Dynamo knew that his eyes must have been playing evil little games with his brain, because what he was seeing just did NOT make much sense at all. But then again, at this point, he really didn't know what to make of what was happening around him; everything had occured so suddenly, it was all like a swirling ball of colors to him.
As far as he could remember, he had been strolling down the hallways of the third floor, about to approach his safe-house area (or his dorm, whatever). It wasn't like he was doing anything wrong at the time, or anything like that; oh sure, maybe he had carelessly thrown a crushed Pepsi can behind him, littering the hallway and blatantly defying one of the fortress's few rules. But something that minor couldn't have possibly served as an impetus to what happened next - a hoard of Mavericks, terrified and seemingly crazed, had come rushing through the hallway, knocking the grey-haired mercenary to the floor and treating him with some nasty scrapes and dents. Then he heard Hunters had invaded the building... the stampede of reploids had actually been an extremely unorganized evacuation. Dynamo thought that their inability to defend themselves was just utterly saddening, but he soon forgot to dwell on that thought after he witnessed something even more awkward as he stared into the lobby.
The plastic soldier... he mentally noted, surprised to see the reploid Sigma had been so enthusiastic about actually proving to be somewhat effective. In not much time at all, Dynamo had watched in horror as the mechanical warrior made short work of some dragon-like Hunter, one that Dynamo found awkwardly familiar. Though Magma's attacks seemed to pretty strong in the mercenary's eyes, Vile was almost completely undamaged by them, and managed to kill... or knock out, he couldn't tell... that dragon. And now, to complete the wonderful package of fun, X and Zero dropped on by; the first time Dynamo had really seen the two in person. A battle here was inevitable... and all he could do was watch behind part of the wall, completely unnoticed...
Oh, and I'm supposed to care about all of this WHY...? Dynamo snapped mentally to himself, his logic gradually trickling back in. Please. X, Zero, Vile, Sigma... since when have I given a flyin' fatoot about those morons anyway?! If they kill eachother, it'll just be another great relief for me and the REST of this cruddy world...
Before Dynamo could really gather his thoughts completely, however, a painfully loud alarm began to sound. Moments later, the lights changed an unusual shade of red, and all of the windows along the hallways and rooms closed with a loud SMASH!, a protective metal sheet now covering each of them. Dynamo was left in a complete state of shock, even moreso than before; what was this, some kind of emergency escape Sigma had planned? Was the Bald Honcho summoning the other soldiers to assist him and Vile in the battle? Was he attempting to trap the two elite Hunters in some kind of bizarre trump card...?
"Well!" proclaimed who Dynamo precieved to be Sigma, judging by the voice. "It seemes that Gelves has been able to set up an emergency security system after all... how convinient."
"Wha... what're you TALKING about?" yelled one of the Hunters, sort of a whiny high-toned voice; possibly X's. "What emergency security system...?"
"Oh, well, you'll probably see its effects soon enough," Sigma said smugly, a wry grin spreading across his metallic face. "I personally don't know what it'll do at this point in time, since I've never actually seen it for myself. But if it's anything like what it used to be in the previous fortresses, then you two are in quite a bit of trouble. Teleportation would be impossible, most exits completely sealed off, walls fortified to prevent any kind of internal breakout... things will look grim for you, indeed."
Dynamo's visored eyes doubled in width at that statement. The building was sealed in now? What the hell...? The Mavericks never had focused on some emergency system like this since he had been here... maybe they had decided to keep it a secret, or something? Even Sigma seemed surprised at it, and if it was that well kept, then...
"Oh, isn't that just 'effin great to hear," Dynamo heard Zero curse. "But you're being kind of shortsighted, Baldo. If we won't be able to get out of here, neither will you..."
"Oh, I wouldn't place any bets on that theory, Hunter," Sigma hissed with scorn. "I have my methods... ones that the two of you would never even consider. But it's not like I'll be put into any kind of dangerous situation, anyway... that'll be kind of hard if the two of you are dead!" He motioned towards the short orange figure near the opposite side of the room. "Vile! Enough stalling, my puppet. It is time for you to recieve vengeance on the ones that so mercilessly killed you! Stripped you of that honor you seemed to like so much. Brought you to the abyss... yadda yadda yadda. Just KILL THEM!"
Vile's eyes glowed a dark shade of red, matching the rest of the lights in the room; it wasn't a pleasant thing for Dynamo to watch, as this apparent Maverick was the same one that not only he had underestimated, but one he had actually brought back to the fortress. It certainly seemed as if that golden reploid had changed quite a bit since before... though Dynamo had never actually encountered Vile before, he had heard of the things he had done in the past, and his various defeats by the hands of X and Zero. Back then, the Hunter duo had never really seemed to be afraid of him (well, maybe X, but not so much as to prevent a fight). But now... X just seemed horrified, watching the golden reploid approach him, almost as if he couldn't bring himself to fight the adversary. Zero, while not quite as shaken as his counterpart, didn't look much better. And Vile himself... Dynamo could sense something was REALLY wrong with him, something he couldn't bring himself to find out...
Desperately, he turned away from the action for a brief moment, raising his wrist-com thingy to his eye level. Trying his damnedest, he pressed against the 'teleport' button several times, just to see if Sigma's prophecy actually could bear fruit. Sadly, it seemed that it could; no matter how hard Dynamo tried, the same stupid error message continued to pop up, preventing any kind of immediate escape. In a word, Dynamo was, at the moment, 'screwed'.
Goddammit... well, what am I supposed to do?! Dynamo mentally panicked. We've got some kind of 'fight to the death' thing goin' on here, involving some crazed Maverick... thing. But screw that. That damned emergency system the Mavericks set up seems to have sealed off all the exits, blocked all teleportation devices, and prevented all other means of escape. Friggin' wonderful... so what am I supposed to do?!. There's only one thing on my mind right now, but...
But, then again, there seemed to be no other options. Taking a deep breath, he turned away from the lobby scene and sprinted back down the hallway, not really caring how loud he was; the alarms seemed to drown out the clunking of his metallic boots, anyway. He would return to his dormitory, given that he could actually get in there, get his things, and bust the hell out of that stinkhole of a fortress. Oh, sure, people like Mercuito might label what he was doing as cowardice, of a dishonorable act. But screw honor; it was never something Dynamo was a big fan of, anyway. If he needed to cause some trouble escaping from a hellish nightmare like this in order to preserve his own life, then so be it... if anything, it seemed like an intellegent thing to do rather than a cowardly one.
One thing was for sure, though... he was leaving. Forever.
Darrick was beyond fatigued when he finally managed to return to the front door of the second floor security deck, which seemed much further out of the way than the last time he had gone searching for it. After the turmoil up on the third floor, Sigma had given him a direct order to meet up with his comrades downstairs, despite what he had asked of him earlier. Unfortunately, due to some very nasty - and unexpected - complications, all means of transportation to any floor below the third were completely destroyed. Thus, a lot of agility and energy had been required for him to make it all the way back down in one piece, and THEN deal with finding the others on time. The alarm had just made things ten times worse, too.
Bending on one knee and placing an open palm on the door facing him, he paused for a brief moment to get some energy back in his systems before he wound up in some unhealthy kind of stasis. Part of this energy he recieved from inhaling and exhaling, something reploids like himself never really did that often unless entirely necessary; and Darrick, knowing when he was in a bit of trouble, was taking in oxygen like a pumped weightlifter. While doing so, he could be heard cursing between breaths.
"Damn... sunnuva... friggin'... 'effin... ELEVATORS..." the disgruntled Maverick muttered to himself, still gasping desperately for some air. This didn't continue for very long, unfortunately; before he could take in any more, he began to feel the door supporting his hand begin to curve forward, thus causing his entire body to lose its balance. Soon enough, before the door could even open in its entirety, Darrick had completely lost his position and feel face-first into the tiled floor, the force of the blow sending numerous shots of searing pain throughout his face. For a few moments, the stinging was so strong that the lone Maverick was unable to lift up his head; that is, until he heard a familiar voice hovering above him.
"Ohh... erm, is that you, Darrick?" the voice said gently, a voice that Darrick recognized almost immediately. He looked up to see a flustered-looking Agile, staring down at his subordinate with a bit of concern on his face. "Oh, that IS you. My apologies for that little spill you had... didn't realize you were using the door for support or anything. Need a lift...?" He offered an outstretched hand.
"Yeah, appreciated..." he muttered with a hint of acid, grasping vigorously onto Agile's support arm and lifting himself back onto his feet. He looked back to his comrade as he dusted himself off, who was still looking right back at him.
"So, I figured you got the order from Sigma?" Agile asked him, his eyebrows lifted.
"Yee-ah," Darrick replied. "I'm still kind of confused as to what's goin' down around here, though. One moment those soldiers are trampling all over me, the next that frickin' alarm starts going off and I'm running for my life. What gives...?"
"Oh, that..." Agile emphasized, partially chuckling to himself. "Y'know, it's the damndest thing. X and Zero managed to find Sigma and Vile's location, you see..."
"Oh, well isn't THAT just great," Darrick exclaimed in annoyance. "Listen, would you mind just letting me in, please? I'm beginning to think that this hallway is kind of unsafe, and that alarm won't stop RINGING IN MY EARS, man..."
"Oh, my mistake," Agile stated. "Follow me." The head of the X-Hunters led the Maverick colonel into the small, dimly-lit room, having Darrick close the door firmly behind them. Inside, the eagle Maverick Gelves sat intently in front of the many security monitors, keeping tabs on everything that was occuring outside. Sitting beside him were two prominent Maverick technical staffers, Serges and M-24, both who were keeping watch of the monitors Gelves wasn't focusing on. The three of them turned to greet their fellow elites as they entered the room.
"Ah, Darrick. Nice to see you alive and well..." welcomed M-24, who looked almost as if he hadn't seen the light of day in years. "Things are starting to get kind of rough out there, what with the Hunter invasion and all. Tell me, have you seen any sign of Violen anywhere...?"
Darrick shook his head a bit, shrugging his shoulders as well. "Nah, I haven't seen him since Sigma ordered us to station ourselves on our designated floors. He had to take an entirely different path than me, and he seemed kind of flustered in what he was doing. That was the last time I saw him..."
"Gah, figures!" cursed Serges, who had taken a seat on a small table on the right side of the room. "Gelves claims that he saw that oaf get himself captured by the Hunters. Well, good riddance, I say! He was just slowing us down, anyway..."
"That's a bit of a shortsighted claim, Serges," Agile barked. "What if they bring him back to their headquarters for interrogation, hmm? Lord knows what kind of secrets he could blab out about our operation!"
"Oh, PLEASE!" Serges mocked. "I believe that you're overestimating the power of Violen's brain, my friend. How much do you think he'll be able to remember, anyways? I doubt it'll be long before they just get rid of him, out of frustration!"
"You two, would you please SHUT UP for a moment?!" blurted out Gelves, who was still watching the monitors frantically and toying with the controls at the same time. "We're in a state of emergency here, and bickering about stupid crap isn't exactly helping us out right now! In case you didn't realize it, I'm not used to these new emergency devices..."
"Yeah, I've got some questions about that alarm thing," Darrick butted in. "First off, I distinctly remember you saying before that this building didn't have any emergency alarm systems yet. So then what exactly is happening out there?"
Gelves huffed a bit. "Well, technically, we don't have an emergency system... well, not an automatic one, at least. All of these commands that've been issued out have been done manually, by me. What I've done is sealed off all of the windows, disabled teleportation, and encased some parts of the outside wall, along with most doors leading to the outside. That's all I can really do for you guys right now. That alarm was generally a summon for the four of you to come back down here, but Sigma told all of you that in advance, I'm guessing." He took a bit of a nervous breath. "But now's not the time to dilly-dally around. As of now, the soldiers in this building are headed to the first floor so that they can escape in a large shuttle designed just for that purpose. The four of you have some private pods as well on this very floor, and... wh-what the...?"
The yellowish eagle stopped mid-sentence, staring worriedly at a single monitor placed right in front of his face. The other Mavericks in the room exchanged confused glances. "Hey, Gelves..." addressed Agile, "What's the problem? You look like you're having a stroke or something."
"What? Oh, nothing, nothing..." Gelves muttered softly, still fixated on the screen. "Just something a bit, well... odd." He then shook his head, returning to his senses. "But forget about that for now. The only thing the four of you should be concerned about now is getting to those escape pods and getting the hell out of here. I can't do anything more for you right now."
"Whoa, whoa, waitasecond..." interrupted M-24, a bit of skepticism on his face. "So what you're generally telling us is that you want us to abandon this fortress? Completely? I mean, what about Sigma and Vile? If this entire place ends up crashing to the ground, are we just gonna let the both of them be destroyed with the fortress? Sigma'll have are asses if he survives..."
"He and Vile have got their own business to attend to right now," Gelves assured him, "and Sigma's even told me that he doesn't plan on his battle with the Hunters to last very long, now that Vile's all beefed out and such. I'm a bit skeptical on if he's really trustworthy on that claim, but hell, at a time like this, we've got nobody else to trust, do we? Also, if Sigma does die, you'll all need to take his place as Maverick leaders, so we can't have you dead, can we?" He fiddled with a few dials on the control panel before turning back to face the other four. "Now listen up. I want the four of you to take a left from here and continue down the hallway until you find a somewhat large sealed door with a red marker in the middle of it. To get in you need to say the access code..."
"...which would be?" asked an impatient Darrick.
Gelves shot daggers at him. "I was just going to GET to that, if you'd just let me speak," he huffed offensively. "Anyways, the access code is 'MALLOMARS'..."
"'Mallowmars'?" Agile butted in, a bit confused at the irregular passcode. "Who the hell came up with that one...?"
"Let's just say it was one of Sigma's 'off-days'," Gelves stated. "But forget about that. The four of you should head down there, NOW. I'll stay here and keep everything monitored for the time being, and if things start to get really dangerous, then I'll use my own pod. Remember the passcode, and you'll be fine. Good luck to the four of you..."
"Yes, and you too, Birdo," Serges teased; of all the nicknames Gelves could've been called, that was the one he loathed the most. "C'mon guys, let's get the hell out of this dump. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't be happier..."
And with that, the four prominent Mavericks led themselves out of the dark security room, leaving the dedicated Gelves to his work. After they had finally left the room, the head of security focused back on that monitor he had been staring at before; from what he could see, two Mavericks, a tall, lanky one and a short, pudgy one, were running at full speed through the hallways of the first floor. Apparently, they were running ahead of a large grouping of other Mavericks, who were trailing pretty far behind. They seemed to be heading for the shuttle-styled transporter that would send them safely out of the building. But did they know to wait for the others...?
Hey, wait... it's those two guards! Gelves thought frantically. Damn, I hope they don't screw anything up for us... they shouldn't be THAT far ahead of the other group...
Eyes are an extremely important physical feature, despite what many people may tell you. The essence in one's eyes can generally tell somebody the story of their life in a nanosecond, or paint a picture of long times past with dazzling imagery and various features. Other times, eyes can portray the purest form of an individual's current emotion, moreso than words ever could; just by glancing briefly into another's eyes will allow you to view almost every emotion one is feeling at the time, whether it be anger, sorrow, jubilance, worry, or even boredom. It could even be said that eyes serve as a window to one's soul...
...and, at the time, X's eyes were serving that exact purpose. Hard to say if the situation could've been more tense at this time; X was staring straight at his self-proclaimed nemesis, Vile, the Maverick that formerly appeared to have redeemed himself until he was brainwahsed by Sigma once again. The orange-yellow armored reploid stood in complete dormancy, as he seemed to be peering straight into the Blue Bomber's greenish eyes, feeding off of every kind of emotion they happened to emit. X's optics displayed a mix of shock, pain, confusion, and even a hint of rage... and the one Vile loved the most, fear. Relentless fear. It was obvious that he was not fond of the situation at all, and Vile intended to take full advantage of that.
The tension in the room was soon becoming so unbearable for X that he almost felt like leaping from his stance and blasting the fearsome specter-like Maverick with everything he had; but that was impossible, he knew, as he lacked the actual guts to even step forward, let alone attack. In desperation, he glanced to his partner, Zero, who appeared to be a bit calmer than X at the moment; the Crimson Wonder was glaring menacingly at Sigma, who was still chuckling in amusement at all the ruckus of alarms and emergency procedures. Unlike X, it seemed that Zero was really intending on taking action rather than squatting in a pool of his own fear and doubt. X's theory proved true as his friend bodly unsheathed his Z-Saber, steadying the pulsating blade protectively in front of him.
"X, I'm going to keep tabs on Sigma for a while," he informed his friend. "For the time being, I want you to take care of Vile."
"WhatwhatWHAT?!" X shouted frantically at his friend, his eyes widening beyond the breaking point. "Oh, no. NO FRACKIN' WAY, JIMBO. You expect me to fight that helmetted psycho by myself?! Why can't the BOTH of us battle him...?"
"X, would you calm down, please?!" Zero replied angrily, his eyes still fixated on his opponent. "Someone's gotta make sure Sigma doesn't pull any tricks on us from behind the scenes. Plus, I think I could get some vital information out of him..."
"But, ZERO...!!!" X plead, breathing heavily. But it was far too late now; the energetic Hunter had already charged at the battle-ready Sigma, his lightsaber slashing at him in every direction possible. Sigma, without his trusted scythe, seemed to be at something of a loss during the battle - however, he certainly wasn't going down without a fight, and managed to nimbly dodge each and every one of Zero's attacks. X scowled at his so-called 'friend'... it seemed almost as if he was taking the easy way out of the situation, and leaving X with all of the tough crap. Typical.
"Stupid, good fer nuthin', sack of..." X muttered inaudibly before turning back to his opponent. He would never be able to finish his mumblings, however; right when he turned back, the only thing he could see was this large sphere of white... err, stuff... approaching his face at an incredible speed. Using nothing but his quick reflexes, the nimble Hunter lowered his head almost to the ground, ducking at just the right moment. The sphere, while nipping at his helmetted cranium just a little bit, sailed above him harmlessly and collided with the back wall. To X's surprise, however, the attack didn't make a very loud explosion or destroy a very large portion of the wall; rather, a very faint crackling sound occured, which only continued for a few seconds afterwards, followed by a small bit of smoke. After the attack had subsided, X slowly lifted himself from his ducking stance and looked back to inspect the damage done; as far as he could see, jolts of electricity were streaming in and out of the walls, some small wires poking through the now blackened structures. So... what had been shot at X was actually...
"Electricity," X muttered faintly, his mind and body still in a state of shock. "I... didn't know he could do that."
"Well, I can do a lot of things," Vile stated in his haunting, indifferent tone of voice. He was now somewhat closer to the azure Hunter, his shoulder cannon now aiming directly at him, with a bit of smoke rising from its barrel. "But that is besides the point. X, you seem to have a flaw which forces you to care more about your friends than yourself; a flaw that easily could have killed you right then and there. You need to start paying attention more..."
"Well, thank YOU, buddy," X snapped sarcastically, raising his own buster for protection. "I don't exactly consider you a 'battle guru'. I thought you to be a helluva lot nicer when you were Sunshine, you know... whatever happened to that bit?"
For some reason, hearing the word 'Sunshine' struck an unnatural cord within Vile's circuits; his blood-red eyes ignited upon its utterance, displaying a fit of anger and defiance. Before X could say another word, the sadistic Maverick began to fire off a string of smaller plasma blasts, directed straight at his opponent. X, still feeding off of his quick reflexes, made a graceful dash to his right and fired off a few shots of his own, all in mid-charge. Vile, while still blasting off a few more shots, managed to fend off the greenish beams by batting them away with an open palm, almost effotlessly; the shots were sent sailing upwards into the ceiling structure, causing some considerable damage to the rafters.
"You will refrain from addressing me with that name," the Maverick rasped, halting his shots and turning to face a partially unscathed X. "My past is embarrassing, every possible aspect of it. I wish to forget it all."
X rubbed his cheek a little bit, nursing a minor scratch from a shot that had just nipped him. "Easier said than done," X snapped, noticing that the fear he had just felt from Vile's presence was beginning to change into utter annoyance. "All I really know is, to be honest, I don't want to kill you. As far as I'm really concerned, you don't want to be like this... some kind of brainless monster. I remember, back when you were with Sigma during the first Maverick uprising, you were still somewhat admirable, even after Cainhad to deactivate you." He huffed a little bit, a wry smile forming on his face. "But now, you've let Sigma turn you into some souless, brainless freak who would do whatever his master instructs him to do. I mean, I don't think the real Vile would honestly stand for something like that..."
"Don't you DARE refer to me or my master in those terms," Vile almost shouted, the rage rising in his voice. "This is the purest from I could possibly be in, you fool. In my former life, I was a failure. Now, I will succeed in the duty I was never capable of accomplishing... killing you, Zero, and wreaking havoc over the rest of the world. Sigma and I will eradicate all those who are hinderances to this planet. You and Zero are only the first."
X raised his eyebrows in a bit of surprise - Vile really, really seemed to be getting angry at his words, and if he said anything more he might REALLY set him off. "Alright then, Vile," X said, almost sounding dissapointed with his opponent. "But just remember. You keep following Sigma, and it won't really matter how many battles you will have won. You, yourself, will have lost."
"Sh... shut up! Fool!" Vile now shouted, the emotion in his voice now beginning to seep back in. "This... this is only the beginning of my ultimate victory. You... you are just a pawn!" This time, he didn't even let X form a rebuttal to that remark; instead, he immediately lunged at his opponent with blinding speed, abandoning his earlier tactics of strategy and mental overpowering. This was going way too far - X (or any other Hunter for that matter) would not defeat him in a battle of emotional strength, under any circumstances. He would die; all Vile cared about now was seeing X dead as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Zero was beginning to have his hands full on the other side of the room. Even though Sigma was without any kind of defensive weapon to help him out in battle, it seemed almost as if he didn't even need it; as much as the Crimson Hunter tried, he couldn't manage to get a decent hit on his opponent, who dodged every move with as much effort as possible. How much longer could he keep his saber flinging in every which way like this...?
"This is beginning to bore me, Hunter!" Sigma mocked him, ducking under a swift horizontal saber slash directed at his vulnerable head. "You are losing this game. Thus, I say that I begin to make things more interesting, mmm?"
"Just SHUT - OOF!" Zero tried to exclaim before a sharp, unexpected pain began to pierce through his chest. Sigma, seeing his chance to catch his opponent momentarily off-guard, had used his time bending down to drive his fist into Zero's chest, right where his stomach would be. The sudden blow sent Zero to his knees, grimacing and baring his teeth.
"Aughh... god... DAMN..." he cursed, attempting to get some air into his systems. The blow was harder than he had expected, mostly due to the fact that it had seemingly come out of nowhere. Zero wouldn't continue tending to his pain much longer however; immediately upon looking up, he could see the sadistically joyful face of Sigma smiling at him, his right arm now reared back and prepared to deliver a sucker-punch to the face. This time around, however, Zero was ready for it - his saber still clutched in his right hand, he waited for Sigma's fist to come barely an inch away from his face before slicing a wide arc straight through the attacking force. A scream of pain escaped the Maverick King as a clean half of his right arm fell lifelessly to the ground, leaving a reploid blood-soaked arm stump with torn wires sticking out of it. Surprised at this sudden attack, he knelt down to the floor, clutching the remains of his severed limb.
"You... you CUT OFF MY ARM!" shouted the reploid tyrant, a great deal of blood dripping all over the once-clean floor. "You cut the bloody thing RIGHT OFF! I mean, Jesus Christ Superstar..."
"Wow. Aren't you the one with observations," Zero commented sarcastically, lifting himself up from the ground while still clutching his stomach area a bit. Reflexively, he reared back his saber with one hand, ready to deliver the last, fatal blow. "Now, El Sigmatica, I think now's the right time to finish things up... wouldn't you agree?"
"No-NO!!!" Sigma shouted, with a mixed look of intense pain and utter fear. "Please, don't kill me! Not now! I never married, and my dog is dead..." The expression on his face now seemed to signify feigned depression, heartbreak, and misery, relating to some past life.
This really did nothing but confuse Zero; Sigma's choice of words, he quickly realized, weren't exactly fitting of his character. But his expressions of blatantly fake emotion just made things so horribly pathetic that Zero was forced to pity the broken, once-proud King of Mavericks. Thus, he somewhat reluctantly lowered his saber and deactivated it, returning the blade to its sheath. He'd let him live for now, he figured - he certainly wanted to squeak out more information on Vile and the rest of the Mavericks, and having their supreme ruler dead wouldn't exactly help out at this point.
"All-righ-tee, Sigma," Zero muttered nonchalantly, now raising his buster in place of his sword; at this point, he really could find more use of a good long-range weapon. "Let's straighten things out right about now. I'm not going to kill you, as long as you comply with me for a little while. I'm gonna ask you some simple questions, and you're gonna answer them, FULLY, whether you like it or not. If you don't answer, or try to escape, I guarantee you that a ball of liquid-hot plasma will be the last thing you ever see, hear, feel, smell... well, you get the idea. Understood?"
Sigma scowled at the Hunter, still woefully clutching his severed right arm. Why was it, almost every time he fought these two, that this was the situation he was faced with? This ran through the disturbed leader's rage-filled mind as he continued to glare at his adversary with an extreme loathing. "Y... yes... fine," he muttered faintly, a bit of acid in his voice. This wasn't going to be fun. "Alright, then," Zero began, "let's get right to the point, shall we? First off, I want to know exactly what the hell is going on with this whole Vile fiasco, from beginning to end. Why, pray tell, did that twerp come practically to our doorstep asking for some kind of retribution, or something? What exactly happened to him, or what did you do to him NOW...?"
"Vile..." Sigma muttered, glancing beyond Zero for a moment to get a good look at his now loyal servant. "Yes, Vile. We designed him perfectly, and you foolish Hunters couldn't even see past that..."
A look of confusion spread across Zero's face. "Wha... 'perfectly'? What're you talking about? When we found that guy meandering the streets, he was donating money and helping out the elderly. And they were all human, too! How does 'perfect' fit in with..."
"Silence, you short-sighted fool!" Sigma blurted out, his teeth beginning to form some sort of twisted smile. "You didn't understand our goals, did you?! When we found Vile and maximized his power output, we chose to send him out into the town and force everyone into thinking that he was converted, that he was attempting to create a new, peaceful life for himself. Finally, when we had him infiltrate the Hunter base, he managed to find some extremely useful information involving your entire organization. Thus, when I gave him the green light, he himself escaped your pathetic excuse for a building and returned here to give a fully-developed report." He snickered evily. "And that, my human-praising friend, was our plan. I must say, it worked perfectly... Vile's alias pulled the wool over all of your eyes, no matter how much skepticism you had with his peaceful demeanor. You were all fools, the whole lot of you!..."
At that point, Zero was completely frozen over with shock. His eyes widened at this revelation; Sigma's words, though harsh, could very well have been true. I mean, this had been what he and X had suspected since Vile first arrived, right? The whole thing... was just some ploy. 'Sunshine', the apparent last shred of goodness and decency Vile had ever possessed, had never actually existed. Vile had been under Sigma's control the entire time, being constantly monitored and instructed by him, the whole time... was it really true?
No, no..." Zero thought, his common sense in the middle of an epic battle with his own sense of hope. No... I REFUSE to believe that. There must be a loophole, somewhere... He paused for a brief moment before an obvious revelation popped into his head. "Wait a minute... how could Vile have been tricking us when Dr. Cain found out himself that the program he created was still infecting Vile's brain...?"
"That was OUR doing!" Sigma announced almost gleefully. "We planted the program within him temporarily, knowing that we could easily remove it whenever the time was right. That pathetic program Cain created was destroyed immediately, and our best Maverick technicians - with my help, of course - created a stronger, much more useful copy of it in which Vile would still be able to take orders from me, his master. Cain, that old fool, couldn't tell the difference between the two! None of your technicians could, actually..."
"No! That doesn't matter!..." Zero shouted in defiance, instinctively charging his buster a bit. "How the hell am I supposed to believe what you're saying?! You're lying! I know it... all the evidence points against it... there's no way..."
"Evidence?! HA!..." Sigma scoffed, his smirk still plastered on his face. "Doubtful you'll be able to find any relevant evidence against my claim. And furthermore, it doesn't even matter if I'm telling the truth or not. The only thing that really matters right now is the inevitable fact that my loyal servant, Vile, will be the sole destroyer of humanity as you know it. It's obvious that X won't be able to last through his wrath much longer. After him, you'll follow, along with every last human and human defender on this mudhole of a planet..."
X...? He'd almost forgotten about him; his colleague had been fighting with Vile the entire time, and he hadn't even bothered to glance over there and check up on him. Keeping his buster leveled at Sigma's limp frame, the Crimson Hunter turned his head briefly to the direction of the fight on the far side of the room, where X and Vile were still attacking eachother constantly. It was easy to conclude, however, that Vile was beginning to gain the upper hand; though X seemed to have been trying quite a bit, he was starting to fatigue. If Zero didn't get in there and help him out fast, he might not be able to hold out much longer...
"X... ahh, jeez..." he muttered to himself, baring his teeth at the sight. His glance had lasted only a second or two longer than it should've, however - from below came another sharp blow to Zero's chestplate, prompting him to briefly double over in pain, destroying his thought processes. Looking up, he now saw the body of Sigma once again, his left arm now partially outstretched.
"If you honestly think I would give up a battle so easily, Zero," Sigma rasped, his voice now stuttering a bit, "then you obviously haven't known me for very long." Upon saying this, the vengeful Reploid King released a partially audible cackle, rearing his left arm back in preparation for another powerful blow. Staring angrily into his blackish-colored eyes, Zero knew deep down that this fight was not going to end quickly.
At the moment, the world around former Maverick technician T-17 seemed like one big cosmic blur; he had been running for what seemed like ages with his 'trusty' partner, T-18, depserately trying to keep up the pace behind him. Both of them had quickly ditched their duties on the roof after the incident with X and his Hunters, and after the alarm, they had been in desperate search of a way to safely escape the building.
"C'mon, 18! Move that oversized body of yours!" 17 shouted, checking the front of every door possible for an escape mechanism's dock. "We don't have much time before this building is blown to bits..."
"I'm sorry, 17!" shouted his pudgy partner, who was pumping his legs as hard as he could. "I can't reverse my programming! I wasn't exactly created for really, REALLY long running sessions..."
"I don't care about that!" shouted back 17, breathing heavily. "We've got to get the hell out of this place before something horrible happens to this place... then we'll ALL be screwed. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to try and find anything that'll help us get out of here..."
"Hey, HERE's something!" T-18 suddenly announced, stopping himself in mid-sentence. "17, c'mere! I think I may have found it already!"
17, having heard his partner's call loud and clear, immediately stopped himself in his tracks, skidding on the smooth flooring and leaving a distinguishable skid mark. "Really, 18...?" he muttered, turning around and approaching his enthused partner.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is it!" 18 said gleefully, pointing to a greyish door with a large, circular red spherical object resting in its center. The door looked distinctly different than every other door within the building, as it lacked any lighter coat of paint or doorknobs. The only awkward thing about it was the sign that rested to the right of it; it seemed to have been scratched out by some mischievous recruit, and rather than its usual message read the words "YOUZ ALL SUXXORZ, d00ds!" written in very sloppy handwriting.
"That sign..." 17 pointed out, a look of confusion on his face. "It looks like it was meant to say something a little more informative."
"Ahh, don't worry about it," assured an eager and optimistic 18. "Probably wasn't too important, anyways. Let's just try and open the door."
"Yeah, good idea," 17 agreed, looking back to the reddish sphere laying in front of him. Cautiously, he placed his hand on the round button, hoping that doing so would allow them access to the room. But alas, there was no response from the door; even after the distressed Maverick techie had held his hand there for an extensive amount of time, nothing happened to prompt the door's opening.
"Oy, ain't this a whole lotta nuthin'..." 17 complained, sighing to himself as a sign of defeat. "How are we supposed to open this door? Use some kind of magic spell or sumthin'?"
"How am I supposed to know?!" queried an upset 18. "I guess we just have to think up a way to open it."
"Oh, come on, I am NOT in the mood for this kind of crap today..." 17 muttered.
"Well, neither am I," stated 18, "but I'm not giving up. All we need is some brains, determination, and plenty of energy. Speaking of which, I am kind of hungry right now... if we had something to eat, then maybe..."
"Oh, would you STOP thinking with your synthetic stomach for once?!" shouted an irritated 17. "Now is not the time to start stuffing your face with frickin' mallomars, or whatever you happen to have in mind. We need to figure this thing out fast, or else we'll be sitting ducks in this godforsaken hellho-"
Before 17 could finish, however, he could feel the sturdiness of the door before him start to slacken. Glancing at the door briefly, he noticed that the former barrier had opened a creak, allowing the former guard to pushthe door all the way open. The two remained speechless at the sight.
"What the...?" 18 muttered, staring back and forth between the opened door and his friend. "17, how in the name of jahosophat did you manage to open that door?!"
"I... I don't know!" 17 proclaimed, moving his hand rapidly away from the red sphere. "It just sort of... opened for me. Maybe I uttered a passcode or somethin' without even realizing it..."
"Gahh, just forget about it," 18 interrupted, taking a step into the darkened room. "Let's just get things sorted out here already. I have a feeling that this room could easily be out ticket to freedom."
Never before had Glacier Dragoon ran so amazingly fast in his entire career as a Hunter, or as a living being in general. The desert he had ripped through almost seemed like some kind of extraterrestrial blur; it had gone by so quickly, he had barely time to even remember it. As he navigated his way through the halls of the Maverick fortress, from another viewpoint he could have been mistaken for some veteran Maverick who had known the place like the back of his hand for many years - he seemed to know exactly where he was going, even though he had never set foot in this fortress (or ANY enemy fortress, for that matter) before. Several times during his sprinting, he tried desperately to stop himself midway, consistently questioning himself why he had abandoned his entire unit to pursue some vague intuition. But, after coming this far, he knew it would be impossible for him to turn back.
It was hard for him to determine exactly what floor he was on right now; he knew it wasn't the first, since he distinctly remembered searching through the entire floor and scaling a set of steps in the middle of the engrossing front lobby. Also, he knew that he couldn't have gotten much further than that particular point - thus, he came to the obvious conclusion that he had been running rampantly around the second floor most of the time, trying to find a trace of any of the Hunters.
"Magma?!" he shouted desperately, dashing from a side hallway back to the second floor lobby. "X! Zeroooo!!! Where ARE you guys...?"
The lobby he had entered was somewhat bigger than that of the first floor's, with several doors lining the sides; Glacier had opened almost every one of them, only to find rubble and ash, which were apparently the remains of some large structure that had stood within those walls. As he stopped in the middle of the room to regain some very much needed oxygen, he turned his head every which way, looking for at least one area he hadn't searched through yet. His vision was a bit blurry, but he was still able to see all of the areas he had already covered. Soon enough, however, he noticed a silverish door to his right that he didn't remember going through previously. His energy perking up once again, he dashed in a blue-and-grey blur to the almost glowing entrance, which had seemingly been right in front of his nose the entire time. Digging his claws into the side of the metal, he finally managed to pull the door practically off of its hinges and enter through the breach it left behind...
...only to be met with the void. Barely managing to stop himself, the energized Dragoon realized that the entire room was just a large, somewhat narrow shaft, probably belonging to an elevator of some kind. Peering warily downwards, Glacier saw that the shaft was actually very deep; he supposed that it barrelled all the way down to the basement floor of the building. However, he also noticed that the shaft led all the way to the top of the building as well, with a bit of light beaming down from far above him. Visibly, there was no actual elevator in sight; it had probably been disabled somehow, possibly by the same force that had turned all the other rooms to rubble.
No stairs, no elevators... Glacier huffed mentally. What am I supposed to do, climb up this thing?! And just where the hell am I supposed to go?...
Suddenly, an explosion sound could be heard right above where Glacier was standing; a loud, booming explosion that caused all of the land around him to vibrate violently. Glacier, inable to keep his balance in check, toppled over from its force and fell against the wall on the other side of the room. Before he could plummet to the depths below, however, he managed to dig his claws into the shaft's side tightly, barely managing to hold himself up. After the explosion had subsided, other noises slowly became more audible - slashes, punches, grunts, yells, cries of pain, plasma shots... they all became blatantly apparent to Glacier, who now knew exactly what was going on up there.
I... I think that's X and Zero up there... he thought, still clinging on the wall for dear life. This... is NOT good. They don't sound like they're having the easiest time up there...
Remarkably, a new surge of determination shot through Dragoon's synthetic veins. In spite of himself, he raised an open palm above him, latching on to a higher level and lifting himself slowly upwards. He would now shut everything out - all distractions, alterior motives, conflicting points and fears - and focus solely on the task at hand... reach the floor above him, and fast. If his comrades were losing it up there, then it would be up to him to bail them out. X... Zero... and maybe even Magma. They all would need to depend on him.
I don't care how long it takes... he thought. No matter what... I'm going to have a say in the outcome of this fight.