Back at MHHQ the
hunter's recieved their new weapon and gathered in the control room
for their new
mission.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pierce
Spear (uncharged- fires a single spear in a straight line, can pierce
armor, charged- fires multiple spears into the air which rain down on
the battle field )
secondary effect: increases strength on all
projectile weapons and enables weapons to pierce some light-medium
armor
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Alright"
Zero began, "We have reason to believe that the mavericks will
be sending an assasin to take out our forces one by one. So from this
point on you are all now linked, if one goes offline for any reason
the others will be immediately alerted and sent your exact
coordinates. This means no monkey business, we can't afford to lose
any more hunters. As for the assasin we have to resume normal
activity to ensure they do not realise what we know."
Zero
stopped and walked to the left a little as the screen lit up.
"For
the next mission, we heard tell of an abandoned weapons factory we
shut down long ago being reawakened and resuming production.
Investigate and report, we suspect there may be maverick
forces."
Things had been quiet for the past few days.
After the destruction of the Hammer, Jet had waited in the remains of
MHHQ for any news of Flash or Reaver. But nothing had come. Reaver's
motives were still a mystery to him, he couldn't figure out why he
had taken Flash and not said a word to him. And the lack of maverick
trouble left him uneasy, perhaps they were regrouping after the
assault on MHHQ but more likely they were planning some new scheme.
Jet had been on the edge for days and he jumped when he heard of the
new mission. An abandoned weapons factory was cranking out arms
again? The mavericks had been quiet but they were as busy as ever.
Jet headed towards the teleporter when the thought struck him that he
might be doing this alone. Many of the rookies had been killed in the
line of duty or disappeared while on the missions. Now that Flash and
Reaver had disappeared his list of allies had grown thin indeed. He
hadn't seen Abyss in days either, not since the Hammer. And he didn't
like the thought of going in alone. Especially not with this assasin
running around, he would much rather have someone to watch his
back.
"Whatever," he thought, "I'll watch my own
back, just gotta be careful, can't do anything too reckless. And we
are desperately in need of hunters, we lost far too many recently,
I've gotta do this right and come back in one piece."
-At
the abandoned weapons factory-
The maverick general stood
impatiently as small maverick walked up to him and handed him a vial
with blue contents.
"Gah, what is this?" the maverick
general snarled.
"Backupm" replied the minor
maverick.
"You mean to tell me this... is my entire backup?"
"Yes sir, this is the purified strain, it won't cause the
same thing to happen to you as the previous form did to Tundra."
"It
better not.. how soon until they'll be here?"
"Sir we
expect them to be here any time now."
"Good, remember
make it seem like we're really here to make weapons, not to trap the
hunters. It'll do us no good if they figure out what we're up to. The
wouldn't have heard all about the assasin, stupid hunters they are.
It's all a rouse to lure them here where they'll all meet their
demise, one at a time."
Jet was about to leave when he
noticed Flash outside heading in the direction of MHHQ. Forgetting
all about the mission he ran outside to see how his friend was. Then
he pulled out a sword and began attacking! Jet instinctively
activated his sabers and barely parried the blows. Flash kept
swinging like one possessed, Jet couldn't get a moment's break to
ready himself, he was forced to parry again and again as he was
beaten backwards. He fell backwards onto the ground and used his feet
to flip Flash over the top of him and send him flying. Getting to his
feet again, Jet shot Tundra's ice beam at Flash encasing him in a
block of ice.
"JUST BECAUSE I KNEW YOU DOESN'T MEAN I WONT
ANNIHILATE YOU!" screamed Flash, breaking free of the ice. Then
his backup appeared, "Goodbye Jet it was nice knowing you!"
he sneered.
"Bring it," snarled Jet, "I won't lost
to you." He fired a blast of Inundation destroying half the
mavericks and washing the rest into the nearby river. He flew up
raining energy down on Flash.
"I don't know why you've gone
maverick but you're going down. Go back to where you came from or die
now."
At the same time a battalion of hunters marched out of
the base. Flash threw a few daggers in their direction and teleported
away laughing.
"That was odd," thought Jet, "Why
would he betray us? No matter, we have a mission to complete."
Jet
turned to the hunters behind him, "Alright, lets storm that
factory!"
Inside, the factory was quiet until one of the
hanger doors exploded inward. The force of hunters entered the
building and began searching for whoever had reactivated the
facility.
There were countless mavericks hanging down from the
rafters watching the hunters invade the factory.
"Hahaha
attack them!" said an unknown voice. The mavericks left down and
began to attack.
Mavericks began falling from above and the
factory was embroiled in chaos, energy flew in every direction. Jet
battled his way over to a conveyor belt that was kicking out weapons
and grabbed up a gatling gun and began mowing the mavericks down.
Slowly the mavericks began to retreat. Jet blasted the final maverick
into a heap of scrap and led his team farther into the facility. He
didn't like how easily they had given up, he'd expected more
resistance than that and his mind was still on the mysterious
assasin.
Suddenly an enormous tire fell from the ceiling crushing
several hunters. Jet's eyes fixed on a small brown shape that bounced
down in front of them.
"I'm Race Raccoon, and I'll be
your destructor tonight, so prepare to be driven to the scrap heap."
the general said with a roaring laugh.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:
Race Raccoon
Model number: hsp 725- high speed attack force
unit
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 170 lbs
Armor description:
black and brow striped over chest and legs, has wheels mounted on
shoulders, legs ( sides and back) and has a huge black stripe over
his eyes, his head is light brown.
Weapon specialty: Bounce Tire
(uncharged- fires 2 tires that bounce forward, charged- covers the
user in a giant tire and allows them to bounce over/on enemies or
just to get around faster.)
Unit: maverick 4th
Short bio: race
raccoon was originally a government commissioned unit built for high
speed attacks in urban areas, work on him was halted during the
latest maverick uprising, and while work was halted, one of the
scientists working on him accidentally implanted a piece of sigma
that contained a the maverick virus as his anti virus chip. The
result was upon activation he turned on his makers and destroyed them
all, he then sought out sigma and has been working for him ever
since. His attack power is actually quite high despite the fact he
uses tires to do his attacking, not much is known about his
personality due to his activation led to an immediate viral
corruption.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"So you're the one who reactivated this factory huh?" He jumped over an incoming tire and did a backflip landing on the weapons belt. He quickly snatched up two machine guns and began blasting at the raccoon indicating his hunters to do the same. The maverick moved with unseen speed and seemingly dodged all the bullets. He shot by like lightning, felling one hunter after another.
All of a
sudden Flare slammed through the window. He landed behind the
racoon.
"Woah, Flare? I thought you were dead!" the
raccoon cried in surprise. He was distraced long enough for Jet to
get a few shots in forcing him to duck for cover.
"Yeah, I'm
alive. If you can call it that..." He replied in a cool tone. He
pointed to his armless shoulder, apparently not yet fixed.
"So,
you came to let us a hand here? We really could use some
reinforcements..."
Flare suddenly grabs a machine gun from
his back and points it to the general.
"Not quite..."
As
he unloaded his bullets the raccoon ran for his life. "Flash!"
he yelled, "I know you're in here, give me a hand!"
Suddenly
Jet saw a shurikan coming at him. Dropping the guns, Jet pulled out
his sabers and spun then around deflecting the projectiles. He heard
commotion behind him as his troops fired at everything, including
Flare.
"NO!" Jet yelled, sheilding Flare's body with his
own. "Don't shoot him, fire at the raccoon, fire at
Flash!"
Suddenly Race appeared behind Jet and decided to take
advantage of his distraction.
"Mwahahahah!" laughed Race
as he grabbed Jet by the back of the neck and lifted him up. "Hahaha
you thought you could beat me, but now you're all mine!"
He
held Jet's arms still while Flash dashed up and slashed him in the
chest. Jet cried out in pain as he struggled unable to block or
dodge. Suddenly a blast of fire hit Race in the head and he hopped
away shouting angrily. Flare ran forward and gave Flash a kick to the
face allowing Jet to get to his feet. Jet's troops fired as Flash ran
for it but several were wiped out suddenly by a giant tire. Race
laughed as he stood on the catwalk above. Angrilly, Jet hurled both
his sabers at the catwalk, neatly slicing through the metal. Race
cried out as he fell through the air. The general's body slammed into
the metal below breaking one of his legs. He looked up weakly to see
the elemental cannon inches from his face.
"Scum,"
snarled Jet as he blasted the maverick into nothing.
Flash was
so busy running from the hunters he didn't notice Flare standing
before him. Flare grabbed him and slammed him against a wall holding
his single hand tightly around his neck.
"It's your fault
Reaver had fallen isn't it?" he snarled angrilly.
"Y..you
think that I did it? You fool, even if I did I would have done it a
much more...whats the word...colorful way!" Flash said, flipping
around double kicking Flare in the chest and knocking him away. He
picked Flare up over his head intending to snap him in half.
"Any
last words before I rip you apart? Hey, Race come here! We have a
nuisance that needs decapitating!" he called.
"Sorry do
disappoint you," snarled Jet as he sliced Flash in the back
causing him to drop Flare. Flash howled in pain and hopped away, out
of Jet's immediate reach.
"Your friend seems a little bit
dead," continued Jet gesturing to the remains of the raccoon
maverick. "And you're the next piece of roadkill!"
As he
spoke, Jet's troops also surrounded Flash, as did Flare.
Jet waves
his saber in front of Flash threateningly, "Surrender or die
maverick!"
Flash collasped on the ground,
"C..come..on...Jet...you...wouldn't...kill..your...friend...would...you?"
He
dropped his sword pretending to be very low on power and as the
hunters lowered their weapons, he jumped up and did a spin attact
hitting all who surrounded him. Recovering fast Jet blasted Flash
back onto his butt.
"You aren't my friend, you're a
maverick," replied Jet as he swiftly sliced Flash's weapon arm
off. "And now you're going to tell me why you became a maverick
or you'll find your head down there next to that arm!"
"You
really want to know!" Flash screamed, "Well I'm sorry to
disippoint you but I don't know, the last I saw of Reaver he was
surrounded by mavericks and then they did something to my head and I
don't know why I hate you but I know you are against me!"
Flash
struggled to get up. "Ok fine! Kill me! Though I don't see how
you can deal with murdering your own friend!"
Flare got up weakly, sparks flying off him. In an act of instinct, he grabs his rifle and sprays bullets into Flash's direction...
Jet was
considering his options when 2 of his men fell to the ground. Sensing
opportunity Flash tried to break free and run but Jet jumped on him.
He ordered his troops to tie and gag Flash and return him to hunter
base.
"Maybe Alia can figure out whats wrong with him,"
he thought as a few men teleported away with Flash. He turned to face
the enemy who had shot his hunters in the back and was surprised to
see Flare standing weakly holding a rifle.
"What the hell was
that for?" demanded Jet pointing a saber in Flare's
direction.
Flare stood quiet for a while, still and holding
his rifle for a time.. More sparks came from his head while his eyes
twitched a bit, he was clearly badly damaged.
"I-I guess you
won't need me anymore here."
He dropped his weapon and
clumsily walked to the window he crashed through earlier.
"I'll
think I'll lay low for a while, I don't think we'll ever s- "
He
got interrupted by a strange bleep from his head, which seemed to
catch his attention.
"Hmmm... On second thought, maybe we
will see each other again after all!" He laughed a bit and threw
himself out of the window falling splat onto the ground below. He got
up and hopped onto a nearby ride chaser and rode off into the
distance, swerving as if he were incredibly drunk...
Jet
would've been more surprised but he'd come to expect such acts from
the Reaver models. He didn't know what Flare was up to but at this
point it didn't matter, their paths would no doubt cross again one
day when he least expected it. He was however worried about Reaver,
after seeing what had happened to Flash he feared the worst for his
friend. He let out a sigh as Flare drove off into the distance,
occasionally swerving and hitting things due to his one arm.
Jet
strode back into the factory as his team completed the mission.
"Jet
to HQ," he said speaking into the comm, "I've secured the
factory and all hostiles have been eliminated. Do we set charges and
blow the place up or could we use this for ourselves
somehow?"
Suddenly a huge shadow appeared over everyone,
they paused once more and looked up. The massive craft blocked out
the remaining light from the setting sun. Without warning it fired a
single shot into the crowd. It struck the factory sparing the hunters
the choice of its fate. The blast knocked everyone away damaged, but
alive.
One of the hunters landed and as he opened his eyes he saw
the badly mangled head of Race Raccoon. Hoping it still had some
power left he tried to copy
it...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapon
specialty: Bounce Tire (uncharged- fires 2 tires that bounce forward,
charged- covers the user in a giant tire and allows them to bounce
over/on enemies or just to get around faster.)
secondary- (only
when equpped with this weapon) increases users speed by 25
also
(regardless of if equipped or not) adds an airdash/dash (to users
with out normal airdash/dash capabilities) /additional airdash/dash
(to users with airdash/dash
abilities.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alia turned Flash over on his side and began to search
for anything unusual. "I think I have it," she said. "See
this flashing device on the back of his head? I think that is the
cause of this mess. I'm afraid if we take it off though that he'd be
killed..."
Suddenly Flash began to shake violently, straining
to get off the table on which he was tied. Suddenly he burst loose
and punched the closest hunter. Another dashed forward and tackled
him.
Alia ran forward and tore the chip off his head, "We'll
have to take that chance I'm afraid.."
Flash's body went
completely limp as he lay unmoving on the floor.
"Take
him to the maintanence room." ordered Zero. "But watch him,
he's played dead before as a ruse. However, if he can be saved I want
Lifesaver to do it, we're in dire need of hunters now."
Jet
walked into the room and watched as Flash was carried away. Then an
explosion rocked MHHQ.
"The hell!" cried Zero, "That
came from the inside!"
"That is correct Zero," came
a clam voice from the smoking hole. It was one of the hunters, Spread
Sphinx.
"Zero, I'm defecting to the mavericks," she
continued.
"I see..." replied Zero. "Spread, you
realize this is Hunter HQ right and that there are hundreds of
hunters here right now?"
"I don't care, most of them are
rookies anyway. None are as seasoned combatants as you, I or as X
was."
"Spread, can I just ask-" began one of the
hunters but Spread cut him off.
"I don't care how many
hunters there are here. It's been a dream of mine to fight the
legendary X ever since I was first built but repeatedly he refused to
fight me. 'Fighting is wrong,' is all he ever said. Then he died, so
I couldn't get the chance to anymore. I'm going to fight the
legendary Zero instead. I demand a dual, there will be no other
hunters involved."
Sadly Zero shook his head. "You know
you always could have asked, you didn't need to go maverick like
this."
Spread Sphinx just stared at him.
"Fine, in
two days I'll fight you. I suggest you leave now if you don't want
all of these hunters to pick you apart."
"I'll be here,"
replied the former hunter.
END OF CHAPTER 13