Relic from the seas
By
Dr Facer
-12-
The shuttle was a small machine, designed to fit only two passengers. It was the pride of Douglas and his team, with a new engine and remodeled thrusters that would allow it, in theory at least, to reach Pluto in a record time of only ten months. Had Douglas lived a century in the past, however, he would have been witness to what Doctor Light and Doctor Wily had achieved each with their own space engines. Wily had created effective, quite large in size yet still extremely fuel-efficient spaceships that helped him travel all over the solar system at faster than light speeds. Doctor Light had achieved a micro-engine which allowed small vessels to reach speeds that matched and even surpassed those of his rival's gigantic starships. Such amazing technology was now lost to the sands of time, and it would take decades before anyone devised something similar.
X was pacing around the shuttle, waiting until Douglas and his team completed the final preparations before he could take off. He was silent, thinking about the current situation, wondering why Dynamo had done something so strange.
"And how did he survive the Nightmare phenomena?" X wondered, recalling the last time they met. Dynamo had been obsessed with collecting Nightmare Souls, and the subsequent reports they got hinted at his death in the Amazon jungle.
"X, can we… can we talk?"
He looked to his right and found Alia there, holding something in her hand, apparently uncertain about approaching him.
"You don't need to ask, Alia," he said, sitting on a crate full of spares and motioning for her to sit next to him. "What do you need?"
"I wanted to bring you this," she said and gave him a weapon chip, noticing the new scarf he wore but not saying anything about it. "I remember Dynamo is weak to wind based attacks, so I thought you'd like to have the Wing Spiral equipped."
X smiled and reached for the chip, which he immediately inserted into one of the eight weapon slots in his forearm. "Thank you! I'm sure this will be very helpful… I should have thought of it. You're great, Alia."
"You're welcome, X. But I'm worried," she said after a moment of silence. "About many things. Dynamo is dangerous, and this could very well be a trap. There must be something else going on here, I'm sure of it."
"That's possible, but there are hostages involved. If this is a trap, then I'll deal with it as well," he promised, hoping that would help her feel better. X had noticed how worried she was, and didn't want to leave her in that state. "I'll arrest Dynamo, no matter what."
"Let me go with you. I reactivated my weapons system, I'm sure I can be of help," she offered as she turned her right arm into her Alia Buster and pointed it at a nearby box. "I know I've never been in actual combat, but I've equipped the Double Cyclone and I always get at least rank B+ in simulations. I'm sure I can help you, I can hide in the shuttle and be your back-up, I…"
"No, you won't come with me," he said firmly. "You can help me more here."
"But, why?"
"Because I don't want to see you hurt," he interrupted, his voice pained. "The mere idea of you being damaged in battle is… unbearable. Please understand, Alia, I can't put you in danger. I… I just can't."
She was prepared to argue her position, but the way he stared at her was all it took for her response to die in her throat. She could simply not go against his wishes when he was obviously so concerned for her safety. But if he was so worried then…
"Does it mean he cares about me?" she wondered. "Perhaps now is the time to tell him how I feel, but if I do, it may distract him during the mission… what should I do?"
"…X," she started, her voice barely above a murmur.
"Sorry to interrupt you two, but the shuttle is ready!" Douglas announced with a thumbs up. "I did some last minute improvements to make it faster, too!"
"Thank you, Douglas," X said and stood up. He then looked back at Alia and offered her a small smile. "I need you to be my Navigator, Alia. You are the only one I trust for that. Please, be there for me."
And saying nothing else, Mega Man X rushed to the waiting shuttle.
"I'll be there for you," Alia said as she watched him climb into the ship and blast off towards the sky. "I'll always be there. Because I am your Navigator, X."
"But I want to be more…" she thought, struggling with her fear, hoping as she always did that X would return safely to her. "I want to be much, much more…"
Notes:
Thanks to Adam for beta reading this chapter.
The opening paragraph references Wily's penchant for space travel in the portable Mega Man games, where Doctor Wily designed large satellites and spaceships, and also to Doctor Light's ability to modify Rush for space travelling.