Induction (3 of 3)
Chill Penguin, master of icy snow and windswept wastes, and one of Sigma's original Maverick Generals and a former Hunter himself, rested quietly in his control room on the icy slopes near Tokyo. Suddenly, a black void filled the room. Penguin wasn't the brightest Maverick in the world, but he immediately leapt to a wall to try and avoid the swirling void. Upon touching the wall, though, the former heavy alloys seemed to turn into mud and suck him in. Penguin froze for a critical moment while he began to struggle, and then the blackness was sucked in to him. Ajax was dropped unceremoniously from the cloud as the last few traces of blackness were absorbed into the Maverick. Ajax lolled on the ground, barely cognizant.
Sigma's voice uttered from the portly, squat form, which surveyed itself critically. "Hmm, heavy armor, decent immobility attack. Of course, the original Penguin was perhaps the most predictable idiot I've ever seen as a Maverick. X managed to take him down with only some dash thrusters, no heart tanks, no sub tanks, barely even a warrior in body, let alone soul. Oh well, since this little piece of myself has yet to fully crack the Hunters simulators to activate any of my own bodies, it'll have to do. First, I can't remember, do cats hate ice?" Chill Sigma opened his mouth and breathed out a stream of icy air that locked the cat-bot into place. Now Ajax was truly in holiday colors, red, green, and the white-blue of the ice cloud surrounding him. Sigma kicked Ajax into a corner expertly and quickly buried the cadet in ice and snow. "That would probably be a no." Sigma shrugged. The cat had shown promise: brutality, speed, and cunning. But Sigma couldn't unleash his Virus quite yet.
Sigma had managed to slip a part of himself and his Virus into the Maverick Hunter battle computers thanks to the General and Double shortly before Repliforce had declared its search for a human-free society. The Maverick Hunters, showing their usual delightfully hair-trigger paranoid reaction, had attacked Repliforce at the first sign of possible hostilities. The most beautiful part was that Sigma had only needed to slip one Maverick into Headquarters to cause massive carnage to their support staff. Sigma himself probably should have stayed out of the area and then all of Repliforce would have ended up destroyed, rather than the tail ends integrated. Sadly, the chance to wipe out humanity had interfered with his better judgement, leading to his destruction, and the confirmation that he had been behind the recent political problems. Still, this portion of the Virus was unsure of where his main, core self was, but that was unimportant, he would succeed and be reunited with himself.
Now, he had gradually been absorbing more and more of the system into himself. He had lured a few hunters into small locked away areas and managed to infect them with a low-level version of the Maverick Virus that gradually grew up and through their systems. Now, he could begin to manipulate the primary simulator programs. Unfortunately, he couldn't introduce new players yet who weren't active in the scenario yet, and he doubted he would be able to go and find his most powerful body, the recordings of which were locked somewhere in the main computer. Still, there were many, many deactivated warriors lying in the linked simulator rooms. They lacked experience, and their weaponry wasn't as powerful as some, but X wasn't in the habit of wearing his Force Armor to the office, and most of the other Hunters power levels were similar to the cadets. Experience wasn't as necessary, as sheer brutal force would get quite a way through Headquarters before a response could be organized. Besides, Zero would be difficult, but the HQ was organized with long hallways conductive to hidden laser cannon to gun down Mavericks before people could get in the highly dangerous saber range. And it took X twenty minutes to install his Force Armor currently, or remove it. Without it, X wasn't very strong at all. While he could warp his armor shell off or on, installing the advanced systems at this point was a bit more difficult, since scientists were still working on figuring out Dr. Light's data transfer system that could install super-advanced systems in seconds. With X crippled by his pacifism and Zero crippled by his delight of knife-fighting in an environment that promised long ranges, Sigma figured he could heavily cripple the Hunters, and without X especially, the Hunters stock would plummet in the eyes of the public, especially if the Hunters went through an apparent civil war so soon after the Repliforce ugliness. Sigma had long since learned that it wasn't necessary to go and infect big guns. Minor terrorism and false clues worked far better in a paranoid environment. It was time to stir that particular pot a little more. Sigma was able to hack into a transmitter, short range, with his current lack of control, and send a message to a small cell in Tokyo.
Zero continued to watch a long drawn-out slugging match with lots of hit-and-fade runs on either side. In the actual simulator, the remaining active members were using similar tactics to slug their way to Penguin's fortress. However, far away from any Generals to control them, the drones were light on the ground, and they were making reasonably good time as they were lured closer in to Sigma. Outside the simulator, the same was about to occur.
Signas picked up the handset next to him in the dim, quiet control room before it could ring a second time. The human and reploid technicians required all their attention to make sure permanent harm didn't come to anyone in the simulator room. That second of distraction was all it took for Sigma to scramble the readouts a bit further, and stretch his tentacles of control deeper into the computers. Signas's face would have paled if at all possible, and he handed the phone over to Zero.
"Zero, this is Dr. Cain," said the leader of headquarters abruptly, "we have a serious problem. Maverick activity has been reported fanning out from a warehouse area here in town. They're headed towards the military docks and probably planning to pick up some firepower. They operated directly under our noses, and we do NOT need this kind of press right now. The Mavericks needed to be taken out five minutes ago, and short of time travel, I'll want them taken out now, and that means unit 00. Go to it. Warping authorization had already been logged."
"Damn," Zero cursed, "I'll want a recording of this, Signas. Right now, I've got a little specialty work to do." Zero grinned. Zero was a warrior, built and bred, and there was nothing like showing off his craft. Besides, these Mavericks, in some respects, had fractions of Sigma in them, so it was like killing the bastard who had gotten Iris and him exchanging blows. He quickly checked his saber's charge and quickly warping out in a gleam of orange particles.
Meanwhile, inside the simulator, the group were looking at a Maverick's idea of a winter wonderland. Alia had taken a look and summed it up rather succinctly, "What is it with maverick Reploids and explosives anyway?" Tiny contact explosives inside snowballs to sling around, modified bee bombers. A couple axe drones launched metallic disks full of explosives, and they were equipped with a matter generator portal that quickly brewed up additional explosives. Sharp, icy slick slopes and large pits full of spikes and energy generators meant anyone going for the general would HAVE to fight their way through the traps. The four Reploids shifted their vision back to more normal wide-range, lower zoom mode, similar to human levels but with a bit more clarity.
Damage had built up despite self-repair systems as systems were ground down. The four could really use an overhaul. The damage could be repaired, but it would require shutting down for a few days if they relied on their auto-repair. While most of the systems were on line, they weren't running at full efficiency. The external armor had been breached, and the delicate internals couldn't be handled as easily as armor repairs. So energy was low, and the four were moving a bit slowly. Still, equipped with their kind of firepower, it was relatively simple to carve a path through the drones, when one traveled with two rather heavily armed reploids, one armed with an area effect weapon, and a reploid with a few years of actual combat experience and was practically a walking tank.
Laser Wolf casually and almost lazily leapt through the air, his saber casually cutting through an exploding disk, and on the way down the glowing plasma beam slid through one of the rabbits, ready to fire a plasma bullet. Upon hitting the ground and sending some of the snow right up to plasma, he cut the energy beam and fired off a laser from one of the lenses in his chest, igniting the chuckling axe-bot into a small crimson explosion. The former Repliforce and current cadet howled in triumph. The three others applauded, as they had been picking off the bats and bees that seemed to have been some of Sigma's character pieces from the period.
The large installations had once housed volcanic sensors and regulators for the mighty Mount Fuji, but time had allowed more miniaturized pieces of equipment to fulfill the same function as the massive equipment sheds. Farther up the slopes, the newer, smaller sheds had been replaced. The massive buildings had remained, due to the massive expenses of construction meant taxpayers didn't want to expend the money to tear apart the heavily reinforced piping and walls.
Of course, most human soldiers armed with a decent plasma cannon could deal with the bats and Spikies and the small annoying hoverdrones. The big birds would probably give some trouble if you got hit by the disks and you weren't wearing battle armor, but still, Penguin had light defenses. The Hunters had been scattered, and Penguin was relying on the difficulty of the terrain. Without dash thrusters, it probably would have been. Still, even for people with damaged thrusters, it wasn't difficult, especially with Laser Wolf's state-of-the-art gripping technology. The others relied more on rapid jumping. Still, the giant rolling snowballs had been a bit of a surprise, sending Alia skidding back several feet before Jazz had caught her.
Bebop calmly ablated the snowballs with a few charged energy blasts. Jazz commented, "Tracking a fly from a mile, eh?"
Alia defended herself in a harsh tone, "I was looking for mavericks or drones. How was I supposed to know the ball was any different before it started drifting?"
"Easy, Alia," commented the dark blue, green, and black Reploid as he wasted another tiny snowball throwing droid. "No harm done really, and now we know what to look for. Still, we got soft. It's been a lot easier than the highway stage, no helicopters out of nowhere, no near-invincible mavericks. We should have been expecting a surprise or two," commented Bebop.
Laser Wolf agreed, "We started to see only what was in front of us. Remember, Penguin was a Hunter, and one of Sigma's chosen. He should not be treated lightly." The four nodded as the door to the inner sanctum opened in front of them. The group ducked back as a blast of air, within spitting distance of absolute zero, shot out from the rotating doorway.
Chill Penguin's voice, laced with amusement and a touch of sarcasm, rang out into the narrow corridor, "Zero always wondered why the Mavericks decided to continue manning their control systems for various activities instead of prepping an ambush when it was obvious the Hunters were about to knock on the door. Hope you enjoy this more difficult version."
"Clear this hallway, now!" commanded Laser Wolf in tones rivaling Penguin's heart. The four dashed out, right before Penguin slammed his way in from an ice ramp he had built on the floor. A hollow thud rang out as the irresistible force met the unmovable object of the forward gate into Penguin's sanctum. Jazz responded by sending a salvo of missiles down after the Maverick, who squawked in dismay as the explosions singed his heavy armor. Penguin belly-slid back down his corridor, but the Hunters weren't idiots enough to just stand and wait for the Maverick to hit them.
As the arctic ex-Hunter slid to a stop, the quartet opened up with the best blasts they could manage under the rules of engagement. A quick series of laser blasts flashed the ice-covered ground around the Maverick's feet to steam as Chill Penguin's defensive systems did their best to distribute the heat energy, pumping much of it into his feet. Four missiles smacked Penguin in the upper torso, starting to upset the portly bird's balance, which was finished off by a serious electrical jolt.
Penguin was obscured by smoke and the Reploid made hacking noises as the smoke got into his intakes, dropping the efficiency of his ice-maker and fusion generator. The hacking turned to laughter as the bird started walking away from them, concentrating the armor plates on his chest to deflect the level-one energy blasts that the four laid down. Penguin slammed one hand, weak by Reploid standards but still far stronger than any human, through some ice in the corner, dragging a bedraggled Ajax up. "Repliforce cover hostage situations?" teased Penguin.
Zero did another one of his mighty slashes, cutting deeply into a buffalo-style Reploid. Formerly a cargo-hauler for a small shipping company, this bison had excellent endurance, and was proving a bit much for city defense forces or most of the rest of his unit. Zero had sent the rest of Unit 0 to contain the small outbreak while the unit's leader struck into the heart of the formation. He had them outnumbered: Zero to five. These Mavericks had little combat skill. Zero frowned even through the rush of combat. Something was amiss. Not even Mavericks were stupid enough to waste themselves in anything this futile. Zero opened his priority channel to X, who answered immediately, probably hanging on the radio line to see if any Hunters would be carried back in pieces, if at all. "X, get your fighting duds on. Something is about to go down." Zero clicked off the radio, ready to get back to work.
Alia started to dump her next charge as Jazz and Bebop lowered their weapons. Laser Wolf, on the other hand, launched a full laser volley, knocking the cadet away from Penguin. The other three looked on in shock, and Laser Wolf explained, "The simulation is integral. I can understand the coaches putting in a warning, perhaps, but telling the simulated Maverick of Repliforce it can identify me as a former member? I don't think letting that Maverick touch Ajax for any longer would be a good idea."
Chill Penguin chuckled, and the group started: the voice had changed, and the tubby penguin started to applaud, "Very, very good. I'm glad you weren't in charge. Anyone who can see what's going on in front of their face is so rare, it seems. Yes, I am a piece of Sigma left behind to bedevil and destroy you hunters after my last attempt into your networks. You'll find the simulation has evolved beyond its initial parameters. Much like this body has evolved beyond its initial simple tactics.. Still, you'd better beat Penguin, since if the simulator immobilizes you as 'killed' your anti-virus defenses shut down. It's like infecting new-build Reploids," Sigma laughed, right as the smaller, lighter three finished their charging and unleashed a barrage of plasma, missiles, and energy.
Jazz growled in frustration, "We're fighting someone who can changes the rules to their whim? Does anyone know where the way out is?"
Alia shook her head and answered, "Not that easy. As long as we're in the simulation parameters, the doors don't exist as far as we're concerned. And beating Penguin should probably end the simulation."
Bebop mulled the point for a moment then brightened, "Or we could cheat?" Everyone looked at him strangely. Bebop continued, gaining confidence, "Simple. Signas said violation of the mission parameters meant you were thrown out. So, let's leave. Computer, reactivate all systems!" Bebop seemed to purr for a moment as the jet intakes on his back reopened as his thrusters began charging. After a moment's hesitation the others did the same. Jazz's thrusters hummed into life, Laser Wolf's saber glowed a bit more intensely as it gained access to the techniques he had stored, and Alia's remotes were launched away. Everything blinked out for a moment, and then popped in, suddenly without definition.
Sigma growled, "Oh, verrrry clever. It was so basic I almost didn't account for it. But then, the idea of Maverick Hunters breaking the rules is in fundamental opposition to the way the universe works around here. Pity X wouldn't be so inclined to look into grey areas occasionally, I'd have him by now."
Bebop snorted, defending a definite family hero, " X managed to beat you despite the fact you can wire a giant body into power cores larger than X is, with armor too heavy for anything to penetrate over most of the surface. And you've had, what? 4 full-scale uprisings masterminded, and there was that soul erasure thing. Most people give up after five times of trying to do somebody in."
"Six times," muttered Sigma sullenly. He probably should have been worried about the incoming laser beams rather than rehashing old defeats, since Chill Penguin's remarkable defensive abilities relied upon Penguin being focused, and Sigma was still bound by his body. Sigma could cut off the pain receptors and such, but no one could remain calm as they looked down to see their fusion reactor beginning to erupt from within them. Sigma gave a wordless howl of agony as his systems were pushed past every physical limit as much of Chill Penguin's body was vaporized . Sigma rose from the corpse, a ghastly black vapor.
"Oh enough playing around. What's the most firepower I can access in this mission? Oh, yes, definitely an old favorite," said Sigma to himself. The black shadow reformed itself into a giant purple dog-like structure with Sigma's head in the forehead. Bebop launched himself forward with thrusters, and pitched Chill Penguin's simulated remains back after holding onto them for a moment, "Weapon copy time, boy and girls!" Bebop's color scheme changed to blue and yellow accents instead of the usual black and green around his black armor as Bebop acquired the old shotgun ice. It sprayed itself uselessly against Sigma's hull, prompting Bebop to scurry backwards. Alia got shotgun ice as well, as Laser Wolf ended up with an ice saber technique. Of course, there colors changed as well, since Dr. Cain hadn't messed with X's design to the point he left in the silly 'change color to match old enemy' part of the weapon copy. Ice however, wasn't effective against the beast before them, which was content to stay and show how futile things were. Despite there added firepower out from under the restrictions, the four didn't have the firepower for a direct assault to pierce Sigma's super-body's armor. Ajax, meanwhile, slowly defrosted.
Jazz scanned the new technique and smiled, "Shotgun ice is good for surface attacks, but check out these guys!" Jazz launched small arrowheads made out of ice from her shoulder cannons, which made small dings in Sigma's surface paint. Jazz sighed, "Oh well. The charged technique calls down a rain of icicles. Not good either."
Alia was now in her element. With multiple images and one of the best sensor arrays on two legs, Alia would be able to pick the weak spot in a piece of dead wood in the middle of the forest; from several hundred meters away. A giant roving dog was relatively easy. Alia smiled, "Well, that's surprisingly obvious: aim for the little Sigma head on his forehead, it's the sensor point." Alia dug a bit deeper and groaned, "But it could take quite a while. A kinetic attack may jostle the connections around, but otherwise, digging at the head will take forever to burn out the giant body via feedback." Jazz nodded and launched off a few of his ancient Terra bombs, before ducking as the dog began to shoot fire. Laser Wolf frowned, "Piling up hits will not be easy."
Bebop suggested to Jazz, "What about your Terra Burst 'giga attack'?" Jazz nodded. The charged version of her Terra Burst technique, which transferred damage received into an energy beam, matched up in a similar manner to X's super-attacks, so Jazz had started to call it that, suffering from a bit of technology curve envy due to X being more in place in this time AND far more powerful. Jazz winced, and said, "That one hurts a bit, but here goes." Jazz's color scheme changed to tan accents as she launched herself forward on a pillar of energy. The trick here was to ram them, and then absorb the kinetic energy from the ram and send it at the target as well. The dog portion howled as an array of explosions burst out over it. Jazz finally became visible again as she stood hovering in front of the Sigma head, utilizing her homing missiles.
"Cats vs. dogs is a losing proposition, my friend," said Sigma lightly, batting her out of the air with a claw. Jazz slammed to the ground, and when she got herself back up, she was attacked by a giant sphere of plasma. Jazz screamed in agony as her circuits were lit with electrical fire. Her auto-repair systems tried to reroute the energy, but there was no where to reroute the energy too anymore. Jazz convulsed in midair before plummeting as if her strings had been cut.
Bebop and Alia dashed as fast as they could over, Bebop ignoring the battle, with Alia's remotes delivering tiny stings to the mechanical monster. Laser Wolf was trying to figure out how to get into beam saber range for the thing's head. "How did X blow this thing up again?" yelled the Repliforce in desperation. The others were too busy to reply.
Alia's scanners gave a grim tale. Jazz was losing conscious, which was probably a bad idea with a sentient virus in the area. However, her systems were still responding as if the damage she had taken was real, and her fusion containment was starting to fail from the overload. Even if the damage had been read at it's true lower strength, it would be difficult to reroute, as the energy sphere had blown up most of Jazz's circuit breakers at its true quarter strength.
There wasn't a lot of time. Jazz really needed a full-scale doctor. Alia knew some of the basics from servicing her equipment for long periods away from base, and Bebop had studied with Dr. Light. Considering that a archeobotanist had managed to duplicate Reploid design, one would think that's enough. Still, as Dr. Cain had found out, it's easy to copy something, but if you don't understand it, figuring out why it stopped working is devilishly difficult.
Bebop said urgently as Jazz's eyelids began to flicker, "Jazz, I'll need your armor codes so we can get at your circuit panels." Jazz nodded, transmitting them on a squelch of radio before she went into a 'sleep mode' to give her auto-repair a bit more energy to work with.
Alia asked frankly, "Is it really a good idea for her to start giving out access codes right now? I mean, Sigma could pop some panels off or something."
Bebop said coldly as he started to transmit authorizations back to Jazz, "Frankly, when it comes to possible death and the one that will take half this room with when he reactor goes, I'm ready to risk it." Alia stopped chastened, and then blinked in surprise as the grey upgraded armor disappeared, flashing off to the side as a shell of its former self. Jazz's colors reverted to her old standard of brown and red secondary trim.
Alia said excitedly, "You can remove armor enhancements via teleportation? That could be really useful. We could modify the data sets to allow easy enhancement." Alia shook herself and asked, "Wait, I'm detecting a faint Maverick reading off her..."
Bebop nodded and explained, "She got a touch of a nasty virus a while back. I don't think it was the Maverick one. More importantly, we have a new time limit now: without the armor enhancements on, her personality will start to fragment because of her support unit. , quickly working on swinging back the chest panel. He had not warped off the whole set because the additional repair and defense systems in the armor could help keep her alive. Bebop blinked in confusion at the tangle of microcircuitry leading around the steadily warming microfusion generator. "I am so lost..."
Meanwhile Signas was looking at the controls in astonishment. Most of the technicians had moved off to active data stations following the alert, but one alert human had caught what quite a few Reploids had missed. Signas knew this was over his head. "X, this is Signas. We seem to have a serious problem in the simulators. The readings all just shut off for a moment and came back on, precisely as they went off, and no we're getting almost no changes in the environment. Normally, the environment's constantly changing, but it's stopped. Permission to run a diagnostic on all Hunter systems."
X replied doubtfully, "That's going to take an awful lot of remaining system resources. Should we shut down the simulator? I don't think we have the resources for a full scan, high alert status, and a massive holographic environment."
Signas repeated X's question for a technician, and said, "I don't know if we want to turn it off. Everything looks okay on our screens, and the fault may disappear if we stop using the simulator. This may be our only chance to track it down."
X sighed, and said, "All right. Zero will be finished soon, and it looks like the butcher's bill," X paused for a moment, shook himself, and went on, "for our side will be relatively light, for once. I'll finish up armoring, anyway, and be down in a few minutes."
Wolf had found the claws worked fairly well after they tried to crush him for doing a saber slash against the head. The beam saber had been an extremely rare device at the time of the original Uprising, and Sigma's body wasn't as well defended against sabers as other weapons, since Sigma had one of the few sabers at the time. Of course 'not as well defended as usual' for this body was in the same damage range as X took in the midst of Nova Striking. "Colleagues of mine, this really isn't working," Wolf called. He wasn't panicked: he was Repliforce. That didn't mean he wasn't very alarmed for his future well-being (as well as current). Wolf barely managed to coax a dash large enough to dodge a lightning bolt. "That's it! That stupid head comes off!" Wolf roared, jumping on a platform quickly again.
Ajax continued to be an Ajaxisicle.
Meanwhile, Alia was using her probes to make tiny spot welds in Jazz's circuitry, transferring everything that wasn't necessary to keep her mind on-line to keep her power source intact. Alia had the micro-lasers and sensors, while Bebop had a lot more knowledge about Reploid circuitry designs in general, and the rather specialized design that Jazz used in particular. Alia said, "You know, I've never seen a design like this. The circuitry designs are bizarre. Who does her maintenance?"
Bebop replied, "Why do you think I know her patterns so well? That and our auto-repair systems swapped a lot of data, so I have a kind of alchemical feel to what's brewing." Alia stared, and Bebop stammered, "I did a lot of history reading when they were studying us. Anyway, if that's spot's done. Move two micrometers at a 30 degree angle from straight up from your current spot and bypass the circuit gate there back into the one you just created..."
Wolf went slamming into the wall behind them as Bebop continued to play 'back street surgeon', which rippled for a moment, turning black. Wolf dashed off before his thrusters suddenly cut off. He asked worriedly, "Alia, am I clean?" Alia looked down at Jazz for a moment, seeming a bit confused.
Bebop said, "That was the tough part, Alia. I can handle things from here. You do the virus scan. I can set my laser to a narrow enough focus to get the big components strung together." Alia nodded, and her drones stopped firing to hover around her anxiously.
"You seem to be clean, Wolfie." Laser Wolf blinked in surprise at the title, but wasn't prepared to argue the point at the current time.
Wolf, paused, ducked a passing energy sphere, and then smiled as something passed through his mind as he pointed at the wall, "Okay, Techies one and three, since two's a little out of it, what happened to that wall?" Bebop finished what he was doing as Alia mouthed, "techie" and buttoned Jazz back up, before teleporting her armor back on her.
Bebop stared at the wall for a moment, and you could almost hear processors clicking, and then replied, "Simple. Sigma's in control right now, and since he's busy hacking the simulator so much, the program can't manipulate things properly since Sigma just messed with portions of the code like somehow fitting that giant dog in here despite the control room for Penguin being far too small."
"I had wondered about that, yes," said Wolf (Author's Note: see, they're not continuity errors, they're hacks in the program code! Right, back to work).
"Anyway," Bebop continued, "Sigma coded in near-invincibility, and even though we're not exactly S-class hunters here, we should have enough speciality firepower between your techniques, Jazz's pseudo-techniques, my special weapons, and Alia's ability to pick weak spots, let alone our standard weapons should have cut him to shreds. So, whatever the code did, meant the wall acted funny until Sigma took control and made it into a wall. Hopefully, someone noticed a distortion. A little more of that, and the simulation could break down. Any more questions, or can I go in there and see if my claws can start clipping wires?"
Laser Wolf held his hand up to pause Bebop as he extended his claws and went into a crouch. Wolf asked, "All right, so reality is determined by the Virus's concentration level, and we're only dealing with a fragment, and altering the simulator probably should attract some sort of attention if we do enough of it, so," Wolf reignited his saber, "Tell me where to cut."
Signas bowed respectfully as X, leader of the 17th unit, and practically the ideal for Reploid behavior, walked into the control room. Technicians were scurrying everywhere, and boards were constantly reporting the impossible. Things that should have crashed the simulator were being reported calmly, and then the reports were disappearing. X took in the situation with a calm gaze. Everyone knew he knew more about these sort of panic situations than anyone: the victor of the Uprisings, he who the Virus could not touch. X knew from experience what this sort of situation usually demanded: a lot of killing. Zero could accept the worth for it, but there was a good possibility plenty of fresh young innocents would have to be slaughtered now.
"Open it up, Signas. Wherever you're getting active signals from, my authority," X commanded. The room didn't pause in its actions: things were too frantic for that as the technicians battled for control. Still, there was a hush.
Signas figured he knew the answer, but had to say it anyway, "We have little control over the environment in there, and for a team to do any good, we'll need to put them into the system, and there's a possibility of being infected. Are you sure you want to do this?"
X nodded firmly, "Can you think of any other option?"
Signas said hesitantly, "We could simply go down and pull out the primary power conduits into the simulator. But a crash like that would lobotomize anyone connected into the system. It's mind-death."
X said, "That's your plan B. I need to put together some people from the 17th, and probably bring Zero for good measure, but thirty minutes from entering the simulator, activate plan B." Signas started to respond, and then simply gave a salute, which X returned.
Signas turned to the room and shouted, "Okay, trace those glitches. We want to input the team as close as possible, since evidently we have some people still fighting in there." The technicians did their best to speed up from their already straining levels. Signas looked at the readouts gloomily. The glitches were coming further and further apart. Either the entity hacking the system was gaining more control, or the active people couldn't cause any more glitches. Those weren't two very promising options.
It was twenty minutes later when Ajax came to in the middle of the simulator. Ice shattered off his limbs, but enough time had passed for the shell to be breached, allowing his fusion reactor to pump enough energy to get him moving again. He looked around. The room was silent. Several bodies were stacked up, showing massive damage. He noticed the large braggart, the cute pink one, and the two near-Maverick cats from earlier. Overhead was the ugliest purple robot Ajax had ever seen. It seemed quiescent for now, but space seemed to ripple around it. The robot wasn't an empty shell, it was merely evacuated. The mighty paws rested on the ground. Ajax was a fan of X, why else join the Hunters? As such, he knew giant bosses typically had vulnerabilities in hard to reach areas like the head.
"All right then," muttered Ajax, quickly stepping on a paw and jumping. As he reached the height of the arc, he fired his storm tornado weapon straight down, launching himself up onto the head. Charging up his weapon, he noticed that the weird head in the middle of the forehead looked installed. Ajax had very few similarities with Jazz and Bebop, but he did share a healthy interest in going straight for the jugular.
Meanwhile, only thirty meters away as the Metool trots, but probably half a kilometer through corridors, X, Zero, and assorted redshirts were dealing with writhing darkness, and odd floating enemies that seemed like spirits. You killed them, and they regenerated. They resembled evil orange jelly fish. Suddenly, the scene seemed to fade for a moment. Zero stood proudly for a moment, but a snowball hit him on the cheek, nearly knocking him down. X looked around at one of the first Maverick fortresses he had stormed, and said in a loud voice, "Something's resetting the level back to normal. Let's hurry people." The team ran forward, quickly reached the ubiquitous gate.
Rushing through, X found something from his nightmares in a very unlikely place, Sigma's first 'final form'. Zero, however, figured on the simple logic that the centers for things going wrong were typically behind gates such as this, and only an idiot could mistake the Sigma head in the center of the monster's forehead for anything but trouble. Besides, Zero had put together the induction simulation, and gone over most of the records for the First Uprising. Few people get second chances at life, and Zero was inclined to make sure death didn't get a second chance at him. Zero knew Sigma when he saw it, and it was time to see if he could take out the big boss before X had managed it. Zero paused momentarily though, when he saw the small figure hanging on for dear life onto the thing's head, and the fallen figures around the room.
X said, "They slowed Sigma down. Otherwise he could have infected all our systems by now. He can't quite manage everything if he has to be tied to the simulator.
Zero ignited his saber, "Well, let's add a little to the distraction. Enough activity and Signas will be able to pinpoint where the Virus is in the files."
X, eyes burning as he saw friends lying around, and knew far more people he didn't know were lying helpless outside, jumped into the air, "Agreed!" X's systems locked into place as he pulled off his Nova Strike. X had worked on this one a bit, and gotten quite good at the aim. Now, he was dead perfect, slamming all the force of the 4th armor's ultimate single attack into the one weak spot on Sigma's body, without any of the energy spilling over onto the figure sitting on top. Not that Ajax was planning on keeping the spot any longer. X was Sigma's natural antithesis: if anything reminded the leader of Mavericks that he could electrify the skin of the head to prevent what Ajax was doing, it would be X.
The body withstood the attack, of course, but the feedback energy coursed through, tallying up damage in the simulators. If the body died, Sigma would die as well if he were attached, as the active cache for the simulators was purged. If he escaped, the Hunters could provide enough pinpointing for the technicians to isolate and wipe him from their files. He was not the true Virus, only a copy, and weaker.
Surrounded by fire on all sides, Sigma could not fight and hack at the same time. Both were necessary for his survival, and the Hunters kept him immobilized in position. This Sigma had lost to the initial set of Light capsules. Against the Fourth, Zero, and a squad of lesser Hunters, he wouldn't have stood a chance. Even with the ability to change reality to suit his whim, a dangerous procedure, as the technicians could track such activity and have yet one more trace, he could only prolong the inevitable. Eventually, Sigma tried to escape in data form, but then it was time for Zero's own giga attack, the old Rakuhouha, and the perfect weapon of cyberspace showed its use in cutting Sigma into ribbons. With little cohesion left, which was the same thing as mental cohesion in data form, Sigma was easily trapped by Signas and deleted. A scream rent the air as the room dissolved around them, showing many downed, stasis-locked Hunters lying prone on the metal floor.
X sat down, exhausted by the battle and the work that now had to be done rebuilding, again. Zero, the battle over and done with, simply walked over to Ajax and shook his hand, "Congratulations, without you, we'd never have made it here in time." Zero suddenly blinked, and opened his radio, "Signas, don't pull the plug!" Zero checked the chronometer. They had twenty seconds left!
Signas's voice, rather amused, rang out, "Relax, we're the ones who found the file structure and wiped it. We shut the hard-shutdown off a minute ago. Oh, sorry Zero, since Sigma was in this file structure, we had to wipe most of it as well. That's why the holos shut down." Zero cursed.
X didn't even notice in amusement. Most of the cadets had been knocked unconscious. They all were possibly infected, which meant they would have to be put down like animals in their sleep. Thinking of 'like animals', X looked over. A few Hunters were beginning to go over the four in the room with scanners, prior to moving them. Bebop had definitely gotten to try and know his older brother, though both had busy schedules, Bebop getting his circuit patterns traced and X with paperwork, and X couldn't stand to think of someone else getting caught in the line of fire, but Bebop seemed reasonably intact. X sighed in relief.
Then his mind got back to 'paperwork'. The Hunters were having a bad reputation already, as they were Reploids with guns, and humanity couldn't be blamed for thinking little good came of that. The idea of Hunters being infected by their own systems would not inspire reliability. Still, Sigma had let Ajax slug on him for quite a while, apparently, so maybe this version was just sent to bedevil them.
X's world came crashing down around him as one of the Hunters said with alarm, scanner held over Jazz's body, "X! This one's seems to have a trace of the Maverick Virus!" Reflexively, the Hunter raised his arm to fire. Zero, moving fast, grabbed the Hunter's arm. Whatever relationship Jazz had with the Crimson Hunter wasn't certain, but Zero wasn't ready to see people fried down as they laid. Zero didn't like the idea of going after probable Mavericks, anyway, because that slippery slope would end with his head on the chopping block, besides the moral issues. Zero grabbed the scanner, and then quickly refocused it on the area, and the Hunter who had the scanner.
Zero then threw the scanner after he read the results and said, "So do you. She was lying right under Sigma when he got ripped apart, and she got a light showering of deactivated nanoprobes. Besides, she's not a threat anyway. She's going to die in an hour, according to the scanner, or were you too busy?" The hunter stammered a reply, but Zero had already moved on.
X was galvanized into action, and said in a commanding tone, "Let's get them into quarantine people and take a look at what's going on." X did his best to ignore the distrustful stares at the Hunter with the scanner and the prone cadets. Some answers would have to be forthcoming over the last few minutes of battle, and there was a lot of healing to be done. That said, the first pass through fighting's pyre was over, and it was time to see who was burned and who was forged.
To be continued
Author's notes
Yea! Induction's done. Not quite how I was originally intending (it was getting too long). I probably should have made it a four parter, but that's asking a bit much. Next part will be a nice interlude as Zero and X work through Sigma's latest appearance while the rest of the cast gets some much needed R & R. After all, the first story arc is really, truly finished, as you can't be more of a Hunter than facing Sigma. Everyone's placed in 21XX, and have found a place, for the time being. Now it's time to go towards building a better one.
