MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING
By Erico
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ALL EXPLOSIONS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
"YOU GODFORSAKEN EXCUSE OF A SHORTSIGHTED OAF, I OUGHTA RIP OUT YOUR CONTROL CHIP AND TURN YOU INTO A ROBOT!!!"
Violen covered his face with his arms as Serges exploded, pummeling the larger Maverick into submission. And Violen, even with his larger size, could turn into little more than a puppy at times.
Whimpering, he cowed under the smaller Maverick's angered beating, even though his strength could have allowed him to hurl Serges across the room and flatten him into a grease spot if he so chose.
Of course, Violen knew why Serges was so confoundedly upset, he wasn't THAT dense. By some stroke of luck or fate, that reploid doctor on the tread base had managed to peg him with a shot that did no critical damage…but plenty of tactical.
The reploid doctor had managed to shoot off the tiny power node that supplied energy to the anti-tracking device of Violen's entry and escape system into the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Zero was once more in Maverick hands, but it had come at a cost that Serges with all his intricate planning had hoped to avoid.
The Maverick Hunters had been able to track Violen's warp signature…
They knew where Ice Fortress was.
Which meant that without a shadow of a doubt, a certain Maverick Hunter with blue, white and red armor they had come to hate would come knocking at their front door, X-Buster primed and ready to vaporize everything in his path.
"QUIT IT." Agile finally spat out, grabbing onto Serges and pulling him back by both arms.
The wild eyed, stovepipe hat wearing blue and red Maverick huffed and puffed, and struggled in Agile's firm grasp for a few moments longer before he calmed himself down enough so that his red optics stopped glowing in the dim light.
"What's done is done." Agile muttered tersely. "We can't change that now. We can only move on and do our best to stop him." Serges sighed.
"I suppose. But X is going to be here any minute now, and when that happens, he'll be going gung-ho." The Maverick shook his head in disbelief. "The only good thing about all this is that he has to run the entire gauntlet of our Fortress before reaching the center nexus…where we stand."
"Very well. Violen, you will go and guard the first ring. Serges, you will proceed to the end of the second ring and confront him over the spike pit. I will wait for him at the end of the third ring." Agile's voice was calm, but it held a firm steely edge underneath.
"Hey, I'm the brains of this outfit." Serges muttered. "You still leave the Fourth and Final Ring unguarded!!" Agile shook his head and pointed to the motionless form of Zero. Serges blinked in understanding.
"Oh…right…" He turned to Agile again. "But it'll take me a while to get him started up and turned Maverick. I'm going to have to pull every major bit of override engineering I know to make him fight X…You have to guard the Second Ring, Agile."
The lanky purple Maverick smiled calmly for a moment.
"No." Serges whipped his head back up away from Zero.
"Excuse me?!"
"I. Said. No." Agile repeated, as if speaking to a child. "I will see to the Resurrection."
The air hung heavy in the Ice Fortress's main command chamber for several seconds, but Serges finally stood up to his full height and glared up into Agile's equally mocking red optics.
"You don't have the capabilities to bring him to our side. You just don't. So quit with the damn ego trip and get to your station." Agile regarded Serges' question for a moment, then shook his head, his smile fading into a flat emotionless stare.
The Maverick doctor had had enough. Priming his Blitzkrieg Buster, he leapt towards his saucy companion with a burst of primal speed and rage.
But Agile moved with a far greater tempo…he turned into little more than a blur in Serge's eyes.
Grunting in pain, Serges was sent skidding along the floor until he slammed headfirst into the wall. A red colored beam saber jammed itself underneath his throat a mere microcycle later.
"You will obey my command." Agile breathed, his voice distorted and quavering.
The inhuman effect, for lack of a better term, frightened Serges worse than staring down X's Buster had. And something deep within his stomach told him that this was one time he needed to swallow his pride and step in line.
Agile pulled his saber back and allowed Serges to clamber to his feet. Shifting his Buster into its inert deactivated state, the doctor shuddered.
There was a foul wind blowing.
"Then we'll be off." Serges said tonelessly, seeing himself at an angle from above, like he was nothing more than a ghost trapped inside a shell.
Violen had long since composed himself, but Serges had no doubt his anger from this would end up bubbling to the surface sooner or later. That rage might help the apelike, or some said piglike, Maverick to fight X.
And finally, only Agile and the crumpled, motionless, but intact form of Zero remained in the central command post.
Until the main viewscreen flickered to life and a green wire frame head made its presence known. Agile didn't even bother to turn around, he could feel the presence approaching.
"This is indeed going worse than hoped, Sigma." Agile said in a muted tone.
"Oh, please." Came the sadistic and slightly raspy voice of the greatest Maverick. "Where's that confidence I imbued to you?" Agile couldn't help but smile at that.
"Oh…it's still around. Didn't you see what I did to Serges there?" The computer generated voice harrumphed for a minute.
"Don't expect a trick like that to work on X. Don't underestimate him in the slightest, EVER."
"I'll keep that in mind." Agile said drily. He turned about and looked at Zero. "Serges was going to turn him Maverick by using a huge ass override program that would neutralize his former memories."
"The good doctor Serges knows his abilities." Sigma announced mockingly. "But I can do a far better job of turning him to our side."
"Like you did with me?" Agile asked.
"Like I did with you." Sigma responded. His grim wire frame face curled its lips up in a sinister smile.
"I'll just enjoy doing it to him more."
The Mavericks had called this place Ice Fortress. But to X, it had no name. It was merely their last stronghold, one that had evaded detection and would have continued to do so, were it not for the strange series of events that played out because the cumbersome Violen wanted to reclaim Zero.
That pissed him off. And like it had been proven time and time again. . .
When he got pissed, shit got blown up. He took a look at his surroundings. Apparently, his warp signal had dropped him off inside the exterior ring of the base. X hadn't expected much more than that. He'd fully expected having his signal being warped back to the MHHQ, the infiltration attempt averted.
That was not the case. However, he was far from a welcome presence. His path would take him down, down to a nexus of lower levels. Batton Bones stood in his path.
Gritting his teeth, X readied his Buster.
No voice in my head. No Zero to help me. Like Rufus from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure…"You're on your own, kid."
And so he was. But then, had that been Zero's purpose all along, acting as that voice in his head??
To prepare him for such an occurrence where it would only be X who would stand in the face of impossible odds? It made sense.
The Batton Bones activated, flying straight towards him. X bared half his mouth of teeth in an angry sneer.
"Stupid sentry robots. . ." He lifted his Buster and released a Level Three shot, incinerating two directly and causing a third to plummet to its demise. His ears could pick up more fluttering metallic wings inbound, even as they finished ringing from the always loud discharge of a plasma supershot.
More on the way.
"You bastards took Zero." X choked out angrily, his Buster whining as it charged up again. He dashed towards the first giant leap below. Lifting his Buster high, he screamed and fired.
"AND YOU'RE ALL GONNA PAAAAY!!!!"
Violen had arrived at the entrance to the Second Ring. It hadn't taken him long, the inner systems allowed short warps from point to point. Growling, he paced about anxiously in the battle lair.
It made no sense to him. If they truly did want to stop X, they'd all mass together as one and take him on. Sure, they'd all suffer wounds, but X would be dead, dead because it was three against one, and no matter how feral his rage, the Hunter wouldn't stand a chance. That would be how he would have handled it.
But here he was, just one Maverick against a Hunter who had once taken him to the brink of death and left him there, humiliated. It still brought fresh anger to his face. Clenching his fist up, he felt newborn energy seeping through him.
It was the rage of a Maverick, and it made Violen feel strong.
And it was Agile…Not Serges, the smart one, but AGILE…who was now flinging orders around. And everyone obeyed, because for the first time ever, Agile frightened them. Something had happened in the final few days of December, something that had changed Agile completely. No longer the cocky hothead, not even the cowed survivor, he was now a full bore Maverick that stood head and toes above his fellows.
Violen almost tapped in his comm and called Serges, who was more than likely sitting vigilantly in his superpowerful warmachine at the end of the Second Ring. He stopped himself before his large index finger reached the switch.
"No." He breathed. He lowered his arm back down. No, Serges would know soon enough if he failed here.
It was an interesting paradox, Violen thought. Here he waited, waited for Mega Man X to arrive for a final battle. One of them would die here in this room.
Waiting to be destroyed, yet hoping that he would win.
Did every Maverick feel like this in the end, when X came knocking??
Or was Violen just so different?
One Maverick amongst few, Violen had his doubts.
And somberly, he admitted in simpler words, he had his mortality.
Oh, these Mavericks…
X had to give them credit. Putting in pits that fell to God knows where and God knows what, and then having an automatic pincer arm that was motion sensitive to grab whatever came by and toss it in said holes. It could have worked.
Were it not for X's uncanny ability to dispense with the formalities, charge up a Spin Wheel and slice the thing to ribbons.
"Screw you." He muttered under his breath, marching on. He decided to keep another Spin Wheel charging up…just in case.
He finally reached the end of the smaller corridor and looked down. Obviously, that ladder lead to the same place as those pits a distance back.
Shaking his head firmly, he looked up.
Oh, he recognized this encounter.
There floated a sentry robot, with long spindly claw arms, conveniently placed at the very center high up between the walls. Walls that X recognized as the same design he'd had trouble climbing to avoid certain crushing death back on the night of December 19th. The night Gearloose died. That little shit robot would pull the walls together, and X would be dead.
That was, if things were going in the favor of the Mavericks, which they weren't. X didn't even bother jumping up and triggering the robot's attack mechanism. He merely raised his arm and fired off the next charged up Spin Wheel. Covering his face from the subsequent rain of debris, he finally began his climb.
No one is getting the better of me…
I am a Maverick Hunter…
More enemies. More vertical passageways. For X, it was all a blur. He moved on rage, he moved on calm thought combined with that rage.
And he fought. No Scor'bot, no wall grasper, no Batton Bone was free of his wrath.
And at long last, he reached the end of the First Ring…a rotating door to beyond.
Chest heaving in barely contained rage, X stepped through and proceeded through the narrow corridor to the other side. A large cubic room, similar in design to every other he had fought in before fell before his eyes.
And at the other end of it stood a familiar figure, eyes boring into X with contempt, amusement, and a twinge of fear and blind hatred.
X lifted his buster.
"VIOLENN!!!!" He screamed. The Maverick stared right back at him.
"X." The enemy hissed. "Come to kill us all."
"You kidnapped Zero…" X began, his voice quivering in rage. "YOU KIDNAPPED ZERO, YOU BASTARD!!!" Violen grinned a toothy grin.
"Why, so I did…and how's that doctor of yours? Still alive, after that beating I gave him? Perhaps I should go back and end his life after I'm finished with you." Violen was goading X.
Was it the smartest thing to do? Perhaps not.
But he did it anyhow, without reservation.
X screamed and charged, his dash thrusters howling in rage.
"The killing time." Violen breathed for a moment, then hopped up into the air and snapped his fingers.
His command recognized, the room suddenly had the appearance of a set of metallic blocks that flashed out of nowhere.
But X was running on more than blind rage. All the experience that he had gained from his trials on Cornus lit in his mind…
Strike and flee, and you're close to me…
Violen hurled his mace about, this time causing the chain to stretch out more as it bounced in a strange diagonal fashion all about the room. X deftly dodged the deadly chunk of metal and hurled two arm's worth of plasma energy into Violen's side. The immobile Maverick screamed in protest and shifted about, launching a series of energy blasts at his foe.
Also to no avail…
He cannot hit what does not want to be hit…
Somehow, X found himself activating his Spin Wheel and charging it up. Violen began his wild mace again, hoping to land a blow. This time, it grazed the side of X's helmet and sparking for a moment before skidding on. The Hunter screamed long and loud…and fired.
The Spin Wheel's shrapnel burst slammed out at the Maverick. A few sliced clean through his burly arms and his massive feet…but the true damage came as two lucky blasts severed the neuroresponsive mace from Violen's back.
Stumbling forward from the edge of the newly formed block and collapsing to the ground in shock, the Maverick watched in horror as a possessed X dashed through the air and grabbed ahold of what had once been his proud tail.
And if nothing else works…use their weapons against them.
Weakened, off balance and bleeding, the gasping Violen could do little as X slammed the mace into him…time and time again, each blow worse than the last, tearing out vitals, smashing armor to uselessness and pocking every inch of his body with gashes.
"IT WAS YOU, DAMNIT!! YOU AND YOUR TWO FRIENDS!!"
"Stop, please!" Violen whimpered, covering his face with his hands. He screamed a moment later as they were bashed into uselessness, limp and unresponsive, lumps of broken metal on the ends of his arms. The mace caught him in the side and slammed him across the room again, and his limp arms collapsed.
"FOR GEARLOOSE, FOR CANCER, FOR JIM DACKER…FOR EVERY INNOCENT YOU'VE DESTROYED IN YOUR QUEST!!"
Rage can blind one…but it can instill fear in enemies.
Violen was afraid…Whimpering, he could only shudder and scream at the impacts.
X fought like a demon with the severed weapon of his foe, at times whipping it above his head, at times swinging it about in front of him. The sheer weight of the object didn't strain him in the least, and he swung it horizontally and vertically alike, every strike landing another crippling and devastating blow.
The final strike came…once more slamming into Violen's now battered and exposed midsection, he was hurled across the room one final time.
Finally, the torture stopped and Violen slumped weakly against a wall of the room. His only functional optic blurred as he watched the bluish blob draw closer and closer.
"Impossible…" Violen wheezed, suddenly realizing in his death how every one of his victims felt. "How could he have…overloaded my circuits…"
For Violen, there would be no mercy. Not this time. And Violen thought…
Yes, he had been a coldblooded killer. He'd also been amiable at times, and downright cooperative…so where did it all add up? To which side of the scale did he fall? Violen's remaining eye flickered out of existence, as did the rest of his sensory nets. Now he lived in silence…And afraid…Violen waited to die.
X let the mace fall to the floor with a loud thud. His eyes cold and hard, he lifted both arms and charged them to full power.
"Zero is avenged." He whispered angrily.
The noise of the two supershots, and Violen's subsequent atomizing and microfusion tank overload was loud enough to echo throughout the entire Ice Fortress. But the close circuit cameras told the true story. In the Second Ring, at the very end of the route and atop a bed of spikes, the Maverick X-Hunter known as Serges quaked in fear.
X had torn Violen apart without a qualm…without fear, with only rage. Screaming…Screaming rage.
Shuddering, Serges shut off the TV feed and buried his face in his hands.
"Oh my God…" He whispered, almost breaking down into tears. If such a God existed, Serges now feared him. More appropriately, he feared X.
And X stepped through the passageway to the Second Ring.
And another thing…keep moving.
"That is the power of Mega Man X." Rasped Sigma, his wire frame head floating about the gigantic viewscreen. Agile shook his head.
"Once you get him riled up, it seems that defeat is a given." Sigma harrumphed.
"ALMOST a given, Agile. I have lost to him once before…but not this time. There is one weapon we have in our possession that will drain every last bit of his rage from him." Agile couldn't help but grin, exposing his teeth.
"Zero, yes." He rubbed his hands together. "If that lumbering childminded Violen did anything right, he retrieved Zero for us."
"At a grievous cost." Sigma mused. "I would have hoped to keep Ice Fortress hidden for a while longer at least." Agile shrugged and shook his head.
"The chips will fall as they do. For now, though, what we should focus on is the present, not the past."
"Those who do not learn from the past's mistakes are doomed to repeat them." Sigma quoted sagely.
The X-Hunter rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to head down to the end of the Third Ring. You can keep an eye on Zero, right?"
"Go." The reborn leader of the Mavericks muttered calmly. Agile bowed for a moment, then trotted off.
It took him only a moment to reach the warp capsule, step inside, and blink to the beginning of the Fourth Ring. He looked about for a moment, blinked a few times, and turned about to face his warp capsule again.
"Hmm…" He mused calmly. He looked at the other warp capsule across the climbing gap below.
The opposing warp capsule led to the 'gauntlet,' the final security measure against Mega Man X. But if X took the warp capsule Agile had just left from, he would move straight past the gauntlet and on to the end of the Ice Fortress…where Sigma and Zero lay in wait.
"I'm not going to give him that opportunity." Agile growled, pulling out his saber and igniting it. With a quick two step slash, he turned the working warp capsule into a nonfunctional and very much obliterated piece of machinery.
Now X would have no choice but to use the warp capsule that led to the gauntlet.
Grinning with his teeth exposed, the X-Hunter slid down to the bottom of the shaft…the very beginning of the Fourth Ring.
For a moment, Agile wondered if he should have just readied a remote charge to the thing and not destroyed it right away.
Then he realized that it couldn't have mattered.
He wasn't coming back.
X found that the Second Ring of the Maverick Fortress was more along the lines of a sewer system. At least, from the amount of abandoned coolant, irradiated water and small debris, it'd seem to be the Maverick's sewer system.
Maybe a week ago, coming here would have caused him to cringe in disdain, squirming in the Maverick cesspool.
But like on the night of June 19th, X was now, on December 31st, completely oblivious to it. He knew rage, he knew focus. He didn't know shame or disgust.
Quickly, he air-dashed through the water, clinging to the side of a hoverplatform sliding back and forth in an easy motion. X grimaced against the current, and reasoned that all these hoverplatforms served a twofold role; an excellent deterrent, and they helped to control the flow of waste seaward.
Then again, if there was more of a deterrent than the hoverplatforms, it was the artificial spike beds beneath them, threatening to rip X into shreds with nary a qualm. But X wasn't about to let that happen.
He jumped up into an overhead 'compartment' bay, a sort of hole in the ceiling that was barely large enough to fit him. Grasping to the wall with all his might, he jammed his wristclaws, the tiny climbing grippers Light had given him at birth into the metal, ignoring the warnings his system sent him about the structural integrity of the thin sawtooths.
"Override, damnit." He muttered to himself. No one else could have heard him even if they'd wanted…He was underwater. The claws drained some weapons power from his systems to strengthen themselves, and the warnings ceased.
Amazingly, every single one of his Sub-Tanks remained intact; he had yet to drain one. His Secondary Weapons systems however, had taken a bit of a dent; The one he'd used the most, the Spin Wheel, would need a recharge soon, as it only had about three more charged blasts left to its name.
X watched as the hoverplatform below slid back beneath him, granting him passage further through the somewhat murky corridor of liquids and pseudo-solids. Blinking once, he disengaged his wall claws and dropped down, springing off the side of the hoverplatform and onwards to safety.
Another Air-Dash and he'd reached the end of the horizontal drainage tunnel.
Eyes glowing hotly, he stared up skyward.
"Great, more hoverplatforms."
At least this time, he wouldn't have to deal with water.
While Agile made his way to the end of the Third Ring, Sigma had his own agenda to keep.
The wire frame head stared out blankly, because it had nowhere to look. Merely a visual representation of Sigma's bald mug, it was made to identify, and to impose. Not to interact.
But the mouth moved in perfect accordance with his speech.
"So then, Zero…" The greatest Maverick mumbled gruffly. "The time is at hand…the time of the unification." No, Sigma corrected himself, the unification of Zero was over and done with. "Perhaps to be more accurate I should say it is time for your rebirth."
Yes, that made more sense. For that was exactly what would happen in the next five minutes…Zero would switch sides, no longer Maverick Hunter, but Maverick.
There was a large part of Sigma that couldn't help but curl his lip into a sneer that almost smiled. He had fought Zero, a long time ago…
Long before they knew he was Zero, when he was nothing but a 'Crazy Red Maverick' that wiped out Garma's Hunter Unit in the Southwestern deserts of the United States. The fight had been brutal and intense…Sigma lost an arm, yet kept the scars from that battle. A momento, perhaps?? Everything from before the First Uprising slipped into the hazy fog of his rage…It took all of Sigma's willpower to sustain what little pre-Uprising memories he had.
But the fact remained that before Zero was Maverick Hunter, he was Maverick. A Maverick more powerful than any other, who had forced Sigma to the brink of death using only his body and those cold eyes…
A part of Sigma wanted to shudder, for back during that fight, the fight Sigma remembered ever so clearly, there had been a glint in Zero's eye…
A glint of madness??
Or a glint of a power so great it conquered the supposed 'most advanced' reploid in existence…
But, Sigma continued, dropping out of his memory loop, it was fitting that Zero should return to that state of madness, only now under Sigma's control.
"Prepare yourself, Zero…" Sigma's raspy computer generated voice uttered in obvious satisfaction. "Now is the time for your eyes to be opened!!"
The room fell into darkness, and latching onto Zero via a data transfer cable, Sigma forced his way into the body of the Crimson Hunter.
Five seconds later, he returned from the still motionless body, screaming in agony. The wire frame head on the screen flickered as Sigma's control began to slip away…
And Zero slept on, unharmed, unchanged by the sudden intrusion of the malevolent core program of Sigma.
It took Sigma's program another ten seconds to stop the glitches and quirks in its routines and subroutines.
"Impossible…" Sigma wheezed. When he had gone into Zero, he had invaded Zero's mind…
Hoping to subtly alter Zero's memory files and thus make him think that the Maverick Hunters were his enemies…Sigma had failed completely as Zero's memory overwhelmed him.
So much of it was a blur, compressed in such a fashion that it was unreachable in the waking world.
But Sigma…Sigma, who had invaded Zero's mind in the realm of stasis, had seen many things…
Many horrible, horrible things…
"It can't…be…" Sigma gasped, shaking his head in disbelief.
But it was…beyond all refutation, Sigma had seen a truth, a truth he scarcely could believe.
"Zero is…" His voice trailed off as the images from Zero's memory filled his mind.
Ancient computers…
A hidden fortress…
Shattered, obliterated robots…hundreds of them…
Blood on his hands…
And insane even after death…
Zero's…father…
"The cosmic tumblers will fall into place, and the Universe will open itself to you…" Sigma rasped, shaking his head.
It was no wonder that Sigma's attempt had failed in altering Zero.
There was nothing more horrifying Sigma could add, nothing he could take away.
Zero's interior was alien to Sigma…unlike any reploid's…
Zero could not be changed by Sigma, in any way, shape, or form.
His past now known by the dark Maverick Leader, Zero's path was revealed.
"As it should be…" Sigma mused in disbelief. "All this time…you should have been fighting with us, and not X…"
"You should have been destroying X…"
Sigma shook his head. Now was not the time for this, though…
Later, there would be time to ponder.
Now, there was a certain Blue Bomber making his way through Ice Fortress with unstoppable precision, and Sigma did not have enough time to alter Zero.
It would take a more blunt approach to turn Zero Maverick…this time…
Sigma's wire frame head blinked out as his core program at last left the main computer of Ice Fortress.
A hidden niche in the wall, built in by robots controlled by Sigma himself, concealed a body also designed under the exacting scrutiny of the Maverick Leader.
Its eyes opened slowly, the core program fully downloaded into the body, but not used to being in a body.
Finally, it stumbled forth, more imposing than ever.
Sigma, now once more with physical form, picked up the still sleeping Zero. Cradling the anathema to Mega Man X close, Sigma activated his Warp Generator and set his coordinates.
There was one place he needed to reach…
And considering the time factor, it seemed very certain that the GDC would have minimal resistance up.
Thoughts of doubt and disbelief still rattling in his skull, Sigma vanished into the night sky, Zero clutched at his side.
Two beams of warped light, soaring off to regions unknown…
But not untraveled.
X was moving fast now…he had found a weapons recharge, bringing his Spin Wheel not quite to full energy, but enough he would have it in a dire emergency.
The resistance along this route was surprisingly weak…X surmised that the Mavericks hadn't expected him to take the underpassages. Which was exactly what he planned for, avoiding the main entry and passageways of the Second Ring entirely. It may have taken him a tad longer, and it wasn't as direct; but the amount of peril he could have been in was considerably less.
Blasting his way through a final green 'Mech, the same kind that had been aboard the Dino Tank and in the Maverick's Red Herring Desert Base before that, X dropped down in front of the door and harrumphed in dismay.
He'd seen the opposing route, apparently the main passage would have required an incredibly well timed Air-Dash and charged up Speed Burner…even then, it wasn't certain if he could have made it or not.
He pushed through the rotating gate, entering into the all too familiar long hallway. If anything, the Mavericks were predictable as of late. And beyond this door would be the customary guardian. The last one had been Violen…for a moment, X wondered if there would be a Fortress Guardian like there'd been in the days of Sigma and the First Uprising, like that Bospider, or the Rangda Bangda, or maybe the D-Rex.
But this Maverick Fortress was still in development, showing its missing armor, its chinks and dents. More than likely, it wasn't a fully constructed warrior guardian.
By all evidence, it would be another one of those damnable X-Hunters who had tried to destroy him in the game for Zero's parts.
The room beyond the rotating doors was far different than any other battleground X had fought in.
Never before had he ever had to worry about a thick layer of electrified spikes that brought instant death.
Stay calm and just DO IT. Fear can get you killed faster than the enemy.
And so X walked on, jumping onto the conveniently placed rows of hoverplatforms.
"Oh, this fight's gonna be different." X muttered darkly. Sure enough, there was a heavily armored tank heading straight towards him. Four large gunports loomed into view, each looking large enough to disintegrate X in a single blast if they managed.
It moved over the spikes without so much as a squeak of dismay.
And finally, a voice from inside spoke up.
"You Godforsaken murderer." Came the hollow voice of Serges. X perked up an eyebrow and switched back over to his main plasma weapon, staring dully at the massive weapon of war as it rolled to a halt in front of him.
"Serges, eh?" X muttered aloud. "I see you managed to make it back alive. And that little deception you pulled on me back in Flame Stag's volcano base was a flop."
"We've both suffered our wounds in this game, X." Came Serges' voice, more reassured and confident…and angry. "But the way you disposed of Violen…that was more than just doing your job. You enjoyed tearing him apart, turning him into a battered wreck before blowing him to kingdom come!!"
"You Mavericks are no different." X offered tersely.
"So you're like us then."
"I'm not like you." X muttered. "You kill innocents, and I kill you. The difference is you choose to be a danger. I'm just the Retribution."
"And just what kind of bullcrap are you muttering nowadays?!" Serges howled. "Retribution, what the devil do you get that from?!"
"During the First Uprising, I was granted a suit of Armor. I affectionately call it Paladin. My second set, the one I wear now as I face you, is more."
"It's murder."
"It's Retribution." X growled. Serges choked back an angry curse and pounded his fist onto the firing mechanism.
A bolt of sizzling, super-electrified plasma energy slammed out of a center gun turret, almost colliding into X before he weaved aside from the burst.
"You want Retribution?!" Serges screamed. "YOU GOT IT!!!" X lifted his Buster and fired, bringing up his other arm for the second blast.
It melted the armor of the gun turrets a bit…but not enough in the least.
Serges was howling from within his mechanized monstrosity, firing off shots left and right in X's direction. Only by ample use of his Air-Dash and the flat hoverplatforms scrolling up and down above the spike bed did X manage to avoid serious damage.
Wincing as another burst flew past him and singed his arm, X clenched a fist up.
"Oh, this is just so over…" He spat.
If your rate of attack is too slow…turn it up a notch.
X drew his arms in and leapt into the air slightly. A locus of plasma energy appeared about him, appearing to be collecting and dimming the room into darkness…
Screaming in rage, X exploded with all the fury of his G-Crush. The unstoppable wave of supercharged plasma streaked out in all directions, a wave of Hellbent fury that was at the core of his powers, the very ability that Zero's spirit had named his suit after…
Retribution. Quick, overwhelming, unstoppable Retribution.
The gun turrets overloaded and exploded as the wave baked it into atoms, tearing the entire front end of Serges' massive wartank into shreds.
Screaming in dismay, the Maverick inside was at last revealed.
X hopped back as the wartank crept forth, just before its propulsion systems gave out, battered by the same G-Crush that had devastated its attack potential. It crunched to a halt, laying motionless but far from defenseless. Two of the flat hoverplatforms had been destroyed in its inexorable forward charge. Now X had only two left to stand on.
Serges was in a control pod that lay attached to a chain rack, giving it the ability to move up and down smoothly and at great speed.
His red eyes burning with al the fury of a true foe, Serges punched his fire button.
Now that the blasts lacked the focusing potential of the gun turrets, the ball shaped plasma charges went out a fair distance before pausing, and then exploding into a batch of four smaller bursts. These, X found, he could dodge, but not without deep concentration.
If your foe is using both hands to attack you…then tie his hands.
X's armor shifted and glimmered in the dimly lit battle room, finally resting on a red and green color that utterly contrasted with his armor.
To test his power, X fired off a burst of normal plasma from one arm. Sure enough as he'd predicted, Serges' pod moved down in a burst of speed to avoid being struck.
X took his chance and fired his other arm, but this time it was not plasma that escaped his Buster's exit port.
A synthesized mass of metallic shrapnel, wires and gunk was thrown out in a lazy arc. Serges saw it coming…But as his eyes widened, the Maverick realized he could do nothing to stop it.
The Silk Shot exploded all over him, entangling him in a web his valiant struggles proved unable to defeat. Screaming, Serges glared at X.
"What the Hell is this?!" X hopped to the closest hoverplatform by the wartank.
He charged up his Strike Chain and fired. The electrified claw slammed into Serges' immobile frame, digging into his armor and releasing a powerful electrical charge. Serges screamed and threw his head back…His stovepipe hat fell to the spike bed, abandoned for all time.
The charge at last finished scouring throughout Serges' body, and his spasms slowed to nothing. But the dull look in X's eyes suddenly shocked him worse than the Strike Chain ever could.
X still had that long chain attached to Serges.
"You wouldn't…" Serges gaped. X looked at his mortal foe with a gaze of distanced rage. "Impossible…the prophecy must be fulfilled…" Serges began to mutter, his mind racing as death crept upon him.
"Say hi to Violen for me." X growled under his breath.
Serges had no time to scream as X yanked the Strike Chain with all his might and swung Serges down in a vicious half moon arc.
The Strike Chain pulled back automatically…
Less than a second later, X turned about and steeled himself against the jarring impact of a body onto the spike bed…and the following deadly electrocution that offered no cries, no final chance for mercy…just a cruel and sudden death. The Blue Bomber of 21XX ignored the acrid stench of melting synthflesh and armor and looked for his next objective. He did not even turn around to see what sordid condition the corpse of Serges, the X-Hunter was in.
"Two down." X said calmly, hopping up onto the now harmless wartank and reaching for a hatchway in the ceiling that led to the Third Ring. "To use a cliché, one to go."
And never lose your focus.
The first batch of GDC operatives had arrived on Cornus Island as soon as they'd heard Mega Man X had left to put a stop to the final Maverick. The reasoning was right enough; by the time they got there, X would have put a stop to the final threat and would have finally freed the island from Maverick hands.
Naturally, the first place they went to was the very heart of Cornus, the Central Computer complex. Comms active with a continual line to the GDC Cornus Special Council, the well trained warriors and techs maneuvered about through the now abandoned hallways.
One trooper, carrying a heavyset magpistol at his side and a low powered plasma blaster in his hands, whistled appreciatively at the utter destruction laid before him.
"Bleeding Christ." Came the stunned voice finally. A group followed up behind him, also staring at the strewn wreckage of mangled robots and self-defense mechanisms that had been turned against the Blue Bomber of 21XX. Thankfully, the hallway lights were all on. Otherwise, they would have had to move slower and use their helmet lights. Not a particularly fun option, they considered.
What egged them on worse than anything was that they weren't able to go celebrate New Year's. Christmas was, as its name implied, more of a Christian Holiday that nonetheless let everyone out of work. But New Year's was not nearly so religious, and more of an overall celebration for all creeds and races.
Which made it particularly aggravating for this group of humans that they wouldn't be able to partake of the festivities and all night drinking.
"Take it easy, Darryl." Came the a chiding voice from the pack behind the lead trooper. "What did you expect to see, boquets of roses? This was a warzone." Darryl shook his head and walked on, the pack behind him following cautiously as well.
"It's just a shock, Commander Taggart." Darryl muttered. "I mean…all this, done by one reploid??"
"He isn't a reploid, Private." Came the firm voice of Commander Taggart, his plainly American accent lilting on correction and firmness, reminding his trooper that there was some semblance of protocol to be held. "Mega Man X was the prototype for reploids. Their father."
"Still, that doesn't negate the fact that he can do this much…" Darryl replied back, keeping his blaster in the low ready position as he swiveled about a corner.
Another troop, a woman by the name of Clarisse spoke up.
"Oh, come off it, Dar. He's a MEGA MAN. I wasn't even born when he was traipsing about, but I do remember all the times in history the original Blue Bomber went in and faced impossible odds, leaving a trail of wreckage behind him as he continually stopped Doctor Wily from setting the world on a course to destruction. Going up against the impossible and blowing shit up is what they do. It's in their blood."
"Reploids have blood??" Darryl whispered in surprise. Clarisse laughed bitterly.
"That's right…you haven't seen one bleed to death yet."
"All right, all of you quiet down here." Commander Taggart ordered firmly. "We've got a lot of work to do, and this chitchat isn't helping matters."
"Hold on a sec!" A GDC tech by the name of Timothy shouted excitedly. He jumped over to a side of the corridor and pointed at a door. "I remember that there's a secondary command post in this room." He turned back to Commander Taggart. "Hey boss, if I can get in here, I can start bringing the Central Computer complex online." The Commander nodded. Timothy beamed from ear to ear as he reached for the locks. His code didn't work. "Aww, nuts. Hey, can one of you help me with this door?"
"Sure." Came the retort of Clarisse, pulling him back towards their main pack and levelling her plasma blaster. With a quick three shot burst, she blew the door into scrap and motioned towards it with a wiseass smirk. Taggart merely clucked his tongue, obviously pleased by the display.
"Well, there's no telling how much damage those Mavericks did now, is there? They probably broke down a few doors." He winked. The rest of his intrepid team did the same, even though Timothy was still a bit shocky.
"All right then…" He muttered. "I guess I'll just…go get this place running…"
"You do that, Tim." Taggart replied. For Timothy, there was no military rank, as he was not a warrior, but merely a Tech hired by the GDC. A civilian. "In the meantime, we'll keep trucking on down the corridor. Holler at us when you're done."
The rest of the GDC task force continued to wander down the halls, leaving Timothy and his work behind them.
First things first, Timothy reminded himself. He flipped the lights on in the room, then turned to the console. Powering it up, he found it in full working order. Apparently, the Mavericks were smart enough to keep all the primary systems going.
"Terrific. Power, communications, defenses, all operational." He winced as the secondary systems began to appear in red, marked for their states of deactivation. "But the replicators and food centers are deactivated. Not to mention the toilets." He shrugged.
If one was a reploid, they really didn't need to eat…or dispose of waste like humans did. It made sense, from a crude sense of view.
"Still, it's a pain in the ass to correct." Correct it he did, though.
Reactivate secondary systems.
MAIN Security code required. Enter security code.
"No sweat, bugger." Timothy muttered, typing in his all access passcode.
MAIN Security code accepted. Secondary systems reactivated.
"Well, that was easy enough." Timothy muttered, pulling up his pocket comm.
"Commander Taggart?"
The reply came clear as a bell.
"Yeah, Tim? Got something to report?"
"Those Mavericks had shut down the secondary systems, I reactivated them."
"Anything crucial?" Came the slightly worried voice of his team leader. Tim couldn't help but wrinkle his nose as he smiled.
"Well, you'll thank me when the toilets flush."
"Roger that." Came the slightly chuckling voice of his commander. "Cristoph and the other Politicos will be happy to hear the Reclamation is proceeding as planned."
"Roger. Timothy, out." The Tech shook his head and turned back to the screen.
MAIN There is substantial damage to the Central Computer's defensive systems.
"No kidding, bub." Game the gruffish voice of Tim. "X had to blow the shit out of them to keep himself alive."
MAIN I am also reading an unknown presence in a side room of the Central Computer Complex. Type is reploid, deactivated. Tim blinked in surprise.
"Eh?" His fingers went to the keyboard.
Access video link from that room.
MAIN Video link accessed.
Timothy stumbled back a few steps as his face paled.
"Holy Cripes…" He muttered in disbelief.
That thing didn't even LOOK like it had BEEN a reploid. Something very screwy had happened to it, and in the end it looked more like a massing of junk than anything that had been sentient. But the one good piece of news was that it wasn't blue.
"Well, that must be the Maverick General who was running the show here." Timothy muttered.
All this time, he hadn't noticed the all too familiar sound of a warp-in. Of course, it had been down the hall and his mind had been glued to the computer monitor.
Neither had he noticed the heavyset footsteps marching closer and closer towards him, walking down the hall, pausing in the blasted off doorway, and then walking into the room.
It was when the footsteps stopped that Timothy's danger sense kicked in. And then came the voice.
"So…It seems that not even Magna Centipede was spared from X's wrath. Pity."
Adrenaline suddenly racing through Timothy's veins, he couldn't help but shiver as the hair on his arms stood up.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned about and looked.
He jumped back in shock, his eyes as wide as a fish's as he gaped incredulously.
"Im…impossible…You're DEAD!!"
Sigma's lip curled up into a sneer as he placed Zero's sleeping body on the ground.
"No. You are." With a simple charge and slash from a trio of claws that sprang from his right arm, Sigma silenced the voice of the unwitting Tech Timothy. Ignoring the splatter of wet flesh and blood onto the floor, he turned back to Zero and picked him up.
"Come on then. We need to find us someplace quiet…but first, to deal with these meddlers."
Down the hallway some distance, Commander Taggart clucked his tongue.
"We haven't heard from Tim in a while…suppose he found something new to look at?"
"I'll bet anything he's downloading the latest pics of the JuneTech UltraPC." Came the snorting voice of Darryl.
"Or here's a thought…" Came a sudden booming and basso voice, scratchy with age and anger. "Perhaps some Maverick warped into the Central Computer base, came across his pathetic activities, and promptly turned him into chuck grade hamburger meat." The entire GDC team turned about, their weapons raised.
All of them responded in the same manner of disbelief and utter stupefication.
Sigma's grinning smile was all too wide as he charged at the group and began slashing.
The screams only lasted two seconds.
The Third Ring had appeared to be shorter at first…
That was, until X came across a multidirectional thruster platform. Similar in design to the ones he'd used in the Dino Tank days before, every time he jumped on and off of it, it switched directions. He was having a devil of a time making the thing go where he needed it to, which was up. He could have made the climb manually, but a part of X suspected it might serve a better role.
He unleashed another spread of Spin Wheel, blowing apart what little resistance was there…primarily Disk Boy 08s and Batton Bones. Minor enemies that did a lot to piss him off, but little damage. Plenty of drain on his weapons systems, though…X hated that. Every shot he used in getting to the core of this damnable Maverick Fortress couldn't be used against the final surviving X-Hunter, Agile.
He leveled off the thruster platform at the top of the seemingly endless vertical tunnel with outjutting ledges, firing off one final burst of his Spin Wheel and blowing a trio of Batton Bones to scrap. Stepping on the switch again, he directed it to charge off down the horizontal stretch of hallway that lay before him, breathing a little easier as no new enemies came into sight.
"Guess I destroyed 'em all."
Never assume. Yeah, that one dated back to the late 20th Century and a fella by the name of Richard Marchinko, an ex-seal who wrote a very successful book series about his 'shooting and looting' adventures, all the while thumbing it at the bureaucratic, paper piling Uncle Sam. He was also flagrantly blunt, something that had seemed to catch on with the people of that age. I treat everyone alike…just like shit.
"Riiight…" X muttered. How Zero had picked up on that…well, just another little detail about the friend he was trying to save.
Strangely enough, the hallway was short, and X tapped the thrusters off. He peered at his choices.
There was a route going up, and a route going down.
I'll take the high road, and you'll take the low road, and I'll get to Scotland befoooore ye…
"Up it is then." X said calmly, hopping from his higher perch and clinging to the ladder, deftly making his way up.
He blew away the shield of a Disk Boy 08 standing atop a ledge as he got to his feet in the new level, then sent it sprawling backwards with a flurry of lesser charged shots. What should have merely stunned him seemed to do more as the sentry exploded.
X frowned for a moment and climbed up, turning about and snatching an internal operations energy capsule left lying clear as day before looking to the Disk Boy's fate.
His face visibly blanched as he stared down at the strewn wreckage, lying shattered and shaped and sliced.
"Oh, great. Spikes." Shaking his head in a manner that would have done Indiana Jones proud, he grumbled on. "I HATE spikes." As if he hadn't seen enough at the end of the Second Ring.
Salvation came in the form of a fluttering Batton Bone, its tiny exhaust pipe spouting a hazy cloud of particles into the air.
X had a theory, a technique he'd used once before. Activating his Secondary Weapons grid, he brought up the Crystal Hunter and fired.
The glob of semisolid goo fluttered on through the air in a lazy arc before striking the Batton Bone. As it registered a hit, the semi-sentient program embedded in the material brought up the next order. In less than a second, the Batton Bone was completely covered in a hexagonal grid of clear crystal, perfectly shaped with the foe perfectly trapped.
The mix of enemy and discharged weapon collapsed onto the spike bed below with a groan. But unlike the Disk Boy 08, the crystal centerpiece held.
"Well, there's my ticket out of here." X clucked, hopping down onto the crystal and readying his air-dash…just in case. No need for it, though, the object was completely capable of supporting his weight.
He saw his opening…focusing his mind, he jumped ahead a bit and fired off his air-dash, skidding to a halt on a tiny platform that lay between his initial spike bed and a smaller one. What was imposing about the smaller spike bed was the Garakuta robot, an amalgamation of supposedly deactivated Mets of every variety plastered onto a spiked wheel that slowly crept towards X, oblivious to the danger of the spike bed it rolled over.
"Sheeze…" X muttered, leveling his Buster. "I guess I was wrong about these things just being a part of the junkyard." It took several shots, but he blew it apart and out of his way without much trouble.
He dashed on for a moment, then paused as he stood on the high ledge. On the platform below…spikes. On the wall ahead of him…spikes. On the platform below the first platform…SPIKES.
"All right children, we're going to say 'overkill'…" X growled in his lousy Mister Rogers impression. "O-V-E-R-K-I-L-L. I knew ya could…"
He brought up his helmet's scanner and brought the area ahead of him into focus. Yup, spikes, just like his eyes told him. They weren't holographic illusions.
However, on the wall directly below him, there were no spikes. Which meant that if he could dash past the first lower platform without slamming into the wall of spikes, then drop down PAST the first platform without hitting the second, and successfully managing another air-dash to push him past the second platform…he'd be home scot free.
Shutting down his helmet's scanning equipment, X clucked his tongue.
The good Doctor Light had only installed one air-dash in his Second Suit, though. X was out of luck.
Never give up…never surrender.
X wondered how THAT overused and trite expression had ended up in Zero's lessons. But it was right…Re-examining his circumstances, X slapped himself in the forehead.
"No crud, Clousseau." X mumbled, bringing up another Secondary Weapon that shifted his armor into a dark red coloring.
He charged it up to full power, jumped ahead a bit, and fired.
The Speed Burner's charged up power blazed around him, turning him into a flaming, hurtling missile. It provided enough power to bring him past the first spike bed.
Righting himself and letting loose with a small, insignificant boost of thrusters, X stopped his forward momentum. Turning himself about, he gritted his teeth and gauged his fall…then fired off his sole Air-Dash.
It was enough. He slammed against the opposite wall, relieved to find, just like his helmet scanner had told him…spike free.
"I REALLY hate spikes." X whistled in relief.
He slid down the wall for a moment and paused at the mouth of a much larger drop.
Apparently, this had been the shorter of the two paths, albeit more harrowing. At the bottom of this next shaft was where the two paths met.
So he slid down the wall, his mind returning to thoughts of Zero, and the pain he'd inflict on Agile for being the Maverick he was.
All those thoughts were promptly washed away by shock as his footing gave out and he collapsed INTO the wall.
Stunned for only a moment, X brought up his helmet scanner.
This time, it was a holographic cloak.
"Odd…" X clucked, following the hidden tunnel. Although he wasn't quite sure why it would be here, hidden tunnels usually led to things like health and weapon recharges. Mavericks were predictable in that regard.
But what he found at the end of that short, holographic cloaked tunnel was not a weapons recharge.
Standing there, mocking the world with its flashing strobe lights atop, was a bluish tinted metallic capsule that was all too familiar.
"Holy Hell…" X gaped. Slowly, he walked towards it.
As if reacting to his presence, the sides slid down to reveal the figure of Doctor Light, as ragged as he had appeared in all of the Second Set's capsules…time was not fortunate to the pragmatic Doctor Thomas Xavier Light in the least.
Pulling at his white Santa Claus beard for a few seconds, the holographic specter of the past finally spoke up.
"X, as you may recall, in both the first time you were compelled to fight as well as now, there were four main capsules. And then there was a fifth…a special capsule. This is that fifth capsule. Designed to activate only when your body has reached its maximum potential with the upgrades already given, it finds a convenient niche in a location you are going to." The hologram shifted as it thought for a moment, and once more X realized that it had to be scanning his thoughts in some manner to make it more personalized. "In this case, the hidden Fortress of your enemies. The last time you approached this capsule, X, it granted you the power to form a ball of energy that would completely overload and destroy whatever it struck, as long as you were at full health." X's heart raced at the thought of regaining his prized Hadouken fireball. Light's eyes twinkled. "I'm sorry to say that your prized 'fireball' is not what I will grant you this time. No, I have come up with something new…something that I've managed only to design to function with your Second Armor set. The technique is too strong for any other arrangement, and even then, as it was the first go-around, you must be at full strength in order to use this move. You can call it the flaming Dragon Punch…the Shoryuken." Light cleared his throat, then fell into another spasmodic fit of coughing. "Christ…" Light mumbled wearily. "Years…how I miss them all…" Light lifted himself back up and sighed. "And now all I have is you…but you sleep in your capsule for years to come. When you awaken, I will be dead. And all that will remain of me is these capsules I give to you for posterity…and for not only your survival, but that of the world's. As the case has been proven twice now…your fate is intermingled with the planet you serve." Light took in another breath. "But I'll end on a positive note…I need something to keep me going whilst I begin my next task." Light's face, weary and ragged as it was, brightened up in a smile. "X…I just want you to know this. If you've come across this capsule…" The elderly roboticist took in a deep breath…
"WOW!!! YOU'RE SO COOL! I'M NOT WORTHY!!!" X stumbled back a few steps in dismay. Sure, the Doctor had appeared in a karate gi in the last 'special' capsule message, but…a pure outburst?? Light laughed.
"No, X…I'm not going senile on you. I'm as sane as I was on the day I came up with the plans for you. I just get depressed sometimes…Because I know you can never know the past I lived in…which we sacrificed for your future. But I don't want you to lose heart, X. There are challenges that yet remain ahead of you…I know this much. It was the same for your older brother. Just go on, X. You're strong, I made you strong. You have immense power, and I know in my heart you use that power for good. Mega Man X…My final creation…My son…I love you." Light smiled at X one last time, then finished his speech, his signal fading out into static as the transmission ended. "Just know that…I love…you…"
X had thought himself beyond tears. To an extent, he was.
The greatest Maverick Hunter didn't break down.
But as he stepped into the capsule and received his gift, there was still a tear glistening in his eye.
The rest of the trip through the Third Ring was a blur…Batton Bones all fell to his Crystal Hunter, as well as those damnable controller insect bots that had been shipped from the Junk Yard base on Cornus. Every one a mere stepping stone to his ultimate goal, crystals laying on the long spike bed gazing up menacingly from below.
The rotating gates parted…
Another short corridor…
And X found himself in a darkened room.
It was tall, not wide…and it seemed to stretch up a fair distance. Below him, another bed of spikes.
And above, the grinning face of Agile, meshed inside another War Machine.
"Number Three." X said aloud, clenching his fist up.
There was a smirk in Agile's face…a smirk that hinted at power he had not held the last time they met.
"It's not going to go in your favor this time, Hunter." Agile cackled. "Those other two were weak…not true Mavericks…but I am!!"
"Try me." X retorted, accessing his latest weapon and priming it in his systems.
Agile let loose with a loud cackle and fired. His War Machine's sides, attached to the walls in some sort of spidery wall climbing system, dropped the two side arms down below. The spiked ends first, they would have surely damaged X.
Would have…were the greatest Maverick Hunter not surging up through the air with an even louder scream, his fist, and indeed, his entire body shimmering with an unearthly light.
The spiked drop platform broke apart under his blow, and somehow X continued up…and up…
His fist slammed into the very core of the War Machine, into the cockpit where Agile's body lay tightly harnessed. The physical blow in place, all the energy surrounding his fist and his body surged up through his hand…
Another overload, but this time dependent on direct physical contact. Somehow, though…More powerful than the mere fireball.
Agile screamed as his War Machine plummeted onto the spike bed below, overheating and exploding as it went. Unable to stop until contact with a surface, X impacted on Agile's plummeting frame barely managing to Air-Dash to a side wall and hang on, watching in grim silence as Agile was impaled upon the deadly trap.
The damage done to Agile by X's Dragon Punch was enough…but hitting the spike bed below only made matters worse.
"THIS CANNOT BE!!!" Agile screamed at the top of his lungs. Throwing his head back, he yowled his last cry.
"MASTER, AVENGE MEEEE!!!"
And thus, with that final yawp, the last X-Hunter became little more than atomized particles as he exploded with his War Machine.
Slightly stunned by Agile's parting cry, X nonetheless moved on.
What unnerved him was not the fact he was only now able to enter the Fourth Ring, whose entrance loomed above him like a tempting beacon.
He'd destroyed all three X-Hunters…
Who in Heaven or Hell could deem to be their master…
Shutting down communications to and from Cornus was a simple matter for Sigma, who had spent his existence as little more than free-floating data for months. He knew exactly how it had transpired, but no one else could…
No one else even knew he was alive. Yet.
He did keep a direct link to the vitals of his X-Hunters, though…
"Incredible…" Sigma breathed in disbelief. Unlike Serges and Violen, Agile's vitals had dropped from perfect to nothing in a mere blink. Somewhere within his core program, Sigma couldn't help but wonder…
Had X found that hidden power…
That hidden power he had used to destroy both Vile and Velguarder in one measly blow in the First Uprising??
Perhaps. But X would have his hands full this time.
Sigma finished typing in the final bit of subroutine data to his override program and tapped out of the writing phase. As quick as he could, he uploaded it into Zero's main memory.
He took a deep breath…
This next part was incredibly tricky. According to Agile, who had gotten the report from Serges, Zero had been in the continual cycle of slow reactivation under the capable hands of the MHHQ's Medical Staff.
Someone Sigma knew all too well as the gruff, alcohol swigging British-minus-the-accent reploid on Johnny Five style treads…
Hazil.
"It makes his job easier, but mine harder." Sigma breathed.
The slow restart was a measure taken when reploids who were being reactivated after death had important data and/or memories that needed to be protected. A simple quick restart effectively did a clean RAM wipe of the reploid…erasing some, if not all of the reploid's memories, attitudes and idiosyncrasies. In a fate worse than death, according to some, the reploid was turned into something he was not.
The slow restart lessened the chances of that RAM cache wipe. But it made Sigma's job tougher.
There would be parts of Zero's mind fully cognizant and aware.
In order to activate his rough override program, Zero's core memory needed to be active. It wasn't as pretty as Sigma would have liked to turn Zero to his side…but considering the mitigating circumstances about Zero's origins…
Well, there was nothing else Sigma could do.
His finger quivering over the necessary switch, Sigma dearly hoped he had written his code right.
He punched the button, at last bringing Zero from his state of deep stasis.
For a few seconds, Zero blinked in confusion…then lifted his head and looked around.
His eyes flung wide as he gaped, and finally screamed.
"SIGMA!!!"
Thankfully, Sigma's program activated at that moment. Zero froze up, then began to fall into convulsions, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Sigma smiled darkly at those cries of pain.
"So Zero…I know that your memory is intact, at least…you remember me, and the connotations of my name…what I did. That is all well and good. My program can use that rage.
Zero could only scream and twist where he lay, unable to hear Sigma as the malevolent Maverick's override program played Hell with his mind.
"I suppose I should explain how my program works." Sigma continued, knowing full well Zero couldn't hear him, but feeling especially spunky. "Your core memories are unalterable. I cannot go into your mind and play Hell with who you are…for a reason I am only now beginning to understand. But what my program can do is simple: override. Common enough word, but what you must realize is that this program smothers more than just your memory. Your thinking, rational mind processes are also being blanketed by my program's power. The reason I activated you is that the program must first identify your functions, their locations…something I cannot do when you sleep. Serges had the same problem days ago, but unlike him, I do not have a damnable hidden escape subroutine ready to go off. A one shot deal, as they'd say??"
Zero's screams began to lessen…Sigma's smile grew broader.
"And my program works in a very direct fashion. It first immobilizes your motor controls…so that whilst it takes over your mind, you cannot strike out at anything close by. Like me. Then, it attacks your main sentience, turning you into little more than a screaming insanity case, and removing your free will and higher level thought processes as well. Like I said, they still remain…I have just found a way to mask them. Eventually, with those removed, your core memory receives a slight downgrade. In the end, after my program has worked its magic, the end result…"
Zero had finally stopped screaming, and now climbed to his feet. But the spark in his eye had vanished…Sigma smiled grimly at the 'reprogrammed' Zero.
"The end result is a warrior who will act on my command without hesitation, a warrior whose only memories is his instincts for fighting, whose only thought is whatever I tell him to do."
Zero stood there, staring blankly ahead. And Sigma at last laughed…
A laugh that carried on throughout the Central Computer base..
Through the corridors laden with the remains of robots…
And corridors laden with the bloodied and aromatic corpses of humans, ripped limb from limb…
It was a laugh of pure evil.
And evil planned to rise again.
X had found one warp capsule of the two at the top of his long climb completely destroyed, beyond all hope of repair. He'd wondered if that had led somewhere important at the time.
But it was planned, no doubt…the Mavericks had effectively forced him to take the second warp capsule.
The room he landed in was incredible…
Breathing the slightly acrid air, X had stared about, gazing in wondrous dismay at the eight warp capsules spread about the room.
The Mavericks were far from dumb…
In tribute to Wily, or at least to Wily's insane genius, the Mavericks had built a chamber with trips to every boss. In Mega's time, they had been Robot Masters.
In the time of X, these no doubt led to full blown copies of the eight Maverick Generals he'd faced.
And they had.
Strategies that had worked before still worked now…
And new ones had been developed.
Wheel Gator suffered under the power of the Strike Chain.
Overdrive Ostrich was rendered as useless as he had been in the desert artificial glass when the Crystal Hunter was brought to bear.
Crystal Snail was blown clear out of his shell under a barrage of Magnet Mines.
Flame Stag's fire was put out by a dousing of Bubble Splash.
And something odd began to happen as he blew away the final clone Maverick…
He reappeared in the center of the Fourth Ring, but there was no visible exit.
And all of the Ice Fortress was beginning to explode around him.
X drew in his breath and activated his Warp Generator.
A trap all along…and no sign of Zero…
But a voice over his comm circuit suddenly froze him…Raspy, malevolent, and every bit as haunting as it had ever been.
"It has been a while, Mega Man X."
SIGMA.
"WHAT?! SIGMA?!" Came X's sputtering reply.
Impossible…he was blown to scrap when his Flying Fortress went down…Sigma can't be alive…
"It seems that the X-Hunters have failed," Continued Sigma, undaunted by X's stupefied reply. "But don't worry, I have arranged for new toys for you to play with…" There was a distinct edge in Sigma's tone, as powerful as ever…pure, malignant evil.
X's comm chittered, and as he looked at it, a set of warp coordinates appeared.
His eyes darkened.
"No." Sigma cackled.
"Oh my yes…I was here, and now I'm there…and like the cat and mouse, it's time for you to take the cheese. I'll be waiting…"
The comm went dead.
X awoke from his stupor as the room's explosion began to rain debris down on top of him.
"DAMN YOU, SIGMA!!!" X screamed.
His Warp Generator went to full power…
And he followed the trail back where Sigma was leading him.
Back to the Central Computer base…
On Cornus Island.
Satellite photos reported the explosion of the Maverick 'Ice Fortress' as being very large and hot.
There was a significant decrease in icebergs around that area days later.