MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
By Erico
CHAPTER NINE: ELECTRIC JUNGLE-A 'CURRENT' SITUATION
"Why is it when I go off and play hero, there's always some wide-reaching effect which reveals the next Irregular?" X moaned. He was in the Medical Bay, speaking to no one in particular. Zero and Cain were overseeing the rebuilding of the HQ, which was coming along pretty smoothly now, and Hazil rolled around performing his duties, a blind ear turned towards the blue and white reploid. X sat with his black hair floating freely, his shiny helmet beside him on the resting cot. X frowned. "Hey doc, didja hear me?" Hazil turned, a frown on his face.
"X, you aren't sick. Your systems were just fine when you came in. WHY IN THE BLOODY BLAZES DO YOU HANG AROUND HERE?!" Exasperated, Hazil swung his four arms in wide looping arcs until he calmed down. X smiled.
"Because you're the only one I can really talk to." Hazil raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, really?" Hazil rolled beside X and opened his lower chest compartment, pulling out a set of glasses. Putting them on and prodding his head, he continued in his best Groucho Marx/Sigmund Freud impression.
"Perhaps it's your super-ego taking control of everything." X smiled broadly. He loved ancient early 20th Century comedy.
"Look at it like this, Doc." Hazil stopped him and rolled behind X, looking over his shoulder. He shook his head.
"I can't say that helped any." X laughed.
"Hazil, I mean just listen to me. Hazil nodded and took off the glasses. "Zero is the great leader of the Hunters, and is way too busy trying to keep this all under control to play confidante. Cain, for all his lovable attitudes is a human, and really wouldn't understand what I'm going through. But you…You Hazil, you see destruction every day, and you deal with it in a professional manner. How do you do it?" Hazil gave a wistful smile.
"X, perhaps it's because I learned one lesson long ago, a lesson which has kept me in such a good emotional state through this turmoil." X leaned closer, and Hazil whispered. "I…don't…give…a…rusty…damn." X blinked and leaned back. Hazil nodded.
"Yep, X. I just shut it all out. After a while of seeing the same negativity day in and day out, you get to realizing something. If you plod on the past for too long, it takes a hold of you and you can't move on. Don't take every tragedy to heart. Sometimes stuff just happens, and you have no control over that. You do what you can, and you screw the rest." Hazil sighed. "Boy, I could really use a beer right about now." X shook his head.
"Sorry, I gotta take a rain check on that, Hazil. I have a mission to go do." Hazil nodded.
"I'll be sure to chug down your share as well then." X warped out, and Hazil reached into the medical cooler, pulling forth a frosty draft in the old style silicone bottle. He flipped the lid off and took a deep pull from it. His eyes got misty, and he raised the bottle.
"Here's to you, guys." Hazil meant the toast for every Hunter which had died in battle for their cause, and to every Hunter that would. He allowed himself a small chuckle. "X, even though you can shut it out…sometimes you just don't want to."
"Damn that X!" Sigma cried. He smashed his fist to the desk, breaking it in two. Velguarder lifted his wolfish nose for a moment, then drooped it back down. Just another one of his master's temper tantrums. But Sigma thought differently from his deadly pet, and his mind squirmed at what was happening.
A third of his maverick generals had been destroyed-not by Zero, but by X, the reploid who Sigma had always considered a pacifist. And not only that-he'd been shutting down plot after plot of his plan. The avalanche which would wipe out the city, Flame Mammoth's metallurgical processings, and now the mobility of the mavericks was gone with the Rogumer's demise. They were now less of a threat- a threat still, but now it was the Hunters who had the upper hand. Sigma gritted his teeth. When X or Zero showed their face again, the remaining Irregulars would destroy them. Sigma would see that in that interim, his remaining forces would do their best to wreak havoc. He pulled out his map of New Tokyo and began pinpointing locations of where the others had gone with specific tasks. The one in the most danger was Spark Mandrill, his behemoth ape maverick. And Sigma knew that Spark Mandrill's operation was critical. If his plan to get power to Sigma's main operation failed…Sigma shook his head angrily. He pulled up his comm and hit the channel for Spark.
"Spark, you there?"
"Read you loud and clear boss." Spark's booming voice filled the room, and Sigma might have smiled if he didn't feel so helpless.
"Make sure you have the Thunder Slimer up and running. That sucker may be your only way of halting the Hunters."
"Which one? Zero, or X?"
"At this point in time Spark, consider them both as equals. X has already wiped out Chill, Flame and Storm. Doubtless he would try to do the same to you."
"He won't succeed." Spark's voice grew angrier and more pronounced. Sigma sighed.
"For our sakes Spark, I really hope so." Sigma clicked off the connection and walked out of the room to check on Vile and the Maverick Base construction efforts.
Only one thought comforted him anymore. He'd at least warned Spark of the impinging danger.
X's blue beam warped in with its usual color and speed, reforming into X within milliseconds. He looked around in awe. The power plant was an utter mess, and pieces of the Death Rogumer were scattered in every direction. The power tubes close by were in tatters, and occasional sparks showed X that the plant was far from fully operational. X had to wonder; if Storm had known his action of self-destruction would cause this mess, would he still have pushed the switch? X didn't know. And he didn't know Storm well enough to try and ponder. After all-the Storm he faced was a maverick…not the regal European Hunter of old.
He walked on for a time, steering clear of the constant mess which lay strewn about, each piece a deadly scrap which would cause him harm. And then, he saw what lay in store for him.
"Well, this is definitely Spark's hangout." X grumbled as he switched to Fire Wave. The deadly blast of flames melted away the megamech which stood in his path. "Spark always did like these things. Enough to personalize 'em." Spark Mandrill, as the chief engineer and mechanic of the Hunters liked to fiddle with their robotic helpers. He turned the simple megamechs into very formidable foes, armed with electric discharging capabilities. Spark called them 'Gun Volts,' a name which left a bitter taste in X's mouth. Even Launch got into the 'Lego' kick and helped Spark give them missiles as well. Thanks to those two, X had even more company to look forward to now.
The beginning romp through the power plant was pretty simple for X, and he found himself whistling a merry tune and stomping out words as he went.
"Climb up the ladder, turn and avoid, turn on your weapon, and the bad guys destroyed!" That was how it went, and then X decided to go down. Down and forward he went, running into even more 'Gun Volts' as he went along. And each time the hulks were turned into junk. Then he paused, and looked beyond the thin grilles of metal piping. He grinned and fired a shot of plasma at it, but the shot bounced off harmlessly.
"Dang!" X muttered. He didn't have enough Fire Wave to melt through, and doubtful that would have any effect. He couldn't reach his prize beyond the wall; a Sub-Tank. He'd have to come back for it later when he was done playing 'Whack-a-Maverick' with Spark.
He went through a long tunnel, and sighed in relief as he stepped into a larger room from the confines he had just emerged from. No doubt he would find his abilities in more use than his weapons. Even if X was a Hunter, like he had said in the smelting factories; if he could avoid a fight, he would. There were peaks every now and then, and X shuddered as he looked on to see pits, deadly with their emptiness. "Remind me to watch out for those." X said to himself. He walked onwards, a new outlook in this dire mess-
Only to be promptly shoved backwards as a speedy robot plowed through him. X moaned and checked his bumps and bruises, then blinked. He had no idea what they were…
"Wait a sec here…" X mumbled. He thought for a moment, and snapped his fingers. Of course! "Hotarions." Hotarions were robotic drones who were propelled by an ion drive, leaving a dusty trail behind them as they went along at incredible speeds. Often used for racetrack betting, it seemed that Spark had taken a liking to them. They couldn't take much abuse, though. Their strength lied in their unmatched speed. "Maybe I should call 'em something else." X mumbled as he readied his Buster for charging, preparing for the next assault.
Then it came to him. "Perfect! I'll call them 'Spark Skimmers."
Once X figured out they would strike in the best possible attack points, taking them down was easy. "Easy, right. Like being a grandmaster, perhaps!" He grumbled as the final one skimmed his head. But eventually, he managed to plow his way through the last of them. And then he saw his route.
A ladder lay before him, taking a path to levels below his current escapades. X sighed, then climbed down the mount. He dashed across the ledge, then jumped down to the floor. He walked onwards, and he could see a light ahead, far brighter than the darkness he had been enveloped in earlier. But then, the corridor behind him shut, and he jumped with a start in surprise. "What the devil…" X muttered as he walked on. But as he did, he made sure his Buster was fully charged to the Level Four purple onslaught his new Buster enhancement gave him.
And then, he stood in an incredibly large room, and the doors to it slid shut. His eyes shifted to every corner of the room…and then he spotted the problem.
"Great green ghosts of gangrene!!!" X gasped, his eyes wide in fear. A bubbling mass of jelly hung from the ceiling, and inside its mass lay a large robot, obviously in control of the substance. A voice crackled from the ceiling, a voice which X instantly recognized.
"Greetings, X. I see you've arrived to once again stop our plans."
"If it isn't the great Sparky himself. Trying to gloat here?"
"Oh, no. Just merely giving you some information about my creation hanging above you. It's called the Thunder Slimer."
"Boy, that's original. What are you going to come up with next? The Electric Choo-Choo?"
"Now how the hell am I supposed to do that when it's already been done?"
"Bingo, brilliant. I guess you're a bit more of a brighter bulb than I give you credit for." X grumbled. He could hear Spark fume angrily at the insult, but then the grunting calmed down.
"Fine. If you wish to be that way, I will leave you with your fate. The Thunder Slimer will end your pathetic existence very soon…very soon indeed." Spark began to laugh in his own apelike scream, then the mike in the ceiling turned off. X braced himself, and the Thunder Slimer came to life.
X soon realized how much danger he was in as the Thunder Slimer slid its way across the roof, its optical sensors obviously glancing at him, measuring him up for the attack. It sent a chill down his spine to know that a mindless killing machine was stalking him, and X involuntarily shivered. He looked down; his Buster was still holding at max charge. X smiled.
"Looks like it may be getting a case of indigestion." X jumped up the side of the wall behind him, then quickly turned around and beaded his Buster on the gelatinous mass, still quivering towards him with incredible speed. "Say ahh!!!" X mumbled as he released the trigger.
It seemed like the Universe itself had come forth and burst from his Buster in all its angry might at that moment. The powerful backflash from the attack was incredible, and he could see two spiraling purple blasts of plasma streaking towards the beast. The plasma scorched into the side of the Thunder Slimer, its power dissipating with every inch of goo it had to encounter. But it still carried enough of a charge to penetrate and strike with the vengeance of a rattlesnake. X saw the entire thing flash with bright intensity as it took the hit, then the Thunder Slimer resumed its own attack.
A stunned X was unable to move as it recuperated, producing more slime to overcome its losses from the attack. Then with a sudden burst of speed, it spewed four blobs of its own mass around the room. One blob hit X squarely, and it stuck to him with incredible power, dragging him down to the floor. X tried to struggle, but he found his movements were useless against it.
"Oh, great…" X grumbled. The Thunder Slimer stood poised above him, and he saw it flash with the electrical charge it built up. He braced himself for the attack he knew would come from the recently emerged electrode at the base of the Slimer; the attack which truly gave it its name. X could hear the whine of the discharge, and he expected the roar of a beast.
What he got was the sputter of an aging, rusted '76 Chevy. He opened his surprised eyes and looked up. Tiny splotches of light sparked from the tip of the diode, but no charge came striking down. Then it dawned upon him with a drunken euphoria of joy…
"It doesn't have the power!" X laughed long and hard at that. Storm's suicidal charges, and the Rogumer's crash landing had saved him again. The same problem which gave the plant insufficient lighting also refused to grant the Thunder Slimer its power to strike out with the lightning lance of death. X looked down at the slime at his feet and held the charge to the green level. He released it, and the slime dissipated with a puff of steam and foul smell. X stood free, and he looked at his weapons.
"Fire Wave'd end this quickly. Too bad I don't have any." X grumbled. He had to find some way to separate the robot from its protective shell of slimy goo…"Wait a sec here-THE STORM TORNADO!" X nodded in agreement with the choice, and his white and blue armor faded for a multi shaded purple and white outlay. He held his fire, for he wanted as much from this attack as he could get. He didn't want the pure forward drilling wind blast, he wanted the ultimate, vertical tsunami which the Buster upgrade could give him.
"Level two…level three…" To X the wait seemed endless as he avoided the bouncing mass, trying to crush him in the maw of its mass. Finally, his Buster reached the maximum level and he let go of the fire switch.
The fury of the Storm Tornado was unleashed in the ten foot wide twister. Plasma energy combined with turbojet propelled air in a maelstrom of destruction, a much more powerful attack than Storm's original arm engine would have ever allowed.
And every inch and every RPM of that weather disaster struck at the mass of the Thunder Slimer, tearing away layer after melting layer of protection, until the tornado had drilled a hole through the shell of slime and bored destructive power into the heart of the robot itself. X closed his eyes and had to kneel, for even he was not fully immune from the incredible monsoon of annihilation…or at least its shockwave. When the storm dissipated, the noise of destruction did not end, but X did not dare open his eyes, for even with his darkening optic protectors at maximum, he still saw bright twinkles flash in his mind.
Then…all was silent. X lifted his arms from his head and looked about. Nothing remained of the once powerful Thunder Slimer. Not a single trace of grimy goop anywhere, for it had all been destroyed when the robot's internal power plant had gone critical and exploded. X sighed. "One less thing to worry about." X walked forward, continuing onwards to the road which led to Spark. But he paused for one brief moment and turned about, whistling in awe.
"But still…this is gonna make one hell of a footnote."
It soon became very apparent to X that there was truly something screwy going on after he left the lair of the Thunder Slimer-now the Thunder Slimeless. Compared to the foes he had faced in the plant before that fight, Spark was sending out twice as much power to confront X. Motorcycling Flammingles, Turn Cannons around every corner…
"Boy, Spark must be pissed." X muttered as he blasted away the Flammingle which stood in his path. Walking through the pile of still smoking scrap, X hopped down the ladder and continued on. He wasn't going to let anything stop him. After all, he did have three Hearts and two Subs backing him up.
Except, perhaps, for the incredibly large and dangerous Hortoise Tortoise which was plopped in his path. As X waited, the hulking purple robot of a turtle fired two air-drifting mortars towards him. They caught the thick smoky air and their chutes opened. With a cry of fear, X jumped backwards. When those two bombs went off…
It wasn't much of an explosion, X noted. "Probably meant for taking out targets with direct hits." X raised his Buster and fired shot after shot of plasma into the Hortoise Tortoise. Finally, the hulk exploded in nuclear fire, disintegrating itself. X smiled and continued up the ladder beyond the black scar on the floor.
"Too bad for our robot buddy I don't like direct hits." He ducked his head down from the top of the ladder, narrowly avoiding the slicing wings of the grounded Flammingle which zoomed above him. X noted it was beginning to turn around, so he jumped up on top of the ledge and wiped it out with a flurry of plasma bullets. Walking towards the source of its arrival, he noted a Hortoise Tortoise a long way off. He held back and charged his Buster to its max, then rushed ahead and delivered the blow, following it up with a second salvo of blasts. The robot didn't stand a chance.
But unluckily for X, he was too close, and the concussion blew him backwards against the step he had skipped over. Even with his new helmet, the blow was a severe and powerful one, and X couldn't stop the lights from flashing across his rolling eyes. With a groan, his eyes fluttered back open, and the room slowly came into view. Because he was lying on the floor, the ceiling is what he first saw.
And in a corner of the ceiling lay a ledge. X shook his head and got up, looking at the high level obstacle. He scratched his head for a moment, and then winced as his hand dropped to his side.
"Whatever Spark's got up there, he thought only he could reach it." But X thought he might be able to make it up there with a few well timed jumps.
With a hop, skip and a jump, X was placed at the right position on the wall. He braced himself and dashed off the peak, then lifted his hand and scraped it along the bottom of the ledge. It gave him the element of control he needed to turn his body around, and with dexterity a trapeeze artist would envy, X swiveled his body around. With his hand still gripping the bottom of the ledge, his upwards momentum continued to carry itself, and his body lifted a few precious inches. He kicked his foot out, and scraped its rough bottom against the ledge. He pushed off of it, but because his now straining hand was still gripping the ledge, the force did not push him away from the ledge-it pushed him UP from it. X screamed and let go of his squealing hand, then collapsed onto the tiny ledge, letting his repair systems ease the pain from his sore limbs.
When he finally came back to his senses, he smiled widely.
"Spark, you old fool. You think simple-and sometimes that'll cost you." X grabbed the hidden Heart Tank, and nodded in agreement with his new improved internal operations energy gauge.
"Oh, yeah." X said. "Spark, you be going DOWN!"
The underground passage which X took was a long and winding one; not nearly as perilous as the encounter with the Thunder Slimer, but still dangerous enough. With Flammingles bouncing around like no one's business, and an occasional Turn Cannon placed just right to be a nuisance, X took his share of bumps and bruises. Even a few more Hortoise Tortoises made a pass at X, but each time his own power was a bit more devastating, especially when he got his recharge to the Fire Wave and got his most trusted secondary weapon working for him. At last, he climbed up the last wall and destroyed the last cannon, then he saw clear sailing.
Then he saw nothing at all. The pitch black had enveloped everything once more, a darkness which left X cautiously proceeding, sticking his foot out very carefully to avoid the pits Spark had placed. Then he heard something in the dark; a shimmering ziing. By instinct, X leapt into the air, and with perfect timing as another 'Spark Skimmer' zipped underneath him. X looked behind the annoying robot and saw its ion trail was glowing brightly, the tiny specks of charged matter leaving an illuminescence where it had been. X smiled and looked around, taking in the details of the room with his optical sensors once more. When it faded, he brought up his optics menu and spoke to himself.
"Controls…overlay room images on optic memory." His helmet bleeped in acknowledgement, and then X saw the dim outlines of his photographic memory spring to life on his eyes. X smiled as he continued on. Each time a Spark Skimmer would fly by, it would allow him to look around again and store the image. With the image, he could effectively know exactly where he was going.
With that very simple task, X found it easy to scale the dips and peaks of the chamber of terrors Spark had left him, and then he stood on solid ground, Spark's door in front of him. Underneath his feet lay the decimated remains of one lone sentry Ball De Voux, and X opened the door.
Spark would have company very soon.
"G'Evening, Sparky." X's voice was soft, but very clear on its intention. The massive primate reploid turned about from his controls at the nuclear reactor and looked over in annoyance.
"So you made it. Next time I'll have better sentries up and running." X glanced at Spark, noting the Irregular Hunter saw him as more of a nuisance than a threat. It worried X, and he furrowed his brow.
"Aren't you going to destroy me?" Spark nodded, but his eyes did not wander from the controls.
"Just give me time, my little jumping flea. I have to set up this algorithm, then we can play Orkin Man." Spark punched in the last few commands, then cleared his throat and turned away from the panel. Spark looked at X angrily.
"X, I am very upset with the fact you've destroyed three of my friends, and even more upset that when you took down Storm, you ruined my operation. Now you have me scrambling about trying to fix your mess." X scoffed.
"Sorry about that. Next time I'll remember to ask if I can blow a maverick's head off." Spark fumed.
"You mock me?!" X nodded.
"If you aren't willing to consider me a real threat, then I won't give you the benefit of my sincerity." Spark nodded.
"You wanna be Mr. Nitpicker? Fine. How about we meet HALFWAY?!" Spark crouched down and punched his fist to the ground, releasing a powerful electrical discharge. It split in two, then traveled along the floor at incredible speed. X jumped the blast, then pointed his Buster forward for a shot.
He didn't even have the chance to pull the trigger. While he'd been dodging the first attack, Spark had been charging him like a bull with his Dash Punch. The massive hand smashed into X's stomach, knocking the wind-and a good chunk of his energy-out of him. But that was only the first part of it, for Spark kept on plowing until he had rammed X and his fist into the side of the wall. X cried out in pain, or tried to. But his blood kept him from speaking as it clogged his throat. X swallowed, trying to regain the lost energy in his blood by restoring it in the fusion process. But that did little good. Spark had walloped him with an incredible blow.
And as X crumpled to the floor, Spark smiled.
"Now you see why you'll never be a challenge to Sigma. If you can't get past me, how can you possibly expect to stop us?" X listened intently, holding back the trigger on his Buster, slowly building a charge, unnoticeable to Spark at first. But then he frowned as he heard the familiar whine.
"You still have a little power left, eh?" Spark sighed and raised his foot. "I have to remember to double check my attacks from now on." He brought his massive plodding boot to bear, and then swung it down in a vicious arc, with enough power to blow X's fusion generator from his body. But X had one foot against the wall, and he quickly activated the dash boots. With a blast of thermal jets, he was thrown aside and away from Spark, and just in the nick of time. Spark's massive foot smashed into the concrete where X once stood, and when he raised it a web of spiraling cracks came from the epicenter. Spark gaped in amazement, then turned with a fresh look of anger in his eyes.
"So that's how you did 'em in. You had dash boots as well." X glared at Spark, but said nothing. Of course, with his throat still full of blood, he couldn't have said anything anyways, but that was beside the point to X. No words would push Spark aside, no verbal banter would do any good.
For Spark was a very simple maverick, with a very simple goal at the moment.
Destroy X.
Spark made tracks toward X with a massive room wide jump, which would have flattened him, had he not been prepared for it and dashed out of the way. Spark turned, his nostrils bolting steam. With yet another Dash Punch, Spark turned himself into a flying missile. But this time, X was ready for it and let his shot fly. It was as powerful as any shot X could fire, the massive twin spiraling blast of purple orbs which was now X's most powerful attack. And Spark never saw it coming.
The plasma was, of course, stronger than any physical attack Spark could muster, and as it smashed into Spark, not only did it give him damage-it sent him clear across the room with the shock of the blow. As Spark's back slammed into the opposite wall, X began to charge his next attack, no look of happiness on his face. This was serious, and any wrong move on his part would mean death. If Spark got another Dash Punch through, X would barely survive it, even with his elongated Internal Operations Energy meter.
He would not survive two.
Spark roared and leapt to his feet, one of his massive hands clutching the smoking wound which X had given him. His eyes dimmed to a blood red, and suddenly X saw that whatever had been left of Spark after he turned maverick…was gone. This Spark would annihilate him. It was a giant beast versus a small intelligent being who had not gotten the first blow in.
Spark leapt up and grabbed hold of the pipes in the ceiling, the pipes which carried coolant to and from the reactor so very close by, but contained within a transparent shield. X looked on in wonder as Spark's full animal personality sprung to life, swinging from pipe to pipe like the original. X leapt up the side of the wall behind him and steadied his Buster on the swinging figure.
The blue Supershot hit true, scoring another hit for X. But the rampaging Spark kept on coming, until at last X cried out and dropped from his position. Spark let go of his grip and began to fall, and would surely have hit X like a trash compactor, had the blue reploid not made tracks away from the scene with a very long and powerful thrust of his dash boots. X turned around from his speedy position and saw Spark charging at him with yet another Dash Punch. But X's shot was not charged enough to give significant damage, and there wasn't enough time to turn around and try to jump over the lumbering figure. X's only option was to continue to run.
And run he would. Until at last, Spark's nostrils were breathing steam down X's neck and X knew if he ran any longer, he would be smashed into Spark once more. So X jumped, jumped as high as he could until there was no more altitude to be gained, and hung on the wall, too high for Spark's charge to hit him.
But Spark did not stop. He kept on plowing forth, until his fist smashed into the wall. The entire side of the room shook with the blow, and X's perch destabilized, until it cracked and he fell from his position. X cried out, for Spark's left hand jutted out and grabbed his arm-like a lightpole grabbing a toothpick-and smashed him viciously into the floor. X cried out in pain, and a loud blaring noise in his head came to life. X knew what it meant;
He was just a breath away from internal atomic meltdown. X activated one of his two Sub-Tanks, until his operations energy once again lay at maximum. Spark flung him aside, as if trying to smash him into the wall so he would be stuck there, and at Spark's mercy like a punching bag.
But X was ready, and with a well timed thrust from his dash boots slowed his momentum until he dropped down lightly to the floor.
The two stared at each other for what seemed an eternity, at least compared to what they had been throwing at each other before and the speed it had happened. Neither one moved, both were ready with an attack should the other one even so much as twitch. This break in the action gave X time to think, think about the strategy of how he should fight Spark.
For a big guy, Spark moved fast, X reasoned. Too fast for even his new dash boots to pose a threat. Therefore, X had to make Spark slow down…
"No way…" X exhaled silently. Could it? He could only try. Activating his weapons array, X selected the Ice Shotgun and fired a blast. With dismay, X saw Spark leap up and take hold of his monkey bars in the ceiling, saw his shot continue on towards emptiness, a glittering trail of ice behind it. But when the tightly packed iceball hit the wall, it did not disintegrate…
It separated. One piece came back at X's direction, another smashed into the floor harmlessly-and one tiny piece flew upwards at a diagonal angle, catching Spark right smack into the back.
The tiny nanoprobes inside the ice pellet came to life, recognizing it had hit its target with the impact. They quickly maneuvered out, making more and more ice, until within a fraction of a second, Spark's entire body was covered in ice and he fell to the floor, his grip lost on his high perch.
The icy statue of Spark clanged to the floor, and for a very brief moment, X saw that Chill would have been proud of him. But then Spark broke free from the shot, and X sprang backwards in surprise.
"Looks like the effect doesn't last long." But X saw that it had done more damage than any plasma shot he could muster. The ice had crept inside Spark's systems, freezing joints, his fluids, and busting apart his internal systems like water would break down stone. "So all I have to do is keep it up." But Spark was moving very fast, in another powerful leap across the room to flatten X. But X dashed aside and turned about. When Spark landed, X's Ice Shotgun fired yet another blast and Spark was encased once more.
The cycle continued, shot after shot was pumped into Spark, and each time Spark found it harder and harder to break free from his tomb. X lost his own reason. He only fired and fired and fired…no doubts, just the kill.
Until at last, Spark was encased in one final shot, and he did not move. But as his systems went critical, the synthesized ice melted away and Spark turned to look at X, a pained look on his face. He opened his mouth and said one thing;
"X…why?" And with that, Spark Mandrill ceased to be. His internal fusion generator exploded outwards, and his internal systems were vaporized instantly. Pieces of him flew in every direction, but it was his once unscarred fist that X ran to. Gingerly, he picked it up and touched it with his palm. His armor turned shades of orange yellow, and the power of the Electric Spark became his.
But as he walked away from the remains to reset the power plant to give energy to the city, a tear rolled from his eye. Spark's last question had struck a tone in him.
"Why am I doing this?" X shook his head. He would have to find the answers somewhere else, somewhere where he could examine his thoughts quietly.
Somewhere where he could be alone.
"Hey, has X showed up yet?" Zero plodded into Hazil's medical bay with a concerned look on his face. The box on wheels lifted his head from his datapad and shook his head.
"Sorry, Zero." Zero turned around, to prevent Hazil from seeing the pained look in his face, the look of worry for his strongest recruit. Hazil chuckled.
"I said I haven't SEEN HIM. He called in a while ago, though." Zero swiveled around, elated.
"And…"
"And he defeated Spark. Said it wasn't easy, though." Zero nodded.
"I know what he means. Spark was one bad mother during his Hunter days. No telling how powerful he'd become when X met him. So, why hasn't he come in?" Hazil creaked his head back, swiveling it around in a full circle.
"He said he had some thinking to do, that he had to be alone." Zero sighed.
"Yeah, I'll give the guy that. Cain was right, you know." Hazil raised an eyebrow.
"Really? About what?" Zero sat down on one of the medical cots.
"That boy's going through hell." Hazil's mouth twitched.
"Yeah, I'll agree with that. Buy you a drink? I could really use one myself." Zero nodded, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah. There's no threat as yet, and I'm off duty. Let's go get sloshed." Hazil turned his datapad off and turned to the door, opening it.
"Who knows, Commander? Maybe we'll forget about some of this while we're at it."
Drinking was a ritual in the Hunters, X knew. It started with Sigma's Unit, and had kept on going. They drank for several reasons. To drown out the mess they worked in, to live for a few moments of carefree existence, and several other therapeutic purposes.
But X did not partake of that habit. He preferred 'sody pansy water' as Cancer used to put it. And as his mind ran over and over the troubles he considered, X began to relax on the hill high above Tokyo.
Until he heard the whine of robotic motors a ways off. X got to his feet, instantly on alert once more. He turned about, and peered through the bushes from where the noise emanated. He saw several robots, Batton Bones from their ugly looks flying towards someplace.
"Hello…" X followed them cautiously, trying not to make any noise. As he walked along, he saw a gaping entrance come into view in the dim light of the moon. The Battons flew in, and X pondered it for a moment.
"Hmmm…looks like a mining operation. And where there's mining…" X sighed.
"There's Armored Armadillo. Looks like break's over, X." X shut his eyes and activated his warping mechanism. There might be a trap at the entrance.
And if he was gonna go stop this, he had to do it in style.