This is the seventh part of my MMX fan fic rewrite. This time however unlike the other titles I have changed, I kept the original title of this short. If you are wondering what happened to Axl, you'll learn soon in enough in the upcoming shorts.

-LADY MAVERICK81

"Mega Man X: Messenger"

By Lady Maverick81

VII. The Outsider

Outsider (noun) - somebody who does not belong: somebody who is not part of a particular group or organization

-from the Encarta® World English Dictionary (North American Edition)

The morning sun started to rise from the mountain range to the west. The golden light in its wake started to engulf the buildings and the streets of Neo Tokyo. The golden light started to come towards the highest building in the city, and that was the headquarters of the Maverick Hunters. But from another building the second highest building was that of City Hall. On top of the roof, a female Maverick watched as the golden light covered Maverick Hunter HQ.

Tall, thin, and deathly pale, her long purple hair blew in the cold morning breeze like a fire gone out of control. She didn't mind the cold morning wind or the golden light that covered her armor.

"This will be the day." she whispered to the sky, "The end of those annoying Maverick Hunters, tonight when the night is the "king" of everything, heh."

Soon her chuckling became laughter that the whole city heard as a warning.

"Hey Alita, what time is it?"

"I don't know, maybe six in the morning!"

"Well, Zero we can sleep in because, we got the day because you are being injured in all...

"That's good to hear Alita."

"The day off, Good! I need a break..." X stood on top of the balcony of his sky rise apartment.

The morning sun reflected off of his dark blue eyes. "I can do my laundry and clean up the place a little bit." But then he looked at the sky and whispered only one sound...a name...

"Phoenix, why did you do it..."

The morning sun became the Afternoon sun. People at the HQ went to and from their daily business without a care in the world. They were totally unaware of the warning that had been given to them and of the danger that soon quickly engulfed them.
The master alarm rang. Then everyone automatically knew that what the alarm was for, Mavericks.
"Give it up, Maverick! You can't win!"

"You think so, X."

X and Phoenix where locked in mortal combat. The sounds of laser claws and explosions of plasma filled the halls to the point of overflowing. Then it was their silence that filled the halls.

The deafening sound of the master alarm blaring was the only sound that Alita could hear. "Almost there. Please hold on, brother!" she said over and over again to herself.
"Not bad, Maverick...not bad at all..." X said, wiping the blood away from his face.

Phoenix was on the opposite side of the hallway; she was only looking at him, and was an evil glance in her dark purple eyes. "Aye, not bad yourself, Maverick Hunter. But you can't stop me, my dear because; MY MASTER SECRET NATION UNDERGROUND WILL RISE ONCE AGAIN!!!

She raised both of her hands and yelled "DARK MIST! Engulf everything that you see." A cloud of black smoke came from her hands and covered the room in darkness. It completely caught X off guard. During the confusion she made her escape in the haze of the black mist.

"Damn Maverick Hunter! I'll get him next time and I'll take care of the brat too." Phoenix cursed under her breath as she hurried along on her way through the sewers of underground Neo Tokyo.
"X, are you alright?" Alita said as she was applying a dressing on X's face. "Yeah, I am fine, but Phoenix got away. I got to go after her!"

X tried to get up, but Alita pinned him down to the floor by his shoulders. "Forget it, X. she's way out of your league and not in your condition that is X, you must rest..."

Less than a minute later, X was carried away to the med-lab on a hover-stretcher. "Why didn't she kill him?" Alita said to herself.

Alita sighed and walked down the narrow hallway. As she was walking down the long dark corridor, she saw the little repair robots fixing the holes that littered the walls of the hallway, lighting the hallway with thin rays of light.

"Um, excuse me, are you Dr. Alita Cain?" Alita turned around to see a little repair robot standing right in front of her. "Yes, I am her." she said in a calm voice. "I am here to tell you that your apartment was damaged in the attack this evening."

"You mean that I can't go back to my place tonight then?" Alita sighed and ran a hand through her short black hair.

"She can stay with me tonight, then..." Alita turned around to see Zero all geared up for battle.

The thin rays of light made his crimson armor shine like fire. "Here Alita, take this." He handed her a key card. "I got things to do first. I'll see you later then, okay?" Alita nodded her head in reply and walked away.

To Be Continued...