MEGA MAN X: THE SOUND OF MAVERICKS
By Erico
PROLOGUE
Just another routine mission for the Hunters. Another boring, easy going 'can't believe I get paid to do this' mission.
A shot blasted the building overhead, and Bastion ducked down, using his wings for added protection as the rubble cascaded on his head.
"Yeah, right." Bastion grumbled, raising his Powerstorm wings again.
He was with Zero, in a joint operation for a change. The X-Buster half of the 21st had joined Zero's elite saber Unit #0 in what might be construed as desperation. But then, these were desperate times.
Amongst the aftermath of Sigma's final defeat, and the Fifth Maverick Uprising being quelled by the efforts of X, Zero, Bastion and Wycost, the Global Council had been examining the Hunters for disbandment. Crises would pop up from time to time as they would, but gone was the sheer dread of a massive uprising. Head nor tail-nor file-of Sigma had been seen for a full year, and keeping that many Hunters in operation was considered to be a danger, as well as a waste of money.
X was off in front of the council at this very moment, discussing the Hunter's survival with the council heads. Bastion wished he had it that easy.
Zero was also ducking down, but the glare in his eyes was a bit wilder. A wide grin of insanity was plastered across his mug as he held his saber carefully. Unlike the calm Bastion, Zero was a rash fighter, quick to the weapon and not to reason. But he was good at his job, and besides that, a good saber instructor.
Bastion gave a slight nod of his head to the superior reploid before glancing over. Their troops were giving heck, but the power they were putting out was very little in comparison to that the mavericks were using.
By some sheer plod of luck, the mavericks this time around were thinking straight, and had managed to break into a weapons depot close by. Now they were lumbering about in the safety of tanks and 'mechs, laughing their fool heads off and taking potshots at the pinned Hunters. Bastion shook his head, and his hair bounced softly.
"Not good, Zero. This is not good." Zero looked over and chuckled.
"Is it ever? Even if they aren't Sigma's, don't underestimate them. But I do agree with you that unless something's done soon, they'll have us surrounded."
The rumbling tanks were evidence enough, and Zero chuckled. "Hey, clear away for a sec while I power up my Rakuhouha." Bastion grimaced.
"Geez, you aren't kidding." He whistled to his troops and motioned to Zero with a hand downthrust. The signal was quite clear, because the Rakuhouha was a trademark Zero move everyone knew about. Bastion had his own idea of a plan in mind, and he blasted up into the air.
The tanks stopped and began to raise their cannons, but Bastion saw them coming. He maneuvered in close with the Powerstorm's jet Thrusters and brought his saber to life. Hacking the barrels off, the plasma cannons became useless stumps of metal. Bastion laughed.
"Straight shot, like hacking duck's heads off in a row!" Now that the tanks were sitting ducks, Zero jumped out from behind cover and unleashed his own furious attack. He threw the energy pellet in a huge arc, aiming it directly between the twin tanks that threatened him. With Bastion clear of the blast, the tanks soon became riddled by the holes of the burning multiblast.
But even that wasn't all the foes. A bunch of 'Mechs were still on the loose, and the ones which scared Bastion the most were those blasted Hawks.
"A bloody fine idea giving those missiles. BLOODY FINE!" Bastion screamed. He continued to zoom in circles, but the pair of missiles were only drawing closer. He shut his eyes and realized that for once, a maverick had gotten the better of him. It had happened before, and then Wycost had saved his bacon. Too bad the green Hunter was still moping back at base with sentry duty.
But something else stopped the missile.
A falling individual hacked the missile in half, separating the warhead from the booster in one easy hack. Bastion landed safely and turned around, prepared to thank Zero.
Instead, he got to see a pair of reploids standing in blazing blue and yellow armor. One was taller than the other, but looked calmer. The short one twirled his saber around-not just any saber, but a DUAL SABER?! And the big one had a piece like that as well. How the devil did they manage to pull that trick off?
"Dang-who the heck are you guys?" The short one turned around and looked at Bastion very slowly, before smirking and shaking his head.
"Better than you, Hunter. Keeping in the air while those Hawks are operational is a bad move on your part. We have our own job to do, so scuze us, bub. Come on, bro!" As soon as they had appeared, the twin reploids dashed off away from Bastion, taking out a Hawk 'Mech as they went before finally warping to somewhere else. Zero plodded behind the shaken Bastion and nudged his shoulder. Bastion turned around.
"Who were they?" Zero shrugged disgustedly.
"Beats the heck outta me, but they're not new. They've popped up on a few of my missions as well, Bastion. My advice is to keep away from them. They're usually more trouble than assistance." Bastion nodded.
"Good advice." He fired off a shot from his Powerstorm's internal shrapnel pack, turning a nearby 'Mech into flaming scrap. "I think that's all of them." Zero looked around for a long moment before finally consenting to nodding his head.
"Yup. And no damage taken for once. To any of the troops." Bastion grumbled.
"Thank God for small blessings. You call into HQ." Suddenly, one of Bastion's Buster troops by the name of Horace piped up from beyond the crumbling buildings and smoking tanks.
"Hey, Bastion! I think you better get over here." Bastion frowned, but dashed off in pursuit of Horace's voice. He stopped dead when he reached there.
Horace was leaning over a figure who lay almost dead, but Horace nodded.
"Reploid, boss. And still breathing." Bastion drew in a breath. It was no ordinary reploid. This reploid had little exterior damage, but the wear and pain on her face-
It was too much to bear. Bastion gingerly reached down and picked her up. The pink and neon blue colored vixen didn't groan or anything, but she was light in Bastion's arms. Her face, perhaps the most angelic he had ever seen seemed to scream out of torture, even in stasis. It haunted him.
Bastion looked over at Horace, who shrugged.
"Beats me, boss. I just found her here. Most likely she got scared stiff when the shooting started." Bastion lifted her up higher.
"Yeah-makes sense. With her weight and framework, she wasn't exactly built to fight, was she?" Bastion knocked the dreamy stare off of his face and shook his head.
"Well, come on then. We'd best get back to base. Hazil should take a look at this one."
The joint unit vanished into the sky, their warp trails all too evident, leaving behind the small battleground.
Oh, yeah.
Just another mission for the Hunters.
How wrong that would turn out to be.