Part XV: A Little 'Bit' Of Rage
"So, Sigma," Bit continued. "What's with the whole armor thing here? I mean, it's you, but it's not you."
"You're making no sense, Bit."
"What I'm saying is that it physically houses you, but it's not really your style of host."
Sigma looked down at Cirrus' body.
"Well, one, this is as good as this time offers me. Two, this is the strongest body that I could find that was not virus-resistant. Stupid Hunter scientists and their effing technology."
"Oh, well. When do I get to fight?"
"Soon, Bit. Very soon. There are only three more parts I need to start building it."
"And those would be?"
Sigma counted them off on his fingers. "One, a device known as the Ioton, that would supply the massive weapons energy. Two, material to make a second optical receptor. And third, the Astro chip."
"I've heard about that. Isn't it supposed to be used to stabilize weapons and defense?"
"Yes, exactly. Since the Ioton creates more power than all of my followers and my previous bodies put together, the defense system would be impervious to any attack whatsoever."
"True. Are you planning on this body being your ultimate host?"
"At least part of the time. It will be so much larger than a convenient size that I'll still need another body to transfer to. And as that stands, that'll be this one."
Bit brought his hands together in front of his face, pushing them in and apart repeatedly. His eyes flashed a malicious red color. The new armor he'd been given as well as the updated munitions had made his already intense appearance all the more fierce.
"Where is this Ioton? And where are the troops I'll be commanding?"
"It's a good thing you asked, Bit. I figured you would need troops, and since I designed and built several subordinate officers since I was released, they will be placed under your authority. They can secure the perimeter and you can do the retrieval."
"That sounds fair enough. Where are they?"
Whistling, Sigma called in three reploids, ranging from small to large.
"These are your troops. On the left is Thermal Fox, followed by Flood Mouse and Poison Porcupine. They were holdovers from the last uprising. Somehow, they were frozen and just recently thawed."
Bit looked the Mavericks over. "I guess that'll do. Now about the Ioton?"
"Oh yes, that," Sigma replied. "It is located in this building right here, next to the munitions depot in Neo-Arcadia. Be careful, that area is currently on Hunter patrol."
"I don't think you have anything to worry about, sir," Flood Mouse chipped, diminutive size being shadowed by the Fox and Porcupine next to him.
"That's right," Fox said, folding her arms. "We're some of the best."
Bit looked to Sigma. "A female?"
"I resent that."
"I wasn't talking to you, red. I thought I was getting a reploid fox."
"Hey! For your information, I am. To be exact, I'm a vixen."
"And again, toots, I wasn't speaking to you."
Huffing, Thermal stormed out of the hangar they were in. Bit's eyes followed her, particularly fixated on the swinging tail in back...
"Bit? Hello?" Sigma said, waving a hand in front of his lieutenant's face. "Do you have a problem with her?"
Bit's eyes had glazed over. Somehow, though, he was able to emphasize his speech. "No, not at all."
Sigma sighed, allowing Bit to lead his soldiers out.
Zero was the first out of the elevator car. Looking around anxiously, he took in his surroundings. They were in a large cave, a few hundreds yards from the surface, and there was an opening large enough for a robot twice Zero's size to get through. However, there were a few problems: 1) the way there was straight up; 2) the cave walls were too slick to cling to; and 3) there was only a patch of ground without the slime-covered moss on it to grab near the gap.
"Well, X, any good ideas?" Blitz asked, observing the surface exit.
He didn't seem to, but then a thought occurred to him. "Zero, do you have the ability to fire a pinpoint laser?"
"Yeah, sure. Why?"
"Well, if I can form a magnification field, then the laser beam would strike the moss with enough heat to dry it out, allowing us to scale them."
"Ok. Here goes nothing," Zero muttered, aiming his arm cannon towards the wall below the opening. The cave walls should effectively ricochet the beam, drying the other side as well and allowing a back and forth jump maneuver to get to the opening quickly.
X sprayed enough energy into the air to be visibly seen, a cloud of plasma so thick it was like a fog. The laser cut through the cloud, hit the wall, ricocheted off and through the cloud again, striking the other wall, and finally shot out of the opening and into the air outside. After a few minutes the walls were arid.
"Alright, everybody," X said. "For those of you not able to cling to a wall and jump from it, we'll have to catapult you to that ledge. That means you Alia, Iris, and Roll. Proto, unless Dr. Light's armor installed a program to do that, you'll have to be lifted."
"I'll check," he said, scanning his upgraded capabilities. "Yeah, it did."
"Alright. Rock and Bass, if you don't wanna use that method, you can always use Rush or Treble. Roll, grab Tango. Alia, if you can get Fliptop and carry him out..."
"Sure thing."
Using X and Zero as a springboard, Alia flew high into the air, landing on the edge of the overhang, not visible from the outside. She let Fliptop down, allowing the little robot to jump in the air joyfully. Likewise, Iris used Blitz and Proto to launch her to safety, on the other side of the ledge, out of sight as well. Zero and Echo got Gate out, and then turned to getting themselves out.
Roll hopped near the opening thanks to X and Rock, and then Echo used the cling-jump-cling-jump maneuver to propel herself from the cave. Blitz, Proto, and Bass soon followed. Zero and X were next, joining the others on the outside. Rock was about to do the same when he heard a high-pitched voice come from the darkness.
"Wait up, you guys!"
Rock turned around to see the little bird come rocketing from the crevice where the car had just lowered.
"Beat! Where were you? We didn't think you'd made it before."
"Don't worry about it now, Rock. Let's just get outta here!"
After Beat had flown out of the cave, Rock used his new dash ability to fire himself toward the wall, launch himself to the opposite wall, and back to the surface with the others.
"Ok, now where do we go?" he asked, turning to X.
"Absolutely nowhere," a voice resonated from the space above them, British accent emphasizing the word 'nowhere.'
X and Zero glanced at each other through their peripheral vision.
"I recognize that voice. Do you think...?"
Zero slowly raised his gaze to the ledge shadowing the cave mouth.
"Hello, Bit."
The slender Maverick jumped in front of them, redesigned armor shielding reflecting in the sunlight. Three other Mavericks joined him soon thereafter, but he kept a single arm resting in the other, just waiting to activate the new weaponry Sigma had equipped him with.
He sneered, quoting an old movie line for added dramatics.
"Go ahead, make my day."
"So, Sigma," Bit continued. "What's with the whole armor thing here? I mean, it's you, but it's not you."
"You're making no sense, Bit."
"What I'm saying is that it physically houses you, but it's not really your style of host."
Sigma looked down at Cirrus' body.
"Well, one, this is as good as this time offers me. Two, this is the strongest body that I could find that was not virus-resistant. Stupid Hunter scientists and their effing technology."
"Oh, well. When do I get to fight?"
"Soon, Bit. Very soon. There are only three more parts I need to start building it."
"And those would be?"
Sigma counted them off on his fingers. "One, a device known as the Ioton, that would supply the massive weapons energy. Two, material to make a second optical receptor. And third, the Astro chip."
"I've heard about that. Isn't it supposed to be used to stabilize weapons and defense?"
"Yes, exactly. Since the Ioton creates more power than all of my followers and my previous bodies put together, the defense system would be impervious to any attack whatsoever."
"True. Are you planning on this body being your ultimate host?"
"At least part of the time. It will be so much larger than a convenient size that I'll still need another body to transfer to. And as that stands, that'll be this one."
Bit brought his hands together in front of his face, pushing them in and apart repeatedly. His eyes flashed a malicious red color. The new armor he'd been given as well as the updated munitions had made his already intense appearance all the more fierce.
"Where is this Ioton? And where are the troops I'll be commanding?"
"It's a good thing you asked, Bit. I figured you would need troops, and since I designed and built several subordinate officers since I was released, they will be placed under your authority. They can secure the perimeter and you can do the retrieval."
"That sounds fair enough. Where are they?"
Whistling, Sigma called in three reploids, ranging from small to large.
"These are your troops. On the left is Thermal Fox, followed by Flood Mouse and Poison Porcupine. They were holdovers from the last uprising. Somehow, they were frozen and just recently thawed."
Bit looked the Mavericks over. "I guess that'll do. Now about the Ioton?"
"Oh yes, that," Sigma replied. "It is located in this building right here, next to the munitions depot in Neo-Arcadia. Be careful, that area is currently on Hunter patrol."
"I don't think you have anything to worry about, sir," Flood Mouse chipped, diminutive size being shadowed by the Fox and Porcupine next to him.
"That's right," Fox said, folding her arms. "We're some of the best."
Bit looked to Sigma. "A female?"
"I resent that."
"I wasn't talking to you, red. I thought I was getting a reploid fox."
"Hey! For your information, I am. To be exact, I'm a vixen."
"And again, toots, I wasn't speaking to you."
Huffing, Thermal stormed out of the hangar they were in. Bit's eyes followed her, particularly fixated on the swinging tail in back...
"Bit? Hello?" Sigma said, waving a hand in front of his lieutenant's face. "Do you have a problem with her?"
Bit's eyes had glazed over. Somehow, though, he was able to emphasize his speech. "No, not at all."
Sigma sighed, allowing Bit to lead his soldiers out.
Zero was the first out of the elevator car. Looking around anxiously, he took in his surroundings. They were in a large cave, a few hundreds yards from the surface, and there was an opening large enough for a robot twice Zero's size to get through. However, there were a few problems: 1) the way there was straight up; 2) the cave walls were too slick to cling to; and 3) there was only a patch of ground without the slime-covered moss on it to grab near the gap.
"Well, X, any good ideas?" Blitz asked, observing the surface exit.
He didn't seem to, but then a thought occurred to him. "Zero, do you have the ability to fire a pinpoint laser?"
"Yeah, sure. Why?"
"Well, if I can form a magnification field, then the laser beam would strike the moss with enough heat to dry it out, allowing us to scale them."
"Ok. Here goes nothing," Zero muttered, aiming his arm cannon towards the wall below the opening. The cave walls should effectively ricochet the beam, drying the other side as well and allowing a back and forth jump maneuver to get to the opening quickly.
X sprayed enough energy into the air to be visibly seen, a cloud of plasma so thick it was like a fog. The laser cut through the cloud, hit the wall, ricocheted off and through the cloud again, striking the other wall, and finally shot out of the opening and into the air outside. After a few minutes the walls were arid.
"Alright, everybody," X said. "For those of you not able to cling to a wall and jump from it, we'll have to catapult you to that ledge. That means you Alia, Iris, and Roll. Proto, unless Dr. Light's armor installed a program to do that, you'll have to be lifted."
"I'll check," he said, scanning his upgraded capabilities. "Yeah, it did."
"Alright. Rock and Bass, if you don't wanna use that method, you can always use Rush or Treble. Roll, grab Tango. Alia, if you can get Fliptop and carry him out..."
"Sure thing."
Using X and Zero as a springboard, Alia flew high into the air, landing on the edge of the overhang, not visible from the outside. She let Fliptop down, allowing the little robot to jump in the air joyfully. Likewise, Iris used Blitz and Proto to launch her to safety, on the other side of the ledge, out of sight as well. Zero and Echo got Gate out, and then turned to getting themselves out.
Roll hopped near the opening thanks to X and Rock, and then Echo used the cling-jump-cling-jump maneuver to propel herself from the cave. Blitz, Proto, and Bass soon followed. Zero and X were next, joining the others on the outside. Rock was about to do the same when he heard a high-pitched voice come from the darkness.
"Wait up, you guys!"
Rock turned around to see the little bird come rocketing from the crevice where the car had just lowered.
"Beat! Where were you? We didn't think you'd made it before."
"Don't worry about it now, Rock. Let's just get outta here!"
After Beat had flown out of the cave, Rock used his new dash ability to fire himself toward the wall, launch himself to the opposite wall, and back to the surface with the others.
"Ok, now where do we go?" he asked, turning to X.
"Absolutely nowhere," a voice resonated from the space above them, British accent emphasizing the word 'nowhere.'
X and Zero glanced at each other through their peripheral vision.
"I recognize that voice. Do you think...?"
Zero slowly raised his gaze to the ledge shadowing the cave mouth.
"Hello, Bit."
The slender Maverick jumped in front of them, redesigned armor shielding reflecting in the sunlight. Three other Mavericks joined him soon thereafter, but he kept a single arm resting in the other, just waiting to activate the new weaponry Sigma had equipped him with.
He sneered, quoting an old movie line for added dramatics.
"Go ahead, make my day."