It was time. Krysta turned her computer over to a human technician and rose from her place. Her pistol was already in her belt holster, and her axe was waiting for her in the pile of weapons belonging to Zegmann's remaining troops. The final pieces of mobile artillery were on their way, and now Zegmann's stragglers were collecting their weapons and headed for the teleportation point.
Krysta knew one of the Unit 15 troops, a Reploid named Xu. Xu was patterned after a Japanese samurai soldier, though she kept an RPG bazooka handy in addition to her trusty energy katana. Krysta met her as she collected her axe, and they shook hands and reintroduced themselves.
"Heading out with us, eh?" Xu asked, tampering with her RPG.
"Yeah," Krysta replied, giving her axe one or two practice swings. "Archer ran off to war and left me to rot."
"That's what you get for being computer literate," Xu declared with a chuckle. "You're probably better off heading out last. All the mines and shit will have been removed now…well, I hope," she added, with a wry smile for a most un-wry situation. "The downside is that as soon as we get there, the battle really gets going."
"How long will that take?" Krysta asked, strapping her axe to her back.
"Figure a half hour before Erich gets there and the fun starts…figure another half hour before we get there." She grinned at Krysta's disappointment. "Believe me, hon. You'll see combat of some sort. I don't know why you're so eager to find it, but rest assured that it'll be out there."
"It's not that I'm eager," Krysta protested. "It's just that I've only been on one Hunting mission, and I got mangled in the process. I want to see whether or not I can really do this job."
Xu nodded, understanding. "It's not for everybody. Usually, when we have a crisis like this, certain things become clear to those who survive the fight. If this isn't for you, you'll know."
Krysta absorbed this, and hoped against hope that she was indeed cut out for this. There were things and people she'd gotten used to by now, and she didn't really want to leave them behind. I'll just have to wait and see, she told herself, wondering just how long she'd have to wait.
Scythe yawned. This computer work was getting more and more boring as time went on. He would rather be out there fighting, he told himself, finding his enemies and taking them down when they least expected it. He was a hunter in the most literal meaning, and enjoyed stalking his prey and taking it down with skill and speed. Unfortunately, wars called more for swinging his scythe around in circles than for sneaking and slaying. Too bad.
For his part, Nightchaser was itching for the same combat, only he didn't have any preferences about stalking or mass slaughter. He just wanted to fight. There was a war going on, and he was stuck at a computer. He couldn't even head out with Zegmann, like that Krysta brat. He belonged on a battlefield, not behind a goddamned computer. Still, he had things to do here, and after this he was free. He'd leave this place behind and start a new life, he told himself. He just hoped he wouldn't have to wait much longer.
Units 17 and 0 arrived at the general rendezvous point at the mouth of the road leading into Seraph Castle's valley. The large 17th, organized into squadrons led by members of Unit 0 and Unit 17th's sergeants, spread out to secure the area, finding no Maverick presence nearby and grateful for it.
What they did find, however, was Unit 8. Delates left his squadron and found Lifesaver the medic, who had come along with Unit 17 while Tiberius prepared Hunter HQ to service the wounded upon their return home. They found the eight Hunters near X. Seven were either talking to X or tending to the eighth, who was lying still on the snowy ground.
"Both radar stations are down," Peter Stromm was telling X. "We neutralized any Mavericks we saw, and I don't think any reinforcements were called in. The Mavericks lost their assets and they know it."
"Do they ever," X affirmed. "Taggart gave them hell with his Sidewinder barrages." He glanced down at Damia. Acrystos had her commander's head in her lap to prevent it from being buried by snow, and she was huddled over her stricken friend. Damia's face was contorted in pain, but she was still alive and awake and was managing herself extremely well. Brant Everett was still at her side, and turned to Lifesaver when he arrived.
"She's gonna need some kind of invasive surgery," Everett began. "I have most of the tools, but I didn't wanna start something here without some kind of reinforcements."
"How long can she last?" Lifesaver asked without fanfare.
"Long enough, I think." Everett motioned to the twin holes in his commander's side. "They used armor piercing bullets, but not the adaman variety. If you can get those things out of her, she should be fine until someone gets her back to base."
"Agreed," Lifesaver affirmed after a quick inspection of the wounds. Everett had done what he could, the field medic noted, but too often that wasn't enough. "She can take a teleportation, I think."
"Not if it might cause the bullets to burst," Everett pointed out.
"Right, so let's get to work on that." Lifesaver already had his tool kit out, and the first thing he did was inject Damia with a tranquilizer of sorts. There was actually no real practical way to just deactivate a Reploid, and so Lifesaver and other medics relied on substances that slowed internal programs to the point where the Reploid would be catatonic until the effects wore off. A similar substance had been used to stun Zero in Sub-City 3. Damia's face relaxed almost instantly, and Acrystos felt the tension go out of her shivering body. "I need you two to keep her from moving," Lifesaver said to Everett and Acrystos. All the while Delates stood and watched, concern etched on his face. Acrystos noticed, but didn't say anything. Delates was close to Damia, she remembered. He was probably just as worried as Unit 8 was about their leader.
X was momentarily uplifted by the concern Unit 8 had for its commander. The unit had always been known for the extreme loyalty between members—which helped, in guerilla missions when you had to trust the other guy to do his job just right or screw up the whole mission. None of the guerillas would take another assignment until they heard from X that Damia was getting some kind of attention. Well, this unit hadn't changed much over the years, X remembered. All the teammates had worked with the same people for years, and some bonds had surely grown. It was akin to Unit 0's devotion to rescuing its own commander.
X looked out ahead of him into the snowy blackness. He'd seen the photos of Seraph Castle…a tall, wide rectangular fort with several catwalks surrounding the outer building at various levels. The roof had once been the key of its defense, but now it still burned with the aftereffects of Taggart's bombardment. The "castle" wasn't fancy at all, and yet it was the most prominent threat to world peace at the moment. He wondered what it would look like when he could make out with his own optics? The rooftop fire was visible, but only barely. The night was well on already, and in a few hours it would be dawn. The attack would be on by then, X was sure. According to Alia's latest report, Archer, Mason, and Zion would be turning up shortly, and their large units with them. Zegmann and the bulk of his people were already approaching. It wouldn't be long now, X thought. Still, it was the waiting that bothered him. The Mavericks already knew that the first blow had fallen, and they by now would be planning their own counterattack.
The not knowing was the hardest part. Still, it wasn't hard for Zero to guess what was happening out there. There was a video monitor in his cell, but no one had ever bothered to turn it on. And even if a display did show up, what guarantee was there that Zero would be viewing the events taking place outside Seraph Castle? For all he knew Malevex could have the thing set to the Weather Channel. Now that would be torture.
The explosions that shook the castle to its foundation, however, could only be coming from one source: a Hunter aerial barrage. Zero knew that Signas had planned a raid using Taggart's team when drafting BROKEN HALO, and he would bet his ponytail that he'd just felt the effects of that raid. That meant that the main squad wouldn't be far behind. In a few hours, Seraph Castle would cease to exist.
That was enough for Zero to lean back and treat himself to a smug smile. He didn't know what Sigma wanted to do with him, but no matter what it was he'd never be able to pull it off. Even if, in the worst case scenario, Sigma escaped to Brazil and brought Zero with him, the Crimson Hunter would still just bide his time and wait for his opportunity.
He'd been in this cell too long. His mind tended to wander after lengthy periods of inactivity, and Zero couldn't stand that. At first it had been easy to keep his mind blank, but now the sedatives were wearing off in full, and he was fully alert once more. His no longer sluggish mind was recalling earlier conversations and earlier dreams, and Zero couldn't help but wonder if Sigma had somehow forced him to dream about Iris. He didn't know how such a feat was possible, but the scenario made sense in his mind. Time and time again, Sigma had tried to turn Zero against the Maverick Hunters. When Serges, Agile, and Violen revived Zero during the second uprising, he'd been reprogrammed to fight against his old comrades. However the program had been weak, and Zero had overcome it, much to the X-Hunters' dismay. He'd then destroyed his clone, a cheap copy constructed hastily by Sigma, and used the incident to spite the Maverick King, swearing that he'd never fall in league with the Mavericks. Naturally, Zero's chief fear here was that Sigma would try to reprogram him again. However there was simply no time for that, not anymore anyway. The Hunters would be upon them shortly, and Sigma would have much more important things to worry about. So, that meant that at the very least Sigma was going to try and throw Zero into a pool of doubt so that he could simmer and grow weak for the next encounter…
The next encounter. There was always a "next time" with Sigma, wasn't there? And in that sense Sigma had already won. Zero's mind raced with images of Iris's shattered body in his arms, and images of Sigma and Wily taunting him in his sleep. He remembered Malevex, accusing him of aiding the organization that had done such great wrongs to the ebon Maverick and his counterparts. He remembered Sigma in person, telling him again of his true purpose and his powerlessness before fate. Fate…there was that simple four-letter word that even he, a machine, could not escape.
For indeed he could not, he told himself. He'd tried, but he'd still submitted to his innate rage and killed Colonel and Iris, and he'd allowed that same rage to aid him as he killed all the other Mavericks he'd ever come up against. He was a killer, and he accepted that. A murderer, even, after what happened with Iris. He knew furthermore that he was built to destroy, not to preserve. He was doing a little bit of both, but, he admitted, he was doing more destroying than anything else. That was the life that his father Wily had intended for him, and it was the life he was living, and would continue to live, despite his efforts to be a decent person.
But did that make him a Maverick?
That was the big question. Where did you make the line that distinguished an indiscriminate killer from a manic who just hated humans? Zero would be the first to admit that he wasn't all that fond of the hairless monkeys, but he certainly didn't HATE them. Well, he hated some of them, but some was not all, and a Maverick was one who hated all humans…even though you were branded a Maverick even for killing just one. It was a big circle.
But what really confused Zero was Wily's real goal in creating him. "After him!" the deranged scientist had screamed in nightmare after countless nightmare. "He is my nemesis! Our rivalry is what gives me motivation in life. Now go…destroy him!" Zero knew, as did most every sod that lived in this day in age, that Doctor Albert Wily had but one real nemesis, and that was Mega Man, the blue hero who lived decades earlier. Zero himself was fairly well acquainted with a chap named Mega Man X…another Mega Man, another creation of Doctor Thomas Light, who was number two on Wily's shit list. Nemesis? Mega Man? Mega Man X? Was he, Zero, the final son of Wily, created for the sole purpose of eliminating Mega Man X? His best friend? The man he'd sacrificed his life for?
And if so…then what did that make him? A Maverick? That was what the world would call him. He would kill X, the champion Maverick Hunter, and thus be hunted by his former allies…and being called Maverick Hunters, who were now Hunting Zero, he would then have to be…a Maverick! Wow!
But no, he decided, Mavericks were Reploids who rebelled against harsh human rule. To destroy X would earn him the wrath of the Hunters, but he still would not be a Maverick, and his hatred for Sigma and his ilk would not be any less. He was a man without friends, then. What was he?
You're a Hunter, dumbass. He blinked at that simple yet elusive conclusion. You fight Mavericks, therefore you are a Hunter. You do NOT hate X, and you will NOT kill him. Ever. No matter what Wily wanted. No matter what Sigma wants now. You are and will remain a Hunter.
But Sigma would try to make him think otherwise, Zero knew. He had to hold to his conclusion, or else the Maverick King would throw him right back into confusion, and he couldn't have that. Not now, when he had to keep an eye out for escape opportunities.
Near the end of Zero's thought process, the iron door in the back of the room slid back and cleared a path. A familiar figure strolled in with long, stiff strides. Zero raised his head and smiled a dry smile at Commander Sigma, eager to get a shot of his own in before Sigma started rambling about whatever he would ramble about this time. "Quite a storm."
"Meh." The Maverick waved it off, collapsing rather haphazardly in a chair. His reaction to Taggart's resounding victory was extremely odd. He was almost…giddy? Something else was up, Zero realized. But what? Well, he supposed it would only be a matter of time. "All part of the plan, my boy, all part of the plan."
"Screwy ass plan," Zero observed, feeling Sigma out, searching for more information on this plan he'd heard so much about. "Stand around in a stupor while your base gets fragged?"
Suddenly Sigma threw his head back and laughed. Something Zero said had set him off, and the Crimson Hunter found himself blinking in confusion. Finally Sigma regained control of himself and fixed Zero with a quirky grin. "You're such a lucky guesser, Zero. Just like that you've defined my plan to a T. Only, of course, it's not my own base I'm trying to frag."
"Ours, then?" Zero frowned and shook his head. "Won't happen, Siggy. We've got an aerial perimeter set up. Any nukes you send up will come down real fast." He hoped. Taggart was SUPPOSED to be setting up a perimeter. That's how BROKEN HALO had been drafted.
"Oh, don't be so narrow minded!" Sigma chuckled and leaned back in his chair, cracking his knuckles. He was getting comfortable, Zero saw. That meant he planned to be here for a while. "We don't have missile launchers here, Zero. Nor would it be convenient for us to plant the Buzzbomb warhead anywhere near Hunter HQ. The sweeps you people make on a daily basis make it too risky, and we only have a limited supply, after all." The Maverick King grinned. "I wonder if we'll be able to hear it from here?"
"You won't even get close!" Zero protested, not getting it and hating the fact. "The Hunters will be storming this place in no time. Seraph Castle is going down, pal! Nothing you can do will change that. Nothing!"
"We'll see," Sigma allowed, absently. "But even so, Zero, as I've said, we have other assets available to us."
"Brazil?" Zero shook his head again. "How long do you think it will be before the Hunters find out about it? And what makes you think you can afford the loss of soldiers this battle here will cost? Your numbers are thin, Sigma. You can't argue that point. And what happens when you lose one or more of your precious generals? Who will train your new recruits? You?"
"You're damn right, me!" Sigma finally displayed some anger. "I do not depend on Terrornova for all my basic needs! Their skills and their instructions are a great aid, but they are not the core of our army. And don't you be so naïve as to assume that I haven't thought of Hunter interference in Brazil. According to the base commander, your friend Gate is planning an attack this very minute." Sigma spat on the floor. He evidently did not think much of Gate. "Brazil is the default plan. But you know me. When have I never had a default plan for my default plan?"
"Jesus," Zero said, annoyed and showing it. "You and your goddamn scheming. Though when dogs get whipped as often as you do, I suppose it helps to have a lot of trees to cower behind."
Sigma's eyes seemed to flare even brighter with intense hatred. For a second Zero thought the Maverick would attack him for that, but instead Sigma exhaled his anger, his breath coming out in a long, low hiss. His eyes dimmed somewhat but he still glowered at his captive. It was time, Sigma decided, to get down to business. "Brazil will suffice. Even now we are fortifying our position." He leaned back, resting his fingertips against each other in a pyramid shape. "Perhaps, Zero, it's about time I gave you all the details. Our plan is in action even as we speak. I'll present you a visual tour," he added with a gesture to the viewing screen in the back of the room. "But first, Brazil. Tell me, did you know Split Mushroom is still interested in biological warfare?"
At that Zero's blood boiled. He himself had not battled Mushroom, but X had told him all he needed to know. The little prick had used Colonel's uprising as a diversion for the Hunters while he worked on viruses in his secluded tower. He'd wanted to unleash the viruses on the humans in Megacity 5, under orders from Sigma, but X had put a stop to his plans. Mushroom had somehow escaped X's onslaught and reappeared inside Final Weapon, where he was again destroyed at X's hands. Zero did not doubt X's optics—Mushroom had exploded. One had, at least. He supposed that the diminutive Maverick had sent a clone of himself into Final Weapon, which was fitting, being as he was a cloning Reploid by nature. Now he was back, sitting in Brazil, probably serving as the base commander, and developing god knew what in his spare time. "Mushroom is a failure, Sigma. X proved that."
"Mushroom's place was not in combat," Sigma countered. "His place is in the laboratories, while his clones distract his foes. Now he can serve his purpose. Yes, Brazil will suffice. Mushroom will make sure of that."
***
Split Mushroom stood on the roof of the tower-like command center, gazing down at the hustle and bustle below him. Sentries were skittering around like ants, performing drills and exercises at the commands of their skilled new sergeants. The Maverick's eyes twinkled, which was his version of a smile, as he reflected how well these taskmasters had converted his platoon of inexperienced greenhorn recruits into a decent fighting force. The Breaker had been right on this call, Split had to concede.
The man in question towered over the Maverick Boss, standing to the right with his thick arms crossed over his barrel chest. He, too, observed the exercises with a critical eye. Every order that the sergeants gave fell under the Breaker's scrutiny. He wanted to make sure he was getting what he'd paid for, after all. The call for the drill sergeants had been made shortly after Manolin's conversion. The Breaker had confirmed the coming of air strikes and a ground attack, which almost completely crushed his morale. Ground attacks he could handle. An air strike from the Brazilian army, on the other hand, was a horrible new factor, and one that even he couldn't work around. To satisfy Mushroom, the Breaker had obtained a Surface-to-Air Missile system. The single SAM battery wouldn't do much more than annoy the combat fighter jets, the Breaker was sure, but he had to do something, didn't he? And just in case the air strikes failed, the Breaker had activated an old contact inside a renegade group of Reploid soldiers. The group called themselves "Red Candle", and they were a vicious lot. Many of them had been involved in perimeter defense and battle instruction, and conveniently many of them knew and respected the Breaker. Therefore, with the aid of a few cash transactions, the Breaker had recruited six drill sergeants to work with Mushroom's ragtag bunch, as well as assist in maintaining a decent perimeter. This did not completely erase his worries, however. With the threat of air strikes came the threat of certain defeat, and as such the Breaker had taken care to lay out no less than five escape routes for his use if things got hairy.
"Finally, things are shaping up around here!" Split Mushroom said enthusiastically.
"Indeed," the Breaker nodded. "I'm pleased with our defense layout. Given the fact that we know they're coming, and we may have incapacitated their leader, I think we stand more than a chance against our advancing friends."
"Meh," Mushroom said with his casual—and annoying—indifference. "Don't get all that presumptuous. How much can that scientist do, anyway? Knock out the flight program? Big deal. Yammark can still give orders from a chopper, you know."
"Yes, but a chopper can be shot down much easier than an insect flitting around in the air can."
"Yammark didn't worry me in the first place," Mushroom maintained, just to be difficult. "He's just a big bug. Those guys with guns on the ground, they're who I'm worried about. Think your friends will have our boys ready for action in time?"
"I think they're as good as their going to get." The Breaker turned to look the diminutive Maverick in the eye. "We don't have much time left. One prior report placed the attack date to be this very night."
"Let them come!" the Maverick retorted. "As far as I'm concerned, we should just get this over with as quickly as possible and then get back to business."
The Breaker managed to refrain from throwing this arrogant prick off the top of the tower. "When do 'they' arrive?"
"A few days."
And then I can leave, he did not say. "Good. We just need to hold out until then." He turned and started for the door leading back into the command tower. "Be on your guard," he said over his shoulder.
To the Breaker's surprise, Mushroom accepted the advice and nodded. "I know how to handle humans. This Maverick's still got some tricks up his sleeve," he added mysteriously.
The Breaker nodded after a second and resumed his descent to the lower levels, where he'd end training for the night and get everyone in their positions. He had a bad feeling. It would happen tonight, he knew. He just hoped that these Mavericks would be ready when the time came.
***
"So what?" Zero countered immediately, once he sensed that Sigma had finished his story. "What good is a reserve base when you don't have a chance in the world of escaping this one?"
"Excuse me, Zero?" Sigma asked, too innocently for Zero's liking. "What makes you think that?"
"Don't be an even bigger idiot, Sigma. You've got a whole army of Hunters sitting on your borders. Do you really think they'll just let you walk away?"
At this the Maverick began to laugh. "They won't have much of a choice! They won't be there much longer."
Zero's blood ran cold. "Don't tell me you plan to…"
"Oh, no!" Sigma laughed again. "Now who's the idiot? Use some common sense. A Buzzbomb right in the center of your clustered friends would be the perfect way to take them all out. Unfortunately, our method of delivery makes such a strike impossible without neutralizing the said delivery method. Plus Seraph Castle is right in the background, and to be honest, I don't much believe in a 'small' nuclear explosion. If a nuke goes off, everything in the area has problems. I'm not about to vaporize my own base."
"Then what?" Zero asked, losing his patience. "There's nothing that could take the Hunters away from their current position."
"Oh, there is something," Sigma promised. He produced a handheld radio and punched in a frequency. "Situation report?" he asked after he got a response.
"Everything's a-ok," replied a voice Zero had never heard before. It was a compelling voice, he thought, one that carried power with it. It was the voice of a natural leader. "The enemy is still just sitting there, and it doesn't look like anyone's encroached on our exit point."
"Systems check?"
"Already done, sir. Revolver reports that there are no problems with Gallagher, none at all."
"Excellent, Gredam," Sigma said with a smile. "You are go for launch."
"Acknowledged, sir," replied Gredam of Terrornova. "All units, execute mission," he was saying when the radio went off.
Sigma turned back to Zero after activating the viewscreen in the back of the room. Zero had a clear view, but Sigma shifted his weight anyway so as not to obstruct it. The image was of a mere patch of land covered by snow. It was a large area, Zero surmised, but he didn't know how large, and it didn't seem to be that important anyway. Yet.
A line appeared in the snow, and Zero couldn't figure out why until it grew larger, forming eventually a big gap in the earth. Then Zero finally figured out that the ground was splitting apart…because it wasn't really ground. It was a brilliantly camouflaged set of gates, which were now parting to reveal a secret area, which contained…
Zero's breath caught in his throat. Memories of an earlier war flooded his mind, terrible memories of an airship called Death Rogumer raining fiery plasma down on the roof of Hunter HQ. That airship had fallen with its master, Storm Eagle, but now it seemed that another Rogumer was emerging from this crack in the earth…and under its wings were large, complex…missile launchers!
"Allow me to introduce you, Zero," Sigma said with cruel delight at seeing the shock on Zero's face, "to the Buzzbomb delivery boy…the airship Gallagher."
***
Gredam held his breath as Gallagher lifted off into the sky. There had been a few brief shudders as the engines fired up, but other than that, everything was smooth. Revolver turned from his command chair and flashed Gredam a thumbs-up. Gallagher was working like a charm. There were no technical difficulties…yet, anyway. Off to Gredam's right, Barrier Greenback was bouncing around like a kid at Christmas, overjoyed that his project was finally in the air. The third mechanic, Chuck, was at his position going over readings and finalizing the course projection, but he too seemed enthusiastic. Storm Eagle and Gravity Beetle were also in the command cockpit, observing the internal progress with approval…but they were far more interested in what was happening outside.
Gredam decided to join in. He moved for the nearest viewing portal, which was basically a reinforced window…very heavily reinforced, mind you. He was looking out of the ship's left side, and saw only snow. The sun had not yet begun to peek out over the horizon, but that would only be a matter of an hour or so now. He could see no threatening targets, but the ship was turning, and Gredam had a feeling that he'd see something soon.
Soon…very soon, he thought. They knew that Gallagher's basic systems functioned. Now they would see how the combat systems behaved.
Gallagher rose over a patch of land known to the Mavericks simply as "Revolver's Garage". But the Hunters knew the same area, more specifically a buried laboratory adjacent to it, as UNDINE. And so, three figures who had been assigned to investigate UNDINE were just settling into position when the earth split at their feet and they were forced to find cover.
Blizzard Wolfang was no stranger to snowy regions. The lupine Reploid could not explain to himself why the ground had decided to come apart, but he knew it wouldn't be a good idea to ponder the phenomenon on the spot. He sprang away from the crack, running on his hands and feet like the animal he was patterned after, racing over the snow hills like they were pavement, and finally after a very long sprint hunkered down in the snow. By now the blizzard was thick enough that snow soon covered what of Wolfang's head still protruded, and the Reploid had to squirm a bit in order to regain visibility. His keen optics locked onto the scene unfolding before him and registered both awe and fear: this was definitely a worst-case scenario.
Blaze Heatnix was thinking the same thing. In his mind, the whole place was a worst-case scenario. He HATED being out in the cold. His burning wings provided him heat, but not enough for comfort, and they also made him stick out like a sore thumb. And so, he'd deactivated the fire on his wings before the mission began, and had made his way coldly to the target destination…only to be surprised by a Random Fissure. He hated it when that happened. Heatnix's optics widened and he immediately took to the air. His flameless wings beat just as strongly as ever, and they carried him far and fast away from the scene.
Ground Scarabich wasn't having it much easier. Typically, the infiltrations master covered harsh terrain by generating a ball of junk and riding it around. He'd given up on this due to the significant attention it drew, and so plodded around slowly and cumbersomely, and quite often allowed Blaze Heatnix to carry him to a certain point. The blasted phoenix had forgotten him this time, it seemed, and Scarabich didn't have the time to generate his other mode of transportation. Instead he just ran, which was not something he did well. He had covered half of Blizzard Wolfang's distance when Gallagher emerged in its entirety.
Scarabich turned to see what was making that noise…and learned quickly that it was the duel engines of a monstrous airship. He hadn't lived long enough to know Death Rogumer, but he knew just the same that this was one bad mother, and was throwing himself to the ground before he realized what he was doing. The scarab beetle willed himself to shrink, or for an avalanche to cover his shiny golden body completely. If he were spotted now, he knew….
"It'll all be over," Scarabich whispered. "Go on…go on….don't see me…God, don't see me…"
But no one saw him. The blizzard denied Gredam's team any chance to visually identify the Reploid lying half buried in the snow, and Gallagher flew on, passing their position and gaining altitude as it leveled out at a cruising altitude. It was ready for flight now, and the wind picked up immensely, aided by the exhaust from the airship's engines.
Once the Rogumer's sister ship had turned its back on him, Scarabich rose from the whiteness, his body flecked with snowy patches and shivering out of both stress and the cold air. His radio crackled to life, and the beetle absently thumbed the button to take the call.
"Ground! You all right?" came Blizzard Wolfang's gruff voice.
"Yeah…yeah, all's quiet here, Blizz," Scarabich managed to reply. "Jesus, man, did you see…"
"Yeah, I did," Wolfang replied neutrally. "But it ain't our problem."
"Maybe not yet," a third voice chimed in.
"See anything special, Blaze?" Wolfang asked.
"You could say that," replied Blaze Heatnix, who had just summoned enough courage to take an aerial examination of the launch site. "The chasm is still there…want me to check it out?"
"I'm moving in to cover you," Wolfang said decisively. "Join us, Ground. We'll want to stick together now."
"Sure thing," Scarabich said dryly, gazing back at the area he'd just covered on foot. Screw it, he decided, and raised his gloved hands. Nearby substances gathered together as though magnetized, and soon Scarabich had himself a good-sized snowball. He jumped, propelling his small body on top of the snowball and began to walk, rolling the snowball underneath him and covering the distance twice as easily. "So, is there any chance that this chasm might lead to…"
"Sure looks that way," Wolfang replied after saving some breath, running as fast as he could back to the chasm. Then he grinned. "Think those bastards just left the front door open for us?"
"Stand by, Blizz," Heatnix called in. "I'm in position…we're about to find out."
"We have a contact," a radar technician announced. "A large body, a mile or so east of our position."
"That would be our visitors," said Chuck, coming around to confirm the information. "My, what a big clustered mass you are."
"The better to bomb them with," Revolver quipped, punching in a command. "Greenback! You managing?"
"Of course Greenback is managing!" the frog answered, somewhat insulted. He was perched awkwardly on top of a chair, crouching on his feet, of course. His long green fingers punched in code after code, with the aid of two weapons technicians nearby. "Weapons are Greenback's specialty! And all are functioning right and handy dandy, just as Greenback knew they would!"
"Right, so all the guns are active?" Revolver pressed, beginning to steer the ship eastward.
"Duel plasma cannons, machine guns, cluster missiles, homing torpedoes, and Buzzbombs, all fully operational. Should Greenback activate them all, hmm?"
"No," Revolver said after a minute. "Not the plasma cannons. We want to save on generator power for now. Turn off the Buzzbombs too; they're no good to us here. Bring the machine guns online and prepare a good salvo of cluster missiles. Get the electromagnetic scrambler active, too. Sound about right?" He looked at Gredam for approval.
The camouflaged Reploid nodded his head. "We'll give these assholes a welcoming they'll never forget."
"Indeed!" Revolver agreed with a short bark of a laugh, finishing the course input.
"Greenback cannot wait!" the frog said after bringing the weapons online. "Greenback bets the useless humans spoil their undies, he does!"
Gredam grinned at this, though inside he was less than giddy. Storm Eagle and Gravity Beetle were there, quiet and solemn, and the bulk of their soldiers were in the cargo bay, waiting for the trip to be over. They would be flying over the entire massed Hunter army. Sure they would be shooting, but the Hunters would definitely shoot back, and if Gallagher went down now…
Well, Gredam didn't want to think about that.
"Zegmann is coming up the center path as we speak," Zion said to X, holding the map firm against his knee to prevent the wind from taking it. X was huddling with him, trying to read but not having much success. It didn't much matter, though, as he'd already memorized the map. "His final troops are leaving the Hunter Headquarters now. I vote we begin the attack when Zegmann himself gets here. The reinforcements will come when we need them."
"I agree," X nodded, knowing to trust Zion with battle strategy. His job was infiltrating Seraph Castle, not managing troops…not anymore. He was very grateful that Signas and Zion were around to do most of the planning. X was clever and inventive, but usually only when actually in combat. "Everyone's ready. Should we start the main body now?"
"Yeah, I don't like being clustered either." Zion shivered, knowing deep down that the Mavericks would never drop a nuke so close to their home…but when had rational thought ever stopped the Mavericks? "I'll form up with my men. Let's give Archer and Mason the go ahead."
"17 and 0 will come around the east side," X confirmed the plan out loud. "All right, Zion. It's time at last."
"It is, isn't it?" Zion smiled without humor. "I never much liked this part, even though I suppose I should."
"Not so," X countered. "There isn't much that's glorious about war."
"Aside from the penchant your family gets when you die," Zion said dryly. "And even that's bittersweet."
Away from the two commanders, Vulcan and Rykov were huddled with the rest of Unit 5…shivering like naked Eskimos up in the arctic.
"The HELL is taking so long?!" Rykov exploded for perhaps the hundredth time.
"Setup," Hawkins replied, also for perhaps the hundredth time.
"I know it's damned rookie talk," Vulcan chimed in, "but DAMN! Don't they worry about troop morale?"
"I like to think of it as 'duty'," Hawkins answered with a smug smile, though he too was beginning to shiver.
"Well," Rykov resumed complaining, "I dunno how much 'duty' a troop of Reploid Popsicles can do. 'Less of course you want to beat the Mavericks over the head with our stiff icy bodies."
"I would LOVE to!" Hawkins said with a huge grin. "But unfortunately I have to stick to my firearms. Not that that's a problem. Just be glad you're not a human," he said with a gesture to one of the human members of Unit 5. The young man was huddled near a heat generator, a cumbersome device that was necessary for this kind of mission. The low temperature was annoying and in rare cases dangerous for Reploids, but it could be downright deadly for a human, especially in this blizzard. Humans were clustered around the heating stations and clothed in thick clothing. Hawkins had earlier quipped that they looked like an army of Iceman clones. The man had spent the last few freezing minutes cursing repeatedly, and after exhausting all the curses he knew, he began reverting to foreign languages. It seemed he was multilingual, because he'd already finished Spanish and French, and was now starting on Portuguese.
"Yeah," Vulcan conceded. "Guess it could be worse."
"Shit," Rykov mumbled, his words lost in the wind. Suddenly his head snapped up and he craned his neck up at the sky, searching futilely for something in the bleak darkness. "Anyone else hear that?"
"Hear what?" Hawkins and Vulcan asked at the same time, and then Hawkins heard it, too. It was somewhat of a hum, barely audible over the shrill wind. Once they locked onto it, it was easy to stay with it, and they realized that it seemed to reverberate. Almost like…an engine?
"What is it?" asked a still confused Vulcan.
"Probably just the wind," Hawkins decided, waving it aside.
"Yeah…" Rykov agreed, though he clearly did not agree, and he still looked through the night to try and pinpoint the source of the sound.
"What is it?" Vulcan asked again.
"Man, don't worry about it," Hawkins said. "We've got radar of our own. If something's coming, we'll know."
"I know," Rykov finally stopped, shrugging. "Just don't sound right, is all."
"WHAT IS IT?" Vulcan finally exploded. "THROW ME A FRICKIN' BONE, HERE!"
"NOTHING!" Rykov shouted back over the wind. "I'll tell you when you're older!"
Vulcan blinked, having missed the last part due to wind interference. Still, he figured it was a safe bet that it was meant to be degrading. "Screw you!"
"Yob tvoyu mat!" the cursing human hunter shouted as loud as he could, having finished Portuguese and started in on Russian.
"HEY!" Rykov roared, understanding that one. "Watch it!"
Away from the cursing bunch of rookies, an even grimmer scene was taking place. The worst part was over, and Lifesaver was putting away his tools, adding to them two armor piercing bullets. Damia was coming to, and leaned back against Delates, who had knelt at her side to replace Acrystos, who was going over the current battle situation with the rest of the unit. Damia was still in a good deal of pain, but she'd easily live long enough for them to teleport her the hell out of there and back to the HQ medical ward.
"I thought I told you to be careful," Delates said quietly, almost right next to her ear/sound receptor. It was amazing that quiet voices could be heard over the wind, but these two had no trouble.
"I was letting loose with a giant machine gun," she said back, weakly but with a fond grin for the memory. "My flanks were…the least of my concerns."
"So I see," he murmured, glancing to the hastily patched wounds in her side. "Well, so long as you neutralized all the bastards…"
"I don't know if we did," she whispered, starting to drift off again. Then a new thought sprung into her head. "Furking raccoons."
"Raccoons?" Delates blinked, but Damia had already slipped back into unconsciousness. The jade Hunter shrugged and smiled thinly, extremely relieved that his friend was okay. After losing Sol, the loss of another very good friend might well be the knockout punch the Mavericks had been unable to deliver directly to him for all these years. Everyone fell sometime, for some reason, he admitted to himself. Might this be his own curtain call?
"Not tonight," he said out loud, taking Damia's right hand in his and accessing the controls of her teleporter, so he could send her back to the HQ. Lifesaver had told him to let her rest for at least fifteen minutes before trying anything, so her nanobots could at least get started lest the teleportation delayed them further. The time had passed and Delates finished the destination input. Lifesaver had already called home and Tiberius would have someone waiting at the "drop site" to take Damia to the medical ward. So far, despite some severe mining problems and even a few pieces of destroyed heavy artillery, Damia and a human tank driver were the only ones who had yet been seriously wounded in this campaign. That at least was a blessing, though Delates couldn't rightly expect it to last much longer. He punched in the final button and let her rest on the snow, breaking all physical contact so that he didn't accidentally teleport himself back with her. She disappeared in a blue streak, heading up towards the sky and from there back towards what could be considered safety.
No sooner had this happened than Delates heard the hum. It was louder than the wind, though not by much, and maybe not even that. It was the reverberation that caught Delates' attention, like the ground was trembling with some sonic waves. He looked up in the sky, towards the west, where the sound seemed to be coming from.
The next part would be forever embedded in Delates' memory, since it was the beginning of the most stressful, chilling moment of his life, and the final prelude to a clash that would be much greater than any Hunter had predicted earlier.
From the distance there came a bolt of lightning, but at the same time it was not lightning. It was thicker, and composed of a number of smaller rays of crackling light energy. Several other Hunters saw it, for their arms were now raised to the sky and voices were frantic. Then, after the bolt had reached a certain point, it vanished to be immediately replaced by a huge flare of white light and a sudden shuddering sound rocked the Hunter forces.
Delates picked himself up from the snowy earth and looked around frantically. He soon found that everyone else was doing the same thing…and even more curiously, no one seemed to be hurt. The humans were looking around with frowns, not even vaguely harmed, but the Reploids did seem to be shuddering a bit. Delates began to notice it himself. His CPU was fighting something…
…And then he realized that he'd sent Damia away not one second too soon.
This kind of attack was something Reploid CPUs had been designed to deal with: electromagnetic interference. Somewhere, someone had fired an EMG pulse that had taken the entire group by storm. Reploids themselves would still be functional, but other things like teleporters, tank guidance computers, etcetera would all be rendered temporarily useless. And that meant…
"Shit," Delates breathed, scrambling to his feet and rushing to find the others in his unit.
"Guidance is down!" the pilot of a ride armor was saying as Delates passed.
"Backup programs!" shouted the Hunters who had figured out what was going on. "Activate your backup programs NOW!"
EMG could interfere, but there were programs that could interfere right back, and most of the mobile artillery pieces had those programs. Pilots rushed to their vehicles and began firing them up, accessing the backup programs and trying to run them through.
But all that took time, and time was not a luxury that the Hunters had anymore. For even as Delates caught sight of Tyclammel and Cort of his unit, a new sound interfered even with the approaching hum…
…A whistle.
A whistle! Something was whistling though the air! Each and every Hunter thought the same thing at the same time, and so each and every Hunter turned towards the sound of the whistling, paralyzed with fear and numb with shock at what had to be the approaching doom they had dreaded since the beginning of this campaign. How had Taggart failed? How had they not managed to shoot down the…?
But it was no Buzzbomb that came out of the sky. Rather, it was like an oncoming flock of ravens, black and numerous in number, swarming in from the sky leaving small tails of fire behind them. Delates watched the endless swarm of projectiles turn towards the frozen, slack jawed mass of Hunter soldiers…
…And then they descended.
The cluster missiles locked onto individual targets much later than conventional homing torpedoes, but they did it in the end, and they sped to their motionless targets like bats out of hell. Hunters began to come to their senses, but they did so far too slowly, for the attack was already upon them. Shouts of anger, fear, and general confusion rang out as the first missiles found their targets. Each blast was enough to make a little crater, and so they did. The onrushing fireballs slammed into the ground, shredding soldiers with shrapnel. Ride armors and tanks, sitting ducks due to the EMG pulse, suffered head on collisions, and even if the initial explosion didn't do the job, the resulting explosion from the machines' own critical generators ripped them apart just as nicely. More than one missile hit near a heating unit, where many humans clustered, and caused heavy casualties this way. Finally, after being ignored all this time, a missile locked onto something near Delates.
The acting Commander of Unit 0 snapped out of his trance and went off like a shot. He had no idea where he was running; he just knew he had to run. He ran past the explosions shaking the earth around him. Another missile hit nearby and the small shockwave knocked him off his feet. He picked himself up off the ground like a frantic cat who was trying to avoid a particularly hungry cat, and turned in time to see the missile pursuing him ram into the ground fifteen feet away from him. The shockwave sent him back to the ground, and he found himself pelted with shrapnel, but no major damage was dealt. Thank goodness, he thought, but didn't get up for a while.
When he did rise it was a scene of chaos that greeted him. Fires burned bright and gunfire owned the night. The attackers had caused the confusion they'd wanted to: Hunters were shooting blindly into the night at the unseen foe, in some cases even hitting and killing their fellows in the process. Delates watched in horror, unable to do anything to stop them, unable to even conceive of something to do, but as it turned out, he didn't have to.
A streak of bright plasma split the night sky, traveling off into the west. Another followed it, and another, and another. The gathered Hunters gradually began to see the shots and knew them well: it was the huge blue fireball used by their greatest commander, Mega Man X. The gunfire stopped and redirected itself into the western sky, with everyone fixated on a target that Delates figured probably wasn't even there…but X had figured out a way to gain a handle on the confusion, and thus stopped the Hunters from wounding each other anymore.
But as it turned out, X had indeed found his target. Even through the blizzard and the night they could see it: an airship resembling Death Rogumer. God knew where it had come from, but this most certainly was the floating enemy that had twice attacked them…and good Lord…what was that under the wings? Two large launchers…for missiles, which meant they had to be…real missiles…
"Oh my God," X said in a near silent whisper that the wind ate up. "Oh my…bloody freaking HELL!" He activated his communicator, and was frustrated with the sound of static. "Shit…Zion, come in! SHIT!" he exploded when he realized that this was a futile gesture. For the first time in the last few years, Mega Man X found himself in a state of real fear. It would have been easier if the fear was for his own life…but even that comfort was not given to him. This fear was for the people who would soon face the wrath of those missile launchers…those innocent people of Megacity 5, those people whom X was sworn to protect. They would suffer this airship's fury…
…Because that thing had NOT been built just to annoy a few Hunters. It was the delivery method for the SCBM Buzzbombs, and it had made its entrance in style.
X, Delates, Tyclammel, Cort, Vulcan, Rykov, Hawkins, and many other Hunters had the same idea, and began to open fire on the floating giant that was approaching their position. However their attacks did little more than dent the airship's hull, as its armor was built to give way only to things far more powerful than bullets and buster shots. Other Hunters screamed for their comrades to activate the mobile artillery pieces, but those who had seen their friends blown to bits as they sat in lifeless tanks and ride armors were not very eager to board the paralyzed things and begin the reactivation process. However, Gallagher soon gave them some incentive.
Previously unseen machine guns mounted on the ship's sides near the thick wings, which were mainly used to support the generator engines and missile launchers rather for real flight control, came to life, spitting bullets down at the Hunters at extremely high speeds…the tracers following the bullets made it look like the Mavericks were firing continuous lasers down at their archrivals. The bullets made mincemeat of Hunters in the open, and so they either rushed frantically for cover or took the dare of getting into a ride armor and booting up the EMG countermeasures. Some of them made it, but not in time to really make a difference.
"Christ!" Rykov gasped, firing futilely up at the airship while watching his comrades run about like headless chickens. "They're firing adaman bullets!"
"They must have their whole supply up there!" Hawkins agreed, with a look on his face that definitely did not inspire much hope in the rookies assigned to him.
Gallagher first sprayed the larger clusters of ride armors and other mobile artillery pieces. When it could not find these, whoever operated the guns targeted groups of Hunters and let loose, and while they couldn't kill many of the fleeing enemy this way, it was still satisfying. On the ground, some Hunters who were fortunate enough to have bazookas at their disposal had begun to open fire on the airship, which was now over their heads and passing rapidly as it gained speed. The shells did more damage than anything else thus far, and they became the first real damage Gallagher took. Still, it passed relatively unhindered over the Hunters, and the guns turned around to fire a parting salvo before the floating messenger of death escaped over the Catskills, heading towards a sleeping city…heading towards the virtually defenseless Megacity 5.
X did not allow himself to remain paralyzed with the sickening dread that had just overtaken him. He found Zion quickly, and thankfully unhurt. He was shouting into a radio, trying to contact Signas, trying to contact Taggart, but the damned EMG pulse was still in the air. They couldn't even teleport.
"SHIT!" Zion's cool exterior cracked completely and utterly. "We've gotta get out of this area, X! Christ, we can't even WARN them!"
"I know, I know!" X wasn't paralyzed with dread, but that only meant he was frantic. "What about Taggart? You think he knows?"
"I dunno how all the Ravens could have missed that light show," Zion said, with a dark gesture towards their devastated ranks. "But I don't see them closing in, and there is no way to reach them with this goddamned pulse!"
"Calm down, Zion," X ordered, though he himself wasn't doing much better. "We need to calm down and regroup."
"Regroup?" Zion asked, wildly. "There's no time for that! That airship was gaining speed! Who knows how quickly it'll be in a position to fire on our HQ? Assuming that's their target. Maybe the bastards will fire on an orphanage, or a housing project, or…shit, I don't know!"
He had to get it out of his system, X knew. Zion had never stayed frantic long, not once in his life. He would come together, and then they would take action. In the meantime, X knew, he had to find someone who could get away from this pulse and radio the base. But where could they go where they'd be sure to be free of danger and free of EMG pulse?
Nowhere, X realized. But this was war, after all, and war carried risks. "I'm going to find Acrystos," he said to Zion. "I'll send Unit 8 away with some radios. They can make our calls. They'll be the best at this, even without their leader."
"Right…right," Zion agreed, thankful for some plan to latch onto. "Then…then we can figure this out. Christ, X, this is even worse than the worst-case scenario…"
"I know, man," X said, looking towards the bleak horizon where Gallagher had vanished. "I know."
***
Once more Zero's breath caught in his throat as the grisly scene on the viewscreen came to an end. He leaned hard back against the wall, unable to keep his face blank, and displaying all the shock he was feeling. Sigma turned off the viewscreen, laughing all the way, like some goddamned jolly elf.
"You see, Zero? All that preparation has come to nothing. After that, your devastated ranks will quickly regroup and charge out after Gallagher, leaving Seraph Castle alone long enough for us to make our escape, if need be."
"Now what?" Zero managed to say, his throat dry and his head pounding. "You nuke our Headquarters, and expect us to just sit there? It's just a building, Sigma…just a building. We may lose our commanders, but we've still got X…and you'll never beat X." He sneered at the Maverick. "You've proven that to the world, time and time again."
Sigma's eyes flared, but again he contained himself, settling again into relative comfort and grinning that annoyingly smug grin of his. "Right, of course, it's just a building. I suppose you're thinking that the surviving Hunters will shoot down Gallagher in a blind rage, and then come and storm Seraph Castle for real, and then start the rebuilding process?" The look on the Hunter's face told Sigma that indeed that was exactly what he'd been thinking. "Well, think again. Gallagher isn't made to handle an entire ground army…no single airship ever is. Your friends will return home to a deathtrap…a home where my agents roam the streets!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Malevex developed the plan," Sigma explained. "He thought it would be nifty to place you guys between a rock and a hard place. The ground forces will reenter Megacity 5 only to meet up with Boomer Kuwangner and company…a veritable army of giant mechaniloids and ride armors, all constructed and concealed behind your backs, not a mile away from your stronghold. We've taken to calling it the 'Frontline' unit, because we'll in effect be setting up the frontline that your friends will have to smash through if they want to get home before Gallagher does." He smirked at the last part. "Of course, the Frontline army won't just be twiddling its thumbs. No, they're completing the first part of their mission right about…now."
***
It had been a fairly quiet night for the central district of Megacity 5. That's how it had always started, the citizens remembered. A quiet night, shattered by the sound of tanks rumbling and helicopters humming…and then a new Maverick uprising would begin.
People wouldn't remember this as a legitimate uprising, but they would always remember the terror. Many woke up that night and marked the familiar sounds of war as the beginning the terror, and peered out their windows to see Boomer Kuwangner's parade of Bee Bladers, ride armor mechas, mini tanks, and other mechaniloids. Then they called their friends to issue warnings, and they began hustling their children into the basements and shelters.
Tetra led the parade inside his pet behemoth, the Army tank. It cruised at surprising speed for such a big vehicle, and Tetra was pleased. The sooner he got to his destination, the better.
It didn't take more than fifteen minutes. They left Hunter HQ in the dust and sped towards the main base of the Megacity Army, vacant except for a few spare tanks, ride armors, and guard mechaniloids. Plenty of soldiers patrolled the place, but they wouldn't be much good tonight, since because it was the Megacity Army, the majority of the soldiers were unfortunately human.
The Bee Bladers reached the target first, being faster than the other attackers. A general alarm was sounded as soon as the lookouts saw the oncoming Maverick forces, but there was no way for the Army to mobilize before the Bee Bladers got within attacking range. The machine guns under the hornet-shaped hovercopters' "mouths" sprayed the guard towers with unforgiving firepower, and twin missiles fired from the Bladers' back cavities sped towards the garages, bunkers, and mobile artillery that was in danger of being activated by Army personnel. The explosions raised the alarm further, but the Army had given the bulk of their resources to the Hunters, and the attacks on their garages had ruined many of their reserves.
As it turned out, the Bee Bladers would probably have been enough for this mission. There were eight of them, eight being a favorite number for the Mavericks. They hovered around the perimeter, shooting down troops just as rapidly as they appeared and rendering the guard towers useless. They conserved on their missile ammo as ordered, and resorted mainly to their machine guns. The soldiers tried their best, but only the ones with RPGs had any real effect, and that was minimal. Several Bee Bladers were damaged, but the only real success the Megacity Army had that night was shooting down one of the eight Bee Bladers, lowering the count to seven.
But even that victory turned out to be pointless when Tetra and the others arrived. Tetra fired the tank cannon only one time during this brief battle. The shell sped through the air and hit the largest ammo bunker like the fist of Satan. The resulting explosion made Hell seem wet, what with all the ammo that went up. Boomer Kuwangner, piloting a Kangaroo ride armor, drilled his way through Reploid and human bodies, savoring the blood that splashed onto the armor and himself inside of it. This was too easy, he thought. It was just a blood bath. Not that he minded, of course.
Seconds after his main bunker went up due to Tetra's attack, the base commander realized just how screwed he was. To stay and fight was to certainly die, and he gave the order to evacuate the base, sounding a full retreat. Many soldiers, recognizing themselves as the only obstacle standing in the enemy's way tonight, fought to the death. They killed a few Mavericks and disabled or destroyed an enemy mechaniloid or two, but in the end all who stayed behind were slaughtered, and even those who ran were hassled, for the Mavericks weren't planning to let anyone go. A Bee Blader gunned down the base commander himself as he neared the exit gates of his own base.
Despite his pleasure, Kuwangner called the attack off once he was certain that they had thoroughly decimated the Megacity Army presence in Megacity 5. "Tetra," he rasped with more feeling than usual, speaking into the Kangaroo's radio. "Stay behind for a while and coordinate them. Send those you trained to the tanks. Send the rest to get any surviving Army ride armors. Destroy what you can't use, or anything in surplus. There's no sense in leaving them anything they can use when reinforcements get here. Meet up with us near Highway 52's Ford junction." Which was about twelve blocks from Maverick Hunter Headquarters…a safe distance, Kuwangner thought, given the small blast promised by the Buzzbombs.
Tetra did just that, and Kuwangner sped off into the night, followed by his Bee Bladers and the majority of his ride armor troops, and other mechaniloids. Soon they would set up the final perimeter, Kuwangner thought gleefully. All they waited for now was an explosion that would rock the city…and then they would move into position.
"Frontline to Command," Kuwangner rasped into the radio again. "Frontline to Command! Objective One is completed. Moving to standby for Objective Two."
"Excellent work, Boomer," Sigma's voice responded. "You'll know the signal."
"Yes," Kuwangner agreed. "I will."
***
Sigma switched off his radio and smiled smugly, something he'd been doing a lot of tonight. Zero again stared in hatred mixed with disbelief. "Any other 'flaws' you wish me to explain to you, Hunter?"
Zero's eyes narrowed. Sigma thought he'd assembled the perfect plan…or close to that, anyway. But there were flaws…flaws that even Sigma could not control. There had to be!
And then it hit him. Perhaps the Megacity Army had just been neutralized in Megacity 5…but in Sub-City 3 they were very active! That's what Alden Base was, after all. A reserve base! A "just-in-case base" as Colonel Jones called it.
But as though he were reading Zero's mind, Sigma's grin got even bigger, and it seemed like he'd break his face if he smiled any more. "Of course, the Megacity Army could be a real pain, if they call in some reinforcements from out of town. I know you're tight with that Jones fellow, but don't place too much hope in him. He has…other problems."
Zero's heart fell, but he refused to let it fall all the way. Sigma had to be bluffing. There was no way he could have two hidden armies, and even so, Alden Base was fully stocked with soldiers and artillery. Even a surprise attack wouldn't take it down. Sure, that Gallagher thing and its Buzzbombs could do the trick, but they could be mobilized by then.
"Don't believe me?" Sigma asked flatly. "I don't have a viewscreen for you, but I can tell you the story of Alden Base. They have all their defenses controlled on one network, and they have all their war machines charging at night on programs hooked up to that same network. Do you know how stupid that is, Zero? My agent did. My agent exploited it for me. And right about now, your Colonel Jones should be waking up to frantic calls from the Megacity Army base we just destroyed. I can't wait to see how this one plays out."
***
If there was one place in the Megacity 5 area that was organized during this sudden crisis, it was Alden Base in Sub-City 3. Colonel Tony Jones had been summoned from his bed instantly when the base had received the distress signal from Megacity 5, and he'd reported to the war room/command center as quickly as was humanly possible…after throwing on some pants and a shirt, of course. He was now surrounded by five different people giving him five different reports, and the general conclusion he could draw was that Megacity 5 was under attack.
The first thing Jones did was try to reestablish communications with the Army base. The first few times he got static. Then, on the fourth try, someone picked up on the other end.
"This is Alden Base," Jones all but shouted. "Colonel Jones here, what is your situation, repeat, what is your situation?"
The line was quiet for a while, as though the other voice didn't quite know what to say. Then, a baritone voice spoke up loud and clear. "Situation is perfect, chief. Matter of fact, I can't think of any way to make it better."
Everyone in the war room froze. Jones took a few deep breaths, and his faulty leg began to ache, as it tended to do when he was under severe stress. "I am Colonel Tony Jones of Alden Base, Megacity Army. Who am I speaking to?"
The reply began with a rich laugh. "Colonel! Good for you. Is it true what they say about Megacity colonels? About how they kiss so much ass that they can no longer taste the difference between a chicken salad sandwich and a mound of feces?"
"To whom am I speaking?" Jones asked quietly, ignoring the insult and noting with some pride that everyone else in the room got instinctively angry at the attack on their commander.
"Answer my question first, chief. I wouldn't know, y'see. I only made sergeant."
"You were one of us?" Jones asked, hoping to break the ice. His biggest concern was that this Maverick—it had to be a Maverick—was keeping hostages. If so then they were probably doomed, but maybe there was still a chance…
"One of you? Don't be ridiculous!" the voice laughed. "I drove a tank for General Virdelko, but I was never 'one of you'. I would never put myself with your kind. The Megacity Army is the biggest cluster of racists left in this world…which is why it was so much fun ripping your base here to shreds!"
"Glad you had fun," Jones said coldly. "Now, is there—"
"I'll do the talking, I think." The voice chuckled once, anticipating Jones's question. "I think I saw the base commander near the gates. He was running, would you know? Running like the sissy he is. He fell with about twelve bullets in his torso, courtesy of one Bee Blader hovercopter. Quite a sight, if I do say so myself."
"Who are you, you sick bastard?!" Jones finally snapped.
The line was quiet for a while. Then, "I am Tetra. Look the name up, if you survive the night. You'll find my name under the tank regiments. Then look up the name 'Regolin'. You'll find another tanker who was court marshaled because you bastards needed a patsy, and he was a convenient Reploid target." The line went quiet, and it seemed as though Tetra were spitting. Then he came back, and his voice was borderline chipper. "Well, I think that'll be all, if I do say so myself. Hey, listen, seeing as you guys won't be needing your tanks and stuff anymore, my boys and I are gonna borrow them. After all, we've got quite a night ahead of us! We'll say hello to the boys at Hunter Headquarters for you."
"You son of a bitch!!!" Jones roared, drowning out the click of the radio shutting off. "Dammit, get this base active! Right the hell now! All weapons activated, all personnel armed and ready, and get everything all powered up in those garages! It's better to evacuate this base anyway. The Mavericks have big missiles this time, folks, and we're a prime target!"
As usual, Jones' faithful crew carried out their orders immediately. That's why it didn't take much longer for things to start going completely and horribly wrong.
When the main network was booted up, another program woke up with it. It swam through the main network, taking off at every branch and invading every unit. Machines in the garages woke up as planned, and the base defense cannons came online…but, in overt deviation to the planned startup procedure, they all began to fire their weapons.
"What the hell was that?" Jones asked as the first explosions rocked the command center.
"I'm not sure, sir," the lead technician offered lamely, typing away at his keyboard. "Oh, Jesus Christ…"
"What? What is it?!"
"I…I don't know why, sir, but every unit is in combat mode and on autopilot, and the autopilot's telling them to go berserk!"
"What…what the hell?" Jones asked again in shock. This was when Garage B exploded.
Garage B was full of munitions, mainly. There were one or two tanks in the Garage, and both were of course computer operated and linked up the main, infected network. A tank shell had caught fuel barrels and ignited all the nearby ammo, creating a chain explosion that literally ripped the Garage apart, and the explosive force aided in rocking the other Garages. Holes appeared through walls, cannons fired randomly, and the drone guns lining the road to the command center fired at anything that came close. Soldiers were dropping like flies or running for cover, held hostage by their own malfunctioning base.
"Shut it off!" Jones finally screamed. "SHUT IT OFF!"
"I CAN'T!" the technician shouted back. "I tried, sir, but something has completely corrupted this network!"
"When? When did this happen?"
"I…I don't know, sir. The earliest records place the virus birth at…well, earlier tonight."
"Oh, Christ…" a security officer breathed. Jones turned to him with great interest. "Sir, there was a flicker in our security cameras…we investigated but ruled it to be just a maintenance problem."
Jones's mouth went dry. "Who was in the building at that time?"
"We found Major Bellman and that Cassius Reploid," the officer responded.
"Bring them to me!" Jones ordered, and the officer left with his tail between his legs to do just that.
They waited through ten more minutes of mindless carnage before the security officer returned, looking sick. "Bellman's dead, sir. Hell, his torso's all gone…"
"And Cassius?" Jones asked, pushing the death of his friend Bellman aside, though it pained him greatly.
The security officer winced. "Cassius is nowhere to be found."
The world seemed to crash around Tony Jones. He slumped hard against the nearest computer module, his leg burning like a hot iron. He'd been had. He'd been defeated by an inside man, probably by Cassius…one of his most trusted soldiers…and a friend! Yes, he'd failed tonight…and now who knew how many would die because of it?
***
"So you see, Zero," Sigma finished, "I wouldn't place too much hope with the Megacity Army. For all intents and purposes, they are neutralized."
Zero said nothing. In truth he'd never placed much hope with the Megacity Army. The cowards ran and hid whenever a Maverick uprising began…oh, they'd send mechas for Hunter use, and that was a great help, but the actual fighting was always left to the Hunters. Still, they were human, and humans really could bring the house down when they were backed into corners, and the report of their particularly brutal defeat left Zero very disheartened. The Mavericks were serious this time. The plan had been well thought out. And using Cassius, of all people! Zero had trusted Cassius, too, and he'd been duped as well. That little bastard!
But why in the world was Sigma leaving out the most important detail? He meant, of course, the Hunters themselves. Even with the bulk of their troops here in the Catskills, BROKEN HALO's designers had made sure to arrange for a few squads to stay behind and guard the base, and Hunter HQ was a building that was far more difficult to approach than the wide, multi building Army base. The HQ had installed defense cannons and antimissile batteries on their outer walls, much like at Seraph Castle, only the Hunter guns were controlled by folks inside the base walls. Already Hunter HQ was far more fortified than the Army base had been. What made Sigma think that Signas and Cain and the others would just sit back and let themselves be overrun?
Again, though, Sigma seemed able to read Zero's mind. That infuriating smirk returned and he continued with the unveiling of his long-schemed plan. "There is of course one final detail. It is, in its way, the most important detail. I've had bad enough luck that I know beyond a doubt how possible it is for a small, desperate group to overcome my superior numbers, so I've planned against it this time."
"So you think," Zero interrupted. "A ground attack on Hunter Headquarters probably won't even be necessary. Once we get word of your floating tub's approach, the remaining Hunters will bail, and we know that city better than your attackers do. They'll escape and you'll nuke a building into rubble. An empty building. And then we'll rendezvous, rally, and kick your ass to Timbuktu."
"Again, you've missed the scheme by a hair." Sigma cracked his knuckles, preparing to unveil the icing on the cake. "What if, Zero, the Hunters are delayed in their evacuation? What if confusion reigns long enough for Gallagher, Frontline, or both to get in position? Because that's the key, Zero. Confusion. And helplessness," he added cruelly. "Quite a while ago, a Maverick went undercover and enlisted in your ranks. He is a hacker of some skill, and he's already proven himself to be quite useful. You'll know by now that my generals, the Terrornova crew, have a personal vendetta against certain humans, and in order to make sure they got every last bastard involved with that program, we came to this hacker. He tapped into your most top-secret files, gaining access to a list of the names of everyone affiliated with Terrornova. My comrades then checked off the names one by one as they killed the targets off…so fell Thornton and Komanov, and soon to fall will be Kitao and Virdelko. Though I don't know how that bit will play out."
Kitao?! Virdelko?! JESUS! It wasn't the people behind the identities that surprised Zero. He'd known for a long time that Kitao was a racist asshole, and Virdelko had always been shady. It was the influence held by the identities that really got to Zero. Colonel Alan Kitao was a very effective officer, held in high regard by his peers. He himself had briefed the Hunters on the Buzzbomb threat, and Zero had sat right across from him…right across from one of the assholes who'd arranged Mea's death all those years ago. General Klementi Virdelko was a mighty political figure and held great sway over the armed forces of the Megacity System. For those two to be involved in this…Zero realized with a chill that had Terrornova lasted much longer, he and X would have probably been on the shit list, given how powerful they were. And Terrornova had been designed to kill powerful Reploids, hadn't it? Kitao and Virdelko…assholes! Zero in that moment found himself actually rooting for the nuclear terrorists.
"Sickening how people repay debts, isn't it?" Sigma asked neutrally. "Now you see why we hate them so much? I'll be the first to admit that I deserve a few bullets upside the head, but you Hunters…even after all you've done, you still get the short end of the stick. Doesn't it ever piss you off?"
"Of course it does," Zero replied, just as evenly. "Still doesn't excuse genocide, though."
Sigma took it in stride and got back to business. "Now that we'd seen how skillful this hacker was at covering his tracks, we decided to trust him with something even more important. I'm sure you Hunters have been kicking yourselves in the ass a lot over this place you call UNDINE. I would, if I were you. Well, we found out about it a long time ago. That's how we've been able to break your codes and read your messages. And when I say break your codes, I mean it! It was remarkably stupid to base all your security on one root code…especially when we have the ultimate code breaker on our side. Thank goodness for Cyber Peacock…otherwise known as Kujacker. He cracked your mainframe defense codes like child's play and formulated the absolute perfect virus…a mechanical plague that'll stop all your systems cold. Right now the program is in the hands of our friendly neighborhood hacker, and he's about to deliver the most subtle knockout punch in history!"
***
There, it was done. No one looked at him. Why should they? He was doing his job, just like he was supposed to. The fools! Here he was, about to send them back into the Stone Age, and all they did was chatter about how their work was almost over, and they could either take up patrol duty or set out for Seraph Castle. The last of Commander Zegmann's troops were heading for the teleportation area now. Well, they wouldn't get far, the hacker thought with an inner smirk, punching the Enter button one last time. That much was for sure.
It took ten seconds for the program to activate. The hacker passed the time by stretching and yawning, thus explaining his break in typing. No one paid him any heed. He was alone. No one was talking to him. Occasionally someone glanced in his direction but never at him. Good, he thought, stay in your own little worlds. That's how it's always been, after all. Stupid Hunters…the looks on their faces would be priceless! And even then it could only get better, the hacker knew. It would be the utmost in pleasure to rip these fools apart after he rejoined his comrades on the Frontline.
The first thing that happened was that all the computers blinked off at once. Hunters stared in disbelief for a few seconds before swearing loudly at the lost work, and then all at once they began to notice that everyone else had the same problem. No sooner had this happened than the lights flickered out in the computer room as well as every other place in the HQ. Startled voices began to rise, but there was no panic. Everyone assumed that this was the direct result of that nasty blizzard. Probably a few transformers had been knocked out. It happened…always at the worst times, but it happened. The hacker stood and joined his "comrades" in looking around the room curiously, and nodding his approval whenever someone mentioned the wind, waiting for things to start getting really hectic.
That didn't take long. The first person in Maverick Hunter Headquarters to get really and seriously pissed off was Tiberius, head of the medical department. He was personally working on Commander Damia, who had just been brought in from the field. He had just gotten set up to fully examine the wound when the lights went out and the big machine that kept Damia functioning and charging inexplicably went out. Swearing first at the sheer inconvenience, Tiberius put down his tools and sent an assistant off to activate the backup power, just before he remembered that these machines ran off their own separate generator. Why the hell were they deactivated, if this were happening because of the wind? Only the main generator should be affected…right?
Tiberius himself went into his office and tried to contact Signas in the war room. He was heartily discouraged when he learned that all communications were shot. What in the world…?
"Nance," he said to a young human nurse. "Take a run to the war room and see what the hell's going on. Make it snappy," he added. Nance did just that, and Tiberius was left to wonder how in the world things could go so horribly wrong now of all times.
Krysta had just reached the teleportation point when she realized that the lights were off behind her. Xu turned to see what the holdup was and saw the same thing Krysta did, though they had to squint through the blizzard. The weather wasn't nearly as bad down here as it was high up in the Catskills, but the visibility was still reduced.
"Well what in the hell…?" Krysta asked the wind.
"Xu of Unit 15 to base, do you copy?" She waited fifteen seconds before trying them again. "Xu of Unit 15 to base, is anyone there?" She realized now that she wasn't even getting static. The radio was dead in the worst of ways. The more experienced Huntress traded a look with her younger comrade that spoke more than words ever could.
"Head back?" Krysta asked, no longer worried about finding action in the Catskills.
"You bet," Xu agreed, and they hustled back the way they came, joined by others who were thinking similar thoughts.
Alec Tremont had just touched down in Raven 13 when things went haywire.
He was in charge of the group that had left for refueling, and he was also the last bird down. Maintenance Hunters were already standing by, braving the cold to get the Ravens back in the air as soon as possible. Tremont had just disembarked his jet to huddle with his fellow pilots and see how they were holding up when the lights in the HQ went out.
There was no effect on the airfield and the Ravens themselves. Each ran off their own power supply, and the airfield had a generator that's activation did not depend on power from Hunter HQ. Concerned, Tremont returned to Raven 13 and activated the radio inside the cockpit. He tried thrice, but got no responses. Worried now, he disembarked again and rejoined his pilots. Each had the same look on their face.
"Inside," Tremont said after a minute of contemplation, gesturing to the airfield garage. "Now."
The lights weren't the only things that went out in the war room. Radio uplinks died immediately. Alia blinked in surprise and tried to reestablish contact four times with four different units before turning to ask Signas for guidance. Signas had his hands full, however. The big Reploid was swamped with reports that seemed to indicate that all power was gone, from both normal and backup generators. This, he thought, was not good at all.
"Signas!" Alia finally caught his attention. "I've lost all contact with the Seraph team." The other seven radio operators confirmed this.
Signas didn't have any sagely advice. He just nodded slowly, somewhat dazed and trying to sort everything out. He would be denied that luxury. Hunters rushed in from all areas of the building complaining that everything had stopped working. A messenger from Douglas entered and said that all the computers managing the mobile artillery had shut down. A nurse entered and announced that the medical bay was next to useless.
But the worst news came from three Hunters who entered simultaneously. They were in charge of manning the antimissile batteries and side cannons that defended the HQ building from direct assault, and no one wanted to hear what they had to say, because deep down, they already knew.
"It's all down, sirs," one of them summarized. "Everything's down. We're goddamned sitting ducks!"
Dr. Cain rose from his place and turned to look at Signas. The look they shared was ghastly indeed, and those who noted it immediately began to feel their knees quake. What did this mean? This night, of all nights, their power had failed them. They were defenseless tonight, during this blizzard, during the raid on the nuclear terrorists in Seraph Castle…could that possibly mean that…?
Caligula's voice was even quieter than usual, and that meant danger, pure and simple. Cain and Signas both came out of their trances to look at the relatively short Reploid, who's face altered from neutrality to something that resembled illness.
"I just talked to radar operator number six," he said in a rather hoarse voice. "It seems that when things went to shit, he was in the middle of receiving a distress signal."
"From where?" Cain asked, his mouth suddenly dry.
"Alden Base," Caligula finished in a near whisper. "They conveyed that the local Army base has been defeated. They themselves are under attack."
"By who?!" Signas finally got out. "Who is doing this? All the Mavericks are at Seraph Castle!"
"Apparently they're not," Caligula countered gently. "The connection broke before the operator could confirm anything, but…"
"Yeah," Cain nodded slowly, agreeing with the unspoken gesture. "I think we're in trouble, boys. Big, big trouble."
***
"You son of a bitch!" Zero growled, forcibly refraining from launching himself against the bars. He didn't want to repeat that episode. "You goddamned spider! You'll paralyze your prey, nuke it, and then what?! What good is your Frontline then?!"
"They'll eliminate as many of your confused, shocked friends as possible on the ground," Sigma explained patiently. "And then they'll teleport home, and it's off to see the wizard, otherwise known as Brazil. Or who knows? Maybe we'll fortify ourselves here if we kill more of you than we expect. I don't know, Zero," he said, getting to his feet at last. "I'd say you're in a pretty pickle this time around."
Zero growled again, but inside he had to admit it. Pure, unbridled rage boiled within him, but he had no one to unleash it on but himself. Sigma and his generals had thought this one through to the bitter end. They probably had several backup plans for this Frontline and their Gallagher ship if the Buzzbombs failed…hell, they could just turn the ship around and nuke the Hunters as they came back. They'd be far enough from Seraph Castle by then that Sigma wouldn't risk anything, except maybe the neutralization of a residential district. These goddamned murderers were getting away with it, Zero realized. In a matter of an hour, the world could be looking at a nuclear detonation in Megacity 5. Mavericks around the globe would rejoice and take heart at the destruction of the most prominent Hunter base in the world. Sigma's following would grow again. A new uprising would begin, and the Hunters would be left scrambled, shocked, and disillusioned, and thus unfit to contain the threat that would surge their way. It would happen everywhere this time, not just in Megacity 5, and the Hunters over the globe were not all as skilled as they were over here. Good god, Zero realized, they were in a pretty pickle.
Sigma turned and strode to the side door this time, exiting proudly into the open halls of his fortress. His cape billowed behind him and that smug smile remained. Once more he'd smashed Zero's spirit with a particularly heavy hammer. He was getting good at that, he thought, turning his head to bid farewell. "Adieu, Zero. I'll be sure to give you regular updates. It's only fair to make sure you know how quickly your friends are dying."
"Burn in Hell!" Zero shouted at the Maverick's back.
"Been there," Sigma laughed. "Done that." And then he was gone, and Zero spun and slammed his fist into the adamantine wall hard enough to crack it. Pain receptors in his wrist screamed, but Zero wasn't listening. He stood ramrod straight and seethed, expelling his anger in spurts, but when it was gone he realized that he wanted it back. Without anger there was only the truth, and Zero had seen the evidence. All this was really happening. An airship carrying nuclear missiles was speeding towards Megacity 5, leaving the only army that could stop it in the dust. Maverick troops were keeping the city at bay, neutralizing the Megacity Army and paralyzing Hunter HQ from within to keep the important Hunters in place long enough for Gallagher to get into firing position. Afterwards the Mavericks would hide in Brazil and gather support while the Hunters licked their wounds…the master plan, and the final culmination of the Terrornova program. Great job, Virdelko, the Hunter thought bitterly.
BRAZIL! They KNEW about Brazil, didn't they?! Yes, they did! They'd hired Gate to investigate and bring the place down! He remembered that. He remembered little of that day in Sub-City 3, but now he knew that Gate had agreed. Sigma had even said as much earlier. Gate had to hurry, Zero thought. He had to take out the Mavericks down there fast, so that Sigma would lose his fallback place and perhaps alter his plans…the fatal flaw in any leader. Zero didn't know Gate all that well, but now he had to place everything in the scientist's hands.
He hoped those hands were as capable as the world made them seem.
