Chapter 3: The Army Remains

"Damn them all to hell!" Copy-X shouted as the screen went blank from the stragling good copies of himself were destroying every transmiting optical sensor in the area. Copy-X was not a person with whom to be on the bad side of. And his generals all knew it, which is why they all stayed at opposite corners of the room as him. "Don't those half-wit reploids realize that the extinction of every reploid is for the better good? Why can't they just take it, as it is, and leave it at that?" Copy-X asked as he started to pace the floor. Once in a while he would look up at one of his generals and turn his head back with a grunt. "I would send one of you, but none of you would ever make it past their security forces, let alone, X or Zero." He stopped and looked at the designs of what seemed to be an older reploid. "No, this one will have to do the job. But I'm only going to give him the ability to think for himself to a point. He cannot disobey me like the others. He must be semi-independant. So that he can think about the battle with fresh ideas, but only able to think for himself in that respect. In all other areas of his meaningless life, he will only take my orders. HIs logic circuits will not allow him to disobey me at all. And to top it off, he is X's old arch nemesis, and respected hunter, Sigma. But this time, there will be no virus."

The other reploids looked on in horor at the sound of that name. They knew who Sigma was and what he was capable of. His origional programming was to protect humans, and look at how much damadge he caused. And now he was going to be rebuilt? A few of them were wishing that they hadn't joined forces with Copy-X. The imposter looked up, when he heard in his mind what one of them were thinking. "So you doubt my judgment, don't you Alkaloid?" Copy-X turned around with a grin, and without warning, shot a charged Buster shot at the reploid. The repoid tried to dodge but was hit broad side and slammed into the ground. Before the reploid was able to get to his feet Copy-X was at his face and already had another shot charged. Copy-X looked at him with a grin, laughed, and fired. The reploid's head shattered and circuitry flew everywhere. The other reploids in the room looked on in horror as their comrade fell to their leader. None of them doubting that if they tried to retaliate, their master would eliminate them just like their friend.

"I will not tolerate, nor congratulate, insubordination, or doubt in this unit!" Copy-X yelled as he turned to the rest of them. Looking at each one individually, looking for signs of retaliation, or want for a fight. None of them seemed like they wanted to, so Copy-X powered down his X-Buster and started to walk back to his console. "Good, If I hear of any of you doubting, or even thinking that I will not succede, you will end up like your friend." The other reploids looked at each other and proceded to agree they would not do anything close to what Alkaloid must have done. "Now, why don't you morons do me a favor and go and try to infiltrate the resistance HQ?" All of them looked at thier master and then saluted him. "Sir, yes, Sir." Bolt Stream said as he motioned for the rest of the other reploids to follow him out of the room. Copy-X then looked around and sighed:"Even if I am succesfull, and all reploids are destroyed, who is to say we won't come back? Who is to say that humans won't re-create reploids?" He turned and then let out a suprising cough, one that should have not been possible. Then another and another, going into a very violent coughing fit. Then Copy-X looked down and what the reploids could call blood was in his hands. The reploid was shocked and stupified. It was almost as if he were dieing like a normal human. But it wasn't possible, was it? Or maybe it was just a major malfunction with his new body, and he should let the medics in the lab know. No, for now he would keep this to himself. If he were ill, or malfuntioning, any of his army who had the guts might try to take him down. He had to keep his cool about this. If it got worse, he would then secretly conduct a scan of his own. Yes, he had to keep up the illusion that he was ok. Copy-X walked along the halway next, and went into his room. He needed to power down, and clear his head. Yes, a good recharge would do him some good. The blue reploid plugged himself into a socket in the wall, closed his eyes, and went to "sleep".

"Ungh, where am I? How long was I out for?" Zero asked as he sat up and gripped his head. Even though the reploid couldn't feel pain, he still emulated it very much. Thanks to his programming he went through the effects, and almost thought he felt a headache. But he knew this to be impossible and shook off the "feeling". "You were out for quite a while Zero, lucky for you those copies grabbed you two and brought you inside. Man those guys really came in, just in time too, otherwise we might have all been in trouble." The medical reploid replied as he took off all the wires and sensors that were attached to Zero. The crimson reploid got up and again did something human, he stretched. But this he did out of physical need. If he didn't stretch his servos and wires, they would become weak and vulnerable. It was good to give them a little warm up before heading out into the world. "Is X out of it yet? Did he survive?" Zero asked as he started to get worried for his friend. Zero's emotions however were very real, thanks to the man that created him. Even though he finaly found out that it was Dr. Wily himself, the old crazy scientist who rivaled Dr. Light, that created the crimson warrior, Zero did not regret his reasoning, or emotions. They served as a great asset in the field of battle, and along with his friendships and other close bonds. Without his emotions, Zero might have never been able to become the fighter he was.

"Sir, update from Ceil." A small robot about half Zero's size said as he came up and saluted Zero. "X and the rest of the battle weary fighters have pulled through and are waiting in the debriefing room." The robot said as it finished it's salute. "They are expecting you any time now. You may go when you are ready, but I do fear we have bad knews, there are Mavericks running amok and some of Copy-X's generals as well." The robot then left and marched out of the room. Zero looked around his body, and then pressed a button on his helmet and he was gone. The medical reploid looked on for a few moments and then went about his buisness like the crimson reploid wasn't even there.

"Sorry to be late, but I had some recovery problems to deal with. So what's up and where do we have to go now?" Zero said as he grabbed a chair at the round debriefing table. X sat across from him and gave Zero a little smile and a wink and then looked over to where Ceil sat with several papers. "Well, I do have some good news, that is, in saying that all the rebel copies of that Maverick copy of X have defected to our side and have made a pledge to be the security force of the Rebelion station." X looked at Zero in a quizzical way, almost as if he didn't believe his ears. Then he turned back to Ceil. "But, now for the bad knews, and trust me there is alot of it." Ceil said as she changed her look grimly. She stood up and pushed a button on a remote. A screen on the wall came to life and a diagram of the entire surrounding area of four continents appeared. There were several dots, some blue, some yellow and three red. X and Zero considered the red ones top priority and all others were a mere nuisance. "Ok, here is the semi-bad knews." Ceil turned around and started pointing with a pointing stick. "This color is for rebel bases, or Resistance cells everywhere. This color is for Mavericks that have just plain turned on both sides, and this is where several of Copy-X's generals have struck." Ceil said as she put down her pointer and started to pace in front of the table. "Now I know, that you guys, will consider the yellow ones as meaningless and pointless. But I should warn you we already sent out B squad and C squad and haven't heard back from them yet. Remember, you guys may be Rank S and A, but these guys arent far behind you." Ceil looked at them both carefully.

"Yea Ceil, but you know they won't be much of a match for us, even with a few hostages. Even if they kill a couple of them, we can always bring them back from their last transport scan." X said as he looked on casualy. Ceil noticed his demeanor and then snaped her hand on the table. "No, you don't understand X! These other hunters we sent out were class A- or B, not C or D's. These were our top notch hunters excluding you two. And none of them have returned, not even a transmission." Ceil said with a louder tone. Zero stood up and looked at them both. "I don't know how strong these Mavericks might be, or maybe how many hostages they have, but I swear, if any of them die, thier killer will see the end of my plasma sword by the end of the day." Zero straightened his body, "Trust me on that."

X looked back at them with a little less enthusiasm. He felt sheepish, and little for suggesting that he could take them out single handedly. He felt as if he were almost as bad as his impostor. Zero caught his look and then turned to him. "X, don't you be beating yourself up again, this was not your fault. It probably would have happened anyway. This just means we have to correct our mistake." Zero then turned around and headed towards the armory. X looked as Zero left the room and whispered something to himself, "Yea, our mistake again." And with that X pushed all other thoughts out of his head, and started to concentrate on becoming mentally ready for the next few battles. X decided it was time to open one of the capsules. It was sure to give him an edge in whatever battle he came up against. Especially facing some of the more serious Mavericks, and Generals of his impostor. "Let's hope I'm picking a right one." X reached out for one and then felt a hand stop his. It was Zero, looking at X strangely as if he was confused with X's actions.

"Why my old friend?" Zero asked as he pulled X away from the capsule, "Why do you want to use this now? I mean you should be fine by yourself. Why have any help in a battle your already going to win?" X grinned up at him and then pulled his hand free. X looked back at the capsule and thought hard about it. He didn't need it, he would be fine, and if he needed it he could always transport back if he needed. "Nothing Zero, just was feeling kinda weak and thought it might help asure a victory." X said as he turned around and started walking. Zero walked with him, and for a while, they said nothing, but exchanged clances often. Then X was the one to break the silence: "You know Zero, it's almost been 30 years since we met, and I'll tell ya, I'm not ashamed of any of it. I couldn't have found a better friend." X looked at him with a bit of awe, and peace. Zero knew that feeling all to well, for he felt the same thing for the blue robot. And so the two friends went off to the weapons center and picked up thier spare armor, and weapons. Both confident, that the other knew what they were doing, almost anticipating what the other would pick up. And then the duo walked into the Ops. room, went over all the info again, they both tapped the crystals on their helmets and left. Ceil watching them, sighed and went back to her work. She loved seing them back together again, especially as best friends.