Heavy Metal
Chapter 9
"Maverick Within"
By MEGAMANX411

Metal set Goth down by the throne. The room was still in tact, barely. His short skirmish was Sigma really took its toll on the room. Any longer and the entire building would've been demolished. That's when it hit Metal. Didn't killing Sigma seem a little…too easy?

"No, it couldn't be. I was just strong enough, that's all," Metal reasoned, trying to shrug off the strange feeling.

Metal couldn't grasp what was going on. He felt a strange sensation running through his body. He couldn't tell what it was. He tried running a system scan. It came back positive. There was nothing apparently wrong. Metal could feel it though. There were foreign thought processes running in his CPU against his central thought. His mind would be saying one thing, but there was something else in his head saying something else. It was strange. Metal could feel another entity exploring his body, influencing him somehow.

"Get out of my head!" he screamed, clutching his forehead.

Metal clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. A sharp sense of pain rang throughout his entire body. Something was changing, but he was fighting it. His thought processes were being assimilated by an unknown entity. He could feel his mind being eaten away. But he wouldn't go down without a fight.

-System Restore? Failed.

-System Restore? Failed.

-Warning! Foreign Agent Interfering With CPU, Commencing Shutdown.

-Shutdown? Overridden.

"What the hell is g-going…on?" Metal heaved, stumbling around the room.

All of the sudden, one image was brought to Metal's mind. Sigma's smile. He must've done something for this to happen! This was his doing! Metal cursed loudly as he walked in the room. The sense of pain in his head became greater and greater. There was a loud ringing sound in his head, and it felt like his skull was going to split in two. He couldn't contain it. He felt like he was going to explode from all this internal pressure. Still, he couldn't let this thing win! But what was it?

"T-The…v-virus!" Metal screamed, realizing what was done.

Sigma had infected him! Metal cursed more, he cursed this outcome, and he cursed his inability to stop the infection. He had to find some way to stop his body from being overridden. He could feel his memories being overridden by this strange agent; it was almost like he was being transformed into a separate being entirely. Metal couldn't say how he knew it was the virus either; it was just it was the first thing that came to mind. Perhaps it was because he remembered Dr. Wily mentioning it while working on Zero…but even then, there rose the question if Metal knew it was the same virus, or if it had somehow transferred to Sigma.

Either way, Metal didn't have time to ponder things just yet. He had to struggle against this force. But he didn't know how to resist it. He had no way of knowing how to fend off this attack. And to make matters worse, the famous trio of Maverick Hunters had just entered the room. X, Zero, and Axl all looked at Metal with worried faces. They didn't know what was going on. X went over to try and help, but Zero protested.

"He's the enemy!" he shouted.

"Wait a minute, where's Sigma?" Axl interrupted, looking around.

"There's no time, can't you see he's injured?" X replied, pointing to Metal.

While the three Maverick Hunters were arguing amongst themselves, Metal was still stumbling about. He clutched his head in his hands and screamed with all his might as he tried to fight back the virus. His internal systems were feeling the pain as well. X could clearly tell that synthetic blood was dripping out of Metal's eyes, and the pain sensors around his body were being overloaded. Was this the price of resisting the virus? Metal didn't want to give in. He wouldn't become someone else.

"I-I w-won't…lose…t-o…you, Sigma. You can't beat me!" Metal screamed, trying once more to expel the virus from his body.

X, Zero, and Axl looked on at Metal with a mystified horror. They couldn't fathom what was going on. They didn't see Sigma in the room anymore, nor did they realize that Metal had already defeated him. They could easily tell that something was wrong, but they couldn't agree upon what to do. Zero offered to just finish Metal off and be done with it, but X said that they couldn't just kill him. Axl pointed out that Goth was there as well, meaning that they had to be extra careful. Goth was still sleeping peacefully; unaware of what was going on. It was amazing how she could sleep through such an ordeal, but then again, it was more like she was knocked out.

Metal kept screaming as loud as he could, trying everything in his power to fight back the virus. In the end, he couldn't fight it off forever. After a few more moments of struggle, Metal fell over, sprawled out on the floor. He fell completely silent. X, Zero, and Axl stopped talking, and looked intently at Metal. Zero kept his beam saber ready by his side, and Axl got his energy pistols ready. X gave Metal a sympathetic gaze. Slowly, Metal rose to his knees. X thought for a second that he was ok, but that notion quickly disappeared. Blood dripped down Metal's face, and his eyes were blank. His body was slack and loose. He stared up at the ceiling with his blank eyes.

"Something doesn't seem right about this…" Axl muttered, looking at Metal.

"Keep your guard up," Zero commanded.

Metal's gaze lowered to meet with the Maverick Hunters. Gradually, a wave of dark energy began to swirl around the dark reploid. An aura of evil energy picked up, and picked Metal up off the ground. Metal was then floating in the air, levitating above the Maverick Hunters. A smile appeared on Metal's lips. That smile then erupted into a vicious laughter. A grim feeling washed over X, Zero, and Axl.

Metal had become Maverick.

Metal's howling laughter tore through the air. X, Zero, and Axl stood there motionless. They didn't know what to make of the situation. They knew that something must have happened to make Metal go Maverick, but there was no known cure for this epidemic. Like everyone else who was infected, Metal had turned Maverick—and as such, faced the consequence of dealing with the Maverick Hunters. The situation angered X to no end. He had spent all this time trying to get Metal to try and make peace, to resolve things in a calm manner…for what? Metal had just turned Maverick. There was nothing to do now.

Zero turned to face X. Zero instantly knew who's doing this was. He knew who was pulling the strings all along. It wasn't Metal who wanted to come after X and Zero to begin with…it was Sigma. From the start, Sigma had manipulated Metal into fighting the Maverick Hunters. It was a simple ploy. But to what end? What did Sigma want to accomplish? It seemed as though misery and anguish was his only goal. And he succeeded at causing X quite a bit of pain.

"Metal, snap out of it!" X screamed, his futility evident.

Metal looked back over to Goth. He then looked back at the Maverick Hunters. That same sadistic smile they had seen before emerged once again. A look of pure evil washed over Metal's face. His body surged with raw power. The influence of the virus must have given him an immense boost in power…just like for Zero. But why was it that X could resist the virus while Metal was overcome with it? Was Metal not trying hard enough? Or perhaps it was the dark desires hidden in his heart?

"If I kill you, it'll make her happy," Metal hissed.

"No Metal, that's not true and you know it!" X replied frantically.

Zero shook his head solemnly. He knew what he had to do. He placed a hand on X's shoulder, and got his beam saber ready. He would have to face off against Metal once again.

"X, we have to face him. He's become a Maverick, that's all there is to it," Zero announced.

X shook his head. He didn't want to kill him. Sure, Metal wasn't the noblest person, not even that good a person, but still there was someone that cared for him. X didn't want to rob her of him. He knew that Goth would never forgive him if he did. And if he did, what else would she do? X feared that she might even repeat Iris' mistake. That was something that he didn't want to witness.

"Zero, we have to find a way to stop him and not kill him. I'll fight, but I won't kill him," X replied, getting his buster ready.

"Pheh…well, whatever. Just make sure we win!" Zero shouted, rushing into battle.

"Don't worry about that!" Axl answered, following afterwards.

"I'll kill you. All of you!" Metal screamed, showing the Maverick Hunters that he had more anger and battle lust than all of them combined.

Before the Maverick Hunters could even start their attacks, Metal did a sweeping kick and knocked all three of them over. Metal then jumped up into the air and dove back down, slamming into Zero's chest. He grinned, and threw Zero aside like a rag. Axl and X both blasted at Metal from both sides, but the dark robot nimbly dodged each shot. Zero rushed back into the fray, swinging his saber. Metal quickly ducked, and a smile appeared on his face. Before Zero could get off the next attack, Metal grabbed Zero's hand, and with one swift movement, tried to make Zero's saber hit Axl!

Axl frantically dodged the attack, and thankfully, Zero's saber didn't hit him. X blasted at Metal close-range, however, he didn't count on Metal using Zero as a shield. Zero was hit by the blast instead. X cursed, and dove towards Metal for a flying tackle. Metal threw Zero aside, caught X, and flung him upwards. Axl tried to do a spin-kick on Metal while he was distracted, however, Metal caught Axl's leg and spun him around. Metal then jumped up, caught X again, and threw him down at Axl. In another moment, Metal was already behind Zero. He caught the red Maverick Hunter by the wrist, and hurled him over to X and Axl as well. While they were trying to get back up, Metal jumped into the air and went into a diving kick attack.

The three Hunters scrambled to get out of the way. Luckily for them, they got out of the way in time. Axl tried to shoot Metal just as he landed, however, Metal managed to block each and every shot with his arm blades. Zero then rushed in one more time with his saber raised high. Metal slid underneath, going between Zero's legs, and got behind him. He then did a thrust kick at Zero's back, knocking him away. While that was happening, X was charging his buster. Metal glanced over at him, and a grimace reappeared. In that instant, Metal vanished. X looked around with his buster ready. He looked over at Axl. Axl shrugged in response, signaling to X that he didn't know either. Zero then got back to his feet. He gritted his teeth and cursed.

"DIE!" a voice screamed.

X then felt a sharp sense of pain in his back. Metal ran his arm blade deep into X's back, and the other end stuck out of his chest. X looked down in horror at the attack. Axl's and Zero's jaws dropped. Metal then threw X aside, and rushed after Axl and Zero with little introduction. Metal grabbed Axl by the skull, head butted him, and then did an upwards circular kick, hitting Axl right on the chin. While still in mid-air, Metal activated his buster ball, and aimed it straight at Zero. Zero dodged the first attack, but the ball curved back around and tried again.

When he was able to, Metal rushed into follow up on his buster ball with his other fist. The buster ball swirled around to hit Zero, but it missed, and would circle around to try and strike again. While that was going on, Metal was striking at Zero with his first. Surprisingly, Zero managed to avoid each blow. There were roughly hundreds of different attacks going on, but it was so fast that it was impossible to tell where they were all coming from. Still showing some fight, X picked himself up, and tried to battle once again. He blasted once again at Metal.

The malevolent robot abandoned his attack on Zero, dodged X's blast, and then went straight into a diving punch at the blue Maverick Hunter. Axl tried to stop him with a few well-placed shots, but Metal let the shots hit him. He wasn't even harmed, or at least he didn't show it. Before X could get out of the way, Metal's fist slammed into his face, sending X sailing backwards. Zero tried to rush in, but Metal grabbed him and performed a suplex. Zero got right back up after the attack, showing immense determination. He rushed over to X's side, trying to plan his next attack. Metal just waited there for a moment, still smiling.

"X! Zero! We've got to do something!" Axl shouted.

"Y-Yeah…I know…Axl, Zero, we have to take things up a notch…" X heaved.

"I hear you X. It's time for Hyper Mode!" Zero replied.

Suddenly, Axl, X, and Zero all changed. Axl had engaged his stealth mode and became completely invisible. X, on the other hand, went into his "X Fire" Hyper Mode. His armor became bulkier, with strips of gold lining his body. His wounds were healed, and his stamina increased immensely. On his buster were three claws, and he had a great power increase. That was one of his many armors/Hyper Modes. Zero engaged one of his lesser Hyper Modes, changing into his black armor. His parameters increased, but his stamina remained roughly the same. Still, he was a very formidable opponent.

"Metal! Your time has come!" Zero shouted.