C. Cowboy: howdy, not much to say that won't spoil the story, so I'll just say thanks to Tux Kamen who beta read this for me, and everyone who's read and enjoyed this fic so far. Read and review please!

Chapter 2: X and Alia

General Jameson stormed down the hallway of the United Nations building. He had recently learned the truth about the U.N. Anti-Maverick Council's true purposes. He was infact a member of the council and very displeased at what has been going on behind his back.

He made it to the meeting room and barged in. "What have you people done?"

"I do not know what you're talking about." General Light, head of the Council, said smugly. Jameson looked around the darkened room at the faces of the Generals who sat, at this time, in full control of the world. The Council was formed so that in the event of a Reploid uprising, they could gain control of the world governments and avoid mass anarchy. Apparently, the council had gotten other ideas.

"You monsters!" Jameson yelled, looking around the room, "It's your fault! Everything that's happened, the uprisings, the viruses, it's all your fault!"

"Didn't your mother every teach you not to point your finger?" a voice said from the shadows. Jameson looked up and turned pale at the sight of the glowing, blood-colored eyes in the shadows.

"Y-you …" Jameson gawked, stepping back.

"The Puppet Master was just telling us of his plans for the future of this world, General," Light said, an evil smile barely visible under his chestnut beard.

"And you … Puppet Master … if that's what you want to be called," Jameson hissed, his anger returning. "How could you? You of all people how could you?"

"Sit down, General, and let us return to the meeting," Light ordered, pointing toward Jameson's empty chair.

"No, I have already sent a secured envelope with all the data to the Maverick Hunters," Jameson informed, "I'm sure Megaman X will enjoy-" the General's sentence was cut short by plasma blast through his cranium.

"Let that be a lesson to all of you," Puppet Master said angrily to the Generals, "I never want to hear the name of that … copy … in my presence again."


The sun was shinning bright over Arizona Beach. Alia sat on a beach towel with her laptop sitting on her lap as she worked away on whatever she was working on. She was finding it hard to concentrate on the screen, not that she was complaining. She couldn't help glancing up every so often to watch two human children building a sandcastle.

"Hey, Ally! Watch this!" Alia heard X call her. She glanced up and watched X surf, or at least attempt to surf.

"X, be …" she got out as he fell off his board, "careful …"

Alia placed her face in her hands in mild humiliation, before looking up, giggling lightly. "X?" She asked, looking out over the water, but only seeing X's blue surfboard. "X? X!" She exclaimed as she put down her computer and ran toward the water. She ran out ankle deep in the water, yelling, "X, where are you?"

"X, this isn't funny!" Alia yelled, trying to sound stern, "X!" She then let out a bone-chilling scream as X pulled her into the water by the ankle.

Alia sat, eyes wide in shock, gasping each time the waves would wash over her and glaring at the mischievously smiling X.

"You … little … blue … twit …" Alia growled only to receive a laugh from the Blue Bomber.

"Sorry," X chuckled, reaching out his hand to help her up. She took it and instead of pulling herself up, she jerked X down face first into the water and sand. X jumped back up, coughing and spitting out water and sand. Alia just giggled and trotted back to her towel, dried off, and went back to what she was doing.

X recovered his board, walked over, and sat down next to her, looking over her shoulder, completely clueless as to what she was working on. After a few moments, he glanced at the children constructing the sandcastle and decided to see "if they needed help". X walked over and the kids cheerfully accepted his offer and the three went to work building their castle.

Alia looked up and couldn't help giggling a little bit as she watched X play with the two children. If she didn't know who he was, or what he did as a Maverick Hunter, she would never guess that this person playing so gently with the two children could ever be one of the most feared Reploids on Earth.
Four pillars of energy dropped around a mile away from the smoking area that should be Fort Auto. "0 Unit, reporting in," Zero said over the radio.

"Roger that, Sweetheart," Iris' voice said over the radio.

"Call me Zero on missions please, Iris," Zero said, blushing lightly.

"What ever you say, Honey," Iris replied cheerfully. "Why didn't you bring X?"

"X was … busy today," Zero said with a smile, "He deserves the time off too, in my opinion anyway."

"If you say so," Iris said over the radio.

"Ok, we're going to go check and see what's wrong with the fort," Zero said, starting to walk in the direction of the fort. "We'll call if we need anything."

"Ok, my Sugar Plum Fairy, be careful!" Iris said as she clicked off the radio.

Zero stopped dead in his tracks and his face turned the color of his armor. He silently prayed his teammates didn't hear what she called him, but the snickering and chuckling behind him told him otherwise. "Shut up and come on," Zero growled, keeping his back to his subordinates.


"X … why … how …" Alia asked, peeking over the side of her laptop. She stared in awe at X sitting at the other end of the booth at the diner. In his in hands was a triple bacon cheeseburger making a puddle of grease on the table in front of him.

"Why and how what?" X asked between chomps.

"X … Why are you eating … that … when you don't need to eat anyway, and just … how?" Alia asked, looking disgustedly at the puddle on the table.

"Ally," X said, winking at his girlfriend, "You really need to learn to enjoy the finer things in life." He then took a bite out of the burger, making a squishy noise as he did so.

Alia shivered at the sound, "I really don't understand you sometimes, X." She then shook her head. When she opened her eyes, she shrieked slightly and jumped back. Less than a couple inches from her face, X held the last half of his burger.

"Come on, Ally, don't knock it 'til you try it!" X cheered, chuckling at her extremely frightened face.

"I … I don't know …" Alia whimpered, gulping as a drop of grease fell down in her lap.

"Come on, Alia, trust me," X pleaded, pushing the burger closer to her face, "If I can face Sigma, you can try one little bite of my burger!"

"H-how about … you eat the burger, and I face Sigma next time …" Alia said quickly, shaking her head slightly, her eyes wide and never leaving the ungodly mass of grease on a sesame seed bun.

"Nope." X said with a wicked smile, "Beating up Siggy's my job." He then gave her a pair of big, green, puppy dog eyes, "Please try it. One little bitty bite, for me?"

"Damn you …" Alia growled, softly taking a large gulp. She then closed her eyes tight and slowly took a small bite out of the burger. She chewed for a moment, then her eyes went wide in pleasure, and took another bite from it, then another, and another, and another.

X watched in bewilderment as Alia devoured the burger completely, and then looked up at him sweetly, "X, sweetheart, would you maybe get me another?"

X laughed for a moment before flagging down a waitress. "Could I have another …" before X could finish the sentence, the building shook violently.

"Come on, Ally," X said, running toward the door with Alia and her laptop in tow. He threw twenty zenny at the cashier and told him to keep the change as the two ran out. X and Alia quickly spotted the trouble: a Fire-based Maverick was throwing fireballs at random buildings while police tried to fire on him. However, the Maverick gave off so much heat that the bullets melted before they could even reach him.

X quickly summoned his X-Armor and ran toward the scene as Alia pulled a mini headset from the side of her laptop and placed it on her ear.

X leapt over a squad car and readied an arm cannon, "Hey, big guy! Where's the fire?" he asked, aiming his X-buster. He then quickly fired a few rounds at him, which seemed to do next to nothing to the angry Maverick. "Ok … talk to me, Alia. What is this guy?"

"His name's Flaming Dingo. His special ability is a massive heat shield that makes him impervious to projectiles and energy weapons, and he also the ability to throw fireballs." Alia responded over their radio.

"Weaknesses?" X asked, back flipping to dodge a fireball.

"Anything cool and wet." Alia informed as X combed the area, looking for anything that would work.

Then he spotted it. Less than a foot away from the insane Reploid was a bright red fire hydrant. X targeted and fired a shot at it, causing it to explode. The cold water sprayed everywhere and covered everything including the Maverick. When the water hit his shield, a massive cloud of steam rose to the sky and when it cleared, the Flaming Dingo stood completely without his shield and, to X's pleasure, no armor whatsoever. "Say 'Good night, Gracie.'" X teased as he fired two charged blasts at the Maverick, turning him into scrap metal.

X frowned for a second and said, "Damn, he didn't say 'Good night, Gracie.'", and then nodded as he felt the weapon system upload into his X-Buster, "Hmm, this shield could be useful sometime. Man, I love it when they're dumb and easy." he chuckled.

X then, for the first time, noticed the crowd of civilians, police officers, and firemen who were at this time applauding him. "X!" Alia exclaimed, running up to him, "Great job!" she said as she reached him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"MY BABY!" A woman yelled from across the street, trying to force her way past the firemen, "LET ME GO! MY BABY, SHE'S STILL IN THERE!"

"What floor is she on, ma'am?" X asked, running over with Alia close behind.

"S-second," she sobbed, "Please, Megaman, please save my baby!"

X started to correct her, but realized now wasn't the time. He had work to do. "Alia, stay here, I'll be right back."

"X, be careful!" Alia ordered as he ran into the burning building.

Minutes passed and X still hadn't come back out. "Come on, X, come on …" Alia whispered, gnawing her lip. The building was weak and about to fall any second when X went in, and it wasn't looking any better now. Suddenly, the foundation gave and the three-story building collapsed.

Firemen looked away sadly, and the woman hit her knees in wild sobs. Alia just stared in shock. "Not again … please not again …" she whimpered in a near daze.

Then suddenly a charged shot blasted through the smoking rubble and the Second Blue Bomber slowly climbed out from the wreckage, in his arms was cradled a sleeping infant.

"X!" Alia cheered happily as the hero walked out of the rubble toward the teary-eyed mother.

X smiled at the mother, his face and armor were black from the smoke, but the baby was almost completely untouched. "She's a brave little trooper," X said, handing the woman her child.

"Thank you so much, Megaman," the woman sobbed happily, "God bless you! You're a real Blue Angel sent from Heaven, you really are!" She praised, hugging him and the infant.

"Jean!" A voice called from a man exiting his barely parked car, "Get away from it! It's dangerous!" The man, obviously the woman's husband, yelled jerking her and baby away from X.

"Jean, Reploids are dangerous, how many times do I have to tell you to never ever go anywhere near one, especially THAT one," He barked, pointing at X like he was a rabid animal.

The mother quickly brought her hand hard across his face, "Harry! He just saved our daughter! Show some respect!"

"I'd rather have our child burn than to have her rescued by THAT!" Harry yelled angrily, "It's an abomination, a freak!"

'How could he be so … so disrespectful?' Alia thought as anger flooded her mind, 'X saved his daughter, and risked his own life, and this … ass wipe puts him down!' She then looked over at X, and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. X didn't look angry; he looked hurt. His head hung low almost as if he agreed with the man's words.

"And another thing, you son of a bitch, I want you to know that everything's your fault, ALL the freaks were made based on YOU, so it's your fault everyone's scared; it's your fault for all the death and destruction, and it's your fault my mother, father, and little brother got killed! And if I had my way, you would be melted down and used to make toilet pipes!" Harry screamed, jabbing his finger in X's chest.

"That's enough, you worthless piece of …" Alia started angrily, but was cut off by X.

"No, Alia …" X said softly and sadly, "let's just go home."

"But X …" Alia started to protest, but sighed and followed him away from the crowd.

"Think we could have been teleported any farther from the fort?" Zero complained, walking on with the rest of 0 Unit close behind. They'd been walking for almost an hour and hadn't seen a single thing Zero would call exciting.

"Relax, my Gingersnap," Iris chirped over the radio. "The fort should be right over that next rise."

The group walked up to the top of the hill. When they reached the top, they stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of the fort.

"Oh my God …" Zero breathed, not believing what he was seeing.

Zero and his men slowly walked over to the massive pile of debris that was once Fort Auto. A handfull of human bodies laid half buried, and several pieces that were definitely from destroyed Reploids littered the ruins.

"What's wrong?" Iris asked seriously, "Zero, talk to me. What's wrong?"

"Oh God …" Zero said, finding Lifesavor's body, without a head attached. He then looked to the side and found a bloody talon with a diamond ring on one of the claws, "Iris … send a recovery team. The fort was hit … no survivors."

X reached and hit the light in his quarters as he and Alia walked in; he removed his helmet, placed it on the dresser, and let out a sigh.

"You ok, X?" Alia asked concerned. X hadn't said a word since they left Arizona Beach, and he was starting to worry her.

"I'm sorry I ruined your day off," X said softly.

"What?" Alia asked, "If you're talking about that lower life form shooting his mouth off, that didn't ruin my day off. As a matter of fact, I had a great time. I love spending time with you, X. You should know that by now."

"You mean it?" X said, his hopeful eyes reminding Alia of an innocent child.

"You know, X …" Alia purred slightly, "I don't think you've been properly thanked for saving everyone today from that Maverick."

"Huh?" X asked as Alia gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders and eased her face toward his.

"Just a way of saying thank you," Alia barely whispered as her lips were a fraction of an inch from his.

"X," a voice from the door caused them both to jump.

"Damn it, Zero!" Alia yelled, spinning around, "Why don't you ever … what's wrong?" She started yelling, but once she saw Zero's face, her voice changed to one of concern.

X looked up at his best friend; he had never seen him look so pale. "Zero, what is it?"

"X …" Zero said, closing eyes and dropping his head sadly, "Fort Auto …"

"Zero, tell us what happened!" X said impatiently, knowing something was wrong.

"It … was destroyed," Zero finally got out, "There were no survivors."

"The inspection team …" X asked hopefully, "They made it back before … didn't they?"

"There were … no survivors …" Zero repeated as he began to tremble slightly.

Alia dropped to her knees, her face losing all color, "Songbird … Lan … Dex … Lifesavor … no …" she whimpered as tears began to form.

X let this sink in, and once it did, he began to tremble, but unlike the others, he wasn't trembling out of sadness. He brought his hands into fists so tight his knuckles popped loudly, "Sigma …"

X then grabbed his helmet and stormed toward the door. He shoved Zero out of his way, almost to the ground, as he stomped out.

Alia now sat on the floor, watching the way he went. She had seen X angry, but never had she seen so much hatred on his face. And it scared her.

To Be Continued …