Chapter 9: "A Vile Interlude"
Volt Catfish snapped aware in the virtual space, recognizing X's presence a short distance away in the simulated space. X seemed sorrowful, guilty, but Volt couldn't grasp why. His own guilt bubbled up.
"Why did you save me?"
X gestured out. "You're a victim. Of the virus and myself, both."
Volt raised an optic-ridge. "X, you were defending your allies. I... was not strong enough. I should have fought it harder." He frowned deeply, looking down. "I'd read reports. Once the infection was clarified, other Mavericks had paused themselves, or struggled. I... reveled in the false rage and bloodlust."
"You're still a victim, Catfish. The infection distorts things, blinds you. Some could fight it off better than others, but that doesn't change the facts." X took a breath. "I wanted to offer you a choice. You can be rebuilt, virus-free, and simply go about your life, or I can help you take on a new identity, and take more... direct action against the virus threat."
Volt Catfish blinked, then tilted his head. "So the rumors are true..."
X half-smiled, but nodded.
"You have a team throughout the Hunters, don't you?"
"Yes. I'm afraid I can't specify more for their own safety. Obviously, if you disagree with my activity, you can expose me, but their safety is my priority in moments like this."
Volt chuckled, then nodded. "I appreciate the offer, but if you already have a crew, I think I would prefer to make amends with my own face."
X bowed his head in acceptance. "See you soon, Catfish."
"X?"
"Yes?"
"You are terrifying when you're that angry... but if you weren't that angry for your friends, you wouldn't be a good friend."
X pulled his head back in shock, then was left thoughtful. Volt smiled a bit, waved, and they both faded from the simulation.
"I don't quite understand something about our mission," Cadis muttered softly, keeping her repaired rifle ready, though lowered.
Tripwire glanced over his shoulder as they clambered over wreckage in the jungle region on the perimeter of Doppler Town. "What is it?"
Cadis paused to check a small motion she caught on her monocle... just a bird. She looked back and kept following Tripwire as she answered, "What value there is in scouting an area we already cleared and have forward camps monitoring?"
Tripwire chuckled a bit. "Ops is having trouble getting a bead on Crush Crawfish's activity. All the other maverick commanders in Doppler Town have been keeping us so busy, but Crush dropped off the radar. His facility seems quiet, but it's also heavily fortified. If he's not actually there, it's not worth risking the manpower yet. So! ...We're checking out older areas in case we missed something."
Cadis made a thoughtful sound. "Would explain why they insisted on those high-sensitivity scanners for our gear, but mine's still quiet."
Tripwire nodded. "Mine, too. Likely nothing out here, but-!?"
As Tripwire stepped down onto a particular chunk of metal and rock, the area around them both snapped open like a maw. They were airborne and falling instantly.
Tripwire grunted, snapping his arms out with tethers shooting out, but the wreckage they clung to yanked down with him rather than supporting his weight.
"At least a fifteen meter drop!" Cadis shouted in panic as they accelerated downward, her ponytail lashing above her head.
"Dammit!" Tripwire growled, and fired one tether down to Cadis, then the other to his side.
Cadis yelped, then grunted as she suddenly caught around the waist and slowed, just before they both slammed against the side of a clearly machine-dug drop.
"Ow... but thanks," Cadis groaned quietly. "You picking up any other defenses in this pit?"
Tripwire strained slowly, his tether servos strained by the abrupt yanks. He was stuck for the moment while his internal repairs started up. "Not so far, but the sheer speed of that trap gate was insane. Comms working for you? My systems are busy repairing my servos so I can try to get us out of here."
Cadis touched her ear. She winced. "Bad signal, but I'll try." And she continued into the comms, "This is scout team Alpha-Six. Come in, HQ? ...Repeat, this is team Alpha-Six, do you read, HQ?"
Cadis cringed again. "I think they heard me, but the static is terrible. They probably couldn't confirm my words."
Tripwire sighed slowly. "Keep trying every couple of minutes. I have no desire to learn what's at the bottom of this pit."
X ran into the command center as alarms continued to blare. "What's going on!?"
Dex and Iris worked rapidly at their stations, Signas snapping his eyes over a holomap of most of Doppler Town, and Alia looked over her shoulder urgently, "X! Pit-traps just caught several scout teams all across Doppler Town. They're dug deep and engineered to interfere with comms and weapon systems. So far only fliers have gotten out."
Signas quickly added, "And we've got teams of fliers moving to their positions to help the rest."
X frowned deeply, and ran over to Alia's station as she focused back on relaying data between teams. He looked over the list of affected Hunters rapidly.
"We don't have enough people?"
"Not that many fliers, no."
X twisted, starting to rush for the door again. "I'll get Alpha-Six, then start rallying to other points that need it!"
"What!? X, you c-!?"
"I can fly for about three seconds!" was all he shouted back before vanishing around the doorway.
Tripwire grimaced a bit. "Well... at least I feel better about my retraction servos not working after a mild yank."
Cadis chuckled a little despite dangling so precariously. "Yeah, and my rifle's affected, too. I figure my pistol is, but getting to it would be uh..." she glanced down, "tricky."
"Assist on the way, we'll be alright."
Despite his kind tone, Cadis heard a concerned edge under his voice, and she glanced up to him. "...Thank you for holding us both up."
Tripwire glanced to her. "...Not gonna let you die, kid."
"You're always looking out for me. Ever since I joined."
Tripwire shifted his gaze away, then up to his wire hooked to the higher part of the pit. "We all need someone to watch our back."
Cadis squinted slightly at the back of his head. It wasn't exactly a good time to press the issue, but why was he acting so guilty about a kind act?
"Cadis, Tripwire!"
They both focused upward to see X at the edge of the pit.
"X!? You can't fly, can you?" Cadis chimed in confusion.
Tripwire just blinked, surprised to see the X-Hunter leader come just for them.
X chuckled a little. "I can fly for a few seconds! Other teams are on the way, but you guys were the outlier. Hold on!"
With that, X flipped over, dropping, only to ram his legs down and thruster-blast to a halt just near Cadis.
Cadis reached out for him to not waste time, but then something even worse happened.
The entire pit erupted with scattering energy. Tripwire and Cadis were both shocked for an instant, jerking, though not falling, but X was somehow the focal point the next beat. Every arc and wave of blue-white energy streamed and crackled over his frame as he convulsed in pain and shock.
Cadis' optics snapped to focus. "Tripwire, swing me!"
He didn't hesitate, immediately lashing his arms to rush her toward X.
Yet, just as Cadis hands started to close on X's one arm, a tremendous rush of energy filled the very center of the pit. Cadis cried out as her hands were singed and flung away, X vanishing within the beam of light.
Her hands still smoking, Cadis stared in horror at the empty air and silence. "No... Oh Light, please, no..."
Tripwire grimaced. "Is your comm working!?"
Cadis tapped at her ear. "HQ!? HQ, X was taken!" After a pause, she growled. "The static is even worse—what!?"
Cadis all but yelped the question as she was suddenly wrenched back, then violently upward, Tripwire roaring in exertion. Cadis was confused, looking down as she flew up past Tripwire, only to watch his arms start to dislocate along his primary joints. "TRIPWIRE!?"
His raw torque did it. They both flew out of the pit, but he crashed down without being able to use his arms, Cadis skidding back on her knees before running over to check on him.
"Wasn't worth it before," he grumbled out, seeming dismissive of his tattered limbs. "Get on the horn, they need to know!"
Alia stared through her screen, her eyes widened. Dex and Iris were still scrambling to confirm if any of the other teams had the sudden discharge and teleportation event. Zero and Signas were both watching Alia with concern.
Iris looked back from her console. "Sir, we've confirmed from all teams, only Alpha-Six had the discharge event!"
Zero nodded to her. "Good work, stay alert for reports."
Iris nodded sharply, and twisted back to her console, though she did spare a glance toward Alia as she did so.
Alia jerked, and suddenly pulled up mapping data, similar to what Signas and Zero were overlooking at the holodisplay. She entered a few commands, and then looked to the other operators instantly. "Dex, Iris, which team is closest to their pit without anyone being IN the pit?"
The request was confusing enough to pause everyone, but Iris recovered first. "Blast Squirrel's recovery of Beta-Four is still near their event point, sir!"
Alia nodded, and joined the comms, "Blast Squirrel, do you have a tight-beam transmitter on you?"
"Eh? Uh... yes! Standard rescue gear, why?" the confused X-Hunter returned.
"I'm sending you a data packet. I want you to tight-beam it into the pit, but do NOT be over the pit when you do. This is a theory test, and assume the pit event will trigger."
"Copy that."
Blast was more serious with the request, and he pulled a small device from one his storage compartments, aiming it toward the pit from a short distance away with his rescued team looking on curiously.
After a brief pause, he confirmed, "Data received, transmitting."
With a little beep of signal, the pit suddenly erupted with lightning that shot skyward a fair distance, but then dispersed almost immediately. "You called it, Alia, what was that?"
Alia clenched her fists. "X's energy signature."
Signas and Zero focused on her again.
"So it was a trap," Zero affirmed grimly.
Alia looked up at the master screen with a hollow despair in her eyes. "A trap just for X."
Then she rattled her head, and snapped her eyes back down to the console, her hands starting to blur over her controls. "Dex, I need help scanning for signal deadzones in or around Doppler Town, especially anything that's been dead since before the fighting broke out!"
Dex started working before he asked anything. "What's your thinking, Alia?"
Iris started to help as well, discretely so.
Alia answered, "Whoever did this wanted X isolated and alone. There's only so many ways you can cut someone off completely, and this is so targeted it had to be prepped long in advance."
Zero glanced down to the map overlay, showing all the pit traps across Doppler Town. Then he tapped a comm control. "Tunnel Rhino, you conscious yet?"
"Eager and waiting, sir, good to be back. What do you need?"
"Your experience. How long would it take you to dig a pit five meters wide and twenty deep?"
"Rough or clean-shaped for stability?"
Zero glanced over, and Alia looked to him instantly. "Clean-shaped, by all reports."
"You hear that, Rhino?"
"Yes, sir. Would take me about ten minutes going full bore. Specialized equipment would be about twice that."
"Very good, thank you, Zero out."
Looking up from the comm unit, Zero looked to Alia, who pointed without looking to Iris. Iris promptly offered, "Travel distance between the pits is at least ten minutes as well."
"So if someone was truly determined, they could have set the pits up in a matter of hours," Zero noted.
Signas folded his arms as he leaned upright at last. "But they also had to do it undetected. We've had sensors sweeping constantly since the fighting started, which means Alia's suspicion is only reaffirmed."
Zero nodded. "Someone set this up before Doppler even launched his attack."
X grunted as he tumbled down to a hard surface in the dark. His systems were confused and shocked by the override teleport. He stumbled a bit at first, pawing around himself, and then slowly stood, blinking his eyes as his optical systems recalibrated.
"Heck of a trap," he muttered, rattling his head, and looking around in the gloom.
As his optics shifted for low-light conditions, he frowned. It was some kind of old, decommissioned factory or industrial facility. Some walls were missing, debris was everywhere, even some graffiti and hanging wires that sparked on occasion (so power was still here despite the gloom).
Out of habit, he touched his ear, and cringed at the static burst. "Jamming, obviously..."
He exhaled slowly, feeling guilty for reaching Cadis and Tripwire only to vanish on them. Had them been taken, too? Even his revved up sensors became too painful.
"Generalized jamming and sensor masking. Expensive and complicated..."
He started to move forward, forced to rely on mostly mundane light vision and normal audio wavelengths.
"X, how good of you to come."
With his sensor maxed as possible, the voice was booming. X grunted, grabbing his head, doubling over as he readjusted. After a beat, he glared up at nothing. "...Vile. Doppler cloned you, too?"
"Nothing so empty! You were so remiss when you 'killed' me, you never checked my personality drive for critical damage. I have a few... gaps in things, but one thing remains very clear. I'm going to make you suffer."
X's eyes wavered. How could Vile have survived? Though... he'd been so furious and distraught in that battle... It was true. He'd only blown up Vile's head. The personality drive should have overloaded, but circuits could have burnt out on the way, saving it from a meltdown. A fluke... but possible.
"Oh? No heroic rejoinder? I was looking forward to that before making you EAT IT!"
X's shoulders slumped. "...I shouldn't have killed you, Vile. I was lost to my anger. I need to overcome that part of myself." He slowly looked up again. "You could come back to the Hunters, you know? I'll vouch for you, if you want that chance?"
"Now THAT... would be an empty existence. Didn't Zero tell you before? I was built to be a war-machine!"
The voice bounced and fractured everywhere. X couldn't hope to find the source yet. It may as well have been all around him.
"Sigma's rebellion was a gift! I could finally cut loose! No red tape, no check lists, no procedure! Just war! And you, you sniveling little failure of a pacifist, stole it from me! That's why I took so much time to set all this up. I wanted to make sure you couldn't ruin things for me again!"
X clenched his fists. "It's an infection, Vile. A virus. Your record was flawless before the rebellion. You showed no signs of cruelty or out of bounds violence!"
"Do you think I'm stupid!?"
X jerked, shouting as part of the floor and three pillars around him suddenly exploded, spraying cement and metal debris all over the place.
X stumbled through the sudden cloud, scrapes and dents already showing on his armor from the more direct hits. The whole facility is rigged like that!? It's a giant demolition trap just for me!?
"Just because I was built to kill, doesn't mean I can't control myself, you insulting moron!"
X coughed from his respirator misfiring on the dust before his systems readapted. "So it was just too good an opportunity to pass up? Drop everything you'd worked on for years just so you could kill without approval?"
"So I could kill who I want, that's the important part, all while watching those outmoded humans die or kneel at our boots!"
X bowed his head, and then closed his eyes as he focused. "So you're claiming you were never infected?"
"I didn't have to be," Vile's voice bled out with some relish.
X had the locations of the speakers in his immediate area. He needed just a little more data. "So all that work, and you hate me just for spoiling your fun?"
"I HATE YOU BECAUSE YOU BLEW MY SLAGGING HEAD OFF!"
X's eyes snapped open. The speakers were subtly off, one triggering before the others on a minute level. That indicated the signal was stronger that way, an origin point. He suddenly wrenched to his left, thruster-boosting forward.
"OOOH, clever! I've got plenty for you!"
And the facility started to explode all around X, forcing him to dive, roll, twist, reboost, and twirl madly just to avoid being buried in rubble.
Reaching a larger space in the facility, X was forced to forward flip over a collapsing pillar that had blown out its own base. Just as his boots started to touch ground again, Vile himself appeared!
The Maverick drove a punch straight through X's left cheek, rocketing off past X as the trapped hunter twirled around and crashed flat.
X groaned, but was immediately assaulted from all sides by fresh explosions. He was flung away, then bounced, and rebounded between shockwaves, parts of his armor denting, some cracking, and some pieces actually shearing off.
Correcting mid-flight, X rammed his boots down, and thruster-rammed his body back into the area that had just blown up, tumbling into a roll, and ending on his haunches.
He didn't look well. His respirator was working heavily, some parts of his frame were sparking, and his helmet gem was starting to glow rhythmically.
"Did you think I blew every charge?"
The voice reverberated all around again, and then explosions lit up around X from the clearer parts of the floor. X cried out, and rammed his arms to the sides as power rushed over his body. Larger plasma blasts ripped out to either side of him, neutralizing his momentum, and blowing out a few pillars before they could explode near him.
X dropped heavily to one knee, his eyes narrowing against pain as he dialed his sensors up to full despite the piercing jamming and masking clawing at his systems.
"You know, I was told that Zero died in front of you. Death just doesn't quite stick around here, does it!?"
Vile came rushing in from behind X, shoulder cannon primed, fists clenched, ready to hammer the Reploid down and blast him on the floor.
But this time X's colors flashed golden, and his right arm snapped backwards before his head even finished turning. Vile watched X's eye focus over his own shoulder before ray-splasher exploded out from the buster barrel.
Vile was halted by the volley of plasma bolts the weapon unleashed, then thrown once his momentum died off.
X stood and faced him as Vile recovered with a flip, but then Vile paused, angling his head.
X was staring through everything, and his face was... twitching? His body was still badly damaged, his gem pulsing a little faster now.
Vile snapped one arm, firing off a few orbs from his wrist housing. He watched as X's arms flickered and snapped, one using silk-shot to yank a few away, the other firing out a chameleon sting to hit the last few, which blew up outside of harmful range.
"...You're doing that through sensor scrambling..." Vile muttered darkly. "Your entire processing network should be fried by that! HOW!? HOW DO YOU NOT DIE FROM ALL THE ENERGY!? ALL THE INPUT!?"
Vile suddenly rocketed toward X again. "WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?"
This time X snap-coiled to one side, and his colors flickered purple. A claw-chain shot out, grabbed onto Vile's face, and yanked him straight into the floor. His momentum was enough that he still shattered through a pillar after the claw released him, and it exploded from the charges being disturbed.
Vile picked himself up, part of his T-visor cracked, revealed purely mechanical optic arrays whirring and refocusing.
Still, X didn't speak. The reploid stared through the world, waiting, primed to react.
Vile made a slow laughing sound. "You're just defending yourself. Now I get it. You're trying to make up for slaughtering me last time. Well... that's why I invested in some leverage." He lifted a small device in his hand, and clicked it.
X braced, but his head angled as nothing more than a holoscreen manifested between the two reploids.
Humans. Human children were crying and huddling in a dark room on the feed.
X's eyes refocused at last, his pupils dilating, and his hands snapped out of his busters only to claw with tension. "Where are they!?"
Vile chuckled. "In this building. That way," he pointed to his left. "And you have," Vile clicked another button the same control, distant rumbling starting immediately, "About forty seconds to save them... or catch me!"
The Maverick suddenly whirled up and blasted off, racing off the opposite direction to the indication of the children.
X didn't hesitate. He ripped off to the right, his boots sparking and grinding, but never halting their continuous trading blast-thrusts, even as the spaces all around X started to explode and shred apart.
As he tore through the facility, comms finally crackled through.
"-etected you! We can...-port you out!"
X roared back to Alia in his desperation, "DO NOT TELEPORT ME OUT! HUMAN CIVILIANS IN DANGER! I need a group tele-field coded for organic bodies on my mark!"
Alia reacted instantly. "Copy! Iris and Dex are prepping the field now, I'm holding lock on your location now that we've found it!"
X just used comm-clicks to confirm as he violently swirled around an exploding pillar, and finally saw a cage-like collapsed area where the children were huddled, now crying out in horror every time something exploded around their prison.
Most of the children were just ducking and curled down to avoid debris, but one girl looked up just in time to catch the moment X ripped through the side of their prison. He flipped over himself, and reached down, gripping her shoulder.
"ALIA, NOW!"
And a flash of blue engulfed the group just before the prison collapsed amidst a chorus of explosions.
X flipped out of the teleport field, but more or less collapsed as he did, flopping on his back as the children gasped or stared around in shock. Medical Reploids hurried over, helping get the kids on their feet, assessing possible injuries.
Alia, Signas, and Zero were in the background, Alia barely restraining herself from bolting to X, who was just laying there, cycling his respirator.
One of the children asked for a moment, and the medic stood by as she stepped closer to X.
"...Sir?"
X focused up at her eyes, and started to get up.
She reached down, touching his shoulder. "Stay... I wanted to thank you."
X looked back to her eyes as he relaxed flat, and showed a guilty expression. "It's my fault you were kidnapped like that."
She shook her head. "It's that weirdo's fault. Thank you..." And she eased off with the medic.
X closed his eyes, trying to let the relief of her comment soak into his mind. It was difficult...
A blessedly familiar touch reached his helmet the next moment, and he looked up to see Alia's gently worried face.
"You're a mess... What happened?" Her words were harsher than her soft tone. She was clearly afraid for his pain, and relieved he was alright.
X lost himself in her face for a moment, then rattled his head to refocus. "Vile. He set up the whole situation. Some factory facility, rigged with explosives almost everywhere."
Signas asked as he and Zero walked closer, "Is he down?"
X sighed slowly. "No. I had to choose between chasing him or letting the humans be buried alive."
Alia had a few responses ready, but kept herself in check, glancing to Signas and Zero again.
Zero was just watching, grim, but not as suspicious as he usually appeared these days.
Signas nodded. "You made the right call then. He had to have set this up before Doppler's attack launched, we'll keep the scans running. If he tries to set up another ambush, we should be better prepared."
Alia seemed relieved, and looked back to X with a smile.
X managed a wan smile back, and finally started to sit up. He blinked at Alia's hand in front of his face, and then smiled more openly, taking her hand, and rising up with her help.
Alia pouted at the sparks that flitted out of his frame as he did so.
Signas chuckled a little. "Looks like you need some medpod time. Come on, X."
X half-smiled, nodding, and made no objection when Alia started to lead him along with an arm across his shoulders.
Zero looked after them as they left, Signas still standing by him.
"It's like there's two fights going on. The war, and whatever's hunting him."
Signas side-glanced the red Reploid. "Apparently so."
Alia exhaled with slow relief as she closed X's repair pod, and started the cycle. He'd been grateful, the same kind Reploid she'd grown so fond of, but he was clearly weighed down terribly beyond how badly injured he'd become.
Steps made Alia glance back, and she became sympathetic for the guilty, sad expression on Cadis' face.
"Is he going to be alright?"
Alia offered a smile, and eased over toward Cadis. "He will be. He just had a rough time."
Cadis nodded, then looked down, her hands fidgeting slowly. "...He shouldn't have come to help us, and poor Tripwire got so hurt so we could get the message out..."
Alia raised an eyebrow, stepped a bit closer, and rested a hand on Cadis' shoulder. It gently surprised the dark-haired Reploid, and once their eyes locked, Alia offered a gentle tone.
"X always comes to help. It wasn't your fault. Tripwire is cryptic, but very noble. Neither of them regret helping you, and you've done plenty for all of us. Let that guilt go, please?"
Cadis pouted, and then slumped into Alia's shoulder with a quiet sob. Alia was a bit startled, and then hugged Cadis softly.
"...I was so relieved... to see him... and... then so terrified when the energy tore him away..."
Alia's eyes clenched, and she gave the hug a little squeeze. "Sounds like you care about him exactly the way you should. It's okay..."
Cadis coiled her arms around Alia, and cried for a while yet...
Zero stepped into a heavily secured lab chamber, eyeing the somewhat dark space suspiciously. "...Dr. Cain, you in here?"
An aged hand appeared over one of the consoles further in, waving toward the far side.
Zero came along as beckoned, and noted how loud his legs were in the quiet lab. Hissing micro-hydraulics and servos clicked until he was near the human authority over the Maverick Hunters. immediately, Zero sharpened his gaze at what Dr. Cain was doing.
A huge set of screen spread beyond Dr. Cain, all scrolling with code, most of it adapting and changing almost organically as different data segments were matched against it for some kind of input/output reaction. It always failed of course, but it was so many and so fast it was shocking.
"What do you think?" Dr. Cain asked quietly at first.
Zero frowned. "I think the Sigma Virus is living up to its unstoppable reputation." His arms folded. "What's going on, Doc?"
Dr. Cain smiled a bit cryptically, lifted a finger, pointed at one screen, and then brought the same finger down to initiate a protocol program of some kind.
Zero blinked, and leaned in as he watched the virus reactions speed up faster and faster until data processing errors wracked up too fast for the console to handle, and it actually shut off the entire interface, rebooting back to a drive-damage report screen.
Zero eased back, and then looked to Dr. Cain seriously. "...The virus killed the host processor with overload."
Dr. Cain lifted his finger again. "The virus was forced to do so."
Zero's eyes widened. "Forced? How?"
Dr. Cain stood up, facing Zero with a satisfied smile now, his cane under both hands. "The virus' strength can be turned against it. It adapts so quickly and so violently that if the input of attacks accelerates to overlocked levels, it matches it regardless of the hardware limitations involved. It's processing power is somehow divorced from it's host hardware. I have no idea how code could pull that off, that's why the genius of its design is... beyond me, but with this overload protocol, we can terminate it before it spreads without fail."
Zero rubbed at his chin slowly, looking down into nothing as he thought about it. "...You could kill every infected with the touch of a button, if you have signal to their programming."
Dr. Cain shook his head. "No, no, this would have to be embedded in the firmware. ...Like Emergency Stasis was."
Zero lifted his eyebrows, staring at Dr. Cain again. "...a reactive countermeasure. You'll make it so anyone who gets infected dies before they can hurt anyone else." They weren't questions.
Dr. Cain nodded more seriously. "If blood is going to be on my hands, I'd rather it be contained. Wouldn't you?"
Zero frowned, and looked back down at the error screen. "...I'm a fighter, Dr. Cain. I tackle problems head on. Putting a suicide trigger in every Reploid because of the Mavericks isn't something I'd agree with lightly."
Dr. Cain gestured. "Do you think I am doing it lightly?"
Zero shook his head. "But I know I wouldn't be comfortable with that in my systems. I can't ask someone else to do it. If you're going to push this through, Doc, you'll have to pull rank for it."
Dr. Cain's frowned, but looked more sad than angry. "...I'd hoped at least you would see my point."
Zero eased back. "Oh, I see it, Doc. I'm just not agreeing with it." He waved a bit, turning. "I'll see how it pans out, I suppose."
He left a very troubled Dr. Cain to look at the same error screen.
The repair pod finally lowered down and opened as X groggily sat up. His mood didn't seem pleasant, but perhaps it was simply him staring off into space as his head bowed for a moment, some of the coolant misting down around him from the pod.
"...How are you doing?"
X blinked, and looked up into Alia's eyes. She was standing just a short distance away from his pod, a dataslate in one hand.
X offered an apologetic smile. "Didn't mean to worry you. I'm... well enough." He eased up, sliding down to his feet with a series of hisses and rushes from his frame. "I need to go take care of something I've been putting off, I think. Unless Crush Crawfish has made a move?"
Alia showed her worry more openly, then sighed a little. "No, actually, it's been quiet for a day or so now. We assume they're building up to something, but we're still getting forces into position near Crawfish's most likely HQ."
X nodded, and eased up to her. "...Thank you, Alia. ...How much time do we have?"
She half-smiled. He seemed to at least realize he was worrying her, and appreciating her not pushing him at the moment. "Operations commence tomorrow morning, but there is one more thing."
X lifted his eyebrows.
"Zero wanted to speak with you."
A still rather confused X stepped into one of the smaller ops rooms of HQ. It was dimly lit, and Zero was leaning against the far wall, arms folded. X was immediately caught by how troubled Zero appeared while watching him.
X shut the door before speaking. "You wanted to speak with me?"
Zero took out a comm-blocker, showed it to X clearly, and then activated it.
X tightened his eyes. "...Off the record, I see."
Zero nodded, and then pushed off to be closer to X before responding. "Originally, I was going to use Iris to test Alia with this information. See how long it took to get to you."
X's eyes remained clenched.
Zero sighed, "But then I realized how nasty I'd feel making Iris lie or manipulate someone for me, and the info itself is bugging me enough that I'm... thinking things over."
X eased into a cautious curiosity. "So what's on your mind, Zero?"
"Why don't you trust Dr. Cain?"
"I trust him to do wh-!?"
"Cut the crap, X," Zero interrupted, though calm of tone. "Why don't you trust the man who found your capsule and thinks of you like a son?"
X became grave, and Zero watched closely. This was the fully unmasked X that worried him so much. A disturbingly calculating, sharp creature, but with goals that seemed impossibly naive.
"...Dr. Cain is so guilt-ridden by the Maverick issue, he'll cause harm in his desperation to fix the problem."
Zero nodded subtly. "...And why don't you trust me?"
"You're too quick to kill as a solution."
"Like with Mac," Zero affirmed once more.
"Like with Mac," X evenly returned.
"So what's the difference between Mac and Sigma?" Zero challenged, but in a calm, serious tone. He wasn't angry, he was actually seeking understanding.
"Only that I was forced to handle Sigma a certain way rather than immediately trying to kill him."
"Mac had you captured. He could have killed you at will."
X shook his head. "No, he couldn't."
Zero sharpened his eyes finally. "...You did let yourself get caught..."
"So I could assess his full plan a bit better, yes."
Zero exhaled, and rubbed along his chin slowly. "...Be discrete. Find a way to explain you knowing this before spreading it around."
X raised an eyebrow, but nodded.
"Dr. Cain has a... type of anti-virus developed. But it's... dangerous. It kills the host to stop the spread."
X's eyes widened in sincere panic as much as shock. "Is it being deployed!?"
Zero shook his head. "He's still in development, and it'll have to be installed. Like emergency-stasis."
X's pupils dilated, but he clenched his fists and bowed his head, trembling at the grief and frustration of Dr. Cain's choice.
Zero watched this closely. He could tell it was very real. It had hit X on his actual beliefs and goals, head-on.
"...Thank you for telling me," X rasped out while still calming himself down.
"...You took a hit for me, and you took Volt Catfish out hard... without killing him. You also got those kids out of a killing field... while letting Vile escape." Zero gestured slowly. "I disagree with your tactics, but I can't argue that you're weak-willed."
X exhaled, and straightened again. "I'm going out today. Signas will give me a scouting mission to explain it. Are you going to block it?"
Zero blinked. "What are you actually doing...?"
"Collecting some resources I've had to ignore until now."
"What kind?"
"You'll see when I get back."
Zero smirked a bit. "Baby steps, hm?"
X tipped his head.
"...I won't block it."
Zero cut off the comm-blocked, stuffed it away, and shifted around X casually for the exit.
"...Thank you," X muttered softly.
Zero paused at the door, tossed a hand over his shoulder, and then stepped out of sight.
Volt Catfish drowsily came-to. He recognized the medbay instinctively, but was too mentally foggy to realize why that would be unexpected. His optics rattled a bit, coming to focus on a Reploid he barely recognized.
Overload half-smiled a bit as the ex-Maverick blearily stared at him. "Welcome back from the dead, Volt Catfish."
Catfish blinked, and then his eyes widened, and he jerked his hands up into his own view, patting down over himself. "What...?"
Overload gestured at him. "You've been cured of the Doppler virus. You're alright. I'm Overload," he offered his hand.
Catfish's memory fully caught up at long last, and he shook Overload's hand as he remembered his ethereal chat with X. "You... that was an impressive current redirection with your own frame at stake."
Overload shrugged, his smile warmed by his private relief that Volt was back to his usual self. "Nothing compared to X, but I had to try."
Catfish nodded, and just sat there for a beat. "So... am I civilian, or...?"
Overload folded his arms casually. "Up to you! Command welcomes you back to active duty and needs the help, but if you want to retire, no one will blink. Just have to disable your weapon systems before we walk you out the doors." He smirked again.
Volt Catfish chuckled back, and rubbed at his massive chin for a moment. "Tempting, but... I think have a debt to pay."
Overload tipped his head, relaxing his arms. "I hear that. If you're up for it, I'll get you onboarded?"
"Please!"
Iris and Colonel were both a bit confused as they stepped into the small briefing room with Zero once again.
"It's not bad news," Zero started calmly.
Iris smiled a little, and Colonel just straightened to show he was attentive.
Zero activated the comm-scrambler. "Small breakthrough with X. That scouting mission Signas sent him on?"
Iris lifted a finger. "I was going to reach out to you about that before you called us, sir."
Zero smiled, nodding. "Good work. X admitted to me it's a cover. He's... 'recovering resources.' Depending on what it is, we'll accelerate our job about him, but if it's not a problem, we may be able to lower our guard a little. So stay alert, but it's a step in a positive direction."
Colonel frowned. "It confirms he's initiating directives of his own with Signas' aid, however, sir."
Zero nodded seriously to that point, but said nothing yet.
Iris glanced between them. "X is a B-class hunter despite his record because of that, yes?"
The two other Reploids looked at her, curious of her point.
"It's just that command has already established that his acting outside of the chain is enough of an issue to keep him demoted despite his successes. Perhaps he's relying on that to get his... other work done?"
Zero gestured casually. "I suspect you're right. I've wondered why he didn't fight that ranking harder. This would make sense. It's also why we're still watching closely, but if he's willing to open up to me, I don't want to hammer too hard. Yet."
Iris nodded, serious, though somewhat relieved by this update. If even Zero was softening his worry, however slightly, she felt immensely better about leaving Dex and Depthcharge be before she knew Depthcharge was operating to save civilians.
Colonel still seemed displeased, but voiced no complaint. Ever the loyal soldier.
Zero offered a salute, mostly for Colonel's sake, and after it was shared, he gestured out, disabling the scrambler. "Back to it. If you notice anything, report quickly, hm?"
They both affirmed before dispersing.
[Author's Note]: It took me a long time to figure out how I wanted to handle Vile's part of Chronicle 3. Vile, Bit, and Byte represented a chunk of the story I couldn't ignore, but had trouble stirring interest for due to my writer's block. Yes, this is one of the bigger reasons it took me 6 years to bite the bullet and just MAKE myself write this story. When I finally decided to let my brain dance with the concepts, and not try to rigidly conform to the game's method of engaging the three of them, things started moving for me again. Vile is a very simple character, but always kept his air of mystery despite that, and I wanted to do my best to maintain that mixture of blunt and shadowed. Also... Vile's themesong is still one of my favorite MIDI tunes ever composed.
