"S…stay away from me, you creep!" cried the nervous female youth of eggplant color eyes as she crawled backwards in fear.
"Pl-please, just listen to me, I don't want to hurt you" reassured her X after dodging a wrench that was thrown towards his head.
The moment he moved it, the blue robot took note of the dirty walls and the rusty equipment around. Soon, the feeling of nostalgia crept over X as he noticed that the lab they were in was in fact Dr. Light's.
"This is…" he murmured astonished while looking away, forgetting completely about the girl at his feet. It was the chance she was waiting for. Without wasting any second, she quickly got up and ran away from him.
"Wait! If you could let me explain!" exclaimed X as he pursued her in the abandoned lab.
Outside the old facility, the special retrieve unit had arrived in a nick of time in order to cordon off the area so that no civilians or innocent reploids would come closer. Just like Dr. Light warned X long a time ago, not only humans, but reploids as well feared the blue bomber and his almost unlimited powers. If he were to become a menace after waking up, then there wouldn't be other choice but to take him down and fast.
"Whistle! Now this is what I call an assembly. Look at how many hunters are!" commented Bombman with excitement.
"Seeing these many gives me the shivers, and I'm suppose to be impervious to cold thanks to my antifreeze system!" joked Iceman a little in order to ease his uneasiness towards the trouble at hand.
"Relax guys; we're talking about another creation from Dr. Light. I'm sure he was loved the same way as we were" reassured them Cutman before placing his arm around his little brother's neck.
"That much we know" said a new voice, announcing his presence to the rest of the Dr. Light group.
"Elecman!" stated Iceman happily after seeing one of his older brothers.
"But remember that he's somehow different from us. We don't know much about him nor his abilities. What we do know is this: If he's unstable, all eight of us need to put him out of commission. That's what the doctor asked us to do" he reminded it to his younger brothers.
Not too far from their position, in the hunter's camp, Gutsman and Fireman were reminiscing with nostalgia the place where they were once built long ago. Even if the big family now lived in a luxurious penthouse in the city center (thanks to Master Cain's kindness), they still felt somekind of emotional attachment to the crumbling lab each of them shared with their creator and loving father.
"A shame we won't be seeing this place no more after this" commented Fireman disappointed.
"The pops wouldn't have wanted us to keep attached to the old world" sighed Gutsman, pushing his nostalgic thoughts away in order to prove his toughness to the others.
"As the first industrial-type reploid from the production line, can you recall any of your tests before being encapsulated?"
"Every single one, from lifting heavy objects, to correct management; and let's not forget these beauties! My pride and joy" he mentioned while praising his large and strong arms.
"I see, then it's just like I thought. We all went through different tests carefully prepared for us by the doctor" added Fireman thoughtfully.
"Yo, guys! Ready for the big moment?" called them Oilman from afar, followed by a disinterested Timeman.
"We were just waiting for you. And now that you're here, we can start working already" stated Gutsman before standing from his comfortable seat.
"Neat! Wait till' I tell you guys about this funny joke the workers at the oil refinery told me!"
"Is something bothering you?" asked quickly Fireman once he noticed his younger brother's gloominess.
"What? Oh, nothing" replied Timeman, avoiding any further interactions with his older sibling.
With the arrival of the eight, highly-advanced, industrial Light reploids, preparations were soon made for the worst case scenario; not knowing that, in fact, the reploid X posed no threat whatsoever to everyone.
"Please, stop running! You can hurt yourself" warned her X after entering a spacious room within the abandoned Light Labs facility. Inside of it, machines were already unusable due to the century they spent without the proper care, nor the correct maintenance. Spider webs hung everywhere through the ceiling and walls, and a thin layer of dust covered every single physical object around them.
"Listen, I know that you're scared. But I swear, I'm a good robot" he desperately tried to reason with the unwilling black haired young woman that was carefully hidden under an old table.
"Come on, it's not safe here. We have to get out" continued X as he resumed his search, completely forgetting that specific table to his side. As he wandered off, he quickly spotted a peculiar set of eight capsules that were empty.
"D…L…N…Elecman" read X with difficulty after wiping the dust on the capsule; then did the same with the other one next to it.
"Bomb…man" he continued. Then suddenly, his attention was brought to the sound of various metal pieces falling to the floor.
"Oh, no!" stated X worried, fearing that the young woman might have hurt herself. As soon as he dashed on the corner, he unexpectedly bumped with something small but hard at the same time.
"Ouch!" yelped the armored being the moment his sibling fell over him.
"Iceman! What ha-woah!" cried Cutman after falling on X, thus ending on top of the dog pile.
"Ugh…what the…Iceman? Since when you can change form?!" blurted the dark orange, scissor-like reploid shocked while inspecting the large humanoid robot.
"I'm down here" he replied achy.
"Wait…then, who is…" stuttered Cutman slightly confused as he slowly walked backwards, scared of the mysterious newcomer that wasn't his younger brother.
"Ngmh, what? Who are you two?" asked X taken aback, but wary of the two presences.
"Hmph, can't you tell?" asked the clearly offended scissor-like reploid; then pointed a yellow 'L' on the left side of his white chest.
"We're Dr. Light's reploids!" he stated proudly, including Iceman in the lot since he also had a yellow 'L' on his chest.
"Dr. Light?! Then that means…" trailed off X astonished.
"Those are going to be the capsules for your brothers. After I change their old programming and upgrade their designs, not only they'll be as advanced as you. But they will also be able to interact and share bonds with humans too"
"You two are my brothers!" he replied flabbergasted, surprising both Cutman and Iceman in the process. Afterall, X failed to notice that he didn't sport an 'L' in his chest like them.
"What?!" exclaimed the Eskimo boy shocked.
"Explain yourself" demanded the scissor-like reploid dubiously.
"I'm X, and like you, I was created by Dr. Light" he explained them.
"I didn't actually manage to meet you in person, but the doctor told me a little about you during one of my several tests".
Long gone were the two young reploids, lost in their shock. Clearly X didn't have to tell them that much information; just his name, and his creator's, would have been enough for Cutman and Iceman to believe him (afterall, they were in this abandoned place for him).
"Wow…is just like everybody said. You really are one of a kind, brother!" commented the scissor-like reploid amazed. Not only did X's design seemed visibly superior to those of his eight brothers, but also his body parts were of the highest quality compared to the medium worth, lacking lustrous of the others.
"It really is a pleasure to meet you at last, sir! My name is Iceman, hope I can be of used to you" he introduced himself in a very polite way as he shook hands with X.
"Happy to make your acquaintance, Iceman" he replied with a smile, taking note of the boy's correct military display.
"And you are…?"
"Heh, I'm Cutman!" replied the scissor-like reploid proudly. "Anything you need to be cut or sliced, just ask me".
"Sure" nodded X, grateful. If the rest of his siblings were that friendly and reliable like them, then he wouldn't have to fear any longer of not being welcomed after who knows how many years of slumber.
"That reminds me, I should call the others and let them know we've found you" mentioned Cutman as he prepared to contact his brothers.
"The-they're here?!" asked X, both anxious and perplexed by the fact.
"Yeah, we…uhhh…were asked to come and pick you up once you were fully operational!" replied Iceman sheepishly, avoiding the: 'destroy X if necessary' part.
"Hey, that's a great idea! You should talk to them, brother" insisted Cutman, granting his older sibling the chance to speak to them.
"Me?" questioned him a startled X.
"For sure! They'll be happy to hear you, trust me. Let's see…maybe the doctor installed your transmitter in those 'xs' of your helmet" presumed the scissor-like reploid, unsure.
"Probably" nodded the blue humanoid robot after Cutman inspected his design closer. Following his thoughts, and his younger sibling's presumption, X pressed the 'x' located on the right side of his helmet.
"He-hello?" he stuttered a little nervous. No answer.
"This is X, reporting in" he continued.
Transmission call
"X! (x5)"
"Yo! What's crackin, brother? You got Oilman on the line!"
"Forget that slick piece of junk! We are going to blow away everybody with our style!"
"Hope you're ready for some hard work, cause I won't allow any slacker siblings!"
"Heh, what a warm welcome, don't you think?"
"We welcome you to our small family with open arms, X"
"Thanks guys. I'll be happy to be of service for you"
"Hate to ruin this merry moment, brothers. But we have a trespasser in our hands"
"Huh? What are you babbling about, Timeman?! There's none else here besides us"
"You might want to scratch that, bro, because we really did find an outsider"
"I said you let me go!" cried the young woman's voice in the background.
"You've found her? Thank god"
"Huh?! (x5)" blurted five of the eight industrial reploids shocked.
"Is she like…your girlfriend or something, bro?"
"What?! No-no! She was just…!"
But before he could give a proper explanation, the sounds of violent blasts could be heard outside the lab in ruins...
"What was that?!" cried X worried after the whole place shook up violently.
"Sir Gutsman! Sir Gutsman, do you copy?!"
"Yeah, we're fine! What the hell is happening out there?!"
"It's an ambush! We're under maverick attack!"
"Mavericks?! (x7)"
"But, that's impossible! No one is supposed to know this location, except Master Cain and us!" stated Cutman still in shock.
"H-how did they found out?!" stuttered Iceman worried.
"Maybe we should interrogate our friend here to begin with"
"You're right. Keep an eye on her, Timeman. Alright guys, you know how this will be done. We will strike them hard and faster!"
"Right behind you, Elecman! This'll be a blast!"
"Maverick…" murmured X thoughtful. Just what in the world were those beings and why his brothers seemed so concerned about them. Soon he would realize the many dangers this new world had.
Noooo, cliffhanger! D: But on the side note, X is in the new Marvel vs. Capcom! :D (freaking finally :/) Plus, the following chapters will introduce the two remaining maverick hunters we love and care about