Road of the Warrior, Part Four
Part Four-Lazarus

"Are you certain about this Shocker?" Sigma asked, annoyed.
"Positive. Doctor Cain unearthed the site only a few hours ago. I was able to...er, disable the archbots and claim the site for our own." Shocker replied. He was the newest of Sigma's lieutenants, and he had often shown how green he truely was. However, now he had something his master would certainly be interested in. He brushed off the dirt around one of the panels, revealing a symbol that made Sigma's eyes widen.
"The symbol of the Tyrant!" he cried.
"Exactly. This is Skull Palace. From here, he ruled the world...and, when it suited him, he destroyed it."
"The Tyrant, they called him." Sigma said as he and his small contingent of Reploids walked into the remains. "He tried to bring about the mechanical age. He is the greatest martyr for our cause, even if he was a carbon."
"Well spoken, m'lord." Vile said.
"Well spoken indeed." a voice came from in front of them. In the dark, a bright light shone. They turned their eyes away for only a second, but then looked forward. There stood three robots, small by comparison to the Reploids, but each deadly looking. One had a large light on the top of his head. Another was smaller, this one blue and gold, with a large cannon on his arm. The last one was a massive red, yellow and black robot, who spoke to them once again.
"You have come here to help us?" he asked.
"Perhaps." Sigma replied. "Who are you?"
"I am called Guts Man. This is Flash Man, and this Bright Man. We have waited for others to come and help us. A long five hundred year wait."
"The Great War..." Shocker said under his breath.
"A long time, indeed. What sort of help do you require?" Sigma asked.
"We wish to know if it is safe on the outside. Has..."
"Yes. The after effects of the bomb are long gone."
"Excellent." Guts Man said with a grin. "You are like us. Come, you must be witnesses."
"To what?" Shocker asked.
Guts Man laughed. "You shall see. Come, Lazarus awaits."
The Reploids followed without question. As soon as they left, Mega Man X and Zero came out of the shadows.
"How'd you know this would happen, gramps?" Zero asked.
"With Doctor Cain missing and me hearing about this site, I knew Sigma would be interested. C'mon, let's stop them."

"Lazarus?" Vile asked as they walked into the huge chamber.
"Indeed." Guts Man replied. The lights suddenly sparked to life, revealing several capsules with robots inside. Shocker walked over to one and touched it. Within seconds, he had all the material data.
"EMP shielding." he said.
"Yes. All of us tried to make it back here." However, when the EMP hit, the circuits that were supposed to reactivate us failed. Until the archaeologists came and restored power. Myself and my two brothers were activated and saw to the repairs of the other circuits. After, of course, a more pressing duty."
"Sorry, but I'm afraid that will have to wait too!"
"X and Zero." Sigma said, spinning around. "Why am I not suprised?"
In reply, X and Zero fired their cannons at the Reploids. Sigma staggered back as a direct hit impacted.
"I've been waiting for this, X!" Vile cried, and fired his cannon. X leaped into the air, dodging the blast, then sprung off the wall behind him and tackled Vile. He jumped back, poised to strike again. Suddenly, however, the capsule behind him opened and a large sheer sliced through his arm. Easily, the arm with his MegaBuster was sliced off.
"X!" Zero cried then jumped to his friend's side. By the time he arrived, more capsules were opening, each one of the robots coming out firing at X. In fact, none of them seemed to be targeting him.
"Zero," X said beneath the hail of fire, "Get out of here!"
"No way!" Zero shot back. "I'm not abandoning you, geez!" "I hate to do this, but I've got no choice." X then reached up with his good hand and activated Zero's emergency transporter.
"You bas..." Zero began, but quickly disappeared. X closed his eyes as his systems registered more and more damage. These robots were more powerful than anything he'd ever seen. Sigma smiled as X was pummelled.
"Stop at once!"
With the voice, all of the robots stopped firing. Sigma looked at all of them, annoyed.
"Why did you stop? Destroy X or I'll..."
One of the robots, obviously designed after the knights of old, reared back his mace. He targeted one of Sigma's lieutenants, Agile, and fired. The mace ball ripped through him, totally destroyed him.
"Or you'll do what?" Guts Man asked. The Mavericks turned to him. Beside him walked a man in a grey cloak. He drew it back, revealing slicked back black hair and a neatly trimmed goatee.
"From now on," the man said with a grin, "All of you Mavericks will be doing as I say."
"And who are you to command us?" Sigma demanded.
"I," the man said with his German accent, "am Doctor Albert Wily."
With that, all of the Mavericks dropped to their knees.
"That's better."

"While you are scrap metal compared to my old enemy, I have always wanted to destroy some version of my old foe." Wily said with a grin. "You're close enough."
"Go ahead. The other Hunters will avenge me."
"They can try. My robots are far more advanced than Cain's Reploids. You see, I hate to disillusion you, X, but Doctor Light's body was so devastated by the radiation poisoning from my bomb, he had no time to rebuild you properly. You, X, are nothing more than a hobbled collection of substandard parts. And all of your little playmates are exactly the same. With the facilities Sigma can provide me, and all of my designs, it will be child's play to conquer this world. I knew exactly how long it would take for that bomb to be dissipate.
"That's why I leaked my plans to Light. I knew he would evacuate the planet, and he would remain here, trying to fix things until the bitter end. I was able to send one of my robots to wipe all the data from his computers. With his lab in shambles, he was only able to reconstruct his finest creation with technology far below his old standards.
"By the time the nuclear bomb's damage had been undone, I knew the Lazarus Chamber would restore my body from the damage it received, as well as reverse my age to an acceptable level. What would be the point of taking over the world if I couldn't enjoy it for very long?"
"Five hundred years?" X asked.
"Immortality has a price," Wily said, "And besides, it took a while to recover properly from a large hole someone had planted in my chest."
"It doesn't matter. We can stop you..."
"I'm certain you can try." Wily shot back. "Or the others can. Your time, though, is up. Guts Man, you may have the honors."
X refused to close his eyes this time. He would meet his fate bravely. He felt Gutsman's fists crushing his body, and more damage registering. He knew he was about to be destroyed. He was silent, not wanting to give Wily or Sigma the satisfaction of hearing him cry out.
"Aaargh!" Guts Man cried out as the blast ripped through him.
"You!" Wily cried. "But how could you..."
"I might ask how you're still alive." the robot shot back. He leaped over to X and grabbed him. His optics detected the black and orange blob, but he had no idea who it was or why he was helping him. He seemed to be the same size as Break Man, but it certainly wasn't him.
A blast came from the ground. Much to X's suprise, the robot swung him in front of it. His systems began shorting out one by one, and then all went black.
The robot knew X was gone. But he had been told that would be for the best. After all, they only needed his memory circuits. With that taken care of, he teleported away.