Chapter Three – Lost
X sat peacefully in the training room, watching all the other Maverick hunters testing their skills, drinking out of a small energy drink. He sighed deeply, feeling quite depressed from all his nightmares lately. His systems were starting to malfunction, it was so bothersome, he tapped the table he was at with his fingers anxiously, deep in thought.
He looked around at all the other hunters, seeing how hard they were working around him. X thought back to when he was that enthusiastic about his training, before his first real battles. All the simulations, all the target practice, made it seem like a game to him. Nothing mattered except getting stronger…but now, what was he to do? He wasn't fit for battle if he couldn't control himself…and all his thoughts went back to the pain all the reploids he had killed must have been like.
X crushed the energy can in his hand, throwing it to the ground in a sudden fit of frustration. "Grahh!" He threw the can out in a random direction, then, recovering his patience, looked around, noticing everyone was staring at him. "O-Oh… Erm, carry on! Just was practicing a special thing. Hahaha…" X laughed nervously, scratching the back of his helmet.
As the other reploids went back to their training, X slapped his forwhead with his hand. 'I'm losing control of my rage, even…' he thought to himself. He then jumped slightly, as the alarm blared, and out of the speakers, yelled, "X, please come to the command room immediately!" X instantly ran off toward the command room, wondering to himself what the trouble was.
Grinder laughed loudly, and started to walk away toward a large door, looking toward the humans and smirking wildly. "You have 15 minutes before this base explodes, enjoy your time!" The large mole reploid then reached toward the door mechanism, laughing still.
CRACK
Grinder Mole roared out in pain, one of his drill claws falling to the ground, sparking with clean-cut accuracy, making it all but useless. Grinder glared over to Zero, who stood, holding his Z-Saber in his right hand, smirking grimly. "You should always save your tricks for a more important time, Grinder! You can't expect to fool me this time!" Grinder, in a fit of desperate rage, wrenched his paws forward, and launched the drills outward, laughing madly.
Zero managed to leap away from the small drills, turning around just to see them all split into two smaller drills each. Zero stared, and dashed away, as the drills shot by, slicing up one of his legs as they shot by. Yelling out in pain, Zero skidded on the ground and smacked against a wall.
Drill claws coming back together, they locked back into Grinder's paws, as he laughed madly, slowly stomping toward Zero. Zero growled, thinking, Damn it, he's gone completely mad! Think, Zero, think! You need to figure something out! Zero then glanced to the ground, finding a pickaxe. Bingo, perfect! Now, to distract big and ugly, here… "You think ya got me, Grinder! Ha, X is on his way right now to take you out! You're not gettin' away from the Maverick Hunters!"
Grinder laughed hysterically, and wrenched his paws in the direction of the humans, yelling out, "If I go down, I'M TAKING THEM WITH ME!" Zero's eyes flashed as he saw his chance, grabbing the pickaxe. Zero flung it out directly at Grinder's head, muttering to himself, "Come on…!" The axe slammed directly into Grinder's head, cracking away some of his head armor. Roaring out in pain, Grinder fell back.
"This is it!" Zero ran forward, flicking on the Z-Saber, swinging out to the broken armor of Grinder's head. There was a bright flash, as Zero dashed past. Zero placed the saber away at his back, closing his eyes. At that instant, Grinder's systems overloaded, as his body exploded loudly.
Smirking, Zero picked up one of the drill pieces, placing it into the Z-Saber. He started to register something in his mind, thinking of a new technique. "Yes, that's good!" As he did this, the alarm started to blare loudly throughout the base. "Warning! Warning! Five minutes until factory sector self destruct! All workers evacuate immediately!"
"Damn it!" Zero ran to the door unit, and then tried to access its control mechanism. "Great! It's passworded? Just what I need at a time like this!" Zero growled loudly. One of the humans then spoke, "Only Grinder knew the password to that door, and it's too thick to cut through." Another person spoke, "Only a drill could penetrate that steel!"
Zero smirked, getting an idea. "I wonder if…" Without finishing, Zero grabbed the Z-Saber, flicking the blade to life once more. Pulling it back, Zero clenched the saber tight, thrusting it out toward the door. The energy whirled out like a drill, tearing through the door easily, busting a hole large enough to walk through.
"Come on, come on! Let's go!" Zero yelled, motioning for all the people to run through. The people quickly followed him, pushing and shoving to escape faster. Zero ushered them through, leading them through a long dirt tunnel. Maverick robots flooded in from the opposite side, as Zero growled. "Damn it, we don't need this! You all get going; I'll take care of them!" Zero then ran toward the robots, yelling, "Come on, scrap metal, let's go!"
"X! There's a disruption in the mountain research station. Normally, I wouldn't think much of this, but none of our scouts have returned. Will you please investigate for us? I don't know what is there because it's jamming our radar." Alia looked at X, frowning slightly. "I don't know if you should take the work, X. You're exhausted as is." X sighed, "It can't be helped…Send me there."
Alia typed in the coordinates without anymore arguments, activating the teleporter alarm. "All personnel please back away from the teleport unit! Transferring Maverick Hunter Unit: Mega Man X to the arctic research center!" The platform glowed as she yelled, "Teleport commence!" With that, X beamed away in a light blue glow.
X arrived on scene, his X-buster already at the ready position, as he walked through the base. He suddenly leapt forward, just as a security drone swung a beam saber at him, just narrowly dodging the attack. He shot the drone right in the head with a plasma blast, sighing. "Damn it, the drones are haywire…When could be causing this?" X ran deeper into the base's confines, neglecting to notice the purple arcs of electricity emanating from the fallen mechaniloid.
X walked through the halls carefully, knowing personally that the base was rigged with traps. Oddly, the only hazard he had met so far was that security droid…Something was wrong…As X walked, he continued to think about all the people that had been let down because of him: Colonel, Double, Dr. Doppler, Gate…He even almost allowed Axl to die…And Zero…he was forced to kill Iris…the girl that he loved, all because of Sigma…all because of him!
Why does this all continue to happen? I just want to live in peace, X thought, I just want it all to end, I wish I could do something! "You want to end it all?" X flinched, glancing around wildly as the voice echoed through the halls. "Just close your eyes, and rest…" X suddenly felt exhausted, muttering, "Wha…What's happening?" The voice grew less and less distinct as the voice echoed, "Just rest…it will all be over soon…"
Zero brought down the last mechaniloid, a smoking pile of rubbish left of it. The crimson hunter slid the saber unit into his back once again, pushing his long blonde ponytail from his shoulder, draping it back behind him. "Well, that's over…and the humans escaped, I'm outta here too." As he walked toward the exit, the cave suddenly collapsed, blocking his exit. "Damn it! I should have expected this!" A huge group of mechaniloids charged toward Zero, holding drilling equipment as weapons. "Oh, give me a break!"
A huge arcing energy blade sliced through the mechaniloid ranks, causing them to fall to pieces quickly, all at once exploding violently. Zero blinked in astonishment, glancing up to the ceiling. A dual beam saber carrying reploid dropped down, with six mechanical angel wings draped on his back, this reploid wore no helmet, having medium length black hair, a small bit covering his left eye. "Angelus!" The reploid looked back to Zero and smirked. "Thought you could use some help, Zero. Guess I got here just in time!" Zero nodded quickly, then looked back to the blocked exit. "Unfortunately, the exit's been blown out, so I doubt we're getting out that way."
Angelus grinned, looking back at Zero, a sleek tuft of black hair covering his left eye as he pointed up to a ceiling shaft. "Then I guess we're takin' the hard way!" Zero, seeing this look, smirked in reply. "I'm up for a challenge!" Nodding, Angelus spoke, "Let's go then!" With that, the angelic reploid shot up into the air vent, Zero using his jump boosters to follow.
Flipping from wall to wall, Zero heard the speakers call out, "60 seconds remaining until self-destruct." Zero smirked inwardly, jumping into a forking path from the main upward vent, thinking as he went, Sixty seconds is plenty of time! He sliced open a grate, leaping into the ore storage. Leaping from pile to pile, Zero rushed toward the door that led to the main workstation. Bursting through the door, Zero ran out to the window of the workstation, crossing his arms over his face as he shot toward it.
With a loud crash, Zero flew from the window, glass shards flying out everywhere as he burst free, falling down around four stories toward a large pit. "Damn, I think my plan needed a little work!" Before he fell too far, Angelus caught the crimson hunter by the arms, flying out and landing safely in the shelter, just as the mining center was torn apart in an earthshaking explosion. The angel reploid covered the shelter with his wings, protecting it effectively from the flying debris.
About ten minutes later, Zero walked up to Angelus, who was checking on all the people. "You came just in time, man. Why were you here, anyway? I thought I was the only one dispatched." The angelic reploid grinned at Zero wildly. "I'm not a maverick hunter, so I just come and go as I please. If you remember, the maverick hunters hate me." Zero sighed, shaking his head. "They just don't understand your abilities; they think you're a maverick for how your systems work…Don't worry about them, man. You're too cool for those buncha stiffs anyway, man! Hah!" Angelus had to laugh too, nodding. "Ah, Zero…you're not like the rest of them! We're just like brothers." Zero grinned. "Well then, little brother, I guess it's time for your torture!" Zero grabbed Angelus up in a headlock, grinding his fist against the top of his head.
"Augh! Zero, stop! Ow!" Angelus struggled against Zero's hold, the elder reploid finally letting him go as he laughed like mad. "Oh, man, Angelus! You can handle an army of mavericks but you hate noogies!" Angelus glared at him, and stood up. "Meh, I need to go tend to some other matters. Later, Zero." Zero waved, as Angelus flew off into the sky. He the sighed, and held his hand to the side of his helmet. "Alia, I finished the mission; the maverick was retired and the humans are safe." Alia replied through the radio link, "Zero...Something went wrong while you were gone..."Zero's eyes widened as he heard those words, and he spoke nervously, "What happened...?" Alia was silent for a moment, then replied, "X's signal has stopped transmitting while he was on a mission...I can't pick up any transmission from him at all..." Zero was surprised, to say the least. Knowing X as well as he did, he was always careful when on a mission, never known to be caught off guard, so how? "Zero, please return to base, we need you." Zero nodded. "Alright." The crimson hunter, without another word, beamed back to base.