MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
By Erico
CHAPTER ELEVEN: ASCENT TO ASSAULT
"Yes, Sigma. The plan worked perfectly. Maverick Hunter HQ just got sacked once more." Boomer's all too void expression filled Sigma's comm screen, and the sage green maverick rubbed his chin.
"That's good to know. I don't suppose you've tuned in to the news lately?" Boomer shook his head.
"Been too busy tallying up our losses for that graph chart you wanted." Sigma chuckled.
"Forget about the graph chart. I was just going to turn it into bedding for Velguarder. But anyways- Boomer, I wanted you to know that you destroyed almost every single one of the Hunters." Boomer crooked his head aside.
"Almost?" Sigma coughed.
"Zero was gone, and when you attacked, X was off fighting Arm, who is now scrap." Boomer nodded, humming slightly in response.
"I see. And the fact that the only two surviving Hunters are Zero and X do not concern you? After all; X DID destroy every other member of our ranks." Sigma nodded, but he let his icy gaze fall over Boomer.
"Yes-but are you saying you don't have the gumption to handle the threat?" Boomer frowned.
"The fact that I am one of your only three surviving maverick Generals means nothing to you?" Sigma nodded.
"Correct. BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ATTACKED." Boomer sighed.
"Always bringing up the logical response. Fine, Sigma. Anything you can say to get me prepped? We're expecting an attack very soon, after all. Zero and X will not let this blow go unpunished." Sigma nodded, a small smile curling on his face. Such a smile chilled Boomer's heart, if he had one. For in Sigma was a spirit which once never received a natural smile from.
"Well, just some advice on how X took down the others. Nanoprobe units do come in handy for data recording, after all." Boomer nodded.
"Send as much as you have. I'll be ready for him." Sigma raised his eyebrows.
"You said you were expecting an attack." Boomer laughed, then warped aside and warped back a fraction of a second later.
"Sigma, I'm faster than you. Trust me-I have all the time I'll ever need."
"X--X. X!" Zero finally roared at X, who winced at the yell. X lay on his cot in the still un-refurbished room, and opened his eyes wide. He'd been dreaming about something, but as he was literally yanked from the dozy confines of his cycle, X lost all memory of what it had been. He shook his head, shaking off the last vestiges of his slumber and leapt to his feet. Zero stared him down, and X saw that Zero had obviously gotten as much sleep as he had.
Or less. Whatever amount of repair cycle Zero had been able to achieve with his tortured mind, X knew it wasn't enough. Which meant two steps needed to be taken;
One, don't tick the boss off. And two, do your mission well and buy him a case of his favorite lager after the attack. X sighed.
"So, Commander. We all set to go?" Zero nodded.
"Perhaps in planning. But as far as experience goes, this is new territory for the both of us. You realize we'll be climbing a tower; you on the inside, me on the out, with very specific goals."
"You take out the shield generator so the United Earth Military can destroy the plasmic cannon, and I play Mr. Hero and take on Boomer." Zero nodded.
"The reason why you're facing Boomer is because you know him better, X. I was here a very short while before Sigma went nuts, and you've known Boomer since before the Hunters." X nodded.
"That may be, Zero. But Boomer is nothing like he used to be. I know what he can do with his attacks, nothing more. His strategy and attack pattern is something I do not know, because I never saw him in action. And there's no telling what happened to his abilities when he turned maverick." Zero shrugged.
"Just do the best you can. Right now-we're the only hope this planet has." X chuckled.
"Two reploids against an entire movement. Sure. Do Cain and Hazil have everything set?" Zero shrugged.
"I'm thinking so. They should be popping in here any moment no-"
"Hey, X! I got your recharges here." Zero smiled as Hazil's raspy voice rang through the hollow, dead war room. Hazil rolled in, and Cain hobbled behind, obviously as drained as X and Zero. But Hazil was as perky as he ever was. Of course, most of the time he looked like he had a burr up his butt anyways, so there was no way of telling with him.
Hazil plucked the three Sub-Tanks from his lower Chest Compartment and threw them to X, one by one. Hazil frowned.
"Unlike your pathetic battlefield charges, I managed to replace them with densely packed energy clusterlets. ULTRA-PURE. Give you a full energy meter, right now. Just remember, with charges this intense, don't get them crossed up and send it into your Fusion Tank. If there's one thing I'd hate to do, it's scrape your pathetic carcass off the walls after you went critical. I've buried enough Goddamned Hunters already, you got me?!" X noted that even though Hazil spoke gruffly and with a scouring attitude, there was a caring attitude hidden underneath it. An attitude which didn't want to see X bite the dust. X plugged them in and spoke softly to Hazil.
"Wow. Looks like you went out of your way here. Let me guess here- what's the cost?" Hazil coughed, then shook his head.
"I'm getting predictable in my old age. You come back alive, and you bring back that blasted medical scanner Boomer never brought back!" X raised an eyebrow.
"He stole a piece of medical technology? I thought he didn't care much for you!" Hazil shrugged.
"Neither did I, but one time he used his Boomerang Cutter to swipe it from me when he thought I wasn't looking."
"Why didn't you ask for it then?" Hazil shrugged again.
"Didn't think it was that important." X chuckled.
"Hazil, you are one of the ripest fruits I know." Hazil pointed a hand at X.
"Coming from you, Rookie; I'll take it as a compliment."
Zero and X warped outside the Karashita Tower, each totally focused on the mission. The spiraling heights did not frighten them for a minute, as was evidenced by their grim, stone-faced expressions. Zero tapped X on the shoulder.
"You got my comm frequency. Whether or not it'll work, I don't know." X nodded.
"So I guess we part ways." Zero pointed to the top of the tower, where they both knew the plasmoid cannon lay dormant-for now.
"See you on the top."
"Or at the bottom." X muttered. Zero sighed.
"Hope it doesn't come to that, my friend. The pancake look died out years ago."
Zero dashed ahead, making a large dash jump onto the side of the building. X saw that all the doors had been closed, and oddly enough only the upper portion of the tower seemed to be warp-shielded.
So, with nary a glance to where Zero ascended, X activated his warp generator, and everything became fuzzy.
It became clear a moment later, but now X knew he had only minutes before Boomer activated it again, to spite their efforts to stop his operation. So, he needed to move fast, and take out all resistance.
"Lucky I know how to." X looked up, and saw it would be a long climb before he got out of the shaft. But something else clicked in his mind. "Looks like the Storm Tornado would work best here." But only the massive supercharged version of it. X smiled as he remembered how it had taken out Spark's baby, the Thunder Slimer in record time.
He wondered what it would do here. He climbed up the first ladder, clearing about ten feet upwards. But as he peered above, he saw a threat to his ascent.
"Just great-a Hoganmer." X grumbled, wiping his hand across his face. He set his Buster for charge, and then climbed up the next ladder until he stood nearly equal to the Hoganmer's position.
With a dash jump, X made his way towards the Hoganmer. He swooshed overhead, latching onto the opposite wall. The Hoganmer, still tracking where X's position had been when he first spotted the intruder, launched his mace ball at thin air. And while the Hoganmer did that, X switched to the Storm Tornado, the purple charge still prevalent in the Buster. The energy was transferred to the Tornado's strength, and then unleashed in the vertical twister X had come to love. The Hoganmer was ground to dust in less time than it took X to blink, obliterated by the mix of high shearing winds and plasma.
X dropped to where the remains of the Hoganmer lay scattered around, and then switched his Buster back to its basic function. He looked up, noting how long the climb was.
But he came here to take revenge for the attack, and to stop one from ever happening again. As long as that mission needed to be done, he would complete it.
Not to mention he had to get back Hazil's medical scanner.
Outside, Zero rappelled the tower as fast as he could. The destroyed remains of Turn Cannons lay sparking bolts of energy into the air from their charred bases, and if he kept this up, he might be attracting more attention than he wanted to really put up with. But then a steady droning noise caught his ear, and Zero's expression darkened.
"Damn. Too late for being a quiet boy." Zero tilted his head aside, and saw the Bee Blader coming from far off. At the moment, and in his position, the Bee Blader had the advantage, for the Blader had the stable platform. Zero would constantly have to jump up to keep from falling down and to maintain his Buster bead. He couldn't leap on the Blader, for the powerful prop which gave it its flying abilities would slice him to ribbons in instants.
As the Blader moved closer, it opened fire with a barrage of missiles. Zero leapt up to avoid them as they looped downwards, but the explosions nearly jarred him off. By sheer will of self-preservation, Zero kept his hold on the wall and fired off his own Supershot to counteract. It struck the Blader's heavy armor, away from the critical portion. And Zero knew if he aimed for the blade, it would be futile. Spark Mandrill had made the designs for the Bladers, and one very interesting characteristic was that their blades were plasma repellant. As long as those blades were spinning, Zero's attacks would be batted aside without a care in the world. Zero let himself slide down the wall, and fired off a smaller shot. It hit the headpiece of the robot, causing the optic sensors to flash briefly. But then, the Blader'' engines revved up another few notches, and Zero's eyes grew wide.
By pure instinct, Zero leapt up as high as he could, bouncing off the wall like a superball to a tether. Below him, the Bee Blader plowed forth and slammed into the wall where he had once been before. The impact was so severe, Zero absolutely knew that Boomer knew he was coming as he was jarred loose.
With a scream of fear, Zero did not look down below him, to where his boots were falling to mere inches within those deadly spinning blades. He activated the thrusters, jerking his body to every inch as far as he could go towards the side of the building. He clanged against the side, and scampered up as much as he could. But as he looked below for a side look, he saw the Bee Blader was following him. Zero's chagrined look gave away every twinkle of his annoyance and anger at whoever had programmed this Blader.
"Going up, Zero?" A very familiar voice came over the Blader's internal loudspeakers. Zero frowned.
"Boomer."
"One and the same, Hunter. I hope you weren't planning to do anything foolish, like try to stop me. Such an action is fruitless, as is evidenced by my pet here. I am controlling it via Remote Control, so there is no possible way you can defeat me." Zero checked his Buster's charge, and then yelled downwards to the rapidly rising Blader.
"Boomer, I wouldn't be so sure!" Zero turned about, and lunged off of the wall with every ounce of thrust and push he could give himself. He sprang outwards, and then fell. Fell down far away from the range of the Blader, and Zero knew that Boomer could not maneuver fast enough to catch the move with a counterattack. Then, with a second burst of his dash boots, Zero turned inwards towards the wall, underneath the Blader. When he held tight to the wall, he raised his Buster upwards and fired.
The armor underneath the Blader was much less powerful than those on top and on the exterior. Zero's shot did more damage, fusing components of the control board together, turning the Blader into a massive, 2 ton piece of dead machinery. Boomer's control vanished, and the Blader fell.
An exhausted Zero barely had enough warning to leap off with a dash jump and clear the space where the heavy scrap plummeted. Lacking the fuel reserves to dash inwards, Zero grabbed the falling edge of the Blader's backside and clung to it for a moment, just long enough to stop his outward momentum. He leapt off, and then clung to the wall 75 feet below where he had stood before. Zero sighed, and wiped the sweat from his helmet-covered brow.
"Boomer means business. But now he knows I do, too." Zero looked upwards, towards the ravaged sections of the building.
And for one brief moment, he thought of something other than his task. But, shaking his head, he continued to make the long and grueling climb up the side to destroy the shield generator.
But his thought was of X, and his progress.
At the moment, a very flustered and angered X was less than pleased with everything, particularly the wall skittering Dodge Cannons. As the name implied, they flung themselves up every time X fired a shot. Which meant that he had to move in close to take them down all the time-and usually they'd hit back with a shot of their own.
"For all the Flutternutters and Skogs in the whole frickin' world!" X grumbled, thinking how much more serious Zero's curses would be in this situation. Boomer had programmed the security well here, for X was not moving as fast as he'd like to.
Of course, Boomer was as often known for his wits as his speed, which moved at an equal pace. And if this was the low security, X wondered what other devious things awaited him in this tower. Just then, his comm beeped, and X slapped it to life.
"X, you there?"
"Hey, Commander! I thought you said they blanked out communications."
"Well, basically I'm talking to you through a hole in the wall right now. Those Bee Bladers do make a mess."
"WOAH!" X exclaimed, dropping every vestige of his Hunter guise as he realized how serious things were for Zero, outside the tower.
"No bull, either. Boomer's flying them himself, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was controlling a few other things as well. You watch your back, hear?"
"Roger that. Hey, how do you take out a fast moving Dodge Cannon?" X waited for the answer, and Zero finally sighed.
"You got 'em in there too, eh? Fire big, fire fast, and fire so they come to the shot. Understand?" X nodded.
"Understood." Zero's voice began to crackle, and he spoke quickly.
"Boomer's got the connection traced! X, he knows you're here now!" X bashed his hand against his helmet.
"Well, that's just GREAT. Talk to you later, boss." X chirped off the comm and looked upwards. One last Dodge Cannon to go, and his path up was clear. So, X did the only thing that came to mind; he switched to the Fire Wave and jumped up. As he released his deadly swath of flames, the cannon vanished into a form of molten slag on the wall. X climbed up the ladder above, and lay at the next level of assault. It was pretty normal for a while, and then X saw laid before him an utter maze of destruction.
He had to be amazed at its design, for only a man-or reploid-possessed by evil could create such a thing. It was perhaps the biggest trap Boomer had laid down for unwary Hunters. And even if X made the best run of his life through the trap, he didn't doubt for a moment that he might not make it.
Laser nets were everywhere, and droning sentries made long looping passes about the corridor before flying away, only to be replaced by more sentries. It was suicide to go through it.
"But if I don't do it, it'll be suicide for Tokyo." X muttered. For a brief moment, he felt the weight of everyone's lives on his shoulders.
And the load was very heavy.
While X was keeping busy moving around the internal traps of Boomer's lair, Zero was struggling to keep himself at a healthy vitality. A task which proved to be a very hard one when everyone was shooting at you, and they had the terrain advantage. Climbing straight up three thousand feet is no easy task, even for someone equipped with the right gear. Zero had the gear and the means to defend himself.
"No doubt X is having a harder time now that Boomer knows he's here too." Zero grumbled as he blew another pestersome Sky Claw away from above. But Zero was not as naïve as some might mistake him for, and he'd considered a whole swath of possibilities.
Perhaps Boomer had known they would both strike at once.
Perhaps he'd expected Zero to stay home while X ran off to save the day again.
But whatever contingencies Boomer had predicted, he had his base well guarded. Luckily, the heavy portion of the outside control forces had already been taken down by Zero, and his Hunter's reflexes. So, for the most part it was a last ditch force of mainly worker robots who stood in his way.
"Get outta my way!" Zero yelled as he took out a Dodge Cannon crawling down towards him. Zero's blood was pumping furiously, and he was beyond a thoughtful approach to this. He merely fought, drawing ever nearer to his goal;
A few hundred feet above the shield generator stood. That was Zero's final target, the piece of equipment which he had designated as priority one if they were to succeed.
The Plasmic Cannon itself might have been set to fire if he got too close to it. And it also might be heavily guarded by Boomer's forces-or Boomer himself, even. No, the only viable option was to let the big guns overhead take out the plasmic cannon. But they could not penetrate the shield. Therefore, for their success Zero's must also be complete.
X could fail, perhaps. He could fail to take out Boomer, and this mission would still be a success. But a cold chill ran down Zero's spine with that thought.
"But then I'd be the only Hunter left." Zero shook his head and readied his Buster again. "You gotta live, X. For my sake-and the world's."
"Sigma, I have a new report for you." Sigma raised his head from the map of New Tokyo to see Vile plodding towards him. Sigma sighed and rubbed his eyebrows.
"Vile, I am tired, cranky, haven't gone into repair cycle for days, and my maverick revolt is hanging on by mere threads. If this isn't good news, you might want to leave now before your head gets dismembered." Vile shook his head, but what facial expression he hid under his Boba-Fetish(heh-heh) visor, Sigma couldn't tell. If Vile hadn't been wearing that all of his life, he had when he joined the Hunters. It was a bit annoying from time to time, and often Sigma could remember time after time he stopped himself from ripping the headgear off in frustration, mostly when he couldn't tell if Vile was mocking him or not.
"Sorry, Sigma. I get to keep my head this time. I've gotten news from Launch. He's beginning his operation in the port." Sigma nodded.
"One more source of materials. How goes the fortress construction?" Vile's shoulders went up, like he was shrugging.
"Pretty well, I'd say. Considering all the interruptions we've gotten, we've completed the lower half of the place. Foundation's built, now we build up." Sigma's eyes glowered for a moment as he asked one question.
"You DID put in the 'special' modifications, correct?" Vile chuckled.
"As ordered. Thank our departed friend Spark for saving the schematics on that piece of equipment." Sigma nodded, and his voice got a bit sadder as he turned to his map again and marked Launch's location in the harbor.
"Every single one of our mavericks is giving their all to this, and they still end up dying. Because of who? X." Sigma shook his head. "If only X had been in the HQ on June 4th, we would have ended up taking him out as well." Vile nodded.
"Boy, that would have solved a lot of our problems. But what about Zero?" Sigma chuckled.
"ZERO?! Boy, that's funny. Vile, I'm going to let you in on a secret about our friend Zero. When he started up with the Hunters, we learned fast. Like he had been built to make war, almost. Like you, for instance." Vile nodded, then with a simple gesture of sitting down became totally enveloped in Sigma's story.
"But Zero is a loner. He hates working with teams, because he hates to think he has to worry about anyone but himself. He's suicidal, crazy, brash-and an utterly dangerous foe. But there is something which makes us stronger than him, something which we will put to use, should our paths ever cross."
"Considering all our operations the Hunters have stopped Sigma, I'd say that's a given." Vile interrupted. Sigma nodded.
"The same things that make him so dangerous make him a danger to himself and anyone he's teamed with. Cain made a poor choice putting Zero in command. He has the fighting abilities, there is no doubt with that. But the natural caution and clarity which a true leader holds is not present in our friend Zero." Vile scoffed, and for a moment Sigma thought he caught a glimpse of a smirk under his helmet.
"In other words, he's not like you." Sigma nodded proudly.
"I like to think I am the best Hunter." Vile raised a hand.
"Excuse me, but you led a revolt against the Hunters, boss. How can you still be one of them?" Sigma chuckled.
"Oh, VILE. Stop thinking so simply, and look in the grand scale of things. The Hunters we once were persecuted reploids humans thought dangerous. But when we became maverick, the truths were shown to us. HUMANS are the true danger. They have poisoned their earth, ruined their land, infested every pore of the planet. They try now to repent for their ways, but it is too late. A far greater penance is required, and it is our job to do that. For unlike humans, only reploids belong. We are clean, our hands and our lineage as pure as the purest spring river. We used to hunt the wild. Now, we hunt the killers."
Vile lowered his hand, whistling softly.
"Sigma, you sure got a way with words." Just then, Velguarder came trotting in the room, and whined softly up towards Sigma. Sigma winced at the sound.
"VELGUARDER! STOP WHINING!" The robotic dog stopped whining, and cowered to the ground. Sigma waved his hand. "Why does the fiercest fighting animal I have ever known have to be so much like a puppy? Vile, go take Velguarder for a walk. You know what kind I mean." Vile chuckled.
"The kind where I take a body bag instead of a poo bag?" Sigma cackled evilly.
"That is exactly the one I mean." Over in the corner, Velguarder picked up the tone of their voices, and his eyes glowed fierce red with excitement.
He was going to go hunt some prey.
For the past few minutes, X had been hurtling up an elevator shaft, carried by a lift with a mind of its own. The roof of the lift had been removed, which meant everything stood a chance of hitting it.
As he screamed in fear and dashed out of the way of another obstacle, he knew why. Spiked obstructions would stick out of the shaft wall every few feet or so, then retract so the lift could continue upwards. But while they were extended they meant to grind any riders into dust. The speed at which a person needed to avoid these traps was incredible, and X knew that Boomer had tailored the traps to nearly match his own maximum.
And X couldn't avoid them, because he had to stay on the lift. To even approach the wall was suicide, both because of the speed at which he was traveling, and the thick layer of metallic spikes Boomer had placed.
"And on top of it all, the crazy lunatic has the nerve to send his dad blasted troopers after me!" X grumbled. With all the threats he faced, he had come across one very simple answer to solve the problem.
He'd activated the Powered-Up Rolling Shield a while ago, and its thick energy barrier was strong. Strong enough to destroy the wandering forces which flew down to pester him, and leave him time to worry about handling the rest of the ride up. But what kept unnerving him was the fact he didn't quite get used to having foes charge at him and not do anything. He always expected the blow, but each time it was not enough to make a dent, and the small amount it used was replaced within instants. X had to agree that this system of protection worked wonders, and now he knew why Arm hadn't worried much about him.
Or at least until his absorbing shield was fried to bits by an Electric Spark.
X dodged the last spike platform which jutted out, and then the lift slowed to a halt. As it slowed, X checked his surroundings. The roof itself was spike lined, and he had a very frightening thought.
"Jesus Christ!" X yelped as he dashed out the door, and not moments too soon.
For as he left the shaft, the idle platform slammed up the last few feet into the ceiling, and X heard the crunch of metal against metal. He shook his head, and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"I'm getting too paranoid here." But X knew that paranoia was the only thing keeping him alive.
Zero continued to clamber up the side of the building, but by this time he was getting very fatigued. It had been a long climb, one for the record books almost.
"Reploid saves world by being first Karashita Climber." Zero chortled. He was going to need the biggest keg Hazil had after this mission-either that, or kill a maverick very soon. Either way, he needed to relieve his tension, and beating up on Remote Controlled robots wasn't doing it.
But there was a light at the end of the tunnel, or rather at the top of it. Zero hauled himself over the railing, and stood victorious on the walkway which housed the Shield Generator. At the end of a very long series of internal corridors, Zero would find his target, and accomplish phase one of the project. But a maverick troop rounded the corner, and then blinked in surprise at Zero. The Crimson Hunter gave a wry smile and raised his Buster.
"Ahh. Fresh meat." The troop almost began to scream, his widened eyes giving way to fear. But he had barely gotten a pip out before white hot plasma smashed him in the head. As the now decapitated body fell to the ground, Zero breathed the air deeply.
"A few more kills like that and I'll be happy again." Zero checked his Buster's charge, and let it begin to rise for the next foe. With a cheery whistling of 'Hogan's Heroes' Theme Song, Zero began to tromp his way along, blasting away foe after foe.
And then, a glistening, pulsating piece of machinery stood in his way. Zero raised his Buster, and fired the shot.
As the core components began to melt away, the glowing lights faded into blackness, and the generator shut down. Zero could hear the hum in the room fade away, and then he raised his comm to life. No static whatsoever.
"Zero to base. Cain, inform the flight they've got a clear shot." A loud roar of a laugh ripped over the comm, and then Cain spoke.
"Will do, Zero. Fantastic job!" Zero flipped the comm off and shook his head.
"No, Cain. It's not fantastic. It's required." Zero turned his Buster off.
"Now I just gotta get out of here before this whole place goes kaboom!"
"Base to Delta Leader, come in Delta Leader." The firm voice rang over the airwaves, and four high speed jet aircraft belonging to the World Defense Committee popped out of their circling. The lead craft moved ahead, and the pilot, his face unseen hit his helmet's comm.
"Roger that, Base. Please report."
"You are go for your bombing run. I repeat, you are GO." A wistful smile came over the hidden jet jockey's face.
"Roger, Base. Delta Leader out." He flipped off the transmission, and then hit his squadron's frequency.
"All right, boys. Base has given us the green. Come in behind me, and fire when I do. We're gonna roast those maverick bastards real good." Each pilot clicked his comm in response, and then the jets turned about towards Karashita Tower.
Time was fast running out for X.
"What?!!" Boomer yelped in amazement. A bleeping monitor had drawn him over, and what he found it bleeping about was something he didn't like to hear.
"Shyte! The Generator's down." Boomer grabbed his comm and tuned it in to his workers.
"Hey Siv, you there? WHAT THE DEVIL IS WRONG WITH THE GENERATOR??!! Siv- SIV, YOU THERE?!!" Boomer was getting frantic now.
"I think he's dead, Boomer." Boomer's eyebrows went up in surprise and he swiveled to look behind him. There stood X, a placid look on his face, but his Buster whining as it gained its charge. Boomer's eyes burned.
"X. I should have known you'd show up too." X nodded, but he returned the icy stare.
"Considering what you've done, I think the action's appropriate. And Boomer-if you wanted your Heart Tank, I've got it." Boomer's eyes went up in surprise again.
"But only my Boomerang Cutter can get to that!" X shrugged.
"You can do a lot with an ice sled and an ingenious mind." Boomer growled.
"How dare you! What makes you think you can come in here and just upstage me?" X chuckled.
"Boomer, you joined the wrong team. And now, you gotta die." Boomer's eyes narrowed, and his hand slowly crept up towards his head.
"Fine. I suppose your HUMAN superiors gave you that order. So X, how does it feel to be a murderer?" X shook his head.
"Boomer, I possess a clarity of thought now I never had. You all forfeited your lives the day you went maverick, and therefore I am no murderer. But you…you killed Hunters in cold blood. If anyone knows what it's like to be a murderer, it's you and your maverick friends." X's words were meant as he said them, and Boomer saw that X had become the one thing he despised the most;
A Hunter. Boomer nodded.
"Well, if it's gonna be that way, X. I'm sorry it had to come to this." X gave the slightest of nods.
"I'm sorry, too." Boomer's hand flashed with lightning speed, pulling his Cutter off the top of his head and flinging it at X in the sharpest, fastest arc he could manage. X leapt up onto the wall, and the Cutter swirled about harmlessly before returning to Boomer. Boomer grabbed it in midair, and then looked up at X in annoyance.
"I see you don't even fight." X chuckled.
"You think so, eh?" X hopped back down and unleashed his plasma blast, the massive purple wave of destruction. Boomer's eyes widened for a moment as he gaped in awe at it, and then he smirked.
"Trying out an old tactic, are we? Too bad it doesn't work here." Boomer faded in a blur, and X could not trace where he had gone. Boomer had used his warp boots to vanish away from the attack, which smashed into the wall and left a gaping hole. X fervently twisted his head about, looking to where Boomer might be.
But he felt the displacement of air behind him, and instantly knew he was in trouble. Before he could react, Boomer had grabbed him in the powerful Dead Lift of his Cutters. Boomer laughed evilly, curdling X's blood.
"I could kill you right now, you know. Slice you in half-" Boomer snapped his fingers. "-Like that!" X grunted against the squeeze on his chest.
"So why don't you?" Boomer chuckled.
"Oh, I want to have fun with you before I send you to meet your maker."
"My creator's dead, Boomer." Boomer chuckled.
"You catch on fast, don't you? Just not fast enough." Boomer braced himself, and then flung X headfirst into the ceiling. X tried to scream, but as his entire body was slammed into the metal surface, he almost blanked out. Stars danced before his eyes, even with the protection his new helmet gave him. X's gravity outweighed his position in the ceiling, and soon he was plucked downwards, collapsing on the floor in a heap. Boomer laughed, the laugh bouncing about the room and disorienting X even more than he already was. He tried to stumble to his feet, but then a spindly leg kicked him back down. X grunted at the blow, and checked his weapons.
This bastard was going down.
Zero continued to run through the maze of Karashita Tower, firing away at what resistance he found along. But for the most part, he knew X had already traversed it. Because every once in a while, he'd find a pile of scrap which was still warm. Zero smiled warmly, knowing X would not die this day like the rest of the 17th had.
"Now he just has to take down Boomer and come out of it alive." Zero said. "And after he pulls that off, we gotta get out of here before those bombers strafe this place to slag!" For those reasons, Zero continued to dash his way through the tower. He would arrive as fast as he could, to either help X or warn him to warp out-or both. It was a little foolish on his part, Zero knew. The most logical course of action would be to warp out of the tower now, and leave X with his part of the mission. That way, at least one Hunter would survive.
But something had been changing inside Zero when X joined the Hunters and he had become the leader. A sense of tenderness, of caring and worry for his teammates which he had not held before was very prevalent, and as much a part of him as the slashed Z on his shoulder, or the horned helmet which he wore. He would do his damndest to make sure X made it out alive.
Zero knew X would do the same for him.
"Dodge this, you warping maniac!" X screamed, dashing towards Boomer in a move of pure desperation. He jutted his Buster forth and let loose of the shot, but Boomer stepped aside with nimble footing and easily avoided it. Boomer smirked and lowered his head to grab X, but X lifted his right hand, balled it into a fist and slammed it into Boomer's jaw.
The impact was severe, and Boomer's greatest defense was his speed. The blow sent him reeling, but it was nothing compared to the plasma flurry which X unleashed upon him afterwards.
"Try to dodge my shots, willya?" X grunted as he pumped blast after blast. Then Boomer screamed in rage and dashed aside, getting away from the flow of fire. Then he blinked out, and X dashed towards the close wall. He leapt onto the wall and began to charge his Buster again, waiting for Boomer to come into range.
Boomer blinked back into normal phase soon enough, just below X. He grabbed his Cutter and threw it up, but X dashed off the wall and ran towards the other one. He had to keep charging his Buster for this trick to work, but if Boomer would try the same trick again, it would do wonders.
Sure enough, Boomer blinked out, and appeared below the clambering X.
"You can't run, boy!" Boomer bellowed angrily. He grabbed his Cutter which swiveled back to him from the earlier throw, and lobbed it up again. But X smiled widely as he switched to the Storm Tornado. At the maximum charge his Buster held, he could throw the ultimate version at Boomer. He let loose of the trigger, and the monsoon erupted.
The massive purple, plasma laced blast of wind bore downwards on Boomer, slamming his light frame swiftly and powerfully onto the ground. His breath was blasted out of him, and Boomer was left gaping in surprise at the ferocity of the attack. But that was not all it did. The Boomerang Cutter which had been arcing upwards was now thrown back towards the now immobile Boomer, pushed by the force of the gale and heated to devastating proportions by the plasma. The Cutter sliced downwards, hacking away at the thin layer of armor covering Boomer's chest, and then sticking in it roughly, a knife pinned in the wound. X jumped down from his mount and stood beside Boomer. Boomer gasped for a few moments, but then he blinked out. X was surprised, for he didn't think Boomer could recover that fast. But he obviously had, for a dash-enhanced arm slammed into his back, sending him sprawling against the wall.
"YOU STUPID PRICK!" Boomer roared angrily. He was bleeding, and it was obvious to X he was wounded. But he was the toughest bird of the Hunters when he was still with them, and he still had that stamina. It would take more than one fancy trick to pull him to his deathbed. Boomer grabbed X by his neck, holding him aloft. With determination and sheer hatred, he ripped his Cutter from his chest and held it up against X's throat. "I should kill you right now, you know. I think I will." Boomer muttered angrily, but X did not hear him clearly. It was nothing but buzzing, and an idea borne out of desparation flashed into his mind. It was complex, dangerous, but if he did it right, he would win this fight. Using his internal commands, he transferred all the energy of his three Sub-Tanks into one of them, ignoring the blaring overload warnings. Then, he switched to the Rolling Shield and fired a blast. Because it was pushed aside from Boomer, it did not hit him right away. It merely rolled along the floor with its speed, then bounced off the wall and came rolling back to where it had been fired. Boomer snorted hot exhaust on X's face, getting very close and slowly drawing a line across X's throat, drawing just the slightest hint of blood.
"Now, you die Hunter." X chuckled.
"Other way around, maverick." Boomer's eyebrows raised up in surprise at the comment, but he did not follow where X's eyes were focused;
Just behind continued the unnoticeable ball of energy which composed the Rolling Shield. It blurbed up off of a piece of broken floor, then slammed into Boomer's back. The blow it delivered set Boomer off balance, causing him to begin to fall backwards. At that moment, X opened his chest compartment and pulled out the single, overhcarged Sub-Tank. Freed from Boomer's grasp by the Rolling Shield's blow, He pulled up his Buster and blew away the last vestiges of armor, leaving Boomer's microfusion generator tank open to full daylight, with its many ports puffing out the remains of the nearly wasteless conversion. Boomer never had time to react as X jammed the Sub-Tank's feed port into Boomer's microfusion emergency matter port and the flow to feed.
The densely charged energy, thrice as strong as one poured into the microfusion tank was so strong, it melted away the port. Blaring warnings instantly flared to life in Boomer's systems, wailing about the imminent explosion. And Boomer, engulfed in his own body's fire could do nothing to stop it. He didn't even have time to scream as a month's worth of operations energy became one with the fusion reaction, overloading it and then exploding outwards in nuclear fire.
X was thrown backwards by the intense force of the fusion blast, thudding against the wall with a sickening carronncch. He managed to keep his eyes open for one moment, until Boomer's Cutter embedded itself in his arm. X, so weakened by the battle, not to mention the explosion as well, instantly passed out. But as his consciousness blinked into stasis, a single thought ran in his mind, and he soundlessly mouthed the words he could not say.
"I won." Just as X's optics faded, the eyelids shutting, a loud tread was heard outside. A forceful hand smashed the door aside, and Zero came into the room. His eyes widened in fear as he saw his partner.
"Oh my God-X!!" Zero ran up to him, shaking him vigorously, all to no avail. X was out like a light. Zero shook his head angrily. "Goddamnit, didn't I tell you not to be a hero?!" But his anger turned to fear as he heard a very familiar whine above him. The jet squadron had arrived.
"Jesus F-ing Christ, X!! We gotta get the hell outta here NOW!" Zero screamed, punching his warp signal to life. He clutched X to him furiously, hoping the warp cornea would include X's body within the field. Then, everything went fuzzy as he was disassembled and blasted through air as particles of matter and energy, a blue beam merging with his red.
And then all of Karashita Tower exploded in the bomb's furious incendiaries.
"X, Goddamnit! WAKE UP!" X was jolted from his dreamy state as a rough hand slapped him across the face. His blurred optics whirred into focus, and he saw a nervous Zero looking down at him in worry.
"Hey, Zero." X muttered, smiling lightly. "Did we do it?" Zero nodded, his worry disappearing into a frown.
"Yeah, we did it. AND YOU ALMOST GOT YOURSELF KILLED!!" X chuckled.
"In other words, I acted like you." Zero almost slapped him, but then the tension broke and he laughed, a long laugh that made Zero feel cycles younger. Wipng his eyes, Zero nodded.
"You'll be all right." Hazil walked up to him, his medical data on the datapad in his hand. He looked at X strangely. X blinked, then spoke to the doc.
"What's up, Hazil?" Hazil shook his head.
"According to these scans, you received fusion burns!" X nodded.
"Well, I kinda did, you see. I put all of my Sub-Tank energy in one of them, and then I plugged it into Boomer's microfusion tank-"
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Hazil screamed, his hair standing on edge. "YOU NEARLY GOT YOURSELF KILLED!" X chuckled.
"If I hadn't acted, I would have been dead anyway. It seemed like the best idea at the time." Hazil fumed.
"Great. You RUINED my present. You better have brought back that scanner Boomer took." X coughed.
"Err, I didn't see it." Hazil's eyes flashed pure fire.
"Great. You wanna take this here probe and stick it up my exhaust pipe while you're at it?" Hazil turned around, and rolled out the door. "Goddamn rookies, I don't get no respect!" X looked at Zero, who shrugged.
"Hey, he's a doctor. Lawyers go to hell, and all doctors are grouchy. It's a common thing. I'm pretty sure he's got a golf function in that box of his body somewhere too, if I looked." X sighed.
"I'm pretty wiped." Zero nodded, patting X on the head.
"You did well. I want you taking a VERY LONG nap. After all you've been through, it's mandatory." X nodded.
"You got it, boss. What about you? Aren't you going to snooze for a while?" Zero shook his head, a weary head.
"I'm the leader of the Hunters, namely you and me now. I have to make sure everything stays well while you get fit for the next mission." X lay back down, and shut his eyes. Zero got up and began to walk out the door, but then X said something to him.
"Zero-thanks for saving my bacon today." Zero froze, and turned around. He gave a tender smile to X, and gave a curt reply.
"You're welcome, X. Sleep well." Zero walked out the door, and X was left to his thoughts.
Zero was ever so slowly becoming someone X saw as a friend. And as X dreamily dozed off in his safe haven, he knew that he would go anywhere with Zero.
Even into Sigma's lair.