Chapter 20 - So The Souls Wander

Cicero tilted back in his chair, tossing another manilla folder out on to the middle of his office, where the stack was rising slowly. He snatched up another folder and began flipping through it slowly, spinning his golden pen in his fingers before adding his signature on the dotted line at the bottom of the page. He threw that one just like the last, hearing it land on the top of the pile.

'Isn't this the most exciting thing in the world..'

Goompas pushed back his chair and got to his feet, tossing the folder in his hand down on to his large mahogany desk and walking out around it. He stepped over the rather large pile of folders ranging in color. He sighed a little as he passed by it and set his hands against the sides of his head, rubbing his temples.

'Bothersome..' "Break time!" 'And time to check up on Doctor Raijouta.'

Goompas slid out of his office and walked down a hallway, making his way down the same corridors he went down the last time. Goompas was sure that Raijouta and his highly skilled team of Roboticists would be finished with the Wandering Souls by this point. He had given them enough time and resources to have it completed by last week, but set backs had occurred, like they always did, and they still were not finished. He stopped in front of the door and sighed heavily as he set his hand on the glowing green panel. He took a glance behind him at the walls and shook his head.

'I'm getting someone to repaint these damn hallways.. The colors suck.'

"Break time!"

Cicero lifted his head from the current folder he was looking through and gave a small smirk. He flipped the folder closed and tossed it back on to his desk. He pushed his chair out away from the desk and got to his feet, stretching a little. He made his way to the door to his office and watched Goompas make his way out of a door on the other side of the room.

'That 'Mavericks' folder.. I wonder.. Time for some Mission Impossible stuff.'

Cicero dove into Goompas' room and rolled across the floor and to his feet in front of the door that Goompas had left in. He inched the door open and slid out of it, scuttling across the floor like a crab until he came to an intersection. He glanced both ways down the hall and saw Goompas' feet off to the right.

'I've never been down here before. This is something only for the President, it seems.'

Cicero slid up the wall slowly and dove to the other side of the corridor, rolling to his feet against the other wall. He stepped toward the wall edge and glanced out around it as a green panel lit up around Goompas' hand and a door shot open. He opened his eyes a little wider and followed after him quickly, making sure to get into the shadows when Goompas had turned around. He stood stock still until he heard the soft, mechanical 'whirring' of an elevator moving.

'I have to be careful. I wouldn't want Goompas to catch me and.. Fire me or something, or make me leave like that one time he caught me looking through his stash of po-.. What was I thinking about again? Oh yea! Following Goompas!'

Cicero ran to the door, which was halfway closed and slipped in underneath it. He stepped

over to the metal shaft that held the elevator and waited for a moment until it came back. He strode on to the metal surface and stood in the middle of it, closing his eyes as he felt it slowly glide downward.

'Hopefully I don't run into anything nasty down here.'

Raijouta's hand flicked back and forth within the chest panel of Dynamo's armor, working the welder carefully against the bases of some wires, keeping them in place. He withdrew the welder and turned it off. He nodded to the group of doctors surrounding the table, and they placed the chest armor back into place after he had closed the panel door.

"We must now await for Goompas' permission before we activate them."

Raijouta and a few other doctors turned toward the ramp leading down from the elevator to the laboratory and caught sight of Goompas' characteristic black suit and red tie, as well as the opaque shades on his face. Goompas stopped at the foot of the ramp and turned to Raijouta.

"Are they ready?" Raijouta gave a quick nod, "Of course, Goompas."

"Then activate them already."

"O-of course s-sir."

Cicero reopened his eyes as he felt the descent of the elevator slow down to a light sputter. The elevator released some pressurized steam as it hit the bottom, locking into place. Cicero strode forth and stopped in front of the door at the end of the elevator walkway. He turned and looked over his shoulder as the elevator reactivated and slid back up the shaft where both Goompas and he had first gotten on to it, though separately.

'So.. President Goompas.. What exactly are you hiding down here?'

Cicero set his hand against the door and felt it slide upward. He stepped through the metal frame and into a massive laboratory. He quickly dropped into a crouch and edged his way over to the railing, his eyes gazing down a ramp that wound its way from where he was all the way to the floor where Goompas currently was.

'What in the hell?!'

He turned his eyes toward the floor where a group of men in lab coats and Goompas were standing. Movement began to become apparent in one of the rows of tables, this one only containing five tables, while the others had seven to ten. Cicero watched as the occupants of these five tables all activated simultaneously and sat up. He let out a soft gasp, quickly slapping his hand over his mouth, keeping any other noises from escaping to give away his position.

'Holy shit.. Mavericks!'

Andehshun watched as the five different Reploids all came to life. He had an up close view, only a few feet away from them. Each of the five Reploids was different from the others, each one was quite unique in its design. He noted that from their outward appearance, the Wandering Souls was made up of two melee-fighters, two ranged-fighters, and one combination of both.

'They will do their jobs well.'

He turned away from the five and slipped through the group of Roboticists crowding around the tables. Malone and Stabler both followed after him, being his 'assistants' in the construction of Paragon. Andehshun drew his hand over Paragon's chest plate, smiling softly.

"Almost finished.."

Malone and Stabler quickly assembled the parts needed to complete the lower half of Paragon's design. Andehshun smirked at how hard the two worked, and at how efficient they were at completing a task. He turned and glanced over at Goompas; who was glancing in his direction, but it was hard to tell due to the shades. Andehshun turned his head back and began working on a device that would keep Paragon from getting infected by the Maverick virus, checking up now on then on the progress of Malone and Stabler.

'It's rather late to say this.. But thank you. If you hadn't taken the time to design this, I probably never would have gotten into the Roboticist business.. Thank you very much, however many greats, Grandpa Satoshi..'

Dynamo rose up from his lab table, and slowly opened his eyes. His eyes widened dramatically as he stared at the people in front of him through the red visor across his gaze. He turned himself and slid off the lab table, standing in front of the numerous men in lab coats.

'This can't be. I'm alive again. I can't even remember how I died, but it was most likely X.. I never did put up a good enough fight for him and Zero. But now.. Now.. I have a second chance. I won't fall into Sigma's power this time, no, not this time. I'm free from his control.. Dynamo is going to prove himself as a Reploid.'

Forte's body felt stiff as he lifted himself away from the table. His eyes flashed open and he stared at the shiny metal table underneath him. His eyes widened slowly and he lifted his gaze up little by little, waiting for that old man's face to appear in front of him, but he was met with the stares of more than a few faces, some of which were old, but none of them reminded him of that man's face. And none of their eyes reflected what his did whenever he stared at him. He set his hands to the side of his head and shook it slowly, closing his eyes.

'What's going on.. I don't understand.. Why am I here? And where's Wily? Wait.. Who cares where Wily is! The old man is gone! I'm here! That's all that matters. He can't force me into doing his dirty work anymore! Ha! In the end, Wily, I won.. Or have I?'

Storm Eagle, Flame Stag, and Slash Beast all eased up off of their gleaming metal tables and slid off on to the floor. Each one having a different sound than the other as their feet touched down. They turned and gazed at one another, noticing that the symbol of Sigma's control was gone from their shoulders.

'The Great Master Sigma.. Who said he would never fail, has failed. As I did once. I lost to X, just like all the other Mavericks that fought him. Not even Sigma, who was once a Maverick Hunter himself, could win against X's sheer determination to win. And his reign has finally ended and all the Mavericks that were once Hunters will return eventually, but what is our purpose? Why are we once again in the world? The reasons do not matter, we are once again here.. We will prove ourselves as warriors once more.'

"Goompas!"

Cicero's form came running down the stairs as Goompas turned toward the person that had said his name. His eyes watched Cicero came to a stop in front of him, breathing a little quicker than normal due to the steepness of the ramp.

"What do you think you're doing down here, Goompas?!"

"..." Cicero grit his teeth, "Answer me dammit!"

"I'm making sure that the human race lives a bit longer."

"What the HELL is THAT supposed to mean!?"

"Cicero.. Go back upstairs." Cicero clenched his fists at his sides, "No."

"Do it, Cicero!"

"NO!"

Cicero's hand came up quickly from his side and took even himself by surprise. Cicero's palm slammed against the side of Goompas' face, leaving a dull red mark in the shape of his flattened hand imprinted on his cheek. Goompas straightened himself up and fixed his shades, which had gone crooked after the blow. Cicero stared at Goompas for a moment and then turned and ran back up the ramp to the elevator.

Goompas turned around to face the doctors, his cheek was stinging, but he kept the pain from showing up on his face in anyway, aside from the sweltering mark. He clapped his hands together and gave a thin smile, "Good job Raijouta. Now, get them ready to fight."

"Of course."

Goompas turned away from the doctors and headed up the ramp to the elevator, his face beginning to sting uncontrollably. He pushed open the door to the elevator shaft and waited for the elevator to return the bottom after Cicero rode it up. He set his hand against the mark and silently screamed into the shaft, gritting his teeth.

"Ugh.. That stings so bad.."

'I don't know how Cicero ever found out about the laboratory.. Or how he knew about the Mavericks.. But I'm going to have to bring him in on the whole thing and explain it all to him.. He IS my vice-president, I can't keep things of this level of importance away from him. I'll tell him after my face stops hurting.'