Chapter Two – Troubles

The sky was dark grey, lightning striking at the ground surrounding the city, though there was surprisingly no rain. The buildings all around were crumbled from numerous attacks with an energy shot, it seemed. Both human and reploid corpses alike littered the ground, with painful expressions frozen forever onto their faces.

X stared at the hundreds of corpses littering the ground, his eyes wide with horror. "What…what happened here!" X said this in a mix of rage, fear, and sorrow, able to think of how they all might have felt at death. X closed his eyes tightly, a few tears streaming from his face, as he spoke, "Who…who could have done this?"

Laughter suddenly echoed through the vast emptiness around the blue reploid. X recognized that voice, his eyes widening as he yelled, "Sigma! It was you who did this, wasn't it!" The laughter echoed through the nothingness again, as the voice then spoke, "X…Ha, ha… You always jump to conclusions, you always are the innocent one, aren't you? You believe I'm the cause for this conflict, X? Look at yourself…"

X looked down, to humor the voice, as his eyes they grew wide and full of fear. Blood stained his armor, both human and reploid blood alike. "What…What is this! Why is all of this…What…?" His mind was going in circles, he could figure out what was going on, and just then, the much hated voice of Sigma boomed around him. "Think about it, X! All the destruction you've caused, all the reploids you hurt. The future of the humans is inevitable…Your constant fighting just makes everything worse. You kill reploid after reploid, without a thought, claiming that they're mavericks.

How can you be so sure that some humans may not have gotten caught in the crossfire? Yet you still continue to fight, on and on…You may ask yourself why you do…but you know why, don't you, X! You enjoy the feel of battle, the rush that danger gives you… You revel in destruction, doubt it as you like…Soon enough, you'll enjoy it so much that you'll go out simply with thirst for blood, no matter who you attack…"

"That's not true!" X screamed out, tears in his eyes. "I'm nothing like you! I fight to end this war, not to prolong the destruction!" Sigma's voice called out again, "Admit it X! You love war, it's the only thing that keeps you truly alive! Admit it!"

X held his hands to his helmet, yelling out, "No, no, no! Shut up, I'm not like that at all!" X stumbled back, closing his eyes tightly and clenching his teeth. He tripped on something all of a sudden, falling backwards. He cringed, sitting up and rubbing his head slightly. "Ugh…" X opened his eyes, as his pupils shrank, his look full of horror at what he saw.

Eyes clouded over, a young reploid stared vacantly at him, completely lifeless. Long singed, yet easily recognizable blonde hair flowing in a tattered ponytail, with an expression of pain upon the reploid's face. X stared at the reploid for a moment, then barely muttered, "Z-Zero…!"

"Yes, Zero…the same Zero you killed ruthlessly in battle, X!" Sigma's voice boomed out all around X, as he gripped his helmet tight, shaking his head. "No, I would never do anything like that!" Sigma's voice boomed out again, interrupting him, "That's what you were made for! A machine of destruction against your enemies! Join me, X!"

X yelled out in fear and rage, shooting into a sitting up position, then looking around, finding he was at Hunter HQ. X sighed in annoyance, holding his right hand to his forehead. "It was just a dream…nothing more…" He got out of the recovery pod, walking aimlessly out to the command room, while trying to convince himself that it was only a dream.

Zero sliced through another robotic guard, smirking as he watched parts fly everywhere. He looked around at the hundred of robots surrounding him. "Who else wants some!" Zero yelled out, as multiple robots leaped upon him. Whipping his Z-Saber forward, he cut through the robots' armor like a knife through butter. Zero sent his foot out to one robot, sending it flying into crowd of them, dashing forward instantly. He stabbed through the robots, then kicked them on top of a group of smaller ones, crushing them.

Flipping over a few shots from some of the others, he growled. "A few, she said! This is just getting ridiculous!" Zero held the Z-saber close at his side, then heard an alarm starting to blare. "Self destruct processes activated! All staff evacuate immediately!" A voice called out mechanically from a speaker up high on the wall. "Great! Just what I need," Zero snarled, flicking the energy saber off and sheathing it at his back. "Can't deal with these small fries! I need to find any humans, and fast!" Zero ran through the halls, leaping along walls to climb up to the higher levels, being pursued by some of the flying robotic guards.

"Damn it all, I'm gettin' sick of this now!" Zero said, starting to unsheathe his Z-Saber. Suddenly, a door slammed down, making the guards crash. "What the…" Zero said, then looked back ahead, seeing a group of humans cowering in the corner, with a young worker reploid holding them at gun point, looking back at Zero. "You're the guy they sent here, huh! Master Grinder, the Maverick Hunter is here!"

A large mole reploid stomped out from the shadows, with giant claws which doubled as drills. "Hmph, the great Zero has come to take care of a lowly group like us?" Zero smirked. "Grinder Mole…What makes a good tunnel worker go maverick, hm?" Grinder spoke in his gruff voice, "We're sick of all these humans ordering us around! They're always using us for their own selfish gain, not even doing any work for themselves, they're scum, Zero…don't you see!"

Zero unsheathed the Z-Saber, holding it forward. "Nonetheless, Grinder! These people need our protection. And if you stand in my way, I'll slice you to bits!" Grinder's claws whirred loudly as their drilling function activated. "Fine then, let's go!" Grinder then shot out his claws as drills toward the red Maverick Hunter. He easily dashed out of the way, smirking. "Come on, you just wasted your drills, Mole!" The large mole got a grim smile on his face. "Oh, did I?" Zero then yelled out in pain at the sudden drilling into his back, collapsing forward as the drills then jetted back to Grinder's robotic paws. "Hmph…Weak."