfreeze rushed after him. Deepfreeze created an ice-wave to let them slide along even faster, while Airstrike was already landing on the upper portion of the first towering spire.

Quickman flickered along, and up one of the other towers, with Shimmer, Depthcharge, and Barrel scrambling along in his distant wake, Barrel already starting to power-dig through parts of the spire trying to weaken it.

Turbo raced along similar to Quickman, while Tripwire sent grappling wires out for himself, Spikesaw, and Snapvice, latching onto high portions of a third tower, and zipping up together.

Blast Squirrel shot along to a fourth spire, while Pyrostrike, Mapteron, and Warp Turtle climbed or magnet-gripped along.

"The spire structures are strong, we have to blow out reinforced metals across a twenty meter diameter!" Warp Turtle quickly shared across the entire Hunter force.

Airstrike responded, "He's right, this isn't coming down easy, even with demolitions!"

Dr. Cain's voice actually chimed in, "Do everything you can, Maverick Hunters. We can't let that facility fire again!"

Storm Owl and Wing Pegasus confirmed their squads were on the remaining towers, but having similar issues, and would do their best.

Pyrostrike paused for a moment mid-climb, glancing out and down to the rushing army going into the core of the facility. "...No defense mechaniloids or turrets...?" He frowned at the ominous realization, but looked back to his squad. This threat couldn't be ignored, even if it was a trap.


In the command center, Dex sharpened his optics at a small warning notice amidst the storm of data from the sudden warzone. "...Commander! The teleportation array is giving errors. We won't be able to recover our forces if it stays offline!"

Signas growled. "Did we take secondary hits from the energy surge?"

Iris quickly checked over a few things as her optics flickered between various feeds, including helping the Hunters on the ground find fracture points on the spires. "No, sir, it appears to just be awful timing on an equipment failure!"

Alia growled as well, and spun out of her station. "Dex and Iris have the battle in hand. I'll get that equipment working!"

Signas glanced to her as she ran for the doors. "...Alia, get a partner from the security squad."

She paused awkwardly, but nodded. "Sir!" And she was on her way.


X skidded to a halt in a too-dark chamber, his optics tightening as his sensors used sonic and ultraviolet detection to map out a cavernous space beyond the hall he'd just left. All around it, other Hunters came running in, Zero and Colonel among them. The power surge outside was only a distant hum, like a storm across the horizon.

"This is the heart of the facility. No defenses, no control chambers," X gravely commented into comms as he paced along, tense and wary.

Overload gave X a start as he stepped out to X's side. "Volt's clever, like I said. If we weren't trying to avoid a city-scale catastrophe, I'd be recommending we evacuate our forces..."

Zero tightened his grip on his Z-Saber. "No kidding. I can't decide which group the trap is more aimed for at this point. Tower squads, status?"

Pyrostrike returned on the comms, "We've done a few test blasts at weak points. Progress, but way too slow!"

Colonel pointed with his saber. "Sir, all our data indicates the power is streaming from the center of this space, but it can't be."

And then a different voice boomed through the huge chamber.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that."

Suddenly the center of the floor split open around a disc, and energy blasted up through the center to slam into the ceiling. The next instant the metal roofing began to fold down and collapse outward, all but melting away to expose the entire facility as a crackling energy channel up the same spires the squads were already on.

Airstrike jerked to a hovering halt mid-air, staring down at the power surge in the center, more and more power rippling up the spires. "Light save us... It's just a massive power converter..."

Warp Turtle braced on his spire as the wave ripped up across the squads. "Rgh... This is only a preliminary feedback cycle! If we don't destroy these spires immediately, we'll all be caught in the building phase!"

And down in the base of the energy pillar, Volt Catfish poured out, walking leisurely, his massive mouth peeling open into a grand smile. Power crackled over his body even passively.

"Welcome!" He swept his arms up. "Welcome, one and all! I've so been looking forward to having a captive audience!"

With his shouted final words, he slammed one fist down into the floor, and the power surging in the center suddenly bulged out along the floor, engulfing him again, then exploded outward like a ring-wave.

X's eyes widened, and he tried to burst backward like most of the other Hunters, but the power wave ripped past him too fast for his mechanical ability.

Almost every Hunter on ground level pitched, writhed, roared in pain, and fell flat or to their hands and knees as their systems were all but overloaded in an instant. Sensors crashed, motors and servos shivered into lock up, weapons shorted or misfired.

Overload snapped his hands forward together, and his own electrical weapons created a kind of wedge in the wave of power at first. However, it only took seconds for his inability to ground safely to the flooring worked against him, and he slipped down to his knees. It was all he could do to avoid being locked in stasis.

X shivered on his knees, so overwhelmed by the shock of energy that all he could do was look up in pained realization as the power kept rising. It flew up along the spires. Airstrike and Blast Squirrel only managed to last a few seconds longer before the arcing cross-currents between the spires caught them, and they crashed down, barely catching onto pieces of the spires nearest them.

Zero groaned, forcing his one hand forward, trying to crawl toward Catfish. "He... is... the drive system! Have to..." But he couldn't. It was all he could do to lean forward onto his extended hand.


Signas slammed a fist into the display table showing him this disaster playing out as the comms sizzled and burst with interference. "Can any of our defense turrets be configured to fire that far away?"

Iris shook her head as her hands scrambled over controls, trying to find some means of bypassing power surges or noncritical systems to help her brother, Zero, and the others. "No, sir! Even pushed to overload, they wouldn't close more than half the distance! They're just defense cannons!"

Dex was equally frantic in his operator checks. "What she said! I'm seeing if I can use the city's power grid to soak some charge, and maybe lessen the damage, but nothing seems to able to reroute enough to avoid catastrophic damage anyway!"

Signas growled, a hand reflexively gripping at his own saber. Then he paused, and lifted it to look at the weapon hilt. "...Soak the charge. Dex!" he snapped his optics to the plated operator, "The comm array on the roof! Could it be modified to redirect energy? Aim it away from the city?"

Dex blinked. "...Turn the raw surge into a beam, act as a firing mechanism, I get it! Checking schematics and composition!"

Iris switched her tasking without being prompted. "It only has a 30% chance to last more than 3 seconds, but it's better than our alternatives, sir!"

Dex pointed to her, running more prep instead of wasting time repeating.

Signas nodded sharply. "That's our fallback, get it ready!"


Alia ran in to the teleporter array chamber with Cadis jogging along in her wake, the younger Hunter's rifle strapped to her back and her target screen active over one optic.

"Isn't the timing suspicious?" Cadis checked as she followed Alia over to the main console, which the operator was already starting to open up and check hardware for.

"Of course, but to get access to this area requires high clearance. I don't really want to think about the implications of that mid-crisis!"

Even explaining that, Alia was already popping off wires, checking components, and as Cadis nodded to her words, Alia suddenly stopped, holding a circuit board with very clear plasma scorching on it.

"...This was shot."

Cadis snapped her rifle into her hands, starting to pan it around the room, but two things happened that same instant, and she simply hadn't been aiming the right direction for them.

A ring of crimson energy slammed into Cadis edge-on, and somehow reoriented itself through her, snapping her arms down while throwing her against the back wall with a grunt.

And Alia suddenly yelped, flying backward by unseen force. She slammed sharply, but with utterly no rebound, onto some disc-like device on the wall some meters from Cadis.

"M-magnetic...?" Alia assumed, glancing around urgently to assess what was attacking them.

Bit stepped out from one side of the array, Byte the other.

Bit chuckled slowly. "And here we were just hoping to get some captives to make one of you come negotiate. Instead, we get precisely the two we need right off the bat. Oooh, this is beautiful."

Cadis and Alia both squinted despite the urgency of their situation.

"What do you need us for...?" Cadis had to voice it.

Byte slammed a fist into the wall over Alia's head, leaning down into her face. "Bait."


Iris paused her work awkwardly as she reached up to touch her comm receiver. Signas, Dex, the rest of the command center crew, and even the Hunters being shocked into stasis at the power facility all heard the voices coming over the comms.

"Maverick Hunter X," Bit began.

"We have your precious friends that you abandoned back at your base," Byte added.

And Volt Catfish joined them, "And if you want them back, you have to surrender to me, right here and now!"

X's face twisted. First, he was disbelieving, but then the lack of Alia's voice on the comm became all too clear to him. He crashed down to his hands, his brow shivering as his systems surged and adapted.

Overload glanced to him, grimacing against the surge and worry for their comrades both. "Hang on, X..."

Vents started to split open along X's flanks and back, power rushing into them. A rage instinct, a violent surge of frustration, made his emergency drive start to activate... the explosion that could erase everything around him.

He could absorb energy... but all he'd be doing is abandoning dozens of his allies to likely destruction even if he could teleport out uniquely.

And then Alia and Cadis' voices came over the comm.

"X, they want us to beg," Alia started darkly.

"But don't do it!" Cadis spat out. "Don't let these murderers w-!?" she cut off a yelp from Bit punching her across the face.

Pyrostrike growled as he shivered in energy shock on the one spire with his squad. He could barely keep his hands locked onto the spire, yet alone move enough to help. Alia... I'm sorry...

Tripwire, despite his coils constantly flailing and functioning uncontrollably, narrowed his optics at the side of the pylon he was essentially stuck to. Cadis was in mortal danger, and he was useless...

X's hands slowly clenched... and actually dug into the armored metal beneath him. Energy stormed and surged all around him, just like every other Hunter, but when he lifted his head, his face was fractured into a furious outrage that both Overload and Zero saw from across the storming expanse.

It was murderous.

X roared... and all the energy around him suddenly snapped still... then began to pour into his systems like he was some kind of shaped drain moving through water.

X drove up to his feet, and started to move forward through the power storm.

Volt Catfish was startled, but then his optics narrowed. "They aren't the only ones you care for!" And he suddenly snapped one fist toward none other than Zero, and a concentration of the power surge started to rip toward the red Hunter like a thunderous ball.

"No!" Overload barked in despair.

Zero grimaced, and tried to brace so he could dodge out of the way... but everyone had to stop and stare at what happened the next instant.

The ball ripped out, and exploded... around X. X had just flickered into existence, mid-dash, body-blocking for Zero as the power drained away—into his body. He was practically glowing brighter than the storm around him already, his optics bleeding light out of their cores.

Both arms snapped into X-Busters as X started to slowly march toward Volt Catfish. "End this. Or I will."

Volt Catfish growled slowly, and then braced down before dashing toward X, more and more power surging down over himself as well. "I don't break just because of complications, HUNTER!"


Bit seemed to frown, those his plated face made it hard to tell. "Things might get messy again, Byte."

The two Mavericks abruptly reached out, Bit for Cadis, Byte for Alia, and grabbed the Reploids. One arm grappled each neck, pinning their backs against each Mavericks' front.

"Tick-tock, X!" Bit taunted into the comms. "And if your local friends try to barge into this room, we'll kill your precious ones anyway!"

Cadis and Alia remained tense, but also shared a glance across the few meters between them. Cadis' arms could barely move, but she still had her rifle gripped. Alia could form her buster, but she was still magnetically locked to Byte instead of the wall.

Byte growled, "He's not surrendering. We should kill one of them."

Cadis urgently looked at Alia, then to her Alia's immediate left, and back again. Alia was confused for a beat, then lifted her eyebrows with realization. She gave a little thumbs-up down at her hip.

Bit started to lift a hand toward Cadis' head, but she suddenly wrenched back into him, kicking up, aiming her entire body down at Byte. Bit was trying to rebalance in the same moment, and didn't see her hand shift until the sound of the sniper-rifle's blast was already resounding.

Byte's left shoulder snapped back violently, though his armor held against the impact. It was still enough for Alia to duck, twist, and scrape, snapping her buster arm out toward Cadis and firing once as well!

The shot seared past Cadis' face, and slammed straight into Bit's head with a pained shout.

Cadis roared as she exerted her servos, and actually broke free of the energy ring that bound her arms. With Bit still crashing backward, she locked her sights on Byte, who was just wrenching back down at Alia with a hammer blow.

Byte never landed his strike, instead taking several high-power blasts to his chest and far shoulder, making him stumbled back awkwardly as well.

Alia aimed her buster at Byte's head, Cadis snapping around to train hers onto Bit on the ground.

"Signas! We're loose! Backup appreciated!" Alia urgently reported into comms.


X didn't respond with words to Volt Catfish's shout. Both arms snapped up and fired, but his expression turned more grim as the plasma discharge was twisted, warped, and dispersed through the power storm that still pervaded the massive arena Catfish had created.

The Maverick sneered across his huge mouth, and then charged toward X, ramming his fists forward in turns, sending concentrations of power flying across the gap.

X dashed to meet him, colors shifting as he snapped off blasts of Ray Splasher, Storm Tornado, even Silkshot, but they all warped or were too disrupted by the insane charge in the air to fully lash out. Catfish ignored the few portions that managed to reach him, deflecting off his reinforced plating.

Finally the two met, their far fists slamming together while crackling with power, unleashing a charge-wave through the air between them.

They flew into a close-quarters barrage on each other, X flickering and blurring between strikes or blocks, Catfish simply taking some of the blows while swiping and ramming through X's position.

"Your comrades are running out of time!" Catfish reminded in a taunting melody.

X risked a glance around. Catfish wasn't lying. Several Hunters were already out, and even emergency stasis couldn't defend against such an absurd amount of charge in the air for much longer. Zero and the X-Hunters were the bulk of the forces still conscious, but none of them could really move. Colonel was hanging in beside his squad leader, but was clearly close to collapse.

Overload suddenly roared, wrenching his arms upward, power storming over his frame and branching off like a strobe-lit tree. "Buying... TIME!"

His voice distorted just before power erupted form his arm-weapons. The storm of energy throughout the tremendous arena of death Catfish had created pulsed, shimmering like water from Overload up through the tops of the spires in just a core-pulse.

Tripwire gasped, gripping harder as his systems regained some semblance of functionality while he hung perilously from the spire. He looked around fast, watching Mapteron finally get a secure grip, helping Warp Turtle do the same a moment later on the other spire.

Volt Catfish glanced around as his limbs locked with X briefly, then he glared at Overload. "You're spoiling my FUN!"

X growled as he ducked a swipe from Catfish trying to shove him back, and his colors snapped purple before a chain-claw burst toward Catfish's face. Catfish bit down onto the claw, laughed in his throat, and used his entire body to brace, wrench, and throw X off to his left.

X broke off his chain, flipped, twisted, and crashed down to a skid backwards, but his optics locked up on Catfish immediately.

His system is supercharged, and his whole body has been modified to thrive in this storm of energy. Overload can't last much longer, and I can't punch Volt down quickly enough, but I need something that won't just destroy itself in this...

X glanced down as he remembered Tunnel Rhino's oddly durable frame and tornado fangs...

And then the comms lit with Alia's call for backup. X almost wavered just from relief, then snapped back to grim focus as Catfish growled in frustration at the other half of the plan falling apart.

"Well, no matter!" Catfish roared across the storm. "I'll just put you in stasis with the rest of your army!"

The Maverick snapped his arms out, and drones flew out of his gaping mouth. The drones rushed into formation around him, and then started to channel the power in the air into a violently concentrated cage of electricity all around Catfish.

X's colors shifted, and his already overcharged body concentrated the Tornado Fang design into a transformation of his buster. In a split-second, he had a massive, reinforced, nonconductive power-drill in place of a lower arm.

Catfish charged, his awkward frame loping with impressive speed and force, while X flickered into a rocket-boosted dash straight for him.

Zero's eyes widened. "X, that's what he wants!"

Overload sagged sharply. "I'm... losing it... !"

X seemed to ignore his comrades, but it wasn't long before everyone still conscious saw why he was charging so brazenly.

As Catfish's cage of lightning struck X's body, X just lunged down full-force. Already surging with the power storm, his frame took the concentrated charge of the cage far better than it normally would have, and it did little to halt X's advance... with the power drill shredding down into Catfish's left shoulder joint, and nearly tearing down through to his hip as quickly.

Catfish's cage sputtered and the drones collapsed. "...You... really are... unstoppable..."

X yanked the drill out, his expression mingled in sorrow and simmering temper. Volt Catfish crashed to his side, falling into emergency stasis.

Wasting no further time on his emotional conflictions while his comrades were still dying, X ran forward, his busters reconfiguring into Tornado Fang launchers, and he boost-leapt high, firing a volley of drills down at the perimeter of the central power stream that had started this entire debacle.

The six drills punched through the flooring, and dug down fast and hard, hunting for the actual power core below the surface.


Bit roared as he dove for Cadis, but the sniper Hunter also dove out to his left, while Alia blaster-shot the Maverick in the chest mid-air. As Byte swept one large fist in at Alia's back, Cadis hit the ground, sliding on her shoulder, and fired into his forearm, knocking it back and away.

Bit hopped back to his feet, brushing scorching off his chest as energy bled off his forearms, becoming his blades. "So why aren't you two out in the field more if you're this good, hm?"

Alia didn't waste focus on his words, snapping around to fire into one of Byte's legs, knocking the relative giant down to one knee.

It was Cadis who responded, along with her rifle locking to aim on Bit's head. "Gotta have good marks to defend the base, dumb-ass!"

Bit managed to weave his head around her shot, and began to dash for her with his arms crossed, apparently aiming to dive through her. "So be it!"

Cadis yelped, but also folded down onto her legs, her head falling back. It snapped her ponytail up past her face, and she watched several hairs get singed off by Bit's dive over her... and the end of her rifle barrel met the same fate.

She tucked and rolled away, giving her rifle a rueful glance before sliding it onto her back and whipping out a sidearm from her back armor, firing off a quick volley of blasts to keep Bit defensive for her recovery.

Alia was like a mad monkey as Byte tried to swipe or stomp on her. She dove, rolled, twisted, hand-flipped over his arm, looped around his head, and was always blasting her buster down into his armor.

"What are you made of!?" she finally shouted in frustration, leaping back with a blast at his face.

Byte wiped some of the scorch residue off his face as he rose up. "Only the best for Doppler's servants," was his choice of reply with a grim smile.

And then the doors opened again.

Something flickered across, but Signas was leaping through the opening himself, purple saber blazing through the air over Cadis, toward Bit.

Bit was immediately slammed into a bracing block against Signas, who leaned down into the slightly smaller Maverick with a clearly furious expression on his angular face.

Alia was more surprised when she saw deep gashes appear in Byte's arms and side, before Dex actually appeared out to his side, clearly just halting from a dash-by.

"Dex!?"

His optics smiled quickly for her. "Been training with Quickman, you know?"

And then his forearms sprouted physical blades again, and he dove at Byte once more, slashing and sparking off the Maverick's reinforced body as Byte roared in frustration.

Cadis just cackled at the good of it, and started firing at Bit's legs while Signas pressed down into him all the more forcefully.


The beam of catastrophic power writhing upward past the clouds finally sputtered once, then fractured into looser sprays of sheet lightning along the spires, and then winked out of existence. Overload finally cut his systems and collapsed into a panting heap. The entire Maverick Hunter force was finally able to cycle their respirators and move again, though a few scattered individuals had been hit hard enough to be knocked into emergency stasis from the dangers of the energy surge to their internal systems before Overload could soften the blow.

Zero managed to rise to his feet, but he was clearly focused on X, who had landed from firing the tornado fangs that finally killed the generator far below, and the lone Reploid was just staring down at Volt Catfish's body.

"...X?" Zero called softly at first.

X jerked, his head twitching, and he snapped around with intense focus in his eyes. "Spire-teams, continue your mission! We need this place fully offline. I only took out the generator. Too easy to rebuild that."

Various confirmations sounded on the comms, and sparks or energy blasts sounded from above as the squads on the towering spires focused back on tearing them down at key positions.

Overload eased onto his legs, still crouched. "Afraid I'm... spent."

X managed a little smile for him. "You did more than I thought to, stay down, hm?"

Overload smirked, and let his head sag from the drain in his system.

Zero exhaled, then touched his comm. "HQ, status?"

Signas' voice replied this time, "Engaged with Maverick infiltrators! Bit and Byte! Teleporter room!"

Zero helped Colonel up to his feet as he replied, "Copy! Sending back up immediately!"

X looked to Zero. "The secondary teleporter array might be operational!"

Zero nodded, pulling his beamsaber. "Dr. Cain gave me codes to activate it remotely. You ready?"

X bowed his head. "Absolutely."


Bit was dangerous and fast, but Signas and Cadis were both precise attackers. The Maverick was deflecting or blocking Signas' beamsaber with his right arm, while deflecting or dispersing Cadis' pistol shots with his left.

Byte seemed less troubled, but it was mostly due to his sheer size. Dex was still flickering and slashing sparks off his armor from all sides, punctuated by powerful, focused blasts from Alia at joints and optics.

Iris' voice shot across the internal comms a beat later. /Break away from the intruders in five seconds!/

It obviously left no time for discussion, but all four Hunters trusted Iris' know-how. Cadis dove aside to 'dodge' Bit's latest deflection, and Signas dashed back, while Dex rushed behind Byte, and Alia reformatted her arm to hand-flip the other way.

Just before Byte or Bit could launch a proper counter attack, the teleportation array itself burst with energy, and a shockwave snapped across the space, somehow directed just right, the cone of dispersal only wide enough to slam into the two Mavericks rather than any of the other Reploids in the battle.

Bit roared in pain, crashing to his knees while still surging over with overcharge, and Byte grabbed his head, trying to bear it and recover all the faster.

And before Signas or the others even had to press the attack again, the doors snapped open as Zero, Colonel, and X flew around Cadis and Signas, energy writhing over X, Colonel and Zero's swords blazing, and they filled into the formation with Alia and Dex.

Bit and Byte were haggard, drained by whatever overcharge Iris had manipulated, and now seriously out numbered.

"Stand down, and you won't be harmed further," X ordered, his voice and expression quite grave, a buster trained on each Maverick.

"Believe me, he's offering you the best possible deal out of this mess," Zero added, his blade burning the air near Bit's face.

There was a tense silence for a few seconds, then Bit and Byte shared a glance.

"Well, Byte... I was hoping to avoid thi-!?"

Bit didn't even get to finish. All of the Hunters started to rush forward, Zero flicking his sword to strike as fast as anyone could have, but a violent rush of green light engulfed both Mavericks, and then somehow dispersed out through the wiring embedded in the very walls of the chamber.

Alia snapped a hand to her ear. "Iris! Cut off the network wires for the building right now!"

Iris' more somber voice returned, "...Too late, sir. Whatever that datasurge was, it left our system within zero point five-six seconds."

Though frustrated, everyone finally sagged a bit, sharing glances. Alia blinked at X's guilt-ridden expression toward her, and then realized what was wrong. She just smiled, and shook her head softly to him.

Signas straightened, deactivating his saber. "Hunters, report! Is the power facility neutralized?"


Back at the power facility itself, Warp Turtle slammed down to his haunches near Pyrostrike, who nodded, and they looked up as the other Hunters spread away from the towers, and filed into specific zones of the lower area. Overload was being helped to a waiting point by Mapteron and Shimmer.

Explosives and energy strikes erupted around key points of all the spires, Airstrike, Storm Owl, and Wing Pegasus all smiling with a certain satisfaction as they watched from above.

As Signas' call for a report sounded through comms, the spires crashed down like sand, dust and chunks of debris scattering out, but only along ground level.

Pyrostrike voiced the official response, "Commander, power facility is completely dismantled. Will take weeks to make it functional again."


Signas nodded as he looked back to the others in the teleportation room. "Excellent work everyone. I want one squad to add that location to its patrol cycle, but I doubt they'll try to salvage much from it." He went on for the others immediately around him, "Alia, Cadis, thank you. If you hadn't adapted and persevered, this may have been a tragic day."

X lowered his eyes again.

Alia half-smiled. "We're all Maverick Hunters, we signed on for certain risks. Thanks for the back-up, all of you!"

Cadis grinned. "Seriously!" Then she ruefully lifted her rifle up. "Though my poor rifle made the ultimate sacrifice."

Colonel chuckled. "Nonsense, it just needs medical."

Everyone shared a soft laugh from relief for the most part, and then Alia shifted a little closer to X as the others started to asses the damage to the teleportation array.

"Hey..."

X blinked up at her, and then offered a small smile.

"You made the right call," Alia chose to push forward quietly.

X was surprised again, then showed his sadness openly again. "...Did I?"

Alia nodded seriously. "How do you think I'd feel if you abandoned everyone else just to help me? We're a team, X, we help each other when we can. You helped me today by protecting the others."

X's eyes were watering. "...You truly don't blame me for... not... coming?"

Alia touched his shoulder. "We're doing this to end the threat. We all care about that. It's part of our life. I don't blame you."

X finally seemed to ease somewhat. "Thank you. I... Could we speak later? Not coming to your side is... not everything weighing on me."

Alia smiled gently. "Of course. Let's get this place fixed up, and we'll talk as long as you need."

He finally smiled properly, warm and soft, and she grinned back.


X finished welding some of the wall plating of the teleporter room into place, then leaned down with his hands on his knees. As his respirator cycle, steam and some crackles of energy vented from his torso along his spine and flanks.

"Still trying to discharge all that power you soaked up?"

X blinked up in surprise at Zero. "...Uh... yeah, basically. Can't do it quickly, or we'd need a new HQ."

The two shared wan smiles at the dark humor.

"...I wanted to say thank you, without there being some other item on the agenda, for once," Zero explained, somewhat abruptly, just gesturing out with a hand and a sorrowful expression.

X remained rather awkward. "Thanking me for what...?"

Zero smirked. "You really don't know?"

X glanced around, as if caught. "No...?"

Zero chuckled, and bowed his head for a moment, 'itching' at the back of his helmet casually. "You dove into an attack aimed straight at me."

X lifted his eyebrows. "Why wouldn't I...?"

Zero looked into X's eyes for a moment. He was serious, analyzing, but not suspicious in this case. "Me out of the picture would simplify things for you, wouldn't it?"

X frowned, showing sadness himself now. "The day I let good people die for my own agenda is the day you need to put me down."

Zero blinked. "...You sure I'm 'good people?'"

"Of course, you are." X shook his head a little, incredulous. "You think I think you're evil? No, Zero. We disagree on a couple of fundamental topics. That means we'll have situations where we're opposed. I'll fight for what I think is right, but I'd never abandon you to dying unless I simply could not possibly help."

Zero tilted his head. "Is that how you felt about Mac?"

X pressed his lips into a line, then nodded. "And Volt Catfish. All of them. It's an infection, Zero. We can help them."

"And if I was infected?"

"I'd have to stop you, just like you'd have to stop me in the reverse," X returned without hesitation.

Zero nodded a little. "I don't understand why you hide so much, X. Surely there's some common ground we could agree on?"

X showed his sadness again. "I can't risk being wrong on that."

Which was telling, considering his values. Zero narrowed his eyes in thought, then just nodded again, and stepped over to move away.

"...You're welcome."

Zero smirked over his shoulder, waved, and moved out of sight.


X rested his elbows on the banister of the rooftop railing, wind rushing around his helmet foils as he appreciated the relative safety of the city around HQ. For a moment, there was peace.

Stepping up gently behind him, Alia took a moment to just watch, the wind dancing with her hair. She lifted a hand to keep some strands out of her optics, and smiled gently. He seemed healthier when he could just stop for a minute.

"Hey," she started softly.

X blinked, and then turned to her with an appreciative smile. "Thank you for coming. Especially after today."

Alia tossed a hand in deliberately casual humor, moving up to join him so that they could both lean and look out. "You asked for help for once, and I'm not so drained I can't think. Yet."

They shared a wan smile before X let his somber mood display again, and he looked out.

"I'm scaring myself."

"How so?"

X looked down at his right hand, remembering Catfish's roar of pain, the sound of his body being torn apart. "...I took Catfish down too brutally. I let myself cave to my anger. ...Again."

Alia's gaze tightened. "...Like with Vile?"

X twitched, but also nodded.

"...You do recognize how extreme the situation was, right? Most of our force was out of commission or worse. You get desperate to help total strangers, yet alone friends."

X bowed his head, but nodded softly. "I do, and thank you, but I... I crossed the line again. I only barely stopped myself from going irrevocably far."

"You nearly killed Catfish's personality drive?"

Another guilty nod.

"But you didn't."

X glanced up to her serious, calm stare. "...I was very c-!?"

"No." Alia started firmly and flatly. "Close doesn't matter. You'd blame yourself for someone dying if you 'almost' saved them, so close clearly isn't enough for these things. You did not kill him. You did that by choice." She paused, cycled her breath, and went on, "But you were too violent, and too angry. That's good to realize, X. It means you're still in there. You just also need to give yourself a bit of slack for actually feeling anger and pain."

He looked down, clearly doubtful, but listening. "It's getting so easy to slip..."

Alia reached out, resting a hand on his shoulder plating. It gently surprised him, and he looked to her eyes again. She smiled a little. "Do something concrete. For Catfish. Not that you can necessarily make amends for this kind of thing, but for your own sake, you should do something for him."

X blinked, glanced off, and started to nod. "...Yes, that's... that gives it weight."

Alia gestured. "See?"

X chuckled a little. "...You're my hero, after all."

Alia blushed somewhat, and laughed it off. She swatted his same shoulder, and eased off the banister. "Good enough for now?"

X nodded. "Thank you, Alia. Stay safe, hm?"

She winked. "You, too!" And she trotted off, leaving them both with little smiles in place of the fear.


Author's Note: First, something I kept forgetting to add; here's the translation list for all the X-Hunters' original names.

Storm Eagle-Airstrike

Flame Mammoth-Inferno

Sting Chameleon-Shimmer

Launch Octopus-Depthcharge

Chill Penguin-Deepfreeze

Spark Mandrill-Overload

Boom Kuwanger-Quickman

Armor Armadillo-Barrel

Sigma-Signas

Wire Sponge-Tripwire

Wheel Gator-Spikesaw

Bubble Crab-Snapvice

Overdrive Ostrich-Turbo

Flame Stag-Pyrostrike

Morph Moth-Blast Squirrel

Magna Centipede-Mapteron

Crystal Snail-Warp Turtle

This chapter was unexpectedly fun for me. It actually started out as one of the worst hit by writer's block, and I had to keep considering different versions of it. Finally hit what I wanted with some musical inspiration that I'd intended to save for something else, but you don't knock inspiration when it finally hits. (The song is 'Impervious' by Audiomachine, specifically for the moment where X is marching toward Catfish through the storm.) Once I had that moment solidified as something I wanted, building out the how, why, and when was the rest of the work.

Using Bit and Byte with Alia and Cadis was a secondary concept I'd had from earlier parts of planning for the third Chronicle, because I never liked Bit and Byte, but they needed to be relevant to the events of the story. (They felt kinda tacked on in the game, so I treated them similar.)

Thanks for the reviews, favs, and views, folks!