Mega Man X5 Part 3: Time Of Decision
Roll looked over her shoulder at Rock, whose face looked like a stone statue as he prodded the prisoners onward into the Maverick Hunter HQ. She'd been completely unable to get him to listen to any kind of reasoning. Though he'd appeared to almost recognize her, and even seemed glad to see her when he first saw her, he was now acting totally cold and oblivious to her. No matter what she or Zero said or did, he ignored them.
This was Roll's worst nightmare come true, and the worst part was that Rock hadn't even been reprogrammed. He was doing this of his own free will, hauling her off to some cell deep in some building like a traitor or something. She couldn't help the heavy feeling in her heart from knowing he knew the truth, but refused to accept it for some reason. Why was he doing this? She'd thought they would be a family again...
She stumbled slightly as she was shoved into the medium sized cell and the cage was closed behind her. She just watched helplessly as X turned and walked away from her without a word. They'd hauled Zero off to another part of the building, presumably to find out about the maverick base. If only she'd just stayed inside they'd both still be there... About to face a war against her brother...
There was no way to win, no matter what happened or what she did something was always wrong. All she could do now was hope that Rock eventually came around and rescued her like he always did... Hope was all she had...
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Zero sat in the chair weakly, his arms tied behind his back as the wires prodded out of his armor shell like vines. The room was almost completely bare save for a single door in front of him, the only sound was the hum of electrical current as it flowed through his system, poking and prodding into his main database. He could feel them searching through his main files, searching for signs of the maverick base.
He was well trained in keeping his memory files to himself however, and managed to elude them for the most part. Giving them only trivial information, seeing it again as it was accessed one by one. Memories he'd long forgotten or vivid memories he remembered with a slight smile. With all of their prodding though, he never revealed the information they wanted to see.
Finally he watched with a hard expression as X walked into the room, closing the door gently behind him. "Why is this necessary Zero?" He said as he walked up to his old friends, looking down at him sadly. "Before, you would have gladly told us everything, told ME everything."
"Things changed." Zero replied, looking up at him pleadingly. "The people you take orders from betrayed you. They're preparing to replace all reploids with mindless servant robots."
"Zero..." X said tightly. "Don't make us dump your memory core to get to the information. We will if we have to." He bent down beside Zero, putting his face close to Zero's ear. "Come on Zero, tell us everything and you can rejoin the maverick hunters. Please."
"I'm sorry X." Zero said determinedly, closing his eyes in sorrow. "Some things are more important than loyalty or friendship, our entire race is at stake. I'm sorry you don't realize it."
"I'm sorry too." X responded, straightening up again. "I really hoped you would come around. You've been a good friend Zero." He turned and nodded towards the door, prompting Dark Panther and Magma Dragoon to walk inside. They silently walked towards Zero, undoing the clasps on his legs and arms, picking him up, one to an arm.
"You don't know what you're doing." Zero said calmly enough to surprise even himself. "They betrayed you, not I."
"We're with you commander." Panther said softly into his ear as her and Dragoon began to carry him towards the hall. "We'll have you out of here soon."
"I will stall X while you two get out of here." Dragoon said, not giving any sign of nervousness. He obviously didn't stand a chance against him, having lost once before to him, but he was clearly willing to do it anyway.
Zero closed his eyes for a moment. "Thank you... Both of you." He opened his eyes and looked over at Dragoon now. "Good luck, try to get out alive if you can." He said softly. Dragoon simply nodded in response. "On three you will take X, Panther and I will try to get out of HQ before he can sound the alarm. One... Two... Three!"
Dragoon whirled and lunged at X suddenly, slashing at him furiously, his claw glowing white-hot as it seared straight through the armor of X's chestplate, sending him against the wall hard.
Zero and Panther dashed out of the room quickly, Panther helping him along as they ran down the hallway. "There's an emergency exit down here not fifty feet away, we should be able to make it while Dragoon stalls X." Panther said as they continued down the passageway.
They managed to make it just outside of the building before the buildings alarm went off, sounding across the field for miles.
"We need a faster mode of travel... Let's get to the hangar, we need a bike." Panther said as she almost had to drag Zero across the courtyard in front of the maverick hunter HQ.
"Wait... We need to... Go back for Roll." Zero said, halting his forward motion quickly.
"We'll find her later!" Panther said, dragging him along behind her again as she rushed toward the hangar quickly. "We don't have a second to lose!"
They burst into the hangar doors suddenly, startling the guards who'd been looking around in confusion at the alarm. She quickly swung her blade-whip, decapitating one guard with one swift jerk and taking out the other on the back swing, slicing him clean in half.
"Get on the bike!" She said hurriedly as he climbed on one of the hover bikes, her climbing on in front of him quickly. "Let's get out of here!"
"Why are you doing this?" Zero asked, leaning weakly against her back, his arms around her waist to stay on the bike with her.
"Because if you say something's not right, then something's not right." Panther replied, powering up the bike and taking off across the field before the bases automated defenses could get a lock on them.
They were quickly out of range of the turrets as they continued across the plains, heading for the forest on the edge of the base. Zero simply leaned against her back wearily. He still felt drained from the probes they'd sent through his body.
"Hold on." Panther said, weaving suddenly to the side as an energy blast blew a crater into the ground beside them. Zero looked back quickly to see several maverick hunters hot on their trail, none from his unit thankfully, and he didn't see X among them.
Their bike wove through the trees expertly as Panther fought to lose their pursuers, but they kept pretty good pace with her, hot on her tail the whole time.
"Damnit." She said under her breath as she rounded another tree, actually scraping Zero's knee against it, putting a gash in his armor. But still the hunters kept on their tail, dodging just as expertly as her.
"Keep going." Zero said, moving his feet beneath him on the bike, crouching down on the seat.
"What do you think you're doing!? You're in no condition for any stunts!" Panther protested, not taking her eyes off of where she was going. Zero reached up to his head and gently opened the compartment to his main neural processor, taking out a single chip.
"Show this to X when you see him." He said, thrusting it into the back of her armor where it wouldn't get dislodged.
"Zero don't be stupid!" She shouted furiously before suddenly catching something in what he said. "When I see X?"
"Sorry Panther. You can still plead emotional attachment." He planted a swift backfist to the side of her head, sending her flying from the bike. He quickly leapt into the seat and took control of the bike, narrowly avoiding an oncoming tree. He caught a few glimpses in the mirror of a few hunters stopping to pick her up as two others continued on after him.
He maneuvered through the forest as best he could, trying to lose the hunters with little success. Desperately he jerked his bike to the side, whirling in a complete one-eighty spin before speeding right towards his pursuit. Both hunters whipped out energy pistols and aimed them at him, opening fire as he put the bike into a spin again, this time deactivating the engines and letting the hoverjets use the momentum to carry it towards the hunters.
Zero leapt off quickly, landing in the brush and grass heavily as he heard the bike slam into the bikes of the hunters, sending them both flying from the fireball created on impact. Both of them landed with heavy thuds on the ground, not moving.
Wearily Zero forced himself to his feet, moving slowly away from the hunters. He hated having to do that, but with any luck, the information on that chip might convince X that what he was saying was true. If only he'd been able to get Roll out with him...
"I'll be back for you Roll, I promise." He said before turning and heading slowly back towards the maverick base.
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Roll looked up from her bed as the alarms went off in the base, startling her out of the half-slumber she'd fallen into. She didn't really know how long it'd been or anything, but she knew something was obviously wrong if the alarm was sounding.
After a few minutes it finally went off and everything was as it had been, quiet enough to hear a pin drop clear as a bell. Roll was quite nervous at the sudden stillness, something was obviously going on out there and she hated being totally in the dark about what it was. What if something happened to Zero, or Rock?
She tried not to think about it, there was nothing she could do in any case, so she just lied back on her bed and propped her head up on her hands, staring up at the ceiling. She'd always thought that dreams came true if you only believed in them fiercely enough, but she guessed the dreams didn't really agree with that sentiment.
A noise outside the cell drew her attention to the front, where she noticed Rock standing just on the other side of the bars, staring at her more curiously than menacing.
"Why am I in here?" Roll asked simply, trying not to show how utterly confused and mixed up she was from all of this. She wanted to be strong, like she'd always seen him under any circumstances.
"Because you're a maverick." Rock replied just as simply, walking over to the door of the cell and opening it, stepping inside before closing and locking it behind him.
"Do you always check up on the mavericks you contain?" Roll asked a bit more venomously than she'd intended, she just hated the thought that any of this was actually happening. "Or is there really some bit of Rock... MegaMan inside of you somewhere?"
"I don't know anybody named Rock." He said, walking over and sitting beside her, staring at her curiously. "But I do believe... I was him once." Roll looked at him in surprise, she hadn't expected that after the way he'd been acting and treating her.
"But I don't understand... If you believe me then why..." She said shakily.
"Because I'm not Rock... I'm not MegaMan. My name is X." He said, looking down at the floor, his face an expressionless mask. "This may have been his shell, but this isn't his life. I can't believe I was supposed to be this way when I was created. That I'm just a shadow of this... MegaMan." He stood up then, walking toward the bars of the cell, just looking through them.
"I never thought of it that way..." Roll said softly, looking down at the floor thoughtfully. "If... If you were meant to have a totally new life... Even personality... You... You couldn't have any reminders of who you were..." Her horror grew more as she reached what was to her, an inevitable conclusion. "Doctor Light planned for me to be dead by the time you were re-activated..."
X looked back at her then, watching the horror in her eyes with a mixture of resentment, pity, grief, and just about every emotion he was capable of.
"He put a small chip inside my neural matrix that I didn't know what it did... He knew before he got too old that he wouldn't finish Rock so he had time... I never knew... But now I think I do..." She said, her eyes expressing feelings of hurt and betrayal that she'd never known before. "It was a neural bomb... It was supposed to kill me before you were re-activated... But the government stepped in and shut me down until Vile saved me..."
"Vile saved you!?" X exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes..." Roll said, staring straight down at the floor in grief now. "But now I'm doomed because it's still in me... And I don't even know how long I have left... If it stopped while I was inactive or if it just slowed down..."
"You..." X began just as the door leading to the containment area opened and another hunter walked in, looking at Zero. "Status report."
The hunter gave a quick bow before giving his report. "Zero escaped, taking out two of our hunters. But we apprehended Dark Panther after Zero threw her from the bike." He smirked a bit. "There's maverick gratitude for you." He said ironically.
"Hmmm..." X said, looking back at Roll. "Dismissed." He said, causing the hunter to quickly exit the area. "Looks like Zero's just hunting for enemies..." X said closing his eyes a bit, still disturbed by the idea Zero was a traitor.
"He's trying to save your race..." Roll said softly, not looking at him or even moving. "You should listen to him... Hear him out..."
X simply stared at her for a few minutes more, then turned and left her cell, shutting and locking the door behind him. "I would have liked to meet Doctor Light. He sounds like a good man..." He said, sounding a bit unsure of what he could say to help her, but wanting to. He didn't trust her actions but he knew she was being sincere as she knew it.
"Then why would he... Do this to me..." She said, lowering her said sadly to stare at the floor, ignoring him as he turned and left the detention block. She'd always loved Doctor Light like a father, and she'd thought he'd loved her, so why would he want her destroyed... Why did he betray her?
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X opened the solid steel door to the interrogation room where Panther was sitting in one of the chairs at the side of a long table, just waiting for him calmly. "You better have a damn good explanation for this Panther." X said ferociously. "Dragoon took the bitter part of your little escape."
"What happened to him?" Panther asked worriedly.
"He's in the infirmary, and from there going straight to the maverick re-allocation center." X said, glaring at her.
"We all did what we thought was for the best of our race." Panther said proudly, standing up to face him.
"What makes you think anything is threatening our race? All you have is the word of a maverick!"
"I have the word of a trusted friend!" Panther retorted, snarling slightly. "What do you have? The word of the very people who are trying to wipe us out!" X stayed silent at that, just staring at her coldly. "Zero wanted me to give this to you." She said finally, taking the chip from the back of her armor and handing it to X.
X took the chip and examined it. It looked to him like a memory storage chip. What would Zero have possibly wanted him to have this for? Maybe he was trying to tell X about the maverick base without appearing to betray Vile, which would make X a lot happier were it true.
"Don't ask me why he'd want you to have anything." Panther snarled, glaring at him.
X just looked over at her for a few minutes. "Go back to your duties."
"What?" Panther said confused. "No punishment?"
"Punishment is to keep hunters from repeating their offenses, but I don't think you will. Because I'm re-assigning you to the 17th unit." X said, looking over at her.
"Your unit!?" Panther exclaimed in surprise. "But why?"
"I can keep an eye on you, but it's only temporary... Only until we get Zero back or replace him as the commander of the #0 unit. The others will be reassigned similarly. You are dismissed." X said, looking down at the chip again to signal that she should take her opening and leave. She didn't hesitate in taking it, getting up from her chair and making haste for the door, shutting it softly behind her.
X sat down on one of the chairs around the table, opening up a slit in his helmet and sliding the chip in, scanning it with his own internal memory processor. Almost immediately he found himself seeing visions through Zero's eyes...
MEMORY ARCHIVE ACCESSED... COLLECTING DATA...
Zero was lying in a bed with Roll right beside him, resting against him with her eyes closed and her mouth curved into a cute looking smile. Reploids didn't really have the capacity for true physical pleasure the way humans knew it, but they found they didn't really need it, the act was more for the emotional aspects of it. The way most humans wished they could operate, reploids did operate.
"I'm glad you're here Zero..." Roll said happily, sighing a bit.
"Me too." Zero said, running one of his hands along her back gently. "There's something I still don't exactly understand though... How did you wind up in a military installation?" He asked, looking down at her.
"Well... You mentioned it so you obviously found my journal..." Roll said, smirking slightly. "I did try to kill myself once I realized I couldn't live a normal life, but when I tried they caught me and stopped me... They took me to that installation and hooked me up to their machines. Trying to figure out the secret to making a fully sentient cyber-human, something only Doctor Light and Wily had been able to accomplish, but both of whom were dead..." At this she paused, looking down.
"We don't have to talk about this, I'm sorry." Zero said apologetically.
"No it's alright... They systematically went through my systems, trying to find out how I was sentient but they couldn't find anything. Nothing special about me over normal robots. But they never let me go... Instead they locked me in a museum for the military officials and put me on display so they could see what would be the next great achievement they'd make... I don't know how long I was there... I faded in and out of consciousness as they worked on me and struck different wires. I couldn't move but I could feel and hear..." She shuddered slightly at the memory, causing Zero to hold onto her tighter.
"It's okay..." He said softly, holding onto her comfortingly. Now there was no doubt in his mind that the humans were capable of what Vile had been saying. They were heartless and ruthless in their attempts at total control. At first he hadn't wanted to go against the hunters, or X, but now he had no choice. He'd have to fight and win...
MEMORY FILE ENDED... RESUMING NORMAL FUNCTIONS...
This was why Zero was fighting. This was why he was actually going against everything he'd previously tried to uphold. X was by this time thoroughly confused about who was telling the truth here. All evidence seemed to be split right down the middle of either Vile or the government being right. He didn't think for an instant doctor Cain would betray him, but if even he was being lied to...
X just sat in the chair, staring straight ahead of him, deep in thought. He didn't know who to trust anymore, so all he could do now was try to do what was right... And stop Vile, who always seemed to have his own agenda no matter what mask he chose to wear in daylight.
Idly somewhere in the corner of his mind he noted a voice coming over the intercom of maverick hunter HQ. "Hunter units 12, 15 and 17 report to docking bay five. Units 12, 15 and 17 report to docking bay five." Silently X stood up from his seat, looking out the window swiftly before heading for the door. This could only mean one thing, they were finally moving in to make the first attack.
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Roll sat straight up in bed as the voice rang over the intercom. It was starting... She had to get out of here and stop this before Zero or X got hurt. She couldn't help but feel if she'd never been here things would have been going a lot more smoothly up until this point... She had to fix everything... Or die trying.
Silently she crept up off her bed and walked up to the bars, sized to keep normal sized reploids inside with relative ease, but she was hardly normal size. Her childs frame slipped easily through the bars, her dress waving a bit as she darted across the floor towards the door.
Cautiously she opened the door a crack and peeked out, seeing nobody in the hallway. So she slid through the crack and shut the door gently behind her, looking around at the walls and ceiling for security cameras, but not seeing any. Either they were hidden or the hunters weren't really prepared for a breakout, both of which seemed unlikely.
After deciding not to press her luck by investigating, she darted down the hallway, the clang of her feet against the hard steel floor the only sounds ringing through almost completely empty hallway.
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Zero stood on top of the mound of desert sand that masked the maverick base from plain view, looking out across the desert for any signs that he'd been followed. He regretted having to oust Panther after she'd risked her life to get him out of his prison, but there would have been no other way to convince X that what he was saying was true.
He was brought to attention by a faint glimmer in the desert far away from them. He would have mistaken it for heat distortion if he didn't have the ability to counteract that for desert missions. When he saw the glimmer again he quickly whipped out the binoculars he'd taken from the base and looked out across the desert where he'd seen the glimmers. Sure enough what looked like three whole units of maverick hunters was heading their way. Led by none other than X himself.
Zero felt a slight pang when he saw X marching at the head of his unit, looking as determined and ready to fight as ever. What Zero had given him didn't seem to have fazed him at all, he still thought Zero and everyone else here was all just mavericks trying to cause trouble.
Three units wasn't really much for a full on assault, but since Zero could only assume most other hunters agreed with the mavericks it was all that was still loyal. This battle would likely be over quickly... Resulting in the utter destruction of the maverick hunter ranks... Followed by the downfall of the government, overthrown by the reploids they'd tried to wipe out...
But still, seeing X at the front of the opposing army nagged at him, making him wonder if he was really on the right side of all this. What if he was only helping to further one of Viles schemes... What if all he was fighting for was Viles own lust for power?
No, he wasn't playing Zero this time. Everything pointed to the government being the aggressor in this scenario. He was helping to preserve his entire race from eradication. He had to believe that... Otherwise, all of this was for nothing.
Zero couldn't help a small sigh that escaped his lips as he watched the oncoming maverick hunter army with his old friend at the head. "I guess the time's come for the truth to be known. Who's right... You or me?" With that Zero turned away from the lines of war and ducked down to reveal the hidden hatch that was the back door into the maverick base to report what he'd seen. The battle was coming, they had to prepare.
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Roll stumbled into a solid steel wall, catching herself quickly before she could collapse entirely. What was wrong with her? It was like all of her strength was fading slowly. She could feel herself getting weaker by the moment as she continued along the hallway, sliding her shoulder against the wall just to keep herself upright.
She rounded a turn in the hall only to see a hunter standing a few yards in front of her. He whirled the moment he heard the sound of her sliding against the wall.
"Halt! Identify yourself!" He yelled, quickly drawing the laser pistol at his side.
"R... R..." Roll sputtered as she felt herself losing consciousness and collapsing to the ground with a loud thud. The last thing she could hear was the guard calling for assistance to get her to medical.
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Zero walked along at his place at the head of the maverick army right beside Vile, keeping a steady pace as they marched out of the base to meet their enemies. After discussing it, they'd decided to try one last time to get them to reconsider this war, but if it came down to it, they wouldn't hesitate to fight.
The two armies met and halted, each sizing the other up. The maverick army was clearly far larger than their enemies, but they wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating their opponents, especially with X at the helm.
"Stop this all now." X demanded, standing firm as he squarely faced Zero and Vile. Faintly Zero could already hear the power stored up in X's arm cannon. This meant he was anticipating a fight, well he wouldn't be disappointed. X's cannon, though over fifty years old, was still considered one of the deadliest weapons on the planet.
"We can't, everything depends on this." Vile stated before Zero could say anything, his voice echoing from his helmet. It was probably for the best, Zero felt sick to his stomach at what he knew was about to happen.
"The same human hating drivel I hear from all mavericks." X said, sneering at Vile viciously. "The choice is yours. You can surrender, or fight. Either way, make your move now."
Vile looked up and down the ranks of his army, as though seriously thinking it over. Zero's grip tightened around his saber though, he knew Vile had no intention of surrender, as did X.
"FIGHT!" Vile screamed at the top of his lungs, the mavericks opening fire all at once even as the hunters returned fire. Reploids fell quickly on both sides as hand to hand fighters invaded each side, causing what havoc they could in the opposing army.
Zero leapt over the first wave of hunters, whirling his blade in a huge arc, taking down five hunters with one swing before whirling and dodging to the side as others opened fire on him.
The discharge of energy weapons and clash of steel rang throughout the battlefield as the two armies fought, neither side showing any intention of stopping. They all believed in what they were fighting for and all believed they were in the right.
Zero slashed viciously at another hunter, splitting him in half straight down the center before being assaulted from another side and being forced to dodge again. The battle seemed to last for ages as he weaved through the masses of the hunter army, striking whenever he saw an opportunity, skillfully dodging any weapons fire that might head his way.
By this point Zero noted that the armies were hopelessly intermeshed, making using long distance weapons hazardous, one dodge and you could fry your own teammate. So most had resorted to backup weapons, claws, swords, sabers, fists, whatever each fighter had up his sleeve he brought to bear now.
Zero slashed yet more hunters and whirled, his saber flying in a decapitating arc. He paused in mid swing just inches from severing Panthers head from her neck, just staring at her steadily.
Panther was silent for a long while, just staring back at him. "I'm sorry." Finally she whirled quickly away from his blade, lashing out with her blade-whip. It bit deep into his chest plate, revealing wires and circuitry underneath his red armor.
He put one hand over the wound even as he lunged forward, swinging at her skillfully. She dodged and weaved to avoid his blade, striking back with her own weapon.
So they fought in a dance that only one would come out of standing. That is until Zero swung his sword at the same time Panther lashed out with her weapon. The blade whip wound itself haphazardly around the blade of Zero's saber, locking them together as the white hot laser melted the metal of the whip, making it join together to render both of their weapons useless.
"Damnit!" They both exclaimed at the same time, staring at the melded weapons incredulously. Finally Zero threw away the now useless weapons and faced her squarely, his fists at the ready by his sides.
They lunged at the same time, catching each others fists. They stared at each other as both fought for the advantage, trying to overcome the other in a test of strength. With all of this though, Zero didn't see any anger or hatred in Panthers eyes, only a cold mask that was the mark of a soldier during battle. In her eyes though, Zero could see through the mask, he could see she didn't want to do this.
"Panther..." He said loosening his hold slightly and feeling her do the same. Suddenly a flash of light sparked through her stomach and her eyes went wide open in shock. Looking down, Zero saw a hole the size of his fist going straight through her stomach.
"Zero..." She muttered as she fell to her knees, holding her stomach against the pain.
"Panther!" Zero exclaimed as he knelt beside her to help her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vile watching them, the cannon on his shoulder still smoking from the shot. He turned his attention back to Panther in time to see her systems had already shut down, though whether she could still be repaired was questionable.
Gently he lay her on the ground before getting to his feet, facing Vile, his fists clenched with a primal rage no reploid had ever known before... Except for him. The blue jewel encrusted into his helmet began to glow brightly as he lunged at Vile, howling viciously.
Without a moments hesitation Vile opened fire, the shots tearing through his armor viciously. Zero was quickly sent to the ground under the barrage of cannon-fire, his body sparking viciously. He tried to get up, but fell back to the ground weakly, growling to himself at his own weakness even as Vile stood over him, the cannon on his shoulder taking aim directly toward Zero's head.
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X fired another plasma shot, blowing two mavericks into a pile on the ground before he caught sight of Zero sprawled on the ground with Panther near him, Vile standing over him. For a few moments X actually thought to let it happen, let him get what he deserved for betraying the maverick hunters over the word of one of the most notorious mavericks of all time.
"What am I thinking?" X said to himself softly, putting one hand to his head. "I can't abandon him..." With that he fought his way through the battlefield towards where he'd seen them, trying to reach them before vile could finish it.
Finally he found them, Viles cannon charging up to full power as X slammed the end of his own cannon against the back of Viles head. "Don't breathe." He said, letting the hum of his own cannon powering up be enough incentive for Vile to remain as still as he could.
"X..." Zero said weakly, the sparks flying from his body and making him wince in pain. For a brief moment X almost thought he saw a letter formed in the jewel embedded into his helmet, but it disappeared fast enough he simply chalked it off to the rush of battle getting to him.
Vile took advantage of his distraction, whirling away from him and back-fisting him across the face. X, caught by surprise, lost the concentration he needed to maintain the energy charge in his cannon, without it the cannon discharged all stored up energy automatically. The blast tore through the throng of battling reploids around them, mavericks and hunters alike were disintegrated in an instant as the plasma bullet cleaved a path through the battlefield.
X hit the ground and took a moment to look at the damage his cannon had caused. This moment was all Vile needed to take advantage of everything, readying his already charged up cannon and firing it at Zero, intent on finishing him off before anyone could stop him.
"No!" X yelled when he finally realized what was going on, but by then it was already too late. Time seemed to slow down to them as the sparkling energy streaked towards Zero, who could only lie weakly on the ground and watch as it came upon him, his fists clenched tightly in anger.
X watched in surprise as Zero rolled to his feet away from the shot, which blew a section of the ground up into the air. Without hesitation X raised his cannon and fired straight at Vile before he could regain his balance from firing his blast. The plasma shot tore into his back, disintegrating the armor as though it was nothing and sending him to the ground. Another shot quickly tore the cannon from Viles back, preventing him from fighting any further as well as making him howl in pain.
X smirked down at him, putting his hands on his hips. "You never learn." He said, turning away from Vile as Zero approached, limping and holding his side painfully as the sparks escaped from his body in droves. They just watched each other silently for a long time before Zero finally extended one hand to X, which he promptly took.
Now they turned away from Vile and turned to the matter of the war they still had to finish, but now, side by side as they should be.
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ENERGY LEVELS DANGEROUSLY LOW AND FALLING... AUTOMATIC MEMORY FILE ACCESS... COLLECTING DATA...
"Hello Roll." Roll recognized the voice instantly as belonging to Doctor Light, but how could that be? "I'm sorry I had to deceive you. The chip I planted in you made a small rupture in your energy matrix. It's too small to detect until it's too late." Roll tried to respond, but found she couldn't do anything, not move, or talk, or even look. Only listen. "Hopefully by this time you've led a nice and full life as any human would. But Rock will not be as you knew him, he cannot know the details of his demise or rebirth... You cannot be with him again... But hopefully you will be with me again... I love you Roll..."
MEMORY FILE ENDED... WARNING, ENERGY REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS.
She managed to curl her lips into a faint smile with the last of her energy, startling the reploid standing over her, who'd undoubtedly already thought her dead. "There is no pain..." She said softly to herself as she blacked out again, feeling every system in her body blink out one by one until her neural matrix finally went dead as well.
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Zero watched solemnly as the reploids carted off the remains of Roll Light into one of their jeeps, hauling it off to a place where it would be stored among the treasures of the past. She had been one of the first of the first wave of reploids then known as cyber-humans. He didn't like the thought she'd be in a museum, but he couldn't think of a better centerpiece than her.
X placed a hand on his shoulder gently. He'd seen Zero's memories of his short time with her, he knew what Zero had been thinking and feeling. "How you holding up?" He asked.
"Well enough." Zero said, staring after the jeep long after it had gone. "I let myself be blinded... Vile deceived me and would never have hesitated to destroy me at the slightest hint of rebellion..."
"Don't worry about it so much. I often wonder about some of the things he was talking about myself. I know a lot of humans don't like reploids because we're abominations of nature and stuff, but there are probably more rotten humans than rotten reploids..." X said thoughtfully.
"And why would they clean us up before cleaning themselves up..." Zero finished the unspoken thought, smirking a bit at himself.
"Humans are good overall. But there are still some mavericks, that's why we're around, and that's why the humans have their own brand of maverick hunters." X stated.
"The police... God, I can't believe I let Vile blind me..." Zero groaned, putting his head in his hands.
"I was almost fooled myself actually... It would be easy for us to get rid of this fear of oppression by getting rid of humans. Vile used that to get his way, and it fooled hundreds of reploids, not just you..." X said comfortingly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Just then Panther came out of the main entrance, walking up to join them.
"Panther..." Zero said ashamedly, but she just stopped him by putting one hand over his mouth quickly.
"Good to have you back Zero." She said, taking his hand. "Let's go inside." Silently he let himself be dragged inside Maverick Hunter HQ. After all he'd done and all he'd gone through, he figured it was time for a little time off. After all, X had a break right before this all began, why shouldn't he have one?
THE END
Roll looked over her shoulder at Rock, whose face looked like a stone statue as he prodded the prisoners onward into the Maverick Hunter HQ. She'd been completely unable to get him to listen to any kind of reasoning. Though he'd appeared to almost recognize her, and even seemed glad to see her when he first saw her, he was now acting totally cold and oblivious to her. No matter what she or Zero said or did, he ignored them.
This was Roll's worst nightmare come true, and the worst part was that Rock hadn't even been reprogrammed. He was doing this of his own free will, hauling her off to some cell deep in some building like a traitor or something. She couldn't help the heavy feeling in her heart from knowing he knew the truth, but refused to accept it for some reason. Why was he doing this? She'd thought they would be a family again...
She stumbled slightly as she was shoved into the medium sized cell and the cage was closed behind her. She just watched helplessly as X turned and walked away from her without a word. They'd hauled Zero off to another part of the building, presumably to find out about the maverick base. If only she'd just stayed inside they'd both still be there... About to face a war against her brother...
There was no way to win, no matter what happened or what she did something was always wrong. All she could do now was hope that Rock eventually came around and rescued her like he always did... Hope was all she had...
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Zero sat in the chair weakly, his arms tied behind his back as the wires prodded out of his armor shell like vines. The room was almost completely bare save for a single door in front of him, the only sound was the hum of electrical current as it flowed through his system, poking and prodding into his main database. He could feel them searching through his main files, searching for signs of the maverick base.
He was well trained in keeping his memory files to himself however, and managed to elude them for the most part. Giving them only trivial information, seeing it again as it was accessed one by one. Memories he'd long forgotten or vivid memories he remembered with a slight smile. With all of their prodding though, he never revealed the information they wanted to see.
Finally he watched with a hard expression as X walked into the room, closing the door gently behind him. "Why is this necessary Zero?" He said as he walked up to his old friends, looking down at him sadly. "Before, you would have gladly told us everything, told ME everything."
"Things changed." Zero replied, looking up at him pleadingly. "The people you take orders from betrayed you. They're preparing to replace all reploids with mindless servant robots."
"Zero..." X said tightly. "Don't make us dump your memory core to get to the information. We will if we have to." He bent down beside Zero, putting his face close to Zero's ear. "Come on Zero, tell us everything and you can rejoin the maverick hunters. Please."
"I'm sorry X." Zero said determinedly, closing his eyes in sorrow. "Some things are more important than loyalty or friendship, our entire race is at stake. I'm sorry you don't realize it."
"I'm sorry too." X responded, straightening up again. "I really hoped you would come around. You've been a good friend Zero." He turned and nodded towards the door, prompting Dark Panther and Magma Dragoon to walk inside. They silently walked towards Zero, undoing the clasps on his legs and arms, picking him up, one to an arm.
"You don't know what you're doing." Zero said calmly enough to surprise even himself. "They betrayed you, not I."
"We're with you commander." Panther said softly into his ear as her and Dragoon began to carry him towards the hall. "We'll have you out of here soon."
"I will stall X while you two get out of here." Dragoon said, not giving any sign of nervousness. He obviously didn't stand a chance against him, having lost once before to him, but he was clearly willing to do it anyway.
Zero closed his eyes for a moment. "Thank you... Both of you." He opened his eyes and looked over at Dragoon now. "Good luck, try to get out alive if you can." He said softly. Dragoon simply nodded in response. "On three you will take X, Panther and I will try to get out of HQ before he can sound the alarm. One... Two... Three!"
Dragoon whirled and lunged at X suddenly, slashing at him furiously, his claw glowing white-hot as it seared straight through the armor of X's chestplate, sending him against the wall hard.
Zero and Panther dashed out of the room quickly, Panther helping him along as they ran down the hallway. "There's an emergency exit down here not fifty feet away, we should be able to make it while Dragoon stalls X." Panther said as they continued down the passageway.
They managed to make it just outside of the building before the buildings alarm went off, sounding across the field for miles.
"We need a faster mode of travel... Let's get to the hangar, we need a bike." Panther said as she almost had to drag Zero across the courtyard in front of the maverick hunter HQ.
"Wait... We need to... Go back for Roll." Zero said, halting his forward motion quickly.
"We'll find her later!" Panther said, dragging him along behind her again as she rushed toward the hangar quickly. "We don't have a second to lose!"
They burst into the hangar doors suddenly, startling the guards who'd been looking around in confusion at the alarm. She quickly swung her blade-whip, decapitating one guard with one swift jerk and taking out the other on the back swing, slicing him clean in half.
"Get on the bike!" She said hurriedly as he climbed on one of the hover bikes, her climbing on in front of him quickly. "Let's get out of here!"
"Why are you doing this?" Zero asked, leaning weakly against her back, his arms around her waist to stay on the bike with her.
"Because if you say something's not right, then something's not right." Panther replied, powering up the bike and taking off across the field before the bases automated defenses could get a lock on them.
They were quickly out of range of the turrets as they continued across the plains, heading for the forest on the edge of the base. Zero simply leaned against her back wearily. He still felt drained from the probes they'd sent through his body.
"Hold on." Panther said, weaving suddenly to the side as an energy blast blew a crater into the ground beside them. Zero looked back quickly to see several maverick hunters hot on their trail, none from his unit thankfully, and he didn't see X among them.
Their bike wove through the trees expertly as Panther fought to lose their pursuers, but they kept pretty good pace with her, hot on her tail the whole time.
"Damnit." She said under her breath as she rounded another tree, actually scraping Zero's knee against it, putting a gash in his armor. But still the hunters kept on their tail, dodging just as expertly as her.
"Keep going." Zero said, moving his feet beneath him on the bike, crouching down on the seat.
"What do you think you're doing!? You're in no condition for any stunts!" Panther protested, not taking her eyes off of where she was going. Zero reached up to his head and gently opened the compartment to his main neural processor, taking out a single chip.
"Show this to X when you see him." He said, thrusting it into the back of her armor where it wouldn't get dislodged.
"Zero don't be stupid!" She shouted furiously before suddenly catching something in what he said. "When I see X?"
"Sorry Panther. You can still plead emotional attachment." He planted a swift backfist to the side of her head, sending her flying from the bike. He quickly leapt into the seat and took control of the bike, narrowly avoiding an oncoming tree. He caught a few glimpses in the mirror of a few hunters stopping to pick her up as two others continued on after him.
He maneuvered through the forest as best he could, trying to lose the hunters with little success. Desperately he jerked his bike to the side, whirling in a complete one-eighty spin before speeding right towards his pursuit. Both hunters whipped out energy pistols and aimed them at him, opening fire as he put the bike into a spin again, this time deactivating the engines and letting the hoverjets use the momentum to carry it towards the hunters.
Zero leapt off quickly, landing in the brush and grass heavily as he heard the bike slam into the bikes of the hunters, sending them both flying from the fireball created on impact. Both of them landed with heavy thuds on the ground, not moving.
Wearily Zero forced himself to his feet, moving slowly away from the hunters. He hated having to do that, but with any luck, the information on that chip might convince X that what he was saying was true. If only he'd been able to get Roll out with him...
"I'll be back for you Roll, I promise." He said before turning and heading slowly back towards the maverick base.
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Roll looked up from her bed as the alarms went off in the base, startling her out of the half-slumber she'd fallen into. She didn't really know how long it'd been or anything, but she knew something was obviously wrong if the alarm was sounding.
After a few minutes it finally went off and everything was as it had been, quiet enough to hear a pin drop clear as a bell. Roll was quite nervous at the sudden stillness, something was obviously going on out there and she hated being totally in the dark about what it was. What if something happened to Zero, or Rock?
She tried not to think about it, there was nothing she could do in any case, so she just lied back on her bed and propped her head up on her hands, staring up at the ceiling. She'd always thought that dreams came true if you only believed in them fiercely enough, but she guessed the dreams didn't really agree with that sentiment.
A noise outside the cell drew her attention to the front, where she noticed Rock standing just on the other side of the bars, staring at her more curiously than menacing.
"Why am I in here?" Roll asked simply, trying not to show how utterly confused and mixed up she was from all of this. She wanted to be strong, like she'd always seen him under any circumstances.
"Because you're a maverick." Rock replied just as simply, walking over to the door of the cell and opening it, stepping inside before closing and locking it behind him.
"Do you always check up on the mavericks you contain?" Roll asked a bit more venomously than she'd intended, she just hated the thought that any of this was actually happening. "Or is there really some bit of Rock... MegaMan inside of you somewhere?"
"I don't know anybody named Rock." He said, walking over and sitting beside her, staring at her curiously. "But I do believe... I was him once." Roll looked at him in surprise, she hadn't expected that after the way he'd been acting and treating her.
"But I don't understand... If you believe me then why..." She said shakily.
"Because I'm not Rock... I'm not MegaMan. My name is X." He said, looking down at the floor, his face an expressionless mask. "This may have been his shell, but this isn't his life. I can't believe I was supposed to be this way when I was created. That I'm just a shadow of this... MegaMan." He stood up then, walking toward the bars of the cell, just looking through them.
"I never thought of it that way..." Roll said softly, looking down at the floor thoughtfully. "If... If you were meant to have a totally new life... Even personality... You... You couldn't have any reminders of who you were..." Her horror grew more as she reached what was to her, an inevitable conclusion. "Doctor Light planned for me to be dead by the time you were re-activated..."
X looked back at her then, watching the horror in her eyes with a mixture of resentment, pity, grief, and just about every emotion he was capable of.
"He put a small chip inside my neural matrix that I didn't know what it did... He knew before he got too old that he wouldn't finish Rock so he had time... I never knew... But now I think I do..." She said, her eyes expressing feelings of hurt and betrayal that she'd never known before. "It was a neural bomb... It was supposed to kill me before you were re-activated... But the government stepped in and shut me down until Vile saved me..."
"Vile saved you!?" X exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes..." Roll said, staring straight down at the floor in grief now. "But now I'm doomed because it's still in me... And I don't even know how long I have left... If it stopped while I was inactive or if it just slowed down..."
"You..." X began just as the door leading to the containment area opened and another hunter walked in, looking at Zero. "Status report."
The hunter gave a quick bow before giving his report. "Zero escaped, taking out two of our hunters. But we apprehended Dark Panther after Zero threw her from the bike." He smirked a bit. "There's maverick gratitude for you." He said ironically.
"Hmmm..." X said, looking back at Roll. "Dismissed." He said, causing the hunter to quickly exit the area. "Looks like Zero's just hunting for enemies..." X said closing his eyes a bit, still disturbed by the idea Zero was a traitor.
"He's trying to save your race..." Roll said softly, not looking at him or even moving. "You should listen to him... Hear him out..."
X simply stared at her for a few minutes more, then turned and left her cell, shutting and locking the door behind him. "I would have liked to meet Doctor Light. He sounds like a good man..." He said, sounding a bit unsure of what he could say to help her, but wanting to. He didn't trust her actions but he knew she was being sincere as she knew it.
"Then why would he... Do this to me..." She said, lowering her said sadly to stare at the floor, ignoring him as he turned and left the detention block. She'd always loved Doctor Light like a father, and she'd thought he'd loved her, so why would he want her destroyed... Why did he betray her?
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X opened the solid steel door to the interrogation room where Panther was sitting in one of the chairs at the side of a long table, just waiting for him calmly. "You better have a damn good explanation for this Panther." X said ferociously. "Dragoon took the bitter part of your little escape."
"What happened to him?" Panther asked worriedly.
"He's in the infirmary, and from there going straight to the maverick re-allocation center." X said, glaring at her.
"We all did what we thought was for the best of our race." Panther said proudly, standing up to face him.
"What makes you think anything is threatening our race? All you have is the word of a maverick!"
"I have the word of a trusted friend!" Panther retorted, snarling slightly. "What do you have? The word of the very people who are trying to wipe us out!" X stayed silent at that, just staring at her coldly. "Zero wanted me to give this to you." She said finally, taking the chip from the back of her armor and handing it to X.
X took the chip and examined it. It looked to him like a memory storage chip. What would Zero have possibly wanted him to have this for? Maybe he was trying to tell X about the maverick base without appearing to betray Vile, which would make X a lot happier were it true.
"Don't ask me why he'd want you to have anything." Panther snarled, glaring at him.
X just looked over at her for a few minutes. "Go back to your duties."
"What?" Panther said confused. "No punishment?"
"Punishment is to keep hunters from repeating their offenses, but I don't think you will. Because I'm re-assigning you to the 17th unit." X said, looking over at her.
"Your unit!?" Panther exclaimed in surprise. "But why?"
"I can keep an eye on you, but it's only temporary... Only until we get Zero back or replace him as the commander of the #0 unit. The others will be reassigned similarly. You are dismissed." X said, looking down at the chip again to signal that she should take her opening and leave. She didn't hesitate in taking it, getting up from her chair and making haste for the door, shutting it softly behind her.
X sat down on one of the chairs around the table, opening up a slit in his helmet and sliding the chip in, scanning it with his own internal memory processor. Almost immediately he found himself seeing visions through Zero's eyes...
MEMORY ARCHIVE ACCESSED... COLLECTING DATA...
Zero was lying in a bed with Roll right beside him, resting against him with her eyes closed and her mouth curved into a cute looking smile. Reploids didn't really have the capacity for true physical pleasure the way humans knew it, but they found they didn't really need it, the act was more for the emotional aspects of it. The way most humans wished they could operate, reploids did operate.
"I'm glad you're here Zero..." Roll said happily, sighing a bit.
"Me too." Zero said, running one of his hands along her back gently. "There's something I still don't exactly understand though... How did you wind up in a military installation?" He asked, looking down at her.
"Well... You mentioned it so you obviously found my journal..." Roll said, smirking slightly. "I did try to kill myself once I realized I couldn't live a normal life, but when I tried they caught me and stopped me... They took me to that installation and hooked me up to their machines. Trying to figure out the secret to making a fully sentient cyber-human, something only Doctor Light and Wily had been able to accomplish, but both of whom were dead..." At this she paused, looking down.
"We don't have to talk about this, I'm sorry." Zero said apologetically.
"No it's alright... They systematically went through my systems, trying to find out how I was sentient but they couldn't find anything. Nothing special about me over normal robots. But they never let me go... Instead they locked me in a museum for the military officials and put me on display so they could see what would be the next great achievement they'd make... I don't know how long I was there... I faded in and out of consciousness as they worked on me and struck different wires. I couldn't move but I could feel and hear..." She shuddered slightly at the memory, causing Zero to hold onto her tighter.
"It's okay..." He said softly, holding onto her comfortingly. Now there was no doubt in his mind that the humans were capable of what Vile had been saying. They were heartless and ruthless in their attempts at total control. At first he hadn't wanted to go against the hunters, or X, but now he had no choice. He'd have to fight and win...
MEMORY FILE ENDED... RESUMING NORMAL FUNCTIONS...
This was why Zero was fighting. This was why he was actually going against everything he'd previously tried to uphold. X was by this time thoroughly confused about who was telling the truth here. All evidence seemed to be split right down the middle of either Vile or the government being right. He didn't think for an instant doctor Cain would betray him, but if even he was being lied to...
X just sat in the chair, staring straight ahead of him, deep in thought. He didn't know who to trust anymore, so all he could do now was try to do what was right... And stop Vile, who always seemed to have his own agenda no matter what mask he chose to wear in daylight.
Idly somewhere in the corner of his mind he noted a voice coming over the intercom of maverick hunter HQ. "Hunter units 12, 15 and 17 report to docking bay five. Units 12, 15 and 17 report to docking bay five." Silently X stood up from his seat, looking out the window swiftly before heading for the door. This could only mean one thing, they were finally moving in to make the first attack.
________________________________________________________________________________
Roll sat straight up in bed as the voice rang over the intercom. It was starting... She had to get out of here and stop this before Zero or X got hurt. She couldn't help but feel if she'd never been here things would have been going a lot more smoothly up until this point... She had to fix everything... Or die trying.
Silently she crept up off her bed and walked up to the bars, sized to keep normal sized reploids inside with relative ease, but she was hardly normal size. Her childs frame slipped easily through the bars, her dress waving a bit as she darted across the floor towards the door.
Cautiously she opened the door a crack and peeked out, seeing nobody in the hallway. So she slid through the crack and shut the door gently behind her, looking around at the walls and ceiling for security cameras, but not seeing any. Either they were hidden or the hunters weren't really prepared for a breakout, both of which seemed unlikely.
After deciding not to press her luck by investigating, she darted down the hallway, the clang of her feet against the hard steel floor the only sounds ringing through almost completely empty hallway.
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Zero stood on top of the mound of desert sand that masked the maverick base from plain view, looking out across the desert for any signs that he'd been followed. He regretted having to oust Panther after she'd risked her life to get him out of his prison, but there would have been no other way to convince X that what he was saying was true.
He was brought to attention by a faint glimmer in the desert far away from them. He would have mistaken it for heat distortion if he didn't have the ability to counteract that for desert missions. When he saw the glimmer again he quickly whipped out the binoculars he'd taken from the base and looked out across the desert where he'd seen the glimmers. Sure enough what looked like three whole units of maverick hunters was heading their way. Led by none other than X himself.
Zero felt a slight pang when he saw X marching at the head of his unit, looking as determined and ready to fight as ever. What Zero had given him didn't seem to have fazed him at all, he still thought Zero and everyone else here was all just mavericks trying to cause trouble.
Three units wasn't really much for a full on assault, but since Zero could only assume most other hunters agreed with the mavericks it was all that was still loyal. This battle would likely be over quickly... Resulting in the utter destruction of the maverick hunter ranks... Followed by the downfall of the government, overthrown by the reploids they'd tried to wipe out...
But still, seeing X at the front of the opposing army nagged at him, making him wonder if he was really on the right side of all this. What if he was only helping to further one of Viles schemes... What if all he was fighting for was Viles own lust for power?
No, he wasn't playing Zero this time. Everything pointed to the government being the aggressor in this scenario. He was helping to preserve his entire race from eradication. He had to believe that... Otherwise, all of this was for nothing.
Zero couldn't help a small sigh that escaped his lips as he watched the oncoming maverick hunter army with his old friend at the head. "I guess the time's come for the truth to be known. Who's right... You or me?" With that Zero turned away from the lines of war and ducked down to reveal the hidden hatch that was the back door into the maverick base to report what he'd seen. The battle was coming, they had to prepare.
________________________________________________________________________________
Roll stumbled into a solid steel wall, catching herself quickly before she could collapse entirely. What was wrong with her? It was like all of her strength was fading slowly. She could feel herself getting weaker by the moment as she continued along the hallway, sliding her shoulder against the wall just to keep herself upright.
She rounded a turn in the hall only to see a hunter standing a few yards in front of her. He whirled the moment he heard the sound of her sliding against the wall.
"Halt! Identify yourself!" He yelled, quickly drawing the laser pistol at his side.
"R... R..." Roll sputtered as she felt herself losing consciousness and collapsing to the ground with a loud thud. The last thing she could hear was the guard calling for assistance to get her to medical.
________________________________________________________________________________
Zero walked along at his place at the head of the maverick army right beside Vile, keeping a steady pace as they marched out of the base to meet their enemies. After discussing it, they'd decided to try one last time to get them to reconsider this war, but if it came down to it, they wouldn't hesitate to fight.
The two armies met and halted, each sizing the other up. The maverick army was clearly far larger than their enemies, but they wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating their opponents, especially with X at the helm.
"Stop this all now." X demanded, standing firm as he squarely faced Zero and Vile. Faintly Zero could already hear the power stored up in X's arm cannon. This meant he was anticipating a fight, well he wouldn't be disappointed. X's cannon, though over fifty years old, was still considered one of the deadliest weapons on the planet.
"We can't, everything depends on this." Vile stated before Zero could say anything, his voice echoing from his helmet. It was probably for the best, Zero felt sick to his stomach at what he knew was about to happen.
"The same human hating drivel I hear from all mavericks." X said, sneering at Vile viciously. "The choice is yours. You can surrender, or fight. Either way, make your move now."
Vile looked up and down the ranks of his army, as though seriously thinking it over. Zero's grip tightened around his saber though, he knew Vile had no intention of surrender, as did X.
"FIGHT!" Vile screamed at the top of his lungs, the mavericks opening fire all at once even as the hunters returned fire. Reploids fell quickly on both sides as hand to hand fighters invaded each side, causing what havoc they could in the opposing army.
Zero leapt over the first wave of hunters, whirling his blade in a huge arc, taking down five hunters with one swing before whirling and dodging to the side as others opened fire on him.
The discharge of energy weapons and clash of steel rang throughout the battlefield as the two armies fought, neither side showing any intention of stopping. They all believed in what they were fighting for and all believed they were in the right.
Zero slashed viciously at another hunter, splitting him in half straight down the center before being assaulted from another side and being forced to dodge again. The battle seemed to last for ages as he weaved through the masses of the hunter army, striking whenever he saw an opportunity, skillfully dodging any weapons fire that might head his way.
By this point Zero noted that the armies were hopelessly intermeshed, making using long distance weapons hazardous, one dodge and you could fry your own teammate. So most had resorted to backup weapons, claws, swords, sabers, fists, whatever each fighter had up his sleeve he brought to bear now.
Zero slashed yet more hunters and whirled, his saber flying in a decapitating arc. He paused in mid swing just inches from severing Panthers head from her neck, just staring at her steadily.
Panther was silent for a long while, just staring back at him. "I'm sorry." Finally she whirled quickly away from his blade, lashing out with her blade-whip. It bit deep into his chest plate, revealing wires and circuitry underneath his red armor.
He put one hand over the wound even as he lunged forward, swinging at her skillfully. She dodged and weaved to avoid his blade, striking back with her own weapon.
So they fought in a dance that only one would come out of standing. That is until Zero swung his sword at the same time Panther lashed out with her weapon. The blade whip wound itself haphazardly around the blade of Zero's saber, locking them together as the white hot laser melted the metal of the whip, making it join together to render both of their weapons useless.
"Damnit!" They both exclaimed at the same time, staring at the melded weapons incredulously. Finally Zero threw away the now useless weapons and faced her squarely, his fists at the ready by his sides.
They lunged at the same time, catching each others fists. They stared at each other as both fought for the advantage, trying to overcome the other in a test of strength. With all of this though, Zero didn't see any anger or hatred in Panthers eyes, only a cold mask that was the mark of a soldier during battle. In her eyes though, Zero could see through the mask, he could see she didn't want to do this.
"Panther..." He said loosening his hold slightly and feeling her do the same. Suddenly a flash of light sparked through her stomach and her eyes went wide open in shock. Looking down, Zero saw a hole the size of his fist going straight through her stomach.
"Zero..." She muttered as she fell to her knees, holding her stomach against the pain.
"Panther!" Zero exclaimed as he knelt beside her to help her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vile watching them, the cannon on his shoulder still smoking from the shot. He turned his attention back to Panther in time to see her systems had already shut down, though whether she could still be repaired was questionable.
Gently he lay her on the ground before getting to his feet, facing Vile, his fists clenched with a primal rage no reploid had ever known before... Except for him. The blue jewel encrusted into his helmet began to glow brightly as he lunged at Vile, howling viciously.
Without a moments hesitation Vile opened fire, the shots tearing through his armor viciously. Zero was quickly sent to the ground under the barrage of cannon-fire, his body sparking viciously. He tried to get up, but fell back to the ground weakly, growling to himself at his own weakness even as Vile stood over him, the cannon on his shoulder taking aim directly toward Zero's head.
________________________________________________________________________________
X fired another plasma shot, blowing two mavericks into a pile on the ground before he caught sight of Zero sprawled on the ground with Panther near him, Vile standing over him. For a few moments X actually thought to let it happen, let him get what he deserved for betraying the maverick hunters over the word of one of the most notorious mavericks of all time.
"What am I thinking?" X said to himself softly, putting one hand to his head. "I can't abandon him..." With that he fought his way through the battlefield towards where he'd seen them, trying to reach them before vile could finish it.
Finally he found them, Viles cannon charging up to full power as X slammed the end of his own cannon against the back of Viles head. "Don't breathe." He said, letting the hum of his own cannon powering up be enough incentive for Vile to remain as still as he could.
"X..." Zero said weakly, the sparks flying from his body and making him wince in pain. For a brief moment X almost thought he saw a letter formed in the jewel embedded into his helmet, but it disappeared fast enough he simply chalked it off to the rush of battle getting to him.
Vile took advantage of his distraction, whirling away from him and back-fisting him across the face. X, caught by surprise, lost the concentration he needed to maintain the energy charge in his cannon, without it the cannon discharged all stored up energy automatically. The blast tore through the throng of battling reploids around them, mavericks and hunters alike were disintegrated in an instant as the plasma bullet cleaved a path through the battlefield.
X hit the ground and took a moment to look at the damage his cannon had caused. This moment was all Vile needed to take advantage of everything, readying his already charged up cannon and firing it at Zero, intent on finishing him off before anyone could stop him.
"No!" X yelled when he finally realized what was going on, but by then it was already too late. Time seemed to slow down to them as the sparkling energy streaked towards Zero, who could only lie weakly on the ground and watch as it came upon him, his fists clenched tightly in anger.
X watched in surprise as Zero rolled to his feet away from the shot, which blew a section of the ground up into the air. Without hesitation X raised his cannon and fired straight at Vile before he could regain his balance from firing his blast. The plasma shot tore into his back, disintegrating the armor as though it was nothing and sending him to the ground. Another shot quickly tore the cannon from Viles back, preventing him from fighting any further as well as making him howl in pain.
X smirked down at him, putting his hands on his hips. "You never learn." He said, turning away from Vile as Zero approached, limping and holding his side painfully as the sparks escaped from his body in droves. They just watched each other silently for a long time before Zero finally extended one hand to X, which he promptly took.
Now they turned away from Vile and turned to the matter of the war they still had to finish, but now, side by side as they should be.
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ENERGY LEVELS DANGEROUSLY LOW AND FALLING... AUTOMATIC MEMORY FILE ACCESS... COLLECTING DATA...
"Hello Roll." Roll recognized the voice instantly as belonging to Doctor Light, but how could that be? "I'm sorry I had to deceive you. The chip I planted in you made a small rupture in your energy matrix. It's too small to detect until it's too late." Roll tried to respond, but found she couldn't do anything, not move, or talk, or even look. Only listen. "Hopefully by this time you've led a nice and full life as any human would. But Rock will not be as you knew him, he cannot know the details of his demise or rebirth... You cannot be with him again... But hopefully you will be with me again... I love you Roll..."
MEMORY FILE ENDED... WARNING, ENERGY REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS.
She managed to curl her lips into a faint smile with the last of her energy, startling the reploid standing over her, who'd undoubtedly already thought her dead. "There is no pain..." She said softly to herself as she blacked out again, feeling every system in her body blink out one by one until her neural matrix finally went dead as well.
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Zero watched solemnly as the reploids carted off the remains of Roll Light into one of their jeeps, hauling it off to a place where it would be stored among the treasures of the past. She had been one of the first of the first wave of reploids then known as cyber-humans. He didn't like the thought she'd be in a museum, but he couldn't think of a better centerpiece than her.
X placed a hand on his shoulder gently. He'd seen Zero's memories of his short time with her, he knew what Zero had been thinking and feeling. "How you holding up?" He asked.
"Well enough." Zero said, staring after the jeep long after it had gone. "I let myself be blinded... Vile deceived me and would never have hesitated to destroy me at the slightest hint of rebellion..."
"Don't worry about it so much. I often wonder about some of the things he was talking about myself. I know a lot of humans don't like reploids because we're abominations of nature and stuff, but there are probably more rotten humans than rotten reploids..." X said thoughtfully.
"And why would they clean us up before cleaning themselves up..." Zero finished the unspoken thought, smirking a bit at himself.
"Humans are good overall. But there are still some mavericks, that's why we're around, and that's why the humans have their own brand of maverick hunters." X stated.
"The police... God, I can't believe I let Vile blind me..." Zero groaned, putting his head in his hands.
"I was almost fooled myself actually... It would be easy for us to get rid of this fear of oppression by getting rid of humans. Vile used that to get his way, and it fooled hundreds of reploids, not just you..." X said comfortingly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Just then Panther came out of the main entrance, walking up to join them.
"Panther..." Zero said ashamedly, but she just stopped him by putting one hand over his mouth quickly.
"Good to have you back Zero." She said, taking his hand. "Let's go inside." Silently he let himself be dragged inside Maverick Hunter HQ. After all he'd done and all he'd gone through, he figured it was time for a little time off. After all, X had a break right before this all began, why shouldn't he have one?
THE END