THE TENTH DISK
By blackhart
copyright MM Abacus Fiction, revised 6/26/2001
Chapter One
X
The year is 21XX, and five years after my supposed destruction of Sigma,
the most powerful Maverick ever to live. With several mighty bursts of
plasma energy from my arm cannon, the omnipotent Sigma seemed to be defeated, but now his threat has arisen once again, in the form of three
parts of the Sigma virus (a computer virus was, of course, Sigma's natural
form): Epsilon, Delta, and Pi.
My name is X. Just X. That's all I can tell you, because that's all I know to call myself. I am a Reploid, a type of human/robot cyborg built with an
electronic brain which can reason and feel. As a Reploid, I am also able to
make any of my life's decisions for myself. I was created by Dr. Light, an old
scientist in robotics, who, in his lifetime, created about 7 powerful robots to
battle Dr. Wily's evil robotic creations. When I was completed, I was sealed in
a capsule, only to be released when absolutely necessary. Light felt that it
was too dangerous, at the time, to allow a free thinking robot to roam the
world. I'm much more powerful than any human, of course, and he was afraid
that my power could go to my head, I suppose.
Fast-forwarding, it's now a hundred years from then, from the fighting of
Wily's creations. All of Wily's robot men seem primitive, now that Reploids
have become far more powerful and more sentient. We have our own
governmental systems, Reploid colonies, and even political parties of our
own. However, most of us just try to act normal and blend in with humans,
and keep at peace with civilization. Mavericks are the flip side of the Reploid
coin. They're Reploids that have, somehow or another, been infected with a
computer virus called sigmae mavericus. It's the Sigma virus. It's been built
into several large and small robot bodies before, and has even developed its
own personality over time. My friend Zero and I have taken all of these
robotic incarnations of the virus out, gaining power with every blow to foil
Sigma's plans time and again.
The Maverick Hunters are a fairly small group of Reploids who make
it their aim in life to destroy Sigma and all his cohorts. Zero and I each
command a squad of Maverick Hunters that we've gotten to be particularly
chummy with: Unit #17 and Unit #0.
Anyway, until now, we've been taking a well-deserved vacation.
Thanks to me and Zero, all of Sigma's victims had either been drained of the
virus or destroyed. The robotic immune system naturally drains the virus
out after its ties to the victim are lost. We had nothing to suspect until
these three Mavericks appeared and began attacking. Without warning, we
were sent back into action. We hadn't expected the degree of importance
we'd be going up against this time until we got some of our scouts back from
the three fortresses. Several older Mavericks and more obsolete Wily-Bots
had been resurrected to form another of Sigma's armies, and when we
realized that he was again the cause of the problem, I went back to wearing
my X-Buster cannon, and Zero his saber. In three parts, Sigma's effects are
felt much more greatly, and each has built his own private army of
henchmen, composed of Wily-Bots and Mavericks.
Overall, Epsilon seems to be the one most in charge of the group, as
he has in his army the Maverick Vile, formerly Sigma's right-hand man,
Magma Dragoon, a Maverick Hunter-turned-Maverick, and the X-Hunters:
Serges, Agile, and Violen, from whom I was forced to recover Zero's body
parts once.
After reflecting all these facts in my mind, I remembered suddenly
that I was standing in the weapons bay. Zero came in and nudged out of my
trance.
"Y'okay, X?" he asked of me.
I shook my head. "`Course not, Zero, After what all has happened
to us, after all the lives that have perished under Sigma, you'd think he'd
quit, wouldn't you?"
Zero shook his head at me. "No, X. A Maverick doesn't care about
how much it has to sacrifice, as long as it gets the job done. I was a
Maverick at one time, if you recall. Trust me."
I nodded. "Anyway, you've got the heavy security today, right?"
He frowned a little bit suddenly. "Yeah... Somethin' the matter, X?"
"No, it's nothing," I said. "I'm just anxious, that's all."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just leave me the smallest amount of security you
can. I'll try to dodge as much as I can."
"Feelin' woozy?"
"A little disoriented, that's all. I'll be fine. It's Pi's fortress this
time, right?"
"Yeah. Broke into what we could around it, and now we can finally
take out the main core."
"What element's Pi based in?"
"Water, we've heard."
"Okay, I'll try an' round up an electric weapon of some kind from one of
her cronies before I go in. You'll be there next to me, right?"
"Right, X."
There was a sudden and unexpected pause of a beat or two, then
Zero spoke up again:
"Are you sure you're alright, X?"
I smiled. Zero had treated me nothing less than a brother ever
since I'd joined the Hunters. "Like I said," I pleaded, "just a little disoriented."
"I just worry about you, buddy," he said, putting a hand on my
shoulder. "My Z-Saber and I'll be sure to clean up as much of the security as
possible, but you've gotta find that package of disks, okay? Infiltrate while
we destroy. Clear?"
"As crystal," I said with a nod. The "disks" he was referring to was
a package of three CD-ROM minidisks, on which the Sigma virus's source code
was reportedly being stored in archives. There were ten disks total, with
three in each of Epsilon, Delta, and Pi's fortresses, and the last of which the
location remained unknown. It had supposedly been hidden by the armies of
Sigma's underlings, somewhere on the planet. Sigma itself was being revived,
but into what kind of monstrous body, we had no idea.
Our mission was to find these ten disks and destroy them, so that
we could be rid of the Maverick virus forever. A little peace in our world
would be nice, to say the least.
* * *
As I watched our troops' dropship hang above the roof of Pi's
fortress, I concentrated on the world around me, and gathered energy. I felt
my arm cannon charging up with plasma bolts, and I swirled my head around
quickly to find a beginning target.
This mission was to be as stealthy as possible until someone got
seen, then just, well, let all hell break loose, in a nutshell. I knew where I
could find the electric weapon I was gonna need, so I had to locate that Wily-
Bot first, before I went in for the disks. The name was Spark Man, a robot
with many miles on him. I had read of this guy in Dr. Light's journals years
ago. He could charge up an electric blast, then launch it at an enemy. He
was moderately speedy, but a little short on armor. That I was glad for. I
needed this mission to take as short of an amount of time as possible.
I spotted a small robot drone out of the corner of my eye which
lobbed energy particles into the air, dropping them onto an unwary target.
Hello, starter target, I greeted silently.
"Ready, Zero?" I hissed.
"On my count," he whispered. "One, two, three, go!"
I crept quickly to another stack of crates, glimpsing my target in
my peripheral vision. Readying that charge of plasma, I used my dash ability
to slide up to the `bot and peg it with a tag of fire before any alarm went
off. Parts exploded, and I was up one Maverick drone. Presently, I heard
some digitized voices buzzing, and heard "What was that?" faintly. Get
ready, X, I told myself. More targets approaching.
The charge of my blaster started again at my will. Small blue-and-
green translucent spheres swirled around the barrel, signaling the full
capacity of the charge function had been reached. I stepped out from behind
another wall of crates, turned a bit to meet one robot, then fired a blue-
white stream of plasma into its gullet. Another rushed toward me--no time
to recharge--I used my fist as a battering ram, sitting that one down quickly.
Wily-Bots charged out of the fortress's side entrance at the
others' cry. I recognized most of them: Ice Man, Flame Man, Ring Man, and
others. I jumped a robot at random, and ground him to iron filings with one
blast. The Wily-Bot had been much less powerful than I. These guys were
flimsy. I took out the others easily, wasting little energy.
Metal rubbish scattered itself all over the earth around my fighting
grounds, and I was set to go inside the fortress. Through another small
army of Wily-Bots my vision flew, to a security door closing. With a dash and
a leap simultaneously, I landed on the front stoop of that door. With a roll
under the falling metal portal, I smiled to myself, and stood up again once I
was in. I knew that Spark Man was stationed somewhere inside. He was soon
to meet his destiny.
By blackhart
copyright MM Abacus Fiction, revised 6/26/2001
Chapter One
X
The year is 21XX, and five years after my supposed destruction of Sigma,
the most powerful Maverick ever to live. With several mighty bursts of
plasma energy from my arm cannon, the omnipotent Sigma seemed to be defeated, but now his threat has arisen once again, in the form of three
parts of the Sigma virus (a computer virus was, of course, Sigma's natural
form): Epsilon, Delta, and Pi.
My name is X. Just X. That's all I can tell you, because that's all I know to call myself. I am a Reploid, a type of human/robot cyborg built with an
electronic brain which can reason and feel. As a Reploid, I am also able to
make any of my life's decisions for myself. I was created by Dr. Light, an old
scientist in robotics, who, in his lifetime, created about 7 powerful robots to
battle Dr. Wily's evil robotic creations. When I was completed, I was sealed in
a capsule, only to be released when absolutely necessary. Light felt that it
was too dangerous, at the time, to allow a free thinking robot to roam the
world. I'm much more powerful than any human, of course, and he was afraid
that my power could go to my head, I suppose.
Fast-forwarding, it's now a hundred years from then, from the fighting of
Wily's creations. All of Wily's robot men seem primitive, now that Reploids
have become far more powerful and more sentient. We have our own
governmental systems, Reploid colonies, and even political parties of our
own. However, most of us just try to act normal and blend in with humans,
and keep at peace with civilization. Mavericks are the flip side of the Reploid
coin. They're Reploids that have, somehow or another, been infected with a
computer virus called sigmae mavericus. It's the Sigma virus. It's been built
into several large and small robot bodies before, and has even developed its
own personality over time. My friend Zero and I have taken all of these
robotic incarnations of the virus out, gaining power with every blow to foil
Sigma's plans time and again.
The Maverick Hunters are a fairly small group of Reploids who make
it their aim in life to destroy Sigma and all his cohorts. Zero and I each
command a squad of Maverick Hunters that we've gotten to be particularly
chummy with: Unit #17 and Unit #0.
Anyway, until now, we've been taking a well-deserved vacation.
Thanks to me and Zero, all of Sigma's victims had either been drained of the
virus or destroyed. The robotic immune system naturally drains the virus
out after its ties to the victim are lost. We had nothing to suspect until
these three Mavericks appeared and began attacking. Without warning, we
were sent back into action. We hadn't expected the degree of importance
we'd be going up against this time until we got some of our scouts back from
the three fortresses. Several older Mavericks and more obsolete Wily-Bots
had been resurrected to form another of Sigma's armies, and when we
realized that he was again the cause of the problem, I went back to wearing
my X-Buster cannon, and Zero his saber. In three parts, Sigma's effects are
felt much more greatly, and each has built his own private army of
henchmen, composed of Wily-Bots and Mavericks.
Overall, Epsilon seems to be the one most in charge of the group, as
he has in his army the Maverick Vile, formerly Sigma's right-hand man,
Magma Dragoon, a Maverick Hunter-turned-Maverick, and the X-Hunters:
Serges, Agile, and Violen, from whom I was forced to recover Zero's body
parts once.
After reflecting all these facts in my mind, I remembered suddenly
that I was standing in the weapons bay. Zero came in and nudged out of my
trance.
"Y'okay, X?" he asked of me.
I shook my head. "`Course not, Zero, After what all has happened
to us, after all the lives that have perished under Sigma, you'd think he'd
quit, wouldn't you?"
Zero shook his head at me. "No, X. A Maverick doesn't care about
how much it has to sacrifice, as long as it gets the job done. I was a
Maverick at one time, if you recall. Trust me."
I nodded. "Anyway, you've got the heavy security today, right?"
He frowned a little bit suddenly. "Yeah... Somethin' the matter, X?"
"No, it's nothing," I said. "I'm just anxious, that's all."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just leave me the smallest amount of security you
can. I'll try to dodge as much as I can."
"Feelin' woozy?"
"A little disoriented, that's all. I'll be fine. It's Pi's fortress this
time, right?"
"Yeah. Broke into what we could around it, and now we can finally
take out the main core."
"What element's Pi based in?"
"Water, we've heard."
"Okay, I'll try an' round up an electric weapon of some kind from one of
her cronies before I go in. You'll be there next to me, right?"
"Right, X."
There was a sudden and unexpected pause of a beat or two, then
Zero spoke up again:
"Are you sure you're alright, X?"
I smiled. Zero had treated me nothing less than a brother ever
since I'd joined the Hunters. "Like I said," I pleaded, "just a little disoriented."
"I just worry about you, buddy," he said, putting a hand on my
shoulder. "My Z-Saber and I'll be sure to clean up as much of the security as
possible, but you've gotta find that package of disks, okay? Infiltrate while
we destroy. Clear?"
"As crystal," I said with a nod. The "disks" he was referring to was
a package of three CD-ROM minidisks, on which the Sigma virus's source code
was reportedly being stored in archives. There were ten disks total, with
three in each of Epsilon, Delta, and Pi's fortresses, and the last of which the
location remained unknown. It had supposedly been hidden by the armies of
Sigma's underlings, somewhere on the planet. Sigma itself was being revived,
but into what kind of monstrous body, we had no idea.
Our mission was to find these ten disks and destroy them, so that
we could be rid of the Maverick virus forever. A little peace in our world
would be nice, to say the least.
* * *
As I watched our troops' dropship hang above the roof of Pi's
fortress, I concentrated on the world around me, and gathered energy. I felt
my arm cannon charging up with plasma bolts, and I swirled my head around
quickly to find a beginning target.
This mission was to be as stealthy as possible until someone got
seen, then just, well, let all hell break loose, in a nutshell. I knew where I
could find the electric weapon I was gonna need, so I had to locate that Wily-
Bot first, before I went in for the disks. The name was Spark Man, a robot
with many miles on him. I had read of this guy in Dr. Light's journals years
ago. He could charge up an electric blast, then launch it at an enemy. He
was moderately speedy, but a little short on armor. That I was glad for. I
needed this mission to take as short of an amount of time as possible.
I spotted a small robot drone out of the corner of my eye which
lobbed energy particles into the air, dropping them onto an unwary target.
Hello, starter target, I greeted silently.
"Ready, Zero?" I hissed.
"On my count," he whispered. "One, two, three, go!"
I crept quickly to another stack of crates, glimpsing my target in
my peripheral vision. Readying that charge of plasma, I used my dash ability
to slide up to the `bot and peg it with a tag of fire before any alarm went
off. Parts exploded, and I was up one Maverick drone. Presently, I heard
some digitized voices buzzing, and heard "What was that?" faintly. Get
ready, X, I told myself. More targets approaching.
The charge of my blaster started again at my will. Small blue-and-
green translucent spheres swirled around the barrel, signaling the full
capacity of the charge function had been reached. I stepped out from behind
another wall of crates, turned a bit to meet one robot, then fired a blue-
white stream of plasma into its gullet. Another rushed toward me--no time
to recharge--I used my fist as a battering ram, sitting that one down quickly.
Wily-Bots charged out of the fortress's side entrance at the
others' cry. I recognized most of them: Ice Man, Flame Man, Ring Man, and
others. I jumped a robot at random, and ground him to iron filings with one
blast. The Wily-Bot had been much less powerful than I. These guys were
flimsy. I took out the others easily, wasting little energy.
Metal rubbish scattered itself all over the earth around my fighting
grounds, and I was set to go inside the fortress. Through another small
army of Wily-Bots my vision flew, to a security door closing. With a dash and
a leap simultaneously, I landed on the front stoop of that door. With a roll
under the falling metal portal, I smiled to myself, and stood up again once I
was in. I knew that Spark Man was stationed somewhere inside. He was soon
to meet his destiny.
