THE TENTH DISK
By blackhart
copyright MM Abacus Fiction, revised 6/26/2001

Chapter Twelve

Zero

I stared into the darkness, half my expression surprise, half anger.
Sigma's cronies had done it--they'd brought Magma Dragoon back from the
dead. A cheap Reploid clone, I reminded myself. That's all he is. Don't let
appearances be so deceiving.
I activated my saber. We had to take him now.
Stepping further out of the darkness, his blue and red face was immersed
in light, letting every frowning scale show. Walking slowly up to him, I
swished my saber around in front of me. "Never thought I'd speak to you
again, old codger."
He spoke back. Yet another surprise. "Zero, it's been...far too long.
There is a chance for you to still reconsider, you know. Haven't you felt the
virus part of you calling to you? The master is calling you back, my friend."
My eyes turned from astonished to an angry glare in an instant. Swiping
my saber down and to the left quickly, I followed through. With a sudden,
unexplainable flash, my saber went through its target and returned to its
original position. Dragoon's right hand fell off with a spark.
"Does that give you any implication of my stand on Mavericks?" I asked
him, sending the saber spinning back towards the scabbard for a brief
moment and closing my eyes.
He rolled his eyes. "You never were very sensible about anything, Zero."
I opened my eyes, glared at him. "Need I take the other hand as well?" I
asked.
He roared in anger, throwing back his head and blowing a streak of fire at
me. I dodged, coming up behind him with a high roundhouse kick to the head.
He fell to the ground, where I buried my saber in his back and raked it up
through his head.
"That'll leave a mark," Hybric winced, averting his eyes.
From the darkness beyond us came a rasping voice, growling out a string
of words: "Very good, Hunters. You've played right into my parlor, and now,
it's your chance to take me on."
Two yellow eyes glowed in the darkness. I saw a sparkle of something,
then clusters of lights, held in metal frames from the roof, lit up the scene.
It was Epsilon, of course. The sparkling I saw were the disks, held in his left
hand. With a grand gesture, he whirled around, throwing the package high
into the chamber, whereit hung in a pale blue field.
My eyes turned back to Epsilon himself. He was somewhat wiry, but no
doubt fast. He was adorned with a set of gold and royal blue robes, which fell
from his shoulders past his feet. In his hand was held a tri-blade cutter, an
old weapon, signature to an antique Wily-Bot named Tengu Man. It was held in
the palm of the hand, and when squeezed, would open to form three very
strong, very sharp green blades: one pointing forward, and one on either
side.
"So this is Epsilon, Sigma's final guardian," X said from behind me.
"Are you surprised to find a Reploid as small as I to be the lord's second-
in-command?"
"Not really," X said back. "Just finally glad we've found you."
"I have a feeling that in less than five minutes, you will all be equally sorry
you've found me," he said with bitterness in his voice. "Prepare to meet your
doom!"
He threw off the robes, plucking an energy shield from a nearby control
panel. He held in in his free hand. X, Hybric, Khizarr and I braced ourselves.
Though he looked wimpy, with Sigma we knew appearances could definitely
deceive the mind. "Good luck," I growled. "You're gonna need it."