Chapter 45: Freedom's Ring
The lights were out in Seraph Castle.
Darkness mingled with silence, pervading every inch of the deserted Maverick fortress. All remaining troops had bailed after receiving an emergency signal from Commander Malevex. It had been interesting to them that it was Malevex giving the order and not Sigma, but not one had complained, fleeing from their duties like flies from a swatter.
The residents were gone, yes, but their essence was not. Much blood had been spilled during the night, and had the moon been allowed to infiltrate the windowless fortress it would doubtless have found some of the reddish material painting the walls. Some bodies still lay askew in corners or in the middle of floors. In the basement, Feldspar lay forever sleeping against a wall, and near him sat the dormant Godkarmachine, still occasionally sparking as its Ares-enhanced systems tried to fully shut themselves down. Voices seemed to reverberate through the cursed hallways, voices screaming in shock and pain, whispering secrets to the darkness, darkness that was still strongest in the small stretch of hallway containing what little remained of Gredam. All in all, the world's major Maverick stronghold had become a haunted mansion sitting as the largest jewel in a crown of snowy mountains. It was the ghost town of the Catskills, abandoned by all but its phantasms.
Abandoned, all but for two places in which, for the time being, Reploids still drew breath. The phantasms gathered around, consuming the darkness like popcorn. Fate was to be decided at last, and they wouldn't miss it even for life itself.
"There…that corner." Lyon rasped the words with great effort. Most of his internal fluids now lay behind him, forming a messy line leading back to the spot where Sigma's lightsaber had been driven clear through the demolitions expert's body. The E-Tank he'd drained was keeping him active, but it was clear to them all that he'd be dead shortly if he didn't receive some kind of proper medical attention. Acrystos knew basic field surgery—an Aegis prerequisite—but this was no basic surgery. Lyon knew he was in trouble, but that didn't seem to interfere in the least with the big Reploid's determination. They had two bombs left to set, and Lyon was determined to stick around at least until that task was finished.
"Let me," Tyclammel said, taking the bomb from Lyon. Supporting his comrade with one arm and planting the bomb with the other, the orange Hunter's brow crinkled in intense concentration. Lyon talked him through the procedure, and in seconds another bomb was operational, waiting for the order to explode and eliminate the foundation of Seraph Castle.
"It's quiet," Lyon observed, shortly before breaking into a rattling cough.
"I don't think so," Tyclammel shook his head, slapping his choking comrade on the back while finishing with the bomb. His head tilted towards the central chamber in the maze-like core level. Acrystos and Delates had vanished inside it and had yet to reappear. "Something's happening in there."
"Let them come," the stricken Cort growled, leaning against a wall for support while holding both revolvers at the ready. His chest wounds were no less bloody, but his nanomachines were working overtime and it looked as though he wasn't in any life threatening peril.
"Famous last words," Tyclammel observed sullenly, hearing footsteps echo from the nearest side path.
Seconds later Delates and Acrystos sprinted out of the darkened corridor, each wearing an expression of grave urgency. "We need to leave," Delates said through his heavy breathing. "Now."
"Right now," Acrystos added, looking even more nervous now than she had when she'd been in Kismet's captivity.
"What is it?" Tyclammel had to ask. "What are we running from?"
"It's…" Delates started to say, but a remarkably heavy clank from behind stopped him cold. The emerald Hunter turned to face the darkness he'd just emerged from, where more clanks resonated like metallic thunder. "Well, it's here already," Delates finished flatly.
From out of the shadows came a machine that at first glance did not strike terror into any of the Hunters' souls. They were intimidated by its size, for sure, and recognized its polished white chrome armor as the threat it was, but of terror there was none. The machine was humanoid in everything except details. It was an eight foot tall walking ghost, a sturdy white creature with no distinctions—no muscles, no trimmings, no anything, save for a single red orb in the center of its head, a head that merged directly to the torso without anything resembling a neck. It made no sound other than the whir of its gears as it lifted its long legs for another step, each of which culminated in a heavy clank. Its arms did not move as it walked, nor did its waist, making its movement look comical at first glance, like some grossly exaggerated goosestep. It had been created by Hayatom Industries as a sentinel and sold to the Mavericks by the ever-vigilant Gold Serpent, Chartreuse. It was known only as the Android, a humanoid automaton programmed for one thing—the elimination of intruders.
"Christ on stilts," Tyclammel breathed.
"Let's hope not," Acrystos replied quietly.
Delates and Tyclammel had the same thought at the same time, stepping forward and opening fire at the enemy's torso. Mini-missiles swarmed from Tyclammel's cannon while Delates unleashed a continuous plasma barrage. The shots exploded against Android's chest, creating a thick cloud of smoke…
…Out of which eventually came a thin red laser light that fell on Delates' chest.
"Shit," the Hunter managed to gasp before a thick white arm shot out of the smoke and smashed into his breastplate, throwing him clear across the hallway and crunching a fist-shaped indentation in his jade armor.
"What in the name of Light…" Cort said with wide eyes as, with a telltale clank, the Android appeared again. Its chest armor was charred and some of it was missing, but it didn't operate like it was any worse for the wear. The red gem in its head flickered on once more, emitting another laser light that targeted Acrystos near the wall.
"Move!" Tyclammel yelled, but Acrystos was already moving. She was just in time. Android's fist put a hole in the adaman wall where her head had just been.
"What is it?" Lyon slurred as Tyclammel dragged him backwards and away from the opal titan. "I'll take 'em…lemme at 'em!"
"No, you won't," his comrade responded. "We've got to worry about the bombs. There's one more, right Lyon? One more bomb?"
"Bombs…" Lyon's mind snapped back into focus. "The bombs. Yes…one more…but it's different from the others. Once they're all set I have to…coordinate them…"
"Well let's move." Tyclammel half-dragged his ruined friend backwards. "It's the far corner, right? Sorry, but there's a big pasty tightass in the way. We're gonna have to cut down the center path."
Acrystos, meanwhile, had guided the mostly recovered Cort to where Delates was peeling himself off the floor. "You all right?"
"I'll live," Unit 0's acting commander said, forcing himself not to cough up blood. "We've gotta draw its attention…otherwise Lyon'll never make it to his target."
"Leave it to me," the Aegis agent nodded, drawing her pistol and firing a bolt of energy into the Android's damaged chest. The stun effect took hold, spreading an electrical cage over the Android's body that should have stopped it cold.
Clank. Clank.
The damned thing was still coming.
"It just slows it down," Cort observed somberly.
"It's better than nothing," Delates declared, charging his cannon to its highest level. "Get back. Stay out of arm's length!"
As though it had heard them and wanted to challenge them, the Android stopped moving entirely, gazing at them through its one blood-red eye. Its chest gave off occasional tempting sparks, inviting Delates to take a shot. This the Hunter did, unleashing a screaming wave of plasma that ate into the Mechaniloid's exposed chest and created a blinding flash of light.
Clank. Clank.
"Impossible!" Delates roared in frustration and apprehension, backing up further.
"No, it's taking damage," Cort insisted as the Android reappeared, its chest armor looking somewhat spent. "It's just designed not to show it."
"Scare tactics," Acrystos realized, just as the Android's laser eye sighted her again.
This time it happened faster than lightning. The normally clunky Android's internal systems gave a loud whir and it shot forward like a bullet. With surprising agility it used its long legs to full advantage in an expansive stride that closed the distance between it and Acrystos before the Huntress had a chance to contemplate what was happening. The next thing she knew, the Android had caught her waist with one of its massive hands, and so began the most ridiculously powerful vice-grip she'd ever experienced. The Huntress immediately lost all ability to breathe, and her eyes and mouth widened in horrified shock as she felt her spine buckle to the Android's physical might. Her internal skeleton was giving off crunching sounds, though the crushing numbness prevented her from feeling the white-hot lances of pain.
"No!" Delates couldn't let it happen. He couldn't lose another comrade tonight. He switched to his lightsaber and rushed towards the Android, oblivious to Cort's protests, and drew a deep line in what passed for the Android's waist. The enemy did not make any sound. It did not even turn to acknowledge Delates. It was amazing how strong the armor was, Delates noted, just before the Android's other hand smashed him into the wall he'd been backing towards earlier. The world turned to a blur and a horrible headache seized him, but he somehow forced himself onto his knees, turning back to watch Acrystos die.
Cort, however, was not licked just yet. The gunman brought up one of his revolvers, held in both hands, and with fiercely determined but nevertheless unwavering skill tried to save Acrystos's life for the second time with tactics that were just as questionable as the first time. The revolver's barrel exploded once, and an adaman bullet slammed into the Android's highest knuckle. The finger went just slightly slack. A second explosion—another slackened finger. Another, and another—Cort's precision was, luckily for Acrystos, perfect as usual.
The struggling Huntress sensed her chance and with the energy of one who is fighting for their life tore herself free from the Android's considerable grasp. As she fell she drew one of her energy daggers and sliced upward, catching the Android's wrist and actually making the machine recoil. She learned why a second later, when the hand shot out again down towards her. She rolled sharply to the side and the floor next to her exploded as the Android's fist tore through it. Steel peppered her back like shrapnel and she inhaled sharply in pain. She drew an even sharper breath when she saw the Android's other fist coming down.
This fist stopped right in its tracks, again thanks to Cort. The Hunter had darted into position in front of the Android and leveled his weapon right at the monster's forehead. A single shot destroyed the red gem and thus the laser light targeting, and this by some miracle caused the Android to pause while it reanalyzed its situation. Cort darted in daringly through the two stationary arms and, ignoring the pain from his own wounds, dragged Acrystos out of range.
"Cort," Delates wheezed, on his feet at last. "When we get back, you're getting so many beers."
"You're still a motivator," the gunman observed with half a smile despite the situation.
"Thanks," Acrystos managed, before the pain caused by her splintered structure registered. "Holy shit," she hissed, slumping against the wall.
"Not you too," Delates groaned. "We're a sorry bunch…everyone but Tyclammel's wounded, and he's with Lyon…they'd better—"
Clank.
"MOVE IT!" Delates finished, grabbing both Cort and Acrystos and dragging them out of the way as the Android started its prowl again.
Tyclammel felt his breathing grow heavier every second. He heard the sounds of battle from across the room, more specifically Delates' yelling and Cort's familiar revolvers in action. Then all the sounds stopped. "No," he let slip as a coil of dread snaked around inside of him. "It can't have…"
…Clank. …Clank.
It was still alive.
Clank. Clank.
It had turned around. "Dammit!" Tyclammel swore, turning to Lyon. The demo expert was oblivious to it all, Ty noted almost whimsically. He was so involved with setting and calibrating this last bomb that he had no idea what was coming for them. But then, he did, didn't he, the orange Hunter realized with some shame. Death had been knocking on Lyon's door for a while now, but the Hunter simply hadn't opened the door. Soon enough, though, Death would break it down on its own.
Clank. Clank.
"But not just yet," Tyclammel promised himself, turning towards the noise. Then he became aware of other footsteps coming from the center path. "Boy am I glad to see you," the Hunter breathed a huge sigh of relief at the sight of his comrades.
"Don't rejoice yet," Cort said, shaking his head. "It's still coming."
"Lyon," Delates said to his weakening comrade. "How much longer?"
"It's almost done," the big Hunter replied. His voice sounded terribly weak, Delates thought.
Clank clank. Clank clank.
"It's here," Acrystos moaned, holding her energy daggers up while wondering what the hell good they'd do her.
"Let me at it," Tyclammel said, hoping he sounded convincing.
Clank clank. Clank clank clank clank clank.
"It's running!" Delates gasped.
"God of humans, make yourself useful," Tyclammel prayed, watching the end of the hallway. The second Android's white frame appeared, rushing around the corner from the left, Tyclammel unleashed a concentrated spray of missiles. Unprepared for the assault, the Android reeled and lost its balance, falling into the right wall with a mighty crash.
Another crash immediately demanded the Hunters' attention—Lyon had slumped to the floor.
"Shit!"
Delates swore, grabbing his friend and hoisting him back up. "Lyon! Lyon,
you there?!"
"Green switch," the
bomber rasped. "Do it…do it now!"
"Green switch," Acrystos echoed, hitting the proper button.
"There," Lyon said with a smile, taking a control box from his belt and handing it to Delates. "Use this later…for detonation."
"You can do it yourself," Delates insisted, though they all noted that he took the box anyway. "Let's go, before that thing gets up!"
The five Hunters trekked quickly back to the floor's entrance, a long dark hallway that ended with a freight elevator that wasn't there anymore. "Sigma must have called it up," Cort observed as they got closer. "We can climb up the elevator shaft."
But they couldn't. Killing lasers crisscrossed the shaft all the way up.
"SHIT!" Tyclammel roared, spinning around nervously. "What the hell do we do now?"
"Wait," Acrystos said hopefully, approaching the control panel. It was disabled as far as calling down the elevator, but… Without offering an explanation, Acrystos used a dagger to pry the covering off the control panel and began to rearrange the wires inside. A metal cable popped out of her wrist gauntlet and she attached it to a plug inside the control box, jacking herself in.
"What are you doing?" Delates finally asked.
"When Castle and I went into the Spaceport to sabotage the Repliforce vessels," she explained while working frantically, "Major Mondo had already set up his security force there. He'd used a system very similar to this, and I…I'm pretty sure I can hack into it."
"How long?" Tyclammel asked frantically. "How long?!"
"However long it takes," Acrystos said, forcing emotion out of her voice. She didn't want them to hear her fear.
Clank. Clank.
"It won't be in time," Cort realized. "Someone has to stall that thing."
Clank clank. Clank clank.
"Let's go," Delates said to Tyclammel. "We'll lead it around the perimeter and come right back."
"No," Acrystos protested sharply. "Listen! By the time you leave the hall it'll intercept you!"
"She's right," Cort observed, very quietly.
"I've almost got it," Acrystos went on, working all the more feverishly. "I'm into the security node…"
"Ugh…" Lyon choked, still slumped against Delates. "Let me…fight it."
"You save your strength," Delates ordered, charging his cannon.
"Delates," Lyon said firmly, forcing himself to his feet and arming his bazooka cannon. "Unit 0 is made of warriors…all we ask is to die a warrior's death. Is that not right?" He looked right into his friend's eyes. "Feldspar had his. Don't you dare rob me of mine. Zero would agree," he added, much to sagely for Delates' liking.
"Here it comes!" Tyclammel announced as Android appeared in their line of sight. The behemoth turned, saw them, and began its death sprint down the hall.
"Shit," Acrystos swore, ignoring the pain stabbing at her insides and putting her all into cracking the code. "Shit, shit, shit…"
"You've got ten seconds," Cort estimated, reloading his used revolver and bringing the other one up to bear with it.
"All together," Delates said, raising his cannon. "Now!"
A giant bolt of plasma. A storm of small missiles. Twelve adaman bullets placed in a perfect line across the "neck". A menacing, flaming ball of artillery. All these things struck the Android, blinding the Hunters with light and slamming the Android against a wall, filling the hall with the screaming sound of metal scraping across metal.
Clank…clank…clank clank clank.
"Damn you, Sigma," Delates said, numb, as the Android somehow continued its march, smoking and sparking from extreme wounds but approaching nonetheless. They had failed. "Damn you to hell."
"I've got it!" Acrystos announced suddenly, the lasers flickering off as she said so. "Move! Now!"
"It's too late," Delates knew, though he retreated with the rest of them, leaping onto the wall and preparing to scale it with the climbing unit ingrained in every Reploid. He sensed Android's fist approaching from behind and he knew he couldn't possibly escape it, but still he tried. What else could he do?
The thundering crunch came, but no pain came with it. Nor was there any force involved. Instead of being hit by a freight train, Delates hadn't been hit at all. What had happened? He turned to see…
…And there was Lyon, impaled on the Android's huge fist, which had punched clear through his body. The demolitions man had interposed himself between the Android and his commander at the last minute.
"Lyon!" Delates gasped, his buster coming alive again.
"No," Lyon shook his head forcefully before gritting his teeth against the pain as the Android hoisted him up higher. "Delates…remember…remember!"
Delates did
remember. He couldn't take this from Lyon. Damn it all, but he couldn't take
this death from his friend. He knew Zero would understand. So why couldn't he?
Wordlessly the acting
commander gazed his last at his comrade and returned to the wall, scaling it
quickly without allowing himself to look back. It was Lyon's choice, he told
himself. He was going to die anyway, and this was how he'd chosen to go out.
The Android looked at its catch through its dead eye. Lyon somehow managed to grin at it, even as his systems went into hyperdrive. They screamed warnings at him but he ignored them all, increasing his power intake even more. "As long…as I'm here," the Hunter croaked, quoting Sigma. "I might as well…kill…one of you…" His generator went critical as his self-destruct mechanism came to life. "…And I…pick…
…You."
The explosion rocked the whole fortress, and nearly spilled Mega Man X flat on his face.
"What in the hell?" the champion Hunter asked of the darkness, even as Zero brought him back up to his feet.
"Whatever it is there's nothing we can do about it," the crimson swordsman said curtly, resuming his brisk sprint. "We've got to hurry."
"Right," X agreed, dashing after his friend. "Sigma won't be here much longer. You're sure you know where he is?"
"Malevex gave me a tracking unit along with that special attack of his," Zero explained, rounding a corner on the second ring with X close behind. He didn't sound the least bit winded and despite the considerable wounds he'd sustained throughout the past 24 hours he seemed good as new. Nothing, X knew, was going to get in his way now. And he shared the sentiment. They had to stop Sigma…at any cost.
"How's your arm?" Zero asked as they ran.
"It's repairing itself," X replied, glancing at the hole in his gauntlet, courtesy of that same Malevex. "The Buster arm is fine, and that's all that matters." They ran a little farther before X spoke again. "You're sure you can trust him?"
"Do we really have a choice?" Zero replied, hiding his annoyance. "If there's even a chance that Sigma may escape with a warhead, we have to investigate it. Besides…I severely doubt Malevex was lying to us back there."
"So do I," X admitted, breaking some ice. They ran a little longer, and then Zero decided to shatter the rest of it.
"I know you still don't understand."
"Actually," X responded thoughtfully, "I think I do."
"Do you?"
"Yes." X took a deep breath, sensing the logical solution he'd been searching for within his grasp. "You see Terrornova as another Repliforce. Like the Repliforce uprising, humans and Hunters caused the Terrornova uprising. Unlike the Repliforce uprising, though, you wanted to spare the enemy…to make up for what happened last time." It was dangerous territory, but X felt daring enough to go there tonight.
"That's more or less it," Zero acknowledged heavily. Then he actually laughed. "I'm sure that one day soon I'll wake up and think, 'Jesus! I released nuclear terrorists! What the hell is wrong with me?' But I still had to do it…you know?"
"I understand," X said truthfully. "Weird as it all is, I get it." His eyes darkened. "And just as with Repliforce…it was Sigma pulling the strings all along."
"Yes." Zero fairly growled the word. "It's just as personal, too."
"How so?"
"Last time he arranged for me to kill the woman I loved. This time he tried destroying my mind from within when I wouldn't do something similar again." Zero had never actually flatly told X that he'd loved Iris—his friend knew, of course, but it had never actually been said—and Zero had thought he'd be more reserved about it. But he wasn't. Secrets didn't matter today. He wondered how far he could go with that. "Do you know why he's so interested in us, X?"
"I always figured it was because we keep killing him in nasty ways."
"That's a part of it. For you, he just wants revenge. For me…"
"He's always trying to get you to change sides." X felt something coming. Zero rarely ever divulged personal secrets, but when he did X could sense them coming. "Why is that?"
"Hmph." Zero took a while to gather the right words. "Did you know I was originally a Maverick?"
He'd half-suspected it, though he'd had no reason to, and the truth of it didn't affect X as much as he'd supposed it would. "No, I didn't," he replied in an even tone.
"It's unofficial, but it's true. I don't know if you were hanging around the Hunters yet when it happened…a Maverick took out a whole Hunting unit, and Sigma himself was sent in to stop him." Zero took a deep breath and released it slowly. "I was that Maverick. I met Sigma in battle in an old warehouse. He managed to defeat me, but not before I tore his arm off and inflicted other injuries on him." He left out the part about the Virus, since he himself didn't fully understand all that.
"I've heard that story," X said, somewhat reverently. "You're the one who gave Sigma his scars, then."
"Yeah. I don't know why he kept them. Probably to remind himself that his ass was indeed kickable."
A sudden laugh escaped X's lips. "I would never have suspected you. I mean, you and Sigma were always so buddy-buddy around each other. I'd have figured he'd be terrified of you after that, or at least apprehensive, but he never showed the slightest hint of uneasiness around you."
"Probably because I wasn't the same person," Zero offered. "I was one of those frothing-at-the-mouth Mavericks, one of the madmen with no real mind to call their own. Somehow during the battle Sigma knocked my neural unit back into place…or maybe Cain fixed me when Sigma dragged me back to the Headquarters."
"Why did Sigma do that?"
"Probably because he wanted my power for his side. It's ironic…if he'd have just left me alone, he'd be better off today. Anyway, Sigma wasn't afraid of me because I was thinking with my own mind. He trained me himself. He taught me everything I know about swordplay, even though I opted for the buster early on. He knew the power I possessed, and wanted to bring it back out now that I could consciously control it." The Hunter grinned toothily. "Turned out all I needed for that to happen was his revolution, when I helped you kick his ass."
"So the padwan refused to follow his master."
"Yup. And I've never regretted it."
"But Sigma hasn't given up," X finished the story. "He's still trying to convert you, while trying to eliminate me at the same time." It was X's turn to grin. "You'd think Final Weapon would have taught him that he can't win that two-front war."
"His mistake," Zero said, allowing himself another grin. Then his expression became more serious. "You don't hold any of this against me?"
"Why should I?" Zero's fear was reasonable and X knew it, but he was still slightly offended by the question. "You blew yourself up for the Hunter cause. If that's not a strong enough gesture, I don't know what is. Now you're trying to change what you are, the very thing I've been trying to do since the wars started. I know exactly what you're dealing with." He smirked. "Never thought of it that way, did you?"
"No," Zero admitted, "I hadn't." Anything else he was about to say was canceled out by a sudden newsflash. "X…this hallway. At the end is the freight elevator."
"And with it, Sigma and the Marauder," X realized.
"Listen," Zero shushed his friend, pointing to the end of the hall. "It's rising. Sigma must have recovered the Spare."
"Let's go, then," X said, powering up his Emergency Acceleration System while Zero did the same. "You know what we're facing?"
"Colonel Jones showed me a schematic at Alden Base," Zero replied, shivering. "It's not a pretty picture. X74-Marauder, a bipedal ride armor that is humanoid but only vaguely so. Its right arm is a wicked sword that can be charged with voltage so it has the lightsaber effect. Its left arm is a high caliber machine gun comparable to the one our Ravens use. Its lower back hosts a domed propulsion unit that gives it flight capability. Oh yeah, and its upper back sports a launcher that sends out homing missiles."
"Gee, is that all?"
"Nope. It can also activate an electrical curtain to discourage idiots like us from touching it."
"How the hell did Jones let this thing get stolen?" asked a thoroughly cowed X.
"The Gold Serpent works in mysterious ways," Zero quipped in a monotone. "There was some good news, though—Marauder relies on two radar units implanted in both shoulders. Plus, it doesn't turn very well."
"So in an elevator," X clarified, "we have the advantage because it's tight quarters…and we're even better off if we eliminate the radar." He blinked. "But then what? What do we target?"
"It beats me, X my boy, it beats me good." Zero grinned. "But when has that ever stopped us before?"
A second later they did see something that stopped them—Reploid remains.
"That's him," X answered Zero's wordless question.
"Jesus, they immolated him," Zero observed, staring at what was once Gredam, Maverick Commander. "But I guess that makes sense," he added, remembering Mortar's story.
"Huh?"
"If they killed themselves, the big shots would revive them just to kill them off again. They had to neutralize the control chips so that wouldn't happen."
"Brutal," X said, visibly recoiling. A sudden weight fell upon his chest. "I…really didn't mean to…"
"I know." Zero shook it off. "Considering the odds, it's amazing that things turned out as well as they did." The sound of the freight elevator grew louder. Zero looked up at the nearby doors. "Now, then…let's vaporize the one who actually has it coming."
"Yes," X agreed, charging his arm cannon to its highest level and approaching the doors. "Let's." He and Zero had each restored one E-Tank thanks to a hidden supply alcove, again courtesy of the map Malevex had transferred to Zero with the Triple Nova sword attack. X's Nova Strike was barely at half power, but he could do nothing about that. Zero's Rakkuoha was in no better shape, but again there was little that could be done. The Hunters figured they were as ready as they were going to be.
Three seconds…two seconds…one second…and there it was, X knew—the elevator had reached their floor.
The doors vanished as X's extreme plasma blast barreled through them, and without looking back the heroes of the free world leapt through the flames into the final battle of the Seraph Castle uprising.
Two large windows on the second ring's balcony shattered, and a rappelling line found its way out. Acrystos secured it to the catwalk and down the Hunters climbed to the snowy earth below. There were only four now to the six who'd entered, a fact that weighed heavily on them all, but it was impossible to recover their control chips. They'd died the death they'd dreamed of, though—soldiers fighting to the bitter end.
It made it no easier for Delates, who felt that it was his own failure that led to both tragedies. The group leader released the line and fell the fifteen feet the line didn't cover, sinking to his waist in the snow below. Too haggard to even swear, the elite Hunter waded through the white sea like an explorer on his way to the North Pole. Tyclammel followed him, then Cort, then Acrystos, who didn't bother collecting her line. Rather she caught up with Delates as soon as possible. "It wasn't your fault, you know."
"Of course I know," he replied, sans emotion. "Don't make it any easier."
"X and Zero are taking care of the bastards as we speak," she reassured him. "Feldspar and Lyon died stopping nuclear terrorism…what more could you ask of them?"
"I know," he reiterated. "But you're not the one who has to tell Zero that you took what remained of his unit into Seraph Castle and came out minus two."
"You really think he'll hold that against you?"
He really didn't, but before he could answer his eyes caught something in the distance. It was black as night due to the clouds, but he paid attention anyway, switching to infrared and seeing, far in the distance, life. "What in the hell…?"
"I see it," Acrystos concurred, stepping forward. "Lots of them…they're way out of range, though."
"Mavericks," Tyclammel scoffed, shivering violently and watching the lines of refugees fleeing their former home. "Who the hell cares about them at this point? The big shots will have stayed to fight X."
"True," Delates agreed, though something still seemed off. "Well, they're out of range anyway…I wonder where they all go, when their uprisings are crushed?"
"Off to caves to hide, no doubt," Acrystos snarled. If she had the proper weapons, she'd have cut the runaways down then and there.
"Again," Tyclammel sputtered, "W-who the h-hell c-cares?"
"I have to agree with Ty on this one," Cort said, managing to keep most of the chatter out of his teeth. God, he missed his coat. "Let's get to a safe distance and contact X…the sooner we blow this place and go home, the better."
"Yeah," Delates agreed. "Let's go."
The phantasms liked these developments. Fate was reaching its climax at last. They clustered in groups, the minions of the darkness, fighting for a front row seat in the event of their afterlives. The Maverick King versus the Hunter Champions. Would history repeat itself, they wondered? Or would it take a sudden wrenching turn? Eagerly they watched, waited, salivated in anticipation.
Outside the sun was finally setting on the Day of the Buzzbombs. It had never really come out in the first place, thanks to the blizzard, but it set nevertheless, perhaps, thought the phantasms, symbolizing the fall of something or someone else. There was only one way to find out. The Seraph's halo was finally going to break…but how much would be standing after the collapse? Pay-Per-View could only dream of this stuff, they all thought in unison.
The first thing X and Zero noticed when they landed on the wide, circular freight elevator platform was a whole lot of nothing. The area was much wider than they'd anticipated, but still granted them the tight-quarters advantage. The problem seemed to be the lack of an opponent. Both their stomachs sank in unison at the thought that Sigma had already escaped, and that the whole thing had been a decoy.
Then they were confronted with a whole lot of something.
X heard it before he saw it—a mechanical hiss signifying the movement of something large. "Zero…GET DOWN!"
His partner complied just in time. A large blade whisked by overhead, its attempt at decapitation foiled by X's last second warning. "Don't tell me," Zero said with a dry mouth, getting carefully back to his feet.
"Cloaking," X confirmed, switching to infrared. Immediately his face changed into a mask of amazement. "Oh, great merciless hell…"
The first thought to cross X's mind was, it had nothing on Kaiser Sigma. That was the good news. Then came the bad—it was amazing beyond belief that humans had ever conceived of such a battle body and then let the damn thing get stolen by a crook like the Gold Serpent.
X74-Marauder was a bipedal monster that only vaguely resembled anything humanoid. Its head was a tiny cockpit dome guarded by an energy shield. It sat atop a massive, angular torso from which huge shoulder epaulets jutted. These were the links to the deadly arms Zero had described earlier. The right arm ended with a long, heavy silver blade. The left arm vaguely resembled an arm cannon, only with an ammo feed and many large barrels at the end. It was indeed a machine gun similar to those used on fighter jets, X reflected grimly. Marauder was somewhat squat, with two steel thighs that angled diagonally downward before the legs jutted down vertically. It reminded X of a two-legged spider. On Marauder's back there was the promised missile launcher, though X didn't suppose Sigma would use that in the elevator shaft of all places. Its lower back domed outward to form a cape of sorts, under which turbo-thrusters lurked to propel the machine into the air. X couldn't see the radar in the shoulder guards, but he knew they had to be there. Aside from that the only other thing that caught the Hunter's attention was Marauder's thin waist, gray instead of the chrome gold armor that covered the rest of the monstrosity's frame.
"Cheap shot, Sigma!" Zero taunted, seeing what X saw with his own infrared. "That all you're good for?"
Sigma responded by bringing the Marauder closer to Zero's position. The big ride armor groaned slightly as its stationary legs came to life, smashing against the floor as they moved towards the crimson Hunter. Zero growled a challenge and dashed to the right, hoping to circle around the machine. Sigma redirected his path, closing in on Zero's direction and raising his sword arm to block the path. Zero merely switched directions, zooming around Sigma's left flank.
"Slow and steady won't win this race," the Hunter taunted again.
This time the Marauder responded by twisting its upper body almost halfway around, bringing the sword arm flying towards a surprised Zero. The blade crackled with energies, and though Zero dropped to the floor before the attack struck bolts of energy remained in the air after the sword. Without thinking, Zero stood up.
While his partner writhed in electrical pain, X finished charging his cannon and sent the massive blast flying into Marauder's left shoulder. A last minute move by the ride armor resulted in less than perfect accuracy, but the machine did lurch forward when the attack exploded into it. Recognizing X's intention, Sigma activated Marauder's thrusters and shot himself backwards towards the Hunter, who barely managed to dash out of the way.
"He's taking position at the center!" X announced unnecessarily.
"My bright little friend," Sigma's voice rasped from an external voice box. It had a certain metallic hollowness to it. "Are you always so…enlightened?"
Before X could apply, Marauder's left arm leveled in his direction. The Hunter didn't even have time to swear before the machine gun erupted with both thunder and lightning, blinding and deafening the Hunters with flashes and reports as the monstrous rounds of ammunition exploded into the wall of the shaft behind them. The Marauder began to twist at the waist, drawing a horizontal line of fire leading from X to Zero. Both Hunters reacted by racing around the side of the massive ride armor. Seeing this, Sigma deactivated his firearm and the Marauder seemed to crouch lower. Its joints emitted a hiss, and then the legs snapped upright, lifting the machine into the air even as it began to turn around, crashing back down on the elevator platform with a shockwave that floored both Hunters, much to their dismay. The elevator itself slowed briefly and groaned in protest, but its reliable systems continued to operate.
"Let's try this again," Sigma said calmly, redirecting his gun at X. The Azure Hunter started scrambling to his feet, slipping on the sleek floor and accomplishing nothing before Sigma opened fire.
"X!" Zero thundered in alarm, but his concern was not needed—X's boot thrusters came to life and carried him well away from his section of the floor, a section that soon ceased to exist, again with amazingly little damage to the elevator's functions. Without waiting for Sigma to line up a second shot, Zero let out a battle cry and rushed the Marauder dead on, leaping onto its torso and bringing his saber to bear against the monster's right shoulder guard, hoping to destroy the radar within.
"Oh, if only it were that easy," Sigma drawled. Immediately afterwards, a thick sheet of electricity came alive all over the Marauder's exterior body and caught Zero quite off guard. The Hunter let out a yelp of pain and threw himself off the big machine, only he misjudged his jumping distance and hit the wall. It really was tight quarters in here.
This time it was X who called the warning, and this one was needed. Zero looked up just in time to see Marauder dashing at him, a big infrared blur, bringing its huge charged sword cracking towards the Crimson Hunter, who dodged only with the aid of his own thrusters. Marauder instead left a deep gash in the wall that by some unhappy chance severed no cables or anything else that might slow or stop the elevator. "The same holds true for you, Sigma!" Zero snapped, regaining his composure. "You won't take us down easily!"
"My God, Zero," Sigma breathed tiredly. "You really think this is about defeating you? I estimate that this elevator will reach the roof in…five minutes. Then I fly away, far away, an unseen menace shooting invisibly through the night sky. Off to scheme again."
"We still see you," X retorted, charging his cannon to its maximum level. His infrared targeting landed on Marauder's right shoulder. "And we're not letting you go anywhere."
"I suppose you can see me," Sigma acknowledged thoughtfully. "I'd forgotten about that."
What happened next was the worst thing either Hunter could have dreamt up for the present situation. Internal systems came alive inside Marauder, and a compartment underneath its hulking chest armor opened up to reveal a strange cannon of sorts. It fired once, before either Hunter could think to attack it, and the shaft was filled with a hideous wave of radiation. Immediately both Hunters watched their infrared sensors go absolutely haywire, locking onto everything and anything. "Shit!" they both chimed in unison, deactivating the function and blinking to clear their eyes.
Nothing. They were again facing an invisible enemy—invisible to the eye and unable to make out in infrared.
"Now," Sigma resumed, and they both heard the gun arm levering into position, "where were we?"
No words were spoken—from here on there was only chaos. Both Hunters ran behind the Marauder, which lashed out with gunfire and swordplay to prevent them from doing so. When it failed, the machine performed another jump-spin and began its attack anew, stomping towards a Hunter occasionally and attacking at closer range. Both of them had to rely on their sense of hearing to stay alive.
"Sigma!" Zero shouted, keeping his saber constantly moving in case of incoming attacks. "You've gone too far! First you try to destroy us with space lasers, and now with nukes? How low will you go, you bastard?"
"Me?" Sigma scoffed, turning his machine to face Zero. "No, my old friend, you have it all mistaken! It was Terrornova that approached me with the nuclear scheme…it was all them. That's how they traded their way into my ranks. 'The Team' is responsible for the weapon acquisition…and their usage. And you let them go." The Maverick couldn't resist a laugh. "But yet I'm the bad guy?"
"You orchestrated it all," Zero growled, feeling his rage coming to bear. "Just like with Repliforce!"
"I only wish I could say I orchestrated this!" Sigma retorted. "But Gold Serpent takes that prize. It was he who told Terrornova about the nukes. It was he who led them to me…and it was he who stole this magnificent ride armor, and let it slip into our possession."
"You mean…" Zero stopped, taken aback for the briefest of seconds. "You know this…how?"
"Please," the Maverick King drawled, bringing the Marauder's blade arm flying towards Zero. The Hunter listened for the sound of the blade cutting through the air nearest him and then dropped to the floor. "It wasn't hard to put it all together. He had the assassins fooled, but not me. Never me. I merely allowed him to continue with his game because it suited my purposes." The essence of a grin. "So I guess, in a way, I did orchestrate this. Cool."
"Who is he?" Zero demanded, noting that X was up to something and trying to buy him time. "Who is the Serpent, if you know so much about his plans?"
"Even I don't know that," Sigma responded, somewhat miffed. "But I have my…suspicions. Only three men would have all the connections needed to implement these exact pawns, and I highly doubt Kitao and Virdelko wanted this. They're humans, after all."
"That leaves one, a Reploid…" Zero's eyes darkened as realization set in, taking the form of Chartreuse, a Reploid he didn't know all that well but had come to hate vehemently. "That bastard…!"
"Yes," Sigma agreed, though much more chipper about it. "The world needs more enterprising gentlemen like him. Wouldn't you agree?"
X was indeed up to something. While Sigma and Zero played around, X searched his mind desperately for a way to disable Marauder's radar or cloaking or both. His mind finally came up with the Aiming Laser, and his colors shifted to purple and green. It was an awful color combination, he thought again, but he'd live with it.
To his dismay, however…there was nothing to lock onto. "Dammit," he swore grumpily. His targets were hidden too deeply under Marauder's armor to be accessible. That meant he had to wear it down a bit. Reverting to his normal colors he charged his cannon to its maximum level. Just as Sigma and Zero finished their conversation, he reached his top level. "Yo, Chrome Dome!" the veteran Hunter snapped, getting his enemy's attention. "If you two are done, mind coming over here so I can kill you again? You know the drill, I assume," he added, with as much patronization as possible.
Marauder did turn slightly, and Sigma's voice was acid. "Insolent bastard! I will spare a bullet for you!"
X couldn't have asked for anything more.
Marauder's cannon flashed and thundered, but that flash was not hidden by the ride armor's cloaking shield. Inhaling sharply but determinedly, X's thrusters carried him up into the air over the shots. Sigma raised the arm to redirect his fire, but X was ages ahead of him, dashing again in midair towards where he knew the shoulder had to be after locking on to the arm's position. Seconds later the ridiculously large blob of plasma that had become Fourth Armor's trademark crashed into Marauder's left shoulder, eating away at the exterior armor at a rate that X desperately hoped would be enough—Sigma would not fall for that trick twice.
While the Maverick King swore in rage, X wasted no time reverting back to the Aiming Laser. His breath caught thankfully in his throat as, this time, he did find a target—somewhere within Marauder's shoulder, the first radar unit had been found.
Sitting inside the sealed cockpit, Sigma didn't quite believe it when he saw it. One minute, he had a clear field of view all around Marauder; the next, half of that was gone. "You sons of bitches," he whispered, a flurry of dread alighting in his stomach. It passed quickly enough. He would not lose. He had only to stall them…not defeat them. And that he could do.
"A grand gesture," X and Zero heard as the Marauder began to right itself. "But ultimately futile. Behold! Light!"
And there it was—it was faint, but it was there. Moonlight from the roof spilled into the shaft as it neared its destination. If this wasn't telltale enough, the air temperature was dropping sharply as they approached the snowy night air. And the damned elevator kept moving…slowly, yes, but moving nonetheless. It wouldn't be more than two minutes.
"Destroy it," X decided out loud.
"Amen," Zero agreed, leaping into the air and angling his sword at the ground. With a cry of "Hyouretszuan!" he came down again, slamming his ice lance into the platform hoping to freeze it in its tracks. Nothing. "Dammit!"
"Oh, my!" Sigma was uproarious. "Now that's entertainment! If you want to cause carnage, Zero, try this for size." No longer hiding himself, their unseen foe activated the chargers on his sword, creating a gigantic golden beam saber that was plain to see, something X took advantage of as he began charging his cannon for the right shoulder. "No you don't," Sigma said matter-of-factly, remembering what had happened last time and bringing Marauder right towards the Azure Hunter, who had no room to maneuver. Instead X switched to the first special weapon he could think of and used his charge for it—the Double Cyclone. Sigma's brow furrowed in annoyance as the Marauder's heavy sword struggled against the plasma laced winds, which seemed feeble in comparison. Marauder won out, but not before X used his newly bought time to duck under the blade and escape to Marauder's left flank. Damn, Sigma thought as he dislodged the blade from the wall. Even with all this power, it was still going to be hard.
"What do you hope to accomplish?" Sigma tried the talking thing again, turning slowly to face his adversaries. "You can disable my radar if you like—that won't stop Marauder. I'll be free whatever you do, free to do whatever I wish with this warhead. I could take out your next base, if I wanted to. Or I could be even more devious, and take out the Megacity Government. Imagine that anarchy! Or worse," he added, just for Zero, "I could give it back to Malevex and the others. I'm sure they have a few grudges left over."
"There you're wrong," Zero responded, though he wasn't as strong about it as he would have liked. What would Malevex do with a warhead? Just because Zero had gone easy on him didn't mean that the man was any less a Maverick. For that matter, what might Terrornova do if in the future they were presented with the option to aid a Maverick attack? Could even this mercy make them think twice?
But no…now was not the time to second-guess himself. "If anything," Zero said smugly, clenching his sword firmly in his resolve, "Malevex would use it on you. And after what you did to those people, I wouldn't blame him."
Sigma had no retort. He just frowned darkly, levering Marauder's machine gun at his crimson nemesis. "All is fair," he said neutrally, pulling the trigger, "in love and war." Gunshots exploded into the walls behind the fleeing Hunters, and Sigma grinned maliciously as he increased the ammo flow. "Just ask Iris!"
"Rot in hell!" Zero thundered, exploding off a wall and diving towards where he assumed Marauder was. He connected all right, and gashed his sword deep into the monstrosity's chest armor before the electric flow struck him. Grunting in pain, his rage subsided and he removed his weapon to leap from the ride armor. As he did so, however, Sigma turned the machine suddenly and swatted Zero in the side like a tennis ball with the broad side of the energized blade. The grunt became a roar, and Zero hit the wall hard, landing in a heap on the platform…that had yet to stop moving.
"Temper, temper," Sigma taunted. He was falling back into his element. He loved these confrontations. "Remember what happened last time you fell into a rage?"
"Yes," Zero seethed, turning the tables. "Last time I fell into a rage…I conquered it." He stood. "And I saved a life…rather than taking one." He referred to Teytha, whereas Sigma referred erringly to Iris. "But don't look for any such mercy yourself!"
"I won't need it," Sigma sneered, leveling Marauder's gun at the prone Zero. "You, on the other hand…"
He never had the chance. Yelling with rage, Mega Man X leapt down from the wall he'd scaled rabidly, his armor a combination of gold and black. Above him a spiraling web of gold crackling energies came to life, spanning the entire distance across the shaft.
And the platform was leading Marauder right up into it.
"No!" Sigma gasped, realizing the Lightning Web tactic only when it was too late. "You bastard!" He turned the gun on X, though his fire was indiscriminate. X weaved through each blast like the pro he was, getting around Sigma's flank and dragging Zero with him for the last stretch. Before Sigma had a chance to turn around, the web would be upon him. Knowing this he raised the gun to fire on the web, but he was too close already. The golden blanket stuck to the ride armor faithfully, and as the elevator rose the whole machine became encased by X's trap. Zero cut a hole in the web above the Hunters to spare them the effects, but the rest of the webbing met the platform at its edges, gumming up the internal workings.
There was a loud metallic groan, and the freight elevator…stopped.
"NO!" Sigma fairly shrieked, all too aware of his present situation. The Lightning Web was not only holding him down, but it was also reacting to the electricity coating Marauder's frame. The end result was that a perfect outline of the machine was rendered visible to the Hunters, which made Marauder's cloaking useless. That same cloaking unit was damaged by the foreign electricity, and starting here it began to short out and reactivate at random intervals.
"You use everyone," Zero growled, dashing towards Sigma and preparing himself for the shock of what was to come. His blade covered itself with flames, crashing into Marauder's right shoulder and melting away the armor. The Ryuenjin carried Zero above Marauder, and as he shook off the electrical shock of impact he reverted to the Hyouretszuan for his follow up attack, bracing for the second shock. "No life, however faithful, is anything to you except an expendable pawn." The ice lance ate into the damaged shoulder armor, smashing through the final radar unit and rendering X74-Marauder effectively blind. "I won't let it continue! We won't let it continue!"
Marauder's cockpit window slid open—Sigma had no choice now but to look with his own eyes. From behind a screen of pulsating energies, X and Zero beheld the most pissed off Maverick King they'd ever seen, and he had but one thing to say to them.
"Well congratu-frickin-lations."
Marauder then went absolutely berserk. The blade arm was working overtime, slashing across the length of Marauder's body to tear any and all strands of high-voltage webbing before coming around for another pass. The machine turned slowly but effectively as its blade cut away more and more of X's trap. It was too dangerous for Zero to approach it with a melee attack, but that didn't stop X from pelting Sigma's cockpit with a third-level blast, which was pretty powerful in its own right. The barrier, however, merely sizzled and flickered, taking no actual damage.
"Not a chance!" Sigma taunted. "This energy barrier was designed with your weapons in mind, X!" Without another word, Sigma started up another Marauder function—the propulsion system. The thrusters underneath Marauder's back came to life, creating a rocket of flames that lifted the hulking mecha off the stationary elevator platform and tore it free of the last remnants of the Lightning Web. "Sayonara, suckers!" Even Sigma couldn't resist a good old-fashioned one liner once in a while.
"NO!" Zero bellowed, watching Marauder levitate up towards the roof…and to freedom. "We can't let him get away!"
"The walls," X realized, leaping onto them and scaling them with the functions ingrained in his boots. Zero did the same, his saber at the ready. It didn't take them long at all to catch up with Marauder, which moved far slower, and to begin pelting it with attacks.
"You're all insects!" Sigma roared, firing up his guns. "Bothersome insects! And you'll all be squashed!"
"You called me an insect once before, Sigma," X reminded him, charging his cannon. "I defeated you then, and I'll defeat you now!"
"Reality check," Sigma snapped scathingly. "This time I brought along a proper exterminator!"
Neither Hunter had enough time to react. Marauder's machine guns opened up again, but this time, being airborne, the ride armor was able to spin much more easily, and neither Hunter was ready for this. X's footing exploded from underneath him and he fell, latching onto a cable only a few feet from the stationary platform. "No…!"
"You bastard!" Zero shouted, jumping closer to Marauder and stabbing his sword into a damaged shoulder plate, hoping the electrical shield there would be offline. It wasn't. With a cry of pure, unadulterated hate the Hunter fell with his sword, jarred free by Marauder's external electrical field, and landed hard on the platform. X dropped down next to him to help him up, and Marauder just kept on soaring higher. He'd reach the roof in seconds.
"Sigmaaaaa!" X shouted, acquiring a red coloration and unleashing his charged blast in the form of the Rising Fire, a massive vertical fireball that traveled up the shaft and erupted underneath Marauder's thrusters. The result of so much heat was, unsurprisingly, overheating. The cloaking shield died long enough for the Hunters to get a load of their quarry, and then became active once more to their dismay. Sigma glowered at Marauder's danger sensors as the engines briefly flickered and died out. The big ride armor's legs shot out, wedging themselves in opposite shaft walls and keeping the behemoth stationary and in position without losing much in the way of altitude.
"So much for going out like insects!" Sigma fairly screamed with laughter, directing his gun down towards the platform. "You'll have to settle for being trapped like rats!"
Time stopped. Zero's head rose in slow motion, his eyes detecting the shimmer in the air that indicated Marauder's gun arm taking aim at him. There really was no escape here…no place to run to at all. But then…why did he need to run? He couldn't run. Not from Sigma. Sigma was the one who was running…because he had to. He knew X and Zero would destroy him if they caught him. That realization lifted his spirits—it was not a matter of defeating Sigma, he knew. All they had to do…all that was necessary to end this…
…All they had to do was catch the bastard.
"Press yourself against the wall," Zero ordered his friend, standing bolt upright.
"What?" X asked, even as he began to obey his partner's order.
"Just do it!" As he spoke, Zero's beam saber took on a darkish tint. Its coloration became something next to black, and it shimmered with what for all the world looked like fire. Even as destructive rounds from Marauder's weapon peppered the floor around him, Zero raised his sword and then slammed the tip into the platform at his feet. Immediately three strands of that black fire snaked away from the blade and crossed the floor. At their tips they blossomed into swirling orbs of ebon flame that slowly rose into columns…columns that shot clear up the length of the shaft into and past the Marauder. X, against the wall, was just out of range as the pillars then began to spin.
"TRIPLE NOVA!" Zero shouted, putting all his energies into hurling Malevex's parting gift up at the surprised and thoroughly helpless Sigma. He could go in no direction but up, firing up Marauder's thrusters too late to change anything as the swirling vortexes of dark fire closed in around the ride armor, melting and fraying armor. Zero seethed in anger, letting his hatred for Sigma brace him as he felt the heat of the pillars converging in on his position…and of Marauder's, directly above him. The fire did not harm Zero, its master, but Marauder was less fortunate, caught in a vertical inferno, a furnace that it could not escape. Sigma's frustrated howl echoed down the shaft as his own general's attack struck back at him, the traitorous commander. "Eat that, you little shit," Zero whispered as the attack reached its breaking point. "And choke on it."
Sigma didn't choke on anything, but he did respond in the only way he could—he fell. Marauder came down like a rock, and only by the dumbest of luck was Zero able to leap away from his death. Marauder hit with the force of a comet, and almost instantly the elevator platform gave way. It began to sink down, first slowly, then at the rate of a train as it hurled itself towards fiery destruction below. Marauder, on the other hand, lashed out with its feet again and lodged itself firmly in position while the Hunters scrambled to climb a wall.
"Sigma!" X growled in shock, beholding Marauder as it flickered in and out of view—the Triple Nova must have damaged its cloaking device even further. "Don't you ever know when to quit?"
"You're one to talk!" Sigma's voice growled as his thrusters went on. Inside his cockpit Sigma diverted all his energy to his propulsion unit, and he began to rise with a speed that both Hunters noted was much faster than before. "And you should know, regardless. I'm never licked…never!"
"Neither are we!" Zero fired back, lancing upwards with another Ryuenjin aimed at Marauder's thrusters. Expecting this, Sigma lashed out with a heavy leg and pinned Zero hard against a wall. He fell twenty feet before he regained his hold, and quickly scampered after his archrival. There was no way he could let him escape. He'd come so far this time…he'd saved himself from himself, he'd redeemed himself in his own eyes, and now all he had to do was stop this one last villain. It was ironic, he thought, that the one battle where he actually wanted to kill someone in this campaign was turning out to be the hardest battle to win.
X was using the Aiming Laser to lock onto Marauder's most exposed parts, bombarding them with concentrated firepower. Sigma eventually took offense and swiped his blade arm up across the wall at X, who danced around it, dashed across the void, and attacked from the other side. Finally Sigma allowed himself a final burst of speed to put himself above the Hunters, and then he redirected some power to his weapon units while pulling off some rather…interesting aero-acrobatics.
"What the…?" X frowned.
"He's gonna use the…" Zero realized. "X! Look out!"
But it was too late for either of them to do anything about it. Marauder turned nearly upside down, using its arms and legs as leverage in the tight quarters, and activated the missile launcher on its back. Before either Hunter could react, a salvo of miniature Sidewinders snaked out of Marauder's heaviest unit of firepower, lighting up the shaft with thundering explosions and clouds of shrapnel. Sigma had lost their heat seeking capabilities with his radar, but he didn't really need them here, he thought with a cruel smirk. At the same time this was happening, the elevator platform struck bottom and sent a blazing gout of flame shooting up the shaft from below. It wouldn't reach the Hunters, but its presence was still felt, and it lingered.
The Hunters themselves held on for dear life as their world exploded around them. Zero was less prepared, and his support cable shattered almost instantly as shrapnel caught him in the back. The shockwave from another missile came soon after, throwing him clear of any wall and into a headfirst plummet. "DAMMIT!" he shrieked in fury. "X! KILL HIM!" The blue Hunter looked down in dismay as his friend fell towards the inferno below. "KILL HIM BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"
"Zero," X choked out in disbelief, just as a missile exploded directly above him. He held onto his own cable, which somehow held, though his body was riddled with holes. When he looked again he couldn't see Zero, but the fire was also dying below him. Zero couldn't have died…he'd have found a wall eventually; he'd have dashed to one. But Lord knew how far down he was now. X was alone. Alone to stop Sigma from escaping with a nuke…
…And it seemed he was out of time.
In horror, X looked upward as the smoke cleared to see X74-Marauder, still flickering in and out of existence, climbing out of the elevator shaft into the freedom of the Catskill skyline.
"NO!" the Hunter erupted as he climbed the rest of the distance like a crazed monkey. His blaster began charging to its limit, and his growl gathered both power and volume as he approached his destination. Finally—finally—he broke free of the darkness of the elevator shaft and beheld a new darkness, that of the Seraph Castle roof. It was a part of the main building, and rectangular in structure. It was large, wide, and ideal for a battle…though Sigma wasn't looking for a battle.
And there he was, stomping towards the edge of the roof, undoubtedly giving his thrusters a chance to recharge. X brought his sizzling cannon to bear at the Marauder's most obvious weak point, calling out in throaty challenge to his hated enemy.
Sigma turned the Marauder in more disbelief than anything else. He had to see X to believe that his point blank missile salvo hadn't taken the accursed Reploid out of commission. His proof came in the form of both visual confirmation and of a giant blast of plasma in the thin waist of his prized ride armor.
Marauder shuddered and doubled over as its midsection sizzled with the impact of X's attack. It turned out to be of stronger make than X had suspected, but it still registered to the Hunter as his primary target.
"Persistent bastard!" Sigma's voice cracked across the otherwise peaceful night sky. "I'll see you in your grave yet!"
As he spoke, four more Sidewinders launched upwards from Marauder's launcher—the last of Sigma's stock. They twisted and writhed through the air as they came down at random points, again relying on weak internal radar due to the absence of Marauder's own central homing unit. Nevertheless X was still in danger, and he carefully dashed first left, then right, then right again, and then straight at Marauder as its missiles exploded behind it.
He was doubly surprised to learn that he'd miscalculated and was being thrown forward by a blast close behind him, and also that Marauder was a lot faster than he'd first anticipated.
Sigma's own battle cry was issued as he guided his war machine towards his startled enemy, bringing the sword up and slicing it at X, who could only throw himself flat on his face, guided forward by the momentum of the explosion behind him. The blade traveled over the Hunter's head, but then Marauder's right foot came up, and X broke into a frantic roll to avoid being squashed.
He rolled right under Marauder's thrusters.
Sigma activated the flames long enough to give X the scorch of a lifetime. The Hunter screamed in pain and continued his roll, putting out the flames but rising with a darkened face. The smell of burnt flesh—his flesh—registered, and his stomach sank with both revulsion and nervousness.
"Tell me, X," Sigma asked, aligning his machine in the Hunter's direction. "What's it like? What's it like to use all this effort, while knowing deep down that it's all for nothing?" He stepped forward, once, slowly, and then no more. "What's it like knowing that no matter what you do, no matter how many times you suffer…" Another step, just as slow, and then a halt. "…I still endure?"
"It's not for nothing," X whispered, beginning a silent charge of his buster.
"What's that, boy?" Sigma asked, narrowing his eyes. "Speak up!"
"It's not for nothing!" X shouted, stomping his right foot down hard. "And you listen up, junior. I'm twice your age, and I've got twice your competence in…well, pretty much everything. Even war." He grinned his own cold grin. "Pathetic, no? Me, a pacifist, I turn out to be a better soldier than you, a war machine."
"Don't flatter yourself!" Sigma laughed mirthfully. "You? A soldier? No, X, you're nothing more than a kid with a gun."
"Once," X acknowledged. "But you made me pick up that gun. And I used it to kill you. Now I'm a man with a gun, and I know how to use it." To emphasize, he loosed his charged shot, which again struck Marauder again in its wiry midsection. "You talk so big, like you know everything and call all the shots," X said, his voice gaining strength. It was he who stepped towards Sigma now. Only X wasn't stopping. "But we both know that's not the case. You're just a pawn…just like those you claim to control. You're nothing but a puppet."
"But who are you speaking to, X?" the voice asked him cryptically as Marauder struggled to compose itself, its central armor significantly weakened. "Sigma? Or something else?"
X's eyes darkened as he sensed the true presence inside the ride armor. "You're the Virus."
"Always the Virus," Sigma's controller said with a grin. "I'm not the puppet. I'm the puppetmaster. I do know everything and call all the shots…and I'm so much stronger than anything you've ever encountered." Behind his shield, the big Reploid smiled maliciously. "Just ask Zero."
"Zero…" X mouthed the name, charging another shot. Sigma noticed. X didn't care. "You've been using him for a long time…you've been tormenting my best friend, and I don't like it very much."
"Your best friend!" the Virus scoffed. "Hardly! He is your worst enemy."
"If Zero were the worst I had to fear," X said with an easy smile, "the world would be more peaceful than even I had ever dared to dream. You, Sigma…you, Virus…you're the worst enemies to peace…and peace is all I fight for."
"For which you were prepared to kill those assassins?" Sigma challenged, priming his own attack. "For which you have killed countless others? That doesn't sound very peaceful to me."
"Sigma, I've put up with you for…how long is it now? I believe I know the odor of bullshit when I smell it. So spare me the crap."
"As you wish," Sigma responded, all too quietly for X's liking. Seconds later, Marauder shimmered back out of existence. In another instant, a radioactive blast hit X dead on, ruining his infrared on the roof as well. Swearing violently, X broke into a run, hearing the clomp clomp of Marauder's heavy metal feet moving much too quickly. This wide-open space…Marauder was now fighting in its element, and this was not good for X at all.
For a while, the "battle" consisted of X frantically looking for a new exit route, watching carefully for some hiccup in Marauder's cloaking shield to pinpoint its exact location to make his escape easier. Sigma came at him with crazy sword attacks, and even though the blade's energy function was now deactivated it would still take X apart if it hit him. The Hunter took a page from Zero and allowed his emotions to take hold and sustain him.
If Sigma escapes, he told himself, he can threaten the entire free world. With just that one bomb, he can do more damage than both the other ones combined. The fear he could cause…it would undermine everything. He cannot be allowed to do that. Megacity 5 is already burning, and it's our fault for not stopping the Mavericks sooner. We can't fail again…we WON'T fail again. If there's to be any truth to this "free world" thing…then Sigma…
"YOU WILL FALL!" X finished aloud, in a voice of absolute command that he so rarely used. Even Sigma was hypnotized by it, however briefly, and that gave X all the time he needed. The Hunter spun on his heel, switched on infrared, selected the biggest blob of radiation he saw and let fly with his next charged shot. The blob of plasma slammed into what by some miracle was indeed the Marauder, working on the blade arm itself and giving Sigma quite a few woes about its functionality. More importantly, it bought X the time he needed to change weapons, selecting again the Aiming Laser. He reverted to normal sight and found a target…too far to the left. He tried again…no, that was the right radar box again, and it was already spent. He tried one last time, hoping he'd done enough damage.
And there it was, a lock right in the middle.
X opened fire, and the last Aiming Laser cut into Marauder's damaged midsection enough to make Sigma change tactics totally. He shut off his cloaking device, realizing that it just made X more intent on the weak midsection, and shielded the area with his sword arm. "All right, X," Sigma seethed, as the thrusters behind Marauder fired up. "You wanna fight? Well then by God, we're gonna fight!"
X had no time to savor this victory. Marauder came rocketing towards him like a bat out of hell, flailing with charged sword and using the gun as a club. X wove carefully around the beast, which made full use of its revolving torso. Sigma would even occasionally lash out with a foot, and one time punched X back enough for the energy-charged sword to come into play. It lashed out towards him, a bolt of Zeus, coming right for the Hunter's throat. He dashed in the opposite direction, putting his all into the evasive measure. By some miracle, he outran Sigma's thundering slash, and the Marauder, refusing to acknowledge defeat, kept turning. It carried all the way through and slammed its blade into the rooftop where X had been, angled awkwardly in the Hunter's direction…leaving the midsection totally exposed.
"Sorry, boy," X said icily, raising his cannon to deliver what hopefully would be the final blow. "This flight's been canceled."
He didn't see Marauder's left arm rise behind its back. He didn't see the elbow rotate around as though there was no joint to hold it in place. He did see the gun pointed right at him, but not until it was too late. Sigma had deliberately left himself open…he'd set this trap, and now X had fallen right into its snares.
Mega Man X did something he had not done in ages that night—he froze. It was only for a second, but in that second, while he stared like a cow in headlights, Sigma's ride armor opened fire with its aircraft gun, sending a storm of high-powered rounds at the champion Maverick Hunter. When X did react, his first frantic thought was to get somewhere—anywhere—but here. He dashed to the left, his only conscious thought, and watched the golden tracers fly past him, his breathing suspended, his mind damning him for his mistake, and his soul hoping fervently that he might be spared the void.
A round struck him in the right bicep, punched out the back of him, and spun his body like a rag doll onto the ground.
X gasped, winded. Then he gasped again, this time a short inhalation of breath, when he saw the blood that he'd just spit up with the air. Something metallic landed in back of him, and weak as he felt something compelled him to turn and look.
It was his arm. His right arm was laying across the rooftop, severed clear from his body by that one round. It was the arm Malevex had shot—X still had his buster, but now he had no digits with which to manipulate his surroundings. Not if he still wanted to shoot. Plus, he was bleeding profusely.
"Shut down all blood flow to the damaged area," X rasped to his repair unit, even though it was worlds ahead of him. The Hunter painfully forced himself to his feet, feeling the absence of his arm and getting sick because of it. His legs wobbled. His head began to ache. His vision blurred, and he thought to himself that at least the round hadn't hit his shoulder—it may have taken half his body off.
His vision cleared to behold the visible Marauder marching towards him, its blade raised like an executioner. It jumped briefly and crashed down, generating a shockwave that floored X again. He fell right on his rump, staring up miserably at the monstrosity before him. Laughing himself into frenzy, Sigma sent a current of electricity racing through his blade, fixing X with the most poisonous of glares.
"I must admit, Hunter, you had a very good idea!" The Maverick King rested his hand on the control to attack. "This battle thing…has turned out quite nicely." Marauder's back arched slightly more. "Now goodbye, Mega Man X! And may you burn for all eternity!"
X said nothing as he raised his arm cannon and fired a simple level 2 shot up into the open compartment housing Sigma's radioactive cannon, a compartment he had never bothered to close and which was now revealed in full by Marauder's posture.
The results were instantaneous. The cannon, not meant to take damage, was easily spent by the shot and exploded as only something radioactive can. The explosion carried through into some of Marauder's internal units, which were apparently linked. One of these was the cloaking shield, which flickered off for eternity. Sigma shrieked in frustration as his cockpit flashed warning lights and his war machine was rocked by internal blasts. It staggered a safe distance away from X, who slowly got back to his feet and forced himself to focus at the enemy before him, glaring daggers. His energy was low…losing a limb did that to a guy. But he could hold out…he had to.
Sigma didn't offer him much in the way of hope, however. Smoke pouring from every corner of Marauder's body, the machine stood erect and leveled its guns directly at the sluggish X. "I don't care what or how long it takes, Mega Man!" bellowed what was probably the Virus. "I will bring you to your knees!"
"Sigma," X said in a rare bit of sardonic, vulgar humor. "That's just sick."
X could be as crass as he wanted, for all Sigma cared. He was the one with the advantage this time. And he was damn sure gonna use it. Marauder's guns began to whirr, and the ammo feed started moving.
A column of fire lanced up from the elevator shaft as it erupted like a volcano. At its tip was a burning sword, and beneath that a swordsman the color of the fire beneath him. The sword switched elements, becoming instead encased by freezing ice as the swordsman came crashing down towards his hated enemy.
"SIGMAAAAA!" Zero's voice split the night air like a crack of paralyzing thunder. It even drowned out the sound of the ice lance shearing into the armor behind the cockpit, the sound of Sigma's enraged scream, and the groans of X74-Marauder as it struggled to keep itself in working order after sustaining so much abuse.
"You FREAK!" Sigma accused, swiping at Zero frantically with Marauder's sword just to get the crazy man away from him. It worked. "What are you that you can't just DIE?"
"Some of us," Zero seethed, stepping forward again with his sword clenched tightly in his fists, "have more to live for than death." His bloodshot eyes narrowed at the behemoth before him. "Unlike you."
Sigma's responding cry told Zero all he needed to know. Marauder's guns armed themselves and opened fire at Zero, who sped around the ride armor and headed towards its back. "SHIPPUGA!" Zero roared, letting his elongated red blade shear into the back of Marauder's midsection, adding further damage to what X had started.
"Impossible!" Sigma whispered, barely cohesive. Marauder's thrusters flared to life again, carrying the machine across the rooftop away from the dangerous Maverick Hunters. "This is…the most powerful ride armor in the history of warfare. How can you…how can you mere foot soldiers be a match for it?"
"Power isn't everything," X declared, staggering towards Sigma. Zero rushed to his side to support him, a sickened look clouding the blonde Reploid's features. "It's only a part of the whole. I realized that a long time ago. Winning requires some kind of dedication…and dedication is different from obsession." He fixed Sigma with a confident gaze. Now he was the one who knew everything. "You forgot that, that first time we fought. That's how I defeated you. You were so obsessed with your single cause that you lost sight of the big picture, while I was too dedicated to my cause to see anything but the big picture. And here…tonight…" He waved his arms to encompass all the Catskills and Megacity 5 beyond. "Nothing has changed."
"He did this to you," Zero breathed, examining X's stump of an arm. He looked up at the stationary Marauder, angry bile rising in his throat. "You did this…" A rage took him and he stepped away from X, who was able to stand on his own now. "You destroy EVERYONE you come in contact with!"
"Well Zero," Sigma said with a vicious huff, "that would make me no different than you."
The barb lanced right into and through Zero's heart. The Hunter's face darkened and turned to stone. Sigma had of course gone right to the one thing that could double Zero over with grief. That one statement could have defeated him then and there, could have left him doubtful of both his abilities and intentions…doubtful of who and what he was. He could have been left wide open for Sigma to work his black magic.
But not tonight.
Tonight, standing here was a different Zero. He had done as much to undo his past as he possibly could—saving life instead of destroying it. He'd delivered Teytha from a death set up by others; he'd granted Mortar a pardon from X, the angel of death; and he'd prevented Malevex from walking the path of self-destruction. People often called him a hero for the things he did, and while he acknowledged them he never really believed them. But tonight, regardless of how ridiculously conceited it seemed to him, he felt like a hero. And that feeling, it reminded him of how he'd felt for one instant in the core of Final Weapon, indulging for the briefest of seconds in actual happiness. Somewhere, he knew for certain, Iris was watching him.
And she was proud.
Tonight, nothing, not even Sigma could bring Zero down. Tonight, he was invincible.
"You and me," Zero said evenly to Sigma, marching towards him, twirling his beam saber easily. "Two of a kind?"
"You shouldn't even have to ask," Sigma retorted uneasily, watching Zero closely. "We share that common link. Nothing can change that. Together, we are the blights facing this world!"
"Well, then," Zero said emotionlessly, halting and fixing Sigma with a look that actually riveted the Maverick Commander in his chair. "I'm sorry to say it, but…" Tonight, even Zero didn't mind indulging in a few one-liners.
"This world ain't big enough for the two of us."
It was less the line itself than the way it was delivered that made Sigma decide he'd spent enough time at Seraph Castle, and that it was time to leave forever. X74-Marauder came to life, its thrusters burning brightly as it turned and shot towards the edge of the roof. It lifted off with Zero chasing behind it, running with a speed that nearly put the behemoth itself to shame.
"Zero!" X shouted, sensing what his friend was about to do and dreading it. "No…don't do it! It's too dangerous!"
Zero didn't answer right away. His dash thrusters came online and he sped forward like an aircraft taking off, heading right towards the spot where Marauder had left the rooftop two seconds earlier. The machine itself was now speeding away from the castle at a velocity that belied its clunkier movements inside the elevator shaft, but Zero didn't mind. It was going to work. It had to. In his mind, there was no other alternative…no other way of things working out. There was only one option, and thus it was going to happen. It really was that simple.
Zero timed his leap perfectly, springing off of Seraph Castle with a feline's grace, arcing through the air at twice Marauder's speed with his thrusters still going overtime and complaining about it, but Zero didn't care. All that mattered for now was this. As he jumped, his head turned long enough to fix his best friend with one last look, and his lips opened to send one last message.
"X…trust me!"
"ZERO!" X's voice called uselessly up to the Crimson Hunter as he disappeared into the inky black night. The remaining Hunter picked up his severed arm almost absently, still watching in stunned shock as Zero went off on his craziest stunt yet. He couldn't catch that thing…not now. It was just too far out a possibility to consider.
And yet…
And yet Zero would catch Marauder, X knew, because things worked for Zero if they were far out. He had a…gift, of sorts. It had seen him through everything so far. Despite X's mountainous reservations, despite his fears, and despite his best judgment, he had trusted Zero in his illogical decision to free three of the most deadly terrorists X had ever encountered. And now, standing here alone on this rooftop, X was not disappointed. Something cleared in his mind, something that until now had prevented him from seeing the simple, obvious truth.
If not Terrornova…then it would have been someone else.
There really was only one villain here—Sigma. Zero had been right on target. If there really was to be any end to the killing, Sigma first had to be killed himself. For good. X didn't know how they could ever accomplish that, but for now killing the bastard temporarily seemed like the best solution. And Zero was right on top of that.
"Zero…" X blinked once, and then set his face in resolve. "You won't have to do this alone."
Summoning the reserves of his power, X drew on his sole E-Tank to bring his internal energy up to full. Severed arm under the other one, he raced to the edge of the roof, looking down with a colossal frown. Then it turned upside down as he had an idea.
"I'm not licked yet!" X promised the world in a whisper, even as his armor turned yellow and black, and the Lightning Webs began to form a staircase to the snowy earth. "Sigma…you'll have company soon enough!"
Clearing Seraph Castle was like finishing a marathon race. Sigma let out the biggest sigh of relief he possibly could, allowing himself to relax in his cockpit as the stress of the preceding encounter wore off. Zero was a monster, no doubt about it. He didn't want to face that bastard now, not when he had so much hate working for him. Better to let the Hunter stew for a while, and to calm down. Then he'd strike again…but where?
That was the problem with owning a nuke, he thought, patting the Spare like he would a grandchild. There were just too many options, too many plans of attack…but it would be fun choosing the right one, he thought with a smile. He'd show those damned Hunters who was boss. He'd put the fear of Sigma in them for sure next time. And he was positive he'd come up with an even more heinous plot for the next round. First, though, he had to get to his auxiliary base to recuperate. It was hidden to Hunter radar, and so long as he got there before daylight broke, the Hunters wouldn't be able to trace him there. Soon, the Seraph Castle uprising would officially be over…and he, Sigma would be alive and unscathed for a change.
He nearly died from fright when the thump registered on Marauder's back.
"Jesus Christ," Sigma breathed the human deity's name without a second thought, knowing without really knowing what was going on. "I…I don't believe it!"
"Believe it, you miserable little fuck," Zero's scathing voice registered in Marauder's auditory sensors. "Like you said, we're the same…you can always count on us for reappearances!"
"I won't let you!" Sigma ranted, driven nearly mad in his disbelief. On his command, Marauder began a crazy series of acrobatics, spinning in complicated barrel rolls while trying to maintain altitude. Sigma feinted left, right, anything to try and throw Zero from atop his mount to his snowy death below. Finally he settled down, positive that he had to have dislodged his unwanted cargo.
A beam saber cut through the cockpit from behind him, lodged clear through his shield.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Sigma thundered, thumbing the switch of his electrical curtain and wondering why he hadn't thought of it sooner.
Nothing happened.
"No…" Sigma whispered, the truth of it all crashing down hard. When X took out his radioactivity cannon, the explosions must have taken out the electric generator as well as the cloaking core. "No, it…it can't be!"
"But yet it is," Zero answered from outside, laughing almost as wickedly as Sigma liked to. The wind whipped the Hunter's hair behind him like a cape, splaying it out in a flow of gold as his arms went to work, one hanging onto a ridge on the back armor, the other retrieving the sword from its resting place. Sigma rolled the Marauder again, and this time a gust of wind came to his aid. Zero lost his hold, but latched on again to the flailing gun arm. Sigma began to fire it, hoping the jolt of the recoil would ruin Zero's grip. It almost did, but the Hunter ended the ordeal by crying out and slashing his blade through the ammo feed, severing Sigma's supply of deadly bullets. The last few were spent, and then the gun shuddered like a dead engine, much to the Maverick's horror.
Sigma's dismay did not last long before it gave way to determination. In his last moments of sanity, he began to draw more and more on the Virus for guidance. He did not know how to handle Zero now, he admitted, not without losing the Marauder, his ticket to future carnage with the Spare. He needed help…he had to have it.
Fool, the Virus chided him. Do I have to do everything around here?
"End it," Sigma begged of his tormentor in a whisper. "Just get rid of him!"
He has denied me for the last time, the Virus agreed, seizing full control of its host's body.
"Now, Zero," the Virus spoke in Sigma's voice. "I believe it's time to play…what is it your human friends so cheerfully call it…? Oh yes. Hardball."
Zero registered the change in Sigma's tone, but didn't make the connection that the Virus was in full control now. He didn't have time to. Not before Marauder went into a series of even crazier maneuvers that shook him free of his hold on the gun arm. Marauder's sword came flying at him, but ironically this saved Zero's life. He latched his own sword on top of Marauder's long enough to swing himself up and over the weapon and grab what remained of the right shoulder guard. It was like a new pilot had taken over, and while Sigma had been quite skillful, this new adversary was ten times that.
"Your abilities continue to amaze me," Sigma's voice hissed as the ride armor began to somersault, a maneuver that shouldn't have been physically possible for the kind of propulsion it used, but yet it was happening nonetheless. Zero held on for dear life as his world turned upside down…and down, and down, and down.
"And your evil continues to repulse me," Zero countered, searching frantically for some kind of action to take. This couldn't go on long. He couldn't even see the ground below him—he had no idea how long a fall it was.
Then he saw, below him, the top of a mountain. He was well above the Catskills now. And he knew that if he did fall, from these heights, he would quite surely die.
The Virus realized this as well. "Evil? What right have you to be repulsed by the very thing you embody?" Marauder suddenly twisted hard to the left, shoving the air in Zero's face like a steamroller. Then it stopped and reversed direction, all in a fraction of a second. There was nothing Zero could do except watch as his fingers slipped clear off his meager hold, and open air welcomed him.
"Such is the fate that awaits all those who deny themselves!" the Virus proclaimed triumphantly, booming with malicious laughter.
The laughter was silenced when Zero appeared before him, standing directly in front of the cockpit window.
"How…" The Virus gasped, unable to say more.
You failed! Sigma accused, somewhere inside himself.
"No," the Virus protested, shaking Sigma's head. "I don't fail…I never fail!"
"You failed," Zero echoed, raising his saber to punch it through the shield and into the Maverick King's body. "Because I'm not evil. Not anymore." With that, the Hunter Zero drove his arm forward with a mighty cry and put a real end to the Seraph Castle uprising.
At least, he would have, had Marauder's electrical curtain not chosen that moment to come active.
When X had triggered the chain reaction of internal explosions, the current generator was not actually destroyed—rather, it was merely knocked offline. Marauder's internal repair unit had been busy restoring that unit to its full capacity, but when Sigma had switched on the curtain, repairs had not yet been made in full. They were now, however, and Sigma had never turned the function off, and so Zero got a surprise dosage of painful electricity.
Zero was holding onto the armor above the cockpit—the shock got him directly. His grip was foiled almost instantaneously and he fell against the cockpit, electrocuted further by the repulsing waves that composed the cockpit shield. Sliding like an insect from a windshield he fell, as the Marauder zoomed past him at its top speed.
It took Sigma—both of him—ten full seconds to wholly register what had just happened. Then together they broke into a cacophony of laughter. That, right there, made the whole night worth it.
"You see," the Virus chortled proudly. "I never fail."
A jolt registered from Marauder's right leg.
You sure about that? Sigma challenged right back.
Marauder's pilot stared in pure, utter disbelief at what he was seeing right now. Then he broke into a scream of unparalleled rage. "ZERO! YOU ANIMAL!"
"I don't pay…attention…" Zero wheezed, climbing up Marauder's backside from the legs, forcing himself to ignore the agony he was experiencing, "…to dogs!"
Upon falling, Zero had caught Marauder's leg with his saber as it zoomed overhead. After hoisting himself up, Zero had taken hold of the machine despite the electrical current, holding on out of sheer determination. He used his sword as an anchor, jamming it into the Marauder's armor and hoisting himself further up, all the while approaching its midsection, damaged already by X's attacks.
"I'll stop you somehow, Zero!" the Virus raged. "I'LL KILL YOU YET!"
"No," Zero shivered out through his pain. "No, Sigma…you'll never hurt me again. Because…I won't allow you to!"
Breathing very deeply, Zero concentrated fully on the pain of the electricity lancing through his body, trying with all its might to propel him off the Marauder and down to his demise. He welcomed the pain. He used the pain. His damage meter shouted warnings, but he looked forward to even that. All he needed was a little more…just a little more…
Yes…there it was.
"RAKKUOHA!" He shouted it as loudly as he could, raising his supercharged fist and then slamming it hard into X74-Marauder's thin back. The storm of energies ate into already weakened armor, slashed through vital circuitry, and most importantly ripped apart key structural points…put simply, Marauder's spine had been snapped in half. The machine itself gave a hideous groan as the weight of its upper and lower ends became too much. It stopped moving as a unit, and then gravity finished the job Zero had started, snapping the bestial ride armor in two.
Without a generator to power it, the thruster unit died out and the lower half of Marauder's body fell. Without thrusters to keep it aloft, the upper half suffered the same fate. For his part Zero latched onto Marauder's chest, again ignoring the pain and holding on for dear life. He had to time this right. It all depended on this, and he knew it. He shut out Sigma's screams, he shut out the whistle of falling debris, and just watched.
…There. A sea of white among an atmosphere of black, illuminated by the glowing moon. The ground was fast approaching.
Zero waited three seconds longer before propelling himself off of Marauder, springing backwards with both the momentum of the electrical curtain's repelling force and his own dash thrusters. He fell the remaining distance to the ground, which was not in itself lethal.
What was lethal was the second half of Marauder, crashing down immediately nearby the Hunter and exploding with all the fiery vengeance the thruster fuel could muster.
With a mournful cry, the dejected Hunter was thrown back into the air and sailed like a skipped stone across the snowy blanket before finally slamming hard and headfirst into the side of a small mountain. Blackness even darker than the night took hold of him, and he knew no more.
Mega Man X darted across the snowscape as fast as his weary legs could take him. With his remaining arm he blasted away most of the snow with low-level plasma shots, melting enough to clear a path for himself. At first he hadn't known where he was going, but the telltale sound of Marauder's guns going off told him quite a lot eventually. Redirecting his course, X traveled about twenty meters before encountering life in the form of two shadows, moving in the distance.
"Halt!" he snapped, raising his cannon. "Who goes there!"
Both shadows froze stiff, turning slowly to face X as he approached them. The Hunter squinted and made out a humanoid in dark armor standing next to a raccoon Reploid. Both wore the Maverick insignia, though in both cases it was tattered.
"P-please," Gerritt begged, recognizing X for who he was. "D-don't…"
"Identify yourselves," X growled. He had no time for this.
Diavus was no rocket scientist, but it didn't take that to notice that X was missing an arm, an arm that he kept underneath his left. Even so his own back was sheared open and Gerritt was more or less broken down. To fight X would still mean death. "We're Mavericks," Diavus managed to say.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," X snapped coldly, gesturing to their insignias. "What are you up to now?"
"Please!" Gerritt actually fell over. "God, I don't want to die…!"
X's eyes narrowed as recognition set in. "A raccoon…you're the one who shot Commander Damia!"
Gerritt's horrified look was answer enough. Diavus interjected quickly on his friend's behalf. "We were only acting under orders!" he protested, trying to sound as pathetic as possible. He hated this, but this was how it was done. "I lost a friend to the humans…I thought this would even the score, but it…it just got so out of hand! I swear to God I didn't know anything about nukes!" Diavus lied through his teeth.
"She was shooting at us," Gerritt offered shakily and weakly. "I…I just shot back!"
X felt another shudder rip through his body. That sick feeling was back…the same sick feeling that had hit him when they let Teytha and Mortar go free. It was the feeling that he was being a sucker. But the way he saw it…he'd let people go for worse crimes than these two had committed. There wasn't much of a way to justify his killing these mere foot soldiers when he'd refused to kill the commanders, was there?
"Go," he ordered them crisply, and they quite simply went. X watched them disappear into the shadows, following them with infrared. Once he was sure that they weren't going to pull anything, he redirected his sight and raced forward again.
Fifty meters later he met more company.
"I
told you!" a masculine voice said proudly. "I told you, didn't I? I said
I knew the best way out of that joint, and did I ever!"
"Yeah, man," another
slighter voice agreed. "I guess you were right."
"I tell ya, I am the man!"
X recognized both voices, and promptly groaned. "Oh, not these two jokers again!"
A tall green Reploid stumbled into view, stopping and gawking at the Azure Hunter. "AHH!" he yelped. "VASTOR! DO SOMETHING!"
"AHH!" a shorter red Reploid yelped when he was close enough to see the same thing. "SURGE! DO SOMETHING!"
"ENOUGH!" X yelled. "GO SOMEWHERE! Before I go Rambo on your asses!"
Vastor and Surge didn't need to be told twice. Surge led the way, whimpering like a schoolboy who'd just had his lunch money stolen, with Vastor close behind. "Sure!" the red Maverick chided ruthlessly. "The best way out! Noooo sentries anywhere! Well wasn't that just plum friggin pudding perfect!"
"Shut up!"
"You know, that's THREE TIMES you've almost gotten us fragged by the Hunter pros!"
"Shut up!"
"And you know what? I'm sick of it!"
"SHUT UP!" X bellowed after them, sending a crackling green bolt of plasma in the air above their positions. Both took the hint and bolted faster. "Great googly-moogly!" the Azure Hunter exhaled in a huff.
The rather silly situation ended then, quite abruptly. Far off in the distance, at least several miles away from X, Marauder's two halves came crashing down. Two violent plumes of fire rose into the night sky, and immediately X's stomach turned over as all kinds of worst-case scenarios flashed throughout his mind. The worst of these was that the Spare would go off, but then he remembered that warheads themselves weren't dangerous unless armed. He doubted Sigma would arm the thing when he was sitting right next to it. But if Zero hadn't cleared the area in time, nuke or not, things would be pretty bad for him…especially if Sigma had survived the crash.
"No," X promised himself, starting up his dash thrusters again.
"It's
not over yet!"
His eyes opened slowly, but at least they opened.
Dim light spilled into his optics, revealing a quiet, expansive room full of all kinds of mechanical parts and various machines. It looked to him like a construction lab. He himself was lounging in an armchair against the far wall, where he had a full view of the room. It was a familiar room, he realized, though he had never seen it in person before. After blinking a few times, he began to suspect that this might not be "in person" either. Ironically, the last thing he noticed was right in front of him—another chair, facing him. The sight of its occupant confirmed his suspicions.
Zero stood bolt upright, alarm coursing through his systems. The next thing to hit him was a combination of fatigue and dizziness, and down he sat once more, clutching at his aching skull. "What…?"
"Sit down, Zero," Doctor Albert Wily said in a voice that lacked real emotion. "For once, I don't believe you have anything to fear."
"There's always something to fear from you," Zero retorted, his voice a cold hiss compared to Wily's easy conversational tone. "All you've done is try to ruin my life."
"I know." The old man was resting his forehead on his right fist, leaning into it without making eye contact with his "son". "Not much of a father, am I? X's father managed to stick around to teach him things, through those capsules. I wasn't able to do quite the same thing with you."
"The things you wanted to teach me," Zero replied, getting his voice under control, "I would have refused to learn."
"So I see now." Wily raised his head slowly, looking his final creation in the eye.
Immediately a calm spilled over Zero, shutting down the icy barbs of hate that had originally struck him when he beheld his creator. This man in the chair before him was no threat…he was just a tired old man. The look in his eyes was no longer cruel, cold or threatening. The eyes didn't criticize Zero, or ridicule him in any way. Now they just scrutinized him, searching him, almost like Wily was seeing him for the first time. It put Zero on guard, making him think that the old man had to be up to something, but at the same time knowing, somehow, that there were no tricks to be played here. "Where am I…?" he finally asked, ending the looming silence.
"You're…" Wily stopped and frowned. "Well, that's not an easy question to answer. I could say you're sleeping, but this is a bit more than a dream."
Memories began to assault Zero—a flaming ride armor falling from the sky, twin explosions, and then a one-way express trip into the side of a mountain. "Don't tell me I'm…?"
"Oh, hell no!" Wily barked a curt laugh. "No son of mine would ever go down from a simple bump to the head!" He shook his head slowly. "No, Zero, there's much more for you to do yet in the future…hell, you've got more to do tonight."
"You mean Sigma…"
"Sigma." Wily leaned back in his own armchair, exhaling slowly. "Yes, Sigma. And the creature swimming around in his head."
"Your Virus." Zero's eyes narrowed. "Why? Why did you create that thing?"
"The same reason I created you." At this point, as he said the last sentence, something else flickered in Wily's aged eyes. It was something Zero had never seen before in his visions of the old scientist, but now it was there, and directed specifically at him.
Pride.
"What do you want?" Zero asked, his voice little more than a whisper. He felt uncomfortable here. Nervousness was beginning to ensnare him. He'd just spent incredible amounts of energy fighting and winning a battle within his soul—he didn't want Wily to have a chance to undo all that.
Somehow Wily saw right through Zero, seeing the sentiment and smiling. The smile wasn't condescending in any way. It was…it was, and Zero hated, hated this term for it…fatherly.
"I wanted to…to thank you." Almost immediately after he said it he laughed at himself, feeling ten kinds of idiot and not hiding it.
"To thank me?" Zero asked skeptically. This man, father or not, had made his life hell, and he wasn't letting him off easily. "For what, may I ask?"
"For giving me peace." Wily leaned forward, looking over his confused son with a gaze that for the first time conveyed approval. "For this brief moment in time…I am fulfilled."
"How?" Zero asked, completely bewildered. "I just spent the bulk of my efforts spitting in your eye! I did everything in my power to spite you! How could I possibly have…pleased you?"
Albert Wily frowned, unsure of how exactly to put his sentiments into words. It was a new thing for him, this sanity thing. It took him a while. "The reason I created you, Zero…and the reason I created the Virus…well, the reason I did everything in my life…" His hands lifted in some frustration, and shaking his head he started over.
"There are celebrities in the world, Zero, who stand out for their qualities and their hard work and receive the world's attention. Then there are those who do just as much work, but are elbowed aside in favor of the first group. All my life, I wanted to be with the first group…a celebrity…someone who made a difference, someone who was known."
"I'd say you succeeded in that last part," Zero offered dryly.
Wily ignored him. "All my life, my efforts had gone unnoticed. When I met Thomas…Thomas Light…I was the one with all the ideas, the know-how, and the dreams. Thomas had the connections, the money, and the ideology. Together we formed a perfect team." His voice deflated. "But even then I was just the footnote. Thomas got all the attention, because he was the celebrity among us. I was just his 'assistant'. Assistant! Ha!" He slammed his fist on the arm of his chair. "I invented most of the robot classes that exist today. I developed the technology for the first undersea robots…space robots…mining robots! But where was my reward? It went to Thomas Light."
"So you declared war on him?" Zero frowned and shook his head. "That's no reason for doing what you did."
"No, you don't understand!" Wily shook his head much more frantically. "That first 'rebellion'…it wasn't what the world accepted it to be. Not wholly. You think one man could have arranged all that on his own? Sure I had royalties, Zero, but come on," the doctor snorted out a laugh. "Where was the money for all my Robot Masters? My massive fortresses and their extensive security networks?"
"History says you stole it all."
"Not all of it. History, you see, is usually a lie," Wily said dismissively. "What the world calls 'history' is just a recording of events in a way that will please whoever's in power at the time. No, Zero, I was merely a part of a larger organization."
"Organization?" Zero's eyebrow raised quite high. "Organization of what?"
"Businessmen, mostly," Wily said with a very amused laugh. "Disgruntled manufacturers and power brokers who wanted to establish a global hold on the new robot market. They contacted me and offered me the fame I sought. I was going to leave Light and work solely for them, as the head of a rival company."
"So why did you steal Light's robots?"
"Because they were my robots!" Wily retorted vehemently. "I designed them. Light merely took credit for them. Oh, sure, Light could have made them himself. He was no pushover in the robotics field, as we both know. But I'm the one who did come up with those first six, and I held claim to them."
"Not legally."
"No, not legally," Wily agreed, his eyes darkening. "But then, I was no longer planning to abide by the law. I had been betrayed already…betrayed again."
"The businessmen?"
"They planned to sell me out," Wily seethed, gripping his chair tightly, his hands like claws. "I learned about it through my own reconnaissance robots. They planned to indict me for violating copyright laws—they wanted to jail me for using Light's designs…designs I came up with! All so they could reap the ultimate benefits without worrying about me. That was the end."
"And you destroyed them first," Zero recalled the history of the First Robot Rebellion. "Those areas you attacked were the sites of major international corporations."
"Yes," Wily acknowledged, releasing his hold on the chair. "That's when Light decided to intervene. He upgraded Rock, a robot who's CPU Light developed on his own, and sent him after me as 'Mega Man'. And the rest…as they say…"
"Is history," Zero finished. "Regardless of how much you hate history."
"Well, history does leave out that before Mega Man stopped me, I managed to rob those businessmen blind." The old doctor allowed himself a chuckle of success. "I used those funds, and the interest they generated, to finance every rebellion since the first."
"And you became a celebrity," Zero said, leaning back in his chair. "That still doesn't explain why you created me."
"Let me finish." Wily collected his thoughts for a few seconds. "You see, famous or not…infamous, more accurately…I had still lost, and to Light of all people. In the world's eyes, Light was better than me, because Mega Man—his robot—had defeated all of my robots. I couldn't have that. Light quickly became my rival…the one thing standing between me and the title of the world's greatest roboticist."
"All of that, for a grudge?"
"I was already on the path of self-destruction," Wily admitted coarsely. "But I didn't care. The world already considered me a hated terrorist, so why should I ever hope to rejoin society? That would be granting them the victory. I knew then, Zero, that world domination was in fact within my grasp. If I could take control of the world's major economic centers, as I had almost done that first time, the planet would have no choice but to defer to me. My robots defeated all armed forces at the time…only Mega Man could stop them." Hardness came into the mad scientist's eyes. "All I had to do was to make robots that could hold off Mega Man…I had to overcome his design…I had to overcome Light.
"I thought I had succeeded, during my seventh rebellion. His name was Bass. Light had been responsible for Mega Man's remarkably human characteristics, but I had some success myself in copying the human mind. Bass was as much a 'real person' as Mega Man was. I thought." His voice became weaker. "But in the end I failed with him. He was too free a spirit to conform to order, and his mind was too one-track to truly be considered a freethinking machine. Now, looking back, I'm proud that he tried so hard and repeatedly to eliminate Mega Man…but at the time, all I could focus on was his failure. I drove him away from me because I gauged my success in defeating Light by how well my robots fared against Mega Man. Bass repeatedly failed, and so I believed that I had failed.
"Bass, however, did provide me with the necessary materials for the future." He smiled, his white mustache curling slightly. "He retrieved plans from Light's lab…plans for a 'Reploid.'"
"X," Zero realized, his throat going dry.
"Yes, X." Wily's grin faded. "What I saw there almost disheartened me completely. I had been working overtime just keeping up with Light's oldest creation, and now here he was developing…developing…an artificial human!" The scientist shook his head, still amazed by the concept's feasibility. "He took Mega Man's mental structure and upgraded it in a way that no one had ever thought to do before. He was leaving me in the dust…leaving a gift for the future, ensuring that no matter what I did in the present, I would never be remembered forever as the greatest in my field."
"And you couldn't accept that."
"No. No I couldn't. So I took Light's plans and I created a Reploid of my own." The scientist smiled faintly at the man sitting across from him. "You."
"And then you added that damn Virus," Zero finished, unable to hold it in. "You made me a madman. Why? Why did you do that to me?"
"I didn't know what I was doing," Wily admitted. "At least, I thought I did…at the time. You see Zero…I imagined that any Reploids who were constructed in the future would be based off X's plans. I reasoned that if I created an entity that could access robots with that same structure and placed it in you…" He composed himself, presenting the hard truth. "I wanted to create a god."
Zero absorbed it, and despite the difficulties of the situation he found himself understanding. "I would be able to take command of Reploids and use them for my own purposes."
"Correct," Wily nodded enthusiastically. "Light left the world a toy. I wanted to leave the world a ruler. With your power, you could do what I never could in my lifetime."
"What made you think I'd want to?"
"I took it for granted." He shook his head sadly. "I was too used to robots that did my bidding blindly. I guess the idea of a robot that might truly defy me—on a scale even grander than Bass's—was too much of a concept to fully grasp. Anyway, it didn't work out. My 'Virus' is a simple yet effective program that lives inside an astral entity…the ultimate catalyst. In the Eighth Robot Rebellion, a meteor crashed into an island I was occupying as a base. From the crater, I came in contact with an incredible new source of power. Mega Man rescued its polar opposite, an alien robot named Duo, and together they destroyed most of my supply of what Duo called 'Evil Energy'. However," Wily smiled craftily, waggling a finger. "They didn't get my whole supply."
"You used the rest to create the Virus," Zero realized, his eyes going wide in concern.
"Yes." Wily's face fell somewhat. "But I underestimated the Energy. It has a will of its own. Instead of being your tool, it used you as its tool. I shut you down and placed you in stasis for 30 years, just like X, hoping it would be enough to keep the Virus in check."
"But that's history too," Zero finished painfully. "You left the world not a ruler, but a plague."
"And I could care less, normally," Wily said haughtily. "I'm claiming my revenge on both the world and on Light, making life hell for his final creation."
"So you made me…and the Virus…to surpass Light and X?"
"Correct."
"But you failed," Zero protested, not understanding. "X continually destroys Sigma, and Sigma is the Virus embodied."
"Ha!" Wily laughed again, waving his hand in dismissal. "Sigma? No, Sigma is just as you were—a tool. You have not seen the Virus embodied." An unreadable look came over Wily's face. "But you soon will."
Without giving Zero time to dwell on that, Wily shifted his weight and resumed his tale. "As you recall, I gauged my success on how well my creations fared against Mega Man…and now, Mega Man X. I was furious, watching you from here, as you refused to follow your path. I watched with satisfaction at your…'punishment' as it came in various forms."
"Glad you had a good laugh," Zero growled, feeling the conversation going bad already.
"I was disappointed," Wily went on. "You were my last chance for success. If you failed, I would be damned to an eternity of absolute failure."
"Most argue that you deserve it."
"Perhaps I do." Wily's face changed then, back into the uplifted, almost giddy look Zero had seen when the encounter began. "But lo and behold, this day of days, you have done me proud at last. You fought me to the bitter end, doing everything in your power to rid yourself of my presence wholly and entirely. And in doing so…" Wily stopped to let out a bemused laugh. "In doing so, you have, I realize here and now, surpassed Light and Mega Man X. You have given me the fulfillment I've been waiting for."
"How?" Zero asked, totally unable to grasp the concept.
"Don't you see?" Wily asked, leaning forward. "Mega Man X is a pacifist. He puts it aside when he fights, but that's just it, you see? He puts it aside. That's all he does! That's all he can do. X cannot become anything but a pacifist. He cannot overcome himself, even if he wanted to.
"But you, Zero, you were designed as a killing machine, as the man who would bring war to the future. You had the mission of killing X and ensuring your dominance over the world…but you didn't! And not because you failed…you simply chose not to! Somehow, someway, you managed to overcome your programming. You managed to defeat yourself. You emerged from Seraph Castle, whether you realize it yet or not, as a whole new person. The Virus can still reach you, but only in a technical sense. You have the advantage over it now, because you have already defeated it in the past. In doing this…you have done what Light's ultimate creation never could do. You have become the exact opposite of what you intended to be. X himself said it…power isn't everything. I see that now, because now I have no choice. You will never destroy X because you will never let yourself destroy X. I cannot gauge my success on battle anymore…but I can claim success on the fact that your…your 'spirit' has surpassed Light's best creation's. And that, Zero, means that I have succeeded at last.
"For that," Wily said, leaning back and feeling awkward. "I have to thank you."
For Zero, it was as though two rival factions were warring bloodily in his mind. Warnings flashed against the crafty scientist, memories of past torment and mockery filled his brain, and all the pain the old man had caused resurfaced at once. He hated Wily. He loathed him. He wanted nothing to do with the old man. The farther away from his father he was, the better he would be.
But on the same token, there was something else in Zero now that he had never felt before. Despite his wealth of friends like X, mentors like Cain, and safe havens like the HQ, he had never felt such an absolute sense of…acceptance. How ironic that it should now come from the man Zero considered to be his most absolute antagonist. In the end, the two conflicting emotions were a bit too much. He felt sick.
"Of course," Wily picked up again, "I also wanted to warn you."
The craftiness in the old man's voice shattered Zero's bubble of uncertainty, and actually put both of them at ease. Wily was supposed to be crafty. Zero could deal with that a lot easier than he could warmth from the man.
"My ambitions have finally been sated," Wily continued, "so there's no reason for me to try and undo what you've done to yourself. …Not that I wouldn't just love it if you went suddenly apeshit and ripped X limb from limb…"
"Keep dreaming," Zero interjected flatly.
"Of course," Wily said in resignation. "But others are still interested in bringing you back to your former self. Two in particular."
"Sigma," Zero acknowledged. "Both of him."
"I suggest you take care of him here and now," Wily offered, standing shakily. It gave Zero cause for reflection, seeing how old the "threat" actually was. He also thought about exactly what Wily was saying to him, and that in itself was amazing. "Yes," the scientist affirmed, "I'm actually rooting for you against the Virus. You have succeeded where it has failed."
"But couldn't it still defeat X?" Zero had to ask. "Couldn't it succeed there?"
"No," Wily shook his head, a flat look on his face. "It was never intended in itself to defeat X. It was supposed to help you do that."
"But why?" Zero pressed. "Why can't the Virus get X? What makes him immune?"
"You'll find that out when you meet…him."
"Him?"
"Well," Wily smiled mysteriously. "He has no real gender…but he is very real." The scientist snapped to attention, a conversational grin appearing on his wrinkled features. "Well, enough talking. You can worry about all that later. For now, deal with the task at hand, my son. And for once…" He seemed to shudder. "God, this is an alliance made in Hell…for once, I'm going to tell you to…trust in that…friend of yours."
"Friend?" Zero asked, perplexed. "Who do you mean? X?"
"No, not X…argh. Just trust me…this will help you defeat 'him'," Wily explained, sort of, unwilling to elaborate.
Zero blinked, standing also, looming over the old man, and asking one final question. "Why are you telling me all this? Why warn me?"
The room began to spin as Zero began the return trip to consciousness. Wily was the only thing that didn't move or flinch. "I want to see how far you can go," he explained to his son. "I want to know that, even though you won't fight X, you can still demolish the most capable of opponents. And…well, I guess I can't have you getting killed now that you've gone and actually done something right for a change."
It wasn't much of a parental send-off, but Zero understood the sentiment. It was so alien to him, but at the same time he welcomed it. He had never, ever expected an encounter like this to happen, but Wily for once seemed to have kept his word. Proof came from how hard a time the old man was having being nice. Now that was effort, Zero thought wryly.
As he returned to the snowscape of the Catskill Mountains, a voice echoed through the spinning vortex, a voice from a familiar nightmare, only now it meant something wholly different.
"Now go…destroy him!"
For the first time in two days, the clouds parted over the Catskill Mountains. The blizzard that had powdered the peaks with snow was now officially over. The end result was a bright moon shining like a spotlight on the expanse below, reflecting off the white ground to create a well-lit atmosphere, even in the dead of night. The wind had also subdued a bit, grabbing wisps of snow from the ground and tossing them about, but otherwise the air was clear of too much interference. The night was also a quiet one for once, without air raids or gunfire in the distance, or giant airships firing EMG pulses. Sure, a bigass ride armor had crashed to earth a while ago, but that was over now. In fact the only sound that could be heard was the steady crunching of snow under large boots.
A big man carrying a big box marched over the top of a massive snow hill, heading down the other side towards a large clearing. Remarkably, the man noticed, the clearing was more or less free from snow, and the rocky earth was in plain sight, unadulterated by ice. The nearby mountains must have shielded it, he realized, hoisting his heavy luggage higher and striding faster. Past that large, circular clearing there would be another stretch and then an area that was safe for teleportation. He knew this well. He had to reach that area, had to reach it before anyone spotted him. Then he was free.
The moonlight illuminated him perfectly, glaring off his jade armor and highlighting his polished black combat boots. He stepped into the clearing, grateful for solid rock beneath his feet rather than inch upon inch of accursed snow. Finally, he thought, this ridiculous escapade would come to a close.
Then, of all things to happen, a snowball exploded against the back of his bald head.
The man stopped dead in his tracks, his arms hanging limp at his side. So much else had gone wrong tonight that he wasn't even surprised when he turned his head behind him and saw, standing there in the snow atop the hill he'd just crossed in an easy, relaxed pose, a tall red Reploid. His long blonde hair fluttered behind him, and the moon chose to play with his armor too, bathing the white snow around him with a blood red hue. Like the man in green, the man in red had his arms hanging limp at his side, staring lazily forward, not a care in the world.
"Going somewhere?"
The man in green merely frowned. "Zero, how long will you keep this up?"
"I think you know the answer to that, Sigma."
Neither moved. Neither tensed.
"Suppose I detonate this weapon here and now," Sigma suggested, shaking the big black box containing the Spare. "I always return. But you won't. Not after nuclear atomization."
"Neither will you," Zero smiled knowingly. "If you detonate that, the electrical impulses it will cause will do more than vaporize your body—it'll prevent the Virus from transferring your consciousness to any of your other bodies."
Sigma absorbed that. He still didn't move.
"So then, Zero…would you set off a nuke here? To destroy me, would it be worth it?"
Neither blinked. Neither showed emotion.
"Well you see," Zero said in that same flat tone. "I'm not the one with the bomb."
Sigma absorbed that, too. This time, he turned his head to the area beyond the clearing he'd just entered. It was too far, he realized. He could never reach the area he needed to get to without Zero interfering somehow. Before anything could happen, it seemed he would have to kill the annoying Hunter behind him. "Do you really think you can defeat me?" Sigma asked, turning his head back to his adversary with a smile.
"I don't imagine it's all that hard," Zero said with the most nonchalant of shrugs. "Hack, slash, go home, have a beer. Nothing too complicated."
"You're awfully confident." Sigma turned so his whole powerful body was facing Zero. Unlike Sigma, who though scratched up from the fall was still in perfect heath, Zero had absorbed considerable wounds and had used his only E-Tank to prepare himself for this battle. He was on his last legs. "In the past, only X could defeat me. You stopped me together in Final Weapon, and back there you stopped my Marauder…but only with X's help."
"Well you see," Zero said, stepping slowly down the hill, the cracks in his armor all too painfully apparent, though he didn't seem to notice, "in the past, it's been more between you and X. Last time, in Final Weapon, I wanted you for myself. And I'm actually pretty upset that I didn't get to have all the fun myself." Zero took his deactivated beam saber from its sheath and began twirling it like a parade baton in the fingers of his left hand. "Now, though…it's just you and me. X is miles back, trying to catch up."
"Still personal, hmm?" Sigma asked. Frowning in more annoyance than anything else, he hoisted the Spare and lofted it into a nearby snow bank. Then he drew his own deactivated weapon and turned to enter the clearing, which he saw as a suitable arena. There was no tension in him…none of the fear or uncertainty that had briefly seized him aboard the Marauder was present any longer.
"Very personal." Zero entered the clearing himself, fixing Sigma's back with eyes that were becoming more and more poisonous. "You've used me as your psychological guinea pig for far too long. You, and that Virus in your head…if it's not the Virus I'm talking to now."
Sigma gave him no confirmation positive or negative. Instead he turned slowly to look his enemy in the eye, his trademark sneer appearing on his face. The way he saw it, without X, he really did have the advantage over Zero. Zero was a good swordsman, sure, but Sigma had taught the guy all the basics from his own book. Sigma knew the right feints and parries to use on Zero in a swordfight, whereas he had a lot more trouble judging X's long range attack strategies. His viral master was also hungry for the fight. "It's just that you make it so easy, Zero. You hang on to Colonel and Iris like a leech…let it go, man." He shook his head in something mimicking pity. "You place too much stock in the wrong emotions. Rage, hate, fine, but love? Loyalty? Please. They are the emotions of fools. And that, Zero, is your weakness."
"No, Sigma," Zero said as a column of sizzling green energies slid out from his saber's hilt. "Love and loyalty? Friends? Those things…they are not my weakness." His eyes narrowed and his voice was stone. "They are my strengths. You, you're so obsessed with power and hatred…like X said, that obsession is what makes you weak."
Sigma's dark blue blade rose from its own hilt, its hum a soothing thing to its master. "You know, you're right," he said, taking an attack position. "We've never had a chance to fight our own deathmatch." His sneer grew even more malevolent. "So let us see, then, my old friend, what strength truly is…once and for all!"
Zero met his stance, his breathing normal but his body ready. At long last, it was going to happen, he thought. He could end it here. All those Sigma had manipulated…Doppler, Colonel, Iris, General…Malevex, Teytha, Mortar and Gredam…X and Zero himself…he could avenge them all now. Playing its own role, the wind tossed a larger handful of snow than usual in between the two combatants, forming a white curtain that lingered for a few seconds, and then vanished. The last flake was swept away…
…And then it was on.
Zero and Sigma didn't even consider silence. Both emitted their own signature war cries, two berserkers rushing each other for a quick kill neither expected. Blue blade and green blade, jade coat and red coat, bald Spartan and blond demon approached each other speedily, bringing their weapons flying towards their opponent. Zero's cry grew louder and down his sword went with tremendous force…
…And then Sigma vanished in a flash of light, leaving coils of electrical energies in his wake.
Zero let his momentum carry through, somersaulting through the air and twisting at the same time, coming to his feet facing the opposite direction just as Sigma reappeared in the same curtain of energies to his right, swinging his deadly weapon out with a feral cry. Meeting the yell, Zero swung his own sword out enough to parry Sigma's slice, hating the Maverick for his short-range warp capability, and dove in with his own attack. Sigma leapt nimbly backwards, smashing Zero's saber away with his own and bringing the weapon back around at the Hunter's throat. Zero's neck twisted back and away, and he dove forward again with a sucker punch to Sigma's jaw. The Maverick pulled away but still took a light hit, lashing out with a heavy boot. Zero leapt into the air clear over Sigma and his outstretched foot, coming down behind the Maverick to slice him in two. Sigma responded by kicking back his boots and letting his own thrusters come to life, carrying him away from Zero's attack and skating across the clearing.
"I see your skills have improved since we last trained together," Sigma commended him, not even winded by the exertion as he turned back around. "How long ago was it? Over a decade, I'm sure."
"Back when you stood for something other than failure," Zero said scathingly, taking position. "I remember."
"Don't pretend you stand for anything different," Sigma retorted hotly, his eyes blazing. "You failed Repliforce, and countless others like them!"
"We all make mistakes," Zero admitted. "But unlike you, I've learned from and remedied mine."
"Is that so?" Sigma asked, a cunning look entering his eyes. "Prove it!"
Zero responded by leaping high into the air by aid of his thrusters. "Hyouretszuan!" he cried, coming down with his lance of ice. Sigma, expecting it, actually leapt up to meet Zero, and with a mighty cry he smashed his sword clear through the hunk of deadly ice while at the same time delivering an uppercut to Zero's chin. The Hunter's head snapped back and blood trickled down his lips, but when he landed it was on his feet. Then he noticed that Sigma hadn't landed.
Zero barely had time to clear the stars from his eyes before Sigma materialized behind him, slashing at his back. He dashed forward, turning, but Sigma had warped again, leaving only electrical coils for Zero to behold. He came to Zero's side, and Zero only barely parried. Another warp, another attack, another parry. Zero began to regain his full senses, and recognized that Sigma was taking the "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" strategy to the next level. Sigma next appeared above him, falling down with a powerful overhand chop that split the ground near Zero's feet. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Hunter lashed out and kicked Sigma in the head, snapping him back through the air. He disappeared before hitting the ground, warping behind Zero and rushing him again.
Realizing the need for a new strategy, Zero took to the skies, leaping as high as he could without thruster aid. Sigma followed him not with a jump but another warp, materializing a bit below Zero, anticipating his fall. His swing met thin air, however, because Zero actually jumped again, putting Kuuenbu to full use. Sigma, unused to the attack, expected it to happen again and so this time materialized in front of Zero, but the Hunter didn't jump again—he couldn't. Split Mushroom's parting gift allowed only for one extra jump. It did, though, provide him this next opportunity. He somersaulted, holding his saber out in front of him, and it grew slightly longer and thicker, taking on a gold hue. This spinning slash attack caught Sigma's sword and carried it upwards. Sigma did not let go, but it gave Zero all the room he needed to boot the Maverick King hard in the gut.
This time both of them landed, both of them on their feet, though Sigma was clearly worse for the wear. Growling in rage, the Maverick wiped blood from his own lips and fixed Zero with a deadly glare. "Special attacks, is it?" he hissed, even as coils of deadly blue lightning snaked around him. "So be it!"
That was all the warning Zero got. Sigma warped again, but this time he was farther to Zero's left flank. He spun, expecting a sword attack, but what happened was Sigma extended his blade and from the tip sprang a bolt of blue lightning. Zero's parrying action actually saved him, because the bolt traveled under his arm instead of into it. "Sneaky bastard!" Zero growled, leaping into the air at his enemy.
He quickly wished he hadn't. Sigma shrugged, grinned, and fired again. In the air there was a lot less maneuverability for Zero, and he had to throw himself hard to the left to avoid a hit. What this meant was that he foiled his balance entirely, and would come down in a heap.
He didn't see Sigma slam his blade into the ground, but he did see the curtain of energies that spread across the earth as a result of it. And he was falling right towards it.
"Shit!" he had time to swear before coming down hard on the shockwave that had nearly killed Acrystos earlier inside Seraph Castle's core. Immediately he screamed in frustration as he felt his limbs lock up in paralysis—much like Vile's stun cannon of years past. Zero remembered full well what had happened to him then, and it didn't bode well for the here and now.
His next scream was one of absolute, incredible pain as a bolt of Sigma's unholy lightning struck him square in the chest. It coursed through every inch of his body, burning him like acid from the inside out, driving his internal systems to overload as the energy ran its wicked course. His body was racked with shudders that only partially died with the electricity.
Then Sigma fired again.
Zero's vision faded slightly as the current grew stronger, but he still made out the scene in front of him. Sigma vanished from his position far away. Near Zero, sparks of energy appeared, spread out, formed thin electric links, and coalesced into the Maverick King that Zero hated so much. Sigma didn't bother to hide his mirth, extending his saber and letting a thinner cord of electricity shoot out into the trapped Hunter, feeding the electrical prison more and more deadly power.
"Hate is my weakness, eh?" Sigma laughed darkly, savoring every last precious second of Zero's agony. "No, Hunter. Hate is what makes me feel alive!" His eyes narrowed, fixing Zero with the most condescending of sneers. "And it is what brings you to your grave!"
Zero wasn't listening anymore. All the will he had used to survive Marauder's electrical curtain he brought back now, focusing on it, using it, depending on it. All his mind, all his body, all his being was focused on one thing and one thing only: resistance.
"DIE!" he finally raged, and all his efforts bore fruit as his sword arm broke free of Sigma's paralysis and the blade shot out towards the Maverick. Immediately it grew longer and incredibly thick, pulsating with its own electrical energies as it struck Sigma in the chest with a thunderous force equal to his own attack. "RAIJINGEKI!" Zero screamed, though it was mostly drowned out by Sigma's own howl of pain.
For what seemed like forever, the quiet night was shattered completely by two continuing, intermingled cries of agony and determination, while light as bright as the sun passed between two enraged rivals. Finally, mercifully, Sigma could take no more and exploded into the electrical coils that had so viciously assaulted him, and Zero was rendered free of his enemy's assault.
Zero stood up. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done. Every system in his body hollered for him to fall over and stay down forever. Blood trickled from his mouth and ears, messing up the inside of his helmet, but he didn't care. He was alive. He had persevered. And Sigma…
Zero felt the air behind him shift as the Maverick warped into being. He tried to turn, but his systems were too slow, too sluggish after the high voltage onslaught to comply in time to fully avoid Sigma's lethal blade. He felt the sword eat into his back, cut past armor and into flesh, but only barely before it spun Zero around and onto the ground, bleeding profusely.
Sigma watched Zero fall. He watched in what was for him slow motion. Seeing the thorn in his side, the rebel who should have been his right hand man, in such agony caused a thrill to rise in Sigma, a joy he had not known since he watched Zero weep over Iris's corpse on a Final Weapon holoscreen. This was what the Hunter deserved, Sigma knew. There would be no more second chances for this bastard, the Maverick King decided then and there. Only punishment.
"You see, Zero?" Sigma asked with a wicked laugh, raising his sword and approaching the fallen Hunter. "You're nothing without X, after all."
Zero watched him come, heard him speak, watched him raise his sword for the kill. Despite his efforts, despite his rage, despite his hate, he couldn't muster the energy his ruined body needed to stand.
Hate…
His own words came to mind. Rage…hate…he'd called those weaknesses. Why was he trying to rely on them? Why them, instead of his strengths? Then came another voice, a voice he'd just heard recently and hadn't known why.
But also…I wanted to warn you.
Zero had to smile at the unbelievable situation. Wily actually had been truthful about something in his damned life. His father had warned him of this situation, and now it was up to Zero to utilize it.
Sigma didn't hear the word Ryuenjin pass between Zero's lips. He didn't even see the burning sword until it was far too late. As he came down with his sword, Zero came up with his, rising into the air propelled by burning thrusters and dragging a burning sword against Sigma's torso. The Maverick King screamed as the weapon seared through his armor and flesh, burning into his body and driving him away from his hated opponent, but not soon enough to escape the full brunt of Zero's thrusters in his face. Screaming once again, Sigma warped clear of the area, reappearing at the edge of the clearing as a smoking, scalded shroud of his former glory. It reminded him all too well of that same rising fire sword cleaving apart his reaper's garments aboard Final Weapon and setting him aflame, forcing him to discard his first attack pattern and confront the Hunters directly. He hadn't been happy then, and he wasn't now.
Zero landed on his feet and turned sharply towards Sigma. He didn't move, instead letting his systems recharge themselves from both his own attack and the damage Sigma had dealt him. His back was hurting him something fierce, and his head still ached, but the thrill of victory was within him. He called out to Sigma, not at all believing the words he spoke but seeing no reason not to freak out the enemy with them.
"You were wrong, Sigma—I don't need X. In the eyes of some…I've surpassed him."
Sigma let out a shriek of pure rage, throwing his saber up into the air above him where it began to hover around his person. It moved faster and faster, eventually going so fast that there appeared to be more than one of them. And then, when they stopped moving, there were more of them—five to be exact. One was real, and the others were energy clones, much in the fashion of X's Soul Body.
"Surpass this," Sigma seethed, gesturing angrily towards Zero. "SWORDS DANCE!"
The Crimson Hunter was quite impressed as the five beam sabers flew his way, their tips sparking with explosive energies. He didn't show it, however, because by and large it didn't matter. He didn't think he was any better than X, but he'd like to at least consider himself to be his friend's equal. And that meant that he had no need for assistance in disposing of this wannabe tyrant. Zero waited for the swords to get as close as they were going to get, drawing a sharp breath as from their tips they shot not bolts of lightning per se, but large, thick blasts of energies that tore up the ground they impacted like dynamite. Zero now activated his Emergency Acceleration System, and so began the ride of his life.
Sigma controlled his swords mentally, following Zero's movements to a T. Zero dashed far to the right, going all the way to the edge of the circular clearing before veering around and dashing along the perimeter. The swords followed, raining their deadly energies down around the Maverick Hunter. They moved faster than Zero could, chasing him with unrelenting vigor. Sigma could taste victory at last, and again he savored the moment. He hated Zero right now almost as much as he hated X. He'd taken X's arm off earlier, and that alone brought to him more satisfaction than this whole bloody uprising had. Now he would take more from Zero than an arm, he decided, moving the swords into position in a circle around the Hunter. It was at last time for the teacher to put his pupil in his place.
Zero watched the swords come, felt their projectiles getting closer and closer to him. He weaved sharply to the left, to the right, to the right again, dodging the blasts to the best of his ability. It came down to this, he knew. If he took a hit, he would never recover in time. This had to work…it had to.
The blades encircled Zero as per their master's command. Their charge was running low—the four copies would flicker out soon. All were energy, but one was real—one would pierce Zero and end his struggles.
"Play the prophet!" Sigma shouted, mad with sadistic glee, making a mockery of both his enemy and of scripture. "Which one struck you?" As he spoke, the blades dove down at once, each no longer firing but going directly for Zero's torso.
And then, the Hunter stopped.
"What…?" Sigma had time to gasp before Zero leapt into the air, shouted Kuuenbu, and deflected each and every blade with a single 360-degree sword swipe. "Impossible!" the Maverick King raged, stunned in his disbelief. "Absolutely impossible!"
"You should really be more of a believer in miracles, Sigma," Zero snarled, resuming his high-speed dash directly towards his enemy. "Believe me, they happen!"
Sigma could think of nothing to do except warp clear of Zero's line of attack. He reappeared near the center of the clearing and summoned back his sword, the copies vanishing with electric crackles. In fact he'd played right into Zero's hand. The Hunter utilized Kuuenbu again, kicking his feet out and propelling himself off a nonexistent wall, defying all laws of physics with Mushroom's tactic and flying towards the genocidal Reploid waiting center stage.
And Sigma, his eyes clouding with a rage born out of desperation, extended his sword as soon as he caught it and fired a lightning bolt.
Zero had prayed above all things that this would not happen. It was the only thing that could foil his plans. When it did happen, though, he swore and did the only thing he could—he moved his sword into position to try and deflect the attack. Instead, the powerful bolt jarred the sword clear free of his hands and sent Zero tumbling over Sigma into a roll that ended with Zero on his feet, but weaponless. He quickly darted to the side to avoid a similar bolt of lightning, looking Sigma dead in the eye as both combatants froze in their paths.
Sigma let a chuckle escape his lips. He knew he had won. Zero was beaten and exhausted from the Marauder fight, and was wearing down now. Sigma himself was wounded, but he still had a lot of fight left in him. And now, Zero was without a sword, and didn't seem to have the magnetic recall Sigma so very much loved to use himself.
But then Zero did something that riveted Sigma in place with the sheer force of memory—he threw back his head and laughed.
It was a diabolic laugh, a laugh of madness, a laugh that Sigma had heard only once before from this red machine. It had occurred in an abandoned building, before the wars had started, when Sigma had faced off against Zero alone and would have died save for a foul-up in Zero's CPU. "You crazy bastard," Sigma said breathlessly, hating his voice for its lack of force but unable to do anything about it.
Zero, for his part, was having the time of his life. He broke off the laugh long enough to look at Sigma with a wild-eyed, crazy-grinned expression that perfectly matched the one he'd worn during their first battle, and that unnerved the Maverick even more. Zero wasn't crazy—wasn't even close. This was an act. But he knew full well that Sigma had seen him when he was crazy. That bastard had turned Zero's past into a sword with which to pierce his heart. Zero saw no reason why he should not do the same to Sigma. He was the manipulator now, for perhaps the first time in his life, and he was able to savor every minute of it. An eye for an eye, you son of a bitch, he thought as his grin widened. Justice at last will find you!
Without another gesture Zero raced towards Sigma with nothing but his bare fists, yelling a war cry at the top of his strained lungs. Sigma met his cry with a much less enthused one, raising his sword to defend himself instead of cutting the Hunter down then and there, like he should have. Sigma swung hard at Zero, who leapt clear over both the blade and its master, blasting backwards in midair. He whirled around and kicked Sigma hard between his shoulder blades, spilling the bigger man forward and off balance. Letting his instincts take over, Zero began his cry anew and dashed towards the Maverick as he turned around, dropping and sweeping Sigma's legs out from under him. Sigma yelled to express his own fury and swung a punch towards Zero as he fell, one that Zero deftly dodged as he fired his own punch at the side of Sigma's face. It connected and snapped the Maverick's head back, and he rolled clear away from Zero, coming frantically to his feet.
"Scared, Sigma?" Zero asked in a cold, calm tone, letting the Maverick absorb the inflection of each word before going on.
"Good."
Sigma's mind became enshrouded in rage, rage at Zero for getting to him, but most of all rage at himself for allowing himself to be taken advantage of. He charged Zero with an animalistic roar, raising his sword to cut the Hunter clear into pieces, holding eye contact all the while.
Zero noticed it and did the most illogical thing possible—he stood still. It was a card he'd played with Malevex, and he hoped beyond hope that it worked here. It did. Sigma's logic circuits began to go on the warpath, making him cautious, making him paranoid. He began to second-guess himself, wondering what the hell this mad Hunter had up his sleeve that he was just standing there. His self-confidence wavered for the briefest of seconds, but that was all that Zero ever needed.
Shouting a cry for the dead and the wounded who had become so because of Sigma, Zero leapt right into the onrushing Maverick, who's sword chop became instantly ineffective due to Zero's point blank range. The Hunter moved like lightning, slipping his arms around Sigma's left and twisting it around with all of his considerable might. Sigma screamed as he felt one of his steel bones give way, but Zero wasn't finished. He attacked Sigma's suddenly weak grip on his weapon and wrenched the beam saber out of its master's hands. He then returned it by spinning on his heel and using his forward momentum to lance the weapon into and through Sigma's chest.
Time stopped again. Sigma's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped in shock as he realized what had just happened to him. Zero stared at him with a look of pure sentience, a look that told Sigma he'd been duped, a look that told him Zero both knew what was going on and savored it as much as Sigma would have. It was indeed a sadistic link they shared, but for one of them the link would finally break with the fall of his present opponent.
"You lose," Zero said, spitting in Sigma's unblinking eye. "Old friend."
Sigma staggered away from Zero, looking at the bleeding, broken Hunter with a mixture of disbelief, awe, and even a sense of newfound respect. "So…it seems…true strength has been decided."
"It was decided long before we ever started fighting, Sigma." Zero stood proud and tall, breathing heavily and in great pain, but enjoying his role as the victor to the fullest. "But as usual, you were just too blind to realize it."
Sigma didn't reply. He stiffened somewhat, and his jaw dropped more in what wasn't exactly pain, but was more of…confusion. "What…?" he managed to say before his back arched and his body twisted towards the sky as he let out the loudest scream Zero had ever heard. The Hunter stepped backward reflexively, sensing that this was more than a death cry. Sigma twitched like he was being electrocuted, and indeed coils of his blue thunder did snake around his person. His saber still burned brightly in his chest, though that didn't seem to be the cause of his woes.
Then he snapped forward before straightening to his full, imposing height, his eyes now a blistering, burning shade of red.
"I never lose," the Virus reminded Zero, its voice an echoing form of Sigma's. "I never fail!"
Before Zero could even think to react, his enemy sprang towards him with a speed Zero hadn't seen him ever use before. The Maverick's fist shot out with incredible force, slamming into Zero's chest with all the weight of a train. Unable to even cry out, the Hunter flew fifteen feet in the air and landed in a crumpled heap at the edge of the clearing. It felt like a steamroller had crushed him. He tried to sit up, but his body refused. He felt a tightening in his chest, like an invisible claw was squeezing his heart and lungs, and then he looked down to notice the results of Sigma's punch.
His chest armor had been crushed inwards.
Choking on what had to be blood, Zero looked up in shock as Sigma approached him, chuckling nonstop as he tore his saber from his chest. A gout of blood spilled out and Zero beheld the inner workings of his hated enemy, but still the monster kept coming, fixing Zero with eyes crimson enough to match his armor.
"Hate, rage, wrath , cruelty," the Virus went on as it approached its prey, "it's all a part of a delicious whole. You chose to reject it…and for what? Friends? What did you call it—your strength? Love? Loyalty? HA!" Sigma twirled the sword in his hands, looking down at his helpless target, all but salivating as blue tendrils of electricity swirled around his body. He would fairly disintegrate Zero with his electricity, he decided. "Look where it got you, Zero. You chose to follow your own path…" The sword angled down to Zero's ruined chest as Sigma prepared his attack.
"Now face the consequences!"
Zero didn't close his eyes. He didn't flinch. He didn't give the Virus any satisfaction at all as it lowered its pulsating sword to begin its assault of deadly energies. He looked his enemy in the eye, hating it for its cheap tricks, hating it for cursing his life, and hating it above all else for taking life from him when he had just won back the right to live. But there would be no satisfaction the Virus would take from him. He held his gaze, and watched it all. Friends, he thought sadly. X…I guess I needed you after all.
What he saw didn't click into place for a good while, but when it did, it was next to unbelievable.
The sapphire coat of lightning surrounding Sigma suddenly took on a new hue. Zero thought it was just his eyes failing him, but it did seem that the energy was turning purple. It didn't make sense to the Hunter until he saw that this was because there was now red electricity intermixed with the blue.
Sigma noticed it himself just as he began his attack. A pillar of blue death struck Zero in his torso, but one scream was all that left the Hunter's lips before the attack broke off and Sigma picked up the scream on his own. His body went rigid as he struggled to get out of some kind of cage, and while Zero looked on in confusion and pain more red lightning snaked over the Maverick leader, adding fuel to his fire. He screamed bloody murder, devoting all of his considerable strength to shaking off the new, unidentified attack, and finally succeeded as the crimson cage faded. No sooner had he smiled in satisfaction than a telltale sound filled both the ears of the Hunter and the Maverick…
…It was the whistle of a mortar round.
The explosion occurred behind Sigma, throwing him clear over Zero with a surprised yowl. He sank into the snow, rising almost as quickly as he fell, a shredded, bleeding wreck. But the eyes were still red rabid and mad, the Virus was still willing, and Sigma's flesh was not yet wholly weakened. He looked at Zero as though he were a demon, clearly conveying with his expression that he believed Zero was responsible for the attacks when in fact the Hunter was quite baffled.
"Enough of your tricks!" the Virus shrieked, raising Sigma's sword and rushing at his prey. "NOW DIE! ZERO!!!!"
The cry ended and Sigma's final charge began. Zero watched in defiance, unsure what to think, or even of what was reasonable to hope for anymore.
Then there came the clear crack of a sniper's rifle through the night air, and that was the last thing Commander Sigma heard before his head exploded in a cloud of scrap and coolant.
Time froze yet again. Zero watched Sigma's headless, bloody corpse fall to its snowy grave in slow motion, landing a mere six feet from where Zero now lay. The Hunter stared for perhaps five seconds, which lasted triple their normal time in his state, before returning to reality. He lay there five more seconds before he saw them, and the truth of it all racked him with ironic laughter that was too painful to continue. He sat up, again an act of pure will, and focused his vision on the three blurry forms standing at the opposite end of the clearing. The strengths Zero had cited for himself replayed in his mind, and a slow smile crept onto his pain stricken face. He couldn't quite call them friends, and he was certain there was no love lost between them…but there was definitely something to be said for loyalty.
It seemed Terrornova had gotten their vengeance, after all.
The figure in the middle, a man armored in black clutching Gredam's rifle at his side, stepped forward. "That's twice in one uprising," he said with the faintest of smiles, motioning to his rifle and then to Sigma, his voice carrying to Zero perfectly.
"You crazy bastards," Zero managed to whisper, his grin getting wider at Malevex's comment.
The Maverick assassin exhaled slowly, as though pronouncing finality. "It seems that the halo has been broken, after all." Zero understood. It was over. At long last, it was all over. The Maverick inclined his head to a sound in the distance—footsteps in the snow. Someone was coming, and coming fast. He turned back to Zero, a strange look taking his features. A raven-haired woman and a gray haired man stepped up to his flanks, both eyeing Zero with the same gaze. The wind kicked up violently all of a sudden, blowing a sheet of snow in between Zero and his saviors. The Hunter barely made out the three of them turning and marching away to the freedom they'd sought for so long. When the snow cleared there was no sign of them, but before that two words left the man in black's mouth and traveled to Zero's weary ears.
"Thank you."
Zero lay there for another minute, breathing slowly and deliberately while examining his internal wounds. Things were not looking good, but if he got out of there soon enough, he would survive. He was reassured when, in the distance over the snow hill he'd crossed while chasing Sigma, a familiar form appeared, a form that Zero had never been happier to see.
"X," he breathed, laughing again. "God, you missed it…you would have loved it."
It was the last thing he said before he was taken.
It came like the claws of a wild beast, grabbing at his head from behind. In shock, the Hunter turned to behold what he could only describe as a blackish blob rising from Sigma's headless corpse and bathing his own body. Identifying it for what it was, Zero let out a cry of defiance that brought X running faster, but he would be far too late.
"No," Zero growled, lashing out but not harming the entity in any way. He didn't know how to fight it. He had never fought Evil Energy before…he had never seen Evil Energy before. Neither had X, from the look of things. The Hunter stopped briefly in shock at the edge of the clearing, watching in disbelief as the Virus reclaimed its original host.
He didn't have much to watch after that. The entity vanished, and Zero emitted one last choking cry and went still.
"NO!" X couldn't stand the thought that he'd been too late. He blasted his way across the clearing using his thrusters to the best of their abilities, turning Zero over with the arm he had left and trying his damndest to wake his friend up. "ZERO!" he shouted. "ZERROOO!"
Darkness. Everything was darkness.
It was an interesting darkness though, Zero thought, rather like Malevex's black fire. It crept and crawled like slime across walls of lighter ebon, providing some sort of depth and substance to wherever the hell his consciousness had been transported. As far as he could tell he was his own person, and as he looked over himself he was surprised to see that he was good as new. "What in the world?" he asked the nothingness, turning to examine his surroundings.
Never before had the word "void" held so much meaning to him.
It was like being in outer space. There was a gigantic sense of nothing—no air, no molecules, no anything. But it was even more than that—no emotion, no sense of presence. Only Zero, and the shadows. There wasn't even a focal point in the area.
"Ask, and ye shall receive," the Hunter muttered to himself, as the said focal point emerged.
It was like a black mist, clustering together around a light that wasn't black but red. The mist slowly began to condense, forming a flowing humanoid shape. The red light housed itself in the "chest" while a head without a face zeroed in on the only other presence. Until now, Zero was too shocked to speak, unsure of exactly what he was facing, but his "guest" did the speaking for him. It used a masculine tone, earning itself the pronoun "he" in Zero's mind, but the voice was quiet and calm, not scathing and commanding like Sigma's. There was still power present, though, and it demanded and got Zero's attention right away.
"My, my…it's been a while since I was here."
Zero began to blossom with rage as he realized exactly what was happening—the Virus had taken him. After all his efforts, after all his successes, the damned alien force was invading again casually, as though Zero hadn't done a damn thing to resist it.
"You're not a happy camper," the entity observed, seeming to cross his arms thoughtfully over his chest.
"You're not welcome on these campgrounds," Zero retorted hotly, reaching for his saber. He was surprised to find that it was actually there. He ripped it out and switched on the blade, looking at the red glow in the center of his opponent. "You're the Virus."
"The Virus?" There was the essence of a chuckle. "In a manner of speaking. The Virus is a part of me. But I am something much more than that." As he spoke, his head took on more of a shape, beginning to resemble something of an elongated skull. Thus the Evil Energy manifested itself once more, before the final creation of its former master. "In the past, I relied on your father while I regained my strength. Duo had reduced my life force…rendered me unable to continue on my own." Another chuckle. "But your father helped me there. Much to his folly."
Zero's sword lowered and his eyes widened in concern, making the connection. "You're the one he warned me about."
Coils of flame arched around the entity's "body", converging on the red "heart". Zero watched, intrigued despite himself, as the creature took on even more of a definite form.
"I am the darkness in people's minds," he said, fixing Zero with a glare from his hollow eyes. As though realizing their hollowness for the first time, he drew fire to them now, and embers glowed in the place of eyeballs. Zero stepped back in alarm. "I manifested ages ago, and have roamed the galaxies in search of additional strength. I exist for one purpose—to bring darkness to all minds." He seemed to grin. "This planet—and Dr. Wily—provided me with a convenient way to do so."
"Who are you?" Zero had to ask, completely engrossed in this monster's story.
He seemed annoyed. "What is it with your Earthlings and your desire to name everything? Does it make it easier for you? Does it provide you with some measure of control when you can identify the unidentifiable?" He paused thoughtfully. "Well, of course it does. You are made in the image of a human, and humans fear the unknown. To give the unknown an identity is to conquer fear."
The entity performed an easy flip, leaping higher in the void and getting into a cross-legged position. "Unfortunately, I have no one name, Reploid Zero. Sigma also faced this same conundrum. But that's not to say no one has ever chosen a name for me. I have been called many things by many individuals…but perhaps most relevant to you is this. The German Wily intended me to be a control unit for puppet Reploids around the world…the cruel mind…the evil brain. Gemeines Gehirn."
"Wily created you to be a tool," Zero shook his head. "That's not what happened."
"NO, boy!" Gehirn snapped. "You haven't been listening! Wily did not create me. He created the Virus while using me. I am the driving force behind the Virus…the sentient will that keeps it hungry for new life. The more people the Virus infects, the better—it adds more and more darkness to the world. And that," he reminded the Hunter, "is my purpose.
"Wily gave me everything I need to accomplish my goals for this planet," the entity continued, seeming to shift its weight. "He developed a code, as he told you, that would allow the Virus to access all Reploids made off X's design."
"But he also said that X himself had nothing to worry about," Zero recalled. "Why?"
"First of all," the creature of darkness hissed, "X has plenty to worry about. The Virus may not work on him, but 'Evil Energy', as you call it, is as potent as ever. But the reason X is safe from the Virus, Zero, and other Reploids aren't, is so painfully simple it'll slap you in the face when you hear it."
He seemed to lean forward, as though he were whispering in Zero's ear. "X slept. For 30 years."
Zero's eyes widened, and he understood. "The schematics…the capsule warning!"
"Yes," Gemeines Gehirn nodded, pleased with his new host's speed. "Dr. Cain began a worldwide chain of Reploids based roughly on X's design, but roughly was enough. Light knew that the mind of a Reploid was too much for any CPU to process properly without some time to synchronize everything. Oh, it doesn't take thirty years. Light just did that to be as safe as possible. I can't tell you exactly how long it takes, but I do know it's at least nine years." The creature seemed to grin again. "But what manufacturer will keep its products in storage for that long?"
Gehirn had a painful point, Zero had to admit. "So all the Reploids out there now…their minds are unstable?"
"Isn't it obvious? From the start, Reploids would go randomly haywire. X never did. Reploids suffered motor and mental breakdowns. X never did. The brain of the modern Reploid has too many holes waiting for something like the Virus to invade. The Virus invades their neural network, finding these holes and simply locking down. X has no such holes. His mind was allowed time to solidify. You would be in the same boat, Zero, had Wily not put me inside you right at the start."
"And what about Sigma?" Zero asked, too hopeful. "Why is he able to return so often?"
Gemeines Gehirn chuckled ominously. "Don't think I'm going to give you that key. Sigma is my ultimate insurance…my ultimate puppet. As long as he exists, the Virus will remain." Again, the grin. "Don't get your hopes up, Zero. Even if you Earthlings manage to destroy the Virus, I'll still be here. Only Duo has what it takes to bring me down, and no one has seen or heard from him since the Eighth Rebellion. Hopefully he's space debris somewhere."
"It doesn't matter," Zero finally said, shaking his head and raising his sword. "So long as you can't harm this planet anymore via the Virus, that's good enough for me."
"Oh, but my dear Hunter," the shadowy force rumbled, the darkness around it beginning to shift. "Don't you see? You don't have a choice anymore. Before this night is over, you will belong to me once more. Just as daddy wanted."
Tendrils shot out from the darkness and attached to Zero, snaking around him like vines. Gehirn laughed as his prisoner struggled. "Don't fight it. Sigma fought it for so long. I'm tired of the constant noise…it's so nice when you people just shut up!"
Zero found himself wondering, almost immediately, how Sigma had ever held out as long as he had. Gemeines Gehirn and his Virus were together like an unstoppable bullet, burrowing into Zero's consciousness and seeking out the holes Gehirn had spoken of earlier. The Hunter had time to reflect on how that made no sense—he, too, had slept for thirty years, and those holes should be closed. But apparently there was a special place in Zero that had been long since reserved for the Virus, and it was busily hunting for it.
Zero felt his life slipping away bit by bit. His memories flashed before him, one by one, and he lashed out to catch each flicker of his past, missing them all. The darkness surrounding him boomed with laughter, fighting the Reploid with all it had. "You thought you could purge yourself of me?" it asked in a voice full of malice. "You're even more a fool than Sigma was. He tried to use me…tried to make me into an advantage for him. But we both knew who the true master was. We both knew who enabled his constant resurrections. And now, when Sigma and I return in the future, with you by our side…what will be left to stop us, Zero? X?" Again the laughter. "His soul I will warp beyond recognition. I will punish that righteous fool the same way I punished that useless predecessor of his. Yes, I would have killed him…killed him, Zero! But Duo interfered, that infernal wretch! He saved Mega Man from me. But where is Duo now? Where is salvation now?"
Zero couldn't answer vocally, and in any case he doubted Gehirn would be listening. But he knew precisely where the salvation had to come from—not from any outside source, but from himself. He'd learned that over the course of these previous hours. Others could do all they wanted to try and help him, but before he tried to help his own damn self, nothing they did would have any effect.
And so again the Hunter fought, unable to cry out but resisting nonetheless, swinging his saber in mad arcs to cut the tendrils of Evil Energy away from his person. His enemy, undaunted, swarmed him with clouds of the noxious substance, searing his mind and body with painful darkness, eating away at his will and his sanity at the same time. Zero had long since blamed Sigma for his weakness in succumbing to the Virus, but now he understood full well that the Maverick King had never had a chance. Zero as he was now was no different than Sigma had been, all those years ago. Hunter Sigma had possessed a certain nobility, a comradely presence that was akin to General's. He had been a man surrounded by close friends and trusted mentors, a man happy with his place in the world.
And the Virus had taken him nonetheless.
How, Zero wondered, could he possibly succeed where a man just like him had failed? Zero had been at peace with himself after saving the assassins. He was again open to his friends and mentors. But still, the Virus was coming, unrelenting, and no matter how hard Zero tried there was nothing he could do to stop it. He was alone…and he knew he would fail. Rationale told him to beg, to make a deal with Gehirn, to try and use him as Sigma had, but Zero was too proud for that. And so he just kept fighting, determined that if he was going to lose himself, it would not be without the fight of his life.
But even that was denied to him. All at once, a surge of energy that turned out to be Gehirn's "fist" smashed into his chest, much as Sigma's had earlier. The fist expanded in size as the shadows assaulting Zero pulled back to form a gigantic representation of Zero's opponent, the burning light in the creature's center making the Evil Energy look slightly purplish. Was this what Mega Man had seen all those years ago, Zero wondered as the fist closed around his body, hoisting him up to meet Gehirn's blazing eyes. It must have been. And then Duo had saved him. But Zero had no Duo, no otherworldly savior to guard against this equally alien menace. So he just glared right back, letting the Virus know once again that it could not frighten him.
"I had expected a bit more of a challenge," the demon said with the faintest trace of disappointment. "But I suppose overcoming my original host in such a fell swoop is thrilling enough." The eyes grew brighter, laying bare Zero's mind to the hungry Virus, which began its invasion. "I have no need for your consciousness…I never did. I never intended to let you think for yourself, but then that idiot Sigma fouled everything up when he defeated you." His words were true. Zero cried out as he felt his sense of self fleeing him, abandoning him wholly to the void Gemeines Gehirn thrived in. "Good bye, Maverick Hunter Zero. It's been…fun…watching you work, but every dog has his day, and yours is long since past."
Tendrils of inky darkness spilled over Zero's consciousness, threatening to black out all his remaining memories. He screamed with rage, he struggled, he did everything he could to break the demon's grip, but nothing worked. He was trapped, and it was a crushing feeling.
Then it all stopped.
Zero's eyes snapped open, daring once more to hope, daring to believe that as in all the other hopeless situations tonight, something unbelievable was going to take place. He was not disappointed. His head snapped back and he screamed again as Gehirn resumed his attack, but again the demon stopped, recoiling in something resembling pain. "What…!" In frustration he attacked Zero's whole body rather than just the mind, trying to disprove the message that he was getting from the Hunter's sentient core.
The light was pure, white, and blinding. It seared Gemeines Gehirn to his own dark core, and he recoiled with a scream that echoed throughout the void's eternal entirety. "Incompatible?" he shrieked in both confusion and denial. "Why? He's the first host…the intended host! HOW CAN HE BE INCOMPATIBLE?"
Zero didn't know what was happening, why his body was rejecting the Virus, what this light was or why it was hurting Gehirn like it was. All he knew was that his memories had returned, his sense of self had returned, and he was never going to let them go again. And then, the light began anew, surrounding him like an outline. It brought to him a feeling of warmth, of comfort, a feeling that told him point blank that he was not at all alone, that someone was in that void with him, and that this new presence was not about to let the darkness make any more gains tonight. An old man's voice flashed again through Zero's mind, again making his warning all the more relevant.
"God, this is an alliance made in Hell…for once, I'm going to tell you to…trust in that…friend of yours."
"What is it?" Gehirn asked himself, frantically trying to crush Zero in his grip. "What inside you can possibly reject me? You are just the same as Sigma was…what do you have that he doesn't?" Even if Zero had an answer, he wouldn't have provided it. The light flashed brighter, and this time Gemeines Gehirn couldn't resist it. He reeled with an even greater scream, dropping Zero from his grasp and leaving the Hunter to his own devices.
Though he didn't understand what was happening, Zero wasn't asking questions. With a scream of righteous indignation he wound up his arm and snapped it outward, hurling his beam saber and the warm white glow surrounding it into Gehirn's red pulsating core. It struck true, and the beast of darkness collapsed in on itself, a shrieking mass of Evil Energy dispersed.
But even then it was not content to admit defeat. Like a tidal wave crashing towards shore, a surge of darkness ripped towards Zero, reaching out with arms of hate. Yelping in surprise, Zero quite simply turned and ran, not knowing where he was going but running nonetheless. It was all he could think to do. In the end, though, even he was no match for the speed of hate denied, and the tendrils fell upon him, pinning him down and swarming over him, a spider spinning its ensnaring web.
But before the web was completed, Zero felt someone take hold of his shoulders and tear him away from the biggest mass of predators. Another flash of light sent the nearby threats scurrying away, though more came in their place. Nevertheless Zero was still pulled and dragged from their ravenous grasp, as the void began to fade and replace itself with a curtain of pure, shimmering white. Finally Zero kicked free the last tendril grabbing at his feet, flashing his demonic adversary a quick sample of his favorite finger before the alabaster seal closed completely, locking Zero away from the darkness that sought to claim his redeemed soul. Despite all possible odds, Zero had again pulled through.
But like Mega Man before him, he'd needed assistance. Zero stood slowly, as though he expected himself to be suddenly incapable of the task, but his legs held out. He looked around, seeing nothing but an endless expanse of light. Nevertheless he still couldn't call this a void—unlike the previous area, this place had substance to it. There was an air of tranquility here, a sense of peace and warmth, things that had flashed through Zero's mind when the light was foiling the Evil Energy's plans. Now he was wholly immersed in these senses, and it was like a warm blanket. The Hunter began to turn around, feeling a brief stab of uncertainty as he looked for his rescuer, the one Gemeines Gehirn had been unable to handle. His breath caught in his throat and he went stone stiff as the uncertainty became more than a stab. A thousand different emotions flew through his mind at once, and he didn't know which one to focus on first.
"I had often wondered what I'd say to you, when we met again." The words that left the figure's lips were like a spring breeze; quiet but powerful on the senses. "And until tonight, I never knew."
"Iris." Zero barely whispered her name. It was all he could muster. She was there, standing before him, as real as he was. She wore no armor, instead dressed in casual jeans and a blue tee shirt Zero had seen her wear many a time in the past. He, too, was in similar garb, only his shirt was white. Of course, he realized—in here, there was no need for armor. He looked her over, from wispy brown-haired head to tennis-shoed toe, and found her to be everything he remembered…and more. She'd pulled him from darkness…she'd saved his life, after he had taken hers. Still, he didn't know how she felt, and so he was wholly unable to take action.
"Zero." Her eyes were currently unreadable, wavering between sureness and uncertainty. She began to close the distance between them, resting one of her hands on his chest. Then, finally, she smiled, and as her lips curled upward Zero's reservations came crashing down. "I missed you," she said simply, resting against him.
Zero said nothing, embracing her and pulling her even closer to him, resting his head against hers. There was no armor between them, nothing to interfere with the feeling of complete and utter closeness both so desired. Neither knew for certain how long they remained in each others arms, and neither cared, letting the action convey what words never could until Zero finally couldn't hold in any longer the feeling of guilt that still latched onto his heart. "I'm so sorry, Iris," he whispered, feeling his body shudder but forcing back any tears that may have tried to flow.
"For what?" she whispered back, not breaking the embrace in the least but raising her head to look him in the eye. They were so close now…he could feel her breath brushing lightly against his face. "It's in the past."
"What I did to you was unforgivable," he pressed on, unable to let himself off the hook even now.
"I never blamed you," she said, not bothering to hide the water in her own eyes as she raised a hand from his waist to brush a lock of his golden hair away from his eyes, her fingers gliding along his cheek in a soothing gesture. "But the more you blamed yourself…the more you hated yourself, the more I hated myself for losing control and making you…"
"It wasn't your fault," he shook his head firmly. "None of it was your fault."
She smiled again, first sadly and then decisively. "But it doesn't matter. It's all behind us." Her eyes brimmed with a happiness he had never seen. "You took me back, Zero…that's all I care about now."
"I took…what do you mean?" he asked, his mind finally giving way to confusion. His eyes wandered from her angel's face and scanned the area around them. "What is all this…?"
She laughed lightly, shaking her head. "It's…hard to explain. It always is."
He experienced a brief jolt of fear. "Am I…?"
"No!" she said, shaking her head faster and laying her hand on his shoulder. "No, no, not at all! You have so much left ahead of you yet, Zero…so much more."
There was no regret in her at all, but Zero couldn't ignore the regret in his own heart. "Sometimes I wonder if that's such a good thing."
"I know. I've watched you ever since that day…you've lived a hard life, Zero, and you don't make it any easier for yourself."
"I thought it was penance," he explained weakly. "But it never made me feel any better."
"Nor I." Now sadness did register in her features. "I tried to reach out to you so many times, Zero…but you never let me in. I couldn't fight your nightmares, or stop your pain, or put an end to your guilt…I couldn't help you like I wanted to. You were so intent on hating yourself that you lost the ability to…to love. That was my only link to you, and you cut it.
"But now," she went on, all remorse vanishing to be replaced by the joy and relief Zero had seen earlier, "now it's different. I don't know what suddenly changed in you to make you want to do the things you did, but I'm so glad it happened. I could reach you again…I could be with you."
"And Gehirn couldn't handle that," Zero realized, knowing with a flood of relief that his declaration of strengths really was actually something more than quickly thought up banter.
"No, he couldn't," Iris agreed with a triumphant smile. "The Virus will never take you, Zero…I'll make sure of that. In life I only took up arms once, and it was against you…" She lowered her head in what Zero feared was shame. "Now…I wanted to fight again…for you."
"God, Iris," he consoled her, hugging her to him again and brushing his hands through her smooth, silky head of hair. "Thank you…" He didn't hide his tears this time. They were not for sorrow. "I hoped…what I was doing would make a difference…I wanted to prove to you that I wasn't…that I wasn't a…"
"A what?" she asked with the laugh he so adored, looking up at him again. "A monster?" At the pained look in his eyes she smiled and spoke again, her airy British lilt music to his weary ears. "My dear…that's the biggest crock of bloody nonsense I've ever heard!"
He absorbed it, his final fears dying entirely. Finally, he was able to smile at her without reservation, his eyes fully revealing the joy he felt being near her again, being able to see her, hold her, love her…everything he hadn't been able to do while she was with him before.
"I love you, Iris," he finally said in words what had never been said before. "And I'll never stop."
It was as though an additional weight had been removed from her soul. She all but crushed him, her arms clamped around his waist and her cheek pressed against his. "I love you all the more, Zero," she said for his ears only. "It's what brought me here tonight…and I swear I'll never leave you again."
"How?" he asked as their heads turned, again face-to-face in the most literal sense. "How can I see you…?"
"It's not as easy as I'd like it to be," she admitted, though she didn't seem at all daunted. "But don't fear sleep any longer. I can be with you then almost as we are now…your nightmares end here, Zero."
A wild thrill shot through him, and he knew in that instant that the life he had until now loathed living had finally, finally taken a turn for the better. He had something to look forward to at last…and a whole new outlook on life. He felt like he had before Repliforce: confident, collected, and content, but now with the added benefit of this most treasured guardian angel. He was free…finally and irrevocably free. And what a great thing freedom was.
His first act as a free man was to press his lips against Iris's in the kiss he'd never dreamed he'd have a chance to administer. To his delight she reciprocated, and in that moment nothing, nothing was wrong in the world. Even the immediate future did not bother Zero—he knew he would soon have to part from her and return to the snowy Catskills, but it didn't matter. She was with him forever…all he needed to do was look for her, and he knew she would be there.
They pulled apart with no reluctance, each more than satisfied with the torrents of emotions that had passed between them, smiling at each other with both lips and eyes. The bond had been made and cemented, and now it had only to be preserved—a task neither believed would prove to be a problem in the least. Zero asked another question, one of curiosity rather than worry, and Iris for once had no trouble giving an explanation.
"All Reploids die, Iris…we claim to be immortal, and in a technical sense we are, but eventually something will happen to every Reploid and their end will be permanent. When that happens to me…"
"…You will have nothing to fear," she finished for him, her smile aided by a knowing wink. "I know it seems impossible…we're supposedly soulless machines, but… There's no reason for life to end after death, Zero. Unless you let it. I know you won't." Their hands closed tightly around each other's. "I'll be waiting for you then, too…so long as you don't stray from this new path."
"Never," he promised her, and both of them believed it. "I will never lose you again."
"Thank you." She grinned at him and took a step backwards, though their fingers remained intertwined. Zero knew what that meant—it was time for him to return. But he wouldn't be going far, he knew. He didn't fear the separation…he just looked forward all the more to the next reunion. Iris squeezed his hand, calling his attention to her eyes. "The war is over, but much blood has been spilled, particularly in your own home." Like Zero, her smile contained no sadness at their parting. "They need you now."
"And when I need you…?"
Iris stepped towards him again, standing tall to kiss him. It was briefer than the last one, but packed the same punch. "Have you ever seen flowers grow here in December, Zero?" she asked him with the faintest hint of a promise.
"I haven't," he confessed, watching her eyes twinkle and laughing despite himself. She brushed his hair from his face again, her response as beautiful a pledge as Zero had ever heard.
"You will."
Mega Man X could have wept for joy when Zero's eyes opened without any hint of madness in them. The sight X had seen had been horrific—a black oozing creature sinking into Zero like he was quicksand, and then the Hunter himself convulsing and screaming before slipping into unconsciousness. It had been the Virus, X knew, the Virus laid bare in its truest form, and it had attacked his friend while he couldn't defend himself. But then, out of nowhere, a burning flash of that same darkness had shot out from Zero's body like a teleportation signal. X had hoped feverishly that it had been the Virus fleeing his friend, and from the looks of things, it had been.
Zero caught sight of his one-armed partner and smiled at the sight. No matter how busted up he may be, X always had a knack for sticking by his friends. Zero could now appreciate that more fully. He turned his head and realized that X had dragged him clear across the clearing, opting to put distance between Zero and what remained of Sigma…and indeed, not much remained of Sigma, probably thanks to an infuriated X when he had nothing to do but wait as Zero battled the demons inside his head. X had also recovered both Zero's saber and the most important thing here, the big box containing the Spare. For the moment, the nuclear threat had come to an end. His hearing began to return, and as it did he realized that X was yelling at him.
"Zero! Zero! Are you all right? Zero!"
"Yeah, yeah!" he waved his arms in protest, wincing at the pain radiating from his smashed chest. "Ugh…but would you happen to have anything for heartburn?"
X sighed in relief. If the bastard was joking around, he was fine. "No, but I'm sure they have plenty back home." His eyes narrowed and he looked at Zero seriously. "Sigma's head was…well, it wasn't anymore. What the hell did you use on him?"
"I…" He chuckled, despite the pain. "I had a little help."
"Help?" X frowned, but Zero would go no further. At that moment X's communicator started beeping, insultingly enough on the severed arm. X, feeling twelve kinds of fool, raised it to his lips and answered the call. "X here."
"X," Delates' voice said in reply. "Bombs are set and we're all clear. What's your status?"
"We're clear, Del," X said, his voice full of relief and finality.
"'We'?"
"The bombs are set?" Zero growled loudly enough to be heard. "Dammit Delates, you slacker, why the hell hasn't the whole damn building been totaled yet?"
"Zero…" Delates laughed in dark humor. "Believe me, sir, I can't wait to bring it down…but two of our own are going with it."
"Don't tell me," Zero whispered, his stomach sinking at the thought of his teammates dying.
"Feldspar fell to Bit and Byte…and Lyon to Sigma."
"All of those bastard Mavericks are dead now," X replied forcefully, feeling Zero's anger in his own heart. "They're avenged."
"Partially." Delates' message was clear—the next Maverick he got a hold of was in for a world of hurt.
"Take her down, Del," Zero said at length, grieving privately for his fallen comrades. "We'll see you back home." Transmission ended, and X lowered his arm.
In the past, X and Zero had tended to stick around to watch Sigma's bases as they fell to pieces. That trend had ended the last time, when both had sped from Final Weapon without a single look back. X looked to his best friend with the silent question as he helped him to his feet, but Zero just shook his head no.
"There are more important things to do," was his simple reasoning. He smiled at X with a resolution the owner of Fourth Armor hadn't seen in years. He nodded his head in agreement, and Zero looked out in the distance in the general direction of Megacity 5. He didn't know exactly what they'd find there, but he knew the night was far from over. He took one more breath of the cool Catskill air before turning to Mega Man X, the man who was supposed to be his archrival and was instead his most trusted friend, and nodded with the confidence of the seasoned teacher who'd taught the rookie Hunter X the basics of combat, all those years ago.
"Let's go home."
