Chapter 1: Enter VoV.
'Twas a cold night at the secret vov installation. Sigmah has locked himself up waiting for completion of a new body by top reploid scientists loyal to the virus. It has been 3 months since the fall of Sigma and a victory for the humans and maverick hunters, however, the VoV was still considered a rogue band of reploids out for destruction. Maverick Hunter Command does not take VoV as a serious threat but rather considers them to be a bunch of petty thugs. The search for VoV is not a strong since the fall of Sigma giving VoV the time to prepare and strike.
Commander Keiker, current leader of VoV in the absence of Sigmah has called a meeting of all X-Hunters to discuss a new plan to show the world that VoV is a formidable threat.
"Listen up! Untill Lord Sigmah's new body is finished, we must form a strategic plan against the maverick hunters and show them that we are a force to be reckoned with. Soo....... Any ideas?"
Tempo stood up. "Commander, perhaps we should infiltrate the Maverick Hunters' HQ and,.....umm......"
"Infect the whole place with the virus!" Fortissimo interrupted.
"Brilliant, but how?" Old stone chin asked, "How can we send someone in there without getting caught?"
*BANG BANG BANG*
"What the hell...."
"The front door, sir"
"What? How could anyone make it to the front door? What happened to our Security Alarm/ Assault?"
"Funds have been low , sir..."
"Gha... well, let's go see who it is..."
The mavericks left the lounge and made their way to the front door.
".............Well?"
"Well what, sir?"
"Open the door dumb ass, hell if I'm gonna get blown away by whatever is behind there..."
Fortissimo opened the door, and lying on the doormat was a half beaten red reploid.
"Tempo, can you identify this hump of spare parts?"
Tempo took out her scanner and waved it over the badly damaged reploid.
"Scanning Complete. Reploid Identified as Maverick Hunter Zero."
Everyone's mouth dropped wide open.
"Sir, I think we just found a way to infiltrate the Maverick Hunters' HQ," Tempo stated.
An ominous grin grew on Keiker's face.
"Begin the repairs, immediately, I'll prepare a Virus serum"
(So that's why he had to hide to get repaired....)
As Tempo repaired the battered reploid, she somehow knew him. As she dug through the chest plate she noticed a familiar sign, she dropped the welding laser in shock.
To the left of Zeros energy pack there was a small purple skull, a sign she knew well. She has this same sign on her left shoulder.
"Could Wily have actually built this guy?" She thought out loud.
"Wily?" asked fortissimo.
She had totally forgot he was there. "Nothing Forte...."
"What did you call me?"Fortissimo asked with a puzzled look on his Face.
"Sir, his internal energy packs are destroyed. We'll need to get some new ones"
Fortissimo could tell she was trying to avoid the topic, so he dropped it as well.
"Looks like you destroyed the laser welder as well...... we need more tools, I'll be back soon."
The steel door made a whistle as he left the room.
"I almost let the whole mission slip, I need to watch my mouth around here from now on. Especially around Fortissimo." She thought.
She stares down at the shell of a robot on the restructuring table, and places a purple object in the chest. This small bass clef shaped object would help her track him.
" If you ARE really Wily's that makes us family, and Ill need you later on." Tempo sounded cold when she said this.
A faded purple light flashed from inside Zero's chest as Tempo
went back to work.
On the other side of the lab, Keiker continues the preparation of a virus serum.
"I have found him, the red maverick who destroyed my unit long ago. It seems but a faint dream now."
Keiker has a flashback of from when he was part of Unit Gamma. "But how could one be so powerful, it seems he was beyond a reploid, nothing could touch him. But, this battered heap, how could one be so powerful then fall? What did that fool Sigma do to him?"
Ping!
Keiker pulled the serum out of the mixer and brought it over to the operation table where Zero lay.
"Fortissimo, how are the repairs going?" asked Keiker.
"68% completed ,sir. Is the serum ready?" Fortissimo replied.
Keiker waved the container in front of Fortissimo.
"We can inject the virus now, sir," stated Fortissimo.
"Not yet, I would like to have a little chat with our red friend here," explained Keiker," You see, we go back a long ways. Right before Sigma's first revolt, a very powerful maverick was spotted in a heavily populated mine. I was part of a maverick hunting unit named Gamma."
"You were a hunter, sir?" asked Tempo from across the table."
"Yes, I was, and a very good one, I might add. Unit Gamma was one of the best, right in the ranks of Sigma's unit. Anyway, we were sent to take care of this maverick, and to simply put, we got our asses kicked. He left every one of us to die deep in the mines. Luckily, a search and rescue team salvaged what they could of us. Once I was repaired, I quickly learned that the red maverick who whooped us joined the Maverick Hunters. I went to see what this was all about, but they denied me access to Dr. Cain. I then left to plan my own revenge upon the red one."
"Incredible story, sir, and I take it that Zero was the red maverick?" asked Tempo.
"Yes"
"But was having a maverick join the ranks of a maverick hunter really enough for you to quit?" inquired Fortissimo.
Keiker looked dead on at Fortissimo. As a bolt of lightning, he reached for Fortissimo's throat. He grabbed him and yanked him over the table.
"That's easy for you to say. You haven't seen the insides of 4 of your buddies splattered all over the floor, or see your commander..."
He stopped. He let go of Fortissimo.
"Continue with the repairs," ordered Keiker.
Keiker was walking away from the table when he noticed a purple clef on the inside of his old foe.
"Tempo, what's this?" he asked.
Tempo froze in fear.
"It's......a...thing...that will... blow him up.... just in case he is caught... a fail safe, sir,"Tempo managed to get out.
Keiker looked at it again, looked at Tempo, and back at the clef. He walked out of the room. A great sigh of relief came from Tempo. Fortissimo snickered. Tempo blushed, and got back to work...
Spaceport Vero-7:
It was night. At least it looked like night. At this altitude, days and nights all merged together under the blanket of stars. In a small room deep within the spaceport, a large robot was running as fast as it could down the corridor,
"I'll kill him! That was the broadband radar! It'll take months to repair!"
Orbital Hyena ran at top speed through the echoing shafts of the station, the army of drones posted at the port diving out of his way.
Not ten minutes earlier an unidentified object crashed into a large radar dish positioned at the tops of the spaceport, causing it to collapse and destroy a number of gun turrets. Luckily, it had done negligible damage to the hull, keeping the pressure constant.
Suddenly, a voice was heard in Hyena's head,
"Orbital Hyena. Can you hear me?" Keiker barked through the communicator.
"Yes.....sir"
Orbital Hyena was one of the army of Professor Fandango and so was extremely wary to taking orders from anybody else, but reasoned that it was much more likely for him to return to his home if he complied with those around him.
"What the hell just happened? I've lost a huge radius on the navigation systems!"
"Well you see, it was destroyed, and we believe it to have been by none other than Zero....your majesty," the Hyena retorted sarcastically
"Don't talk crazy talk. Zero's here with us being repaired!"
"Are you sure...sir? Our systems up here show that it to be exactly matched with Zero..."
"Well I'm telling you that your systems are wrong! I want it fixed NOW"
As well as being confused, Hyena was getting a little agitated as he so often did when his 'superiors' told him what to do without so much as a 'please'.
"YES SIR!" He exclaimed arrogantly, "Well then, time you lot got started"
A small team of construction droids were ushered to the site of repair.
*VoV Base*
Keiker Ponders about the attack on the Spaceport while pacing in the corridor.
"How could the sensors indicate that Zero attacked the Spaceport? He couldn't be at two places at once."
He noticed that a Soda machine was down the hall, and from all of his walking and pondering, he was quite parched. He made his way to it, put a credit in. Nothing. He hit the change return button. Nothing. He kicked it. Nothing.
" O______O "
He punched right through it. When he pulled his arm out, he was holding a refreshing can cola.
"ServBots! Clean up this mess, and bring out another pop machine." he barked.
He continued to the opposite end of the hall when he noticed another Soda machine down the hall, and then it hit him. He dropped his can and ran for the Operation Room.
*O.R.*
Tempo and Fortissimo are continuing their repairs for Zero.
"So, you hear about the Spaceport attack?" Tempo asked Fortissimo.
"Yeah, I heard Orbital said that it was Zero, what's up with that?" Fortissimo replied.
Keiker stormed in whit a look of death on his face. He headed straight for the main computer in the room.
"Computer, initiate Full Identification Scan, NOW! " he demanded the computer with a hint of worry in his voice.
" F I S initiated, scanning" buzzed the computer.
"Sir, what are you doing?" asked Tempo.
Keiker said nothing.
" Scanning Complete. Reploid identified as Maverick Hunter Zero. Additional information is locked," the computer diagnosed.
"Sir, we already know its-"
"Quiet. Computer, input default pass code 1137," Keiker instructed.
" Acknowledged"
"1137, sir?" asked Fortissimo.
"Maverick Hunter default pass code. As far as I can tell, they were to lazy to ever change it," he said.
" Additional Information Found. FIS has discovered that this is not the Maverick Hunter Zero, but only a clone," announced the computer.
"No," Tempo gasped. This just flat out pissed Keiker.
"What else?" he asked the computer.
" If activated, Maverick Hunter Zero clone would have self-destructed and take out approximately anything in a 0.3 kilometer radius," warned the computer. The three of them stared at the corpse for a few moments. Keiker's head hummed and let out a blast of energy fro, his eyes right to the body. It was demolished without recognition.
"Well, I'm heading to the lounge. Peace." Keiker said while walking out of the room, with a seemingly odd cheerful mood. Tempo and Fortissimo followed...
Tempo idly clanked down the corridor, her finger pressed to her head communicator. In the close reaches of space, the conversation was being completed:
"Clone you say? Well if that WAS Zero that broke my precious dish, he's heading towards the desert, and I do believe that that stupid Dung Beetle's digging around there...all I want to know is where he fell FROM...."
Orbital Hyena had calmed down considerably, much preferring the company of Tempo to that of Commander Keiker, yet was still in a state of mild confusion.
"Alright," Tempo replied, "See what you can do to find out where he came from, and I'll send a message to Scarab"
"Yes......Ma'am" Despite liking Tempo over Keiker, Hyena was still unfamiliar with taking orders from others.
Soon, Tempo was attempting to explain the situation to Bone Scarab and Fortissimo was wondering what happened to the vending machine, and furthermore why there was even a vending machine there, the team consisting of robots as it does...
Not caring much for the random violent acts taking place on-base, Fortissimo just grabbed a Dr.Doppler soft drink from inside the gaping hole and moved to the lounge.
He sat in his favorite sofa thinking to himself with slight disappointment. Just a couple hours ago they were plotting an arbitrary attack on the nearest hunter base. It would have been clear suicide, but at least there would finally be action. Ever since Fortissimo's virus surfaced for the first time since he was activated and drew him to Sigmah, he had been thoroughly disgruntled with his new calling. It was the first time he was part of a team since he left the X-hunter army, and he only now appreciated that freedom once it was taken away from him again. Too bad it was impossible to go maverick from the mavericks.
"Bah!" He finally shouted as he got up and threw his can at the wall. "I'm frickin' rusting with boredom here!" With a slight uneasiness in his logic processor, and a burning resistance from the virus, Fortissimo forced himself towards the long-range teleporters.
The teleporter room doubled as a comm center, where Tempo was discussing the Zero issue with Scarab.
"The fool will feel the curse if he comes here."
"I know you think you could just step on him, but remember this is Zero we're talking about."
"I've heard the stories, but from what I hear, he is simply a tactless berserker who gets himself killed constantly."
Tempo cringed at the description of all her father's creations in a nutshell, "I...guess it may look that way, but he makes up for his low defense with incredible inner strength, keep your guard up."
"You mean, of course, my Ethereal Shield?"
"Er, yeah, I guess." The two laughed lightheartedly, the moment was broken when Fortissimo stormed into the room and immediately started entering coordinates in the teleporter console. Tempo rose an eyebrow and asked nervously, "uh...going somewhere?"
"Yes, I'm going out to have a little fun with the hunter base, I'll be back by supper."
"Are you insane!?" An instinctive protective feeling rose within Tempo. "Who gave the orders? You can't possibly expect to survive out there alone? Aren't you going to get a systems check first?"
"Damnit, I'm fine! And I'll give my own orders! I'm an X-hunter too! And there's nothing else to do except keep an eye out for that red madman or help sort nuts and bolts for Sigmah's new body, frankly, I'd much rather take out some frustration on a few dozen human-lovers. Hold my calls." With that, Fortissimo flashed and shot upwards in the form of a brown beam of light.
"WAIT!! Damn! You crazy son of a...damnit, you're just like he was...."
Bone Scarab looked uncomfortably into the scene from his own comm room, "Uhh, maybe I should hang up now..."
A Blinding light.
"The hell?"
It gets dimmer. Keiker finds himself in a desert field. He notices a bunker in the distance. He is lured to and doesn't know why. Before he is a hundred yards from it, the roof of the bunker is destroyed by a giant fireball. A red beam quickly follows after. He barges in to the battered bunker, dark, covered with debris. He finds his way into the control room only to find a half dead Bone Scarab. He pulls debris off from on top of the battered maverick.
"Bone, what in the hell happened here?" asked Keiker.
"He just...Barged in here....nothing I could do... got the," is all he could stammer out.
"Who, WHO?" Keiker screamed, but he was gone.
* SHVING, SHVANG, CLANG*
Keiker whipped around only to see a hole in the wall. He heard laughter from behind him. He whipped back around. He was piss scared now. Laughter to his left, to his right, soon it was all around. He finally saw a green beam. It came closer. He could make out an outline. He saw red. The saber was lifted high. Primal fear finally sunk in. Time seemed to slow. The saber came down slowly, but he couldn't move. Lower, and lower. He could only see green.
GWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
In the lounge, Keiker sat straight up out of the couch, panting heavily, heartbeat racing, sweating (well, as much of those things a reploid could do anyway...). What was that he just saw? Was it a warning, or just a screwed up nightmare? He didn't want to find out. He rushed down to the communication room where he found Tempo.
"Tempo, get me in contact with bone" he ordered.
"Um, yes sir" she replied while dialing up the computer. It rang a few times.
"Bone's Love Shack, if it ain't Bone, it ain't worth it, how can I help you?" the voice o the other line answered.
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Scarab, it's Keiker," he said, somewhat annoyed.
"Aw shi-, Yes sir, um... You can't see me sir, but I'm saluting" Bone embarrassingly replied.
Keiker turned on the video link. He wasn't saluting. He stood there with a dumbfounded look. Keiker looked at him crossly.
"Scarab, I want you to have your scanners on full alert," he ordered.
"Sure sir, but may I ask if there is any particular reason?" Bone replied while flipping a few switches.
"...Call it a hunch."
Sigmah had used to power of the virus to takeover some of the worlds most brilliant reploid scientists. Finally his new body was almost complete and he could finally launch his new plan. The body was complete and the scientists were ready for Sigmah's data to be transformed into the new body. Sigmah just stood there and thought about something. The scientists began to get nervous because they feared Sigmah was not happy with the new body.
"My lord, is there something wron..." said Dr. Yakhio (o_o) the lead reploid scientist. He waited for a reply but Sigmah never spoke, he just continued standing there.
Finally, "This will not do." Sigmah said coldly and walked away.
The scientists were shocked that Sigmah was displeased with their hard work, however they said nothing and began from the beginning. Sigmah walked back to his private chamber and closed the door.
Inside, Sigmah sat down and began observing what was going on with his X-Hunters using the power of the virus. He noticed they were agitated with something, but had no real care about it. He smiled and laid down.
"Soon my new body will be complete. The new ARS model has a lot of potential, potential only I can give it."
He laughed and closed his eyes.
"HOLY GREEN GRAPED REPTILIAN ACROBATS!!"
Being far away from the planets surface, where the vast, vast majority of Maverick Hunter activity occurred, it seemed logical to have the most incompetent drones manned far off orbiting the globe. Thus, repairs were not a clean process. Furthermore, with a sub-leader possessing all the grace and flare of a bag of bricks looming over them as often as is robotically possible, they had little to no chance in completing orders.
"Did I not demand that you FIX the dish!? You'll be WEEKS at this rate and my head'll be in the bin if it's not fixed soon! With the navigation screwed like this those suckers on the rock below'll only be able to scan a few miles around each garrison! What did I do to deserve the lowliest bunch of loose-screwed morons that ever rolled off the production line!? I'll not have that stupid beetle get one over on me, so get it fixed before he finds out!"
A frantic Tempo finally met up with Keiker. "A Tempo, good thing you're here, look, I think we're going to have to send some re-enforcements to help Scarab, where's Fortissimo?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, sir..." Tempo said worriedly, "He ran off to attack the hunters. I tried to stop him."
"That imbecile! Just now?"
"No! I went to watch some TV before I came to find you, of course just now!"
"Hmph, no need to get smart, fine, I'll give you permission to take some Mets and Batton-Bones to back him up, I guess I'll be the one to go help Scarab."
Images of his foreboding vision flashed through his head one more time. He gasped.
"Sir"
"Uh, right, I should be fine, now let's get going, we're pretty busy today."
Keiker imputed the coordinates to Bone's dessert bunker with a clear vision of his dream in mind.
"UGH!" He yells as he pounds his fist onto the counsel. "I cannot be acting like a damn chicken! I'm second in command of a maverick army!"
He then begins to ponders to himself as he looks at the numbers that have appeared on the screen.
"Sir..." said the young maverick Jolt Jaguar, as he came in.
"What is it you want?" said the seemingly annoyed Commander.
"Well... I'd like to request some battle time. Being cooped up in this installation, is not doing anything for battle skills."
Keiker looked at him with a suggestive grin.
"Fine, you want action? You come with me."
"YES SIR!" Jolt enthusiastically said.
With the absence of the X-Hunters at VoV Command, Sigmah left the confines of his quarters and ventured out into main control center.
The VoV is right now hardly known about. Only a few of the mavericks are being tracked down by Hunter Command, and none of the X-Hunters nor Sigmah is known about to them.
Sigmah sat down in his stolen reploid body and began to look at a monitor. He entered a pass code and began reading Dr. Yakhio's files about his theoretical A.R.S. model.
Sigmah read most of the files and began to talk to himself:
"Yes... this body will suffice my plans after all. With the human components of the A.R.S. I shall be able to produce to most powerful weapon ever. Soon it will be time transfer into the new body. After that nothing will be able to stop me. I will become..."
Sigmah stopped realizing he was talking out loud. He stood up, shut down console, and began to pace around the room.
"When will it be ready?!" Sigmah yelled as he bashed his hand into a wall.
Keiker and Jolt stand in the middle of a dessert with 20 or so maverick drones, staring at Bone's Bunker. Flashes of his nightmare go through Keiker's mind.
"Sir, we gonna advance or what?" asked Jolt.
"umm, yeah..." Keiker replied. They continued to the front door. Jolt knocked on the door. A voice on the intercom on the door buzzed.
"Bone's Bunker, if it ain't boned, it aint worth it," buzzed the intercom.
"Ha! Knew you'd take my advise for an opening," yelled back.
"Jolt?!? Where the hell have you been? Come on in!" Bone buzzed back. The large metal door opened. Jolt walked right in with the drones, but Keiker hesitated a bit. He waited for an explosion.............nothing. He walked in. They met Bone walking out of the control room.
"Hey Jolt. WAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSUUUUUUUUPPP?" Bone said trying to be cool.
"WAAAAAAASSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUPP?" Jolt replied. Keiker joined in the WASUP-age, also.
"So what brings you guys out here?" Bone asked. Jolt and Bone looked at Keiker.
"Just a routine check up, and I've always loved starring at the Eurasia wreckage,"Keiker replied with a grin.
"Yeah, well, they're still here..." Bone said. Bone took the guys around the base giving them the skinny. 2 hours passed by.
"Keiker, sir, you think we should get going now?" asked Jolt. Keiker looked around the base for a moment.
"Yes, lets leave. Bone, tis been a pleasure. My we stop back again soon,"Keiker said. Bone bowed down old fashion gentleman-like.
"Please do so,"said Bone. They made their way out of the bunker, but before he left, Keiker gave one more worried look, then walked out. Keiker gave a sigh of relief.
*BOOOOM*
Keiker's eyes widened with fear. When Jolt an the drones whipped around, Keiker just stood there with a look of mortal fear.
"..........Jolt, please go back inside," Keiker barely just got out. Jolt ran back in.
*SHVING, SHVANG, MWHEHEHEHEHEE, GHAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa, SHLLLEP*
Keiker saw a red beam go overhead and off over the horizon. Keiker just stood there.
"Drones, go rescue them," he commanded. The drones marched in. Keiker just stood there looking off to the horizon. He couldn't bare to see his man mauled like in his nightmare, not again. Keiker teleported back to the VoV base.
The time had arrived. After 5 months of waiting inside of the body of an inferior reploid, Sigmah was about to be transferred into his new body. Dr. Yakhio, who stands out among the other reploid scientists under Sigmah's control, has developed a new type of robot, the A.R.S. (Advanced Robotic Species). Unlike bots and reploids, the A.R.S. is combined with living biological components to allow for further growth beyond original program. An actual human brain is inside of the A.R.S. with cerebral enhancers to activate 100% of the brain, making it far faster in computing than any reploid ever. The ARS has an exoskeleton that is made of human skin, allowing the ARS to blend into normal society without armor.
Sigmah summoned the X-Hunters to the laboratory. They arrived in the lab before Sigmah was there. Inside were two capsules, one empty and ready to be filled, and one closed.
Fortissimo tried to peer through the closed capsule but could not see anything. One of the reploids asked Fortissimo to step back and he did.
"Where the hell is he?" Keiker said in frustration.
"I have no idea, but we must be patient," replied Tempo.
"This is nonsense, he calls us in here and then does not show up." Keiker commented as Sigmah came walking through the lab entrance.
The X-hunters had hardly seen Sigmah for these 5 months. Sigmah hid his physical self and talked with the hunters via the virus and communication devices. He walked up to Dr. Yakhio who was anxiously awaiting his arrival.
"Sigmah, the body is just as you have requested. We changed what you did not like when we last spoke and are very please with how…" before the doctor could finish, Sigmah interrupted him.
"No need for the description. I am well aware of how the body has turned out. Now I am ready for the transfer." Sigmah said as the doctor led him to the capsule.
"My lord, if you step inside of here the transferring will begin." Dr. Yakhio explained to the reploid. However, Sigmah did not step inside.
"Before we begin, I will be doing this myself." Sigmah said without hesitation.
"Wha..? But how will you do it?" replied Dr. Yakhio.
"I will personally take over your body. You will be able to perform everything that needs to be done. But I do not trust you with what you could possibly due to me while I am defenseless. Every decision you process will be cleared by me. If I do not like what you are trying to do, you will wish you never had been created." Sigmah stated coldly.
The doctor who was now hesitating about the operation agreed to let the virus control his moves, not as if he had a choice about it anyway.
Sigmah stepped into the capsule and the doctor closed the door. One of Yakhio's subordinates latched it shut as Yakhio walked over towards the control panel. The X-Hunters watched the doctor's every move.
"We will now send the data from the origin to a back up buffer" the doctor said as if he were giving a lecture. He pushed a couple of buttons and the first capsule began to light up.
Fortissimo not knowing what was going on began to step forward to stop what Yakhio was doing. But he remembered that Sigmah was controlling the doctor, so this must be part of the experiment.
The data was finally transferred to the buffer. The doctor then announced, "Now the data will be converted to human wave patterns so it may be implanted into the brain."
"What! No you cannot do that!" Fortissimo screamed. He lunged towards the doctor but Tempo grabbed him and held him back.
"You fool! Stop acting like something is going wrong. Everything is fine." Tempo told Fortissimo.
As they continued to bicker, the second capsule began to shake. Light was coming out of it and it looked like it was about explode. This caused the hunters to stop fighting with each other and stare at the capsule. After a minute of violent shaking, the capsule just stopped.
The doctor powered down everything and checked a monitor to make sure the process went well. He looked as if a whole bunch of pressure was lifted off his shoulders. This meant he was successful.
The capsule door opened. The X-Hunters were in a state of shock. They looked inside and saw a blue-haired, half naked man, not a reploid at all.
"Doctor, what the hell is going on?" Fortissimo shouted at the Yakhio.
"That is Sigmah, sir." The doctor replied.
The X-Hunters stepped back as the man stood up. Unlike Sigmah's old body which stood towering over 9 feet, this man stood only at 6 foot 7 inches. He bended his arm as if it were the first time doing it, after all, it was.
Keiker, who was trying to hold back laughter could not keep quiet and finally said,
"Sigmah, hahaha, you don't look too threatening at all!"
The others just looked at Sigmah. Finally, Sigmah cracked a smile and turned towards Keiker. He began to laugh with Keiker.
Suddenly, he lifted his hand towards Keiker and pointed a finger at him. Keiker stood there and wondered what Sigmah was up to. A small, but fast energy beam exited Sigmah's finger and went straight into Keiker's arm.
Nothing happened. Keiker began to laugh thinking Sigmah was just playing with him. But then Keiker felt the bottom of his arm crash onto the cold surface of the lab. He looked at his unattached arm and then at the spot where it had been. Sigmah never even recoiled from the blast or charged up, yet he broke through the top X-hunter's armor like it was a sheet of paper.
"Looks are deceiving, Commander." Sigmah said with a smirk on his face. There was no laughter in the room.
"Stay behind and the doctor will repair your arm." Sigmah said as he walked out of the lab. Fortissimo quickly followed his leader, but Tempo stayed behind for a second.
"You know, he could have killed you." She said to Commander Keiker and then caught up with the exiting crowd. Keiker just stood there as the doctors began to repair him. He found nothing amusing about Sigmah anymore.
Orbital Hyena's ears perked up and he sprang up attentatively
"What the hell was that?"
A drone was quick in response, "That was Fortissimo sir, he's on the communicator"
"Gordon Bennett. I thought something ELSE had fallen to pieces...."
Hyena made his way to the communicator, still unfamiliar with the controls.
"What's the prob, chief?"
"Big news" Fortissimo explained, "Lord Sigmah's new body has just been completed. We X-Hunters are letting everyone know, so you'll have to work your asses off ten times harder because he's got the time to overlook everything personally"
"Bloody Hell. What's he look like?"
"Well, like a......carbon...."
Hyena, having experienced humans before, understood what Fortissimo was saying "You mean human? I thought the concept of humans on that planet was an impossibility"
"I don't QUITE understand it myself, but you'd best be on your guard" Fortissimo was hesitant, yet stern.
"Alright, alright, but these oxymoronic half-wits'll still be fixing that damn dish for some time...."
"Well I suggest you get it in gear, because you navigation will be a focal point for Lord Sigmah"
"Just as I thought. Bugger."
Keiker has called Nova into his office.
"Nova, I'd like to discus something with you," Keiker said firmly," I've been thinking, to help you out with my new armor, I'm going to assign you and your collogues a new lab, and I was wondering if you had a preference."
Nova shoved a bang away from his visor. "In the experimental 0 gravity room. It will give your armor less weight, and my studies more stability,"he replied, "It will also give me a chance to test out a new device I'm creating, to give antigravity abilities to the members of VoV."
"I was thinking more of a place outside of the VoV base, perhaps somewhere in space along with Orbital. Yes, that will do. Pack your things, and tell Yakhio about the move." Keiker said. Nova was about to interject but he hesitated. Perhaps having the lab in space would payoff. No nosey X-Hunters, less order following, and he wouldn't have to see old stone chin, until Wednesday at least.
"Sir, yes sir" Nova announced.
Keiker thought to himself, "Hmm, what nice guy, maybe I'll send him a fruit basket this Christmas"
Nova walked back to his room, muttering "Bug eyed freak...." to himself. Keiker, overhearing, stopped Nova. "What was that, Nova?" Nova acted cool, and responded. "Big oil leak, sir. I must repair my internal systems." Nova gruffly walked awy, snickering.
*beep.. beep*
A rhythmic sound emitted from an infirmary in the lower east wing of the VoV installation.
"Wires." yelled a reploid that was fitted with surgical scrubs.
"WIRE!" another reploid said, as he handed the doctor like reploid the accustomed tool.
The reploid known as Jolt Jaguar drifted in and out of cancans, as the Repair crew operated upon him.
"Forceps!" the doctor said again.
"FORCEPS!"
"Good. lets close him up, and get a game of golf going."
An Hour or so passed by, since Jolt Last opened his opticals.
The young maverick found himself feeling refreshed, and sat up in his bed.
"I feel like a new reploid! A sexy one at that!" he said as he was inspecting his arms.
Tempo came in just as he was looking at the lower half of his body.
"Ohhh, if it ain't the hot reploid X-hunter." Jolt said seductively.
Tempo, didn't look to amused by his flattery.
"Did you stop by for some.... lovin?" He said as he grinned.
Tempo then pulled out a Cd. "Here are your orders. Read them carefully." and with that said, she threw him the Compact disc, and left the room.
A grin came over Jolt's facial structure, as he said... "She digs me."
" - AND MAKE DAMN SURE HE GETS IT BY CHRISTMAS EVE!" Keiker yelled to the phone. He slammed it on the base. He laid back on his chair and sighed.
"How did I know about the attack? Why did I?" he asked himself," How can a simple dream become reality? Bah, it was just a coincidence." Keiker laid back on his chair even further. "That's it, just a coincidence." Keiker yawned. "Perhaps I'll take .....a....." He went of to dream land.
VVBWOOOOON, VVBWOOOOOON
Keiker stood straight up. He commed Tempo.
"Tempo! What in God's name is going on?" he yelled.
"shshsshshshs SIR, the shshshshhshsshshshshs rick Hunters are shshshshsshshshs base, can't shshshshsshshs them off." was all he heard.
"Where!?!"
"shshshshshss Lab shshshshsshshsh seizing Yahkios pod shshshshshsshsh Sigmah's body shshshshs"
Keiker ran out of the lab like a bat out of hell to the lab. When he go there, there weren't any Hunters, there wasn't anything happening.
"Tempo, where the hell are you!?!?" he yelled
"shshshs hall shshshsh hind"
"What?"
Tempo walked up right behind him and tapped him. Keiker screamed and whipped around.
"I said I was down the hall right behind you, sir" she replied.
"Ok, but what's with the alarm and the communication being out?" he asked.
"The maverick Hunters are storming Orbital and Nova's bases. They're taking the pods that modified Sigmah and they knocked out the communication, which effects all VoV installations." she told him.
"Great, just FURKING great. We need to send some help. Grab Twenty drones and , no, Thirty, and meet me at the teleporters.
"Sir!" she replied as she ran off. No time for his new armor, Keiker had to
get going now, so on his way to the Teleportation room, he stopped at the weapons hoard and grabbed a saber. He made it to the teleportation room, but no one was there.
"Tempo, where are you?"
" SHSHSHSHSHSHS MISSILE SHSHSHSHSHSHSTHIS WAY SHSHSHSSHSH HELL OUT OF HERE SHSHSHSHSHS EVACUATE NOW SHSHSSHHSHSHSSH LOST"
Keiker looked out the window and saw it, the missile coming right for us, but something wasn't right.
He woke up in a sweat.
"Not again, damn it, not again"
End Chapter.