MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
By Erico
CHAPTER FIVE: INTO THE STREETS
"How are those Crushers coming?" Sigma asked as he walked back into the hold. A cackling Vile was working feverishly with Sting on several hoverdrones, called Crushers. They were originally designed for demolition, with their chained spike pads. But the ample supply on board the Death Rogumer were being reprogrammed to demolish the highway, as well as hit anything else that they might run into.
Sting looked up and flicked his tongue.
"Just fine, Sigma. Vile's getting the last one going." Sigma nodded. No smile crossed his face. He was leading a rebellion, like the robots of Wily before him. A rebellion whose life depended upon the escape.
"Fine. Have Vile get to work on those Spikys. Sting, you have the Ball De Vouxs and the Bee Bladers." Vile nodded.
"What about the Road Attackers?" Sigma frowned.
"Set them up with drones. No sense in wasting any good mavericks…yet. And those megamechs…have Spark and Launch work on them."
"In other words, you want them to shoot both missiles and electric outputs?" Sigma glared at him. Sting gulped.
"Right…no reason to ask."
A slim blue blur shot down from the sky, crashing to the highway's surface. When the particles re-coalesced, the figure of X emerged. His face was a frown, and if there had been one maverick in front of him…it would have been dead. He looked up, far ahead of him. The outline of the Death Rogumer hung in the sky, three miles ahead. And from the looks of it, they were in the city park. X checked his left arm. Instantly, it shifted seamlessly from hand to X-Buster in less time than it took to blink.
"Cancer…I'll avenge you, my friend." X said silently. Then he took off running.
Cars suddenly came shooting at him, and X found himself staring down at high powered headlights. They weren't hovercars, but the more common tire version. No longer did they run on gasoline, but fusion reactors. X screamed in fear and leapt high as he could. He cleared the roof of the car in his jump, then fell flat to the ground headfirst. Luckily, the other cars were driving in the other lanes, and they missed him. X picked himself up. The X-Buster had vanished from view, and the cars were gone. Even one that passed by, looking like all the world for a moving heap of scrap. X frowned.
"Looks like they've started the party." X checked his cannon and internal operations energy- 100%. "At least I haven't gotten hit yet." X shook his head and took off running.
The road was severely beat up, and soon X saw why. Up ahead of him rolled a wheel with spikes around the rim.
"A Spiky? Here?" X wondered for a moment, then realized why. The Death Rogumer carried a lot of ground forces in its hold. X raised his left arm, which shifted into his Buster. He supported it with his right hand, then fired off a blast. It made a skittering sound as the tiny yellow/white pellet of power soared through the air towards the Spiky. The shot hit, but the Spiky kept on coming. X froze, and the Spiky smashed into him. X was thrown to the ground as the Spiky stopped and exploded.
"Aich!" X cried. He raised his left arm, and checked his energy reading. That hit had cost him about a sixth of his power. "Great. Even with this Titanium body armor I was found in, that 93% protection doesn't do much now, does it?" X shut his eyes and glared on. Up ahead, another obstacle left by his former friends was just…standing there.
When X approached it, it crouched down and fired off a pair of missiles. The red shots streaked along towards X, and he leapt into the air. The first one missed, but the second hit him head on. X stumbled back from the force of the blast, then he ran forth, screaming like a demon. His left arm vanished as he got into his pose, then shot blast after blast of plasma. The yellow bolts of energy soared along, crashing into the armored frame of the megamech, but besides from charred armor, it did nothing more. X swore under his breath, and held his fire. But as he did, he slowly let it charge up. Sure enough, the megamech crouched down and let loose with two more missiles.
But this time X was prepared, and he avoided both with incredible nimbleness. Then, he fired his own blast. The streaming green beam followed the still smoking vapor trail of the missiles into the launchers…which exploded, destroying the entire robot into tiny pieces. X walked along, but then stopped and looked oddly at one of the pieces of remains; an energy capsule. The internal power source for the robot. X reached down and tried to grasp it, but found suddenly that the structure opened, and the power leapt to his fingers, sinking into his frame with restoring life. X checked his internal operations energy meter; it was now full. X smiled.
"Maybe I stand a chance yet."
"What the devil…" Flame exclaimed. Sigma lifted his head from the battle chart on the table and looked over.
"What is it, Flame?" The Mammoth reploid looked over, his face puzzled by concern.
"One of our Spikys and a megamech have been destroyed." Sigma furrowed his brow, then replied,
"Is it Zero?" Flame checked his sensors, then shook his head.
"Negative, bossman. Our culprit is X." Sigma's eyebrows lifted in surprise.
"What? The pacifist reploid? No way is that possible…" Sigma scratched his chin. "Then again, we DID destroy Cancer. That might have pushed him over the edge." Sigma's frown returned. "Deploy the Crushers. I also want backup Ball De Vouxs….And launch those Bee Bladers." Armadillo looked over in shock.
"Both, sir?" Sigma nodded.
"Even if he is just one reploid…one can do a lot of damage. Remember that, all of you." Armadillo nodded. He lowered his hand and pushed a switch. A low rumble was heard below the main bridge of the Death Rogumer as two massive pieces of machinery flew out from the hangar to cause destruction. Armadillo chuckled.
"They're away, boss." Sigma nodded.
"X, my friend. You have yet to learn…the people who stay alive the longest are those who don't get involved."
"Great. Just how many of these things do they have on board that blasted airship?!" X grumbled. He fired off his X-Buster, sufficiently charged to level three, a massive blue ball of plasma that soared through the air, missing the lightposts, until it struck the row of helicoptering Crushers. Each was instantly destroyed as the chain reaction occurred, their metal bottoms smashing into the roadway harmlessly. X sighed, then began to walk forward…until he slipped and fell through the sky-high highway.
"Yaaa!!" X cried as he scraped at the near portion of roadway frantically. His fingers suddenly sprouted metal claws from the main part of his hand, unnoticeable, but helpful enough that they dug into the highway. X's feet fell against the same chunk of rock, and he found himself hanging on the semi-wall for dear life. He began to slide down the side, but a now frightened X scampered with several jumps until he was once again standing on the highway, looking at the hole in the road a Crusher had created.
"I didn't know I could do that!" X whimpered. He looked at his hand, but the metal claws had vanished back in his armor. A quick diagnostic showed him just what they were.
"Main function wall-grippers. Hmm. Well, they won't help me cut through enemies…but this could help."
X walked forward, but then a massive shape swarmed down from the sky, a pair of glaring floodlamps blinding X. X covered his eyes with his right hand and looked at the shape. As his optical sensors adjusted, he saw what had impaired him.
"My God…A Bee Blader." X shook his head. Bee Bladers, giant armored fliers with chainguns and rocket launchers were terribly effective. And the Death Rogumer carried a pair for that reason. The question was; did they launch both? Probably.
X raised his left arm, now morphed into the menacing X-Buster. He pelted off a series of shots, but that only served to bring the monstrosity closer to him. X cursed at himself, holding back his fire while he charged his Buster for a plasma supershot.
But the Bee Blader had other things in mind as it leveled itself at him. A scary-looking barrel emerged from the snout of the beast, with holes drilled in the sides. X shook his head as he faced the chain-gun that was the Bee Blader's trademark weapon of destruction. The barrel flashed with bright, intense light as several hundred rounds of depleted heavy metals were pumped through the system hydraulically. The tracers came short of X, but then the stream came closer as the muzzle moved, targeting the form of X. About a few of them skewered through the lower half of his boot, tiny spurts of reploid blood emerging from the entry holes. X yelped in pain and jumped backwards, running until he could go no farther; any farther and his own shots would dissipate and do little to affect the creature. X turned around and stared at his oppressor, murder burning in his eyes.
"All right, you Godforsaken excuse for a…" X's voice was drowned out as he raised his Buster and fired the massive blue shot. Along it soared, destroying the newly launched missiles of the Bee Blader, careening into the Blader's upper half-the propeller and the gyro-stabilization systems. The plasma tore away at the delicate machinery, and the bolt that held the massive blade in place vaporized. The prop that gave the Blader flight shot off like it had been fired from a gun into the air, and the main body of the Bee Blader crashed into the road, the internal unfired missiles exploding under the pressure and turning the war dreadnought into little more than a pile of junk. X sighed in relief, but it soon vanished into a cry of fear as the roadway creaked and groaned under the stress of the mighty behemoth's corpse. The chunk of highway broke from the supporting rebar steel rods, and the entire framework collapsed, taking the Bee Blader…and X…for a long drop. X scrambled behind him, his hands tearing at the walls, until in mere milliseconds his handgrips emerged and secured him, slowing his drop to a crawl of a drag. X looked down, and saw that the road was now uneasily resting on the 2 support pillars below, the shell of the Blader a reminder of the devastation. X shook his head in relief and jumped down, making his way to the other pillar and jumping his way up the side. A duck down onto the opposite face of the pillar revealed helpful energy capsules, obviously part of some other destructive robot in the Rogumer that his blue blast had wiped out after it passed through the Blader's prop housing. X smiled as his stamina returned to full, then he shook his head sadly.
For a moment, he had lost himself in the task before him, which he had chosen to take…and forgotten the reason why.
"What the blazes hit this place?!" Zero grumbled, as he stared at the burning highway before him. Burning cars, broken street lights, endless fields of debris from Crushers, megamechs and Ball De Vouxs…all indicating that whatever came this way was VERY deadly. Zero could hardly believe it. Here, he had come all this way, huffing, puffing and dashing for his life along this stretch of concrete to play hero with a very reckless and stupid X...and all for nothing. X was doing the job on his own.
"X, I wonder about you sometimes…" Zero sighed. He checked his Buster, a white and red beauty that was his prize creation. "Oh, well. If X is doing this well…sooner or later those Goddamned mavericks are gonna get smart and pull out a big gun." Zero continued to dash ahead, but then barely skidded to a halt as he stared at the gaping hole in the roadway. The shattered husk of a menacing juggernaut Bee Blader lay below. Zero whistled in shock and dash-jumped over the gap, gripping the support pillar opposite him halfway up.
"I don't know anything bigger than that, though."
"SIGMA!!!" Sigma nearly hit the roof of the airship as he was jolted from his fortress schematics. Sigma swore in Swedish and walked over to the wailing Armadillo, who jumped up and down excitedly and pointed to his weapons screen. The operational outlines of the Bee Blader twins, once green now flashed a menacing red. Sigma's eyes flew wide.
"X DID THAT?!" Armadillo nodded in shock. Sigma roared in anger and slammed a switch home-the comm switch for the ship's hold.
"SPARK, VILE!!! GET THOSE ROAD ATTACKERS READY!!!" Sigma could hear screams of surprise on the other end, and clattering plastic chips, which he guessed to be of the poker kind scatter on the floor.
"Right, boss." Vile's uneasy voice replied, and Sigma smiled, for he could almost picture Vile shaking in fear. "We'll get right on it." Sigma pounded the switch off and turned back to the table, where Sting and Storm were carefully examining the fortress schematics and pounding at laptops with great speed-although Sting's floppy three thick fingered hand was pretty lousy at it. Sigma sighed.
"My maverick fortress…a place to lead the new chapter of reploid domination. We will destroy those who enslaved us…infect those who can help us with our mission…and survive to continue the pursuit of our goal." Sigma did not realize that underneath his frame, the frame of the Hunter lay the ingrained virus, so unnoticeable that its mission was now his.
But then again…he was no longer the Sigma he used to be. This new Sigma was one with the virus.
The Maverick Virus.
X jumped off the pillar, shaking his head as he walked away from the second Blader below that had just been destroyed, with X taking no hits in the process. In a short amount of time, he had become so familiar and comfortable with his abilities, he no longer questioned his power.
He just continued to blast his way through everything that the mavericks were throwing at him. It was stone quiet for a few moments, and X took the time to stop and look to his side. Along the embittered and battered highway stretch, and untouched city lay before him. X sighed, knowing that soon enough those boding skyscrapers would feel their wrath.
Unless he stopped them.
Just then, several Bee-Bombers came flying down. Bee bombers were orange-yellow robots who took their form from the hive insect, and who dropped motion detector bombs. X raised his cannon and fired off his shot, but the shot only partially burned away at the first before it stopped and sizzled out of existence. X cursed and held back his fire, waiting until his level 2 charge was set. He jumped up and fired the shot, and the entire line came falling as the hot plasma pierced through metallic carapace after metallic carapace. X sighed in relief, and managed to keep going, jumping off of unstable chunks of road as they crumbled and fell to their doom.
He walked for a ways, and then suddenly a swarm of flying hoverdrones came buzzing down. Luckily, X had been holding back his fire, and the green blast took out a bunch of them. But the rest were very pestersome, smashing into him and then flying away. X winced and kept going, but their damage was noticed as he crept along at 75% operating power. Finally, only one hoverdrone stood in his way, and an enraged X fired off a barrage of plasma bursts, which destroyed the robot in a furious storm of energy. As the crumpled remains fell to the ground, another large energy capsule emerged, and X grabbed it, sighing in relief as the energy of his repair systems went back up.
The rest of the way was quiet for a while, and X stopped his Buster from charging. But then a blazing red shape emerged from over a crest in the road, and X stopped in shock.
"A Road Attacker?" X raised his weapon and fired off a shot. The plasma burst hit the front bumper, doing minimal damage at best. X cursed, then saw it was driven not by a maverick…but by a mere robot, programmed to do so. The Road Attacker fired off its mounted plasma gun, sending an oblong cigar shaped blast of white energy towards X. X jumped the blast, then ran towards the Road Attacker, his hand depressing the fire switch of his Buster's internal operations circuits. When he leaped the red frame of the car, he turned about and fired his shot, chasing it up with several miniblasts as a cover measure. The Road Attacker didn't stand a chance as the combustible gasoline blew up, tearing the vehicle apart into separate chunks. X stopped and stared. Ahead of him was Tokyo Park-and above the park, the dark and looming form of the Death Rogumer.
"Sir, X has reached the park border. In a few moments, he'll be able to attack us!" Armadillo's whining voice aggravated Sigma, and he punched the comm button.
"Vile! Send out the last of those Road Attackers, and then take the Chimera out. I'm leaving it up to you to stop X. And remember…destroy. X will have no quarter, for he asked for none." The chuckling, sinister laugh of the Boba Fett lookalike rang over the comm, and he responded quickly.
"Roger, boss. I'll handle him." Vile clicked off the comm and hit a light switch in a far corner of the ship's hold. The single light rained down illumination, revealing the daunting eight foot figure of Vile's baby;
The Chimera Riding Tank.
X had reached the park's parking, only to be jostled about by the intense vibrations as the Death Rogumer thundered down to greet him. Oddly, the belly guns were silent, not obliterating him then and there. Then, X saw the reason. From the ship's hold and the loading arm attached came a familiar red Road Attacker. When it came down, X promptly blasted it to bits. Then a second appeared, and with similar fury, X dispatched that threat as well. He smiled, raising his X-Buster to the gaping hole of the hold. He would end the threat-now.
But before he could squeeze off a shot, the ship stopped moving back and forth, and the arm went back up. When it reappeared, it held a massive blue and yellow walker, and at the controls the all too recognizable Vile.
"So, X. you've come this far, eh? Too bad you had to try and stop us. You would have made a fine addition to our ranks-now you will be scrap." Vile chuckled, a low rumbling chuckle. X stared at him, raising his Buster with intense burning eyes.
"It will be YOU who all suffer. You killed innocents back there, and I know you will kill more. It ends here, Vile. You and the rest of the mavericks will pay for your crimes." X released his Buster's charged blue blast, and it struck the mech full on.
It didn't make a dent. Vile chuckled again, that same low chuckle. But now a bewildered X found himself at the mercy of mavericks. And mavericks didn't play nice.
"X….you tried, lad. But you will be the first to learn…"Vile pushed a lever forward, and the mighty Chimera screamed forward, slamming into X, sending the Blue Bomber sprawling to the ground. X was blinded by the pain, and he suddenly found himself at a point where he knew he would die. He could feel himself being pounded around, and then as he opened his eyes, he saw Vile fire off a restraining bolt of electricity, which caught him full on. X lay crumpled on the ground, then Vile walked over and scooped him up with one mighty paw.
"You worthless piece of scrap metal! Did you really think you could defeat me?!" Vile chuckled as he clenched the fist tighter and tighter, squeezing the last drops of life from X. X could not speak, did not want to. Soon, he would join Cancer-his best friend. Already he could hear the swirling vortex of the infinity calling to him, a shrill whine….
A whine that was not heaven giving an invitation, but the alien sound of an X-Buster charging up to full capacity.
A mighty blue blazing beam of plasma energy soared through the air of the park, striking the joint of the Chimera's arm that held X. The hydraulics failed, and the piece of hardware fell to the ground, a melted, overheated mass of scrap. The arm socket belched smoke as the coolant insufficiently tried to keep control of the energy generator without full circulation of the coolant. And behind X, the sound of a powerful figure dashing towards the dispute. X let his eyes flutter open, just in time to see Zero stand in front of him, his Buster outreached and charging again. But the Death Rogumer, which had sat in the sky as a silent witness came flying down and lowered the hold lift. Vile and his precious mech leaped into the air to safety, just in time to avoid the powerful blast that scorched the air. The Death Rogumer flew off, its forces depleted and its freedom a necessity. Zero turned around to X, who was still recuperating. The blue reploid shook his head.
"I guess I'm not powerful enough to defeat him." X said as he shamefully lowered his head. He had failed his friend, and failed the world. Zero held back all the unchecked rage at X's impudence, managing to erk out a pep speech.
"X, you shouldn't expect to defeat him. He is designed to be a war machine. Remember," Zero continued as he raised a finger. "That you have not yet reached your full power yet. In time, you will grow stronger…you may even become as powerful as I am." X blinked.
"So, what do we do in the meantime? I mean, they are planning to destroy us all!" Zero continued.
"I'll go on ahead and try to collect data about their secret fortress. You try and stop the mavericks." X frowned.
"Zero, that's plain crazy! I'll be destroyed for sure!" Zero glared at him.
"If you aren't up for the challenge, leave. I need Hunters right now, not simpering pacifists. Consider this a test. No pain, no gain. This is a time of crisis, pal. It's time for you to live up to your standards." Zero paused, then softened the blow he had just dealt.
"X, I know you can do it." With that, Zero warped out of the park and back to the remains of his base. X shook his head for a moment.
"Zero…if you keep this up, we're all doomed." X turned around, not believing all the destruction that he had caused. This was not the last of it. Even if he wasn't a great fighter like Zero, the world needed heroes.
And X was as good as they came. Hey, if his big brother Mega did it, so could he. X closed his eyes, and then followed Zero's red beam as a blaze of blue.
"Man, look at what they did to my mech!" Vile grumbled. He had shut it off, but it would need repairs-and a new paint job. Sigma and the others came down to the hold, walking from the pilot and living area. Storm craned his regal neck, then looked at his leader.
"So, now what Sigma? From what Vile's bug in the arm part picked up, they already know about our fortress." Sigma nodded.
"They know it will exist…they just don't know where. THAT little piece of data is something I had completely erased from the Maverick HHQ Computer Banks. But it is not built yet…that will take time. Time that we cannot afford."
"So, what? You talkin' a diversion here, Siggy?" Chill quacked. Sigma nodded.
"Each of you, except for Vile here will make tracks to some part of Tokyo. Wreak havoc, reprogram robots, do everything in your power to make your area a cause for concern with the Hunters. The base should hopefully be completed by then." The eight Hunters, now Irregular Hunters nodded in unison, then went back to their posts at the Death Rogumer. Sigma turned to Vile.
"You will come with me to the Hokkaido cliffs. That is where our base will be. I'll need your extra hands to get our builder robots online." Vile nodded, but whether or not he smiled, Sigma could not tell.
That mask hid a lot of secrets. Like every individual, who also had a mask of their own. Only Vile's was more apparent. Sigma gave himself a smile as he remembered the date and time.
"11 O' Clock, June 4th. Reploid Independence Day. Just imagine Vile…like every other aspect of humans at which we are more advanced…so is our National Holiday."