The room was dim and quiet. The only sound was the quiet beeping of a nearby monitor… and the soft rustle of a person sitting down in a chair.
Zero slowly picked up Iris' hand, watching her sadly. In the interests of keeping her clean and comfortable, a brave soul had stripped off her armor and dressed her in a green hospital gown. The same person had bathed her, unbraided her hair and washed it, then braided it back up when it was dry. Even if the risk was minimal, that was a lot of exposure to the Maverick virus for whoever had tended to her, and Zero felt pathetically grateful for that small consideration. Someone, at least, had not given up hope.
He was trying not to give up hope either, but it was hard. He closed his eyes in pain as he remembered what the alternate X had told them…
"It's my fault. It's all my fault… I'm so sorry." He whispered to the still form on the bed. "If it weren't for me, this wouldn't have happened to you…"
"Oh, stop being an ass," a familiar voice spoke tartly at the door, and Zero's head whipped around to glare at the offending interloper. Dynamo strode in to stand across from him, returning the glare. "Sigma's the only one to blame here, not YOU. So stop being an idiot about it."
"What do you want?" Zero said roughly. He couldn't stand having his pain dismissed so cavalierly, even if Dynamo was right. Dynamo smirked at him, collapsing into a chair on Iris other side.
"Why do you think? Would I let you be the first thing Iris sees when she wakes up?" He said, somewhere between hostile and amused. Zero gritted his teeth, holding in his anger.
"You are a total prick," Zero snarled. He wasn't going to attack Dynamo in Iris room, but at this moment he really loathed the bounty hunter. Dynamo just waved the accusation away.
"There is one other reason I came here… to get you off your self-blaming funk. There's something much better for you to do." Dynamo grinned ferally. "My first teacher always said, "don't get sad, get angry." Think about it." Zero blinked, startled, and did think about it. As he did, a cold smile crossed his face. He could imagine so many wonderful, entertaining things he would do to Sigma if he got the chance…
"You're still a prick," Zero said conversationally. "But you do have the best ideas." Revenge was suddenly very, very appealing.
Suddenly, Zero felt a gentle squeeze on his hand. Startled, he looked down at Iris. Humans had a reflexive hand squeeze gesture… a human could be brain dead, and still do it… but Reploids didn't. Iris was looking up at him, her eyes half open. "Iris!"
Dynamo stiffened in alarm as Zero hugged Iris tightly, looking up at the indicators on the monitor. If they were red, then…
They were green. Dynamo heaved a sigh of relief, then felt like smacking himself. The computers were programmed to keep Iris under if she stayed infected. He grinned, and joined Zero in hugging the life out of her.
"Zero… Dynamo…?" Iris sat up, then reached up to pull the cord connecting her to the computers out of the dataport in the back of her neck. "Ow… what happened?"
"Sigma tried to give you the Maverick Virus… so you would attack me…" Zero stroked back her hair, the guilt hitting him again. "I'm so sorry." Iris blinked, then shook her head… and suddenly stiffened in alarm.
"Colonel! Is he…?" Dynamo patted her back as Zero looked blank, then winced. Zero hadn't thought to check, but Dynamo had kept an eye on Colonel's condition.
"He'll be fine." Dynamo said soothingly. "We got him back in time, and they're still putting him back together, but he's definitely going to make it." Iris looked relieved, giving Dynamo a thankful smile.
"Here, help me out of bed?" Iris used both their help to get unsteadily to her feet. She stepped forward, then looked back at the two men with a smile… and stopped as she realized they were both beaming at her rather stupidly. She looked over her own shoulder, realizing that her hospital gown was definitely not covering any part of her backside. "Ahhh… get out of here! Both of you! Now!" They both hot footed it outside, exchanging an agonized glance as soon as they were out of earshot. Then they burst out laughing.
Maybe it was relief, or just the silliness of the moment. But for some reason, that hospital gown was the funniest thing in the world.
Elsewhere, the alternate X was arriving back at the HQ.
Dynamo had been correct about how this world's Hunters would react to the Maverick that had taken Wraith's place. The tension in the HQ was thick enough to cut with a knife, and both groups were very, very separate. Even the domestic staff wasn't mixing, although maybe that wasn't surprising, since Maria and her mother-in-law were continuing an ancient cold war. The fact that they came from separate worlds didn't seem to make a lick of difference in their hatred.
So when X walked in, holding a tattered, broken body, rumors immediately started to circulate. The body was too badly mutilated for anyone to tell who it had been, which only added fuel to the flames. Everyone had already heard about X's torture of the Maverick Wraith.
But that reputation had certain advantages. No one was willing to stand in his way… except his double, who stopped him before he could reach the lab that had been set aside for his unit.
"What happened?" X looked at the body, slightly shocked. "Who… was that?" The alternate X glanced down at the corpse, expression blank.
"Wraith." He looked up, fixing X with an empty gaze that somehow conveyed sadness more clearly than weeping could have. "I got the area they killed him from his double. So now, I've retrieved him for proper disposal." X flinched, but nodded.
Human burial was into the ground, because they decomposed. With Reploids, things were a bit more complicated. Burying them in the ground wasn't acceptable, since the parts were very valuable and many of them didn't corrode much. And letting them corrode into uselessness would have only poisoned the ground. Many scavengers always searched through old battlefields, looking for parts from both Hunters and Mavericks that could be sold to salvage companies. But that was undignified, so when they could, the Hunters gathered up the dead bodies and took them back to HQ. Then they were disassembled with respect, while the survivors held memorials in their honor.
The real X looked over Wraith's body, then shook his head. It had at least been quick. It looked like he had died when his fusion reactor exploded, shredding most of his body in the process.
"I'm sorry for your loss," X said formally, standing aside. His double nodded, entering the lab and ignoring the new looks he was attracting.
There would be a new set of rumors running around Maverick Hunter HQ now, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
"Revenge I am told is a dish eaten cold… but for me, I prefer my food warm. So the first thing I'll do, when I'm coming for you, is to rip off and chew on your arm!" Dynamo grinned wickedly, keeping pace with Zero easily. "From your head to your feet, I'll devour the meat, and the bones I will just throw. Maybe then, you and your friend will find someone else to betray!"
"Where did you get that? I like it." Zero said absently as he nailed several unwary Mavericks.
"The Rhapsody Trilogy. Great books!" Dynamo dodged a blast, returning fire. "Nyah, missed me! OW!" He swore as a blast clipped him, and Zero laughed.
They were making use of the information X had extracted from Wraith. This place was a hidden production centre for Maverick Reploids. It mostly produced metools and very basic Reploids, but it was capable of creating a trickle of higher level Reploids as well, many of whom became Sigma's deadliest fighters. Destroying it would be a blow to the Mavericks… and because it was so deeply hidden, it had never been attacked before. The protections on it were good, but had never been put to the test before.
As it turned out, they weren't good enough to withstand a lightning assault by the Hunters greatest talent… times two. A large number of the alternates were along, and Colonel and Iris were spearheading the attack, just as intent as Zero on extracting some revenge.
"Yah!" Dynamo grinned as he destroyed a final enemy… then blinked. "What the hell?" A bunch of extremely confused looking Reploids were all running towards them. He'd have been tempted to fire… every last one was wearing the Maverick symbol… if Iris hadn't been leading them. She spotted them, and gestured to them frantically.
"Iris, what's going on?" Zero called to her as he dashed over. She came to a stop, and spoke breathlessly.
"X and Zero found them in the production facilities." Zero assumed she meant the doubles, not his X… he was working on clearing out some stubborn pockets along the East side of the facility. "They asked me and Colonel to get them out while they rigged the explosives. They're brand new, uninfected."
"Let's talk while we move," Zero decided, and started dashing back the way they came. Standing around was a spectacularly bad idea. Iris kept pace with him, and Dynamo waited for the rest of the group to pass in an untidy gaggle before taking his place at the rear. "How do you know they're uninfected?" The scanning technology was bulky, and Iris certainly didn't have it on her. The alt doubles didn't, either. But she had a good answer.
"We took over several places like this after Sigma left, in our world. They always do it the same way, different stages of development very compartmentalized. If they weren't in the finishing room, they weren't infected. We left the ones in the finishing room and anything under a D-class."
"Hm." Zero wasn't quite sure he bought that… it was possible Iris was mistaken… but they would be able to check it out back at HQ.
Although the some of the 'newborn' Reploids seemed to be on the verge of spasming.
"What's going ON?" A humanoid female in white and silver armor almost wailed. She had giant wings that threatened to hit several of her fellow youngsters. "Who are you? What are you doing with us?" Dynamo snickered as Iris tried to calm her down. This was a traumatic 'birth' for them, but it was still better than getting blown up before they were even activated. "I'm not going any farther until you tell me what's going on!"
Now THAT was a problem, especially since several of the others looked about ready to join the mini-mutiny. Dynamo did a quick count. There were eleven of them, and at least three were serious combat models, including the high strung female. One was a humanoid rat Reploid, who was watching, his whiskers twitching nervously. The third was a huge, blocky male, easily a foot taller than Zero and armed with rocket launchers set in his shoulders. His armor was stylized and highly individual, dark green and grey with gold piping and red stones. Dynamo was unhappily sure that he had been intended to become another Maverick General. But on the plus side, he didn't seem at all upset about the situation, and was listening to Iris with every sign of attentiveness as she tried to explain.
Suddenly, the large Maverick decided he'd heard enough. He stepped up behind the female and hit her smartly right where her helmet touched her neck. She went down like a sack of grain, and he heaved her up, slinging her over one shoulder.
"Explain the rest outside." His gesture sent the others scrambling as Zero and Iris started off again. Dynamo grinned as he activated his internal communicator.
Heh, looks like he was meant to be a leader, too! It was possible to program Reploid personalities. Of course, the Reploid in question would still make decisions and evolve with time. But the basic personality was chosen by the manufacturer, and Sigma had obviously intended this one for great things in the Mavericks.
Now, though, he would have other choices to make. If Iris was right about the lack of infection, anyway.
If they ARE uninfected, Sigma is going to be SO pissed when he hears about this. Zero sounded smug, and Iris' laugh was sweet and joyful.
The thought of Sigma in a rage was quite pleasing.