Mega Man X: The Mist Enigma

Chapter 9: Gate

Night had descended over HQ rather quickly. It was time for everyone to stop and rest. I didn't know how that would be possible due to X, Axl, and Zero being incapacitated for at least the night. So while walking around the Maverick Hunter stronghold, I decided to do some snooping.

I began with walking past the control room where Signas was reading something on his desk. I didn't feel like looking, so I left it at that. I did hear him grunt softly. He was probably distressed from what the Mist had done. Just as I thought. Nearby was the R&D Lab. Douglas was already asleep in his chair. Pallette was at one of the tables tinkering with some gadget. She was doing something delicate with it, but Douglas' grumblings distracted her. She gritted her teeth and shook her fist. "Sleep a little more quietly, darn it!" she muttered.

"This could get ugly," I thought, so I walked away.

In the staff living quarters, two doors were open. I walked by the closest one. I peered inside and saw Layer. She was sitting at a desk with some sort of tape recorder in her hand. She sighed heavily. "No matter. I just pray that he is alright. Whether he notices it or not." I obviously knew who she was referring to. My mind drifted a little bit. I wondered what would happen if Iris got word of this. Would she understand? Or would there be one hell of a cat fight?

Moving on to the other door, Alia stepped out of it and bumped into me. "Oh sorry. I didn't see you."

"S'alright." She looked really gloom. "You worried about them?" Stupid question.

"Yeah." A pause. "But I can't stop thinking..." She turned red. "F...forget it."

"What? What is it?"

"N...nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It's nothing. Good night." She went back into her room and shut the door. I was really curious as to what she was going to say. I didn't want to bother her about it, so I went to the room they reserved for me and pondered.

A nice small room. A desk, TV, and a bunk bed. I instantly plopped my butt on the lower bunk. My mind was crazy with questions. I needed to talk with someone. So I did something I rarely ever do; I separated into two bodies, man and woman. In short, I talked with myself.

"This is crazy."

"I know. They'll be alright, right?"

"If Lifesaver said so..."

"Yeah."

"But what's really bugging me is this. Who is the mastermind behind all this?"

"It's not Sigma. I'm sure of it."

"It's someone who has met them before."

"And he apparently has a strong interest in seeing Zero."

"That screams Sigma. Who else could it be?" A long pause.

"Gate. Do you think that he did all this himself?" I, or we rather, then heard a chuckle. A voice that seemed so familiar. The room then filled with Mist. It collected in one bunch and formed a diamond shape. A face then began to appear in the center of it. It was a Reploid wearing a purple helmet and a wry smile.

"Good guess, but no," Gate said.

I immediately stood up and hit my heads on the top bunk. "Ouch." I rubbed my heads.

"This is interesting," Gate said, "both male Satoryu and female Satoryu at the same time. Is this something to do with incest?"

I scowled. "Cut the crap. What's going on here? What's with this Mist?"

"Oooh, Mist. I should start calling it that," Gate rubbed his chin. "Anyway, as you guessed, it is a lot like the Nightmare from so long ago. Only better. It's twice as destructive and twice as mysterious. And it is growing every second. Soon it will blanket the planet." He grinned wryly.

I shouted, "Just how are you alive?"

"Blame it all on the creator. It's quite nice to know he would bring me back from the dead just so I could have a second chance at crushing X and Zero."

"So you aren't pulling the strings?"

"Oh no, not this time."

"Then who is?"

Gate laughed. "Like I'd actually tell you! Come on, you're a smart human. You can figure it out. And when you do, I want to see the look on your face. 'Duh! Why didn't I think of that before? It's so obvious!' Have a good night, Satoryu. Oh sorry. Satoryus." He started to fade away. "And if you're worried about Sigma, he's dead. Lumine killed him, like you probably already know."

The Mist then disappeared without a trace. We sat down on the bottom bunk without saying anything. I was so confused that both of my bodies just stared at the wall for a long time. My mind raced. Who is running this operation? Is Sigma really dead? Is Gate lying? Will I get home? Eventually I fell asleep from exhaustion.

A lone beam of sunlight woke me up. I turned my head to see the back of my own head in front of me. "That's right. I split bodies." I went to correct that problem, but nothing happened. My eyes widened. "Oh no." The Mist was preventing me from joining together. It must have been from Gate. I ran to the control room lickety-split. "Everyone, you're not going to believe this!"

Signas turned to me. "If it's Gate's visit to your room last night, we already know. It was recorded. We just finished watching it." I lowered my eyes to the floor and sighed.

I heard Alia sniffling. "Gate..."

The doors opened behind me. Through it came X and Zero. Both weren't wearing their helmets. "We saw it too," X said. "This proves that the Mist is extremely dangerous and should be dealt with without second thought. If what Gate said is true, it is ever growing."

Zero tied his long blonde hair in his trademark ponytail. "Which is why we have to stop it now. Before it becomes too strong to fight."

"But what about Axl?" I asked.

Signas called to me, "Axl can sit one out. Lifesaver says he'll be back in action soon."

Just then, Lifesaver ran in carrying Axl's firearms. "Axl told me to give these to you. He wants his tools used in the fight even though he can't be there himself." He held them out to the male me. I took the Nova Flare and the Grapple Talon. Lifesaver then gave my female self the Night Walker and a long barreled grenade launcher.

"What's this?" I asked him.

"It's called the Terra Bomber. It fires a destructive grenade encased in stone. The shot can be delayed to make the stone larger and the explosion stronger."

"Sounds good."

Beeping noises came from Pallette's desk. "Guys, we have an S.O.S. coming from Hurricane Mountains."

"That answers who we're fighting next," Zero said as he put his helmet on.

X did the same. "Let's go then."

"Right," Layer said as she typed in the coordinates. "Transferring now." The two Hunters beamed out. The female me grabbed the male me and did the same.

This was not good. We didn't have Axl with us, X and Zero weren't at one hundred percent yet, and I was left at half my power. My male self had great physical strength and sword skills, but no ki force whatsoever. My female self was the exact opposite; all ki, no strength. The Mist was getting smarter. They must've known this. "Damn Gate. Damn him to hell." Even though he said it wasn't his doing, I couldn't help thinking that Gate was the one who put this together. And all for revenge too. Leader or not, he was going to pay. Big.