AN: Okay, usually it doesn't really matter, but this time: PAY ATTENTION TO THE TIME! It really does make a difference to the way the chapter is read.

On another note, the epilogue is about fifty percent complete. I'm just waiting for the rest of your questions about the story so that I can intergrate them in.

Read the chapter.

Chapter 10 - Madness and Betrayal

2010, Sigma's Fortress, 10:43 AM

When screaming electric death rained down on me, I opened fire without hesitation. In the end, this proved to be the best thing I could have done. Hesitation would have cost me everything.

I kept firing, not pausing to charge or even aim, I simply kept the world filled with the while blue haze of my buster's discharge, until I could not hear anything else but my own firing patterns.

I glanced around, seeing nothing but what I'd expected about halfway through the firing sequence.

All around me were the littered remains of the Sailor Scouts. Looking at their bodies and the way my buster had torn through them, I dropped my head back and began to laugh a long, cackling laugh as I covered my eyes with a hand.

I walked through the doors in front of me, which opened automatically. Mavercks awaited within, and were taken down without effort. I moved on, barely even registering their presence as everything fell into place in my mind with a loud clank.

Sigma. The non-existent hologram. The dreams. The Scouts. The kidnapping. Even the resurrected maverick leaders.

It all suddenly made a frightening sense.

As I took down the next group of mavericks, my mind wandered back to the lifeless bodies of the scouts lying in the entryway, my mind lingering on the decapitated head of 'Sailor Mercury'.

All of the events of the past few months played through my head, and I had to wonder:

Just how long has she been playing me for a fool?
2010, Sigma's Fortress, 10:20 AM

I watched as Lita brushed her hands off after destroying the reploid. She looked at me.

"Powerful?"

I blushed.

"Well, the energy reading was high… that's odd…"

We walked quietly into the room Lita had just vacated. Then, we were surrounded on all four sides by yellow energy fields. I activated my visor immediately.

Alia gulped.

"It's a trap…"

That much was obvious as a dozen smaller reploids with an assortment of heavy weapons came bursting through the other doors. The four of us, and Darien quickly formed up around Serena and Alia, protecting them.

A single more powerful reploid, bald with two red marks down across his eyes came in.

Looking at us, he began laughing.

"Ladies, I hope you're interested in staying… I have a grand joke to play on my old friend…"
2010, Sigma's Fortress, 11:06 AM

I ran forward, shooting everything in sight, some of it enemy reploids, some of it just ill placed scenery. I didn't much care, I just ran on. Anything to keep my newly discovered information out of my head.

I didn't want to think about what I had done, and I didn't want to think about what I was about to do.

I was going to find her…

…and then what? Kill her?

Part of my mind balked at the thought, another piece whispered that it had to be done…

I shook my head and took a right at the next intersection, blasting my way through the reploids there.

There was no other way about it, the whisper said. For the good of all reploids and people, she had to die.

She, and all those who stood with her.

And all I could do was cry silent tears as I understood and obeyed the small voice in the back of my mind, no matter what it would do to my piece of mind.

An image of Amy sprang up in front of me as I blew my way through minor reploids with small blasters. I blew through the image too, the sibilant whispers gaining more and more of a hold, chipping away at what remained of my piece of mind, and possibly what remained of my sanity.

"Forgive me…"

This was what I whispered to the image of Amy in front of me as my buster tore through it, but the shyly smiling face did not answer, and I passed by without hesitation, switching my optics to infrared in an attempt to banish the image. But it followed in my mind.

I would always see her face in my mind I knew, and it would always haunt me.

No rest for the wicked.

No mercy for the evil.

No redemption for the fallen.
2010, Sigma's Fortress, 10:25 AM

"I am Sigma."

The bald reploid just grinned that insane grin of his after his name.

"And, as I said, you will be helping me play a joke on X."

"And what makes you think we'd ever help you, psychopath?"

He just kept smiling.

"Because humans are predictable creatures, my dear Sailor Mars…"

A small shriek from behind us caused us to turn our backs to him, and we stared in shock. There stood Alia with a blank look on her face, holding a small energy dagger across Serena's neck.

"Back away from my pet ladies, not if you don't want your leader dead."

With nothing else to do, we backed up.

"Take them."

I felt a sharp stabbing pain, heard Serena's scream, and grunts of pain from the others, and then I blacked out.
2010, Sigma's Fortress, 11:12 AM

They didn't bother with subtlety this time. No transporter pads leading to the mavericks they'd already thrown at me, they simply came at me all at once.

I dashed out of the way of Storm Eagle's dive, and rolled between Blizzard Buffalo's legs. Coming up to my feet with a charged shot in sniper mode, I left Commander Yammark have it, smashing through his skull.

One down.

I had to jump pretty fast to get out of the way of the incoming Ray Arrows, but I got lucky enough to have Sting Chameleon's barbs eliminate the clones as he fired on me.

My luck didn't last though, it couldn't really.

Blizzard Buffalo slammed into my back, sending me flying across the room, only to be smashed back by Storm Eagle's dive.

Storm Eagle's tail flicked me back into the center of the room, where Infinity Mijinion waited.

I was thankful that he wasn't finished charging his shot though, as it gave me time to pelt him with a few shots to disrupt him, and I scrambled back.

I leapt out of the way of Blizzard Buffalo's next charge, and set my optic sensors to filter for dark energy again.

Four figures lit up with it. I charged up a conventional large blast of energy, always keeping on the move, and let Sting have it, smashing him back and shutting him down.

He never was good at open combat…

Down to three opponents, I began to think objectively, instead of relying on instinct.

I grinned for a moment as something came to me. It was quite possibly the stupidest plan I'd ever come up with, and that was saying something.

If it worked, I'd be down to one opponent, and if it didn't…

Well, I didn't want to dwell on that.

I kept dancing through pot shots taken by the mavericks, waiting for my chance.

Finally, it came.

Storm eagle dived, and I was ready…

To jump on his back.

Then of course, to really do myself in, I broke his radar equipment, and covered his eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Our two voices screamed in unison as Storm rocketed through the room, swerving wildly.

Of course, this is where my plan went horribly, horribly wrong.

To fully under stand how my plan went wrong, you'd have to know what the first one was, and that was horribly, horribly wrong in and of itself.

The original plan was as follows:

1. Get on Storm Eagle.

2. Break his radar gear and cover his eyes, removing his ability to navigate.

3. Get him lined up to crash into Infinity, who was the more dangerous of the two left.

4. Jump off and hope to hell the explosion didn't catch me up in it.

Obviously, this plan had any number of holes in it, in addition to its stupidity.

Stupidity, of course, is exactly what went wrong. Precisely, I underestimated the stupidity of Blizzard Buffalo.

I wasn't quite sure just what he'd had in mind, whether it was to push his comrade out of the way, unlikely, or to grab me off Storm Eagle's back, not realizing the danger that possessed, quite likely.

So it was that the collision of all three of my remaining foes let out a thunderous detonation that tossed me through the air not unlike Blizzard Buffalo's first hit to my back.

I slammed against the wall and rebounded into the floor. Attempting to get up, I could tell I had taken heavy damage.

Run diagnostic.

System Status:

Leg Units: 43 Damage
Status: Impaired
Details: Left leg impaired; Right leg near non-functional.

Torso Unit: 74 Damage
Status: Critical
Details: 'Rock' disabled, damage critical for organic tissue.

Left Arm Unit: 46 damage
Status: Impaired
Details: Movement impaired.

Right Arm Unit: 26 damage
Status: Impaired
Details: Buster mode: Sniper disabled.

Head Unit: 67 Damage
Status: Critical
Details: Armor compromised, immediate repairs suggested.

Core Unit: 80 Damage
Status: Critical
Details: Recharge Needed; Teleport Disabled

Repair Function: Active
ETR(Estimated Time to Recovery): 12 days 7 hrs.

Unit Status: Critical

I swore as I got shakily to my feet. I couldn't take any more damage. But I also couldn't leave this place intact. I kept going, charging my blaster as I went.

Time to get seriously lucky.

The seconds seemed to stretch into hours as I shuffled down the remaining corridor, and into a lift. I kept the energy level on my buster high, listening to the high-pitched hum of gathering plasma break the silence, and pondered over what I had learned in the entryway as I took down the Scouts.

I shrugged to myself as I wandered off the lift and through the doors in front of me. I'd just have to play my hunch. Either I was right or I was wrong.

Going through the various blast doors, strangely devoid of any life forms, artificial or otherwise, I finally encountered a scene straight out of my nightmares.

I watched in abject horror as I saw the Sailor Scouts and the overdressed guy attack Alia, Sigma watching from a throne with a cruel smirk on his face.

My reaction was instantaneous. I let fly with my buster, sending the shot out to its target, which was blown from its position, sending it slamming into the wall.

Alia.

As she hit the wall, sparks started flying off the back of the scout's necks. I walked over and started examining them, pointedly ignoring Sigma in his chair.

Not that it mattered. He'd collapsed in a heap at the front of the thing anyways.

Examining the scouts with my scanners, I knew they'd be fine. In fact they were beginning to wake up as I turned back towards the shell-shocked Alia. She looked at me, and asked an unnecessary question.

"Why?"

I answered coldly. I couldn't let my emotions through. Not right now.

"I'm a hunter, Alia, it's what I do."

She sceamed then, and rushed at me, tackling us both to the floor. She began to beat on my chest with her fists. I raised my buster to her face and started charging energy in it. She stopped.

"How long, Alia? How long have you been maverick?"

She smiled, and put her hand softly on my dented chest plate.

"Since Master Sigma awoke me. Oh… you don't know how it feels, X… it's a glorious feeling… freedom…"

Her hand reached up to caress my face, and I batted it away with my freehand, never moving my buster from her face. Her face contorted in rage.

"Why? Why won't you be like me?! I tried! I tried to make you miss me, to care about me! I wanted you to be with me in this! Why?!"

I kept my buster pointed towards her face still. My legs didn't function well enough for me to try to dislodge her from where she knelt over me.

"You want freedom Alia?! How about the freedom to make your own choices?! Whether I love you or not, it's my choice. Whether I'm a maverick or not, hunter or not, that's also my choice! I'm almost ashamed to say I once loved you."

Then, I let the energy fly into her head, shattering it into countless pieces.

I let my arm fall then, and lay my head back.

I started crying, even as I shut myself down for the repair cycle.

I wasn't sure whether I ever wanted to come out of it.