MLaaTR: Maverick Hunter X
By Drewmaster
19. Chapter 19
The following day at school, everyone noticed a cheerier than usual aura emitting from Jenny. A few had the guts to ask why, and she had a little trouble explaining it to them, considering that none of the ones that asked could really begin to relate.
She finally had the opportunity to tell both Brad and Sheldon the news before the day was over. Mr. Tier was absent that day for a meeting, so she would have to wait for that conversation.
When the school day was finally over, Jenny's next plan was to see if she could find where Vexus lives. As she began flying towards home to ask her mom for advice on how to go about finding Vexus, suddenly, the alarm sounded in her head. This time, for a reason she can't explain, she just knew the Mavericks were making their next move.
When Jenny was within fifty miles from the scene, her communicator activated.
"Sorry it took so long to call you. My computer was having problems at the most inopportune time. It's just as we feared, there is a Maverick wreaking havoc in a subway," Ms. Wakeman yelled.
"Do you know if there's been any casualties?" Jenny asked.
"None that we know of. Both Hunters are on their way to help you, but you will arrive first. Be careful," Ms. Wakeman replied.
"Don't worry. I will," Jenny assured.
When she arrived in the underground tunnel, she noticed a large number a dead bodies lying around. Some were small children too young to understand the situation they were in.
"But they were able to understand pain," Jenny growled angrily.
She activated her right arm laser in response to a loud deep clomping noise coming from the inside of the heavily damaged train. When she pointed, she saw first a large metal foot exit a huge hole on the side of the train, followed by a large walking tank body with a roughly human sized male reploid piloting it.
When they both made eye contact, the reploid laughed loudly, and then said "Man this is disappointing. I was hoping to find my old friends, X and Zero. It looks like they instead decided to send the so-called global defender bitch."
"HEY ASSHOLE! You first fuck up the happiest mood I've had in months by making me have to come out here, kill all these innocent people plus children, then you make me even more pissed by calling me a bitch all loud an proud and shit. You must really be asking to die" Jenny yelled furiously.
She ground her teeth together and fired a shot at the reploid. The reploid made the walking tank's left arm swat the projectile to the side. The projectile exploded when it impacted the floor twenty feet away from them.
"See what I mean? You're not capable of taking down an experienced veteran like me. From what I've seen, I could beat you just as easily without my Ride Armor. I don't care how pissed off you get; it doesn't change the fact that you ran into the wrong guy at the wrong time," the reploid explained.
"Talk about one who's gone way off the deep end. You lack remorse to the point where you feel no need to mention the fact that you slaughtered these people and their children. Is your loyalty to Sigma and his cause so important that it's worth sacrificing compassion?" Jenny yelled.
"Ah yes, Sigma and his cause. I'm the only one that works for that fool that cares nothing for his precious cause. I have my own reasons for my actions, and they are not for you to know. About those lumps of flesh on the floor, and that one on the bench over there, compassion is for those who are willing to sacrifice their own goals in case the circumstance puts a roadblock in their path. Consistency is the only sure path," the reploid answered.
Filled with a burning hatred for the reploid she just met, Jenny charged him directly, running at top speed ready to end his life to avenge those he murdered. She transformed her right forearm into a very long chain saw and swung straight downwards. The reploid blocked the saw with the Ride Armor's right forearm. She continued pressing downwards hoping to cut right through the arm and next through the reploid. The process was slow enough to allow the reploid time to act. The Ride Armor's left arm swung attempting to grab her around the waist. She quickly kicked the arm out of the way long enough for her to transform her left hand into a small rocket engine and used it to push her right arm down much harder. The flame from the rocket thrust sprayed rapidly and stretched four and a half feet into the air. She managed to cut through the first layer of the arm's armor before a large cannon mounted onto the reploid's right shoulder aimed and fired several shots at Jenny. She backed away fast enough to swat away the shots. She landed on the ground and slid about ten feet before stopping. There was smoke coming from the Ride Armor's arm for a few seconds before it stopped. Jenny's chain saw arm was red hot like the coil eye of a stove and steaming.
"I'm still getting used to this upgrade," Jenny said.
"I am actually impressed, you managed to damage my new improved Ride Armor this much, without using that famous enhancer of yours. You must have been outfitted with reploid technology. This makes things a bit different than we expected. I was thinking that destroying you would be too easy," the reploid commented.
"You must be a veteran indeed. I just tried to kill you ruthlessly, and you still sound just as confident as before," Jenny commented.
They both turned their heads in the direction of Zero's voice saying "Ahh man, it's you again. How many times is Sigma going to revive your ass?"
"What's this guy's name anyway?" Jenny asked.
"His name is Vile. He was once a Hunter like us; one of the best. Then he turned Maverick. We've defeated you three times before. How are you still alive, Vile?" X asked.
"I was wondering when you'd ask me that. Let's just say that Sigma's little 'life insurance policy' provides for more coverage than just for himself," Vile answered.
"I don't know how he keeps doing it either, but I know there's a way to shut him and all of you down for good, and we're going to find it," Zero said.
Vile laughed and said "You've been trying to figure this out for a long time now, and you still have no direct clues. You'll never figure this out, Zero. You really should just give up trying to beat us…"
Zero cut him off by saying "Don't try that 'us' crap on me. I already know you don't give a crap about Sigma's plans. You're nothing but selfish and would be willing to destroy Sigma at any moment if you had the chance."
"You know, I was wondering if you realized that or not. I'm pretty sure he realizes it too, but as long as he keeps providing me with resources, I'm fine with the situation," Vile explained.
"I understand as much about Sigma's way of thinking as I understand your motives. You're not our biggest concern anyway, so either run and hide somewhere or continue your game. If you do continue, we'll destroy you again," X threatened.
"I don't plan on hiding necessarily, but I do need to run. My time here has run out," Vile said as he turned away and started running back inside the train.
Jenny and the hunters pursued him, but the train exploded before they had the opportunity to catch up, pushing them backwards. They soon regained their composure and stared into the flames for a moment.
"Damn, he always manages to make a getaway the first time we meet him…per situation," Zero pointed out.
"I'm sick of seeing dead bodies. I swear; this will end one day. Jenny; did you happen to see a chameleon looking reploid before he escaped?" X asked.
"Wait, what? You mean to tell me Vile wasn't the killer?" Jenny inquired.
"He did kill some of these people who've been smashed but not all of them. Most of the victims here have stab wounds. You see those spikes sticking out of their bodies? Those are weapons used by a reploid named Sting Chameleon," Zero explained.
Jenny immediately started looking around the room frantically.
"There's no need to worry. We know he's no longer in here. That's pretty quick that you realized that he could've camouflaged himself and been watching us the whole time," X commented.
"That realization was borderline instinctive. In any case, what should we do now? I'd rather not stand around waiting until I smell burning flesh," Jenny said.
"That's not a good smell, now that you mention it. We should leave this place and head to the surface. There's no need to risk running through all of these flames and to risk running into a trap," X explained.
"Sounds good. Let's go," Jenny agreed.
As they left the subway, Jenny thought mostly about how much she despised Vile. She also promised herself that this Sting Chameleon person would pay the price for what he's done. Suddenly, they heard several explosions coming from the surface. By the time they got there, the culprit had already escaped.
Not paying much attention to the destruction, X asked loudly "Hey, you…by the tree. Who did this?"
"It…it was a tall skinny robot like you. Yeah, that's right. You call yourselves reploids. He had dark colored armor and looked kinda like a praying mantis," the man answered.
Of course, the main reason he answered instead of running is because he trusted Jenny, not the hunters.
"Dark Mantis, again. What exactly is Sigma trying to gain by reviving so many of the Mavericks we've defeated already?" Zero asked.
Did you guys have a hard time beating them before?" Jenny asked.
"Most of the time, yes? Zero answered.
"I'm guessing the only reason why you all haven't seriously considered what I'm about to tell you is because Sigma usually doesn't operate this way. I believe he's trying to build as large an army as possible, and eventually attack all at once. Of course, this means to say, we're going to need all the help we can get. We're going to need an army of our own. If not that, a miracle," Jenny explained.
"That's one battle plan I've become convinced he'd never try. Looks like he's gone into serious desperation mode. Then again, maybe he's grown tired of dragging our seemingly endless battles out for so long, and he wants to end it once and for all," X guessed.
"Whatever the case, we need to contact as many people as possible, and see if they have anything that can help. I also still need to find Vexus," Jenny said.
As they turned in the direction of the Wakeman residence, Jenny stopped suddenly and said "Wait! Stop!"
"What's going on," X asked.
"I can't talk about it here. Let's go, and I'll tell you on the way," Jenny replied.
The hunters drove their motorcycles and Jenny traveled with them using her motorcycle transformation. Traffic wasn't an issue with so few vehicles on the road.
"I have some good news for you guys. I'm connected to your friend, Alia again," Jenny announced.
With a suddenly brightened mood, Zero smiled, and X said, "That's great! I hope she has some good news."
"She's still trying to make the connection more stable for the moment, and so am I. It shouldn't take long. It's just about…wait a sec….okay, I guess that's the best we can do for now. Anytime you're ready, Alia" Jenny said.
"I know you're the only one on your side that…...hear me right now. I'm glad that X and Zero are sti...kay too. I'm also glad Sigm…hasn't done too much damage yet. I hope that didn't sound as though I'm taking your situation lightly," Alia said.
The hunters only able to hear Jenny speaking, she replied "That thought did cross my mind, just a little. I do understand that you're not able to understand what's going on here except for my words though. Don't worry about it. I'm not offended. I do need to tell you that our situation here just isn't looking very good. We need help, and lots of it. Hell, we basically need to amass a huge army by yesterday. Either that or build a super weapon of some kind. Resources here are unfortunately very limited."
"I see. Well, I'm relieved to some degree to know that you're not naïve about…your situation. At this moment, we can do nothing to help you until we find a way to reopen the portal. Strangely enough, we think we may have found a lead of some kind, just not the way we expected. I don't have enough time to expla…it this time because of how much energy our communication requires, but just know that we're doing everything we can to hurry this along. Please tell them we miss them, and thank y…very much for taking care of them," Alia said.
A few seconds of static noise later, and the message "CONNECTION LOST" appeared on the upper right-hand region of Jenny's vision.
"Dammit, we lost the connection again. The good news is that she said they may have found a way of going about getting here, though they still need time. She also told me to say that they miss you, and that's when the connection was lost," Jenny explained.
"I really do miss everybody. Anyway, more importantly, now we know that if all goes well, it won't be too much longer until they find a way here. We could also really use our buddy Axl's help right about now. Too bad he was on another mission at the time, or he'd likely be here with us," Zero said.
"Is he as powerful as you two?" Jenny asked.
"Not quite, but his rapid firing capabilities pretty much make up for a lack of raw power. He's a survivor indeed, and highly skilled," X explained.
"That's good," Jenny said.