Project X
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize I don't own
Chapter 7: Day of the Maverick 2
'Light to X, any sighting of any of the major mavericks?' said Dr. Light just as Vile showed up.
"Vile is here." said Xavier.
'Is he in his ride armor?' asked Dr. Light.
"Yes." said Xavier.
'Crap, I'll try to raise Zero. If not I'll try to get there myself.' said Dr. Light. 'Light out.' Xavier was left facing Vile in his ride armor. The small purple reploid was deadly enough without his ride armor. With it, he was lethal to any maverick and now Xavier was about to rumble with Vile. One thought was repeated over in his mind.
'This is going to hurt like crap.'
"They send an outdated piece of scrap to do a hunter's job? And here I thought I'd get the pleasure of facing the all mighty Zero!" sneered Vile.
"Outdated I might be but at least I'm not a maverick." he said without further ado the battle began.
Vile surged forwards, the large, hulking humanoid ride armor punching out at it did so. Xavier jumped backwards in an attempt to avoid the assault. It worked to a degree but the Bobba Fett look alike was a far better fighter than Xavier was. Xavier took a hit to the abdomen and hoped nothing organic was injured as he flew backwards through the air and landed hard on his back. Then Vile took pity on him, well Vile's version of pity, and zapped him with a stun bolt forcing Xavier to stay still to avoid getting zapped. Then Xavier heard, and felt the sound of the ride armor getting closer until Vile held him in one of the ride armor's large hands. Well more like squeezing him.
"You're pathetic. To think we were patterned after you. You were foolish to pursue us X. Now I will put you out of your misery and send you home to the scrap pile." Vile said.
Xavier heard the distinct whine of a buster charging up before the blue plasma bolt lanced out hitting the ride armor at the joint knocking the arm off sending Xavier to his knees. Vile, now less confident due to the damage to his ride armor retreated into the flying fortress before the mavericks retreated as a whole.
"X, you ok?" asked Zero worriedly.
"I'm fine, I'm just low on energy." said Xavier before he fell forwards into Zero's arms. His form glowed and Zero saw the armor had vanished leaving a battered teenage boy in his arms. A HUMAN teenage boy,
'Dr. Light, what is going on here?' thought Zero before he teleported away, with Xavier in his arms.
Dr. Light had removed her armor after Zero confirmed X was safe. Zero strode in, the unconscious Xavier in his arm.
"What's going on here? Why did he do this?" asked Zero.
"A human form?" gasped Dr. Light. Zero laid Xavier on a lab table, noting the strange body suit he was wearing.
"You aren't as shocked as you should be, Dr. Light." said Zero, his eyes narrowing.
"Well, you see, X isn't an android. He's a cyborg. We don't know why he was created or sealed up for over 100 years, but he is here none the less. His cybernetics were based on the blue prints for Mega Man X. So in a sense we didn't lie." said Dr. Light. "You know the general populace couldn't handle a cyborg."
"So what's his real name?" asked Zero, the blonde android simply staring at the teen that he considered to be his only true friend.
"Xavier. He only recently remembered it." said Dr. Light.
Zero tried to reconcile two images in his head. This boy was tall, and very skinny, with pale skin, and wild black hair that looked a bit long. This teen did not fit with the mature blue bomber he'd come to know. Then again, if he'd learned anything from his time at the lab, it was not to ever judge people by their appearances.
"Oh, by the way Dr. Light, happy fifteenth birthday." said Zero. Dr. Light stopped and mentally counted.
"Oh, it is." she said. "Happy birthday to me." she said bitterly. Dr. Cain's corpse had been claimed by his widow once the other maverick hunters were repaired enough to do escort duty. She hugged Dr. Light, saying how he'd considered the diminutive scientist like the daughter they'd always wanted. Dr. Light was still numb. She locked herself in her room for the remainder of that day.
Xavier awoke in pain, and had a strange amount of freedom of movement, almost as if he weren't encased in armor. He sat up painfully hissing from the pain in his abdomen and felt it to realize two things, his hand was glove free and he wasn't in armor, he was in some strange body suit.
"Awake at last sleeping beauty." said Zero and neon green eyes met with bright blue.
"Zero?" Xavier asked.
"Yep. Dr. Light said you'd reverted to a human form. But since you're a cyborg and all it was probably in your cybernetics to have you switch forms to conserve energy." said Zero. "She's still moping. You've been out several days."
'Human?' Xavier saw his reflection and his eyes widened. The sight of his reflection brought back a memory.
He was walking in a building that had many lockers lining the hall ways with a blonde boy who looked eerily to Zero.
'Hey X, if your hair were any longer you'd look like a tall skinny girl!' said the blonde.
'Whatever, Z. At least I'm not a 'zero' on the female radar.' he said.
'Z, he was my best friend back then his name was Zzza, I can't remember!' Xavier gave up after several attempts to remember what 'Z' had stood for. But his nickname of 'X' was almost ironic. In fact it was funny. He must have laughed because Zero asked,
"What? Are you that ugly?"
"No, I remembered something. 100 years ago I had a friend who I called 'Z' and his nickname for me was 'X.' I just thought the irony was funny." said Xavier.
"'Z'? What did 'Z' stand for?" asked Zero.
"I can't remember." said Xavier sadly.
"I'd better get going; I need to scout for maverick activity in the city. Dr. Light made these spy things I'm to release near a confirmed maverick sight so she can be a better operator." said Zero.
"Wouldn't the former hunters know about this?" asked Xavier.
"Maybe, maybe not." said Zero.
"Zero, one more thing; that friend in my memories? He looked just like you only he was a human. What are the odds of that?" said Xavier. Zero shrugged,
"About the same odds of Dr. Light stripping down and doing the hula." he said.
A few days later Xavier was still low on energy but he had convinced Dr. Light to move about and they attended Dr. Cain's funeral. Xavier pretending to be a lab tech as no one could recognize him as a human. Dr. Light was cold and anger smoldered behind her eyes. Xavier was at a loss at what to do. Zero was gone for a few days at a time.
"What was that armor you used?" asked Xavier.
"It was the MEGA system. The Meta Encapsulated Granule Armor System. I'm trying to fix the power issues. If I perfect it I might be able to train myself to help you. But I'd have to be careful because if my armor takes too many hits it'll retract and I'll be left exposed. Plus I'm unable to have different abilities. I'd have to switch between different MEGA units. But considering they're small, I can carry them on my belt." said Dr. Light.
"But you don't do well with high stress situations." said Xavier.
"I know, that's why I'll train myself." said Dr. Light, "I will not be a crying coward again."
Xavier wasn't sure if he liked this new Dr. Light.
"I need you to go check on the people in the shelters. Take a land speeder." said Dr. Light.
"Sure." said Xavier. He dressed in a t-shirt and jeans wearing a name tag that read
Smith, Xavier. Lab Tech Maverick Hunter HQ, he packed up tools that he might need for repairing anything that might have broken, like their shields. He made his way past the room full of remaining hunters who were in a meeting talking about guard duty for the shelter. None of them could recognize Xavier either. But he would need an armed escort because he didn't have access to his buster in his human form.
"Excuse me." he said entering.
"Smith, you need something?" asked the reploid known as Signas. He was of highest rank, aside from Zero, of the Maverick Hunters left.
"I need an escort, I'm going to check on the shelter, sir." said Xavier almost feeling stupid for adding the sir.
"No need for formalities, Smith, and it's Gamma's turn to be on escort duty. Get Smith to and from that shelter safely or I'll let Zero train you for a week." said Signas smiling.
"Thank you." said Xavier.
Xavier picked out a two seater speeder, Gamma, the small green armored hunter, climbing in the passenger side.
"You cleared to drive this vehicle?" Gamma asked, worry showing in his bright green eyes, a shade lighter than Xavier's own eyes.
"Yes." said Xavier. Well X was cleared on all the vehicles. As Xavier, he was only cleared on the land speeder. Xavier pressed the ignition button and the speeder fired up.
"Hold on, we're going as fast as I can while being able to handle this to avoid any possible maverick confrontations." said Xavier. Gamma whimpered as they sped off.