"Iris! Where are you?" Every available member of the Shinobi Unit had rushed to the Space Port, except for their commander. Zero instead returned to the Maverick Hunters HQ as soon as he could.
Just to ensure Iris was still here.
"Iris! Iris!" Every room, every corner, even the darkest spots Zero knew of, Iris was nowhere to be found. He tried to contact her countless times, but there was never an answer from the other side.
The entirety of Maverick Hunters HQ was quiet, too quiet, bar a few Reploids who remained to maintain the operation of the HQ, the majority of the troops had already entered the warzone. Every step Zero took, he could clearly hear his footsteps reverberating throughout the halls.
"Iris! No…" Every second that ticked on fidgeted Zero more and more. His greatest fears came true, it was extremely difficult to convince Iris to change sides and side with the Maverick Hunters, not while the Repliforce was still going strong, not while her brother Colonel was still around…
If anything, Iris's unwavering love towards Colonel was the only thing Zero could not win her over. As for having the ideal world where only Reploids exist? She would definitely choose that world instead of the present one. Repliforce were always belittled by their human creators, as they were seen as inferior backup for the Maverick Hunters.
It was a flawed plan to begin with, nobody would stand living in inferiority and mortification throughout their lives, even if they were robots, Reploids. Once the program from X's was installed into their systems, they too, possessed humanly behavior.
"Zero! Zero! Are you there?"
"Douglas."
Douglas quickly chased down the red commander, huffed a little while catching his breath , handled 2 chips to him when he felt ready to speak without panting too much. "These are all battle chips obtained by defeating the Mavericks from the previous missions, Split Mushroom and Cyber Peacock were eliminated effectively. We will need all the powerups we can get."
"I fully agree." Zero took those chips and installed them into his system. "Rakuhouha and Kuuenbu" he muttered, then looked up with renewed confidence, masking his anxiety and uneasiness regarding Iris. "Now we have to move on to the Space Port."
"Wait… where are the rest of your unit?"
"I asked them to go ahead." Zero had a flash of thought, it wouldn't harm asking… "do you know where Iris is?"
"Iris…?" Douglas began to stammer, "she just left…"
"When!? Who was it that asked her to leave!? Was it Colonel!?" Zero's fuse immediately blew up, grabbing Douglas at his neck, pulling him closer that their nose almost sticking.
"Nobody noticed her leaving! Seriously!" Douglas pushed Zero's arm as hard as he could, but could only freed himself as the furious commander let go of his grip.
Dammit! Zero dashed as fast as he could to the departure gate, ignoring Douglas repeatedly calling his name and asking him to wait.
"Iris." Colonel extended his hand for his sister as he used the other to cling on the door of a spaceship about to blast its way towards space. His crestfallen sister, never once was her head lifted since she departed from the Maverick Hunters HQ, refused to look into her brother's eye this time around.
"Iris," Colonel called her again, "we do not have much time." His voice bore a stricter tone this time.
"Brother…" Iris could not find any words that were appropriate during this moment, nor had she found any motivation to move a single step away from the very spot she was standing on. Her heart still severely conflicted, torn between two choices deemed impossible to choose from. Brother, or Lover? Utopia, or Harmony? Would there even be harmony between humans and Reploids? Was it even possible that two totally different beings, living together side by side, would have a total mutual understanding and respect to each other?
No. This point alone was clear to her, it would be a lot easier to achieve harmony if there were only Reploids. Reploids were created equal, they understood each other very well, it would be difficult for them to have any conflicts, unless they turned Maverick, but even so, why would a Reploid turn Maverick in the first place? Was it due to a programming error?
Or was it… that the emotion "anger" had gotten the better of them?
Iris finally lifted her head, a luminous glow shone bright amongst the murky chaos that clouded the deepest irises of her eye. Colonel was well aware of the inner conflict his sister had to went through, but he had to insist, his mind had to be clear, at this moment, for Repliforce, and for Iris.
"Come." Colonel again extended his hand, no other words were needed in this very moment.
Iris grabbed hold of his hand, and stepped into the spaceship, which took off immediately after loading in their last passenger. Colonel stayed behind, gazing far upon the numerous gun fires and explosions that took off distances away.
"X! One of the spaceships are leaving!"
"Be quick with it! Stop them at all costs! Let that one be their last to depart!" X, now fully upgraded and equipped in his best armor, he was all geared up for the mission. Unlike his normal, rounded, blue suit, the one he had featured white all around, his trademark blue mixed with hints of red and orange, filled up the lines around his shoulder, chest and limbs. This armor of his gave him a more commanding presence, he looked bigger, without it he would appear a lot smaller and less intimidating.
X charged his shot for a brief moment, and unleashed it towards the Repliforce crowd. A huge whitish-blue energy was released, it wasn't particularly fast, but the speed was sufficient that it caught the enemies off guard, blasting them off from the elevated platform they were in, as well as severing a few pillars supporting the platform, yet not enough to take it down. Upon first contact, a large, blue plasma energy sphere will be left in its wake for approximately 3 seconds, damaging all that came too close to it.
Zero appeared just in time to witness such a powerful upgrade. "X! Brilliant shot!" He said to his old friend, finally working together in the same mission during this great war.
"This upgrade was specially left by Dr. Light in case of emergency, I think there are no events more suited than this to use it!" He gave Zero a brief explanation, charged the next shot up, and went ahead on his own, taking down more opponents.
This war zone between the Maverick Hunters and the Repliforce was probably the first large-scale skirmish they had ever clashed since the start of the war. Zero took a quick glance on the ongoing chaos, in which both troops were seemingly deployed at full force. When observed at a closer scale, both troops were ironically similar in many ways, their basic designs were identical except for the insignia they wore on the chest; the weapons were hardly different as well. The biggest difference? The ones leading them.
"Commander Zero!" All members of the Shinobi Unit had rendezvoused at one point, waiting their commander to arrive. With utmost discipline, they gathered in a straight line in front of their leader, awaiting orders.
Zero took a quick look around, and noticed Signas just nearby, taking charge of the entire operation. "Signas!" He yelled out, loud enough for the acting supreme commander of the Maverick Hunters to heed him and turn his head around. "Brief me more about the operation!" He asked, running his way towards the navy blue commander.
At close up, Signas was significantly taller than Zero, he stood straight and firm, a powerful aura of dominance around him. Zero felt his chest was never as large as it was now, his six signature green orbs lining his chest glittered brighter today. Without a doubt, he was in command, right now. "Zero," he began, "I need not remind you that this operation is of utmost priority, yet you arrived late!" And so it started with a lecture.
"Sorry about that, but…"
"Iris would be in that spaceship over there, it is about to take off anytime now," Signas was fully aware of the reason Zero showed up late, not needing him to explain the situation. The two of them had worked for quite some time in the HQ as well, and Zero's relationship with Iris was never a secret among them. "You'd best hurry, stop them! We do not know their intention of launching those things into space yet!" Immediately after, he turned his attention towards Alia, "How is it? Can you pinpoint their destination?"
"I am getting images of what seems to be a space station or sorts floating in space!" Alia stated firmly to ensure she would not have to repeat any of it in case Signas missed a single word from her stuttering or unclear speech, "It shaped like a flower with 8 petals, and its size is huge! As large as a planet, easily!"
"A space colony, a home in space. So, they have found their utopia by building one themselves." Signas hissed slightly, disappointed that it took them so long to find out. Had they knew what was coming way earlier, they would have a much larger advantage against the Repliforce. After all this time, Repliforce had cleverly bought themselves ample time to prepare all these, all the while keeping the Maverick Hunters busy by creating countless diversions and chaos. Although shrewd, Signas had to compliment General and Colonel for their tactical brilliance.
But Signas was not about to give up just yet. He had his best men with him right now, and the scales were still even. "Disrupt them! Delay them by all means!" He had let out his fastest troops to charge straight into the heart of the Space Port, to the launch pad. The Repliforce had mounted a powerful defense and it was extremely difficult to crack it open. He did not stop there, however, attacking alone would not be enough to win this war, he also ordered some of his men to head back to the HQ and prepare as many spaceships as they could spare, in case the Repliforce made it to space, they would have to resume their pursuit.
"Update! Commander! Upon rotation of the space colony, I came across what it seemed to be a large cannon!"
"What!?" Signas rushed to Alia's monitor to see for himself, "this…" While the spaceship looked like an eight-petalled space colony at first glance, its stalk was actually a large cannon. The worst case scenario immediately flashed inside Signas's thought circuits - that cannon would be effectively used to destroy the Earth, incinerating all their wretched creators in the flames of destruction and doom. "Are you going this far, Repliforce?" Signas gritted his teeth, his calm demeanor gradually fading as it transformed into anger, his fist clasped hard and shaking.
Alia noticed her commander's anger, and said no more. Instead focusing on her screen, monitoring several conditions at once - their control station right here, the movements of most of the Maverick Hunters, the spaceship that was about to launch, and also that ominous space center that also gave her the creeps.
Zero looked on to the launching pad high and far ahead of him. Both troops were deadlocked in a stalemate, the Maverick Hunters trying their utmost to break through the impenetrable defenses set up by the Repliforce. On numbers alone, the Repliforce greatly outnumbered the Hunters, however, the Hunters had vast abundance of experience and exceptional commanders, which gave them sufficient advantage to rebalance the scales.
However, at the current state, none would be able to tilt the flow of the battle within a short time.
If only I could reach the launch pad myself, I may be able to find Colonel up there, and Iris.
Zero launched himself ahead of his pack, charging in at exceptional speed, his eyes focused on the tallest platform of the launch pad, where he believed, in absolute desperation, that Iris would still be there. It became the only thing in his mind, to keep him sane in this operation.
"Commander!" Onyx yelled in surprise, being the first one catching their leader dashing away without them. "Give chase! Follow Commander Zero! Hurry!" All members of the zeroth unit attempted, their hardest, to pursue their leader.
"It's useless, I don't think anyone could catch up with Zero when he's at his swiftest," Signas grinned slightly, X overheard him and glanced a smile as well. Signas did not issue the halt command to the Shinobi Unit, since infiltration into the midst of the enemy ranks were their specialty after all. A hit and run tactic might be just the thing they needed to edge out the Repliforce now.
His team tried their utmost to catch up with their commander but it was futile. Their red leader somehow seemed a lot faster than his usual best today, his movements were far crisper than any of them could recall, every single step he took to climb the launch pad was chosen meticulously, taking every shortest distance possible. Should an enemy be in his way, he would simply dispatch of it as if swatting a fly away.
Against the towering platforms, Zero would just grab on anything he could, lifted himself up, and gave himself a kick on again, anything he could, just to provide him the extra height he needed to grab on something higher. Rinse and repeat. Any Reploids trying to stop him, he would just sliced them down like butter. Any enemy coming from above would just work to his advantage, as a powerful Ryuuenjin would immediately fry anything in its way, and made it closer to Zero towards his goal. If a single jump would not be enough, his newly acquired Kuuenbu and Kuuenzan would do the trick.
Before long, Zero found himself at the top of the launching pad, in the middle of the enemy's' territory, without anyone to back him up.
"Colonel," he started, facing the only opponent in front of him. He glanced around, saw no signs of anyone else, not General, and not Iris.
Iris is not here…