Elegy of Falling Snow
Chapter 2: Hamster Wheel of Misfortune

For the second time that day, Zero found himself out in the streets. Once the teleportation was complete, the first thing Zero did was stretch and groan.

"I can't believe I'm back here again…"

He recalled how he patrolled this area in the morning until afternoon. Everything was alright, the maintenance reploid workers did work normally. All good, no mechaniloids or reploids going maverick… just a normal, uneventful day. But suddenly, soon before he went to sleep, he got an urgent call from HQ to investigate this area. Apparently, there were… a lot of Mavericks on the radar.

"What the heck has happened? They really made a mess…"

Zero started fighting his way through the broken streets. It was under repair to begin with, but some of the work was undone. Which is to say, the streets that were fixed got broken again. He can just imagine the workers screaming or something when they return to work the next day. And all this from… run-of-the-mill mechaniloids? No, that can't be right. To be fair, they can do enough damage if there are enough of them.

After years and years of fighting, swinging his Z-Saber at all these mechaniloids felt like he was just sweeping a dirty room. Perhaps it is, in a way. But it felt tedious alone. At least when X was still with him, it wasn't so lonely.

This… this should've been allocated to a squad of B-ranks led by an A-rank. Or maybe a few A-ranks. As much as he knows that he's helping people and doing good things, Zero would really rather sleep right now. Then again, the entirety of the Maverick Hunters are understaffed and overworked ever since X retired from combat. Even some fighters who just transitioned to non-combat roles are notified that they may be deployed again in emergencies.

Zero supposes he's doing better than those people. He can't help but feel a little bit better. Although he still wished that everyone's workload gets lighter—

"Out of the way!"

At that moment, time seemed to slow for Zero.
First, he jumped in surprise. And then he instinctively stepped aside, feeling the heart attack from the shock.
After that, a blur passed by him. Zero heard the sound of dash boosters.

A reploid?

"Holy shit!" Zero blurted out, "Hey, watch it!"

Fortunately for the annoyed blond reploid, the speeding reploid skidded and stopped. Good, at least they have the decency to apologise—wait a second… he's in armour. But Zero has never seen this youngster (?) around HQ. Could he be reinforcements from HQ? It can't be right. Or maybe… an A-rank or B-rank who is in trouble?

"What are you doing here?" Zero asked the smaller reploid.
The unknown reploid didn't make a move to face him. Nor did he say anything.
"Hey… I'm talking to you." Zero called out again.
This time, the reploid twitched. What's wrong with him?

Just as Zero was about to approach the redheaded reploid, he turned around to face Zero. It was then Zero saw the youth's fearful, almost shell-shocked expression. Just what is going on here…?

"You've got to help me." said the redhead.
"Whoa, chill. First of all, what's going on here? And what's your name? I've never seen you around HQ." Zero asked.
"My name's Axl. I'm… I just escaped from a bounty hunter gang." he replied.
Zero's jaw dropped, "What the fu—ngh… what?"
"Something big is after me. Let's take care of it, and then talk later." Axl said, drawing two guns.
"What—"

Zero turned around to his back when he heard loud clanging sounds from behind… and saw a massive red scorpion mechaniloid jumping towards them.

Suddenly he realized why HQ requested for him, an S-rank. That thing can do a lot of damage to the already broken highway, and it would take too long for A-ranks to dispose of it. And judging from the bullet marks on its armour, it looks durable. It's taken so many shots – presumably from the redhead – and it still looks fine.

To add to that, this broken highway hasn't been installed with safety railings yet. Even if it has, that big thing can easily break them. Zero can't move around much, otherwise he'd fall off. Fighting it right on the highway won't be easy.

"Holy shit. You're going to have to explain everything when this is over." Zero chided.
"Of course. So, do we fight him now?" Axl replied.
"Not here. Ahead of us is a closed space. We can jump down from here. We lure it there, and take it out." Zero said.
"Alright. I'll follow your lead." Axl responded.

While they were running, Zero asked Axl to tell him about the red mechaniloid. Axl didn't say much – he simply said that it can shoot from its stinger, and can attack with its claws. Well, that much is obvious… but it didn't look like Axl was hiding anything more, so Zero let it slide.

Both of them ran until they came across a big gap. As Zero had said, there was a closed area underneath that gap. The two reploids jumped down, and the mechaniloid followed them.

"Are you sure that thing doesn't have any weaknesses?" Zero asked.
Axl shook his head, "Nothing noticeable except the head. Even then my bullets can't dent it so much. Best we can do is disable it the slow way."
"Can your guns charge?" Zero asked again.
Axl shook his head again.

Zero took a deep breath. And then he let out a roar of frustration. Beside him, Axl jumped in shock. The scorpion mechaniloid shot at them, but Zero quickly snapped out of his mini fit of rage and deflected the shot back at its stinger with his Z-saber. The deflected shot did more damage to the stinger than Axl's bullets. Seeing that he did some damage, Zero exhaled. He felt a little bit better.

"Are you… okay? Did I say something wrong?" Axl asked.
"No. I just…"

I gave my buster to X… I had it dismantled to augment his. But then he just had to go and retire—

But how could he say something like that to a stranger?

"I just remembered that I don't have my buster anymore. It sucks." Zero continued.
"Watch out!" Axl warned when he noticed the mechaniloid shooting again.

Zero took one glance at the shot, and nonchalantly deflected it with his saber. Axl could swear he looked bored. And tired.

"Okay… well, seeing as I can't do much in terms of damage, I'll leave the fighting to you. I'll distract the thing so it doesn't disturb you." Axl said.
"You sure you're not gonna die?" Zero asked, placing his free hand on his hip.
"Not as long as you're here." Axl remarked.

For a second, Zero thought he saw X. The moment he caught himself, he shook his head. The exhaustion had probably gotten to him.

"Cheesy." Zero replied.
Axl didn't say anything and merely let out a small laugh.

The scorpion mechaniloid charged forwards at them. Fortunately, the big thing wasn't very fast, so the two reploids dispersed before it could hit them. Zero and Axl dodged in different reactions, and the former noticed how the giant mechaniloid turned to face Axl. It completely ignored him.

This… this young reploid is fishy. Really, really fishy.

At least, for now Axl can keep the mechaniloid occupied. Although he doesn't look very powerful – his shots are barely doing any damage – he's quite agile, being able to dodge its shots. He was also able to dodge the swipes of its big claws without any problems. The scorpion mechaniloid's back was facing Zero, and it's completely focused on Axl. Zero took that opportunity to slice off its stinger.

One of its weapons disabled, it let out a roar and started thrashing around. Before things could escalate, Zero quickly cut off its hind legs. With a few slices, the hind legs came off and the mechaniloid started to lose balance. Quickly, Zero dashed forwards and cut off the rest of its limbs. Lastly, he stabbed it through the head just to make sure it's completely disabled.

"Holy shit," Axl blurted out, "Holy fucking shit."
"Hey, language." Zero chided.
"Ah… um… sorry about that. I just… you killed him so fast, I can't… believe my eyes." Axl responded, waving both of his hands sideways.
"Eh, just doing my job," Zero replied with a shrug, "Is there anything else coming after you? I really need to know that before you come with me to Hunter HQ."
Axl shook his head, "N-no. No, Sir."
Zero let out a loud, amused laugh, "Hah! Don't 'Sir' me. Just call me Zero. And I hope you can forgive me for this."

Before Axl could react or say anything, his arms were suddenly bound in two heavy arm-cuffs. His face immediately went pale, and Zero could see the fear in his face.

"Y-you're not… going to kill me, are you?" Axl asked.
Zero shook his head, "No. X would kill me if I do that. Wait, no, he won't. But you get the point, do you?"
"Good. Because you won't see the end of this incident if you get rid of me." Axl responded.
"I can see that. This is just something we need to do. I don't think you're authorized to carry arms, are you, Axl?" Zero replied.
Axl bit his lip and directed his gaze to the ground.
Zero placed a hand on Axl's shoulder, "I don't know which bounty hunter gang you belong to, but I hope you know what you're doing. Come on, let's go."

The gunslinger reploid didn't say anything more. To Zero, it's a good sign at least. Although he feels a bit suspicious. Bounty hunters aren't normally this cooperative. Something inside him tells him that something really big is going on…

AUTHOR'S NOTES: The first mechaniloid boss fight with Mega Scorpio isn't very remarkable. But I guess that's how intro boss fights are like. I know he has a deadly attack, but I just didn't feel the need to implement it.