MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
By Erico
CHAPTER TEN: TUNNELS OF TERROR
Or
"A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste"
X warped into the mining complex, totally focused on the mission. His Buster stood at the ready, and he swung it around the room looking for targets. Then he lowered it almost sadly.
"Dang. No one's home." But deep within his superprocessor, X knew that statement was a bit false.
Company was around. They just weren't here. "Why go looking for trouble when it finds you?" X muttered as he held his fire. He wanted his Buster at max for this.
Then it hit him; he hadn't reported in recently. He flipped his comm up to chat, but a loud buzzing filled the air and he quickly snapped it off.
"Damn! Looks like they're jamming it." X sighed. Well, he'd report in later when he'd shut off the jamming source. And boy, what a report he'd have.
"Sigma, I got a few questions." Armadillo whined into the mike. All channels beside the one which served as his direct link to Sigma were being jammed by high energy transmissions within his operational radius. Sigma winced onscreen, for even if Armored was one of the most versatile and powerful mavericks on his squad, he whined too much.
"Such as…"
"Are the others set up yet?" Sigma nodded, rubbing his hand with his head.
"Yes, A.A. They're all set. But I need you to keep your operation running. After X ruined Flame's operation and totaled the power redirection plan of Spark's, you're the only place still supplying us resources at the moment. Trust me when I say the others have similar operations building, but right now you're the only one going full tilt." Armored smiled.
"Boy, I guess that makes me special. How goes the groundwork with your base, boss?" Sigma smiled.
"Vile is truly a miracle worker at architecture, and he's come up with quite a good variety of mazes and traps for our base. He comes up with something new every few minutes, it seems." Armored nodded.
"Just make sure he doesn't waste my supplies." Sigma frowned.
"Yes. Our resources are too scarce to be wasteful. Should I send more troops to fortify your operation?" Armored gave a toothy grin.
"Naw, I got it. After all, this place is quiet. As far as anyone knows, this old mining area was abandoned YEARS ago, which means nobody pokes around much." Sigma nodded.
"A brilliant idea on your part. The meltdown accident 40 years ago does kind of keep the humans away from the old atomic processing area. And reploids-they're too busy with anything else." Armored laughed raucously.
"And the best part is…there's nothing for satellites or scanners to pick up. We're a quiet operation, and there's no way in hell anyone'll ever find us!" Sigma smiled and reached to turn off his comm.
"That's the first bit of good news I've heard in quite some time, A.A. Keep it up." Armored gave a mighty salute, his thick arm slapping against his head. Sigma's image flashed off, and Armored turned about whistling an old tune called 'My Way.'
"So, Mr. Miner, the question is…FreeCell or Minesweeper?" As far as Armored was concerned, the operation was running so smoothly, the robots were doing fine on their own.
He could just take it easy and relax with his computer games and comic books.
After all, the Hunters weren't around for miles.
Except for one, which at the moment was screaming his head head off in fear as he clung tightly to a mining cart, rolling down the steep incline with incredible speed.
"I HATE ROLLER COASTERS!" X yelped as a Batton Bone whizzed overhead. A more precise term would be 'as X whizzed underneath', but at the moment a frazzled X was too worried about where the ride would end, and cursing under his breath that he hated these blasted things. Finally, fed up with it, he went to his feet and jumped. The cart continued on ahead, and X right beneath it. He soon realized his own momentum was equal to the cart's, and unless he made moves to halt his progress, he would merely be rejoining it once more. So, with intelligence bred in a chess grandmaster, or instincts bred in a natural killer, X activated his dash boots. With them jutting out in front of him like a long jumper's, his momentum was slowed just enough that the cart kept going, and X slowed down.
As X crashed to the floor arms akimbo, the cart kept going. And inside his mind, X knew any chance of him arriving unannounced at Armored's lair was just shot. Whatever destruction that cart caused, it wouldn't go unnoticed.
"Come on…come on…YES!!! BLACK THREE!!!" Armored pumped his fist up and down as he grinned widely at his computer screen. Sliding his hand across the mouse with expert dexterity, he moved the necessary card into the holding spot, and all the others fell into place giving him the win in FreeCell. A giant king appeared on the green background, and Armored set up the next game.
For a moment, the blinking icon on his taskbar didn't catch his eye, until he finally saw it. He glanced at it annoyed for a moment, then sighed and scrolled his cursor down.
"Probably just another dumb mine cart gone haywire." When he popped it up, he nodded angrily. "Yeah, that blasted mine cart in the beginning of the complex broke free. Looks like it fell down the waste shaft." Armored opened the robotic directional command program and gave directions to the Batton Bones in the area to go retrieve the mine cart and set it back up for metallic delivery. Then he popped his game back up. As he continued to play the game and continue his winning streak, he grumbled something to the PC's internal diary.
"Memo to self; BOLT THOSE BLASTED MINE CARTS DOWN."
If Armored knew about X's presence, he sure didn't show it.
And if X knew Armored didn't know, the same thing could be said for him. A while ago, he had taken out a few Batton Bones in the area…and one enemy which left him stunned, as it was the original Batonton, the same Bubble Bat which had pestered his predecessor Mega since his second escapade. How an antique machine like that had survived, X didn't know. But it was threatening him, and X had little choice but to take it out like the others. He paused at the edge of the pit which gaped before him, then held his breath and leapt across, taking out the stalky bird, which had X left it alone would have thrown metallic wheel after wheel at him. X smiled. "I looove my Fire Wave!" But that was soon flushed from his mind as he heard the flutter of yet even more Batton Bones fluttering down from their perches to strike at him. X frowned for a moment, then held back his fire. If he let them get close enough, he could take them down with one easy shot, like shooting two birds with one stone. And then they vanished in plasma fire.
He took out the last row which he saw, and then he hopped down the shaft close by. He could see the bottom, and he knew it led to gool ol' Mole Boy.
Finally, 'Mole Boy' maximized his robotic sensor readings in disgust. "Remind me to get my head examined for using bloody robots…" he cut his sentence short as he saw the readings. His ten operational Batton Bones-and his prized collectible Bubble Bat-were all listed as destroyed.
"What the…" Armored activated the cameras he had placed around his mining complex and switched the camera to the first shaft. Sure enough, there was the problem.
Little 'ol Mega Man X was paying him a visit. And along the way, utterly stopping his operation. Armored roared in anger and picked up his mike, muttering to himself rapidly.
"What the blue blazes is X doin' here? There was nothing-NOTHING for him to track us with!" Whatever the cause for X's presence, Armored had to make sure it was a short one.
Or else Sigma would have his pointy head.
"GET THE HELL OUTTA MY SHAFTS!!!" A foreign voice ricocheted inside the tunnel, and X nearly lost hold of his grip as he reacted to it. Someone had just scared the living crud out of him, and within microseconds he knew who.
"Glad to see you finally know company's here, Mole-man."
"I'm a blasted Armadillo, X."
"Yeah, I knew that. Say, you wouldn't happen to be supplying raw materials to the maverick cause here, would you?" X said as he glanced down at a packed crate below him. Armored chuckled.
"Of course not! All my supplies are shipped ASAP to the UNICEF."
"UNICEF went bankrupt twenty years ago, Arm." Armored growled over the connection.
"Whatever you thought you could accomplish here is something you will never live to achieve. My forces will grind you to dust, like all the other junk I process."
"Yeah, tell me something new, Dig-Bot. The other four said that as well, but they ain't here talking now, are they?"
"They were all weaklings. I am not so easily defeated, my young Hunter."
"Oh really? Most of the time I saw you, you were either running around with your head cut off, hiding from the action or griping about overtime pay." Armored began to form a comeback, but he held his voice for a moment. Then calmly, he gave X one last shoveoff.
"You can speak until your face turns blue, X. The simple truth is-you will die. I'm sorry I can't talk to you anymore, but I have to fix up the boo-boos you gave my 'bots." The connection clinked off, and X was left at the bottom of the shaft, scratching his head and wondering what the whining wombat meant by that.
Until he heard a grinding noise and saw the wall shake behind him. With pure instincts, X leapt up into the air and clambered up the shaft for dear life. Below him, a gigantic Mole Borer smashed through the brittle wall and chugged along down the shaft, chewing up rocks everywhere. X wiped the bead of sweat from his brow, then dropped back down. Apparently, that was the only piece of machinery Armored could muster-for the moment.
But X knew deep inside his skull that wouldn't be the only Mole Borer to make its presence known. And when he saw one next time-his Fire Wave would wipe it out forever.
But for the moment, he looked back to whence it came, and saw the terrible beast of burden had been guarding Armored's sacred treasure-A Sub-Tank. When X claimed it for himself and plugged it in his systems, he saw that he had obtained three. And a fourth, he knew was lying in the power plant. Somehow, he would find a way to claim that as well.
The Mole Borer had left a clean path for X to follow. All the enemies were destroyed by its massive munchers, and every once in a while X saw a neatly packaged pile of raw metal. He had to smile, for not only was the Mole Borer doing his job-it still had time to do its own.
"I'll have to remind Arm to give that boy a raise…nah, too late." X sighed as he saw the Mole Borer in utter disrepair, lying in scraps in a spike pit. No doubt one of the traps Armored had activated for him. X scratched his head, for unlike the Power Plant, or even the Factory, Arm's mine presented little challenge or danger. As long as he kept on his toes, he would live. Perhaps it was because X had better stuff now than he did then.
"Or maybe it's because Arm's the most clumsy maverick of the lot!" X chuckled. For once, he was actually having fun with his job. For when he fought Spark, he knew he could die. When he fought Chill, he was a rookie. When he fought Storm, he was on dangerous territory. And worst-when he had to end Flame's operation, he had to kill a friend.
"No. That wasn't Flame." X reminded himself coldly. The Flame he knew as his friend died when Sigma went maverick and took his Hunters with him. As long as he kept that mindset, X wouldn't fall victim to his weaknesses.
And if he kept himself strong, he WOULD succeed.
Of course, it didn't help matters that every few feet another Batton Bone popped down to get in his face. It was times like this X really appreciated his Buster's fourth level of power, and its ability to destroy one, then two Battons, then keep going and plow through a few more. And each time the incredibly stupid choice of a fighter leaving behind an insanely crazy amount of energy for X to store in his Sub-Tanks, that was something that was laughable. And in very short order, he had a second filled, the one which he had drained to take down Spark.
Then, he stopped cold as he looked in fear at the obstacle which stood in his way. Another mine cart, set up perfectly for him to ride on it. X held his breath, and then let it go.
"What the hell. Looks like I'll have to overcome my fear sometime. Might as well do it now." X hopped on the cart, and his momentum broke it free. As he screamed, he rolled forward, forward until he dropped down yet another mine shaft, bouncing back and forth on the walls like a pinball. And X felt very sickened by the movements, and he held on for dear life, his fingers drilling marks into the framework of the level cart. Then, he bounced off the wall one last time and was sent spiraling down the horizontal tunnel. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that the sharp edges of the cart were slicing their way through the enemies in front of him, and conveniently leaving behind energy pellet droppings on the front. X eagerly snatched them up, his Sub-Tanks getting stronger all the time in their storage. X felt strong, a sense of pride and accomplishment he had not felt before. He had overcome his fear, and it had paid off.
He stood tall on the cart, like surfing it would seem to an observer.
This truly was a fun ride.
"Where's X?" Zero yelled as he pounded his console. Back at Maverick HHQ, things weren't getting any less frustrating, and one of those things was the fact X should have been back four hours ago to report for duty. After all, those wee hours of the morning had long since passed into a bright sunny day.
Down the hall, a still woozy Hazil bumped into one of the medical beds at the outburst. Groaning and rubbing his sore head, he tried to block out the bugs of his hangover from messing him up any more.
"It's too early for you to be going off and yelling, Commander." Hazil grumbled. "Keep this up, and the next checkup I give is gonna include a complete body cavity search."
Cain sat in his own office, in its semi-repaired condition and looked up from his datapad concerning the continuing rebuilding of the base. With a sigh, he shrugged his head and continued with his work.
So, what effectively happened was Zero got no response. The 17th Unit was practicing in the gym, too far for his voice to carry. The red Crimson Hunter growled a few unintelligible comments about X's ancestors, then finally shut up.
Zero was truly incensed at X's lack of protocol. Perhaps he expected more from X…that might be because X was his best Hunter. Or maybe he just wanted to lash out at something.
In any case, if X didn't have a good reason for skipping out, Zero would ream him a new one.
"So why am I waiting here?" Zero growled. "I'm gonna go find that Blue Bomber, and drag him in by his ears PERSONALLY!" Zero stomped out of the command nest and ran towards the vehicle docking bays, to where he kept his prized motorbike. He would go out and find X, for he knew that X was somewhere in Tokyo.
But as Zero's hoverbike screamed away from the base, floating on a thin cushion of air, another part of the city came to life.
New Tokyo's prized landmark was the incredibly tall Karashita Tower, built by the famous Japanese Engineer Tosho Kim. You took the lift to the top, and from there you could look out the windows and see any part of the city in incredible view. Below the cloudline by only a few hundred feet, when it was built there were many skeptics who doubted if it would actually stand.
Tosho Kim proved them all wrong. In time, he then added a second tower built next to it on the same pedestal, and radically changed the design. It was so incredible, and had it taken a military purpose, it would have become a force to fear.
And it seemed, that for once those dark predictions and 'What-ifs' had finally caught up to life. For as Zero fumed, the last of the tower workers was obliterated by maverick forces. It had been taken over, with one singular purpose in mind for it.
A reason which Boomer Kuwanger's instructions listed all too clearly. As the lanky reploid stepped over the still smoking, smelly body and dashed up the side with speed even the famed roadrunner of cartoon lore would have envied, his face was totally darkened by his mission.
Step one was completed; Possession. Step 2 would be setting up defensive measures in case of counterattack.
"And step three…" Boomer's voice trailed off. Step three was the part of the plan which Spark Mandrill himself had come up with. The mechanical maverick had built the device himself, and now Boomer was putting it to use. "Project Mandrill." Boomer humphed quietly. He had named the project after his friend, when he heard from Sigma that Spark had been taken out.
Taken out by X.
"X!!!" Boomer screamed in rage as he slammed up the final ladder. Boomer was angered beyond expression, for his misguided friend X had been the sole force, stopping their success time and time again.
If step three worked, X wouldn't be around to stop them again.
"Sigma, blast it! COME IN!!!" Arm's voice was frantic and high pitched as he assaulted his comm with the verbal squeal. Static, then the working channel fuzzed into existence. Sigma's stony features sprung to life on the tiny screen, with a less than pleased frown covering his usually smooth and even mouth.
"What now, Arm?" The mighty miner almost began to chitter in high pitched squeals, to which only his worker robots responded. But taking a breath, Armored slowed down and spoke loudly but deliberately.
"X is here, and he's ripping the place apart."
"Jesus…" Sigma whistled. A frown then covered his previous annoyance. "I thought you had this place tied down tighter than the CIA's Worldnet."
"So did I, but somehow he figured out what was going on!"
"Any other Hunters show up yet?"
"That's the ONLY bit of good news. He's here, he's alone, and since I have the radios scrambled, he can't call for help." Sigma nodded.
"I'll send you some help, as much as I can give you without retracting from the forces we have. A squadron of metal wings."
"ONE SQUADRON?! SIGMA, I AM IN DEEP DOG EXCREMENT HERE! I NEED MORE!" Armored yelled, not believing that Sigma could be so glib about this whole situation. But Sigma's eyes flared into life, and he became just as loud with his response.
"YOU LISTEN, SOLDIER!" Sigma then cowered, back down, covering his face with a massive paw. With a sigh, he re-emerged. His face still held that anger, but he was quieter now than before.
"I still have three other mavericks alive, each with their own very important mission in hand to complete. At this point in time, my faith in you is very low. If you cannot stop one Hunter…JUST ONE…then you are worthless to me. You will take the help I give you, and you WILL destroy X. Is that clear?"
"Sigma, I…"
"IS THAT CLEAR?!" Arm sighed.
"Yes, sir." Sigma did not give him a response, he raised his hand to the controls Armored could not see and switched off the transceiver. Arm winced at the finality of which Sigma had spoken to him, fully realizing how very serious Sigma was with him.
"Dead serious." Armored shook his pointed head. If he couldn't pull this off, and end X's rampage…well, there were two possibilities to that end.
One, he could survive, and be dragged back to Sigma, where he would be destroyed.
Or, he could be destroyed by X instead. Both were bad choices, Arm knew. Destruction was a very simple and utterly terrifying concept, no matter who dished it out.
"Looks like X is gonna be feeling the cold hand of death on his shoulder very soon." Arm muttered as he walked over to his storage cabinet. He opened the lid, and slipped on the rest of his reploid armor.
It was like saying hello to an old friend.
Meanwhile, X was dropping down the final shaft; more truly sliding down it, trying to avoid the Batton Bones which fluttered down after him like pestersome fall leaves. X looked down, and then suddenly he was seeing the bottom of the shaft rising up towards him at incredible speeds.
"Oh, NOOO!!!!!" X cried out. He knew what had happened. The shaft had ended. But then he saw another wall come into view. As he moved next to it, he grabbed hold and his descent slowed. He looked up, and saw the Batton Bones had long since given up the chase, their primitive motion detectors losing track of him. Looking down, he saw a very familiar target.
"A Mole Borer. Hmm.. maybe Arm isn't gonna miss it." X gave a devilish grin and switched to his red and orange and white coloring as he activated the Fire Wave. He dropped down the rest of the way, then turned about and focused his Buster on the immobile target. He knew he'd only get a fraction of a second to get this right, before the Mole Borer sprung to life and began to chomp along, swallowing rubble and turning it into metals which would be shipped to Sigma for the maverick cause.
The tiny spurt of flame was small at first, the spark not quite igniting the fuel which his internal adaptive weapons systems were producing. But it swelled up soon enough, moving to the next stage of development; a massive demon's head of a flame pillar which bore the brunt of the Fire Wave's power. The flame licked at the protective coating of the Mole Borer, eating away layer after layer. The Borer sprung to life, activated by X's movements, chugging along. X gave a quick smile and whistled under his breath,
"Not today, you drill for brains." X kept an easy pace on the Borer, his flames continuing to eat at the armor. Finally, armor gave way and X's Fire Wave was melting away at the delicate insides of the Borer.
Within fractions of a second, the Borer succumbed to the very symbol of destruction, the internal atomic reactor going critical and exploding outwards. Nothing was left of the Mole Borer when its chain reaction was done, for the vaporization had claimed it fully. X stopped, and shut off the Fire Wave, switching back to his Buster. As X moved along the dim tunnel to which the Borer never proceeded to, he noticed that there was a curious overhand in the rock.
"No way that Arm'd be THIS obvious." X muttered as he hopped up the side. But, fate proved him wrong as he claimed Arm's Heart Tank as his own. X suddenly realized why he never failed to lose a game of chess against Arm.
"The guy's mind was always a little too simple for complex tasks." As X shuffled down the side, he did mutter a side note.
"But if you spend all day digging in dirt, I guess you don't have to be smarter than it."
X found little opposition in the rest of his way; until he got to yet another mine cart. But his Buster proved more than a match for the one hit wonder robots, and soon X was riding high on the cart, down the embankment and then across a deadly layer of spikes. A previous blast of plasma had obliterated the few Batton Bones which could have knocked him into the pit, and soon he saw it was open road to his next goal; the end of the shaft, and then Arm's lair.
But as he smashed through the occasional Dig Labour, or 'Pickaxe Bot,' X noticed a droning storm of flying fury ahead.
"What the…Well, I'll be." X grumbled. "Metal Wings. Sigma must have sent some help after all." He was slightly faster than their speed at the moment, and X began to shoot off his attacks one by one to send them spiraling into the ground. The Fire Wave he knew would only come back in his face. Only his Buster had the necessary speed to acquire his opposition. But he was so focused on the squadron of Metal Wings, he did not notice the end of the tunnel up ahead.
And so, he was caught totally off guard when the first blinding rays of morning light smashed into his face and stopped his target practice. Screaming, blind and unaware of his perception, X shut his eyes, then slowly opened them.
He couldn't have chosen a worse spot to look at. He was soaring across open canyon, the mine cart losing speed dramatically, himself falling down the massive gorge that X knew all too well. In the distance, X could see the mountains, and lush green artificial tropical resort which was another prize of New Tokyo's prestige. But he kept his focus on where it needed to be; namely where he was headed. He looked down, and saw that within the far flung flurry of Metal Wings threatening to knock him off his perch and to his death, lay an opening in a rocky outcropping ahead. "That's gotta be Arm's lair." X noted. He measured the distance, and then took his fateful dash jump.
While the Metal Wings soared ahead, X collided with the precipice and grabbed the energy capsule on the ledge above Arm's door.
X was going in full strength for this encounter.
But far away from X, in the city of New Tokyo itself lay another threat. Boomer Kuwanger was making the final preparations for his operation, noting every minute detail with his datapad. And as he saw every check become green, he sighed.
"Bring the weapon online. Begin Step three of the plan." His chittering voice carried over to the maverick tech at the console. With a grim nod, the worker acknowledge the command and pushed the fateful EXECUTE button.
On top of the second tower, where Boomer had built his command post, a massive object which looked like a mutated pen came to life. The supercooling coils came online, the neon gas inside the glass coils beginning to glow faintly as they dispersed the amounts of heat the cannon was building up. This was Spark's own creation come to devastating life; the Plasmoid Cannon.
Not merely an accumulative generator, like X's X-Buster, it did not build the heat of the plasma; just its devastating electrostatic charge. The heat was dispersed with the neon coils, and the energy from the electrical part of the plasma roiled within itself, building up to a devastating amount of power.
The tech turned to Boomer, a plain look on his face.
"Sir, specify the target." Boomer snapped back to his senses.
"Target designation is Alpha…The Plasmoid Cannon's first target is Maverick HHQ." The tech nodded, then swung the targeting array around until it pointed at the still recuperating building. A shrill whine as the last part of the charge built up, and then the distinct sound of an energy discharge.
Below the tower, Zero zoomed along unawares of the situation at the tower. But when the shot was fired, he was fully aware of it. And as his optic sensors tracked the shot, his face turned from surprise; to dread.
"Oh, God no.." Zero mumbled. He saw the shot hit his base, and then he saw what happened afterwards.
The electrostatic charge struck the base in the node of the training facility, where the last remnants of the Maverick Hunters were hard at work with their training. The deadly power arced around, frying every bit of circuitry it could get its hands on, coarsing through the entire base with its power, and blowing every piece of machinery plugged in to a smoking, fiery blaze. The 17th Unit did not survive the attack, and they were the first to go.
Even as the nanosecond quick shock protectors came online, they only managed to unplug one computer monitor before it too succumbed to the intense power of the assault. The Maverick HHQ was now nothing more than a building.
For now every Hunter had been destroyed.
Every Hunter but Zero and X.
"YOU BASTARD!!!" Armored yelled out as his head mounted plasma blaster fired off a salvo of shots, which avoided by leaping up the side of the wall and staying out of their path. But Armored wouldn't let X rest for a minute. He curled up into his ball of the Rolling Shield, and began to bound about the room crazily, so he could hit X. X saw him coming, and dropped down to avoid the crushing blow Arm's attack would have delivered. But the angered reploid would not cease, and he still let X have a piece of his mind.
"I HAVE THE PERFECT OPERATION GOING, AND YOU COME AND RUIN IT!" X dashed aside from the rolling ball of metal and held back his fire. Hoping he was doing this for the better, X made a risky comment.
"Oh, great. You're STILL whining?" The ball slowed, then uncurled. X let loose of the trigger as he saw his chance, and Arm turned about just in time to note it-
and swing his arms down, palms out. The plasma smashed into the pads, but strangely enough, Armored didn't seem worried in the least. He gave a toothy grin to X, and then began to flash purple.
"Your weapons are useless against me, X. Especially plasma." Armored flung his arms out, and the absorbed energy was sent out in eight directions. A stunned X was hit by the blow, and he found it to be very devastating. Arm didn't let up, beginning to fire his cannon off again. X yelped, and fired the smallest shot he could muster. For once, Arm was unable to block or avoid, and it hit him dead on. He stumbled back a few feet, then laughed out loud.
"Did you really think you would be able to stop me with your Buster? Here, take a look at this-" Arm flicked his arm down to the scorch mark. "THAT is all the effectiveness your attack held against me. What you don't understand is that I was DESIGNED to work in a hazardous environment. Nothing you throw at me will harm me, for I was built to withstand FAR GREATER." X frowned.
"I think I know one thing that can stop you." Arm chuckled, throwing his arms out.
"Fine. By all means, if you wish to hold onto even a shred of your hope, please feel free to take a potshot." X nodded at the unwise words of Armored, and then morphed into his purple coloring. He raised his Buster and pulled the trigger once. The plasma function of his Buster combined with the adaptive function of the wind-creating turbofan, and the tightly coiled spring of the Storm Tornado, laced with plasma reached forth and smashed into Arm. It blew him back, began to throw him back, but Arm merely curled up into his ball and began to bounce around the room once more. And his chuckling voice carried through the shield as he spoke.
"I TOLD you it wouldn't work! Now, you will die, my friend. You will pay for your meddlesome ways, and Sigma's faith in me will be restored." X rolled out of the way, his mind racing.
"Fire Wave-no, can't get close enough to try it. Tried the Storm Tornado. Maybe Ice Shotgun." X shrugged. One way or another, he had to end this.
And then he was promptly bashed into and thrown to the ground, a torn mess. X drained a Sub-Tank, and hoped that was the last attack Arm could land on him.
Ice Shotgun also proved as ineffective as the Tornado, and Arm joked about how refreshing it was to get chilled off. And finally, there was only one attack left that X had to throw at Arm.
"Arm! Stop your bouncing around and get down here. If you want to fight, let it be a showdown." The bouncing superball of Armored Armadillo slowed down its pace, and uncurled upon landing. He sighed.
"X, what you're suggesting is only a tactic to prove how weak you are, and how disadvantaged I need to be for you to win." X raised an eyebrow, trying the only mind trick he knew might possibly work.
"If you truly want Sigma to give you his trust back, then prove to him how great a maverick you are. While moving about, you may hold the advantage. But it is when the one who is at the disadvantage that wins; THAT shows true power. So, the question is this, my 'old' friend; Will you accept, or cower off and complain about it some more, like you always have?" Armored's eyes flared to vibrant life, and he raised a fist.
"If it is your situation you want, let it be so." Armored opened his head, and let his cannon come into view. X raised his Buster, his coloring shifting to yellow orange.
Both stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity. And then they fired. X held his ground, taking the shot. And Arm did the same, just to prove to the cocky Hunter he was still tops. But when he took the shot with his mitts to protect himself from the shot-
The shot he received was not plasma. It was the Electric Spark. His absorbing systems, designed to take in overloading plasma to prevent disaster in the mines, were in no way ready for the sheer power of the electricity which coarsed through the delicate circuitry. Arm felt a bee sting, and then the sting built into a fire bursting from his body. He screamed in pure agony, for he felt like he was being torn limb from limb. But what had happened was very simple.
His armor, the absorbing armor of his salvation had been shorted out and turned into scrap. The still shaky Arm could not make a move towards X, but the Hunter had no similar qualm as he pumped shot after shot of electrical energy into the weakened maverick. Arm was thrown back, and then back once more until he stood with his back against the wall, panting heavily with the pain which was all too plain on his face. He raised one hand, and opened his mouth.
"You-you are a very devious Hunter." X walked up towards him, until he stood over the beleaguered frame of his former friend. His face was dead serious as it vanished to be replaced with his Buster, red and white with its devastating ability.
"I know. I learned from you." And then, for the weakened and misled Armored Armadillo, life ceased, and blackness overcame him.
When X warped into Maverick HHQ, he was stunned and confused, but perhaps worst of all scared. The terrifying events of Sigma's escape of June 4th flared back to life as he saw everything come into focus on his optics. Everything was a mess. Computers, machines and even light fixtures sparked off, and acrid smoke still filled the base. A sudden shock of terror washed over him, and then he called out a name, hoping it was not one that would never be used again.
"Cain!"
"I'm right here, X." A warm, reassuring hand grasped his shoulder, and X looked beside him to see the grim expression of Cain looking at him, and then glancing around the war room.
"Doc, what happened here?" Cain sighed.
"We've been attacked, X."
"It's worse than simply 'attacked', Cain. We've been obliterated." X looked over to see a very angered Zero, his eyes red with tears and rage. Zero walked up to X, and stared hard into him.
"X, I don't want to tell you this, but I can't hide it from you. We're the only 2 Hunters left in existence." X's mouth flopped open in disbelief.
"But how? Where's the rest of the 17th?" Zero's frown grew worse.
"Dead. EVERY BLASTED ONE OF THEM DEAD!" Zero roared in anger and shot off his Buster at the ceiling. X winced at the outburst, and Cain began, his voice even more ragged than X had heard it after the June 4th outbreak.
"The Tower of Tokyo, X. Karashita Tower has been overtaken by the mavericks, and they've set up a devastating cannon on the rooftop. Air forces can't get near it, because there's a shield up and there are plenty of roofside automatic cannons. Only a ground assault can work."
"And for once, X, I get to go with you." Zero said angrily. The rage was still there, but X saw Zero had re-directed it towards the upcoming mission. "While you go in to take out the internal forces, I'll be messing around outside the tower, destroying the cannons and then the shield generator. Then the Earth Defense Force can come in and take out the cannon before it can be used again."
"But who's running it?" X muttered softly. Zero looked aside, unwilling to speak. Cain sighed, then held up a tape.
"This is a broadcast we received after the attack. I don't think you'll like it." Cain popped it in the only functioning Television monitor and PC hookup in the war room, and the image flared to life.
The form of the maverick began to speak, but the words meant nothing to an enraged X. Only the image, which was burned into his memory so very well.
"Boomer."