Mega Man X 1.5
by Tremor3258
Disclaimer: Yes (web check) Capcom STILL owns Mega Man, not I, so please don't sue.
Purple Flames, Shadowed Hearts
Iris started to run towards Zero to stand by and help him fight then hesitated. Any closer, and she would be killed. It was irrational, but Iris couldn't but help to back up. Sigma laughed, "A fitting metaphor for your organization's status, eh, Zero? She does not show you any affection, but she does not want to kill you, yet." Sigma's booming laughter rang out over the shadowed room. Ajax hissed and was practically frothing. Or rather, something in Ajax's body, as the feline Hunter was the last in a long line of victims to the Maverick Virus.
"Iris, please don't you recognize me!" Zero said frantically. He hated to be so cold about this, but he NEEDED to know if Iris was on his side or not. Without his saber, Zero seriously doubted he could take all three on at once, or even two if one was Sigma. Who knew what surprises were loaded into the latest body?
"I'm sorry Zero. I want to, but if I get close, all I see is our battle and my madness. Please forgive me for being weak," Iris sat down, hands around her knees and began to cry. Zero nodded, and turned to face Ajax and Sigma, leaving his back open.
"Love conquers all, I suppose," said Sigma philosophically, "Oh well. Ajax, tear them to pieces." Ajax snarled in approval, only to be met by a burst of level-3 charged buster fire. Zero, his red armored form looking especially menacing continued forward, launching a series of smaller Z-buster bolts.
"Hey, now why a beam saber is a real warrior's tool due to the level of control and the power of the mind over techniques, I have to agree with X. When you're in a fluid situation against more opponents, busters are helpful as hell." Ajax's back was against the wall, his chest smoking from Zero's carefully picked shots.
Zero reached down and hefted his Z-saber. Very few Reploids could use saber techniques, limiting the effectiveness of sabers, and X hadn't ever wanted to learn. His buster was a permanent part of his form, and so he'd used to use it from necessity, but he wasn't going around carrying extra weapons but his armor, though Zero was sure X would be deadly with one. Still, few could use a saber as well as Zero, as few had the control to take the data from a variable weapon diagram and figure out a way to manipulate the plasma generators in a saber hilt. Zero smirked. Their loss.
Zero continued, "That said, there's nothing like a saber for removing an obstacle in a hurry, and it wouldn't be gentleman-like to leave you to Iris, even though I know that in her mental state she can still reduce you sorry excuse for Maverick to scarp in under a minute. No offense to Ajax, but you're about to die, and then Sigma's got to go get making plans for his next body."
Ajax snarled and headed forward. Zero, meanwhile, concentrated energy into the palm of his hand. He wasn't sure how Jazz got her techniques to work, since they ran off her main power grid and were nearly as successful at long-range as buster-style special weapons. This was the closest he had. Zero threw the Rakuhouha directly at the chest of the on-coming Maverick, and then turned and dash jumped, tackling Iris as the massive energy burst slammed through the room. Once the roaring stopped, Zero looked up. Almost all the lights were off now, shattered by his technique's power, and the room was even more rubble. "Oh, Maverick?" Zero said lightly, "I lied. The saber's for when I'm not ticked off. Explosions are AMAZING stress relievers. Are you all right, Iris?"
Iris nodded wordlessly. She seemed to be quivering in place. Zero wanted to go to her, but this wasn't the right time. Sigma waited overhead. Iris finally choked out, "Zero. I'm sorry for this, but you should probably get out of the way." A purple glow started to fill the room. Zero risked a look behind him to see Iris was forming a crystal out of midair. Iris shook her head, stopping Zero from making any moves, "I need to do this Zero. He hurt me, badly, and he thought he could hurt me enough to make me repeat the biggest mistake in my life. Please, just be here for me when I snap out of it, and guard me in my madness." Zero hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, out to the side.
Iris raised the crystal over her head. Sigma was inclined to watch. There was a chance the stress would cause Iris to rip Zero open, which would make his job easier. However, Sigma seriously doubted that. The weapon system that granted Iris her armor could theoretically be installed in any Reploid, but very few could use it, as they had to be willing to release themselves totally to the battle fury, with their primary personality stored into the crystal when the armor was activated. A loss of concentration would separate the two, making the true Reploid very vulnerable. The crystal's exposure to open air had allowed Sigma to get readings of Iris's personality patterns, and a loyal low-level servant had copied the body schematics.
Now, Sigma was about to get a close-up view on how good Maverick workmanship was. Energy flowed from the crystal into Iris's body, and her systems writhed in response, Iris's mind, focused on battle, channeled the energy into a fearsome looking set of armor. Iris took to the air on mechanical wings and released a set of mines at Sigma. Sigma rolled his eyes, and launched a blast of energy from his hand, blowing apart the tiny bombs. "Really dear, I happened to see your battle. I know your techniques." Iris paused to release another set of mines, and then suddenly dashed forward, slamming Sigma off his high platform and down near Zero.
Well, Zero assumed it was Sigma. He was cloaked and carried a massive staff. The voice was right, however. Sigma growled at Zero, "I'll get you later," and flipped a switch on the staff, igniting a beam, well, scythe. The perfect image of the grim reaper, Sigma jumped into the air. Zero rolled his eyes: Sigma hadn't, apparently, decided to change his look, and was still going through the 'hidden' motif, and Zero had trained against this form.
Then Sigma launched a big blue energy beam at Iris, slamming her back. Iris slammed against the wall, and started forward again hesitantly. Zero's eyes widened. There was an actual burn mark on her armor. None of Zero's techniques had done more than weaken Iris psychologically until the crystal split away, at which point Zero began attacking her spirit. Sigma had done actual damage to armor that had withstood everything Zero's beam saber had thrown against it.
"You see, Iris?" laughed Sigma. "Your power was a useful secondary option to me. I've had a year of progress to improve myself. Much like Repliforce, you are obsolete." Sigma's laughter was cut off by Zero performing a Ryuenjin rising fire slash into the Maverick overlord's back.
"Someone," Zero said, "Needs to work on their armor next time they come back from the dead. Sigma, I owe you for putting Iris back together, so if you leave VERY quickly, I might just forego hunting you down for a week or two."
"You'll go without hunting me far longer than that Zero. It isn't right for the second in command to be a traitor! Enjoy your time as a Maverick!" Sigma tossed a small object out at Zero, and Zero, reflexively, slashed it open when it came in close. A cloud of blackness rolled out and over Iris. "Farewell, Crimson Hunter! With your skills, don't come back until you've killed every Hunter in this fortress, and do try and bring Iris back. She was quite the investment." Sigma warped away. Iris dropped down to the ground and transformed back, and started to run to Zero, but, gasping for air as he felt infection burn into him, he held up a hand to keep her back, as he started to glow with an unholy purple aura.
***********************
X continued through the fortress. He was about at full power. Hovering took care of most of the spike problems. X had broken ahead of the Unit 0 Hunters, power and experience blazing his way through Dr. Wily's last set of deathtraps. Now, X knew what was next. The revolving gateway meant that the final control room was on the other side, judging by the number of rings and the Hunter's taking scans of the interior before proceeding. And the Hunters knew a Maverick waited at the heart.
He took a deep breath, charged the buster, and ran through the gate, which allowed him in. The lights were on in the control room, a little dusty, but still reasonably intact. X's eyes lit up. A chip was obviously visible in a data reader in the console. Unfortunately, there was an eight foot high orange skunk in between him and the chip. "Welcome X! I am Nova Skunk, and I have been given the honor of destroying you."
X's face was grim. He had no data on this Maverick besides the knowledge that it would be waiting for him. Nova Skunk's basic form was an upright skunk, with a lighter shade of red down his back. The Maverick stamp was proudly displayed on his forehead, right over the stripe. There were no apparent weapon ports, but there could be some hidden in the arms or mouth. He definitely looked confident, but most Mavericks did.
X started the fight with a max charged burst from his plasma buster. The plasma shot enveloped the Maverick, who yelped and shut his eyes as the high energy ate at his shielding. Nova Strike, however, came out with barely a burn mark. "You'll have to do better than that X." Nova strike launched a high energy burst from his hand out at the Hunter, who jumped into the air and narrowly dodged it. "I use high-intensity particle bursts. You think that plasma cloud is going to do a lot of damage to me?"
"Okay, so he's an ugly, garishly painted Bebop?" X said incredulously.
Okay: if he's heavily shielded, that means he'll have trouble dumping heat or his own weapons will kill him. A highly focused beam should do him in, thought X. Under his white armor, much of his skin turned blue as he switched to the weapon granted by Cyber Peacock.
Nova Skunk noticed and raised his tail. A series of sparkling orbs shot out. X jumped for the wall, but was unable to dodge them all, an energy bolt striking him and playing over his systems. X screamed as his systems locked up for a moment, and Nova skunk took the opportunity to backhand him. X checked his status display, and groaned. His energy was down by a quarter. But Skunk had stopped for the moment, and X took the opportunity to lock on his weapon and fire a green blast of energy. Skunk groaned as the laser slashed through his chest, leaving a furrow in his armor.
"Stupid!" X chastised himself, "You gave him time after the weapon's switch." X fired his laser off a few more times, hoping to end this quickly and secure the chip. Nova launched a quick energy beam, but X, his instincts kicking back in after that quick painful burst, switched to the frost tower and fired an ice shield in front of himself. The energy ablated itself against the ice, and X quickly wall-jumped up on top, switching to the aiming laser and blasting again. Nova Skunk's circuits were starting to smoulder as the Laser pinpointed weak spots and fried circuitry.
X was surprised. Frankly, this Maverick had some serious firepower and strength: but he really couldn't withstand any damage. It had taken seven shots to leave him practically crippled. Definitely not one of Sigma's best works. X decided Sigma had thought the Wily Fortress would fall anyway, and just wanted to make things painful by leaving something disposable. Nova Skunk's chuckling, however, put X back on his guard.
"You fool! Even though I may be destroyed, Sigma is wiping out all of Unit 0! Zero will soon take his rightful place as second-in-command! The Hunters lose X, and I have placed my fusion reactor on overload!" X, treating this proclamation with all due seriousness, quickly fired his laser again burning through the feed lines to the reactor. Nova Skunk rested, his madness eased at last.
X quickly ran over and grabbed the chip, not bothering to take the weapon data right now, especially since he already had a charged energy weapon with his buster. X flipped off the controls, well, which ones weren't destroyed, putting the fortress at rest and shutting down the various jamming systems. Instantly, Signas's voice filled the radio, "X! We've got a situation! I've had to recall a lot of Hunters to base because we've got a Maverick trying to kill Rock! Zero left to help with the fortress, and we can't get any response! All we know is he's in the second ring, and there's a Maverick signature with him!"
X could hear the faint whir of Ride Armor servos in the background, "Recall all Hunters to base. I've got a few chips here I'll want to analyze when I get back. I'll go see what Zero is up to." X turned to run back through the fortress, and then stopped. A large blue capsule waited in the room, red light on the top blinking slowly.
***********************
Zero was fighting inside his mind. A part of him almost under conscious control seemed to welcome the Virus, and it was difficult to fight. The infection seemed to continue to soak in, and then Zero's eyes widened in surprise. That part of him that was expecting and welcoming reinfection after so long had suddenly recoiled and started defenses. Zero's auto-repair went into overdrive, using the old Virus information."
Sigma's laughter was cut short as Zero's purple aura was replaced with a red one. At the same time, the red color on his armor seemed to be leeched away, leaving it a dull matte black. "That's impossible!" roared Sigma, "You can't just ... subvert the Virus!"
Zero shook his head. His world seemed to have a different view, consisting of simple threat analysis and recommended attacks. So this is why Jazz and Bebop prefer to not use this on their missions, realized Zero. He spoke up, opening his eyes, "You're wrong Sigma. You greatly strengthened the Virus, and increased it far beyond what Dr. Wily hoped. However, you forget the original purpose was to strengthen the will of a Reploid, turning them purely into a warrior without any other concerns." Zero ignited his saber, the green energy lighting the dark room, "I am that warrior Sigma. Prepare to get your ass kicked."
Sigma, starting to float away in fear, as he saw his Virus, his true self, be suborned to another will like he had done to so many. He launched an energy bolt, but Zero triggered the Tenkuuha and the energy beam split as Zero casually held the saber up to it. "Who wants to see what the Rakuhouha does when the limiters are reduced to critical levels on my power source?" Zero asked nastily.
Sigma stared into Zero's eyes for a moment, but he broke first. Sigma snarled at losing the contest of wills and the day, "Next time, you and the rest of your band are mine!" he promised, and quickly teleported out. Iris grinned tremulously at seeing her tormentor defeated by her love, and started to walk over, but Zero held his hand out grim.
"You can do a lot, Iris, but we don't know what Shadow Armor Virus particles do, and I'll need another moment to finish converting the last of Sigma's particles. For that matter, I don't think I can feel the emotions I should with this on. Give me a moment." Iris nodded. It seemed that he suffered the same demons she did. But perhaps they could get through together, at least, that was what she clung to right now.
*************************
The capsule triggered to X's proximity as he stepped forward in surprise. As usual, Dr. Light's caring eyes stared out of it, "Hello X," the program began, "This capsule was sent to this location by the AI threat analysis program. While the capsules are still in development for the next batch of armor, I do have a system I'd like to give you. The testing isn't quite finished, but it's a new plasma generator system that will strengthen shields and weapons, as well as providing a continuous feed to the Nova Strike capacitors." X said nothing, afraid of stopping the rather talkative Light.
"This Ultimate Armor is far beyond almost any other weapon of war analysis indicates is possible in this time period. I did not want to give it to you, as I was worried for your safety and I did not want to increase the arms race by showing yet another level of achievement yet. However, if you're in Wily's fortress, you must have discovered enough to be tracking down the Virus. If so, the threats against you will surely rise in severity. If you wish, step into this capsule and receive the power." Light paused, the hologram looking directly into X's eyes, "I'm sorry you could never meet Rock, Roll, or Blues, X, but tell Bebop and Jazz to give as much information as they can. They have some great stories, especially about Proto man, who is rarely in the history books. I hope you can achieve our dreams of peace."
X blinked. That was rather odd. Well, most of it was fairly standard, if a bit verbose, but why the last bit? X decided to think on it later. The Ultimate Armor's improved power would allow X to help his friend faster if he could do many, many super air-dashes. X quickly jumped into the capsule, which crackled with energy as it downloaded its improved components. X looked at himself when the process was complete. The usual white armor had switched to black, and the verniers and antenna sticking from his shoulders had been replaced with a more rounded look. X quickly put the armor to the next, triggering a Nova Strike, quickly moving back out into the hallways, and was gleeful when he noticed his energy was still high. "I'm on my way Zero!" X promised, Nova Striking as fast as he could through the halls.
********************
Gate typed faster as the heavy door was pounded farther in. The door had broken once earlier, but Isoc's authority had deleted Douglas's passcodes, and so the weapon systems primitive AI finally recognized him as an enemy. The amount of plasma directed at Douglas had knocked him back, allowing the group to rig several tables into a makeshift barricade.
That said, Gate was awestruck by the amount of firepower involved. He seriously doubted even X or Zero would be able to make it through the gauntlet present in the medical wing. None of the Hunters had ever seen their defense grid at full power before, and it was what Sigma WANTED to have, except his fortresses kept getting blown up. Hunter HQ had years for engineers to pack even more firepower within its walls.
Douglas had been greatly weakened by the assault, and the jade armor covering him had several deep craters in it now, including one that had apparently gotten through, judging by the small leak of lubricant visible on the exterior cameras. Tiny specks of armor continued to fleck off Douglas and he continued to be wracked by the green lightning going over him. Gate checked the map. Hunters were racing their way through the structure, and Signas was perhaps a minute away. Yammark released his drones, but he definitely looked a bit shaky. This would be his first time in a war that Gate had hoped his creation would never have to join.
With a final groaning shudder, the durasteel door guarding the medical bay gave way. Gate grabbed Isoc and hit the floor. Rock's firepower and experience would have come in handy, but his systems lay maddingly quiescent. Gate activated his buster, tossing out energy bolts as Yammark and the Hunters in the room did the same. The energy bursts impacted against Douglas's frame with a shower of sparks as plasma grounded itself. Isoc's administrative side took a moment to shudder at what sort of repairs the medical equipment would require after this before the self-preservation side kicked in and told Isoc to keep his head down.
Douglas seemed to soak up the charge without realizing its intent for a moment, but he spotted the flicker of movement from the white armored Isoc, and with a roar, started forward after him. The various weapon-armed groups in the room were flung aside, as Isoc scrambled to try and back away from the monster in front of him. Tiny sparks flew off as Douglas said haltingly, "Give me the pass codes! I will be complete in my perfection!"
Isoc's eyes widened in horror, "You did this to yourself, Douglas, why?"
"To gain strength of course," Douglas declared, "Only a fool wouldn't think that the time for humanity is past. Institutions are breaking down, the very state of the Hunters proves it! I will survive the forthcoming wars, and Cain Lab's has the technology I need to do it with, but you foolishly locked away the final components to stabilize it. Give me the codes!" Douglas yelled, launching energy bolts near Isoc's feet. The impacts of the Hunters' shots against his back were starting to injure him.
Isoc shook his head sadly, "Douglas, it can't be stabilized! We sealed the records to prevent anyone from creating another Iris! The two portions to the system couldn't be permanently reconciled without causing psychosis!"
Gate added, "We designed Colonel to get some use out of the secondary program, as well as help Iris recover. Our designs put her in a deep depression in the original state, and Colonel was designed to help her out of it. Her personality matrix was designed as a healer and to offer support, in order to make teaching her to use her powers only for defense. Even then, Iris could only use the armor correctly when she was in a murderous rage, and she was designed for it. Maybe in a few years, we could get it working, but not now. Douglas, turn the system off now, and the Hunters will probably help you."
"No!" Douglas said, "Your safe little bets and doubts prove why you will perish! If I can't have them willingly, I will rip them from his memory core!" Douglas suddenly shuddered as an impact made its way through his armor. Mental state barely stable as it is, Douglas forgot his overall goal to punish the Reploid who dared injure him.
Signas sat at the controls to a Raiden Ride Armor, and said, "You talk WAY too much." Signas used a powered swipe to egg the out-of-control Reploid further, and starting backing up. He couldn't utilize the Ride Armor's full power with all these people in the area. Douglas took the challenge, ramming into the armor and slamming it backwards against the opposing wall. Signas winced when he saw the damage. The structural integrity on the Raiden had dropped by half.
"You haven't seen what I can really do yet, Hunter! And this is before I get full power!" yelled Douglas. He launched a bolt of energy, easily half the size of the Raiden. Signas jumped out of it in a hurry as it was smashed to splinters by the energy bolt. "Now, Isoc!" said Douglas, "It's time for you to pay." Isoc wondered if his will was current, and then realized he had the laptop that was connected to Rock's files. Isoc quickly slid it towards Gate, who groaned in dismay.
Sure enough, Douglas picked up on the movement, and spun around to prepare to launch the green bolt at Gate, who fired his pulse blaster up at the monstrosity, knocking loose a few insignificant chips of emerald, as Douglas finished charging. Gate closed his eyes as the unearthly green energy bolt was thrown at his direction, but opened them after a moment to find him eclipsed by Yammark. Gate yelled in dismay, a wordless keening, as the energy flow stopped and Yammark collapsed. His drones had absorbed quite a bit of the energy, but not nearly enough, and his armor had liquified under the stress. A few sparks were left from activated circuitry. "I wanted to make you proud, father," Yammark whispered, before falling backwards.
"Insignificant and worthless," judged Douglas. "Gate, you spend far too much time tinkering with the mind rather than the body. This is why you fail." Douglas prepared another energy bolt, quickly knocking aside the Hunters who attempted to grab him.
Gate looked up, tears in his eyes, "Go to hell, you insane bastard."
"Never," declared Douglas. The energy bolt prepared, he was about to hurl it, but then he got cut off by someone whistling for attention in the doorway. Douglas turned and fired an energy bolt, but no one rested in the doorway. Suddenly, Douglas staggered to the side. He had been hit from an unexpected corner. Douglas turned to find the Blue Bomber himself sitting up in bed and pumping plasma.
At the same time, Bebop and Jazz, carrying heavy blast shields, came into the doorway. Bebop explained quickly, "Sorry about the whistle, but it seemed appropriate with these. Half the Hunter corps is right behind us, but jet-assisted flight, and the fact we got the call to return sooner, came in handy. Can we please get everyone out now?" Bebop saw Rock sitting up in bed and firing, "Rock! You're alive! Yikes!" Bebop ducked as Douglas sent a smaller energy bolt over his head. Isoc and the two Hunters cleared out, wounded by the battle. Gate went slower, dragging Yammark. Bebop and Jazz looked grim when they saw the damage done to the Reploid, before nodding and turning to blast Douglas.
Gate paused as soon as he was out of the line of fire, "Shouldn't you two be using that nifty Shadow Armor upgrade, or at least flying? I thought we got your Maverick-style signature locked out."
Jazz shouted over the roar of her launchers, getting the opportunity since Douglas seemed a bit confused about who to eviscerate first. "We exhausted the thrust reserves getting here, and it will take a few minutes for them to recharge. Besides, Shadow Armor program's main advantage is saber-length combat, and he's got a better reach, and I'm not sure he's touchable with green energy running over him."
Besides, Jazz thought, I don't like how I think with that thing on. I feel so ... mechanical, and not quite in control of myself. Stupid Maverick Virus, I wish I hadn't learned I had that. It just means more poking and prodding and being strapped to tables to no end. And having my creator try and wipe me out of my own body didn't help. Bebop says that there are better ways to work through aggression, but this guy's about to GET what's coming to him.
Douglas had finally made up his mind, and charged after where two people were shooting him, rather than one. Bebop and Jazz noticed the crack on his front, which had been lightly sealed over with more emerald armor. Bebop's lasers were easily diffused by the crystal structure, but that was what his kinetic lance was for, which effectively projected a force field into a beam and projected it outwards.
The crystal cracked under the first blow as Douglas trotted forward, intent on ripping the cats to shreds. Evidently the Death Rays took a bit of energy. Jazz unleashed her charged attack and four missiles impacted against Douglas's expanded frame to no apparent effect. However, Bebop's second lance worked better, cracking through the armor. Douglas stopped for a second from the hit, and Jazz triggered her Giga Attack, letting loose a giant beam of energy.
Douglas howled as it hit, but when it cleared, he was still functional and upright. Sparks flew from the wound in his torso, but it was too low to hit the fusion reactor, so he was still on-line. "Oh man! That takes forever to recharge!" Douglas's attack didn't, as he got a huge bolt of energy ready. The two cats exchanged a glance and started dashing away, shields strapped over their thruster packs. They didn't quite clear it in time as the green orb hit the corridor and billowed outwards, channeled by the walls and smacking the two down. Most of the fury was spent over their heads as they lay sprawled on the floor. Douglas ran out into the corridor, still being smacked by Mega Man's buster shots. The two cats took off dashing, hoping to meet the Hunters coming in from both directions.
Rock ducked under Douglas and headed after Bebop. New memory circuits were on-line, including additional information leading up to Blue's death. His brother was in trouble, not to mention in training, and Rock was supposed to take care of him, as well as deliver Dr. Light's schematic files.
Douglas trembled and wasn't sure which way to go. His mind was continuing to fall apart. It was harder and harder to think with each second, as his mental capacity decayed farther more of the reminder was required to maintain the armor program. Staggering, Douglas went after the two who had gone together.
Actually, the three had linked up. HQ was deliberately a honeycomb that could be segmented, with lots of dead ends and passages dropping down. Douglas had shredded many on his way into the medical wing, but the trio were headed towards the main elevator shaft, where most of the rest of the Hunters had gathered.
Isoc was finishing telling a story to the gathered Hunters who were still able, "And Dr. Light coded it to Proto Man's whistle! Of all the crazy things," he said, shaking his head. Gate was off to the side, being consoled by Alia and Laser Wolf next to Yammark's corpse. Judging by the shaking of his shoulders, he was crying.
Jazz and Bebop skidded to a halt when they saw the Hunters, Rock nearly hitting Bebop. There were perhaps 120 out of the usual near-thousand or so. "Is this all who're left?" Jazz said in a quiet tone. X and Zero turned around, though not instantly recognizable with their black armor. Jazz winced, "He got you too, huh Zero?" The Shadowed Hunter nodded, arm around Iris.
X said softly, "Most of Unit 0 is retired, but almost everyone else is on the disabled list. Zero had a nasty run-in with Sigma," Jazz and Bebop winced from remembered massive shrapnel wounds, "We've got quite a few people being checked by medics. Wily was shooting for disables, probably since he thought he could convert damaged mechanical units. Still, we're down to one-tenth strength for the time being." X looked at Rock, "Isoc, get him upstairs and start work, and see if the chips I found have anything good on them."
"Let me guess," Bebop asked, "We're about to be hooked up to machines for another month?" The two crossed their arms irritably as Rock trotted after the scientist Reploid.
Zero shook his head, "Nah, we'll let you go up against the crazy green glowing guy instead. When I got infected, I didn't lose any energy. My systems handled the Virus perfectly, and the fact that I blocked the kind of energy beam X can't throw around means they'll be that much more interested."
"You know," Bebop said, "I really wish I could feel bad about this." Jazz nodded her agreement. Zero shrugged. It gave him more time to spend with Iris, considering she wouldn't be in combat for a while, and it wasn't likely Zero's level of skill would be needed if they got a vaccine.
The mood was broken by a roaring noise. Douglas wasn't in the best shape, as more and more armor had fallen off, as he was now looking more and more like a battle-armored version of himself. Iris glared and balled her hands into fists at the shape. It was her nightmare, and how she saw herself in the armor as a monstrosity without sense or conscience. Zero drew her behind him, and ignited his saber and performed a dash slash. Plasma crackled off the armor as the saber's integrity was disrupted. The armor soaked up plasma easily and deflected it.
Zero's reactions were good enough to double jump out of the way as Double reached out with one energy-infused hand. The Hunters opened up with a barrage of every sort of projectile possible. Zero shrugged and went to Z-buster shots, while X got out his Ground Hunter special and launched charged shots into the crack. Douglas managed exactly three steps against the combined might of the Hunters before falling over. The Hunters cheered. At least something was going right, and according to the briefings, this was at least one mole they had managed to remove.
About a half second later, due to the light speed delay, a man smiled. "Enjoy your victory Hunters. Two and Three have failed, but you have yet to look out for Number One. They've both proven that you have the will and raw strength to fight your way through physical obstacles, so it's time to give you something you can't shoot." The man quickly called his secretary, "I need our Publicity Expert, Mrs. Thorne. I've gotten some footage from ... a concerned citizen and I'd like to see how best to release it." The man settled back. Sigma had failed to contain Zero due to his reliance on taking the mind. Douglas had failed to compromise the Hunters because of his obsession with strength. "I, however, will attack their souls, and even the mighty X has little defense against that." Number One chuckled and went to work. There was much to be done.
To be continued.
Author's notes:
Mrs. Thorne just sounded like a secretary's name. It has no special significance.
Or does it?
This chapter is dedicated to Yammark, the only boss in X6 I as yet have managed to beat without using ANY armors and X. I thought the wimpy guy needed something better than that.
After a few chapters that were fairly depressing, the Hunters needed a happy ending. Well, Gate's in trouble, but he's not a Hunter. Iris is on the thin edge of sanity, but she's not a Hunter either.
Zero and X get power-up packages! I liked the idea of combining Maverick Zero red aura with the black armor. Plus, you gotta love the Ultimate Armor.
Well, it's a happy ending in the sense that if they work fast, they may get a vaccine. They have given their enemies unwittingly enough rope to hang themselves with. Their interior defenses are wrecked, and a lot of the Hunters are off-line. It's an initial happiness thing. Once the rush fades off, they're back to work.
I'm starting to wonder if I can write a non-parody happy story. sigh
Please R/R! I'm almost done with this story arc (which was very centralized on X). I think the next story arc may be more Zero/Iris focused. I'm not telling exactly what will happen yet, but the status quo, which was fairly maintained in X.5 and X1.5, is going to be REALLY shaken up for X2.5!
Next time: The Hunters may have finally found a cure for the Virus, but is the Vaccine worse than the Disease? For that matter, the public has to decide how much leeway they're willing to give a bunch of heavily-armed Reploids that sometimes resemble an X/Zero personality cult than anything else.