AN: I'd like to thank everybody who has read and reviewed my story. Here's another chapter. This time it's Signas.
Oh yeah, the part talking about what to do if the Council wanted X and Zero's bodies is inspired by the events that occur in Tuxedo Kamen's fic Legacy.
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Signas
This has been one hell of a day. Who would have thought that the Mavericks would take things this far?
I suppose the actions taken by Sigma can be taken as a sign of desperation. After being defeated so many times by X and Zero, he must have come to the conclusion that he could only win by taking such extreme measures as crashing Eurasia into the Earth and seeding the virus all over the world. Even though we stopped the colony from falling, there are so many new Mavericks now that there is no way we can possibly fight them all if Sigma or someone else manages to unite them into a cohesive attack force. If that doesn't happen we'll still be hard pressed to handle all of the raids and attacks these new mavericks will eventually launch. Then you also have to take into account that because of so many Hunters falling prey to the Sigma virus today, our forces will be severely undermanned for the foreseeable future. It's also likely that in addition to our normal duties, the Council will want the Hunters to play a major roll in the cleanup of the colony debris that will be impacting the planet for the next few days. I imagine that there will be severe ecological consequences as a result of the debris . . . we may have to continue evacuating the humans to underground shelters.
In the past Sigma has made no victory over his forces a total one, this time will be no exception. The First Uprising left the Hunter organization in shambles. It was only Sigma's unexpected defeat at X's hands that allowed the tide to turn and gave the Hunters a chance to regroup and launch a true counteroffensive against Sigma's remaining forces. During the third uprising, Sigma may have been defeated but Dr. Doppler, most of his research on the Maverick virus, and the anti-virus program were lost. There was still the anti-virus program in Zero's saber . . . but even the best scientists have had a hard time trying to duplicate it and their copies have never been as effective as the original vaccine. Sigma used the Fourth Uprising to get rid of the Repliforce and gain access to their space station so he could use the Final Weapon. Again he was foiled, but the Repliforce was no longer a threat to him and the Hunters came under intense political scrutiny for mislabeling the Repliforce as Mavericks. The Repliforce War also set off a new wave of restrictions on reploids meant to discourage us from going Maverick; it's interesting how such restrictions often cause the exact opposite of their intended effect to happen. The results of Sigma's actions this time, without him even having an army to back him up, are much worse than any of the previous uprisings. Even if we defeat Sigma this time, the victory will be a hollow one at best.
X and Zero headed off to the site of the strange new virus reading - Alia has dubbed it the Zero virus since it has the same readings as Zero - two hours ago. We lost contact as soon as they went in. We can't even get any readings from our scanners for that area so we have no way of knowing what's happening. Alia has been trying to raise X on his communicator ever since he went in and has been unsuccessful, there's just too much interference for a comm. signal to get through. I don't like this at all. Now all any of us can do is wait . . .
Waiting is the worst part of this job. No matter what orders I issue or strategies I come up with, in the end I must simply wait to see whether or not things will work out. That's all I can do now. I really have no other choice but to put all of my faith in X and Zero to get the job done and come back alive.
The problem is that I don't have the slightest clue what must be done now that we've stopped the colony other than defeating Sigma, but that is up to X and Zero. We aren't even certain where Sigma is . . . there has been no sign of him since this whole mess started. He could be where X and Zero went . . . I'm certain that this massive concentration of the Zero virus at point 11F5646 is not some coincidence, it must be Sigma's doing. He must have somehow gathered it all there for a reason . . . but why? I just hope Lifesavor is wrong about Zero, otherwise X may wind up having to fight his best friend to the death . . .
I don't know what got into Zero earlier. He wasn't even supposed to leave the base for awhile so he could recover from the shuttle mission. X was supposed to be the one to investigate the viral readings at point 11F5646. I know Alia had concerns about the idea, but eventually she conceded that it was necessary to learn the truth about the Zero virus and its sudden appearance. But when Zero found out about the new virus and where it was concentrated . . . he just walked out of the infirmary and went there. We managed to contact him and order him to return to base . . . but Zero just said to leave everything to him and then he turned off his radio.
What was I supposed to do? I couldn't let Zero just get away with disobeying orders, too many other Hunters look up to him and would probably follow his example. There was also no way for I could stop him from going there if that's what he wanted to do, other than ordering X to do so and Zero left before we could even consider using that option. I also couldn't just let Zero walk right into an area full of the Zero virus. We were already concerned about his strange reaction to the Sigma virus and we had less data on this new virus than the old one . . . There just was no telling how a virus with the same power readings as Zero would affect him. The only option left was for me to order X to go after Zero. Unfortunately that meant I had to reveal the truth about Zero's virus reaction to X so he would understand why he had to bring Zero back.
Lifesavor had brought Zero's virus reaction to my attention earlier today. Contact with the virus seemed to actually make Zero stronger, a reaction that normally only occurs in reploids that go Maverick after contracting the virus. Other than that, there were no apparent side-effects from his coming into contact with the virus. X also didn't seem to be affected by the virus, except for very minor system damage. Zero's reaction prompted Lifesavor to ask me to do something about him and X. He said it was too dangerous to have them running loose then since we don't know a whole lot about how their systems work or how the virus could affect them. He urged me to at least do something about Zero . . . what could I have done? There wasn't enough data to justify quarantining Zero for the duration of the crisis. Zero showed no signs of Maverick behavior and we needed him out there . . . X and Zero were the only soldiers we had left who could stand up to the reploids with the parts we needed if they chose to not hand them over without a fight. I told Lifesavor that we should just keep an eye on Zero. I knew letting Zero continue to go on missions might be dangerous . . . but I thought Zero was immune to the virus. I still think he may hold the key to defeating it once and for all.
Now X is hunting down Zero in an area saturated with a new, powerful virus. I hope Zero is still unaffected by the virus and will come back willingly. I'd hate to think of what would happen if he and X ever fought each other . . . they'd probably both be so badly damaged that there would be no way for us to repair them. I don't even know if X would be willing to use his full strength to bring Zero in . . . then again would Zero really even consider attacking X? After everything they've been through together, I find it hard to believe that Zero would challenge X to a fight. I'm probably just worried about nothing . . . but if Zero has gone Maverick, it's better for X to fight him there than it would be to wait for Zero to come after him here or launch an attack against one of the cities we haven't evacuated yet.
"What the . . . oh no . . ."
"What is it Alia?"
"I'm getting a stronger energy reaction from point 11F5646! It's too strong to get an accurate data sample. I must be reading Sigma . . . I can't think of anyone it could be but Sigma! He's behind all of this . . ."
"Alia, can you get a signal through to X!"
"No Signas, I can't break through the comm. interference . . . I'm not even picking him up on the sensors. The only reason we even detected Sigma on our scanners through all the interference was because of the massive power spike his appearance generated."
Damn! This is not good. We can't warn X about Sigma and we don't even know what's happened to Zero. Alia is trying to stay calm, but I know she's worried about Sigma's sudden reappearance. Right now she's frantically trying every last trick she knows to try and reestablish contact with X. Not that it's probably going to do any good . . . No, I can't start thinking like that. If anyone can break through the interference, it's Alia. Besides, X has beaten Sigma numerous times before . . . why would now be any exception? Hopefully our fears about Zero were unfounded and he's still around to help X.
Maybe it's wrong for the Hunters to depend so much on two reploids, but for whatever reason it's always those two who are the only ones capable of stopping Sigma. I just hope that this new virus wasn't just a ruse to lure X and Zero into a trap, though that's what it's starting to look like . . . Sigma's been able to hide his readings from us in the past, so why would we pick him up now? Is he using one of those huge battle bodies that he's so fond of?
"Signas! There's been a massive explosion at the Zero virus's coordinates and the interference is starting to clear up. I think I can . . . Yes! I'm picking up a signal from X's comm. unit and transponder. . ."
The relief in her voice is obvious. I've noticed lately that she seems to get very concerned about X's safety when he heads out on a mission . . . it's not unusual for a spotter to react that way when one of their friends goes into battle, but Alia always seems a little more agitated when it's X that's out there. It's probably nothing and there's no reason to get worried as long as her feelings don't interfere with her duties.
Since I'm standing near her station, I can see the readouts on Alia's terminal confirming that X's communicator is still on. He must have left it that way so we could contact him if the interference cleared up. The transponder in his communicator is sending us information from X's own diagnostic programs to let us know his physical condition. Alia says that from the readings she's getting that X has definitely taken a beating, but nothing irreparable. I wonder what happened to Zero though . . . either his communicator is still off or . . . no, Zero's probably fine too. Once the interference clears up a little more we should be able to find him with our sensors . . .
What?
X's readings just changed drastically . . . does that mean . . .
"X, come in! X, please
respond! X! . . . Lifesavor, we need you to get
an emergency med team ready to head out to X's location, now! He doesn't
have much time!"
There's
an edge of shock and panic to her voice now. It confirms what I
feared. X is dieing . . . that's why his readings changed so
suddenly. But how? Someone must have
attacked him. The explosion we picked up had to be Sigma, so it couldn't
be because of him . . .
Alia is right about needing a med team out there . . . but we need to make sure it's safe first. Whoever attacked X could still be there and the new virus is still in the area . . .
"Alia, we need to make sure the area is secure before we send anyone in."
She's looking at me with a mixture of surprise and anger. I don't blame her, I can hardly believe I just said that myself. I have to consider the safety of anybody else who goes there right now though. How could a medical team help X if Sigma is still active and attacks them . . . worse still would be if Zero is the one responsible and he's waiting for someone to come for X . . . plus if there's too much of the new virus in the area anyone who goes in would go Maverick before they could help X or even Zero if he needs it.
"What are you saying Signas? He'll be dead before we can confirm whether or not it's safe! How can you just abandon him like that?! If you aren't going to send someone, then I'll just go myself! I stand a better chance of fixing any of the damage to the parts the med team won't understand anyways!"
Funny, not too many years ago I'd be in agreement with Alia and may have gone there alone myself. But I'm the Supreme Commander of the Hunter forces now, I can't afford to indulge in such reckless behavior nor can I allow what's left of my command to take foolish, unnecessary chances. We've lost too many comrades today . . . I'd hate to have to add X and Zero to that list as well, but there's always a chance that they can still be revived if they're not functioning when we recover them. Until we know for certain that area is safe, I can't let anyone go there. I don't like this decision anymore than Alia does, but I am the one who must decide whether or not to risk lives by sending a team of Hunters in to recover a single, dying Hunter - possibly two if we ever manage to locate Zero - from a dangerous location that may have hostiles just waiting for more Hunters to arrive. I am the one who must make that choice, the one who will have to deal with the consequences of a choice that could mean the life or death of my two most trusted commanders and friends. I know this choice will affect others as well, but the responsibility for what happens afterwards will fall on me . . .
I wonder if X and Zero ever had to make this kind of choice during their terms as Supreme Hunter Commander. Would they really want us to jump blindly into a situation like this just on the off chance we can save them? In all honesty, I don't know for certain what they would do or would want us to do in this case . . . I can only make the best choice available to me and hope for the best.
Alia's leaving her station. Damn! She's serious about going. I manage to grab her arm as she walks by.
"You're right Alia, you do understand how many of X's parts work better than Lifesavor does. That's precisely why you can't go. We need you here to help when he's brought back. If you go and something happens to you, then it will make repairing him that much harder. Besides we'll need at least five minutes before a security detail can be assembled to go with the med team . . . I suggest you figure out a way to punch through the interference and make sure the area is safe before then so that the med team won't have to wait that long. Then they might be able to reach X a little quicker and we'll also be able to figure out what's happened to Zero."
Alia glared at me pretty hard before returning to her station. She's angry for several reasons. The first being the most obvious, X is dying and she feels helpless to do anything about it. She desperately wants to do something to help him besides what little she can do from here. The second reason is that I'm not sending anyone right away. The third reason is that she knows I'm right about why she can't go. It's hard enough for us to repair minor damage to X and if any of those un-analyzable systems of his are damaged, we need someone with Alia's expertise in reploid design to either repair those systems or build a suitable substitute for them.
I really do hope she can figure out a way to get the remaining interference and do the scan before the five minutes are up. It would certainly improve the odds of us getting to X in time and figuring out what happened to Zero . . . I don't really want to go down as the commander who had two living legends die on his watch.
"No . . . he's gone . . ."
What? Did I hear her right? X . . . he's dead . . . It feels like a Chimera ride armor just punched me in the stomach. I knew this was a possibility – it's a risk that every Hunter takes whenever they go on a mission – but knowing something is possible doesn't always keep you from being shocked when it does happen. I mean this is X we're talking about . . . a man considered by many to be virtually unstoppable when it comes to fighting. X has survived so much during his career as a Hunter that we've just taken it as a given that he'll complete the mission and come back safely . . . but there's no mistaking what the tone of Alia's voice meant . . . he's dead . . .
She didn't even say it that loudly, but the Command Center just went completely quiet. I've never once been in here when there hasn't been some kind of noise and activity going on . . . right now it's almost as still and silent as a graveyard.
As hard as it is to admit, it looks like there was nothing we could have done to help him even if a team had left right away . . . maybe Alia's wrong and X's communicator shut off, if not then maybe X can be revived like Zero was during the Second Uprising . . . but I'm not sure that's possible even if we get Dr. Cain to assist us.
We don't know even know what Zero's status is. What if he's gone too? I know Alia believes Sigma has spread the virus to thin to ever resurrect himself again, but Sigma has a reputation for coming back right when you think he's gone for good. If Sigma does come back . . . how are we supposed to handle him? X and Zero are the only ones capable of going one-on-one with him and Sigma is always so heavily defended that an assault force would have a hard time getting to him and I've heard the stories about how, in some of the earlier uprisings, Sigma massacred entire Hunter units by himself.
The threat doesn't even have to be Sigma . . . just one of his more powerful followers or even another Maverick almost as strong as him could just as easily present us with the same problem. How do you stop a Maverick whose power is greater than all but two of your best fighters if those warriors are dead?
This is possibly the most crippling blow Sigma could have dealt us. Not only are both of our best fighters possibly out of commission for good, but what's left of the Hunter's morale is about to get smashed. This whole experience has been a desperate fight against time and with so many of the planet's reploid population now Maverick . . . morale has really dropped. The success of the shuttle mission gave us hope again, but this . . . this is the worst thing that could have happened to us other than Sigma wiping us out with the colony.
I haven't even fully accepted what's just happened, a part of my mind still refuses to believe this is happening . . . I guess I'm still in shock. I can't afford to let the others see just how shaken up this is making me. I have to at least put on a show of confidence. I'll have time to deal with what's happened emotionally later, right now everyone's going to be looking to me for what we do now. It won't do them any good if I let myself get paralyzed by all the fear, sadness, anger at what's happened, and shock that I'm experiencing.
Because of my position, I am ultimately responsible for the lives and well-being of my men. Unless Alia is wrong and we get some good news from the recovery teams that we'll have to send to the site eventually, I'm going to have to hold things together now. I've been lucky enough that no major attacks or uprisings occurred for several years after I took command of the Hunters from my predecessor. That grace period just ended a little over 24 hours ago. I most likely won't have X and Zero to help me get through whatever the future has in store . . . I guess it's time to see what I'm really made of. I'll do everything that I'm capable of to hold this organization together and rebuild it. The Mavericks won't win . . . I won't allow X and Zero to have given their lives to stop Sigma just to let the remaining Mavericks finish what he started. I'll have time later, when I'm off duty, to grieve for my friends . . . I know it sounds cold, but right now I need to focus on what to do next and how to keep things from falling apart any more than they already have. That's the price I pay for being the leader, I must put those under my command and the good of the Hunter organization as a whole ahead of my own personal feelings and concern.
I should start arranging for recovery teams to go to the site and see if they can find any salvageable remains of our two best Hunters – maybe there will be enough of them left so that they can be brought back to life. I also need to start figuring out a way to break the news to everyone else in the base if that's not the case. How do you tell everybody that two legends just died?
Most of the Hunters here have heard the stories about X and Zero's exploits their whole lives. Many of them view those two as invincible; that it's just not possible for them to be defeated or die . . . I myself am even a little guilty of that. How am I supposed to ease the fears of other Hunters when this news breaks when I'm not sure I can do that for my own fears? There's not going to be much time to grieve for this loss before we're back to fighting against the Mavericks either. If they find out about what's happened, there's no way they won't try to take advantage of it.
If X can't be repaired and Zero's in the same shape . . . then we have to deal with the issue of what to do with their bodies. It would upset everyone even more if we just tossed the bodies of two of the most revered Hunters in existence into a recycling facility, which is SOP for disposing of reploid bodies . . . there's no way I'd allow that to happen them anyways. The Council will probably order us to hand them over to the Reploid Research Group or some other scientific organization so that they can dissect X and Zero's remains to see what they can learn. Naturally most of their efforts would focus on using what they learn to come up with new and better weapons - but I doubt X would be too thrilled with that given his pacifistic nature. If the Council does try something like that, they'd alienate most of the Hunters still willing to fight against the Mavericks and the remaining non-Maverick reploid population . . . we reploids don't have that many heroes and letting scientists tear apart the remains of two legends definitely wouldn't go over to well. Many humans would also protest about X and Zero being treated like that . . . the council would have to keep the whole thing under wraps or risk a political backlash, not to mention all the reploids who might decide to sign up for the Maverick cause if they do try to go through with it.
Could I really disobey a direct order from the Council if it came to that? It's not like they'll be in too much of a position to demand anything from us after today. They'll need our help to rebuild the planet and keep them safe. What could they threaten us with if we don't comply? Most of the human militaries were forced to abandon their heavier weaponry to evacuate to the shelters and it's not going to be safe on the surface for humans for a long time . . . but I have no intention of causing a rift between the humans and reploids, that goes against everything the Hunters have been fighting for over the past two decades. I also don't want them to just start chopping up my X and Zero and analyzing them as though they were nothing more than interesting machines! It'd be almost like how a child takes a toy apart just to see how it works and then not being able to put it back together. Reploids have always been treated with much less regard than humans, even though we think in the same manner as them and have the same emotions. That fact alone should be reason enough to view us as more than just some useful machine or tool! But in the end, that's all we are to some humans. Those same humans would have no problem taking apart their most useful "tools" to see what they can learn from them in death that they couldn't from examining them when they were alive.
I'll deal with that situation if the need arises. I'll do everything I can to resolve it without the Hunters turning on the humans . . . I won't allow that to happen. I fear however that should that situation arise, I will have no choice but to comply with the Council's wishes.
Hopefully the Council won't do anything until after the Hunter computer unlocks X and Zero's final requests. That will let us know what they want us to do with their bodies and their possessions . . .
What am I thinking? Have I really already given up hope that they'll be okay? I guess I'm being realistic . . . but until we get word from the recovery teams, I should at least try and have some hope. Still, I must be prepared for the worst case scenario . . .
"Alia, finish your scan of the area and prepare to have recovery teams sweep the area for any remains."
X, Zero . . . If we're too late already, I'm sorry we couldn't help you . . . in that case, goodbye my friends . . . rest in peace.
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AN: So what do you think? This chapter was actually the hardest to write so far. Please review and let me know what you think. I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have to improve my writing .
