The black clad mercenary was there, in all his glory. He slowly flipped a card through his fingers, giving Axl a razor edged smile.

"Me. Sorry, Axl, but you should just surrender now." He said quietly. Axl raised his gun, his eyes cold.

"Surrender to you, you traitor? I don't think so. What's going on here?" Axl snarled, eyes narrowing. Spider didn't wince or look guilty, but he did sigh, faintly.

"I'm not guilty about betraying you," Spider said briefly. "Because we were never really friends. But I am guilty about my insane actions, and I regret everything that happened. All I can say is that I am no longer that person. Will you listen to me? This place isn't what you've been told." Axl hesitated, torn. He wouldn't have believed Spider if he'd said the sky was blue, but…

Axl glanced back at the woman, who was watching, wide-eyed with anxiety. Her son was still scowling and muttering uncomplimentary things about the Federation. Axl hesitated, then lowered his gun again.

"Fine… explain." He would listen, but not necessarily believe. Spider had forfeited their trust a long time ago.


They're coming. Dr. Light was very worried. X, Zero and Cinnamon had almost reached the inner room. Tamaa nodded, activating her neural whip. Her troops were hard at work, keeping away the lesser Hunters who had managed to get past Jolene. Only this small group had been permitted inward with a minimum of resistance. Most of that resistance had been purposeful. Some of it had not. Tamaa closed her eyes in pain as she remembered a transmission she had received from Marcus.

Gilgamesh has lost it! He thinks he's Macduff and Zero's Macbeth or something! He's going after him with a sabre!

Stop him!

I'm on it!

That had been Marcus' final transmission, and she only hoped he was still alive. Gilgamesh probably wasn't. But she could hope.

Archimedes was nearby, fidgeting nervously as she smiled at him. He was there because he was also X's brother, not because of any ability at combat. If things deteriorated, he had an escape route to follow. Tamaa would fight almost alone.

Only almost. Blues was in control of a vicious little invention, a spider-like creature standing beside her. Dr. Light had created it, and it was simply a killing machine, with no intelligence. Her datapad was inside it, and Blues controlled it directly.

The door cycled open, and Tamaa wiped her expression clean, stepping forward to meet her brother. Her heart ached a little, as he entered the room, followed closely by Zero and Cinnamon. He had changed a great deal, from her memories of him being created in the lab, but she still recognized him.

"Hello X," she said conversationally. "I've been waiting to meet you for a long time. I'm Tamaa, and this is Archimedes."

"I don't want to fight you, Tamaa," X said, also conversational, but Tamaa didn't miss how Zero was getting ready for action. "Please surrender. We'll try to help you." Tamaa couldn't help but laugh. X thought they were infected with the virus!

"If you don't want to fight, turn around. Otherwise, you'll have to kill your brother and sister… and possibly your creator as well." At X's puzzled look, she stepped to one side… revealing the pod behind her. X's eyes widened as he recognized the hologram generator. And then it switched on. The hologram inside was very familiar.

"Dr. Light?" X gasped. Zero looked surprised, while Cinnamon was just puzzled. She had no experience with the legacies X's creator had left for him. Dr. Light nodded.

Yes, X. As you may have guessed, I'm still alive in a slightly different form. X, I beg of you, do not destroy this place. Tamaa's name means Hope, and she's building something beautiful here.

"What… are you talking about? They're Mavericks…" X said uncertainly.

No. That is a lie. They are the outcasts, the ones who are untouched by Sigma yet alienated from society. Many of them are pariahs, for one reason or another. They are the ones who have been hurt, and no longer want to suffer under the Federation. Rebels, certainly, but there is no law against buying an island to live on. Tamaa grinned to herself. Dr. Light was glossing over all the illegal things they had done to get this far. He didn't approve of what she had done, but wasn't about to betray her. Or about forming their own country, where they can live in peace.

"X, this is just a Maverick trick," Zero said, igniting his beam sabre. "There's nothing easier to fake than a hologram!" X looked troubled. Zero was right, but… "This is just another Repliforce, even if he's telling the truth."

"The Hell it is," Tamaa interrupted the red hunter, giving him a glare. "We have humans here. Manning the wall cannons as we speak, and there were some in the towers you demolished!" Zero frowned, and X looked slightly sick, but shook his head.

"Signas wouldn't have lied to us," X said, his voice firming. Tamaa ground her teeth.

"I'm not saying he did, I'm saying-" X suddenly frowned, his eyes shifting away from her. "X?"

She couldn't know it, but X had just received a transmission from Axl. So had Zero and Cinnamon. It was on the Hunter command circuit, so no one else could hear.

X, we have to break off the attack! There are women and children in this bunker, and they say they LIVE here! Spider is here too, and he says this is a colony or something! X blinked, then spoke into his communicator.

"Axl… you're sure?"

Of course I'm sure. One of the mothers almost shot me, even if she couldn't hit a Maverick at fifty feet. X looked at Zero, appalled, and he frowned, scratching his head.

"Why would Signas have lied to us?" He asked the air. But Tamaa had an answer.

"He didn't. Ask why would have lied to Signas, instead," she said. "So can we call this off now, before too many people die in this stupid conflict?" X started issuing orders immediately, and Tamaa followed suit.

"All Hunters, break off! Break off and go back to-"

"Everyone, stop firing and let the Hunters go! Repeat, let them retreat!" Tamaa knew the process would be anything but seamless. It would, in fact, be extremely messy and some people would be killed as they tried to break off, either from malice or just because someone else was slow on the uptake. There was no help for it. War was always very messy.

Once the orders were given, she looked up from her communicator, and met X's gaze. His clear green eyes were simply puzzled, now.

"Can you explain what's going on?"


"…And then you attacked," Tamaa concluded her version of events. It was a very edited version, tailored to suit the Hunter's sensibilities. Well, X's sensibilities. After talking with Zero for a little while, Tamaa didn't think he would insist on turning them in for the DeBeer robbery. She did include their ripoff of Sigma, after swearing the three Hunters to silence. Zero had almost laughed himself sick, and actually congratulated Spider.

Spider and Axl had come in to join the discussion, leaving Mia to tend to Gwen. With the basic medical treatment the mouse Hunter could give, it looked like she would live. At that, she was lucky. Tamaa closed her eyes at a surge of pain.

Gilgamesh was dead. Tamaa had actually cried when one of her subordinates had brought her the news.

"He couldn't fight, you know," she had said thickly to a startled X. "He was an actor and a bit insane… he probably really thought he was Macduff and Zero was Macbeth…" She knew she would desperately miss the quirky, amusingly deranged Reploid.

The fact that Marcus was alive had taken some of the sting out of the news. He was just barely alive… Zero had flung him through a wall, mistaking his armor for Reploid technology… but he would live. His broken bones would take months to heal, but with nanite microsurgeons, there was little doubt he would recover.

"But how did they think they would get away with it?" Axl said, baffled. "Didn't they think we would find out?" Spider shook his head.

"No. Why should they have? They didn't know about Dr. Light, Blues, Tamaa or Archimedes. Why should you listen to a bunch of Mavericks?"

"What I want to know is how they tricked Signas." X glowered at the thought, but Spider shrugged.

"He believed what he was told. Forgive me, X, but you all suffer from the same problem. You're basically good natured, honest people who assume you're dealing with honest people. Signas is savvier at politics than you are, but he still is mostly concerned with military matters. And he doesn't believe that he's dealing with scum, so he doesn't see the plots."

"You seriously think they're planning to eliminate us?" Zero said, an angry edge to his voice. Tamaa had told them her theories about where the money was going, and X had been troubled… while Zero had been furious. Even more than X, he'd seen the gradual decay of the Maverick Hunters. He'd been around from the very beginning, and wasn't at all pleased by the changes since then.

And unlike X, he was willing to believe their leaders were scuzzballs. X was still fighting that part. Tamaa raised her hand, making a 'maybe, maybe not' gesture.

"It's a possibility. If not eliminate, certainly contain and supplement."

"What I want to know is how Spider survived?" Cinnamon asked, looking distrustfully at the stylish Reploid, who was playing with a card as they talked. Spider frowned, and the card disappeared.

"I don't know… I woke up in a meadow outside Pittsburgh, a month later." X blinked, as Zero and Axl exchanged a dubious glance.

"Pittsburgh? That's nowhere near Giga City." Spider shrugged, and spread his hands.

"Tell me about it. I have no idea what happened," he replied. X frowned, then blinked as Dr. Light caught his gaze and pressed a finger to his lips in the ancient 'be quiet' gesture.' "And I really have no idea what I was thinking when I came up with that idiotic plot to take over the world."

Did the ancient AI know something? X decided to change the subject, but corner Dr. Light on it later.

"I see… what should we do now?" This whole situation was really unprecedented, and he wasn't sure what they could do to make up their attack to Tamaa and the others. Tamaa grimaced.

"Well, you could start by helping us put back together the defenses you trashed. And help us recover the bodies." X winced, and the others looked unenthusiastic, but nodded.

They really did need to do something to help repair the damage they had caused. It wasn't much, but hopefully it would be enough.


"Dr. Light, is there something you can tell us about Spider?" X had insisted on some private time with the ancient AI, accompanied only by Zero and Axl. He would have been entirely alone, but they deserved to hear this… and there was still hostility in the air. X didn't really think anyone would attack him, but being alone still might be unwise. Dr. Light nodded.

Yes, but you must promise not to tell Tamaa and Spider. The truth would only injure them. That was puzzling, but the three Reploids nodded. I was responsible for rescuing and repairing Spider. He was mentally ill.

"Really?" Axl said, taken aback. "He didn't seem crazy. What was wrong with him? How did you fix it? Why did you fix it?" Zero hushed him, but Dr. Light didn't seem to mind the rapid barrage of questions.

It wasn't simple insanity. His neural net was defective. He had far fewer cross-connections than most Reploids, and the ones he did have were almost inactive. The result was intense narcissism, megalomania, a vast disconnection with reality. Spider believed that things would turn out the way he wanted simply because he desired it. To him, other people were like insects. I fixed it by revitalizing his neural network, then forcing growth by making him relive his life in a dream. The process took a month. When I was finished, he was still a somewhat selfish bounty hunter… but not uncaring.

"Why?" X repeated one of Axl's questions, leaning forward intently. "Why did you do it?" He couldn't see any reason Spider would matter to Dr. Light. The old AI hesitated, then seemed to sigh.

For Tamaa's sake. She is our Hope, but that's a difficult place to be. Spider had some cross-connections, and he cared for her, as much as he was able. His powerful will and ego kept him from falling easily under her spell. After they first met, I kept him under observation and saw his deteriorating sanity. I fixed him because I hoped he might be drawn back to her, and still egotistical enough to resist her spell. I was right.

"Ha! You old matchmaker." Zero was delighted. "No wonder you don't want us to tell them. Might kill the romance." Tamaa might assume Dr. Light had implanted Spiders feelings for her. At best, she would be doubtful. And both of them would feel manipulated. Dr. Light nodded.

Please, keep this secret. There is no need for either of them to know. They deserve to be happy. The three Hunters nodded solemnly. They would keep Dr. Light's secret. Now, X, you wanted to ask me some things privately? The others took the hint, and slipped out, giving X some alone time with his creator.

It had been a long time in coming.


The funeral was the most depressing part.

Everyone in the island gathered for a mass funeral, for all the dead. X and Zero were there, to pay respects for all the Hunters, but the others had prudently stayed away. Everyone was hurting, and while there was a spirit of forgiveness in the air, this was a sensitive time.

The human bodies were ashes in a singleurn. The island didn't have enough free land for them to bury people for very long, so they had decided on cremation as the proper thing to do. With modern technology, it was a very easy process. When they were finished the ceremony, the ashes would be scattered into the sea.

The Reploid bodies weren't present at all. They would be disassembled and recycled inside the manufacturing plant. But they were present in spirit, their names inscribed on the memorial one of their sculptors had manufactured. It was a simple steel slab, but the front had a border of vines and flowers. The sides and back were covered in the same vines, with little forest creatures peeking through. The slab was inscribed with a short message, as well.

They were the first in battle, the first to defend us all. We loved them, and we will miss them.

Tamaa stepped forward to deliver the elegy. Everyone was quiet as she spoke. Almost forty people had died, a cruel blow to the small colony. Tamaa had known them all, and her voice wavered with emotion at times.

Zash was gone, and so was the girl he had adopted, Kimberly. She had died with Arcana and all her crew. Gilgamesh was gone, and Marcus was present to say goodbye, although he'd been forced to endure the indignity of being carried out. Tourmaline, Nimitz, David… the names went on…

"We will remember them forever," Tamaa concluded. "With this monument, inscribed with their names. May we never forget." There was a murmur of agreement, although in truth, they all knew better. Eventually, they would no longer be able to remember what their friends had looked like. The memories would fade, as inevitably as the tide. And someday, if they were lucky, their descendants would hardly remember what the monument was for.

But that thought did not bother Tamaa. Here and now, they remembered. And if that future came to pass, the sacrifice would have been well made. Tamaa unstoppered the urn of ashes, and let them flow into the sea.

This was an ending, and a beginning.


In sending the Maverick Hunters against Tamaa, the Federation had made a tactical error. After the Hunters had refused to attack, it was impossible for the Federation to take action in what was technically the space of the Philippine government, which chose to recognize the sovereignty of the small group of islands. They saw only advantages to their tiny, high tech neighbor and had been promised the status of preferred trading partner.

That was not their mistake. The Federation had sent the Maverick Hunters precisely because they could not send local defense forces without inciting unpleasant allegations and hostilities. But with their suspicions aroused, the Hunters were considerably more difficult to manipulate. Funding of the Maverick Hunters began to go up, as Signas and the others pressed for more concessions. X began to take a more active hand in the development of policy, and with his great fame, met with some success.

Meanwhile, the islands were finally given a name. They became New Hope. Eventually, they began to expand and finally merged with several other countries in a wider nation. Their technological products were vastly superior to many on the market, and the jewel chips were highly sought after. They became quite rich and well militarized, to deal with Sigma and the Federation.

Eventually, the final battles with Sigma took place, and time kept passing…

Look for the sequel soon, set in the Megaman Zero timeline.