One week had passed since Zero's return from the dead. The Nightmare phenomenon grew more powerful with each passing day, and it was all the Maverick Hunters could do to keep up with the chaos; between damage control, fighting the actual virus and those infected by it, and scrambling desperately for some sort of answer, they were stretched paper thin. As soon as Zero was cleared for duty, he was immediately put back on the front lines.
Zero's presence quite literally doubled their number of immune Hunters, which was a relief to everyone- except for the other immune Hunter himself. X was still permanently mentally protected against Zero's existence.
At present, Zero, X, and several other Hunters from both their units were gathered in one of the Hunter Headquarters' private meeting rooms. The large conference table and chairs in the center of the room went unused; everyone was too tense to sit. As each Hunter looked around and assessed their company, it was clear why. The 0th and 17th units were among the best in all the Hunters, and the select few who had been called to this meeting by X were the best of their units. Whatever was happening now, it was big.
Zero, of course, had not been called by X for this private meeting. But given the circumstances, they all assumed that had X's mental safeguard not been in place, Zero would have been invited too, so members of his unit had brought him along. Now Zero and the others waited for everyone to file in, before X closed and locked the door behind them.
X turned and addressed the small group. "As I'm sure you've all gathered, this is no ordinary mission briefing. What I'm about to tell you must be kept secret, at least until we know what's going on. We're in the middle of a war, losing good Hunters daily to a seemingly unstoppable virus. The last thing we need is to start a panic."
The Hunters had instinctively formed a single-file row when X began speaking. X now took a stack of papers from the center table and walked down the row, handing one to each Hunter. As he passed Zero, Zero wordlessly reached out and plucked one out of X's hands for himself. The action did not register with X, who continued as if nothing had happened until he reached the last Hunter. X gave him his paper, then stared at his hands in confusion for a moment.
"Something wrong, Commander?" the Hunter asked.
"Huh? Oh, no. I just thought I'd printed off an extra copy for myself."
A few shot sympathetic glances at Zero, which he pretended not to notice in favor of staring intensely at his paper.
"No matter," X continued, "I've already read it.
"What you're looking at is a report detailing the last known activity of teams from the 10th and 3rd Units. Late yesterday evening, a team of inexperienced Hunters from the 10th Unit was deployed to an abandoned industrial sector where we had been picking up evidence of minor Maverick and Nightmare activity. Their initial reports confirmed no major threats, but after thirty minutes without checking in, a navigator tried to contact them and was unable to pick up any of their signals. Virus interference was too strong in the area to get any clear readings, but they were assumed destroyed.
"The initial assumption was that they might have succumb to infection, or stepped on an explosive. They were only rookies, after all. But as a precaution, early this morning a team of senior Hunters from the 3rd was deployed to finish clearing out the area, checking for unusual activity and collecting the bodies if possible. These were all powerful Hunters, with no less than five years experience each. Any one of them would have been more than a match for the initial threat our scans detected. After only ten minutes in the area, they reported picking up unusual readings, before their radios went dead, and their signals went offline too."
X paused for a moment, watching their reactions to this information. The 3rd Unit was well known for having some of the toughest fighters in all the Maverick Hunters, and they were widely respected for their determination and endurance in battle. For a team from the 3rd to be entirely taken out was nothing short of alarming, but to disappear all at once? The gravity of this situation and the urgency of their meeting was felt by all, and the tense atmosphere of the room noticeably darkened.
"I'm afraid it gets worse," X continued, clearly wishing the events stopped there. "As mentioned, virus interference prevents any clear readings or scans by satellite, so a few remote-controlled drones were sent in to gather information. They were all quickly corrupted, but before we lost their signals one drone transmitted the results of a virus scan, and..." X paused again, but took a breath to steel himself for the bad news he was about to deliver, and continued with only a small note of apprehension in his voice, "The drone's scan picked up high amounts of Maverick Virus activity and several Nightmare entities, but it also detected something like the Nightmare virus, only stronger and more complex. The results of the scan were inconclusive, but the readings were reviewed by our best virus researchers, and the drone definitely scanned something far more powerful than the regular Nightmare Virus.
"Now, best case scenario, the drone was malfunctioning, or it scanned a powerful reploid mid-infection and didn't know what to make of it. But when is it ever the best case scenario?" X laughed dryly. For a second, X's gaze fell, and a look came over his face as if his words had reminded him of something, but he dismissed the sensation quickly and turned his attention back to the Hunters in front of him. "No, what this likely means is that the Nightmare virus is mutating. It is growing stronger, and probably adapting to combat what little defense we have against it. And if that is the case... well, I'm sure you finally understand why I've called you all together.
"You lot are the strongest, most skilled, most resourceful Hunters we have. If you can't survive whatever that drone scanned, then nothing else we could throw at it would stand a chance either. Our mission is to deploy to the area and collect information on this new Nightmare. We'll destroy it if possible, but our priority is to find out what we're up against and get out alive.
"You've all been out on the front lines. I know I don't need to explain how desperate our situation already is. We can barely stand against the Nightmare virus as it is. If it has grown stronger, we need to know. We've already lost two teams of Hunters to this in under a day. If we fail..." X let himself trail off. He didn't need to finish that thought.
Finally, with the worst of the briefing out of the way, X's years of leadership took over, and he took a familiar commanding stance and tone of voice. "Time is of the essence, Hunters! My fellow 17th, and you of the 0th, together we are the best hope for stopping this new threat, and it needs to be stopped now. We deploy in one hour. Ready yourselves, and report to the teleportation hub at 1500 hours. We will teleport as close to the industrial sector as possible, then proceed with our investigation on foot. Everyone will take a portable virus scanner, which I will provide before we leave. The navigators will try and support us as long as possible, but we will likely lose contact with them, going by the evidence at hand. We'll be on our own out there, so I'll be counting on you all to support each other. Stay in groups, and remember that our priority is to gather information and stay alive. Until then, I will remind you that this is all confidential information. If word gets out of a possible mutated Nightmare virus that can take out a team of Hunters in one blow, well..." he laughed dryly again, "Let's not let it get out.
"If you have any questions, I'll answer them as best I can. Otherwise, I'll see you all in an hour. Good luck, Hunters."
X saluted in dismissal, and the action was returned by all in the room. The severity of this mission loomed over everyone, and they all left wordlessly to prepare, with the exception of Zero. Zero watched X's face as the other Hunters filed out, until the last one had left and X was, in his mind, alone in the room. Only then did the worry that X had shown traces of finally come out in full force. The calm, experienced leader who was strong when others needed him to be strong was suddenly gone, and in his place was the kindhearted person that Zero had befriended so many years ago, obviously scared that he was about to lead his comrades into a suicide mission. After years of experience reading X's emotions, Zero saw this with ease, and he also saw in X the worry that he would let everyone down, and wouldn't be able to save everyone this time. He saw X's fear of doing the wrong thing, and he saw how everyone depended on X, and how much this weighed down on his shoulders. So when X slumped into a nearby chair and let his head hang, it was a natural action for Zero to kneel beside him, a hand on his shoulder and familiar words coming forth.
"It'll be okay, X, you'll get through this. I'm here for you. I believe in you. You'll find a way to beat this Nightmare thing. We both will, like we always do. After all, that's why we're the best of partners, right?"
Zero gave a comforting smile and squeezed X's shoulder, waiting for his words to help like they always did. It was such a familiar scenario, him supporting X this way, that it took a few moments of unchanged silence from X before Zero remembered that his friend couldn't hear him. Zero's breath hitched, and he almost pulled away; but then X sighed, and he seemed so hopeless and alone that Zero knew he couldn't leave him. So Zero simply knelt there, rubbing circles over X's lower back, until X was ready to get up and leave on his own. Even if X couldn't know it, Zero was determined to still be there for his best friend.
The industrial sector, which had once been a bustling center of production and activity, was now a broken, empty shell of its former glory. Assembly lines stood still, their mechanical arms frozen in place clutching components for the incomplete products on the lines. Machines, powered down and abandoned, had begun to rust and fall apart. Tools and personal belongings were scattered everywhere, forgotten by the workers in a panicked evacuation. Walls were beginning to crumble, age pulling them down after being severely damaged by stray blasts and explosions. Everywhere the eye could see, from the empty factories to the roads between them, were the grim reminders of the massive Maverick attack that had forced the area's abandonment years ago. Although the Maverick Hunters had cleared out the Mavericks, the collateral damage had been great, and the cost of repairing the factories had been deemed too high. The companies which owned the area had decided to cut their losses and move on, leaving the area untouched since.
A thick layer of dirt and grime now coated the ruined factories, almost hiding some of the old scorches and blast marks. The air was heavy with pollution, the dense cloud of smog hanging over the area unchanged by time. Sunlight barely filtered through, leaving the ground dark even at midday. The only light came from a few flickering light bulbs and dangerously sparking exposed wires, powered by a handful of stubborn forgotten generators.
X lead the team as they approached, stopping outside the heavy wall which closed the sector off from the surrounding area. They walked along the wall until they found a gate, chained shut and miraculously still intact. A single charged shot from X took care of the locks, and he and a few others pushed it open. The hinges groaned in protest but eventually gave way.
X lead them in, then turned and faced the group. "This is where we split up. This entrance will be our rendezvous point. Stay in contact with your navigators. If you lose communication, report back to this point immediately. Otherwise, we'll meet back up in half an hour and reassess."
X began calling out names, assigning the Hunters into groups of three and giving them their destinations within the sector.
"Caliber," X finished, calling out to an experienced sniper from the 17th, "we're one short for a final team of three, so it's just going to be you and I. Are you alright with that?"
Caliber looked to Zero, who nodded in understanding, and they both walked over to X. "Yes sir, no objections."
"Good," X nodded, then raised his voice, "Alright Hunters, you know your objectives. Stay on guard, stay safe, and I'll see you all in half an hour. Move out!"
The teams took off, and X lead Caliber and Zero towards one of the main assembly buildings. A large shuttered gate had been blasted through, and they stopped to assess.
"We don't know the last locations of the missing teams," X explained as he ran a hand over the melted edges, "but this looks recent. I'm willing to bet we're on their trail. Caliber, can you see anything on the upper floors?"
Caliber raised his rifle and looked through the scope. "Lots of broken windows, a few places where it looks like the roof caved in, but nothing stands out."
X nodded. "Alright, we'll clear the bottom floor before we try to find a way up."
They slowly made their way inside and began searching room to room. Eventually they reached a room full of conveyor belts and machines, all inactive. A high row of broken windows on the far wall illuminated several crumpled forms on the ground. Caliber kept his sights up as X moved in to inspect, pulling out his portable virus scanner. Zero followed X, wanting a closer look as well.
"These are civilian grade reploids," X called back. "Not our missing Hunters. Scanner shows they were infected with the Nightmare."
"Figure this was the initial threat our guys were deployed to take out?" Caliber asked as X returned to him.
"Most likely. And it looks like they handled the situation without issue."
Zero ran his hand over a fresh blast mark on the wall. "So if they cleared the Mavericks, then where are our missing Hunters? Why didn't they return to base?"
"Isn't that the question of the hour," Caliber agreed.
X turned to Caliber in confusion. "Isn't what the question of the hour?"
Caliber looked to X, then to Zero, and shook his head. "Nothing, just thinking out loud."
X was silent for a moment, his gaze almost blank, then he turned and motioned for Caliber to follow. "Stay focused. Whatever our scans picked up could still be nearby."
X lead the way again as they progressed through the remainder of the first floor, but found nothing except ruins. X noted a fire escape plan on the wall and brought them to a halt.
"Can you figure out our best way to get to the second floor? I'm going to check in with HQ."
"Yes sir," Caliber nodded.
Zero kept watch down the hallway as Caliber studied the map, listening to X communicate with his navigator.
"Alia, do you read? Good, we still have a signal... No, no sign of whatever took our teams out. Anything from the others? ... I see. Over and out."
"Any news?" Caliber asked.
"Nothing so far. The others have all checked in recently and they've found even less than us. What about you?"
Caliber pointed on the map. "Looks like our best bet is a maintenance ladder near the assembly room. Should still be intact given its location."
"Alright, lead the way."
It was a short trek back to the assembly room, where the infected reploids lay destroyed. Zero kept them in his sights as they crossed the room; he was all too familiar with things coming back from the dead. But aside from the echoing sound of their own footsteps, the room was quiet.
Zero looked ahead to X as they moved. He looked determined and level, but Zero was willing to bet that beneath his firm expression, X was just as unnerved as he was. Zero almost wished one of the reploids would attack them so he would have something to focus his energy on. Anything would be better than this nothing, because "nothing" couldn't be dealt with.
Caliber brought them to the ladder and gave it a once-over. "Seems sturdy enough to take our weight."
X moved up and gripped a rung, giving it a testing shake. "I'll go first, wait until I'm up before following. I don't trust this to hold both of us."
Caliber and Zero shared a look and turned around, keeping their eyes on the dead reploids as they listened to the retreating sound of X's boots on the metal rungs.
"All clear!" X called down after a few moments.
Zero jerked his chin towards the ladder. "Go ahead; I'll catch up."
Once Caliber had cleared the ladder, Zero followed after one last glance back at the reploids. Something about where they had fallen set him on edge, but he couldn't figure out why.
Caliber and X had already set out by the time Zero reached the top, but he easily caught up with them. They proceeded as they had on the first floor, slowly going room to room and checking for anything out of the ordinary. The second floor was mostly intact, but small areas had started to crumble, getting worse the further out they went. Eventually they came to a room with a large chunk of the outer wall missing, letting the meager daylight in.
X approached first, then waved Caliber over. "Seems clear. Can you scope the area?"
"On it." Caliber leaned carefully out of the hole in the wall and surveyed what he could through his rifle. "Lots of old destruction. I can see a few of our teams, they look fine." He stepped back from the wall and turned to X. "No news is good news, I suppose."
X grimaced, but nodded. "Let's keep moving. 14 minutes until rendezvous, I want to clear this whole building if possible."
A few minutes passed of silent searching, with the building continuing to deteriorate around them. Soon enough they were having to jump over holes in the floor to progress, or climbing over piles of rubble where the upper floors had entirely collapsed.
X held up a hand, bringing them to a halt. "You hear that?"
Caliber and Zero were quiet for a moment, then Zero said, "Some sort of hum. Electrical maybe?" There was a moment of silence where X looked to Caliber expectantly. Zero elbowed him gently, saying, "He's waiting on you."
Zero looked away so he wouldn't see Caliber's expression, but he still heard the sympathy in his voice when he said, "Yes Commander. Sounds like electricity."
"That's what I'm thinking," X agreed. He cocked his head, regarding Caliber curiously. "You alright? You've been acting weird this whole mission."
Caliber was still looking at Zero. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Alright, but tell me if something's off. I'm counting on you to have my back."
Zero almost winced at that.
X led them towards the source of the humming, which was coming from the end of a nearby hallway. A door there opened into a massive destroyed room. The floor had mostly collapsed, as had the ceiling and parts of the walls.
X stepped cautiously in and looked around. "Down there," he indicated through the hole in the floor. Zero approached the edge and saw what X was pointing to: an emergency generator on the floor below was sputtering and sparking, but mostly intact.
Caliber whistled. "Must have been brand new when it was abandoned, to still be running today. Top of the line fuel source."
X nodded, then pointed across the room. "Which means that terminal over there might still be active. There could be something useful on it."
Caliber approached where the floor had fallen away, the hole stretching from wall to wall. "Heck of a gap though. I can't make this jump, and I don't trust the walls to hold my weight."
"I can make it." X paused, considering. "I'll go over, see what information I can get. You stay here and keep watch, especially above us. Last thing we need is something dropping down from the upper floors."
"I'm going to check out that generator. I can make the jump back up easily," Zero decided.
Caliber nodded to both of them and got into a crouch, rifle up and pointed at the hole in the ceiling. X backed up a few paces then took a running jump, dashed mid-air, and easily cleared the gap. The floor beneath him held, so he approached the terminal and pulled the protective case open. Even from across the room Zero could see lights blinking in it, confirming that it was still somehow functional.
Zero jumped down to the floor below them and looked around. All entrances to the generator room were collapsed or filled with rubble, which explained how they had missed this during their sweep of the first floor. A building this size was sure to have once had multiple generators, so this one likely only powered a small section. Power meant noise and light, which could have drawn their missing hunters or the mystery threat. If he could find where exactly this generator powered, he could likely fast-track their investigation.
There were diagrams on the nearby wall, detailing maintenance and safety procedures, but they were heavily coated in dust and grime. Zero was trying to wipe some of it away when he heard Caliber call from above, "Commander, I think I see something." He dashed back into the center of the room and looked up at where Caliber had his rifle aimed, through the hole in the ceiling above where X was. Zero couldn't see anything from the angle he was at, but whatever it was made Caliber's voice high with panic when he said, "What the-"
There was the loud din of a buster charging. Zero thought it might be X, but then Caliber fired a shot at the same time as a bright purple blast of energy came from above and connected with him. Caliber yelled in shock as he was knocked back, out of Zero's view.
"Caliber!" he and X yelled, almost in unison. Zero dashed again, under the floor on the side of the room where Caliber was so he could finally look up and see where the blast had come from. He charged his buster as he aimed up; up above X, who had moved to the edge of the gap so he could look too, to the floor above him. There, Zero saw himself.
Buster raised and still pointed in Caliber's direction, was another Zero. Only he looked off. He was entirely purple, and his form seemed to flicker at the edges. Zero barely had time to take in his appearance before he stepped off the edge of his floor and landed right in front of X.
X didn't react.
X barely even moved. His gaze was still up, looking to where this strange purple Zero had been seconds ago, head jerking around as if searching. And then Zero felt a horror he had only felt a few times in his life when he realized why.
His electronic mind was screaming several thoughts at him at the same time in a deafening cacophony, but two stuck out above the rest. Alia's voice, calling it a "mental safeguard." And the twisted irony of knowing that X was anything but safe.
The purple Zero was crouched, as if expecting an attack. But it must have somehow understood X's inability to perceive it, because it straightened. And then it laughed. It was a cruel, malicious, insane sound that would surely haunt Zero for years to come, but he could worry about that later. Because then the... reploid, thing, duplicate, whatever it was, raised a purple saber, identical to his own, and steadied for a swing down, right at X's neck.
Zero's buster was still charged. He had one shot. The duplicate was moving slower than normal, whether due to its own limitations or to taunt him, but he had enough time for one shot. X was directly between him and the duplicate, perfectly guarding it from him, but he still had one shot.
Zero fired, and hit X.
He hit X precisely where he had been aiming, right at X's lower legs. The fully-charged blast was powerful enough to knock X's feet right out from under him, exactly as Zero wanted it to. X yelled out, in pain or surprise Zero couldn't tell, as he fell backwards. The saber swung and connected, and there was the horrible screech of metal tearing, but it missed its initial mark. The blade sliced into X's chest, missing his neck entirely.
X continued to fall, landing on his back on the ground in front of Zero. Zero didn't take his eyes off the duplicate, already charging another blast. It stared down at him and grinned, then threw its head back and laughed again. Zero fired, but it jumped impossibly high, the shot just barely missing its feet. The duplicate landed on the floor it had originally come from and stepped back out of view, its insane laughter never ceasing even as it faded away.
Zero cursed. He wanted to give chase, but he had more pressing issues right now. He ran over to X, who hadn't moved since his fall, and crouched beside him. "X... shit, X, can you hear me?" It was a pointless question in more ways than one, but Zero didn't care. X's eyes were open, but there was no light behind them. He ran his hands over the edges of the wide slash in X's chest, which had torn through armor and into the delicate machinery below. Wires were severed and sparking, metal was twisted and torn away, but his core was intact. Zero leaned back on his feet and let his head fall, closing his eyes. Thank Asimov, his core was intact. The damage was bad, but X would survive it.
Zero carefully gathered X's limp form into his arms and stood. He still needed to check on Caliber. Zero ran at the side wall, kicked off it, and boosted himself mid-air, just barely clearing the jump with X's extra weight. As soon as he could see Caliber though, Zero knew he was lost. The blast had gone straight through his torso, taking the lower half of his core with it. The upper half was molten red and dripping fuel. Zero was no medic, but even he knew there was no coming back from something like that.
He was sorry to leave his comrade in a place like this, but he knew he had to move. He needed to get X to a medic, and he needed to warn the others and have them evacuate. He tried to call HQ, but wasn't surprised when he got nothing but static. He spared one last glance back at where his duplicate had disappeared, then down at X's limp form, and ran out of the room.
Zero hoped he wouldn't be alone at the rendezvous.
The days after the mission seemed to blur.
Most of the Hunters they had been with had already been at the rendezvous point when Zero had arrived with X in his arms. He would later learn that they had all lost contact with their navigators minutes after X had last checked in with Alia, and per X's orders had returned early. Two teams were absent; they had been exploring the area directly north of X's team.
The Hunters waited for their missing teams. Snipers scaled the perimeter wall and surveyed as much as they could. Every Hunter with a buster-type weapon had fired charged shots into the air simultaneously in hopes of being seen. But 40 minutes after their initial arrival on site, Zero made the call to return to their teleportation point. X, who Zero still carried in his arms, couldn't wait any longer to see a medic.
Their return to Headquarters had been bittersweet. Six missing, one confirmed dead, X wounded, and no-one but Zero with any findings were not the results they had been hoping for. The other Hunters left for debriefing, while Zero carried X to the medical ward. At some point someone offered to take X there on his behalf, but whatever they saw in Zero's expression made them back off instantly. Any other time, Zero would have felt guilty for dismissing their good intent. Then, Zero's thoughts were only for two beings. X, and...
That thing.
Zero had his debriefing with Signas in the waiting room outside the medical ward. He refused to be any farther away from X. He recounted everything he could, then Signas left him to wait on X. At some point Zero saw someone leave the ward with X's portable virus scanner. Zero idly wondered what they would find.
It was well into the night the next time someone spoke to Zero. Alia stepped into the waiting room and wordlessly took the chair next to him. She waited, ever patient, for Zero to break the silence.
"No-one's told me anything about X yet, and I'll be in for quite a reprimand if I barge in."
She laughed quietly, relief clear on her face that Zero was making jokes. "Considering all the trouble you usually give our medics, they might repurpose you into a dishwasher."
Zero grinned and scooted his chair closer, close enough that they could touch shoulders. He didn't bother lying to himself that the contact was for her sake alone.
"How was he, before they took over?" Alia nodded towards the ward.
Zero sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose (a habit he'd picked up from X years ago.) "That's the worrying part. I inspected the damage first-hand, and it was bad, but it wasn't this bad." He gestured aimlessly. "He should be repaired by now, or at least at the point someone could tell me something."
Alia nodded. "The not-knowing is always the hardest part. What about you? I know you're worried about X, but how are you otherwise?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't unnerved by what we found. The being that attacked our team was surely our mystery threat, but I'm just not sure what to make of it. I've seen insane Mavericks before, but never like that."
"That's actually something I wanted to talk to you about," Alia interjected.
Zero nodded for her to continue.
"I would have come up here to check on you and X earlier, but I was in R&D, seeing what they'd found on X's scanner. It never got a good read of that being, but what the scanner did pick up was almost a perfect match for the Nightmare virus."
Zero leaned back in his chair, letting his helmet thump against the wall behind him. "So that thing was a copy of me, infected with the virus?"
"We just don't know," Alia shook her head. "I've gone over the report you made to Signas. You mentioned it flickered around the edges? That almost sounds like some sort of hologram or projection."
"A hologram couldn't deal damage like it did," Zero said bluntly, grimacing at the memory.
"I know. It's like everything we learn about this thing only raises more questions than answers."
Anything Zero might have said next died on his tongue when the doors to the medical ward opened to reveal one of their chief doctors. Zero and Alia were immediately on their feet and met him halfway across the room.
Zero almost had to bite his tongue to hold back his questions, but thankfully the doctor didn't make them wait. "X suffered no critical damage, and we've got him fully repaired."
It was good news, but that wasn't reflected in the doctor's expression. "So what's wrong?" Zero asked.
"He hasn't come back online, and we don't know why. All his systems are running normal, he's fully recharged, but he's completely unresponsive. We've run every scan we can, and the only abnormality we've found has been his mental activity. His electronic brain seems to be running on overdrive, then going almost into hibernation, then back into overdrive."
"Have you been able to get any readings from that activity?" Alia asked.
The doctor shook his head. "No. In fact, we're almost completely locked out of X's systems. Aside from basic system maintenance readouts, we can't interface with him at all."
Zero and Alia shared a surprised look, then turned back to the doctor. "How is that even possible?" Zero asked.
The doctor frowned. "It's hard to say. X's systems are still largely a mystery to us, and his defenses against tampering are unmatched."
"I see," Alia said quietly. "He really is one of a kind, isn't he?"
Zero put a hand on her shoulder, then addressed the doctor. "So what's next?"
The doctor motioned for them to follow as he turned and went back into the ward. "For now we've done all we can. I've got some of my best looking into Dr. Cain's original notes on X, hopefully they'll find something. But right now you're welcome to visit him."
Due to the nature of reploid recovery, long-term care wasn't really needed in their medical ward. The closest they had were a number of charging pods, which the doctor led them to. X lay in one, wires and sensors hooked up all over him, their readouts displayed on a number of holographic screens around the pod. The doctor dismissed the screens as they got close, and Zero lay a hand on the glass window.
Physically, X looked fine. Their medical team had done a superb job mending his injuries; X looked almost good as new. But his face was wrong. Zero knew X dreamed while he slept, the same as he did. Zero had seen X asleep before, and his face would twitch and move in response to his dreams. But X's face now was eerily blank.
Zero and Alia spent some time talking to the doctor, asking questions about the scan results, but all the while Zero's gaze kept slipping back to X's empty expression. It upset him more than it should have, and it wasn't until they were leaving the ward that Zero realized why.
The last time he'd seen X's expression so blank was a week ago, when he'd first tried in vain to get X to see him.
The days that followed were busy, even by crisis standards. Zero was now their sole immune Hunter, and their best chance at taking down the purple duplicate. Nightmare Zero, it would come to be called.
Nightmare Zero didn't stay quiet for long. Teams of Hunters kept disappearing, and the few that managed to escape its attacks reported that it fought with a crazed ferocity, its intent only to slaughter. Most frustratingly, it always seemed to be where Zero wasn't. By the time Zero arrived on the scene, it was always long gone.
The abandoned industrial sector where it had first been encountered was scoured for clues, this time by a group of only six, led by Zero. They did not split up, so ground was covered very slowly. They recovered Caliber's body, but found nothing else in that particular building. North of that, they eventually found their missing two teams from X's mission, as well as the Hunters they had been dispatched to find in the first place. All had been ripped to shreds by a beam saber. Their bodies were recovered too.
Aside from their fallen allies, there simply wasn't anything to find. Zero was ready to scream by the time they returned to base, and nearly did so when he was informed that Nightmare Zero had ambushed and killed another team of Hunters while he was away.
Zero felt like he was at his wits' end. This thing was clearly toying with them, yet they were still no closer to answers than they'd been when it first appeared. His allies were dying left and right, the Nightmare phenomenon was spreading uncontrolled, and X was still comatose.
X's state really was the worst of it. Zero could deal with crisis, but he'd never had to do it alone before. Was this how X had felt when Zero was gone, back when X could still remember him? Like he had no-one he could rely on for support? Sure Zero got along well with Signas, Alia, and a few others, but his relationship with X had always been special. Stronger than others. Even the last week, X had still been there to provide a source of optimism and hope.
But now X was stuck in a charging pod. Space was in short supply in the medical ward, and X's condition was unchanging, so the call was made to move him to his personal pod. They continued to monitor him, and someone from medical checked up on him daily, but for now all they could do was wait and hope that their researchers would find some sort of answer.
In what little free time he had between missions, Zero often found himself by X's side, watching his friend for any sign of change. When Zero had his own personal charging pod moved next to X's, no-one commented.
Zero walked slowly, on guard for any sign of movement. Headquarters' scanners had picked up an extremely strong viral presence in this hydro-electric dam, and Zero had been dispatched just minutes ago to investigate. The evacuated workers told him of several sudden power surges, followed by an explosion in a lower level. Some of the workers were still missing, and were presumed trapped inside, or worse. The risk of infection was too great to send anyone but Zero, but a team of Hunters from the 0th were stationed outside in case he called for backup.
But so far, Zero hadn't encountered anything. No Nightmare, no Mavericks, only an ongoing alarm that was really starting to grate on his nerves. But from the severity of what their scanners had picked up, he should have encountered something by now. This lack of threat was unnerving, and familiar. Zero's instincts told him he knew what he would find, and he was rarely wrong.
When Zero tried to check in with his navigator and couldn't get a signal, his suspicions were all but confirmed. Sudden unexplained radio silence had been their only warning so far of Nightmare Zero's attacks. The rational part of him said to withdraw; walking into an obvious trap was never a good idea, and the longer he went without checking in, the more likely his backup team would be sent in after him. But the rational part of him was almost drowned out by the part of him that wanted revenge. Revenge for all his fallen allies, revenge for those that had barely escaped with their lives, but most of all Zero wanted revenge for X.
And besides, Zero reasoned with himself as he pressed on, he had walked into traps before and come out unharmed. He wasn't ranked S-class for nothing. And who knew how long it would be before Zero got another chance at taking his duplicate out. No, rationality be damned, Zero wasn't withdrawing.
Over the sound of the alarm, Zero heard what sounded like wind and rushing water. Following the sound, Zero descended deeper into the structure until he was on a catwalk in a massive concrete room, overlooking the generators. In the wall farthest from him was a massive hole, blown completely through the concrete from the outside. Daylight streamed in, and Zero could hear the river below through the opening. A blast that strong would have explained the explosion the workers had heard. But a blast that strong would also take some sort of explosives, and Nightmare Zero hadn't yet attacked anywhere that stored explosives of that strength. Zero knew the implications, and he didn't like them; Nightmare Zero wasn't working alone.
Setting that aside as a concern for later, Zero jumped from the catwalk to the ground below. As he made his way to the site of the explosion, he came across a handful of reploid workers, all cut to pieces. It looked like they had all been killed while running away. When he inspected their injuries, some of the melted metal around the slash marks was still hot to the touch. Zero stood, and drew his saber. His duplicate couldn't be far.
A purple glow was Zero's only warning. He dashed from the spot he had been standing the moment before a large blast connected with the floor. He whipped around, eyes frantically scanning above him. On top of one of the generators, buster still raised, was Nightmare Zero. It stared at him for a second, then lowered its buster and cocked its head. "Aww, I missed."
"Not surprising for a cheap knockoff," Zero growled, pointing the tip of his saber at it. "Trust me though, I won't miss. I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done to my friends."
"Friends?" It seemed to consider the word, before grinning abnormally wide. "X... Where is X?"
"Like you don't know!" Zero spat. "What did you do to him?!"
"X was... broken. He can't see us. Broken reploids... must be retired. I promised X I would retire him... if he ever went Maverick." Its voice crackled like static when it said the word Maverick.
Hearing the promise X had asked of him so long ago come from such a twisted being's mouth was almost like a punch to the gut. "You're a special kind of insane. I'm going to drag your broken body back to Headquarters, and they can tear you apart until they figure out what you did to X."
"X..." It giggled like it knew something Zero didn't. "X... I wasn't able to retire him. You made me miss. Where is he? Where is X?"
"Enough!" Zero shouted, swinging his blade and sending a streak of energy in Nightmare Zero's direction. It side-stepped the attack and laughed, jumping down to Zero's level. Zero didn't waste a second, instantly charging it and unleashing a flurry of swings. It parried with its own saber, then moved to counter-attack.
Its attacks were fast and powerful, but sloppy. Nightmare Zero fought like its only concern was dealing damage, with little regard to its own safety. Zero fought patiently, unable to get a blow in return due to the frenzied speed, but knowing it was only a matter of time before an opening presented itself. The longer Zero fought, the more familiar the attacks became. This thing fought like him, but with significantly less skill. When it finally dropped its guard to ready for a powerful overhead swing, Zero seized his chance.
His saber connected with his duplicate, right across its chest. Zero danced back, ready to defend. But in place of the expected attack was a pained cry. Nightmare Zero stumbled back, almost losing its balance. For a moment it gaped at Zero, open-mouthed, before retreating further away.
Its reaction to such a light hit was confusing. A feint, perhaps? But it had done so in a way that had left itself completely defenseless. It seemed to be muttering something to itself, but even Zero's advanced hearing couldn't make out any words.
From so far away, Zero had ample time to react to its next attack. It charged its buster for a moment before striking it to the floor, sending a wave of purple energy out in all directions. Zero jumped for the closest generator, clinging to its side while the energy crashed below him. Nightmare Zero then seemed to recover from whatever daze it had been in, because it grinned up at him before dashing away towards the far wall.
"You bastard, I won't let you get away!" Zero called as he gave chase. Nightmare Zero was, frustratingly, just as fast as Zero himself. It made it to the far wall and jumped, almost clearing half the distance to the hole in one leap. Zero cursed; everything else about it was inferior to him, so why was it so damn agile? By the time Zero had climbed his way up a quarter of the distance, it was already through the opening.
Zero climbed as fast as he could, making it to the opening and standing in the ring of broken concrete. Laughter from above drew his attention, and when he leaned out the other side and looked up, Nightmare Zero was far above him. It clung to the outside of the dam and just... stared at him.
Zero grabbed the wall next to him, ready to go after it, when he heard a faint beeping sound coming from below him. Below his feet, planted on the wall just beneath the opening, was a remote-controlled explosive about to detonate.
Well fuck, there was the trap he'd walked into.
Zero made a split-second decision and leapt into the air, dashing away from the wall. The explosive went off and launched him even farther away, giving him a perfect view of how it also caused more of the wall to collapse, right where he would have been if he'd tried to retreat back inside. His armor absorbed the damage easily, but did nothing to stop his trajectory. Horizontal force gave way to gravity, and Zero started to fall.
As he plummeted towards the river below, Zero spun himself mid-air so he could try and see where Nightmare Zero ran off to. But it was already gone.
Zero was mostly dry by the time he'd climbed out of the river and returned to his backup team. He was almost completely dry by the time he'd finished giving his report to Signas, and finished receiving his reprimand for not withdrawing when they lost contact.
Everything about Zero was finally dry, except for his hair. Zero had wrung out his hair, and towel-dried it as best as he could. It still needed a good blow-drying and a brushing, but that could wait. Zero was tired, and grumpy, and wanted to lie down and recharge. Usually he wouldn't get into his pod with wet hair, but he'd forgive himself this one time.
The door to the room containing his and X's charging pods slid open, and an almost blindingly bright blue light spilled out. Zero jumped back in surprise, raising a hand to shield his eyes. His exhaustion forgotten, Zero peered as best he could into the room, trying to make out the cause.
His vision barely had a moment to adjust, when the light was suddenly gone. Yet in that moment, Zero was almost sure he had seen a figure standing over X's charging pod, a hand laid on its surface and face turned to stare at him. The figure's expression had been mostly obscured by the intensity of the light, but Zero could have sworn he saw something like regret on their face. A face that belonged to a man long dead.
"Dr. Light?" Zero asked the empty room. He had so many questions, but pushed them all aside in favor of rushing to X's pod. His eyes searched X's unconscious form for any sign of change or harm, but found none. He stepped to the head of the pod, pulling up the holographic screens that displayed X's readouts. X's fluctuating mental activity had plateaued over the last few minutes. Then before his eyes it changed again, raising to a normal level and holding.
There was a mechanical hiss, and Zero turned to see the cover of X's charging pod lifting. X slowly opened his eyes, and they shone with their usual brilliant green light.
Zero watched in stunned silence as X carefully sat up, a hand coming to his head and a dazed expression on his face. For a moment he merely stared at his lap, then he blinked a few times and looked around.
A quiet laugh startled Zero, until he realized it had come from him. He could feel his mouth stretched in a ridiculously wide grin. He still had questions, perhaps even more than before, but they seemed insignificant in comparison to the reality before him. Somehow, impossibly, the specter of X's creator had restored X's broken mind. X was awake and healthy- albeit a little confused.
Zero figured he'd been staring like an idiot long enough, but he couldn't help himself from turning to the empty air where the specter had been and saying, "Thank you doctor."
"Who're you talking to?"
The question was muttered and groggy, but it had unmistakably come from X. Zero stared wide-eyed at X for a moment, then quickly glanced around the room. No-one else had come in yet- was X already patched back into communications?
Zero waited a moment to see if X would say anything else, but X just continued to stare in confusion, his face a little scrunched up and his eyes looking directly at Zero.
It couldn't be.
Zero slowly took a step to his left, and X's gaze never left his face, although he somehow managed to look even more confused. "Zero? Are you alright?"
Zero opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
"Did something happen? My head still feels fuzzy, I can't quite remember what was happening before I went offline. Why did I... why is your hair all wet?
"I remember Sigma... we were... you were..." X trailed off, then jumped so suddenly it made Zero take a step back. "Zero you're alive!"
The next thing Zero knew X was stumbling out of his pod, and Zero barely managed to move fast enough to stop his disoriented friend from crashing to the floor. X seemed unaware of his precarious mobility and wrapped his arms around Zero's neck in a crushing hug. The motion sent them both falling backwards, with Zero landing on his back still holding X, and X squeezing as tight as he could and continuing to ramble.
"Zero you're okay! You're yourself too, you're not Maverick! How did this happen, where have you... where..." X sat up a little and stared into Zero's eyes, "You were here. You have been for... for a week? How... why couldn't I..." X's mouth hung open, then pulled tight as his eyes began to water, "Oh Zero I'm so... I'm so sorry I-"
"Shh, shh, it's okay," Zero whispered, finally finding his voice again. He reached up and cupped the side of X's face, running his thumb over his cheek to catch the tears. "It's okay, X, I'm here. I know it wasn't your fault. I don't know why or how it happened, but I know you would never make yourself forget me. I just..." Zero trailed off, not knowing what else to say. By Asimov, if he could have cried he would have in that moment. Instead he wrapped his arms around X and pulled him back down, feeling him bury his face into Zero's shoulder. He held X tight as he cried, and X held him back just as tight.
Zero would hold X as long as he needed. There were still other pressing matters, like the Nightmare phenomenon and Nightmare Zero, and figuring out just what exactly had happened to X, but all of that could wait. Right now, Zero would be there for X. And he swore to himself, nothing would separate them ever again.