"So now what do we do?" Mega Man asked.
X's reply was unhesitant and firm. "You guys get to the surface. Zero and I will make sure the virus gets destroyed!"
Protoman shook his head. "There's no way we could just leave you guys here!"
X stayed firm. "Look, we knew the rules when we joined up with the Hunters. We both knew that there might be a battle we wouldn't get out of alive, and we've accepted that. But if you guys die, history as we know it will get screwed over, and nothing we've done so far will matter anyways. So MOVE!"
"No!" came a voice from behind the group. They all turned to see who it was. It was Dr. Doppler. He was breathing hard and had a hand on his chest, trying in vain to stop the circulatory fluids from leaking from his wound. "I will stop the virus. I know exactly how to do it. But the world needs you two still."
"How can we trust...?" Mega Man started to ask, but a hand clamped on his shoulder, stopping him. He turned to see that it was Protoman, who shook his head meaningfully.
"What about you?" X asked.
Doppler grinned ruefully before his body was wracked with coughs. "I'm dead anyway. Going a few minutes early isn't that big a deal. Now get out of here!"
"Never look a gift horse in the mouth, I always say," Zero said as he ran for the opening that Bass had created earlier.
Mega Man paused and slung Bass over his shoulder, which caused the black Bioroid to cry out in pain. "Sorry about that," Mega Man apologized. "No time to be gentle."
The group of robots charged through the underground fortress at top speed, with X in the lead. They all knew that they had a very slim margin of error, so none of them said a word. Not that much could have been said anyways. They were using all their energy to run.
Only when they reached the final ladder that would take them up to the surface did they relax. Mega Man, with Bass draped over his shoulder was the last to start up. Before his foot even stepped onto the bottom rung, however, a roaring noise filled his ears. He turned to see a huge fireball ripping through the hallways. "Aw crap," he muttered to himself before calling up to Protoman. "Hey bro! CATCH!" He shifted his grip on Bass so that he was holding him by the ankles and threw the black robot up toward the manhole with all his might. He easily cleared the surface and Protoman easily-if not exactly gently-caught him. Mega Man followed him up with a single leap.
Mega Man hit the ground at a roll and began running toward the shelter of the nearby Central Park. "C'mon, guys. It's time to move!" he called over his shoulder. None of them quite made it. A huge pillar of fire erupted from the manhole, and several others around the city, forcibly throwing the robots forward. None of them were especially injured, however.
"Now is it over?" Protoman asked.
Zero shook his head. "Knowing Sigma...I doubt it."
At that moment a huge fist erupted from the ground causing the entire group to scatter. "Sometimes bein' right ain't all it's cracked up to be..." Zero muttered.
Sigma slowly emerged from the hole he created, causing it to widen as he did so. The small group of Hunters and heros made a mad dash for the cover of the park. When they were sufficiently hidden, they turned to gasp in amazement at the form that their enemy now took. He was huge, a couple of stories high at least, though his form was still somewhat humanlike. He had cannons mounted in his shoulders, his lower arms, and thighs. And there was no doubt he had other hidden weapons besides. Sigma's typical bald, scarred face was fastened to the neck of this new body.
The Maverick leader laughed insanely. "Kaiser Sigma is back, and you cannot hide from me forever!" In an attempt to drive his opponents out or even destroy them, he launched a barrage of missiles into the park, tearing up a good portion of it. "You Hunters have ruined my plans for the last time!"
Fortunately, Sigma's shots were way off, so X and the rest were totally unharmed. Protoman turned to his brother. "But we're not Hunters," he teased in reply to Sigma's boast.
Mega Man grinned. "Then I guess we're still clear to ruin his plans, then."
"Count me in," X replied.
"And me!" chimed in Zero.
"And me!" said Iris.
Zero frowned. "Not this time!"
Iris' jaw dropped. "Whaaat?!"
Zero shook his head. "Listen," he said sternly. "Martial arts isn't gonna do squat against that thing," Zero pointed out at Sigma who was still talking to himself. Apparently he had lost it. "And you don't have a Ride Armor with you this time. You are staying here and keeping an eye on Bass for me." With that he turned and ran out into the open with the others.
Iris began fuming, but then felt a hand grip her wrist. She looked down to see Bass smiling kindly up at her-an expression that seemed to be quite out of place on his face. "Iris. Trust me on this one. Listen to Zero, and stay put."
Iris frowned again, this time in confusion. "But why...?"
Bass painfully sat up and leaned against one of the trees they were hiding amongst in order to get more comfortable. "I know my little bro better than anyone, X included. I think he'd do better in this fight if he knew you were in a relatively safe place."
"But..." Realization hit Iris like a ton of bricks. "He blames himself...doesn't he?"
"For your death?" Bass prompted. "Yeah, I think he does. I mean, he's been blaming himself for almost a year, now. You can't expect a miraculous return to change that right away. Don't worry, though. He'll get over it. Just take's time, that's all."
Iris smiled and sat down next to him. "You know, with an older brother like you, it's no wonder that Zero turned out so great." Iris leaned over and gave Bass a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."
Bass would have blushed beet red if he had been able to. He'd never realized that being one of the good guys would feel so...well...good. Makes me regret I hadn't tried it sooner...he thought to himself.
X, Mega Man, Zero, and Protoman slowly emerged from the cover of the trees. "What's the plan, X?" Zero whispered.
"We do the last thing Sigma would possibly expect us to do," X answered back. "We surrender." The others looked at him blankly for a second, but they gathered from his grin that he was up to something. "Just follow my lead." X stood at the head of the group, his hands held high. "You win Sigma. There's no way we could defeat you now. We give up. We are at your mercy."
Sigma blinked in surprise. "How very...dissapointing," he finally said with his evil grin. "You do realize, of course, that I have no mercy!" He aimed both arms down directly at X, point blank, and the cannons mounted on his wrists began glowing as he charged up the neccesary energy.
"Just what I was counting on," X muttered to himself. He lowered his hands to his sides as if to allow Sigma a better shot, but then he turned his palms up. Mega Man and Protoman, each on either side of him, saw the motion and instantly got what he planned on doing. The split second before Sigma opened fire, X shouted "NOW!" Mega Man and Protoman each leapt onto one of X's hands, who hurled the two smaller robots straight up into the air. Then he and Zero dove out of the way of the shot that would have fried them all.
Sigma had no time to react before they were on him. Mega Man dove at him from above and drove his Fire Sword into Sigma's shoulder, as Protoman pelted him with Flash Bombs. Zero leapt at the Maverick and slashed him a few times with his saber as X fired a rapid volley from his X-Buster.
The element of surprise had been on the good guys' side, but it didn't last long. Sigma easily swatted the attacking robots away and followed up with a barrage of missiles and energy beams. He damaged all of them pretty badly, but they still stumbled to their feet, ready to continue the fight. "Well...that went well," Protoman had to remark sarcastically.
"Yeah," Mega Man replied. "And to make matters worse, my Fire Sword's out of energy."
"So's my Flash Bombs."
Sigma began laughing again. "Face it, fools. You lose. I will destroy you now and then it will only be a matter of time before the human race follows!"
At that moment, several spinning blades flew in from seemingly nowhere, surrounded Sigma, then erupted into many pillar-like whirlwinds, trapping him. Tengu Man landed in front of the stunned brothers. "Hi, guys!" he said cheerfully, before anyone could respond. "Chip saw Siggy here on his City-Wide-Network-Thingie and thought you might appreciate some help.
"He was right," X spoke up. "Did anyone else come with you?"
"Take a look," Tengu Man replied and pointed down one of the streets.
The others turned to look and saw Colonel himself, on one of the high-class triranium hoverbikes, leading what seemed to be the entire squad of Maverick Hunters, each on a less expensive, less durable bike. Protoman grinned. "Looks like the cavalry's come...again."
At first, the battle seemed to be in favor of the Hunters, but as the minutes passed and the casualty list went up, it was apparent that Sigma's new Kaiser form was much more powerful than any he had in the past. "It's no use," one Hunter was saying to Colonel. "He's already taken out almost a third of the force already. There's no way we can keep this up!" Colonel was sporting some severe wounds himself. "I'm afraid you're right. We're going to have to fall back."
Everyone was surprised when a barrage of missiles plastered Sigma in the back. Everyone looked up and gasped. What they saw looked like a Ride Armor, but it was at least three times bigger than any at MHHQ. One arm ended in a fist, while the other ended in the Kangaroo's trademarked rotary drills. On it's shoulders and thighs were rocket launchers and it used its improved Hawk flight mechanisms to slowly descend to the ground. The cockpit was enclosed in a glasslike dome, and inside were two operators. Dr. Wily and Dr. Light. "Hi, Sigma. Fancy running into you here," Wily joked.
Sigma merely laughed. "Wily. You of all people should know that I am now invincible."
"Not true," Wily replied. "I built that body of yours so I know all of its weaknesses." With that, the new "Super-Mech" punched Sigma in the face, sending him reeling. The attack was followed by another punch with the drill arm, finished off by a barrage of missiles. Sigma growled and retaliated with a barrage of his own. When the smoke cleared, the mech was damaged and sparking, bus still very much active.
The fight went like this for a minute or so, before Dr. Light decided to put an end to it. "Albert," he said patiently. "You've had your fun, now lets finish this fight."
Wily grinned. "Yes, lets." With that, he and Dr. Light imputed one last set of commands into the controls of the mech. The drill arm began to spin and the motor began to rev. Before Sigma could grasp what was happening, the mech shot forward and impaled Sigma, causing sparks and motor oil to fly everywhere. Wily could not resist one last razz. "So long, Sigma. Hope you had a blast!"
With that, a metal covering slid over the dome, the back of the mech opened up, and Wily's trademarked blue and yellow saucer shot out of it, seconds before the mech exploded, taking Sigma with it. Sigma let out one last, drawn out "NOOOOOOOO!" before the fireball engulfed him completely.
Silence prevailed as bits of metal plastic and silicon rained over the battlefield. After a moment, the saucer landed and Dr. Light and Dr. Wily scrambled out of it. "That was fun," Wily commented. "We should do it again."
Dr. Light shook his head. "Not on your life." That was when he saw Mega Man, being helped to his feet by Protoman. "Rock!" He called as he ran over. "Are you alright? You look terrible!"
Mega Man had to laugh. "Don't worry Doc. I'll be fine. Just need a couple days rest, that's all."
In the minutes that followed, Dr. Light demanded to examine his robots immediately for any serious damage, Iris leapt into Zero's arms and he spun her around in an almost movie-like scene which caused X to pretend to stick a finger in his throat and gag, the wounded and dead were carted off by the med team lead by a Reploid named Lifesaver, and things seemed to be returning to normal, in general.
As a pair of medical drones carted Bass into one of the transports, Wily was yelling at him. "You idiot!!! How could you let yourself get put in a state like this!? I have half a mind to deactivate you!"
"Oh stuff it, Doc," Bass replied, though there was a hint of a smile on his face.
Rock watched the scene and had to laugh. "Well, it's nice to see that they're back to normal," he said to X who was standing with him.
"Yeah..." X responded, though his thoughts were elsewhere. Once again, Doppler was freed of the influences of the Maverick Virus, only to be destroyed. Once again, he and his best friend were forced to do battle. Once again, numerous humans and Reploids had given their lives for the cause. Still, things were not quite back to normal. There was still the matter of fixing the timeline. But at least they had won. And that was good enough for now.