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I do not own Megaman or any of its characters (even though I want to). They are property of Capcom Ltd.

However, I do own my original characters, so :p

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Titanium Showdown: Tale of the Zero Clones

Chapter Four: The Planning Room

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The remainder of the mavericks awoke late the next day, the reality of the day before setting in like a ton of bricks. The fatigue was gone, but the stress and pain were still there, making their feet drag, their breathing heavy, and their silence thick. What little speaking did occur was done quietly and quickly.

Late in the evening, Virus had everyone together in what he had called "The Planning Room." He seemed free of the mental fatigue that still gripped the others, in fact he seemed very edgy and hyped up. "You see, it has a hologram projector and scanning equipment..." his explanation of the equipment seemed to be just a prelude to what he wanted to get at, and everyone else wanted to know what that was. "...all controlled by a central computer mainframe with massive capabilities..." He was booting up the systems as he identified them. "...best part, being this." He flicked on one last switch and the hologram projector kicked on.

Slowly, almost painfully slow, a detailed image rendered in the middle of the room. The topography of the surrounding areas could be easily identified, and it seemed that every rock and tree had been included. "Now, just a few more commands and...." Suddenly, a series of red triangles appeared on the map. Most of them had the word "astynomia" printed above them, but some had different words. The triangles were moving in all different directions, rotating, shifting, and stopping, then moving again. Ashes was the first to realize what they were. "Enforcers!? (Precisely, but this one...)" Virus pointed to a red triangle with two black stripes and "pantodynamos" written above it. "This one has me worried. (What is it?) I'm not sure. I think... I think they may have cloned X!" There was a deep uneasy silence in the room.

Several minutes passed in fearful silence, and finally Ashes spoke up once more. "Why do you think this?" Virus thought for a moment, and then replied. "Well, it emits a strange wave pattern, similar to Hunter's, End's, and mine." He typed in a few commands, and the striped triangle showed up with a barrage of statistics. "But it's different. You see, X is four feet tall, End, Hunter, and I are also four foot tall. However, this one... is about five feet tall..." Virus got quiet all of a sudden. "It's power levels are far greater than X's or Zero's, and I don't think any of us would be able to take him down, even in groups... I think.... I think this will be the end of our long war..." the silence returned to the room. At length, virus spoke again, with more foreboding news. "For five hours now, this reploid has been making its way steadily toward our position, in a nearly straight line; we must find a way to defeat it. We don't have any way to make a counterwave here, so that won't work on it, but we have to find something quickly. I estimate it'll be here within three more hours."

Some faces were cast down, a few sighs breathed, and a curse or two uttered. The futility of their situation seemed immense. Everyone went sulking off back to their own dorms, in hopes of finding an answer to a question they couldn't understand. Virus stayed in the planning room to decide what would be the best course of action on his own, but his attempts were no less futile than anyone else's.

It was about thirty minutes after Virus' long speech that Ashes approached him again. "Virus, I think you were wrong. (What? About what?) About who. (who?) Yes, I don't think they would've made X's clone taller than himself. (What are you suggesting?) I think they cloned Zero again; it would explain why he was being dismantled, and why this new reploid is exactly as tall as Zero. (But why? They gave up on that years ago, why make another one?) To get rid of the failures." The tone of separation Ashes used left Virus dumbfounded. "But I think I have a plan. If we have any chance to win this war, we need to keep this place secret, and there's only one way to do that..."

Ashes' plan was acceptable to Virus. If you have to die... die for your friends! "I'll do it."

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Disaster was on its way...

Reviews from chapter three:

Darth – In case my hints and summary weren't enough of a giveaway, yes the original Zero will be in this fiction, and he plays a major role.

The evil cliffhanger has come!