The light orange-and-black armor of ex-general Wiedl glistened luminously against the dim light shedding from the florescent lighting, harmoniously humming from the center of the ceiling. It was the only sound being produced in that musty, cramped office; that is, besides the merry whistling of the massive reploid. He was in quite a cheery mood, and expressed it fluently through his childish grin. It was a grin he wore almost all the time.
With his bulky fingers, Wiedl clenched the rounded handle of his coffee mug, with the slogan "World's Biggest Jerkoff" printed on it's yellowish surface. He had gotten the novelty mug from his best "buddy", Commander Zero of the 0th (Zeroth? That's a wee bit awkward...) Shinobi Unit, as last year's Christmas present. He, as he did almost all things, had taken it as a joke; he was a bit oblivious to the fact that Zero and many of the other Hunters believed that it labeled the former general quite accurately.
Taking a sip of the caffeine-loaded beverage, Wiedl took a glance at his computer monitor staring back at him. He was still upholding his duty to keep track of any irregular activity that occured in the location in suspect (point 1800F77, to be exact) and to report it to the Hunter authorities immediately. Lately, however, he had taken a rather lax additude towards his work, and had spent most of his time reading the book X had lent to him, entitled The Big Book of Battle Basics for Beginners and Drooling Idiots (TBBBBBDI. What an acronym, eh?). The book's plethora of combat data and seemingly infinite supply of colorful images had kept the behemoth of a reploid entertained for the past week, and it still lay spread open on his desk with various coffee stains splattered all over its pages. Wiedl had a rather infamous habit of taking lousy care of borrowed items, especially books.
Hearing the sound of tiny metallic legs clangling softly against the floor, Wiedl glanced away from his computer monitor too see his spyderoid companion (and only real friend), Weedo, lapping up tiny puddles of excess coffee sprinkled all over his messy floor. He seemed to be enjoying the robust taste of the liquid at first, but began to unnaturally quiver after the scaldingly hot temperature of the beverage burned the insides of his miniature jaws. He glanced at his master with a look of confusion and shock.
"Come on now, Weedo," Wiedl beckoned to his pet, raising his finger in a discipliary manner. "Let's not be drinking something like coffee. It's not healthy for a young spyderoid such as yourself. You drink too much of it, you'll become addicted to it, and the rest of your life'll be a living hell. You'll be crawling around the headquarters like a drunken yak in heat, attacking random workers and Hunters just trying to get some of the stuff. We don't want that, now do we?"
Weedo lowered his melancholy gaze to the floor. If any other reploid were in that room at the moment, they would've marveled at the way Wiedl displayed the same eccentric and smart-alecky attitude to almost everybody, even those he felt closest too.
Wiedl grinned to his companion with a bit of sympathy. "Now, Weedo, I'm just looking out for ya. Trying to protect you, that's all." He patted his bulky hand against the side of his leg, beckoning Weedo towards him. "Come on up here. I'm gonna need some company, what with all the work I've been doing lately."
The tiny spyderoid gave his master a jubilant look, and with a spurt of latent energy, leaped onto Wiedl's wide lap. Content with the warmth it provided, he snuggled up into a ball and lowered his eyelids. He had fallen asleep rather quickly, and it seemed as if he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
The massive reploid gave a chuckle as he reached for his coffee mug once again, which had been placed in the middle of his book and had formed a neat little coffee ring on its normally clean pages. He took a large sip of the beverage, filling his mouth with its satisfying taste and taking in its sweet, pleasing aroma. Then, like he had done so many times before, he briefly glanced at his computer monitor.
And that's when he saw it.
Wiedl, out of extreme shock, sent all of the coffee in his mouth sailing in every which-way over the room. His entire desk was covered it the russet-hued substance, with his book now consumed with the excessive stains. The computer monitor was also totally covered in coffee, causing the entire screen to be almost totally illegible. Scared out of his wits, Weedo had already taken off for the door as fast as his little legs could carry him, with coffee trails prottling after him. Wiedl himself, also splattered with the goo, was recovering from both the shock and the horrible choking he had just experienced. Hitting his chest and coughing at the same time, he took another dazed look at his monitor, which was now just a brown blur.
What he had just seen was almost totally inconcieveable; it had never happened before, probably never in Hunter history (as Wiedl would believe, anyway). The ex-general, still dazed, refused to believe what he had seen. It may have been just a trick of the optics, probably from overworking. Yes... that was it. Wiedl had put hours and hours of hardwork into his job, and after all this time, his mind was just playing fun little games with him. That was all there was to it, end of story.
But then again... aw hell, he had to take a second look.
With a trembling hand, he wiped off the sticky stimulant with an up-and-down motion. He was amazed at what he had seen; the statistics were all still there, just as unbelievably skyrocketing as he had just seen them a moment ago. Still refusing to take in what his eyes were telling him, he rubbed them roughly. But alas, the signature was still there, as he had seen it. How could he not believe it now, with the freakish information sitting there right before his eyes?
"No... not possible..." he whispered to himself, blinking unbelieveably. His voice had changed from it's normal carefree tone to a weak, frightened one. "It's... so damn high.... a totally unnatural power... off the charts... at point 1800F77.... but what.... what kind of monster could emit something like that...?"
The Lord of the Mavericks, infamously known across the globe as the ruthless and tyrannical reploid Sigma, marveled at his most honorable achievement ever. After endless weeks of toil, paperwork, and pounding headaches day in and day out, he had finally accomplished what he should have done in the very beginning. This was a decision he would never regret, not for the rest of his days as a Maverick.
Sigma stood at the head of the large medical table which upheld Vile's (or OmegaVile's... whatever) dormant body, which was now fully reattatached in all its glory. Sigma remained very stern and quiet, keeping his arms wrapped firmly around his back. He certainly wasn't alone; flanking him at his sides were some of his high-class soldiers, including Sergeant Serges, Commander Violen, and of course Admiral ("But he don't lead no navy!") Agile, who seemed to be the most fidgety of the bunch from his writhing anticipation. Violen, who really did realize the importance of the situation, seemed totally indifferent about it for no apparent reason at all (he could confuse easily). And Serges... well, he had been in a horrible mood ever since his incident with the mechanics, and though he was excited to see this finally being carried out, seemed quite unhappy to be there. There was another Maverick elite who stood with the former X-Hunters - Darrick, a young, dull-blue plated reploid who had been in the Maverick army for only a few months now and had already risen to the honorable rank of Colonel. He was known as a reploid who seemed to keep to himself a great deal, since he never really discussed anything with anyone in general, with the exception of Sigma. He stood with a stern expression on his metallic face, in a manner very similar to Sigma's.
On the far sides of the room were multitudes of eager Maverick soldiers, stationed behind thick layers of high-quality tempered glass. Though those who stood in the front had an excellent view of the events going on in the room, many of the other soldiers in the rear were fighting to gain a frontmost position; they could be heard bickering with eachother noisily from inside the room, tempered glass or no tempered glass. Though they had been scolded countless times by those trying to concentrate on their work, the enraged soldiers didn't seem to take heed to the warnings at all. They just never seemed to be able to behave themselves, and further discipline would only push them even further.
Closely monitoring Vile's progression on a nearby monitor was Sigma's chief mechanic, M-24. The sleek black reploid was also very serious about the matter, and had been the one who had recently announced that Vile's rebirth would most certainly take place on that day. Unsurprisingly, news traveled fast throughout the fortress, and soon enough almost every soldier in the building had shown up to see for themselves. Sigma did originally intend on the event being a private matter, but he figured it didn't matter either way - rather, he thought it to be a good thing for the soldiers (especially the rookies), since they would be able to see a true revolution take place right before their eyes. Jet Stingray, Spike Rosered, and Dark Necrobat had just recently rushed down to the main floor to watch as well, and seemed very flustered once they had stopped their long jog throughout the fortress. The only soldier not present was Dynamo; he had stormed off past Sigma's office to his quarters, rather angry and totally uninterested in seeing some washed-up soldier get a third chance at life.
M-24 conveyed Vile's statistics to Sigma and the others as he kept his watch. "Power signature far exceeding normal, concentrated output... Vital statistics in perfect condition... CPU online and fully operational... he's almost ready, Master Sigma..."
"Excellent," was Sigma's low-toned reply. It didn't quite show from an outside viewpoint, but deep inside Sigma's mind lived an extreme anticipation for this day. He thought back to every chance he had at transforming Vile in the past, but was almost powerless to do so; during the first Reploid War, Vile had been a true menace after a glitch in his programming caused him to go berserk, killing many innocent Hunters and other reploids in the process. This was soon stopped by Dr. Cain, however - somehow, the elderly doctor had managed to subdue the insane reploid, deactivate him, suppress his awesome power to about a fifth of what it had been previously, label him as a complete failure and seal him away forever. Cain never had intended on trying to re-convert him, because the glitch in his programming would eventually take him over once again, and then all hell would break loose. Then, after Sigma had announced his war against all of humanity, the Maverick decided that Vile would make a great addition to his cause and needed to return. So, he found his comatose body, reactivated him, and finally set him free. Of course, back then, Sigma had totally underestimated the power of X and Zero and felt it unnecessary to release Vile's latent power. This was a huge mistake on Sigma's part, obviously, as the combined efforts of the two Hunters were more than enough to destroy the crazed Maverick, Goliath and all (though it was at the expense of Zero's life).
Then, of course, came the second Reploid War. Now, back then, Sigma really thought he had the Hunters in a vice grip, since many of their forces had grown weak and X was the only true elite mercenary remaining in the group. And then there was the damning fact that he had Zero's dismembered parts, which had to account for something. But once again, he was thwarted; The blue bastard managed to destroy all of the newly-organized X Hunters, regain all of Zero's parts, and destroy Sigma for a second time. All Sigma could create was some crappy black-clad Zero replica, in hopes that it would take X by surprise and kill him while his guard was down. After that little incident, he dismissed Zero - the one he knew would have been a much greater soldier if he had returned to his Maverick roots - as a lost cause. The Hunter had too strong a spirit of justice to be evil, and converting him would take far too much work. Also, obtaining the crimson Hunter would surely be a living hell.
It wasn't until Dr. Doppler was infected with the Maverick Virus that Sigma began to truly consider what the fallen Vile could've really been capable of. He also was forced to consider the unfortunate fact that Vile was long gone. That is, until the clever Doppler managed to find the Maverick's body and revive him with some fancy-schmancy new upgrades. Doppler, though he knew that Vile had great potential, still decided to supress his power; unlike Sigma, he believed that Vile's overwhelming free will combined with his horrific power could drive him to turn against the doctor. Therefore, though Vile was designed to be stronger than he had been previously, he still didn't measure up to Sigma or even Doppler. It was for this reason that X and Zero managed to take down the enraged Maverick once again - but in an excellent effort to warp X's mind, Vile had left with some rather haunting final words. Vile had promised to haunt X until the day he died, and Sigma intended to make that freakish nightmare a reality.
That was when luck came knocking at Sigma's door. After being rebuilt himself, Sigma still had minor ambitions of Vile's power; but alas, he was positive this time that the Maverick was gone for good. He should not have doubted true fate, however; the searching of the ruins that were once Doppler's laboratory were only intended to find traces of rare earth metals that could either fund the Maverick cause or be used to create powerful new weapons and armors. But the two technician reploids that Sigma had sent out had found something much more valuable. And this time, things were much different; Vile's control chip was amazingly still intact, and even better, Sigma had full control over the Maverick, since his strong free will was not in action. Vile had become Sigma's marionette, and now, his emotions would not comprehend anything but direct orders from the Lord of the Mavericks himself. It certainly was an unspeakably cruel thing to deny a reploid's humanlike free will, but then again, Sigma wasn't known to administer much mercy.
All of those failures of the past, Sigma thought to himself, had lead to this solitary moment which would hail the ultimate elimination of humanity forever. It was quite a joyous thing for the Mavericks.
Through all of his mental pondering, Sigma had failed to hear all of M-24's little announcements. "Just a few more minutes, Master Sigma. I need to run a few more procedures, then Omega will be up to speed and ready for rebirth," the sleek black mechanic stated.
"Well, hurry it up," Sigma grunted. "You know I'm not that patient a person. Tell me, 24, are these 'proceedures' of yours really that necessary? Hmm?"
M-24 scratched his head quizzically. Before responding, he whispered something into the ear of a fellow mechanic beside him, who whispered something back inaudiably. He turned back to Sigma and nodded. "Yessir, I believe so. We're using them to fully test out Vile's power output, as well as scan his loyalty to us in the process."
Sigma rubbed his chin. "Alright then, I guess it's worth the wait."
From the side of the room, the corner of Sigma's eye spotted a couple of Maverick soldiers goofing off like the idiots they were. A taller reploid was shoving the face of a shorter and bulkier one into the glass wall, smudging the little guy's cheek on the fine glass and causing it to expand three times its normal size. Under normal circumstances, Sigma would have gladly beheaded both of them with his scythe. But now was not the time.
Twasn't long before Sigma heard M-24's stern voice bellow in his ear. "Master Sigma, sir? Everything is ready now. Vile's status is fully up to par, and he's fully prepared for his rebirth. Once he wakes up, he will have no memory of his past besides his loyalty to us. He'll have no true emotions or free will, only the desire to destroy humans. He will have..."
"I know already, dammit!" Sigma shouted as he bared his teeth. "Just revive him already, for Pete's sake! And don't make me raise my voice again at you! I'm starting to feel another migrane coming along..."
Sigma rested his open palms against his bald head and moaned a bit. He really felt that he needed to sit down for just a minute, be he reminded himself that he certainly couldn't do so now.
M-24 shrugged his shoulders. "Well, everyone..." he bellowed to everyone in the room, "here goes nuthin'."
Surrounded by hundreds of Mavericks watching him with distinct awe, M-24 attached a large doo-hickey into the rear of Vile's dormant cranium, which look like something of a support wire. Connecting the opposite end of the cord to a nearby computer system, the mechanic punched some codes into the machine. After he had finished, a clear beeping sound could be heard noisly. It was then that the countdown began.
M-24 spoke loudly, so that everyone around him could hear his shouts. "Here it goes... five..."
The three X-Hunters each inhaled deeply. "Four..."
Jet Stingray pressed his face against the glass. "Three..."
A stray mechanic choked from a swig of motor oil. "Two..."
Sigma chewed nervously on his pointer finger, almost peeling off its metallic surface. "One..."
M-24 pressed a final button. A burst of excitement echoed throughout the entire room as he spoke one last word. "NOW."
In an instant, a surge of energy spread over Vile's body. It was something he had never felt before in his life. Something... unnatural. But it was amazing... almost intoxicating. He enjoyed it... and yet, there was something terribly wrong with it, and Vile knew it. Something horribly evil, something that could be used for unspeakable acts of cruelty and violence if placed into the wrong hands.
But... where was he now? His mysterious, crimson eyes glowed faintly through his bulky, orange combat helmet. By some awkward fluke, the soldier was still alive and had partially regained consciousness. He managed to lift up his head and glance down at the rest of his dormant body; his previously dull-blue armor had been replaced with sturdy, brilliantly-colored firey orange armor, with intricate gold trimmings. What a kind gesture. But who had revived him? What was going on...?
It wouldn't be long before his questions would be answered, as a booming voice greeted Vile's ears... a voice that was terribly familiar. "OmegaVile..." it said sternly, "...welcome to your new life."
Vile's eyes went aglow. He pushed the upper half of his body upwards to meet the individual standing directly in front of the table he was laying on. He was quite bulky in figure, with sturdy battle armor shimmering under a dark cloak that covered almost all of his body, leaving only his head and chest visible. His face was extremely familiar; dark, colorless eyes, with a scarlet gem on it's forehead below a hairless scalp. It wore a very sly, wily grin on its face, which seemed to represent years of cruelty and deception. Vile didn't quite know why, but he felt a little dislike towards this towering figure. Something was very wrong about him.
"Who... are you?" Vile questioned. There was something odd about his voice; his previous evil, raspy tone of voice was replaced with a very soft and peaceful one. "Where am I..? I really don't remember anything that happened to me..."
He swerved his helmeted head around the entire room. That eerie figure standing before him wasn't the only being in the room. Rather, his eyes met a multitude of various beings surrounding him, all trying to get a closer look at him. It was an extremely awkward sight.
The bald reploid gave another smile. "Vile... It's not surprising that you can't think clearly. Well, if you really want to know..." He cleared his throat. "You see, after your little tiff with X and Zero, we believed you to be dead. Though you had been rebuilt once before, we thought it to be a waste of time trying to find your body again. Obviously, we were wrong." He widened his grin even further, releasing a satisfied chuckle. "It's a miracle that we found you, Vile. There was a deep, dark power hidden within you... something that could cause a great deal of destruction, and could even take this entire planet. We knew that it had to be unleashed. It was the only possible way to destroy out adversaries... and now, that power has finally been unleashed. OmegaVile, with your incredible speed and strength, you shall be the reploids' ticket to glory! Finally, we will rid ourselves from the evil that is... them."
Vile was befuddled. X? Zero? "Them"? What was he talking about?
He shook his head in confusion. "I... I don't know what you're talking about, sir. Who exactly is 'them'?"
The bulky figure was a bit surprised. He looked at Vile as if the orange reploid were some sort of drooling moron. "Omega... how could you not remember? The humans are our enemy! They have befouled this planet for centuries! They have treated us like garbage disposal all these years! We shall destroy them for good! Them..." A look of disgust spread across his face. "...and their putrid protectors, those 'Maverick Hunters'. Filthy traitors! Turning against their reploid bretheren to save the hides of a bunch of tree-dwelling ape people. Especially X and Zero, the two who have managed to shut us down on three separate occasions... they don't know what kind of potential they could have had if they were Mavericks. Disgusting!" He placed his hand on Vile's shoulder. "OmegaVile... you will destroy all of those repulsive humans! And their little Hunters, too!"
Suddenly, a bizarre wave of memories took control of Vile's mind. He remembered everything now; going on an unholy rampage, killing thousands of reploids and being deactivated by a familiar bearded scientist; being freed by a large, bulky figure and losing his life against two figures, one in red and one in blue; being revived by a servant of that bulky figure and attempting to enact his revenge on his assassins, only to be killed once again. He remembered the powerful emotions he had felt then... anger, hatred, a longing for vengeance. He remembered all those who fought during those wars... X and Zero of the Maverick Hunters... the armies of humans, who he had been taught to loathe... and then, there were the others - the ones who had recruited him and convinced him to go on an violent war against the humans, called the Mavericks. Finally, he remembered that bulky figure - the ruthless, coldhearted individual who had brought about the deaths of thousands of innocent humans, only to prove some sort of blind superiority. It was the same figure who had first taught him the supposed evil of these humans... the one who had forced him to battle X and Zero. It was the same figure that was standing before him right then, who had given him another chance to be ruthlessly evil... Vile knew it could only be...
"...S...Sigma?"
The bulky Maverick known as Sigma smiled. "Yes, OmegaVile. I am your Master, Sigma. You follow orders from me - and only me - for the rest of your existence. The only time you will follow orders from someone other than myself will be when I order you too. Failure to follow any orders will follow with strict discipline. Now for your first order, Omega - get up from that table. We need to run some specialized tests on you, and afterwards you are to begin your training. We need you in tip-top shape to battle against the Hunters. Now UP!"
But Vile didn't respond. All he did was shake his head constantly, as if he didn't understand a word Sigma was saying. He rose his open palm at the Maverick and shook it. "No... no, I can't. I refuse."
Now Sigma was shocked. How could he be refusing orders? He was programmed to follow orders from him at all times! How could he be thinking on his own? He wasn't allowed to do that...
"Excuse me," Sigma angrily grunted. "What makes you think you have a choice here, OmegaVile? Now GET UP!"
"No, Sigma. I refuse. I can't join you," Vile stated much more sternly than before. "What you and your entire Maverick forces stand for is terribly immoral and senseless. You kill innocent human beings who have done nothing to harm you in any way... the same humans who gave us life and cared for us from the beginning of reploid creation. And what are you trying to prove from this? That you're superior?" He shook his head in disgust. "Terrible. From the horrific acts that your Mavericks have done in past years, all that you have proved is that you are far worse than humans are. If you are not happy with the way that they control this planet, then you should assist them rather than oppress them. All you are doing is spreading your extreme stupidity all across the Earth, influencing reploid after reploid to support your blind cause. Pitiful."
Now Sigma was livid. He wouldn't stand to listen to this rubbish, especially if it blatantly insulted the Maverick cause. Something was very wrong with Vile... he had emotions, which were supposed to be removed from his system. Not only that, but these emotions weren't evil at all - rather, they were human-supporting, goodie-two-shoes ones that would make the Pope puke. But what went wrong? How could something like this happen...?
Now Sigma was shouting. "OMEGAVILE! How dare you!" he yelled. "Don't you EVER say things like that about the proud Maverick forces! Now you march your orange ass UP HERE and DO WHAT WE TELL YOU, or I'll rip off your head and shove it up there!"
Again, Vile didn't listen to the enraged Maverick leader. "I said NO," he finalized. "And stop calling me 'OmegaVile', or whatever. I refuse to go by that name. I'll choose my own title, thank you very much. And furthermore, I will not let you use my power for your ridiculous cause. I've caused enough terror and death in the past already, and I won't continue to do so now." He proudly pointed a finger at himself. "I'm going to redeem myself, Sigma. I'm going to use this power you've released within me to help others that I've wronged, and forever put a stop to this entire operation before you can use it for your evil desires. It has to be done."
That was it. Now it was CERTAIN that something was terribly wrong with Vile.
Sigma didn't speak; his throat was far to dry. All he could do was just stared blankly at OmegaVile, the reploid who was destined for certain greatness, the one who would hail the end of humanity... now, he was some peace-loving hippy-wuss who loved humans and hated the Mavericks. It disgusted Sigma beyond words.
"Agile... Serges... M-24..." Sigma mumbled in silent rage. "Come... come with me into the back room. I need to have.... a little chat with the three of you. NOW." He turned to the mechanics standing near Vile, with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. "You mechanics. Keep and eye on Omega. Don't let him wander off anywhere, or I'll personally disembowel each and every one of you. Darrick, Violen... keep an eye on them."
With that, Sigma stomped his way to the back room door, motioning for the other three to follow him. After they had all entered the room, he slammed the door behind him angrily, leaving Vile alone with two elite soldiers and a handful of stupid mechanics.
This is my chance, Vile thought to himself. I can escape now. Those two elite soldiers don't seem to be too tough to manipulate, and I can't say much for those mechanics either. All I need is a good distraction...
"Hey, fellahs," he said in a smooth, friendly tone. "Anyone up for some fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies?"
"IDIOTS! EVERY ONE OF YOU!" Sigma screamed at the three Mavericks cowering in the corner of the room. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM??? HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A RUTHLESS, EFFICIENT KILLING MACHINE! NOT SOME GREENPEACE PANSY-ASSED WUSS!"
"Please, sir!" a frightened Agile pleaded, kneeling on the ground. "We didn't expect this to happen! Please just hear us out-"
"I DON'T NEED TO HEAR YOU OUT, TWINKLE-TOES!" Sigma bellowed angrily once again. "DON'T YOU REALIZE THE KIND OF DAMAGE YOU'VE DONE??? YOU'VE RUINED OUR ENTIRE OPERATION! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU PEOPLE!!!!"
"Sir... please, let me explain," M-24 chimed in, sounding surprisingly calm. "When Vile's power output is pushed to the maximum, it can cause problems due to a definite glitch in his systems, which was what caused him to turn evil in the first place. We believed that this glitch would only support Vile's original evil nature, my leige. But, unfortunately, the glitch seems to have worked against him, and has turned him into a being exactly the opposite of what we had intended him to become. There was nothing we could do to prevent it, my leige..."
"What do you mean, 'nothing you could do to prevent it'???" Sigma shouted. "Didn't you run any procedures to prevent this? Any tests? Didn't those low-brain mechanics you have assisting you help at all? How could you overlook something like THIS???"
"Sigma..." Serges began. "Please, don't hassle me about this! It was clearly the fault of Agile and 24! I had NOTHING to do with it! All I did was assist with the battle armor. Nothing more, my leige. I don't deserve to be punished!"
Sigma shook his head in anger. "I don't care! As far as I'm concerned, ALL three of you are responsible with this whole mess. What will become of Vile now? If we don't do something about that lame excuse for a Maverick, who knows what he could be capable of doing! He'll go and join those God-forsaken Hunters, rally them all up, inform them of our plans and cause them to annihalate ALL of us! Then it's over for us for good this time! What will we do? WHAT WILL WE DO, DAMMIT???" He fell to the ground and began to frustratingly pound his fist against the cold rock floor. He could almost be heard sobbing. It was quite a disturbing sight.
M-24 felt he needed to console his leader. "Master Sigma... please don't get too upset. We can take care of this whole mess easily, my leige. All we need to do is temporarily deactivate Vile, perform surgery on his control systems and disable the glitch. Then he'll be evil and tyrannical, just as you had intended, Master."
Sigma looked up at M-24 and blinked. "We...we could do that, 24? It's that simple, is it?"
"Yes, my leige."
Without speaking, the broken Maverick lifted himself from the ground and brushed the dust off his cloak. "Very well then, 24," he stated. "With the help of the mechanics, Agile, and Serges, you will render OmegaVile unconscious, tamper with him again, and turn him into the killing machine he was intended to become. If you can pull that off, 24, there's the possibility that I won't have Velguarder tear you limb from limb. Again, it's only a possibility. I think that Vile's anti-Maverick speech will haunt my dreams forever." He strolled back to the door and motioned towards the three relieved Mavericks. "Let's go, the three of you. If we remain calm and get this done correctly, we'll be back in business in no time. Now, if only I could do something about this goddamn migrane..."
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HOLY HELL?!" Sigma shouted, shocked beyond belief. The previously calm laboratory room was now filled with stray Mavericks, all socializing with one another. Each one was eating a small chocolate chip cookie, seemingly enjoying it a great deal. They crowded the entire room, leaving Vile's table totaly blocked from view.
"C'mon! Break it up, all of you! Out of my way, slacker!" He yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd. "What is this? What are you people doing...?"
After shoving his way through a seemingly endless amount of Mavericks, Sigma finally found OmegaVile's table. What he saw next was shocking - the table was barren. Vile was gone.
"WHAT?!" Sigma bellowed with a bit of panic in his voice. "Where is OmegaVile? What happened to him?????"
"Oh, hey Master Sigma!" a voice behind him greeted. Sigma swerved around to see Commander Violen, taking a chomp out of a large chocolate chip cookie and holding a large tray of them. "Sorry this place looks a little crowded. OmegaVile offered us some of these cookies after you and the others exited into the back room."
Sigma stared at the behemoth in disbelief. "Where the bloody hell did he get CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES???"
"I'm not really sure, my leige," he mumbled, taking another bite out of his cookie. "But their quite good, no doubt. Here," he offered, "try one. They really warm your stomach..."
"I DON'T WANT A FILTHY COOKIE!!!" he shouted, slamming the tray out of Violen's loose grip. "Tell me, you moron! Where did OmegaVile run off to after he gave all of you these stupid things?"
Violen thought for a minute. "Hmm... I'm not quite sure. We were all too busy eating these cookies to really notice. There was a loud crashing sound, though. Dunno if that really counts for anything." With that, he turned away from Sigma to socialize with Darrick.
Nervously, Sigma glanced around the room, looking for something - anything - that would at least give him a clue of Vile's location. He searched around frantically - the door, the walls, the other Mavericks... no avail.
And then, he noticed the shattered window glass.
Filled with queasy energy, the Lord of the Mavericks sprinted towards the broken window and stuck the entire front half of his body outside. Down on the barren desert sand below him, he could see and orange and gold streak speeding across the terrain towards the city in the horizon. He was horrified.
"OMEGA!" he shouted. "FINE! DO WHAT YOU WILL! WE'LL FIND YOU SOON ENOUGH! AND ONCE AGAIN, YOU'LL BE UNDER OUR CONTROL! YOU'LL COME BACK TO US SOON ENOUGH! THE HUMANS WILL TREAT YOU LIKE MOLDY CHEESE, OMEGA! GOOD LUCK TRYING TO COOPERATE WITH THOSE MORONS!!!"
Unfortunately, Sigma had lost his footing while he was yelling to Vile. With a twist of his feet and a flailing of his arms, he was propelled out of the window and plummeted 10 floors, yelling for his momma all the way down. He hit the soft desert land with a deafening THUD!.
His face buried in the sand, Sigma managed to mumble a few words during his temporary subconsciousness.
"Vile... you'll come back... soon enough... just you wait..."
Exausted, Vile stopped from his sprinting to take a brief breather. He had certainly ran a long distance; in only about a minute, it seemed that he had ran a good 500 miles.
He glanced back at his would-be home, now a good ways away from him. He was glad; being apart of a twisted, disgusting oragization like the Mavericks would be something he could never stand for. He remembered all of the years he had supported their moronic cause, killing himans and reploids alike. He hated it.
All this time, Vile had felt a heavy weight on his shoulder. He looked back to see his large shoulder-mounted plasma cannon, now a brilliant gold. He began to undo the straps that were fastened around his neck until he was able to pull the cannon off his shoulders.
"Won't be needing this anymore," he stated as he threw the gold weapon to his side, where it collapsed in a heap behind him. He then noticed a gold Maverick symbol plated on his arm. He ripped it off and crushed it in his hand, leaving it disfigured and awkward. He gave it a small drop-kick to his side, which sent it flying into the distance until it was out of sight.
"This is it..." he said softly to himself. "From now on, I'm going to devote the rest of my life to right my past wrongs. I'm going to redeem myself forever. And then, I can finally put a stop to the Mavericks. I know it may be hard, but hell, I'm going to get it done."
Without looking back, Vile began to speed back to the large city in the horizon. It was then that Vile's redemption would ultimately begin.