Disclaimer: Blah blah blah. I don't own Megaman X.

Anyway, ready for a long chapter? Are ya sure? Then, read on....


Chapter 3: Maverick Battle

Dorms
Time:
-06:45-

Locke woke up to the blaring alarm clock that seemed to drown out all sound within a
3 km radius. She figured if it could be heard through the entire eastern side of MHHQ, it would surely wake her up, being in the same room and all. She pounded the "OFF" button, and headed for the shower. She grabbed the shampoo from her dresser, turned the hot water on, disrobed and got in. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

Knock knock. She ignored it.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

".........."

BAM. BAM. BAM.

"WHAT?!" Locke screamed, half out of surprise, the other half out of annoyance.

"LOCKE! WHO DID THIS!?!?" She couldn't make out the voice too clearly, because of the water splattering on the floor of the shower; also, the door was thick, and absorbed sound.

"DID WHAT?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!"

She thought she heard laughter. It soon died out as she heard whoever was at her door shout something. Probably a threat, seeing as though this person was pretty angry. She turned the shower off a started to dry off.

"No, I Don't. Sorry!" She wrapped a towel around her slender body and another around her golden brown hair.

"I BET THAT YOU DID IT! YOU KNOW, YOU WERE ALWAYS JEALOUS!!"

She heard the voice more clearly now. It was a male. He sounded really, really pissed off. "What are you talking about?! Me? Jealous?"

"COME LOOK AT THIS, RIGHT NOW DAMN IT!!!"

She needed to get this pest off of her back so she stormed to the door, punched in a code and it flew open, revealing the most shocking thing she'd ever seen.

"Ohmigod! Zero! What happened?" She wanted to laugh so badly, but kept her face as straight as possible, as not to anger him anymore, if at all possible.

"Don't play dumb, Locke, I know it was you!" Zero said through clenched teeth.

There Zero stood, at Locke's doorway, dripping wet with a towel around his waist. He had just gotten out of the shower, Locke figured. He had to hurt someone. Pink hair did not fly with the crimson demon.

"Zero, w-why did you dye your hair pink?"

Zero looked as if he was about to eviscerate the nearest object, which happened to be Locke at the moment.

"I.Didn't.Dye.My.Hair.You.Put.PINK.DYE.IN.MY.SHAMPOO!!" Zero once again said this through clenched teeth.

She looked him in the face with a serious expression. Then she thought about last night. Stryke's comm phone conversation. She remembered the word pink. X was on the other end of that phone chat.

"Hehe, I think you should see X about your hair, Zero. He was kinda irked about having freezing water crash on him in the cold armory. Zero?"

Zero was half way up the elevator, and on his way to X's room. When he got there, he practically murdered the door. X opened it and saw Zero looking at him with ginzu bladed eyes.

"X. Why did you put pink dye in my hair wash?!" Zero asked his friend who was yawning.

"Zero, what the hell were 10 gallons of the coldest water on earth doing in my armor locker?" X re-questioned in a mocking tone.

"Water? I didn't put water in there. And where did you put the ice?" Zero stopped and thought for a bit. "You mean that's not a freezer? I thought you had one!"

"Zero, what would I be doing with a freezer on the fifth floor of the armory?! What the hell were you doing with a block of ice?!"

"I was gonna take it to the mess hall and get rid of it..." Zero said with a miffed expression.

Stryke turned the corner and saw Zero with pink hair. He quickly turned around and went the other way, trying to hold back the laughter, but couldn't. Alia passed him on the way.

"Hey, what's got you laughing so hard?" She asked innocently. Stryke looked at her with teary eyes and just laughed even harder. She turned the corner just as Zero turned around to walk back to the elevator. His eyes widened. He ran past her, trying not to let her see his hair. But it was too late. He kept running anyway though. She was about to knock on X's door but it slid open, due to it was unlocked. She saw him grinning widely as she sat down next to him. She put two and two together. X got his revenge.

"Hey Alia." X said gleefully.

"X. I couldn't have done better myself. Anyway, Weapons R&D wants you to come down. Said they have a surprise for you."

"Oh really? Ok, let's go."

They got up a walked out of X's room. He locked the door, and continued down the hallway toward the R&D division. X and Alia started chatting on the way.

"So...um...Alia." X stammered a little.

"Yes?" Alia replied sheepishly.

"Um...if...you aren't doing anything tomorrow...would you mind if I...took you out?" X struggled for the words, but he got up the courage after two years to finally say it. Now, he waited for rejection.

"Not at all. I would love to." Alia replied with a face that steadily toned darker with blush.

"What? I mean, great!" X now grinned happily as he still absorbed her acceptance.

This made her blush even more. "Well, I gotta get going, see what R&D wants. See ya later, Alia!" X said, filled with joy.

As he climbed the stairs, making his way up to the elevator, Alia looked at him with butterflies in her abdomen.

"About time..." She whispered to herself.

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Weapons R&D
Time:
-07:18-

The large digisteel doors slid open with a soft mechanical hum as X stepped in front of them. He stepped inside and looked around the rather large lab. It was filled with tons of tried and failed machinery. He spotted the four prototype buster cannons Douglass had him test during the past week. Three of them blew up; two while trying to charge, one while adjusting the energy input. The fourth didn't even work. Douglass saw X and called him name.

"X! Over here!" Douglass shouted. He seemed rather proud of whatever it is he was about to unleash on poor X.

X reluctantly walked over to Douglass, who was standing in front of what could be an armor capsule. Oh no. If it is an armor, he might not be able to keep that date with Alia tomorrow.

"Hey, umm, that is an armor in that capsule right?" X asked with a concerned voice.

"Hmm, whaddaya mean-" He was cut off by a blaring alarm.

A voice swept through the building: "All Hunters report to HQ, immediately. Repeat, all Hunters...." X swore under his breath. It would take way too much time to go back to his room, unlock the door, get his armory key, run down to the armory, get his armor and still get to the HQ quickly. He had no choice but to don the prototype armor Douglass designed. This made him feel uneasy.

"X, this armor has been tested already, and is combat ready." Douglass said. This eased X' s mind tremendously. Douglass went on."It has plasma-injected dash engines, an upgraded buster cannon, and-"

"Douglass! How do I put it on?"

"Hold on." Douglass told X to press the button on the side of the capsule. He did so and white auras appeared around his body. X knew what was coming and flinched. With a flash, X had his new armor on. He sighed. The fact that it was combat ready really put his mind at rest. He glanced at himself in the glass the armor was in. The armor was a dark blue with gold edging. The boots were definitely more maneuverable. He barely felt the weight at all. His torso felt cool and relax, as there were insulated vents installed. On his back were two rather compact metal wings. Each of his buster cannons had secondary functions. His helmet fit perfectly on his head. It still had a communicator in it, but was much more comfortable.

"X, I think you should go." Douglass broke him out of his current state.

"Right. Thanks Douglass."

"No problem, X, any time!" Douglass said with a proud expression.

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HQ
Time:
-07:27-

X rushed into the HQ to find Zero, Alia, Signas, Locke, and Leyna all waiting for him.

"Nice of you to show up, X." Zero said playfully. Seems like he got the pink out, so he cooled down a lot.

"What's the situation?" X asked no one in particular.

"There are four groups of mavericks flanking the base from the north, southeast, east and northwest. Seems as though our sentries have been eliminated by a sniper. The 3rd, 7th and 21st Units are currently holding the mavericks at bay."

"Hmm. That's odd... Why would the mavericks flank us on only four sides? And why the odd angles? It doesn't seem right..." X thought to himself.

"Is that clear, Hunters?" Signas asked the team.

"Aye, sir!" The group responded.

And with that they rushed out of the HQ and into the battle. They had a small talk while they ran through the now empty halls.

"Nice armor X! Where'd you get it?" Locke asked him, eyeing him up and down.

"I got this from Douglass just a few minutes ago."

"Has it been tested yet?! You of all people know what happened to you last time you tried Douglass' new gadgets..." Zero said, directing X's thoughts to the mini explosions from the buster cannons.

"He said that it's tested, plus, I didn't have time to go to the armory to get my other armor."

"Heh, your funeral." Zero smirked.

"All right guys, split up. Stryke and Locke, you take the south and southeast ends, Zero, take the northwest, Leyna and X take the north corridor. The mavericks are knocking at our front door." Alia's voice came over in their earpieces. "And X.....be careful."

"Over and out." X said with a smile. He looked over at the others and they had expressions on their faces that made him blush.

"Come on guys! Grow up!" X said while blushing deeper. Everyone laughed at the blue hunter, except for Locke, who looked rather distraught.

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North Corridor
Time:
-07:36-

X and Leyna arrived to see chaos in the mess hall corridor. A stray bullet would have taken Leyna's head off, had she not ducked. X pressed his back against the wall and activated his buster cannon. A face guard materialized around his face. X panicked at first but calmed down as he realized what was happening. Leyna drew her dual pistols and set them on "Concussion". At the same time, they opened fire on the group of mavericks that were closing in. They found a few of the Hunters that were defending the massive hall ducked behind some tables that have been overturned.

"Commander X!!" One of the surviving hunters called out to his superior.

"Get down!" X instructed the reploid as he charged up his cannon to 30 percent. X let loose a rather large plasma shot that sailed toward the opposing group of mavericks with incredible speed. When it hit the first target, electric waves of the plasma spread over a portion of the enemies. Screams of agony faded into nothingness within seconds as the plasma field dissipated. Leyna rose up to observe what had just happened. Instead of seeing pools of maverick internal fluids and broken machine parts, there was a dark spot on the floor where the plasma waves touched. There was no sign of the five or six mavericks caught in the field. No energy signal, nothing.

"Thank you, Douglass!" X thought to himself. Suddenly, a lavender flash flew directly at him. With barely enough time to react, X managed to slip him feet from under him and let his body fall back. He placed his hands behind his head towards the ground to avoid a crack in his cranium. Gears in his arms exerted force as he thrust himself up and off of the floor. The damage done? A scratch across his chest plate indicated that some sort of metallic weapon was supposed to end his life. The streak of lavender disappeared down the hall.

X ducked, as mess hall warfare was still continuing as he looked towards the end of the hall. Leyna was blasting away at wall of oncoming mavericks with the determined hunters behind the tables. The large cafeteria would soon be liberated, so X decided to give command to Leyna before he took off after the lavender streak.

"X! What the hell was that?!"

"That was the buster cannon enhancement tha..." He was cut off.

"No! I meant that flash that almost killed you! Are you going after it?" She fired a round of plasma into a maverick's head, blowing it wide open.

"Yes. I want you to take command of the remaining forces. Gather all of the injured, and take them to Kicker when you are done here!"

"Alright! Take care!"

X nodded as he let himself fall backwards again. This time though, he activated his new plasma dash engines. He felt a kick as he thrusted backwards, just inches off of the ground. The battle field ahead of him shrinking as he became a streak of lightning. He shifted his body weight so his body would do a half barrel roll. As he did this, the small metallic wings emitted a pulse and two larger wings grew from the shorter ones. This increased his speed greatly and gave him more mobility. The lavender flash halted in front of an impregnable door and cursed to herself. She turned around and became wide-eyed as dark azure blur was approaching with rapid velocity.

"Could this really be Megaman X?! No. It can't be him..." Echo thought to herself. The blur came to a sudden arrest about ten feet in front of her. Following the azure hunter was a shockwave of swift air. Echo tried to keep her footing as the shockwave hit her, but was thrown back a short distance. X eyed the maverick: she had black hair with silver streaks that fell just past her shoulders, lavender armor with chrome trimming, all over a black jumpsuit. She had a slender form, and stood at a height of about 5'6". Codename, Echo.

"Are you, Megaman X?" Echo asked with fear retreating from her voice. She drew her bladed tonfas, ready to attack in the blink of an eye.

"Maybe. Depends on who wants to know." X spit back, as he readied his own weapon.

The two warriors stood in daunting stances, daring one another to move. Echo smiled as she said, "Target aquired. Intercepting Megaman X."

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Southern Entrance and Southeastern Parking Lot
Time:
-07:36-

As Locke and Stryke divided from Zero, they arrived at the entrance to the HQ. Tons of searing death flew by their heads as they actively looked for cover. Alcoves set in the walls provided ample cover, so they ducked within one of them. Stryke drew out his concentrated plasma rifle, and rolled into prone position a safe distance from the battle. He searched through the melee of hunters and mavericks for an ample target. He saw a green light flash in his scope. His rifle rumbled as the scope took a blast from the laser, sparing his right eye. He quickly rolled back into the alcove. Locke had already joined the fray. She was an expert in the field of close combat, as her weapons indicated. She owned the only pair of RSB's ever made. That's because she was the only person who would test them. They were gauntlets constructed out of double plated lightweight digisteel, which concealed a micro short range plasma emitter mounted on top of a directional gear. This allowed the blades to lock in one direction or spin around rapidly, creating a saw blade or effective shield. Locke felt a sting on her left thigh while she ran into the fight. She ignored this, as the pain was brief. As she rushed toward a group of mavericks, she activated the blades and set them to "BLADE" mode. With a flash of orange light, three mavericks were sliced in half, blood flowing profusely from them. She looked up as a maverick with heavy armor leapt in the air, attempting to crush her. Locke rolled to the side as the large maverick collided with the floor. She then lunged at its chest with her right blade and penetrated the armor. She smirked as she activated the blade's "SAW" mode. The blade spun around fiercely and she withdrew her hand as the maverick screamed in agony as blood poured from its wound. Her eyes glinted with excitement as life exited the maverick. The mavericks around her stared in horror as they watched their companion twitch in its pool of glowing blood. Locke then proceeded to smash it's head into the floor, silencing it for good. Mavericks and Hunters alike watched with astonishment and fear as she was receiving nothing short of pure ecstasy from her kill. Her eyes were now glowing bright blue, indicating that her EX drive had kicked on. EX drives for reploids were like adrenaline rushes for humans. But, Locke's EX drive had gone into a dangerous mode, which cuts off the regular supplements that make up their blood with pure synthetic EX adrenaline. Now, her eyes were gleaming amber. She had become a threat to everything.

Stryke was still trying to attach his spare scope, when a stray bullet struck him in the shoulder. "Ah! Damn it! To hell with this!" He expressed as he threw the scope to the ground in frustrated gesture. He stood up and took in the sight of Locke going berserk on mavericks and hunters alike.

"NO! LOCKE, STOP!!" Stryke cried at the possessed woman as she continued to rip apart anything that moved. The few remaining mavericks that survived had managed to flee from the hunter. She was now going for hunters. Stryke picked up a nearby plasma casing, and chucked it at Locke, just as she was about to bring her blade down on a fellow hunter. This stopped her in her tracks.

"Locke! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Locke turned her head around slowly to look Stryke right in the eyes. Stryke was frozen with shock, fear and disgust, as he stared at what used to be calm, cool, collected Locke. Her eyes burned fiercely with amber. An evil, no, a sinister smirk was defined on her face. She turned the rest of her body to face Stryke. Almost the entire front side of her was covered in crimson blood. The blood of those she had slain. The ends of her hair were wet with the same life fluid that coated her.

"no..." Stryke whispered to himself. His voice had become rasp with fear, as he desperately tried to turn and get away from this, this thing. She marched closer towards his position. Closer. Closer.

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Northwestern Level 4 Office Area
Time:
-07:47-

It had been about ten minutes since Zero arrived at the office area where he had escaped from last night. Had he known it was going to come under attack by Maverick Diablo tanks, he would have finished that oh-so-important paperwork. A good portion of the opposing foot soldiers had been wiped out, but the tanks posed a bit of a problem. Three tanks in total; two in perfect condition, the third with blown up engines, but it still had all of its fire power. The main cannon, two machine guns, and a short range particle scrambler. This machinery did not daunt Zero. As a matter of fact, it was Zero who was currently destroying the already damaged tank. He drew his Z-Saber and stabbed at where he estimated the cockpit to be. He was rewarded when muffled cries could be heard from within the tank. "Hey! Stop that, you crazed bastard!" One of the voices in the tank yelled at him. "No NO! Shut up!!" Voice two desperately said as he tried to hush the loud mouthed rookie.

"Hmm? Do I hear someone still alive?" Zero said with a smug as he snatched a grenade from the nearby hunter running past him. A loud boom rocked the battlefield, signifying that a tank just exploded. He pulled the pin and forced the explosive into the barrel of the main cannon. He then proceeded to knock on the area the cockpit was in and said, "Happy Birthday!!!", before he dashed a safe distance from the tank. Seconds later, needless to say, the tank exploded. Seconds after that the remaining tank exploded. The hunters celebrated their victory in the ruined office, while Zero received a transmission through his comm link.

'Zero, come in. Report.' Alia's voice came over the transmission.

"Zero reporting. Objective complete. Maverick invasion in the northwestern office area, level 4, has been halted." Zero responded with a dramatically triumphant voice.

'Good job Zero, but don't celebrate yet. We have two problems on our hands as of now.'

"What's the pro..." Zero was cut off as a laser bolt collided with his back, sending a small wave of electricity through his veins. After the short shock, he turned to see who had blind-sided him. He then activated his comm link and spoke to Alia again.

'Zero! What happened?!'

"Alia. Make that three problems."

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Whew! A BIG chapter bites the dust! And cliffhangers! Ah, the torture. OK, reviews please! :P