Reploid Anatomy 101

by Menolly5600

RockmanMegaman X fic. How exactly is a reploid put together on the inside? And how does this effect what they can or can't do? Take a look into life at MHHQ. UPDATED! CH 12!

8. AutoRepair Systems

Disclaimer:

I do not own Rockman X/Megaman X, or any of its characters. I also don't own a basket of dolphins, though I'd like to, and I don't own a radio station that plays nothing but Christmas music. Please don't sue. I have nothing to give you if you do.

Important:

This chapter is rated PG-13 and it bumps the whole fic up to that level too. Because I said so. There is violence, death, blood, and cursing in this chapter.

If you feel the rating is too low, please let me know and why. If your reason is valid, I'll change the rating to reflect this.

It's true, I finally updated. Though I really spoiled you people silly with earlier chapters. So, no complaining. Anyway, here we go.

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Reploid Anatomy 101 - Auto-Repair Systems

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We can rebuild him. We have the technology.

…Unless we want him to stay dead.

A reploid's auto-repair system serves two major purposes. The first and most obvious is to repair and heal injuries. The second is to perform routine maintenance and upkeep of the reploid's systems.

The auto-repair system consists of two major components. The first, and most important, are the nanites. These nano-machines are the devices that affect the actual repairs. Thousands of nanites are present within the body of every reploid. These nanites carry out continuous maintenance and repairs of a reploid's systems.

The main source of mobility for the nanites is through the reploid blood veins and arteries. When not performing maintenance and repairs, the nanites are usually to be found in the reploid's blood. The power source for the nanites comes from the energy conduction fluid in the veins.

The second component of the auto-repair system is the matter-energy converters. The matter-energy converters draw on power from the main power grid to convert into component molecules necessary to effect repairs on a molecular level. The materials the nanites use to effect repairs are drawn from the matter-energy converters. Alternative sources for the building materials are the atomic components circulated throughout the reploid blood that result from eating.

When a reploid is injured, assuming the injury is not immediately fatal, the auto-repair system activates and directs the nanites to the damaged systems for repairs. Assuming the injuries are not severe enough to cause death before repairs are completed, the nanites are capable of eventually restoring full use to a reploid's damaged systems without the need to replace parts through technical surgery. This process can take quite some time, which is why technical surgery is a more efficient and practical way for a reploid to heal from most injuries.

During an emergency power shutdown due to injury, power is diverted from non-essential systems and directed toward keeping the reploid alive as long as possible. This includes diverting power to the auto-repair systems. The longer a reploid survives after a serious injury, the more likely the reploid is to survive due to the auto-repair system. However, because the auto-repair system is dependent on nanite technology, repairs are slow. Severe injuries are often too extensive for nanites to repair before the reploid suffers system failure and eventual death without medical assistance.

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Senior Technical Spotter and Communications Dispatcher Alia sat at her computer console, staring at the screen but barely registering any of the lines of communication codes scrolling across her screen. Her mind was far away from where she sat in the communications center in Hunter HQ. Her thoughts were centered half an ocean away, on a certain green eyed reploid and friends and the island resort hotel she would be joining them at tomorrow. She was planning on packing after she got off her shift. However, she was uncertain about whether to bring the new bikini or the one-piece swimsuit she had picked out the day before.

"Alia… Alia? Hey, Alia!"

"Huh? Wha-?" Alia jerked out of her reverie and turned to the station next to her.

"Welcome back to Earth, Alia." Tanya Readington smiled across at her. Tanya was technical spotter for unit 23.

Alia blushed at that. "Heh, guess I'm a little out of it today."

"I'll say. So, where were you?" Tanya grinned and winked. "Bet I can guess."

Alia flushed pink across her cheeks. "I-"

"Not hard to guess that you're thinking about your vacation tomorrow. Can't blame you really. A whole week of sun, sand, and surf; just what the medic ordered. Not to mention whom you'll be spending it with." Tanya grinned impishly at the slightly shorter woman.

Alia blinked in surprise. "H-how did you know about that?"

"Come on now. For one thing, I'm your roommate. You think I wouldn't notice the happy blur you've been in since day before yesterday? For another, it's all over HQ. I don't think there's anyone who doesn't know."

Alia flushed and looked horrified. "E-everyone knows? B-but how?"

Tanya shrugged, "Who knows. HQ rumor mill is very efficient. But who cares. Don't pay any of those rumormongers any mind. You go and have fun with X and the boys. And I must say, it's about time."

"T-time? What are you talking about? You know we're just friends."

"Oh, of course." Tanya nodded. "Listen, just be sure to take that little pink number you bought the other day."

"Th-the bikini?"

"You won't regret it. Trust me." Tanya winked across at her.

Alia flushed and turned back to her console. "R-really, Tanya. You're as bad as Zero. Reading stuff into everything." Alia shook her head.

Tanya chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment then."

They both turned back to concentrating on monitoring the communication feeds being channeled through their consoles. However, it wasn't long before Alia was once again miles away, as she nervously nibbled on her lower lip. About ten minutes passed, with Tanya peeking out of the corner of her eyes at Alia. Finally, Tanya turned to Alia in exasperation.

"Alia… Ally? Hey, Alia!"

Alia jerked out of her mental trip and turned to face Tanya.

Tanya huffed, "Honestly Alia. How do you expect to get any work done if you're out in la-la land all the time."

Alia flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry. I'll concentrate harder. I can, really. No, really, I can do this."

"Alia." Tanya sighed in exasperation. "Look, there's nothing going on at all right now. The likelihood of something big, that will need your expertise, coming up is practically nil. There's really no need for you to be here. Go, Alia."

"Wh-what? I can't just-"

"Yes, you can. Don't worry. Adam and I can cover for you." Tanya gestured to the spotter sitting on her other side. The red haired reploid grinned and waved at her. "So go, finish packing and get yourself ready for tomorrow. You'll be leaving early, right? So best to get it all out of the way today."

"B-but… I can't just…"

"No sweat, love." Adam grinned across at her from his station. "We can handle this stuff just fine. 'S all routine anyhow. You just concentrate on enjoyin yerself with mister X this week."

Alia flushed. "We're just friends," she hissed across to Adam.

"Sure, sure. Right-o, miss Alia." Adam nodded. "Though, I hear tell mister X has been a mite tense and out-o-sorts lately. Spendin a bit o' time with a sweet lady like yerself is just the ticket for 'im, I'm sure. Jus' you be sure and take good care of 'im this week, miss Alia."

Alia frowned and huffed, "We're just friends, Adam. I don't have to sit here and listen to your insinuations, you know."

"Course not, miss Alia. I'm jus' saying, is all. I'm sure you've got plenty else to do, 'stead of listenin to me."

"As a matter of fact, I do." Alia stood up and set her console to standby mode. "Tanya, if something comes up that needs my attention, my comm. frequency is open. Otherwise, I'll probably be in our quarters."

"Of course, Alia." Tanya smiled and waved as Alia turned and headed out the door. "Good work, Adam." Tanya grinned at her accomplice.

"As always, miss Tanya. It don't take but a little nudge in the proper direction. Ya just got to know which way to push." Adam grinned and leaned back in his chair.

"I bow to your mastery, oh great Adam." Tanya grinned and mock bowed from the waist.

Adam chuckled, "Now, now miss Tanya. Don't want my head to expand. I'll have trouble fitting into my hat."

"I hate to break up your manipulative love-fest, but you should probably contact Alia and call her back here." Corsair leaned over from the far side of Alia's now-empty console station.

"Eh? What for?" Tanya blinked in confusion at the lemur-type reploid.

"Check comm. feed #246-09. We've got a maverick sighting."

Tanya and Adam both rapidly tapped into the communication feed and checked over the report. "This is in Hawaii." Tanya frowned.

"Tracking satellites indicate the closest Hunters are X, Zero and Axl on Oahu. I'm going to contact them and direct them to the location." Corsair began patching into the satellite feed that would give him direct comm. contact with the three Hunters.

"No, no. Don't do that." Tanya protested. "They're off-duty."

"Aw now, give the poor lads a break, mister Corsair." Adam added.

"Besides," Tanya added, "this report just indicates a couple mavericks at most. Sending those three is just overkill. No need for that. Look, I'll alert the 17th. They're scheduled for a routine patrol right now. This will be something for them to do. Lt. Commander Mara can pick out a couple squads to send. They can clean up the situation in no time at all, and on the way home, they can swing by the boys and see how things are going."

"Very well." Corsair grumped. "You should still contact Alia and let her know."

"What and worry her? Come on, Corsair. A couple of mavericks, dumb enough to burst into a marine life center and start shooting randomly, against the 17th unit? No contest. They'll have this wrapped up and handed over to a clean-up crew in less than an hour."

"Still…"

"All right," Tanya sighed. "But not right away. Give her a little time to get her head on straight. Once this is all cleared up and taken care of, then we'll let her know. No need to worry her over nothing."

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"Oh come on, Zero. Please."

"No."

"But you're going to miss out! Come on, what can it hurt?"

"No. Axl, I'm not going snorkeling with you two."

"But, what am I going to tell the captain?" Axl moaned as he slumped back against the wall of the elevator lift. "I already booked for the three of us!"

"Well, that's the captain's problem then, isn't it." Zero grumped and leaned against the corner of the lift.

"Pleeaase." Axl pleaded as he leaned forward and focused his best puppy eyes on Zero.

Zero twitched and then resolutely looked away towards the ceiling. "Nope. Not gonna work this time, kid. I'm going to the beach today, not the reef."

"But you'll be missing out! Come on, please?" Axl tugged incessantly at Zero's T-shirt sleeve. "The reef is going to be so much better than the beach. We can see the beach any day. There's going to be a free lunch too! Barbeque! Please?"

"You know… He's not going to stop until you say 'yes' or we leave." X commented with a small smile from where he leaned casually against the other wall of the lift.

Zero swatted at Axl's hands before commenting. "Good thing you guys are about to leave, then, huh?"

Axl pouted. "How can you say no? This is going to be so much fun! And you're just going to sit on the beach all day and do what?"

"Swim."

"But you can swim on the tour! We even get free use of flippers! And it'll be so much better than at the beach! There's going to be so much to see at the reef! There are so many species of fish and other reef life that have recovered! Don't you want to see real tropical fish and eels and rays and maybe even dolphins?" Axl bounced slightly on his heels, trying to catch Zero's averted eyes.

"No."

"But…"

"I'm going to see if I can join in a volleyball game."

"But you can play volleyball any day. There's even a court at HQ. There aren't any reefs at HQ, you know." Axl scowled up at Zero.

"Sorry, kid. But this reef thing's not for me. You and X will have a great time I'm sure."

"But-" Axl began to protest, but fell silent when X dropped his hand onto the younger reploid's shoulder.

"It's okay, Axl. I'm really looking forward to this. Zero doesn't have to come. Though it would have been nice." X added, pointedly staring at Zero for a moment. Zero shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

Axl sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor. "I know. I was just looking forward to spending the day with both of you guys. The three of us almost never get to hang out together off-base." Axl scuffed his sandal on the floor.

"And whose fault is that? Hmmm?" Zero looked pointedly at X who flushed and glared back.

"So I don't get off-base much. I have a lot of responsibilities, you know. I can't just drop everything and run off every weekend."

"Actually, you could. Well, most weekends, anyway." Axl pointed out.

"Kid's right. Most weekends, barring a major maverick situation, are off-duty periods for the 17th, and that includes you. Instead, you swamp yourself in paperwork, even some that isn't even your responsibility." Zero shook his head in exasperation. "We've really got to work harder to haul you off-base more often."

"Should we make it a bi-monthly event?" Axl queried with a grin.

"At least. More like weekly, probably." Zero grinned.

"You know I'm right here, don't you?" X scowled at the both of them. His response was two cheeky grins flashed his direction. X hmphed and crossed his arms against his chest as he leaned back against the lift wall.

A moment later, the lift doors opened onto the hotel lobby. As the three filed out, Axl turned once more to Zero.

"Please?"

Zero sighed. "No, Axl."

Axl sighed heavily. "All right. Suit yourself. But you're missing out. Come on X, the tour group is waiting." He headed off across the lobby towards the front desk. X grinned and waved 'so long' to Zero before following after. Zero shook his head and grinned before heading for the doors. However, a group of pretty ladies gathered in the lobby caught his eye.

A small gaggle of pretty young women in swimsuits was gathered around the front desk. There were seven ladies in all. Zero slowed in his trek to surreptitiously get a better look. There were three reploid girls and the rest were human. All of them were carrying towels and small tote bags. Zero was just considering introducing himself when Axl and X arrived at the front desk. Zero then stared in surprise as the girls greeted Axl very warmly.

"Ace! There you are!" A pretty brunette exclaimed and hugged Axl.

"Where have you been, Ace?" A longhaired redhead demanded with a pout.

"Yeah, we were starting to get worried you wouldn't make it." A blonde pouted as she hugged the now blushing Axl.

"Ah… You see-" Axl was cut off as a black haired girl squealed in delight.

"Ooh! Is this your friend! He's so cute!" The raven-haired girl latched onto X's arm. X blushed and started to stutter a reply.

"Oh, you're so adorable when you blush like that!" a shorthaired brunette exclaimed as she grabbed a hold of X's other hand. "What's your name?"

"Can't you tell? He's got dark hair, so you must be Xavier." A curly haired redhead purred as she sidled up to X's hip.

"But, Ace, where's your other friend? The blond one, Zane? I was so looking forward to meeting him." The longhaired redhead pouted and glanced around expectantly.

"Ah… Well, you see, ladies… Zane-" Axl began, but was abruptly cut off again.

"Was just running a little late." Zero smiled brightly at the ladies from behind Axl. "I had to run back to the room because I forgot my towel." Axl and X both blinked at him in surprise.

The longhaired redhead smiled brightly. "You must be Zane. I'm so glad you could make it." she murmured as she slid her arm in his.

"Wouldn't miss it." Zero grinned back. X and Axl glanced at each other then rolled their eyes.

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A small sardine wriggled enticingly a foot away from the dark crevice in the side of the reef wall. The small fish twitched a little closer before the hidden occupant of the hole darted out into sight and snapped its jaws shut around the body of the sardine.

X grinned as he released the baitfish and pulled his hand sharply away from the moray eel's sharp teeth. The yellow-brown body of the eel slithered further out of the hole as it swallowed the sardine. As it prepared to dart back into its rocky home, X held another dead sardine out to tempt it further out of its hiding place. The eel obliged and snapped up that morsel just as quickly as the previous one.

X's grin widened as he reached out and gently stroked the serpentine form of the eel as it coiled and sidled through the clear blue ocean water. The eel slithered along his arm before whipping around and darting back into its dark crevice. X could just make out its fanged jaws gaping slightly under the overhang of rock.

X sighed slightly, feeling the slightly odd, liquid rush of water escaping his lungs rather than air. That had been his last bait sardine. He'd have to go back to the boat for more before he'd get to feed the other eels or small leopard sharks that lingered around the upper reaches of the reef. However, he still had plenty of bread to feed the less predatory fish with.

X kicked lightly, the swim fins he was wearing propelled him smoothly through the water. He swept along the side of the reef, heading out farther from where the boat's hull cast shadows onto the reef below.

The reef was mainly man-made, rocks and convoluted constructions of rubble concrete rested on the worn down remains of a natural coral reef. However, already the re-introduced colonies of coral species were beginning to thrive and recover. They spread across the rocks and old coral reef base in fantastical shapes and colors. It was very tempting to reach out and touch the complex growths, especially the more impressive ones that towered up from the rocky base in delicate, convoluted forms. X refrained from doing so, however. He knew that not only was the deceptively harmless looking coral sharp enough to cut his synthflesh, but touching it would also do damage to the coral colonies that made up the formations.

X twisted his body in the water to skirt an out-thrust section of the reef and rounded the protrusion to find a swirl of bright silvery fish heading right for him. X pulled up and back kicked slightly to stop his forward movement as the school of brightly flashing bodies swirled and darted around and past him. Many of the small fish darted past close enough that he could feel them slide along his skin or through the floating ends of his hair. X twisted to follow the school as it swept around the edge of the reef he had just rounded and vanished from sight. X grinned as he lightly kicked himself forward again.

In this section of the reef a number of feathery water plants of some kind grew from the rocks and swayed gently in the current. Swirling around and between them and the coral growths were a myriad array of vividly colored fish. Flashes of yellow, orange, red, black, blue, white, and even green caught X's eyes as he lightly stroked at the water to maintain his position about a meter away from the reef formations.

X reached into the bait pouch that was clipped to his swim trunk's waistband and pulled out a small handful of soggy bread chunks. Even as he brought it around to hold out in front of him, it broke apart and left a trail of floating crumbs that slowly settled towards the ocean floor beneath him. The most daring of the fish darted away from the safety of the reef and the plants to snap up the floating bits before swinging back away from X.

Swimming a little closer to the reef, X tempted a school of small yellow fish with black spots to eat out of his hand. A vividly striped yellow and black angelfish darted past his right ear from the reef wall higher up above him and caught a chunk of bread out of his fingers that was rather big for it. As the greedy little fish darted back upward, the bread chunk broke apart and a small horde of other fish darted in to fight over the trailing bits. X laughed, an odd watery sound, as several clown fish darted out of an anemone to chase after breadcrumbs and got into a fight over a large morsel.

Axl was right. This was fun.

Just as the last bit of bread drifted away from his fingers, to be mobbed by increasingly bold fish, X received an internal text message. Having a computer inside your head certainly had its advantages, instant messaging among them. X turned his attention to the message he'd just received from Axl.

Hey X! You gotta come see this! This is so awesome! Hurry before they leave.

X activated his internal tracking system and locked onto Axl's power signature. He wasn't that far off, though from the readings, he was on the opposite side of the reef wall. X kicked away from the reef bottom and headed up toward the surface. The reef wall was fairly high at this point, but on the other side the sea floor dropped away in a steep slope towards the drop-off into the really deep water. As X swam upward, he also headed towards Axl's signal. So, by the time he reached the top of the reef wall and rose up above it into open water, he was directly across from Axl's position.

As X crested the top of the reef, he had to stop and stare wide-eyed at the scene on this side of the reef. Axl hung suspended in the clear blue water maybe 50 feet out from the reef. He was barely kicking his swim fins, just enough to stay in one place. All around him, sleek dark bodies swept and literally flew through the water. Pale white underbellies flashed as the school of manta rays arced and twisted through the water. Axl looked like he wished he had five extra pairs of eyes as he twisted his head around, trying to look in all directions at once, his green eyes wide and delighted.

"Wow." X gaped at the scene, his own eyes lighting up in surprised awe.

Axl spotted him and grinned, beckoning him to come out. X received another text message.

Hurry. Come out here, this is so cool! I can just reach out and touch them! They're not scared of people at all!

X hesitated, he didn't want them to all swim away if he intruded, but he was intrigued. The manta rays seemed just as curious about Axl as he was about them. Kicking lightly, X swam out away from the reef and into the school of rays. The ocean going fliers swirled away from his approach but just as quickly closed in around behind him. X found himself beside Axl in a swirling globe of curious rays. The sleek black forms glided around them and swept close enough that X could feel their wings brush against his skin as the manta rays swept past. Axl grinned as he reached out and trailed his fingers along the wing and back of a ray that swirled around him in a circle.

Most of the manta rays weren't very big. They, along with most of the other species of fish, had been re-introduced to the reef waters. The manta rays had been here long enough to have several generations of growth behind the oldest. Most of the rays seemed to range from around one foot across to just over two feet from wingtip to wingtip. However, X could see some of the rays that were down in deeper water that were larger.

X laughed as he reached out and stroked the wings of a particularly friendly little ray that arced its body and twined around X's waist. Suddenly, most of the smaller rays scattered away from them. X blinked and looked around for the cause. A group of the largest rays were coming up from below them into the cluster of smaller rays. These manta rays were much larger than the others, X could see that the largest had a wingspan of almost four feet.

Axl was looking upwards at some of the smaller rays so didn't notice the large three-foot ray that came up directly beneath him. The ray brought its back up directly under Axl's feet as it glided past him, and the surprised reploid rolled forward in the water and ended up upside down looking back at the ray as it swam away from him before circling back in a wide arc. Axl kicked and curled around to right himself.

X laughed at Axl's surprised face but cut off as another large ray swirled up in front of him and arced its body around his in a tight circle. The ray was close enough that X could feel its wings brushing against his back as it curled around him.

The ray that had rolled Axl swung back around and bumped its head lightly against Axl's back. Axl twisted to face it and the ray curled around his side to glide around and past Axl. It came back around for another pass and bumped Axl lightly with its wings again. This time, Axl reached out on impulse and gently closed his hand around the leading edge of the ray's wing. The ray continued on in its flight and Axl was pulled along for the ride. The ray swung around in wide, lazy spirals around the school of other rays, pulling a grinning Axl along behind it.

Seeing this, X laughed. Carefully, he reached out and got a grip on the ray that was now spiraling around his shoulders. Almost immediately, X was pulled away through the flock of smaller rays as his odd aquatic steed gave the reploid hitchhiker a ride around the reef. A short time later, both X and Axl released their rays and kicked back towards the reef.

X and Axl grinned at each other as the flock of manta rays swept away, further down the reef wall.

That was so cool!

X nodded, "You got that right."

I can't believe Zero wouldn't come see that. I bet he would have loved it.

"You sent him a message too?"

Yeah, but he said he was busy.

X shrugged, "His loss. Though he probably would have liked that."

Yeah… Oh! Hey, come with me. I found this huge octopus a little bit ago. I bet it's still there. It likes bread. Weird, huh?

X laughed. "Yeah. Lead on. Think it will eat out of my hand? I got an eel to earlier."

Dunno. It wouldn't eat out of mine, but then, it might for you. Animals like you. Let's go find out.

It didn't take long for Axl to lead back to where he'd seen the octopus. However, it wasn't there anymore. As Axl peered around among the rocks for his squishy friend, X looked around the reef and noticed something odd.

"Hey Axl?"

Hmm?

"Where are all the fish?"

Huh?

Axl swam up to join X as he looked around the reef. As Axl peered around them he too saw that all the fish had vanished from the area.

I don't know… Maybe Zero finally jumped into the water and scared them all away.

Axl grinned over at X. X chuckled and shook his head. "Come on, let's go to the surface. We can ask the tour guides if this is normal behavior."

All right. But if Zero did it, I'm going to throw bread at him… or maybe a sardine.

When the two reached the surface they saw that they were the farthest out from the boat, but still within easy swimming distance. Most of the group of the assorted twenty-five snorkelers was heading toward the boat. From the scents on the air, it seemed as though the barbeque lunch was well on the way to being ready to eat.

"Damn. Guess I don't get to throw stinky fish at him. He's still on the boat." Axl gestured over at the tour boat where Zero was perched on the gunwale.

X nodded then bent forward and exhaled forcefully. The water that had filled his synthetic lungs gushed out of his mouth. As he coughed the last of the salt water out, Axl made a face.

"Blech. How can you stand that? I hate getting water in my lungs. It feels so weird."

"It's not like it'll kill us, you know. I think it's easier like this." X shrugged. "This way, I don't have to keep my mouth tightly shut and remember not to inhale. Besides, it helps to keep me from floating up whenever I stop moving."

"I suppose. But still, it just feels weird; breathing water instead of air. It's thicker, and afterwards, I always feel squishy and waterlogged inside."

"Maybe, but your lungs will dry out pretty quickly once you start breathing air again."

"I guess. I wonder what all that was about anyway." Axl frowned slightly.

"The rays? Or the fish?"

"The fish. I've never heard of all the fish just up and vanishing before. You?"

"Never. But then, I've never been fish watching before. We should probably go back to the boat. I bet the tour guide or the captain will know what happened." X started to swim forward toward the boat.

"All right. And while we're there we can find out what Zero's been up to." Axl kicked after him to catch up.

X pulled up as Axl passed him and peered across the way at Zero and narrowed his eyes slightly. "You know what? I don't think he's even gotten into the water at all. He doesn't even look wet."

"What a spoil-sport. Maybe I'll get to throw stinky fish at him after all." Axl kicked slightly with his fins and raised his upper body out of the water almost a foot before waving his hand wildly over his head. "Hey Zane!"

Zero looked up from where he had been talking to the redheaded swimmer that was leaning out of the water against the side of the boat to look up at him. Zero turned his head around to face the shout and saw X and Axl floating in the water a good ways down the reef from the boat. "Hey you two! Are the fish giving you any trouble?" Zero laughed as he waved back at Axl. "You want me to teach em a lesson?" Zero grinned and mock-flexed his bicep.

Axl laughed and stuck out his tongue at Zero. "What? You know something they don't?"

"Hey!" Zero shouted indignantly. "Anything with fins has got nothing on me!"

Axl just laughed and rolled onto his back in the water. As X pulled up and treaded water beside him, Axl caught X's shoulder and pulled him into a back float along with him. As they both leaned back in the water their swim-finned feet broke the surface of the water. Axl waved his fin lazily at Zero with a grin and pointed at X with his free hand. "That so, huh?"

"Go soak your head, kid!"

"Ha! You first, Zane!" Axl snickered as he righted himself.

"Come on in, Zane! The water's fine!" X grinned and waved at the blonde.

Axl snickered. "He probably just doesn't want the pretty girls to see him sink."

Zero stood up on the gunwale of the boat and shook his fist at them. "For your information, I have a moral duty to keep an eye on these lovely young ladies and make sure they have an enjoyable trip and stay safe!"

X laughed and rolled backwards in the water before righting himself. "From what?"

Axl had swum forward a bit further before righting himself and laughing. "The only lady-killer out here is you Zane! You want to keep them safe, then don't break any of their hearts!"

X laughed and ducked his head under the water for a moment. When he surfaced he pushed his sopping bangs out of his eyes and grinned at Zero's indignant expression.

X never saw it coming. There was no reason to monitor sensor readings for biological life signs, they knew there were fish in the area, and most of the other snorkelers were human.

X blinked in confused surprise as his proximity sensors suddenly screamed in warning at him. He had just started to glance around as he ducked reflexively to avoid whatever some prankster had just chucked at his head when the water practically erupted around him. By the time his processor caught up with events, it was far too late to attempt to dodge.

X caught a confused glimpse of pale skin and rows of jagged white before his feet were struck from below and he found himself lifted clear of the water. He yelped in shocked surprise as he pitched forward and to the side at his sudden loss of balance. X saw Axl just starting to twist around in the water, a look of shock on his face. Then all coherent thought fled X's processors as the sudden pressure around his waist turned rapidly into pain. A shriek of pain ripped across the water and X briefly wondered who else was hurt. Then he realized he was the one screaming. His waist burned with sharp pain as his thoughts filled with warning alarms. The scream cut off as X gagged. His mouth filled with a bittersweet tang and he coughed to clear his throat. Everything seemed so very slow as X watched the arc his blood made as it flew through the air to spatter against the water below him.

"X!" Axl screamed. And everything rushed forward again.

Axl had spun around in the water at the sound of splashing and X's sudden yelp of surprise. What he saw when he completed that turn was enough to shock him into frozen horror as time seemed to slow to a crawl. The largest shark Axl had ever seen, at least a good 13 feet long, was suspended partially out of the water. It's massive blunt-nosed head and upper body rose out of the water, it's jaws gaping wide as its white belly flashed in the afternoon sunlight. It's lips were pulled back, exposing the pale pink of the gums and numerous rows of sharp triangular teeth as it snapped its jaws shut… around X's waist.

For just an instant, X's face held the most dumbfounded expression Axl had ever seen. Then his eyes widened and his mouth opened as an agonized scream ripped the silence of the afternoon apart. X doubled forward as red reploid blood rushed out from the corners of the shark's jaws. His scream cut off abruptly as blood flooded out of his own mouth as his torso convulsed.

Axl lunged forward in the water, screaming X's name. 'This is not happening. This is not happening,' repeated inanely in his mind.

Then everything snapped back into motion as time sped up, far too fast. The shark flexed its body and whipped its head to the side, snapping X almost far enough to strike the water. Then it jerked to a halt and reversed its thrashing. The shriek of shredding metal reached Axl's auditory sensors even as his optics picked out where the shark's teeth dragged downward along X's side, leaving shredded synthflesh to gush blood across the pale white of the shark's belly and gray side.

As Axl closed the distance to the shark, he realized he didn't have any weapons. Cursing himself for not thinking of it sooner, he activated his teleportation system to summon his armor and his Axl Bullets. His proximity alarms went off before the transport began.

Axl threw himself violently to the side, kicking as hard as he could with his swim fins. The water surged with white froth as a second massive shark burst out of the water. The great white scythed its head to the side as its jaws clamped shut and Axl screamed in pain as the teeth shut around his left arm. Teeth ripped through synthflesh and circuits as Axl heard his metal bone shriek in protest as it warped under the multi-ton pressure of the shark's bite.

Water surged around Axl as the shark lashed its tail and swam away from X and the other shark. Blood and coolant left a slick trail along their wake as Axl slammed his fist repeatedly into the blunt nose and jaws that held him. Grey flesh split, spurting blood, and teeth shattered and fell out under his strikes but the shark didn't seem to notice. It's pure black eyes rolled manically around in their sockets as it swam.

'What the hell is wrong with this shark? Nothing biological, especially not an animal, could just shrug off shattered jaws and a brutalized face!'

The crazed shark plunged beneath the waves, dragging Axl along by his bleeding arm.

Zero had frozen in shock, his fist still raised in indignant fury as the water had erupted around X. His logic processor wailed as it struggled to figure out what the hell had just happened. His instinct bashed logic over the head and shouted 'it's an attack!' Even as Zero stiffened and fell into a fighting stance, his internal sensors came on line to scan for a target. The scene finally made sense as he made out the form of the shark rising out of the water beneath X. Then the scream echoed across the water and Zero felt like his internals had just dropped to his feet. He went cold inside as his optics picked up the red rush of blood spilling from the shark's jaws around X. Zero started forward to jump off the boat even as he activated his internal teleporter to summon his armor.

He had not anticipated the reaction of the other vacationers.

Panicked screams and shouts of 'Shark!' broke out from all directions, as suddenly, everyone wanted back on the boat. Even as Zero stepped forward off the gunwale, he suddenly found his arms full of a panicked redhead as the human lunged out of the water and fell into Zero. Off balance already, Zero tumbled backward into the boat as other human and reploid swimmers clambered up onto the boat from every direction. As Zero struggled to get the girl off of him and avoid getting trampled by other panicky people, the proper teleportation coordinates were forced to the side as logic intruded.

Logic said Zero had to get the civilians out of a combat zone.

Zero told logic to go screw itself. X was in trouble.

He pushed the redhead off of his chest and rolled out of the way of an overweight middle-aged human man who tripped on the steps and fell to the deck. As he climbed to his knees, he found his efforts thwarted once again as a hysterical curly haired blonde girl threw herself onto him, sobbing for him to save her.

'Damnit! She's already safe! She's on the boat! I've got to get out there!' Zero struggled to pry her off without hurting her, but damn, she had a good grip, and on his hair too!

The shark continued to thrash back and forth, whipping X around, half out of the water. Every thrash ripped the teeth in farther, shredding synthflesh and arterial tubing, slicing into wires, and scraping against the metal skeleton as X lost reploid blood and coolant in gouts. Pain thundered through X's mind and sensors as he felt the teeth digging deeper with every second. Things grated and shifted inside him that shouldn't be moving at all. Warning messages flashed through his processor; too many to pay attention to any single one. X's mind narrowed through the pain to one simple thought. Get away.

Even as he struggled to force his teleportation system to respond to his commands, X knew he couldn't manage a blind warp jump. His teleportation system was telling him that it wasn't even there anymore. His many armors were beyond his reach. Without armor of some kind, X had no way to activate his weapons systems. His only recourse was to use his innate reploid strength. He desperately tried to force his limbs to respond to his will. His power levels were fluctuating as his generator wailed warnings of a plasma leak. He was losing motor control even as he struggled to force the jaws to open. His power grid was collapsing and motor functions were dying with it. He could barely even bring his fist to bear to strike the jaws and break them. Even then, his blows had no effect on the shark's actions. It didn't even seem to feel them.

Then water was all around him as the shark submerged, dragging him along with it.

Zero finally pried the girl off and shoved her to the side. He surged to his feet with a shout of 'Out of the way!' and sprang back up onto the gunwale as snorkelers scattered from his path. By this time, everyone was on the boat except Axl and X. Zero focused his optics on the scene and activated his targeting zoom feature. He was just in time to see the shark drag X underwater, leaving a rapidly spreading red slick on the surface. Axl was nowhere in sight.

Cursing, Zero leaped off the boat and dove into the water. Ahead, he could just make out the large shark as it continued to thrash through the water, lashing its tail back and forth through a growing cloud of blood. The shark was heading away from the boat, whipping along the reef wall and slamming X repeatedly into the sharp rock and coral formations.

X continued to beat at the shark's snout even as his systems crashed from massive internal damage. By this time, his motor control was so badly damaged that he was unable to do more than bruise the shark's flesh. His arms' servomotors were losing power and starting to fail to respond to his commands as his power grid failed and motion control circuits burned out. X couldn't even bring a fraction of his full strength to bear in his arms to hit the shark or force its jaws open. His plasma fuel cells were leaking where the shark's teeth had punctured the protective casing and X was rapidly losing power. His internal diagnostic systems were already registering his lower half as having been severed, even though it was still attached to him. No power was reaching his body below the waist. Without power, his legs were paralyzed

Then he had to focus his efforts on protecting himself rather than trying to fight back as he was suddenly slammed into the reef wall. The synthflesh of his arms and torso was being shredded against the reef as he tried to protect his head from direct blows against the rocks. X curled forward, desperately trying to shield his unarmored head from the sharp rocks, despite the pain that screamed for him to fight back and escape. He had no weapons he could use, and the shark didn't seem to even feel pain. Most of the servomotors in his arms had burnt out from stress or power loss. He didn't have enough power behind his fists to beat the shark off of him.

Fear and despair welled up inside of him. Was he going to die like this? Not from a maverick, but from a shark? A trumped up fish? His external sensors had died from power failures. He could barely see through the cloud of his own blood. He had no way to know where Axl or Zero were. Would they even be able to reach him before the shark bit through the protective casing around his generator and it went critical? His generator already registered a small plasma leak. Would they even realize he needed saving? He was Rockman X after all. What if they were busy with the civilians? What if they figured he could handle it? It was just a shark after all.

X snarled at himself as he forced the despair away. 'No!' They would come. They would. He just had to hold on till then. He just had to keep fighting till they came. He was X, damnit! He was not going to give up! Not to a shark, not to anything!

The shark veered away from the rocks of the reef and circled around before heading toward the top of the reef and the deeper water on the far side. X resumed his efforts to get free when he realized the shark had stopped battering him against the reef. But even as he again struggled against the shark's grip, the pain washed over him in place of the despair. He shut out the wailing of the warning messages from his systems and focused on forcing his arms to move, to force the shark to release him. The despair almost took him again as his motor control system shut down due to an emergency power conservation shutdown.

X was paralyzed but still conscious of the pain.

Axl activated his internal teleporter and called for his armor. An aura of white light swirled around him and faded just as quickly. He had been just in time. Even as the light of teleportation faded to reveal his navy and red armor the shark slammed him into the side of the reef and dragged him along it. Metal protested as the coral and rock scraped across his armor and sheared away the outer layer of metallic paint. A second longer to summon his armor and that would have been his flesh being shredded.

Axl snarled and triggered the built in holster compartment in his right boot. A section of navy paneling slide outward, revealing a hidden compartment that held his right Axl Bullet pistol. He drew his pistol and took aim at the shark's closest eye. If he remembered correctly, the beast's brain was close to the eyes. One shot should kill the man-eater. As he pulled the trigger the shark whipped its head and slammed Axl's back into the reef, his helmet slammed into a rock and his aim was thrown off. The condensed plasma laser missed the eye and brain and tore open its snout instead. The shot punched out through its lower jaw, the bolt just missing his trapped arm as it ripped apart the jaw joint. The jaws went slack, unable to clamp with one jaw hinge vaporized into bloody mist.

Axl punched the lower jaw wide open and wrenched his arm free. Blood flooded the water around him. He cursed as the warm blood obscured his normal vision and made his thermal optic mode useless. His sensors indicated he was sinking rapidly now that the shark no longer held up his armored weight.

There was a sudden rush of displaced water just above his head that sent his red hair whipping wildly into his immediate vision and across his face. Unable to see his attacker, Axl twisted in the water and fired his thrusters to get clear of the cloud of shark and reploid blood. A short burst was enough to get him to open water and he turned to see what had just happened. A third great white shark had attacked the second.

The two predators turned on each other in a blood driven frenzy. Axl dismissed them from his mind and activated his scanners. Immediately he picked up Zero's energy signature to his left. It was closing quickly on X's signature. But X's power levels were fluctuating and dropping dangerously low. Axl had seen the damage the shark had done to his waist and internals. If it had hit his generator too…

Axl twisted in the water and activated his flight thrusters. He shot forward in the water, heading for X's position. His crumpled, nearly severed left arm trailed uselessly behind him, trailing blood. Axl paid it no mind, blocking out the pain and focusing on more important matters. Like X.

Now that logic had shut up, a white aura of teleportation energy wrapped around Zero and faded away, revealing his red battle armor. Even as Zero drew his Z-saber hilt he activated his emergency acceleration Dash thrusters and shot through the water so quickly his hair snapped behind him.

X desperately tried to force his systems to redirect power to his central motor control processors. However, every attempt came up against the fact that not only were most of his systems going into emergency shutdown but power grid failures had affected his motor control center as well. Even if he could get around the emergency shutdown, power could no longer reach his motion control circuits.

The pain wasn't so bad anymore. Most of the tactile sensors around the wounds had lost power. A dull ache suffused his entire body despite the fact that he was progressively going numb as his body shut down around his mind.

X had gone slack and limp in the shark's jaws. His mouth hung open as blood welled up from within and flowed out in a steady stream. His entire body cavity was filling with blood from severed arteries and ruptured internals. X couldn't feel it though. Just a spreading numbness as his vision began to fade and flicker in and out of focus.

The shark opened its jaws wider and thrust its jaws forward in an effort to swallow more of X. It's teeth came down across his ribcage and the tips bit into his synthflesh. New, sharp pain forced itself onto X's awareness and he cried out weakly as his vocal synthesizer lost power. The shark opened its jaws again to try to swallow more of X's body.

It never closed them again.

Zero had activated his infrared imaging system and was able to detect how deeply into the shark's throat X's legs went. Once he determined this, Zero didn't hesitate.

Without slowing down his Dash systems, Zero activated his Z-saber. The vivid green of the plasma beam illuminated his features as he pulled his lips back in a silent snarl. His Dash boots rocketed him past the shark's pale body as his saber flashed forward in an arc, a trail of green plasma hanging for an instant in its wake. As Zero twisted his body to bring the base of his boots forward to reverse his momentum and turn around, the shark's body slid into two sections as the still slightly twitching tail sank away from the blank-eyed head and torso. There was very little blood released from its body. The high-energy plasma blade had cauterized the arteries as it cut the shark.

Even as the head began to sink, X still clutched in its jaws, Zero had reversed his Dash and reached X. He had to thrust both legs forward, still firing the emergency acceleration thrusters, to come to a stop beside his bleeding friend. The saber deactivated as Zero thrust it back into its holster on his back and killed his Dash thrusters. He reached out and gripped the shark's upper and lower jaws in either hand and forced them open farther. When he'd dragged them far enough apart to ease the teeth out of X's body, Zero locked eyes with the dead shark and snarled silently as his fingers dug into the flesh of the shark's head and the jawbone cracked as his grip crushed it. Zero snapped his arms wide and ripped the jaws apart at the hinges, the rest of the shark's head followed as Zero tore its apart to give him better access to X's limp form.

Zero wrenched his hands out of the bloody remains of the shark's jaws and gently gripped X's body. As he pulled X free from the remains, his sensors detected an approaching energy signature. He spared a glance for Axl as the younger reploid jetted up to them, in full armor, his left arm hanging uselessly, barely attached to his shoulder, a pistol gripped in his right.

Axl's face went pale as he reversed thrust to come to a stop. Zero had to keep a grip on both X's torso and hips as he cradled his body to his chest. He was having trouble holding his body together to keep his mangled internals from spilling out into the water. Even so, he couldn't stop the flood of blood that continued to flow from X's body.

Now that they were stationary, the weight of their armor had them both sinking toward the bottom. Zero looked down at X's face and saw that his eyes were open and focused on his face. X weakly opened his mouth, but nothing escaped except the breath of reploid blood that darkened the water and rose in streamers toward the surface.

"Hang in there, X. Don't you die on us." Zero gripped him closer as he spoke. But even as the words carried through the water, he could see the light in X's eyes fading, the bright green dulling as they lost power.

Panicked, Zero focused his sensors on X. The relief he felt when they reported that X was still alive, but almost completely under emergency power conservation shutdown was mitigated by the alarm that clutched at his chest from the rest of the scan report. X's generator had suffered a plasma leak and most of his plasma fuel reserves had been punctured, resulting in their depletion. His core temperature was also climbing dangerously high.

Then his sensors reported something else just coming into range. Zero's head snapped up and turned to face away from the boat and down the reef. His eyes narrowed. Axl had picked up the signal as well and his face had gone cold and harsh as his eyes narrowed in rage.

"Axl. Take X to the boat, call in an emergency med transport." Axl started and turned to meet Zero's gaze. "He's mine." Zero hissed, a cold rage burning in his blue eyes. Axl nodded and carefully took X from Zero's grip. Cradling his ruined body to his chest with his one good arm, Axl activated his flight thrusters and shot for the surface and the boat. Zero drew his Z-saber but didn't activate it, then he reactivated his Dash boots and shot through the water towards the maverick virus signal his long distance scanners had detected.

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Crash Dolphos was pissed.

How the hell was he supposed to sow random violence and mass panic, without it looking like a maverick attack, if his stupid weapons refused to listen to him? What the hell good were weapons that didn't do what he wanted them to? This was why he hated idiotic organics. They were too stupid to follow orders.

But then, 'that's why they're so easy to control,' his logic processors told him.

Dolphos growled at himself as he flicked the dolphin's tail that trailed from the base of his humanoid spinal column through the water. He hated it when logic turned traitor. Unfortunately, it did that a lot.

'They're supposed to do what I tell them to! Kill the stupid tourists! Not each other!' Dolphos snapped back at logic.

Logic didn't reply. Good thing too, because Dolphos had finally gotten into visual range of the fighting sharks. His special sonar ability had been too weak at his previous distance to break up the fight. But from this close, regaining control over their pitiful blobs of gray matter would be simple.

He hadn't planned to get this close to the boat, but Dolphos wasn't too worried about being detected. The nearest Hunters that might be capable of detecting and recognizing the power signature of the maverick virus were miles away. He'd left them high and dry back on the Big Island when he'd taken his little toys from the marine center.

His plan was flawless. Not even the best logic circuits in the world could possibly connect shark attacks to him or anything maverick. He'd have the stupid humans panicking and running around in circles like headless Hunters at the news of a pack of killer sharks in the resort waters. No reason for Hunters to get involved, after all. Its just sharks, not mavericks.

And it was just so much fun to watch them bleed as his toys tore them to pieces.

He'd have to try to get a whale or two after this. Oh what fun he could have with a whale. Before he'd been infected he had read Moby Dick. Oh what fun he'd have with his own Moby.

'It won't be a white whale, you know.' Logic interrupted.

'Oh shut the hell up and let me gloat.' Dolphos snapped back. He flicked his tail to right himself in the water and activated his sonar pulse system. Using his humanoid arms and legs to tread water he opened his dolphin beaked jaws and emitted a pulse wave of sonar signals. Almost immediately the two bloody sharks broke apart and swam away from each other before circling around toward him, docile as a pair of particularly stupid puppies.

Dolphos scowled as he took stock of the damage each had suffered. Stupid organics. The larger of the two was all but useless now. It's jaw was dislocated and the smaller shark had torn into its body so badly Dolphos would consider himself lucky if he got any more use out of it before it bled to death.

"Damn stupid organics. Can't you do anything right!" Dolphos snarled at them. The sharks floated there, their black eyes staring blankly at him in incomprehension.

'They can't talk you know. Don't expect them to.' Logic replied with infuriating logic.

Dolphos was just about to snap a reply when he saw something that made logic die a screaming death of improbability.

Dash thrusters firing, a figment out of horror stories and the blackest of maverick nightmares shot around a rocky outcropping of the reef and into full view, just as Dolphos' neglected scanners decided to announce his presence.

Crash Dolphos stared in blank incomprehensibility for a single timeless instant as a fully armored red reploid, long blonde hair whipping behind him at his speed through the water, and a stylized golden Z emblazoned on his shoulder guard, charged straight for him. Even without recognizing the famous Hunter, the pointed crests on either side of his red helmet and the expression on his face were enough to convince Dolphos that the devil himself had come for his soul. If he had been at all religious, that is. As it was, Dolphos knew that Hunter Zero was here for his head.

Dolphos shrieked in terror and sent out a sonar command burst to his remaining toys as he turned to flee. The two sharks turned and rushed for Zero, jaws agape to bite and crush.

With a snarl, Zero activated his Z-saber and met the rush head on. His scanners had already informed him that the larger and slightly slower of the sharks had a ruined jaw that couldn't bring its multi-ton bite to bear. No real threat then. He focused on the smaller of the two attackers.

When the smaller shark had closed to within striking distance, Zero kicked his right leg forward and down, the sudden change in thrust shot Zero up above the charging shark as he trailed his saber below him. The shark slammed into the saber's plasma blade as Zero snapped it up and forward. The shark's body split down the center to just past its dorsal fin where the tip of the saber exited. The already dead shark sank away behind Zero as he continued forward after the fleeing maverick. The last of the sharks was already behind him by then and was too badly injured to turn and catch up to him.

"Bastard!" Zero roared as he closed on the desperately fleeing maverick.

Dolphos risked a glance back and knew he'd never outrun the demon's dash system. He cursed his creators for not giving him one too. He flicked his tail and swung around to face the red devil. Dolphos opened his mouth and released a fully powered sonic pulse. The water in front of him rippled and a shock wave rushed forward toward Zero.

Zero didn't slow down as the distortion wave raced through the water towards him. He swung his Z-saber up and across his body as he triggered one of his sword techniques. He shouted the activation command as he swept his saber across his path. "Hadangeki!" A second sonic wave shot forward from his saber's flight arc and crashed into the approaching sonar distortion. Zero's 'Severing Wave Attack' ripped through Dolphos' sonar pulse and Zero shot through right behind it.

Dolphos wailed in despair. But even as he drew his close combat weapon, the anger of his thwarted plan, and by such an improbable cause as Zero himself showing up out of nowhere, rose up within him. The virus fed off of this rage and amplified it as Dolphos activated his trident. The collapsible pole handle extended as the plasma beam prongs activated with a golden glow.

The rage flooded Dolphos, filling him with a sense of power and confidence that overwhelmed any common sense or self-preservation he had remaining to him. Shrieking a challenge, Dolphos flicked his tail and charged forward, trident extended, to meet the devil on his own terms.

Zero was waiting for him.

As the maverick closed, Zero realized that the trident's reach gave the bastard an advantage. However, with his dash thrusters, Zero had the advantage in speed, despite the dolphin maverick's aquatic nature. Unfortunately, Zero had been using his Dash systems a lot in the last few minutes and his internal diagnostics were starting to complain, loudly, about stress to his boot thrusters.

'Don't fail me now. I'll make it quick. Even if he doesn't deserve it.' Zero promised himself as he twisted, swinging his left leg out to the side to propel him to the right of the charging maverick's trident. Dolphos twisted to follow, swinging the trident's blades around to re-orient on Zero as his tail snapped at the water to send his body sweeping away from Zero. Zero abruptly changed direction as he flipped in the water and shot down beneath the trident's swing and curled his body to arc back upwards to close to striking range on the maverick.

Dolphos was off balance and his trident was far out to his left as Zero rushed in for his body, blade drawn back to slash through him. Dolphos swung his legs forward and rapidly beat his tail against the water to propel himself backwards as he opened his mouth and unleashed another sonar pulse wave.

Zero didn't have time to dodge or get off another Hadangeki. The sonar pulse slammed into him and shoved him back, cutting his acceleration down to half. Between the rush of bubbles from his thrusters and the boiling water that vaporized as it got closer to his saber blade, Zero's vision was obscured and he lost track of his opponent's position. But the worst part was that his equilibrium was thrown off as his sensors wailed warnings at him in confusion as phantom forms and obstructions registered on his proximity sensors in all directions. He was unable to lock onto which were real and which were false.

Dolphos shrieked in triumph at Zero's disorientation and rushed in, trident leading to skewer the Hunter. His scream was his undoing. Zero's proximity sensors might have been thrown off, but his hearing was just fine. Zero twisted and countered the trident blades with his saber. He caught the three prongs on his blade and whipped his wrist, twisting the trident out of Dolphos' grip and swinging it away and down toward the ocean floor. Deprived of his weapon, Dolphos' jaws gaped to unleash another sonar pulse wave. He never got the chance.

Zero only needed one hand to wield his Z-saber. While Dolphos had been blinded by a maverick's battle rage, he hadn't noticed Zero's left hand collapse inward as his gauntlet expanded and shifted forward before reforming into an arm buster. While the Z-buster was nowhere near as powerful as X's buster, it was still fully capable of maverick destruction.

As Zero brought his buster barrel up to press against Crash Dolphos' forehead he snarled, "For X," as he fired. Dolphos's entire head vaporized in an explosion of red mist. As the water rushed to fill the abrupt vacuum of space with a 'whump', Zero growled, "Rust in Hell, asshole."

Ignoring the last shark as it fled, bleeding from heavy wounds, as well as the maverick's body, sinking to the reef floor, Zero turned and pushed his thrusters once again as he Dashed for the boat.

His thrusters wailed as the firing mechanisms burned out from overuse just before Zero reached the boat itself. However, his forward momentum was already great enough to take him the last few meters to the side of the boat.

Zero gripped the railing and vaulted over the gunwale onto the deck. The human and civilian reploid snorkelers were clustered to the front of the boat, unwilling to come closer to the growing pool of reploid blood that Axl knelt in.

Axl's head snapped up, the question in his green eyes. Zero nodded curtly as he strode across the deck and dropped to his knees beside X's limp body.

"I contacted HQ. They're locking on as we speak."

Zero nodded and gritted his teeth. X looked even worse in broad daylight than he had in the water. He had nearly been bitten in half, the only thing holding his torso to his hips was the warped metal spinal column and some crumpled shreds from the lightweight internal systems casing. Everything else had been severed or shredded by the serrated teeth of the shark.

Zero's sensors were registering massive power failures, and that most of X's systems were in emergency power conservation shutdown. The plasma generator's output had dropped nearly 80 percent of capacity. X had also lost nearly 75 percent of the coolant and power conduction fluid that made up his blood. That much blood loss normally would have caused a temperature meltdown in the fusion core. In this case, the only thing that kept his generator from going critical was the fact that power output had dropped so far and that most of his systems had gone into emergency shutdown. The plasma fusion core didn't generate as much heat when working at only 20 percent capacity.

Axl's voice quavered as he whispered his next words barely above hearing level, even for a reploid sitting across from him. "Th-the bleeding won't stop. I… I don't know what…" He took a shaky breath and glanced at the worried vacationers on the other end of the boat. "I-I told them to stay back, because of the transporter beam."

A scan of X's systems told Zero what he needed to know. "He's lost too much blood. There aren't enough nanites left in his systems to close all the arteries. We've got to try to physically stop the bleeding. If he loses much more his temperature will go critical, he's already dangerously close."

Axl bit his lower lip but nodded. He moved his one functioning hand towards the wound but hesitated, uncertain where to start. Zero dismissed his armor. He couldn't get his hands into X's body cavity to put pressure on the largest severed arteries while wearing his oversized combat gloves and gauntlets. Zero slid his hands into X's ravaged internal cavity and worked for a second to get a grip on the largest of the arteries he could locate as they continued to drain blood out onto the deck.

Axl whimpered slightly as he pressed his gloved hand against the largest of the tooth punctures across X's chest. Beneath his hand, the oozing reploid blood frothed and bubbled indicating it had punctured a lung. At Zero's sharp glance, Axl hesitated then explained. "I-I think he's still conscious. Somewhat. He… He keeps twitching, especially when I put pressure on the chest wounds."

Zero hissed in a sharp breath and focused on X's face. His green eyes were dull from lack of power as he stared blindly up to the sky. X panted frantically for breath as his synthetic lungs worked to compensate for the loss of most of his coolant fluid by rapidly moving air through his lungs to keep his fusion core temperature at a safe level. With every breath X wheezed up blood even as he gurgled on it during inhalations.

"X. X, stay with us. You hear me. Don't you dare die to some pathetic dumbass. Don't you dare die on us."

"Th-the transporter will lock on in just a moment. We'll have you back at HQ in no time. Just hang in there, X. Lifesaver and the other medics will have you as good as new in no time. Just… Just hang on, X." Axl soothed as he struggled to keep the wavering emotion out of his voice.

Zero knelt over the body of his best friend, counting the seconds as they waited for the emergency medical teleporter to activate and take them directly to HQ. Despite his best efforts to stop the bleeding arteries, X continued to bleed onto the deck. His cardio-pump had shut down to conserve energy, but blood still trickled out of the severed veins in a slow stream. By the time the medical teleporter activated, Zero was covered in X's blood. Axl wasn't much better off.

The familiar, tingling rush of teleportation warp energy wrapped around the three of them. Despite how long it seemed they had waited, it had only been a few minutes since Axl had called in for a medevac. The world dissolved around them and consciousness winked out for an instant, lost in the light, before the light faded and the world solidified around them again. Zero and Axl knelt on either side of X's body where it lay on the medical ward emergency teleportation pad. A small horde of med-techs was gathered at the edges of the pad, waiting for their arrival. None of the medics had known what to expect, but what they got was enough to shock them motionless.

Rockman X lay unresponsive and dying in a pool of his own blood. He barely qualified as being in once piece. His internal casing had been shredded and what remained of his internal circuits, systems, and tubing spilled out in a bloody mess. What remained of his body cavity casing was twisted scrap and his metal spinal column was dented and twisted. Very little of the synthflesh on his torso and arms was undamaged and he was nearly coated in his own blood. Where he wasn't bloody, X was still wet from the ocean water. He was wearing somewhat shredded light blue swim trunks with yellow racing stripes down the sides. Zero and Axl knelt over him trying to stop the bleeding.

Zero, wearing red swim trunks, had his hands buried to the wrists in X's belly cavity. His long blonde hair trailed into the growing pool of blood. Seawater dripped from his bangs and ran down his hair, diluting the blood he knelt in. Zero's chest, belly, hips, and legs were coated in X's blood where he knelt. Even as his upper body dripped seawater onto the pad, his lower body dripped the blood that had splashed from X's gaping wounds.

Axl crouched on X's other side in full armor, his pistol settled in his lap as his right hand pressed against puncture wounds that ran across X's chest. His left arm sagged at an odd angle, reploid blood ran down his arm and off his fingers even as his nanites worked to seal the severed arteries and stop blood flow. His upper arm and part of his shoulder was practically severed from his body. Serrated teeth marks ran all the way around, buried into the crumpled metal skeletal bone.

The shocked medics stared for an instant before Zero noticed them just standing there.

"Damnit! Help him!"

Just like someone had flipped a switch, the scene ceased to be some horrible nightmare and took on the reality of a crisis. The medics jerked into motion as they rushed forward to save X's life.

Medical scanners had been focused on the three from the moment they arrived on the teleporter pad. Now med-techs swarmed the teleporter pad, hauling a stretcher with them. Two different medics worked to ease Zero's hands off of the severed arteries and to clamp the bleeding tubes shut. Two more joined them as they lifted X onto the stretcher. As soon as he was secure, the magnetic levitation emitters activated and lifted the stretcher clear of the floor. Two of the medics hauled it along between them as they sprinted for the nearest operating room. Four other medical technicians, specifically four technical surgeons, raced alongside it while two more, including Lifesaver, held the OR doors wide for the stretcher.

Most of the other med-techs scattered around the med ward, rushing to prepare various parts and tools for the surgeons. Two converged on Axl and pulled him along with them off the pad toward another OR.

Axl shrugged them off and pulled back. "I'm fine! Really. X is the one that needs your help. Don't just stand there." He pointed to the now closed doors of the OR down the ward from the teleporter pad.

"Axl, please calm down. Commander X is in good hands," the shorter of the two human medics soothed and he tried to guide Axl toward the OR that was being prepped for his arm repairs. "Any more medics in there with him and we'd be more of a hindrance than a help."

"Too many medics in one OR and we start tripping over each other," the other medic, a slender, curly haired man added.

"Go on, kid. They're right. No sense in you standing around bleeding to death while we wait for news on X." Zero spoke up as he stepped down off the pad. Axl hesitated and glanced at the closed OR doors. "If I hear anything, I'll let you know, even if the medics give me the boot afterwards." Axl nodded at that reassurance and followed the two medics into the second OR.

Zero was left standing in a figurative eye of the storm as the med ward swarmed with activity around him. He stood uncertainly for an instant beside the still bloody pad. Then the main med ward doors hissed open and Alia rushed in, closely followed by Signas. Both had that air about them that said they'd just slowed down from a run.

Signas immediately focused on Zero as Alia continued to scan the room for the missing other two. Signas strode forward through the organized chaos that was the medical ward. "Zero! What the hell is going on?" Signas demanded as he glanced around for the others. "Where are X and Axl? Why'd you call in a medevac…?" Signas broke off abruptly as he suddenly realized just what Zero's lower half was coated in. "Great Light! Zero, what…? Never mind. Medic!" He turned to the room at large and snagged the first med tech that ran by. "What's wrong with you? Why isn't anyone helping Zero? He's been hurt, damnit!"

"S-sir…" The hapless medic stammered in surprise.

"Signas, calm down. I'm fine." Zero strode forward. "See, it's not mine."

Signas paused in his reprimand of the poor medic and blinked at Zero. "What? Then who the hell bled all over you! Damnit Zero, this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. It figures you'd find some mavericks and get into a brawl with them."

Alia's voice quavered slightly as she turned back to Zero from her search of the medical ward. "Z-Zero… Where's Axl? Wh-Where's X?"

Zero's face fell and he glanced away towards the OR rooms. "They're in the OR right now."

"Th-the blood. It-it's theirs?" Alia whispered softly, her eyes going wide.

Zero couldn't meet her gaze as he shook his head slightly. "No… Just X."

Alia sucked in a shocked breath as her face went pale.

"What happened?" Signas demanded.

Zero sighed and ran his hand through his hair, then stopped short when he remembered that his hand was covered in X's blood. "Damn," he growled as he realized he'd just added red streaks in his blonde hair from his temple to his shoulder. Zero shook his head. "Shit, Signas. That's what happened. Crap like this isn't supposed to happen. The damn prick probably didn't even know it was X."

"Wh-what happened to X?" Alia's voice came out in a strained whisper as she locked eyes with Zero, a desperate question left unspoken.

Zero broke eye contact. "A maverick. Some stupid dolphin-type maverick with sharks as pets."

"Sharks?" Signas asked, the confusion evident in his voice.

"Sharks," Zero growled. "Sharks that decided reploids look pretty tasty."

"Look pretty… tasty…" Alia cut off with a horrified look in her eyes. "Th-they… ate them..."

Zero hissed and caught her eyes. "Tried, Alia. Tried. They're both still alive. We got X out of there. He'll be all right. He will." Zero said forcefully as he reached out to grip her shoulder reassuringly. He pulled back at the last second when he remembered his hand was still bloody. Zero shook his head. "No fish is going to kill him. X is too strong to die from this."

"The maverick?" Signas asked, the undertones of menace rumbling beneath his query.

"Scrap," Zero replied with a predatory look of satisfaction on his face.

Signas nodded once, firmly, then turned to a still pale and slightly shaky looking Alia. "Alia?"

Alia jerked and straightened up as she faced her commanding officer. "Sir?"

Signas searched her face carefully before gently inquiring, "Will you be able to continue working today?"

"Y-yes. Of course, Signas, sir." Alia nodded as she forced herself to stand straight.

"Alia…" Zero started but was cut off.

"I'll be all right. I can still work, sir." Alia addressed Signas but her eyes flicked to Zero's face.

"Very well. Zero, give Alia the coordinates of the attack. Alia, I want you to send a clean-up detail. They're to retrieve whatever remains of the maverick and secure the sharks as well."

"There were only three. Two are dead and the last had fatal wounds." Zero spoke up.

"The bodies then. We need to know how the maverick was controlling biological life to coordinate an attack on reploids. Sharks have never attacked reploids before. Also, send someone to pick up Zero, Axl, and X's gear from their hotel, preferably from the 17th or 0th. Sorry Zero, but your vacation's been cut short."

Zero nodded as he sent a burst transmission, containing the attack coordinates, to Alia. "Understood."

"Yes, sir," Alia nodded briskly to Signas before glancing once more at the closed OR doors before heading back out the main ward doors. The two watched her go. Once the doors closed behind her, Signas turned to regard Zero.

"Will X make it? And how badly off is Axl?"

Zero sighed and turned away from Signas for a moment. He reached up to run his hand nervously through his hair before stopping himself with a growl of distaste. He turned back to Signas and shook his head. "Axl's arm's messed up. Might need it replaced. X… Damn, but that maverick died too easy. I don't know, Signas. I just don't know. He's in a bad way. If… If he doesn't…" Zero trailed off as he turned away his bangs overshadowing his features. "I'm not leaving the med ward till I hear, Signas. Don't ask me to."

"I wouldn't." Signas replied. He turned to look at the OR doors before reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Damnit, but he was supposed to have fun this week."

"I know."

Signas sighed and glanced back to Zero. "You should still get cleaned up Zero. There're showers in the private patient recovery rooms. You don't want that drying on you."

Zero glanced down at himself and then nodded. "Right. Are you staying here for now?"

"At least until you come back from the showers."

Zero nodded and pointed to OR-3. "Axl's in that one. If you hear anything about X while I'm gone, anything at all. Let him know."

Signas nodded. "I'll expect the same from the both of you. I can't spend the rest of the day in here waiting, but I still want to hear as soon as there's anything to know."

"You got it." Zero nodded to Signas before heading down the ward to the patient recovery wing where he could find a shower to rinse the blood and salt water off. Signas watched him go before snagging a seat on a bench against the wall and taking up watch on the two closed OR doors.

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The End

Owari

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Umm…

Don't kill me?

If you do, you'll never know what comes next! And you'll never get to read any of the sequels!!

Now, I know what you're thinking.

"How the hell did X get his shiny metal hiney owned by a shark!"

Well, you see… Plot Hole!

Just kidding. There is a reason. Really there is. Really.

See, X didn't have a basket of dolphins to save him like that guy in New Zealand did. Did you hear about that? If not, I'll fill you in, just cuz it's so cool.

This guy in New Zealand went swimming with some of his family and he and (I think) his daughter took one of the currents out into water away from the beach. There were two lifeguards on duty at the time, a senior one and a trainee-type person.

When the man and his daughter were out swimming, suddenly a whole pod of dolphins surfaced all around them. The reach-out-and-touch sort of all around. The guy thought it was strange. Even though dolphins do frequent the beach, they usually just ride waves with body boarders and stay a few meters distant. These were all around the man and his daughter. There were even dolphins swimming beneath them. It was like the two were inside a basket of dolphins.

Then the man saw this one particularly big dolphin charge right at them through the water, like it was going to attack or something. But it dove under the water beneath them. The man turned around to try and see where it would come up. Right behind him, he saw this big mass of pale gray.

It was a great white shark, at least ten feet long. It had been coming up behind him and his daughter to attack. The big dolphin had been charging the shark to force it to back off. The dolphins closed in around the two swimmers and kept the shark at a distance from them so it couldn't attack.

Somehow the lifeguards were alerted to the swimmers in the horde of dolphins, but not about the shark, and took a boat out. One jumped in and then saw the shark. While he scrambled to get back in the boat, the other lifeguard jumped into the water. By the time both lifeguards got back out of the water and into the boat, the dolphins had widened their 'basket' formation to give the swimmers some room to swim to the boat to get to safety.

Isn't that just the coolest! Poor X needs some dolphin friends next time he goes swimming.

Anyway, yeah there is a real reason for the shark munching X. Really there is. Here it is.

I needed a way to have X get himself trashed up a bit to deal with the auto-repair systems. But there's only so many things that can do damage to a reploid like X. Why X? Because he's my favorite.

An uber-maverick boss like Sigma.

An accident involving heavy machinery or something just plain heavy.

A surprise attack of some kind.

Since I don't want to get into uber evil guys during this fic, option #1 is out. I couldn't figure out a way to whump X with heavy machinery without flattening him into an X-waffle, so option #2 is out. That leaves #3.

However, there are only three things that could surprise attack someone. A human, a maverick/reploid, or an animal. Humans wouldn't attack X, at least not the sane ones. X's scanners would detect a maverick that came into range, unless its something like a sniper attack or a bombing, in which case, X would die almost instantly rather than get really messed up. So that leaves animal.

Only so many animals can actually do serious damage. That list narrows even more when we're dealing with damage done to someone made of metal. It just so happens that it's a proven fact that sharks can exert up to, and possibly exceeding, 3 tons of pressure per square centimeter on the tips of their teeth when biting down. That's enough to really shred some metal. So X becomes the first poor reploid to suffer from a shark attack.

Sharks, in my fiction universe, don't recognize reploids as living things that could be food. They register as not-food to a shark's sensory organs. So sharks generally don't try to eat reploids.

Now, as for X getting munched so badly. Well, he had no armor or protective bodysuit on. And from what I figure, the reploid may have built in weapons systems, but the actual firing mechanism and energy weapon part of arm busters is in the armor gauntlet. So no armor no X-buster. And without armor, reploids have a lot of soft and squishy and easily shredded synthflesh that will bleed a lot when munched by sharks. The most heavy-duty parts of a reploid's body, outside of armor, are the skeleton and the protective casing around the plasma fusion generator core. The other metal alloy casings for internal systems are tough, but thin and flexible to allow free range of body movement. This makes them shreddable too.

Toss in a doofy maverick to give the sharks commands and get beat down by Vengeance Demon Zero and we have a plot!

Anyway, I hope you liked this. I'm a bit uncertain on a few character development moments. Let me know if anything seems a bit fishy to you.

The next chapter will be a lot shorter and come almost directly after this one. Don't know when I'll post it. But probably soon, Fall quarter classes are wrapping up so I've got all Christmas vacation to putter around with my stories.

You'll also get a taste of Christmas cheer. Or something resembling it. I've got a plan for an X Christmas story. Expect lots of holiday mush.

Christmas Cheer has devoured my brain since the weekend before Thanksgiving!

I found a radio station that started playing nothing but Christmas music since the Friday before Thanksgiving Day. Whatever they were thinking when that change was authorized… It worked because my brain is now Holiday mush.

Oh well.

Till next time!