Chapter 13

"ZERO!" X cried as he knelt by his friend. There was no sign of life, but the crystal on his forehead showed that Zero was still alive. They all teleported back to Dr. Cain's lab. Dr. Cain turned around to see not three, but four robots, one of them down.

"X, what happened?" Dr. Cain asked, walking over to Zero.

"Vile happened." X said plainly. X explained the explosion and the battle. After a few moments, Dr. Cain stepped back and shook his head.

"It's like he's somehow just simply shut Zero off. Everything is fine with him, except he can't activate any of his protocols.

"So someone turned off the power?" Break man said, for the first time since arriving.

"In a sense, yes." Dr. Cain said, looking at the red and gray robot. "I don't believe we've met."

"He's Break man." X said, looking at his fallen ally.

"Break man..." Dr. Cain said. "The other half of the great team."

"Great team? I like the sound of that." Break man said, a grin spreading across his face. Then he suddenly turned serious. "Mega man, we gotta go back. Wily's on the move and he's pulled out all the stops."

"But what about X and Zero? We can't just leave them one man short." Mega said, looking at the fallen hunter. "We need to help X defeat Sigma."

"We don't have the... time." Break man started. Then he looked down at his hand at the time-teleporter. "Then again, maybe we do. I'll just set it for the time that I left, so we'll get back pretty much just after I left."
            "You sure that's wise?" Mega man asked. "I mean fooling around with that thing might put us back with the dinosaurs or something."

"Look Mr. Hero. You gotta better idea?" Break man asked. Mega man thought for a minute then shrugged.

"Dr. Cain, how many mavericks are left?" Mega man asked.

"Dr. Cain? Mavericks? What's going on?" Break man said, a puzzled expression on his face.

"I'll tell you later. Just think of it as a new Wily with badder bots." Mega man said grimly.

"Well let's see. You already took out six I believe. Including Vile, there are only 3 major maverick foes left that I can think of."

"Boomer Kuwanger is one of them." X said. "The other one is Launch Octopus. But he'll stick to his water domain."

"So that leaves two mavericks and Sigma." Mega man said.

"Vile is mine." X said quietly, looking at Zero.

"Good enough." Mega man said. "Break man and I will hunt down Boomer Kuwanger, then we can regroup and attack Sigma."

"Oh Mega man, I don't know what weapon will work on Boomer Kuwanger. We seem to be getting relatively lucky lately, so chances are that Launch Octopus has the right weapon." X said, checking his current weapons. X had all of them now, but decided to give the Rolling Shield and Shotgun Ice to Mega man and the Chameleon Sting to Break man.

"Be careful X. He already took out Zero, we can't afford to lose you too." Dr. Cain said, worriedly.

"I'll be fine. Just make sure you two get back in one piece. I've had a rough up with Boomer before and he's no easy win." X said.

"Hey the 'Great Team' will make short work of him." Break man said holding up his cannon.

"Don't get too cocky bro." Mega man said sternly. "These guys can dish out even more than they can take it." They nodded agreement and teleported out.

"I wish I had a brother." X said, then he too teleported out.

"In a way, you do." Dr. Cain said looking at Zero.

*                      *                      *

"What do you mean there's another one?!?" Sigma roared.

"It's true Sigma." Vile said calmly. "Came outta nowhere, took me out from behind, then Boomer chickened out on me. I wanted Zero and Mega man, not a 4-on-1."

"So who is this new hunter?" Sigma said, pacing again.

"Well as bad as it may sound, it's Mega man's brother." Vile responded.

"Brother?" Sigma said stopping short. "This could work out nicely yet. BOOMER KUWANGER! GET IN HERE!" Boomer Kuwanger appeared in the room.

"You wanted me Sigma?" The maverick said, standing on guard.

"I requested your presence, yes. There is another hunter out there, no doubt you know him. I want you to lead him to me. Alone if possible." Sigma said, sitting in a chair.

"Of course. It will be done at once. Shall I get Launch Octopus to help me?"
            "No. You do not deserve his help. I am only giving you this mission because if I have to look at your pitiful self for much longer I'll rip out your processing chip myself." Sigma growled.

"Y-yes Sigma. I'll leave at once." Boomer Kuwanger said, teleporting out.

"Pathetic excuse for a maverick if you ask me." Vile sneered.

"You're not much better." Sigma said, glaring at the warrior. "Leave me. I wish to be alone."

"You're the boss." Vile said, leaving through a secret alcove. "But not for long."

Chapter 14

X, Break man and Mega man appeared in a dark plain. They looked at each other, then looked up at Sigma's castle.

"Well we were homed in on Boomer Kuwanger's signal, and you were heading for Vile, so I guess that means they're all inside." Mega man said, eyeing the castle.

"Gee this guy puts Wily to shame." Break man said with a small grin. They walked towards the entrance, but never got there as Boomer Kuwanger intercepted them.

"This is as far as you go." Boomer Kuwanger said.

"Well if it ain't the coward. Sigma get mad and send you back?" X laughed.

"Shut up. No one disgraces Sigma. Prepare to be terminated." Boomer Kuwanger said charging them.

"Now where have I heard that before?" Mega man said while dodging. With the three hunters on one maverick, Boomer Kuwanger was no match. But he was able to teleport in and out so that occasionally the hunters hit one of their friends while firing. But when Boomer Kuwanger threw his boomerang, Mega man grabbed it out of the air and rifled it back. The blade sank deep into the mavericks' chest, and Boomer Kuwanger exploded in a flash of light. Break man grabbed the Boomerang Cutter, and hurried inside. The other two were close behind. As they ran down a hall, Mega man started to slow, then stopped.

"What are you waiting for bro?" Break man said, screeching to a halt.

"Listen. And look around you." Mega man responded. Break man looked around. There was no movement, no life, nothing.

"Quiet... too quiet. If he's anything like Wily, he's got an ace up his sleeve, and we've got a pair of two's." Break man said, forming his cannon.

"Ace? Pair of two's?" X asked, bewildered.

"Never mind. It just means Sigma's waiting for us and it's most likely a trap." Mega man said selecting the Rolling Shield and having the others gather around. They walked slowly as a group, expecting anything and everything, but after a while of nothing happening, they started to relax.

"Something's wrong here. He should have attacked by now." Mega man said.

"Don't forget, we're in Sigma's domain. Maybe he doesn't have the robot producing abilities that Wily has." Break man said, rounding a corner.

"It's possible, but doubtful." X said. "Even if he's alone, Sigma's got something planned for us."
            "Right as usual, X." Came a voice from apparently nowhere.

"Sigma! Where are you?" X called out to the darkness.

"Waiting for you in my chambers. Come and get me. There will be no resistance until you arrive. Except for a few traps along the way. Ha ha ha ha." With that, the voice faded out and silence reigned. The three started walking again when suddenly Break man yelped. A hole had opened up beneath the red and gray warriors' feet, and below was a bed of spikes.

"Break man!" Mega man said running to help, but a wall appeared and blocked his passage. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine brother. He can't get rid of me that easily. But for now it looks like we'll have to split up. I'll meet up with you later." Break man said, with a grunt.

"Okay, we'll meet you after we beat Sigma." X said with a grin.

"Don't hog all the fun guys. Give me time to find a way there." Break man said, his voice fading as he got farther away. The remaining two heroes walked on in almost silence. Though they were both fully trained warriors, they kept their talk to a minimum to concentrate on their surroundings. The finally arrived at an intersection that had 4 paths, not including the one they came from.

"Oh great. Now what do we do?" X said, looking the paths over.

"If Rush and Beat were here, I could have them scout out two, but they aren't. Do you have any robotic allies?" Mega man asked.

"No. We haven't created any animals like the ones you had. And the only hunters with the skill to challenge Sigma directly are me and Zero." X responded. He fired a shot of plasma down the corridor second to the right to see how far it went. To his disbelief, a wall of spikes shot out and hit the shot.

"Ouch! That could have been me." Mega man said, looking at the retracting spikes. The other paths didn't yield any results when fired down, but there were still three to choose from.

"Well we aren't getting anywhere just standing here." X said. "I'll take the one on the far left." He said pointing to the left.

"I guess I'll try this one." Mega man said, heading for the one just left of the trapped corridor. "Keep in touch." Mega man said tapping his helmet's communicator. X nodded and headed down his corridor. There was relatively no action until he rounded a left corner and almost smacked into a red form.

"Zero!" X said, startled. "How'd you get here? Was Dr. Cain able to repair you already?"

"Yeah. It wasn't as bad as we thought. It was just a simple energy lockdown." Zero said.

"Great. Now we have another person to check out that last corridor." X said.

"Don't bother. I already checked out this corridor. There's nothing down there. We should both head back."

"Okay then. There's only one corridor left so we shouldn't have a problem. Mega man, how's your search goin?" X said into his communicator.

"This sucker goes on forever. No corners or anything. If I keep this up I'll walk back to the front gate after going around the world!" Came the reply. X chuckled as he headed back to the main intersection.

"So Zero, How did you get in anyway? I was sure we took the only feasible entrance and we didn't pass you." X asked while walking. He heard the crackle of energy as he walked along. "Hold up Zero. Do you hear that? Zero?" X turned around to see the green flash of a light saber come down on X. He dodged, but the saber sliced through his left side.

"You're done for X." Zero said as he turned from red to shades of gray.

"Zero? Why? What's happened?" X said as he collapsed into unconsciousness.

"Zero? There is no Zero here. I am his clone. A superior model." The clone said as he laughed into the darkness.

*                      *                      *

"X is everything okay? What was that?" Mega man said into his communicator, but not getting a response. "Damn. I hope it's not interference." He continued walking and finally saw a bend in the corridor. Thankful that he hadn't been walking towards the end of the earth, he rounded the bend and slammed into a red and gray robot.

"Damn it bro, why can't you watch where you're going?" Break man said.

"I'm glad to see you too." Mega man said, rubbing his forehead.

"This is crazy. It's like these corridors are just one big maze. I found at least four dead ends before running into you." Break man said, standing up before helping his brother do the same.

"Something's up. I lost contact with X, and there's no interference that I can tell. Not to mention he seemed to be in panic and possibly under attack."

"We should head back. Meet you there." Break man said starting off.

"Wait up. There's traps ahead!" Mega man said. Break man stopped just before the pit opened in front of him.

"Now you tell me. I just got out of those things. I sure don't wanna find myself at the bottom again." He said with a half-grin.

"But you seemed to have so much fun!" Came a voice from down the hall. A figure stood in the shadows, looking right at them.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Mega man ordered, secretly charging his arm cannon.

"You're pathetic Mega man. With X and Zero out of the way, you'll be next." Came the dark voice. Mega man had to duck as a glowing energy sphere just missed him.

"I recognize that attack. If I'm the pathetic one, why are you hiding in the shadows like a coward Vile?" Mega man said reaching full charge in his cannon.

"A coward? Me? You'll regret those words." He said as he fired up his rocket pack and screamed towards Mega man. Mega man released his charged buster shot and it hit Vile square in the chest knocking him backwards. The jet back carried him up and through the ceiling to another floor.

"He's as dense as Guts man." Break man said with a grin.

"Even with time they don't get too much brighter." Mega man said laughing. Then his face got serious. "He said with Zero AND X out of the way... Does that mean they got to X? We've gotta hurry bro." Break man only nodded as they both took off at a run down the hallway.