CHAPTER 3
THE MOTH
The farther that Smith's beat-up General Motors 20X9 Zinger drove from Saint Paul, the more the landscape changed. The familiar brown earth and overcast sky melted into smoldering rock beneath a sickening lavender horizon. "Woah..." Iris said after a few hours. "Such destruction... What could have caused all of this?..."
"Some good ruins to start searching would be Old Detroit," Smith said as he checked an on-board map, then steered onto an interstate highway.
"Old Detroit?" Iris asked. "The last time I checked, there was only one Detroit..."
"That's true," Smith answered. "The residents who survived the Space Colony incident moved a few miles north and built New Detroit. Old Detroit's not much more than a bunch of smashed-in, underground car factories, but it's a good place to start."
"Space Colony Incident?" asked Iris. "What..."
"Oh, sorry," Smith apologized. "The Incident happened just a little while after X and Zero's scuffle with Repliforce. The Maverick leader, Sigma, posessed the Eurasia Space Colony and set it on a collision course with Earth. X and Zero destroyed it, but not before it spewed toxic pollution all over the planet. Most areas became uninhabitable... Some cities were able to survive, though. St. Paul was able to avoid destruction because of its weather power defenses."
"Sigma..." Iris growled. Then she looked back at Smith. "Weather power defenses?" she asked.
"The weather is controlled in St. Paul," Smith elaborated. "The city usually keeps things cold and gray year round, but we can whip up one hell of a storm... When the radioacive death cloud started our way, we blew it back the way it came with a blizzard."
"That's pretty neat... " said Iris.
"Yeah," Smith said. "Of course, the city can't control the systems any more because Ribosome bought the deed."
"Who?" Iris asked.
"Dr. Ribosome, a scientist businessman that runs a huge corporation," Smith explained with a frown. "It's called CONSTRICT, INC... It specializes in almost everything, and makes a bundle off other companies' failures; it even bought out Microware back in 2156. Plus, Ribosome's done some shady business deals that really make things lousy for some folks... I've also heard that he's researching Mavericks and the Sigma Virus, but no one knows why..."
"Ribosome, huh?" Iris asked as she frowned and sat back in her chair. "He doesn't sound very likeable..."
"Ribosome believes that it's better to be feared than loved," Smith grunted. "He has no desire to be popular."
"How do you know so much about Ribosome?" Iris asked.
"Urrgh," Smith said as he coughed and gave Iris a pained look. "...I took a job from him once... I've regretted it ever since. That man has no ethics... There's a fine line between doing something cruel and doing something in the name of science."
"What did he want you to do?" Iris asked.
Smith coughed again. "...Oh, it's not important," he said. "It's done now, and I've vowed never to take a job from him again..."
Iris looked out the window again. "No wonder they decided to move..." she said. "Who would want to live in such a messed-up environment?"
"The only things that live in Old Detroit now are rats and thieves," Smith replied. "There are plenty of ruins that nobody's ventured into yet... Maybe there's something we can use to create X's syrum."
"I hope so..." Iris sighed.
After a few more hours of driving, darkness began to fall. Smith pulled the car into a "Daffodil Inn" to spend the night.
"My eyes aren't that good in the dark," Smith said as Iris and he got out of the car. "Besides, I'm dead tired... Let me get my luggage from the back, and we'll check in..."
When Smith opened the car's trunk, he yelled in surprise and fell on his butt.
"Oh, thank God!" Darren wheezed as he got out. "I was suffocating!"
"Aww, crap, my left arm's asleep," Sharon growled as she clutched her dangling limb. "You couldn't have sprung for a bigger trunk, prof?"
"Sharon? Darren?" Iris asked. "But... What..."
"You didn't think we would take 'no' for an answer, did you, Iris?" Sharon chuckled.
"Iris, we're friends. We have to share the times, good and bad," Darren said as he helped Smith unload his luggage.
Darren had brought along plenty of money, so he paid for an extra room. He and Smith would sack out in one room, and Iris and Sharon took another one across the hall.
"I didn't think you were serious when you said you were going on this crazy trip..." Sharon said. "But, I should've known someone like you would want to find her friends..."
"Yes..." Iris answered as she undid the buttons on her shirt. "My friends are the most important things in the world to me."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that out the way you always talked about 'em..." Sharon said. Just then, she glanced over in Iris's direction and her eyes widened. "...Woah..." she said.
"What's wrong, Sharon?" Iris asked as she turned and faced Sharon.
"...They sure don't make reploids like they used to, huh?" Sharon said, staring bug-eyed at what was in front of her. "I can't even take my ARMOR off, let alone..."
"You can't?..." Iris asked. "That's a shame; I like being able to get out of those stuffy clothes once in a while."
"I can see why Zero liked you," Sharon said as she peeled off her armored boots to expose her stocking-covered feet.
"Uh... Thanks," Iris said as a blush crept over her face.
"So, uh, on that note... why did you try to kill him?" Sharon asked.
Iris hung her head. "...He killed my brother," she responded after a few seconds.
"Man, that's hard," Sharon said. "Having two people you care about at each other's throats... I couldn't imagine."
"Even though it was all a big misunderstanding, I think that I fought for the wrong side," Iris said as she removed her beret and slipped on a candy-pink nightgown. "I was a lot better off with the Maverick Hunters. Repliforce was an awful dump. They didn't even clean the mess halls."
"Mess halls? You guys can EAT?" Sharon asked.
"Yeah. The food is converted into energy particles, which provide us with a kind of 'blood.' It runs through our systems instead of oil. It's what keeps us running for a long time. Why? You've seen me eat before, Sharon."
"Yeah," Sharon said as she fell back onto her side of the bed. "But I thought you were a special case; I didn't know that all the 21XX reploids were that advanced..." Sharon stopped talking and yawned widely. "Oh... I'm all worn out from bein' stuck in that trunk... and... your nightgown's makin' me sleepy."
"My nightgown?" Iris asked as she looked down at it. "I've heard this color makes people really mellow and tired... that's why it's called 'passive pink,' I guess. Sharon?"
Sharon was fast asleep.
"Well, I guess that proves it," Iris chuckled. She fluffed her pillow, climbed into bed and dozed off.
Things had gone fairly well in the girls' room, but in the boys' room, life was a little less comfortable.
"Hey."
"What, Professor?"
"Were you just grinding your teeth?"
"No."
"Yes, you WERE."
"I do NOT grind my teeth."
Smith angrily turned on the lamp. "Well, SOMETHING was grinding together!"
"OK, OK! I'll shave my legs first thing in the morning," Darren muttered as he rolled over and went back to sleep.
Smith's face went green. "Sorry I asked," he mumbled.
The next day, Smith piloted the car the rest of the way to Old Detroit. Everybody got out of the car at a large tunnel-like hole. "Well, here it is," Professor Smith said as he looked up at the hole. "This road tunnel will take us underground and into the ruins."
"It doesn't look very inviting..." Darren gulped.
"Are entrances to ruins EVER inviting?" Sharon retorted.
Smith pulled out a few flashlights and offered them. Iris and Darren took one each, but Sharon declined.
"It's going to be really dark down there," Smith warned.
"Don't worry, prof," Sharon said. "I've got it covered." She rapped herself on the head and the crystal in her helmet cast a bright searchlight beam in front of her.
"Nice," Darren commented.
The foursome ventured into the dark opening, not knowing what awaited them on the other side.
"I never did care for ruins..." Iris gulped as they walked. "They're always so full of negative energy from the spirits of the people who died when it fell..."
"You can sense that stuff?" Smith asked.
"I don't know..." Iris answered. "But I just get really uncomfortable in these sorts of places..."
"This is the first time I've ever heard of a reploid getting the willies," Darren said. "Don't worry, Iris; we're all here to help."
"Hmm?" Sharon said as she switched her helmet light off for a moment. "It seems to be getting brighter up ahead..."
The group walked into a large cave with a domed-shape rock ceiling. There were a few holes in the ceiling, which allowed natural light to shine in and brighten things. All around were skeletons of old buildings, shredded cars and other messes.
"Old Detroit..." Smith said quietly.
"Amazing!" Darren said. "It's so well-preserved!"
"You can see almost everything..." Sharon added. "That big mess of metal with the smokestacks over there might be the old industrial district."
"It's so quiet, too..." Iris said as she glanced around. "Like a giant tomb..."
"Hmmm," Smith said. "We should split up so we don't draw too much attention; there might be bandits or something skulking around here. Sharon, you and I will check out that metal hunk. Darren, Iris, you go straight ahead together. If we find anything useful, we'll get back to the museum and observe it."
"What if we run into trouble, like you think that we might?" Iris asked.
"Simple," Smith said as he grinned. "Just scream. The echos will definitely reach the other group."
"Scream... Riiiight," Sharon said, sweatdropping.
"Great plan, prof," Darren grumbled.
"Thanks, I thought of it myself," Smith chuckled.
Everyone else shook their heads and sighed.
Smith and Sharon headed off towards the ravaged factory. "I guess we'll head straight down main street?" asked Darren. "Come on, let's- AGGH!" He tripped and landed face first in a puddle of machine oil.
"...This is going to be an interesting trip." Iris said as she stifled a giggle.
Iris and Darren walked through the ruined business district until they came to an old building decorated with car parts. "What's this place?" Darren asked as he tilted his head.
"I think this is part of the Henry Ford museum," Iris said as she looked at the building. "It was mostly a museum about cars and stuff, but it had a neat little area behind it called Greenfield Villaige. Let's go inside and look."
Iris and Darren walked though the old museum, but the interior was a total mess. "Ugh," Darren grunted as he picked his way over a huge chunk of scrap metal that had once been an ancient Model T. "This is what comes of having a museum full of old cars..."
"I don't think anyone could find anything in here..." Iris said as she looked around. "Let's try Greenfield."
"Do you think we'll have any better luck?" Darren asked.
"I don't know," Iris responded. "But being surrounded by all these shattered machines is putting me on edge..."
"Oh, yeah," Darren said as he looked around. "I totally forgot! OK, let's get out of here."
The two friends hiked through the scrap and out to the entrance to Greenfield Village. Much to their surprise, most of the village's houses and roads were almost perfectly preserved. "Amazing..." Iris said as she looked around. "I never thought such old houses could survive for so long!..."
"Maybe there's something in there," Darren suggested. "Let's take a look."
Iris and Darren walked through the quaint little ghost village, stopping every once in a while to admire the buildings. After they had passed the local ice cream shop, they came to a large area where the terrain had been flattened down, with massive pile of machine parts in the center. "Machine parts?" Iris asked. "What are these doing here?"
Darren knelt down and observed the pieces. "These look like they came off of an airplane... That would explain the shockwave-like effects in the land around us... I guess a plane crashed here during the Space Colony incident."
"That's terrible..." Iris said quietly. Just then, something shiny on the top of the pile caught her eye. "Hey, what's that!" she asked, pointing so fast that she struck Darren in the cheek.
"Ow!" Darren winced as he rubbed his bruised face.
"Sorry," Iris apologized.
Iris and Darren walked closer and saw a shiny hunk of computer chips. Iris picked it up and looked it over. "There're a lot of chips on this motherboard," she said.
Darren took a good look at the chips. "Hmmm... This must've been part of the airplane's guidance system..."
"Guidance?" Iris asked. "Well, that implies control to some extent... Maybe there's something we can use in there to make that syrum!"
"Good thinking, Iris," Darren said with a grin. "Let's get this back to Professor Smith.
"OK!" Iris said. "Let's head back the way we came..."
Darren and Iris started back the way they came, but a white, sticky rope flew in out of nowhere and encased a tree. "Whaaagh!" Darren cried as he leaped backwards and fell down. "What the heck!" Where did THAT come from!"
Iris heard the faint flapping of an animal's wing behind her. She turned around to see a reploid moth hovering behind them. The symbol of the Mavericks blazed brightly on his chest. "I think it was him," she said as she helped Darren up.
"Ha!" the moth sneered. "So, the boss was right... I'm so glad I followed that pathetic excuse for a professor here... I want two things: that motherboard, and yourself."
"What?..." Iris asked, frowning. "Who are you?"
"I've read about this guy... He's called Morph Moth!" Darren gulped as he clutched the motherboard tightly and hid behind Iris's back. "He mummifies his enemies with his Silk Shot weapon!"
"Well, you've been studying," Moth said. "Hand over the Maverick Hunter, or else!"
"No way!" Iris growled as she drew her beam saber. "I don't know what you want with me, but I won't be going quietly!"
"Very well," Morph Moth chuckled. "I like people who resist. I get to do things to them... Like THIS!"
Morph Moth put his hands together and fired a potent laser at Iris and Darren. The blast ground into the cobblestones in front of them and sent them flying backwards.
"Gyaaaahhh!" Iris yelled as she hit the floor.
"Come on, we've gotta get away from here!" Darren shouted as he grabbed Iris's arm and led her to a nearby abandoned building.
"I... What is this place?" Iris asked as she looked around at the strange gadgets and tools that were cluttered around the building.
"This is the workshop of Thomas Edison," Darren said as he looked around frantically. "C'mon, there's gotta be some tools in here somewhere..."
"What'd you bring us in here for?" Iris asked. "That moth's gonna be here any second!"
"Morph Moth stays airborne all the time," Darren said as he ripped desks open and plowed through their contents. "You'd never be able to land a blow with your saber... You'll need something else!"
"Little Hunters, little Hunters, let me come in!" Morph Moth shouted from outside. Another laser blast blew the lab's door to smithereens, and the Maverick stepped in. "Don't mind me. The door was open," he mused as he looked around for them.
"We can't hide forever!" Iris gulped as sweat trickled down her brow.
"We're not going to," Darren said as he turned around, triumphantly clutching a screwdriver and some of the chips from the motherboard. "Quick, hold your arm out!"
"Where are you?..." Morph Moth mused as he wandered through the lab, kicking lamps over and knocking huge holes in the walls.
"He's gonna collapse this place if he keeps doing that!" Iris cried.
"Hold still," Darren growled as he opened Iris's arm compartment and frantically started jamming the chips in. "I'm almost finished!..."
"AHA! There you are!" Morph Moth said as he leaped around the corner and confronted Iris and Darren. "Now... We can do this the easy way, or my way..."
"...Done!" Darren said as he slammed the compartment shut.
"Say goodbye!" Morph Moth shouted as he put his hands together and fired another rainbow laser.
"Haaaaaaahhhh!" Iris shrieked as she held out her arms to block the blast...
Suddenly, the arm that Darren had been messing with shifted from its normal look at a fearsome-looking arm cannon. It fired a powerful, violet blast and dissolved Morph Moth's laser. Iris was totally dumbfounded. "I... What... Huh!" she asked.
"Ladies and Mavericks, I give you the I-Buster!" Darren announced happily. "I thought it up before we left!"
"So, now I have a weapon like X's, and a weapon like Zero's..." Iris said as she smiled bravely. "OK!"
"So you've got a peashooter," Morph Moth growled. "Big deal!"
"Darren, take that motherboard and get out of here!" Iris commanded.
"But..." Darren started.
"Don't argue with me! Get those chips somewhere safe!" Iris said as she readied her new weapon again.
"...Be careful!" Darren said as he leaped out a window and ran a ways down the road.
Iris leaped into the air and fired more purple shots at Morph Moth, but if they did any damage, the Maverick hid it well. "HA! You think that will hurt me?" Morph Moth roared. "You'll be wrapped up tighter than Cleopatra when I'm done with you!"
Morph Moth once again joined his hands, and a flurry of lasers flew out in all directions. Iris tried to dodge the blasts, but one struck her in the shoulder. "Arrrgh!" she hissed as she sagged to the ground and grasped the wound tightly in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.
Morph Moth hovered over her. "And now, I'm gonna do to you what your buddies did to me!" He pulled back, then charged right at her in a dive-bomb.
"(No... I can't die now!... I WON'T die now!...)" Iris thought as she watched Morph Moth close in. Suddenly, she felt a great surge of power welling up inside of her. She glanced at her cannon and saw that its nozzle was sparking with purple energy. "(Oh...)" she thought. "(I can make my shots stronger?...)"
"It's time to die!" Morph Moth snarled as he closed in. He got closer, closer, closer...
"You first!" Iris yelled as she aimed her cannon and sent a giant violet plasma beam right through Moth's face. He screamed, spun wildly out of control and crashed through the laboratory wall before exploding into shrapnel.
"I... I did it?..." Iris asked herself as the realization of her victory seeped in. "Yeah... I did it! I DID IT!" she cheered as she pumped her fist in joy. Suddenly, she felt a strange tingling sensation in her feet; she looked down to see that the colors of her outfit were changing from blue and red to pink and green. She glanced at her I-Buster and saw that it now displayed the words SILK SHOT.
"Silk Shot?..." she asked. "I got his weapon? That's always what happened with X and Zero..."
"Iris! Are you okay?" Sharon's voice boomed as Darren, Smith and she charged down to Iris's side.
"Darren came and got us," Smith explained. "He said something about a Maverick... Hey, are those new clothes?"
"I'm just fine; thanks for asking," Iris said before looking down at her dress. "Morph Moth is gone... This happened when I defeated him."
"Man, those sure are some nice threads," Darren said with a smile. "I think that you acquired his DNA data. Now you've got both your own weapon and his! Isn't that cool!"
"Wonderful!" Smith exclaimed. "I had no idea that reploids besides X and Zero could do that!"
"I couldn't have done any of it without Darren's help," Iris said as she smiled warmly at Darren. "Thanks, Darren!"
"Aww, go on," Darren chuckled as he blushed.
"...Oh!" Iris suddenly said. "Professor, what did you make of the motherboard that we found?"
Smith held the motherboard up and looked at it closely. "Hmm..." he said. "There are plenty of useable computer chips here... Maybe one of them could be used for the syrum. Let's take it back to the museum for more analysis."
"Does that mean we have to get back in the car!" Sharon grumbled.
"Yes," Smith said. "And you two won't have to stay in the trunk this time. Don't worry; we can grab some lunch on the way back."
"I should hope so," Darren pointed out. "It took us two days to get here, anyway!"
The four friends turned and headed for the ruins exit. As they walked, Iris turned to Darren. "Thanks again, Darren," she said. "I had no idea that you were such a quick engineer."
"Oh," Darren chuckled. "I'm a klutz of many talents."
"Really?" Iris asked. "What can you do?"
"I dabble in several things, really," Darren said. "Engineering, programming, anatomy, medicine... Plus I can armfart the song 'People.' Wanna hear it?"
"Ummm..." Iris gulped. "...No thanks."
"I can burp the alphabet!" Darren pressed.
"I'd have to hear it to believe it," Iris said.
"OK, then!" Darren said as he took a deep breath and began belching. "(BLURP)A! (BLEEB)B! (BRAAAP)C!"
"You HAD to get him started," Sharon grumbled.
"Sorry," Iris muttered with a sweatdrop.