-36-

The rock cracked and crumbled into small stones revealing behind it a short, stocky reploid with brown armor and large, deadly claws he could spin at amazing speeds; his long nose serving as an antennae able to generate a powerful magnetic field, which he used to manipulate the metals and minerals in the ruble around him, pushing them all to the far end of the tunnel he was in, blocking that section in such a way it would take any hunter days just to dig through. Satisfied after closing the fastest route to the control room, he spun his claws again and bored into the solid ground, creating a tunnel back into the area where he had chosen to face the Maverick Hunters. His miraculous digging skills allowed him to be there in a matter of minutes, and he was pleased to see the mechaniloids under his command had brought even more raw iron and pieces of scrap metal. Confident in his fighting style and ability to hide underground, he felt certain he could defeat anyone who dared challenge him, the ruler of these caverns… Magnetoid Mole!

=0=

Zero opened his eyes and stood up, finding his systems had been completely recharged, that his power core was at a satisfying 100% and that the wiring in his legs and left arm had been completely replaced. This surprised him, as he never imagined the Ice Slither would have caused any sort of internal damage. In the end, however, he decided it didn't really matter, as he was completely repaired now. He flexed a couple of times to test if his wiring had indeed been replaced properly; finding everything was in perfect working order, Zero finally wondered where Layer was. She had been there to meet him when he returned after defeating Frostbite Fox, and she walked with him to the medibay. He assumed she would still be here.

"Ah, good to see you're awake," Lifesaver said once the door opened. "It took us longer than we expected to repair you, mainly because we were doing it at the same time we started to recharge your power core."

"That means the emergency is over?" Zero asked. "Don't tell me X already defeated Lumine."

Lifesaver shook his head. "No, but there are only three mavericks left; Axl just left to the area controlled by Thunderbolt Falcon, and I heard Vile was about to engage Claw Leoparder in battle."

Zero nodded. "What about X?"

"He took some damage during his fight with Acidflow Venus Trap. We finished his repairs a moment ago and he's currently recharging his power core," Lifesaver explained.

"Well, I'd say we're doing alright all things considered," Zero said. "Thank you for your help Lifesaver, see you around."

He walked through the corridors as fast as he could without actually running; he had for a moment considered visiting X, but he heard his friend talking with Alia and Splash Woman, and since Zero had no intention of getting involved in the triangle X was willingly trapping himself into, the crimson hunter simply turned the other way thinking he could always talk with his friend later.

That was when he saw her. She was walking towards him, a magnificent vision of beauty and elegance. For a split second Iris came back to the front of his mind before fading, but this time Zero didn't feel remorse of any kind. He cherished his memories of Iris, but he could finally let her rest in peace and move forward. Relaxed now that he had seen Layer again, he went to meet her.

"Zero," she said, smiling at him. "I was on my way to see you."

"Funny, I was doing the same," he answered with a playful grin. "Maybe I should have waited."

"No. It's good we met here," Layer told him, glancing at the empty hallway, feeling glad nobody would be able to see them. "I was worried… Lifesaver said the wiring in your legs and one arm…"

"Had to be replaced," he completed for her. "Yes, but I'm ok now, thank you for worrying, I…"

"I should have been there with you," she interrupted, her shoulders shaking a little as she was overcome with emotion. "But Signas needed me and…"

"Hey, don't worry," Zero said, closing his arms around her. "I understand, it's alright."

"I… I really love you, you know?" Layer confessed, face buried in his chest. It was not the first time she had told him how she felt, but for some reason she believed this time it would really count. She relaxed when his embrace tightened around her, and she realized she really didn't care if he didn't answer her, all that she needed was to feel like this. That was all.

"I know that," he said after a moment of just holding her close, enjoying the warmth of her body next to his. He reached up and held her face in his right hand, caressing her so she would look up to him.

"Zero, what…?"

He kissed her. Not many reploids did this, kissing was a human thing, after all, but once he had looked at her, seeing the raw emotion in her eyes, the glimmer of hope in them and finally her inviting, her partially open full lips… he found that he could not deny his feelings now. He wanted her. No… more than that, he truly needed her. And feeling the way she closed her arms around him so she could press her body against his, showing him she too shared his desire, Zero finally understood that he actually had come to love her. The realization filled him with both a sense of completeness and fear, and he broke the kiss so he could look at her again, hoping to find an answer there. Should he be afraid for the two of them or…?

No. The same glimmer of hope was still in her eyes. She would trust him always. He knew Layer would be with him no matter what, her feelings unwavering. She would always be there to complete him and love him… and all he had to do was to love her back.

Zero decided he could do that and more for her.

"That was… wow… I… I think I may overheat…" Layer sighed, smiling as she caressed his face.

"That would make two of us then," he chuckled reaching up to hold her hand in his. "Let's do this again after Lumine is stopped, Layer… and not just this, but more."

"I think that would be nice," she sighed, still enjoying the aftertaste of his lips, "very nice."

"Well, now I have one more reason to complete this mission quickly," he smiled and gave her another kiss, a quick one this time, "because I really want to enjoy your kisses more."

=0=

He landed near the entrance of a mine located at the base of a hill covered by red sand. He glanced around, all his systems scanning his surroundings but finding nothing around him. Not liking how quiet things were and having no other option but to move forward, Zero ignited his Z-saber and started towards the massive gaping hole, ready to face whatever defenses the maverick hiding here had prepared.

He descended until the tunnel elbowed left and into a dead end, but upon closer examination Zero discovered that section of the tunnel had been recently blocked. Frowning, the crimson hunter looked around and found a small opening to his right that went further down the mine, it was barely big enough for him, but he believed he should be able to manage it without getting stuck.

As he moved through the claustrophobic hole, Zero realized that he had yet to see any hostile mechaniloid, in fact all he had seen were destroyed robots near the mine's entrance. It seemed when Magnetoid Mole took over the mine he didn't reprogram the machines working here, an oddity since most mavericks tended to use all resources at their disposal to defend the areas they conquered. Well, not his problem, it in fact helped him as it made things easier for him.

Zero arrived to the other end of the passage and had to bash the hilt of his saber into the wall to dislodge a large rock in order to get through. He entered then into a large cave full of energen crystals protruding from the ground and walls, forming a mesmerizing view. This spectacle reminded him about the reason why this place was called the 'emergency mine'. It had been named this way because of the large iron and energen crystal deposits located here. At the time of its discovery, it was considered that the mine was so rich it could even help civilization survive any energy crisis or emergency without difficulty, and so the name 'emergency mine´ had stuck since then, as ridiculous as it sounded.

Not that remembering that piece of trivia would help any with the current mission, so Zero instead focused on the job. The fact nothing was attacking him kept him on edge and he didn't like it one bit, it was too suspicious.

And then a metallic sound forced him to turn around, where he saw several mechaniloids descending from the wall, ready to attack.

"Now this is more like it!" Zero said and prepared to defend himself.

=0=

Splash Woman entered the Control Room to find Signas busy talking to Vile and Scarlet. Vile was complaining about having nothing to do, while Signas simply told them they had completed their missions and should wait while Lumine's fortress was found, and that they could either stay here or go to the mess hall until they were called. Vile and Scarlet weren't pleased with the answer, but they agreed on waiting in the mess hall as they both considered it a better option than staying in the Control Room.

The mermaid stood still while Vile and Scarlet walked past her without even acknowledging her presence. Splash Woman didn't like them much because of their crass attitude, and was truly glad they had chosen to ignore her.

Once the two rude hunters were gone she finally approached Viktor Cossack. The doctor was sitting in a corner, reviewing some information in one of the many computers in the room. He appeared to be worried over something, and the mermaid hoped it was not something related to the current crisis they were facing.

"How did it go with Doctor Light?" Viktor asked once Splash Woman was near him. "Were you able to learn the answers you needed?"

"Yes, most of them," Splash Woman said. "Doctor Light also upgraded my OS, my ports and my weapons system… but he unfortunately didn't know where the Cossack Citadel was, I'm sorry."

"I don't assume you have that information in your memory files, do you?" The scientist sighed with an air of disappointment. "I can't find it in the HQ's database, and Nina can't in ours, either."

"I'm sorry, doctor, I don't have it," she apologized, then remembered something. "But maybe…"

"Do you have any leads?" Viktor asked.

"I think I do," she said. "I'll be back in a moment."

"Wait, I thought X wanted you to stay here, and…!"

But Splash Woman didn't listen to him; she simply smiled and teleported out of HQ, leaving Victor Cossack sitting in astounded silence. After a moment of reflection, the roboticist simply shook his head and decided Splash Woman could to take care of herself and if she couldn't, X would probably be able to help her.

…

She materialized outside Cossack Laboratories in Saint Petersburg.

"The facilities are closed," a tall insect based reploid said when she approached. "We'll be open again after the current Maverick uprising is over. Please return to your house and stay there."

"I was working here," Splash Woman said. "I need something I forgot in my lab. Please let me in."

"You are not in the list of employees and I can't find a visual match of you in my memory files. Please leave the premises."

"Just call Nina Cossack. I know she's here," Splash Woman requested. "I won't leave until you do."

"I'm not going to call Nina Cossack for something so trivial," the insectoid reploid stated. "Leave."

Understanding this conversation was going nowhere, the Robot Master did as ordered and teleported away, only to…

…Beam right inside the building. She smiled pleased by her strategy, deciding she should have done this since the beginning. It was fortunate that her energy signature was unlike the ones of current reploids, as that allowed her to bypass the defenses that prevented current machines from beaming into the laboratory.

"Piece of cake," she muttered as she opened the door to the lab and walked to her desk, glad to see everything was just as she left it.

The mermaid picked up the memory chip that was inside Proto Man's helmet and smiled as she remembered his voice telling her about the things he had seen during his many travels…

She sighed and closed those memory files, making a note to open them at a later time. She had to analyze the memory chip now, and the only way to do it was to interface with it. Splash Woman removed her helmet and took out the chip she had there to replace it with Proto Man's; that done, she put her helmet back on.

"As I imagined…" she muttered once she had access to the old chip's databanks. Blues did have the location of the Cossack Citadel, and of several other places that she felt would be nice visiting again, his 'base' in particular. She had visited his home only twice, and he had insisted she didn't record its location as he wanted to keep it a secret from Doctor Light. Something else that caught her attention was that the chip's battery was almost out, it had only 36 hours of life left.

"Well, there's no need to let all this information go to waste," she decided and downloaded every map and location Blues had in his helmet's chip into her electronic brain. That done, she formatted the old chip and replaced it with her own. And just in time, because just then the alarms went off.

"Took them longer than expected to detect me…"

She placed the old chip back in Proto Man's helmet and then put it back inside her drawer. She was about to teleport out when the door opened and Nina Cossack, followed by the large insectoid reploid from earlier, entered the room.

"H-how did you get in?" Nina asked. "No machine should be able to enter or exit Cossack labs when we are in emergency mode!"

"Well, I guess I'm just that special," Splash Woman answered with a witty smile. "Don't worry, I just came to pick up something of mine that was here. I'm leaving now."

And just as she did to Viktor, Splash Woman teleported before Nina could utter a single word.

=0=

Zero's saber bounced again off the magnetic field the ant mechaniloids attacking him had protected themselves with and he quickly dodged left to avoid the missile the robotic insect shot at him in retaliation. The crimson hunter had tried everything in his current arsenal, including the Triple Bomb and none of it had worked; the force field around the ants resisted everything he had.

"This is stupid," Zero groaned as he brought his saber up to block a plasma bullet one of the ants had shot his way. The insects had two attacks: missiles and plasma bullets, but the fact he couldn't hurt them and their mobility allowed them to attack in very efficient patterns that made it difficult for him to defend. "Layer, do you have any ideas on how to deal with these bugs?"

"Magnet Ants…" Layer said sounding thoughtful. "You don't have any electric weapons, Zero, that's their main weakness. Your best bet is to time your attacks until they drop their magnetic fields and hit them then."

"Or you can use this weapon I got!" Axl suddenly interrupted. "If it's an electric weapon you want, I have just the thing, Zero!"

"Axl, how in hell did you…?" the crimson hunter frowned and moved back a bit to avoid another missile. "Leave this channel, now!"

"He did bring a halberd to HQ," Layer said. "I'm looking at it right now; you should give it a try."

"Fine, send it here," the red armored hunter agreed. "And Axl… thank you, now get out of our frequency!"

"You're welcome, and as you wish!" Axl laughed goodheartedly and cut communications off.

"Sending the Electric Halberd now," Layer rejoined. "Take them out, Zero."

"Count on it!" he answered as the weapon materialized in his right hand and he did a few practice swings, smiling as he found the sharp halberd was perfectly balanced. Zero then downloaded the Thunder Striker, the special weapon Axl got from Thunderbolt Falcon, and used it to learn a new technique that fully utilized the power of his new spear: the Denki Tatsumaki.

The Magnet Ants paused when they noticed their target was now charging at them instead of avoiding their attacks, something that proved to be their doom. Zero jumped and landed in the middle of the insects, crouched and then performed a raising slash, spinning the halberd with both hands and releasing a mighty electric tornado that not only dispersed the magnetic field the ants protected themselves with; it also overloaded their systems, destroying them all at once.

"I think I've found my favorite weapon of this new set…" Zero grinned as he looked at the smoldering remains of the Magnet Ants. "This one's great!"

=0=

It didn't take Zero long to arrive to what he imagined was the deepest part of the mine. The ground trembled under his feet and the humming of a gigantic drill filled the dusty and stagnant air here in the depths, signaling the Tunneler and the bomb where near. The energen crystals on the walls shined brightly down here, reflecting light on the red of the iron ore that surrounded him, filling the corridor with an eerie and dim light.

Zero used a dash jump to go over a deep pit and finally got to the end of the large tunnel. He entered a large room, big and wide as an auditorium and littered with loose raw iron and bits and pieces of destroyed mechaniloids. The Tunneler was also here, right in the middle of the enormous space, digging even further into the ground and to its left rested the last nuke.

"Now we just need to find the resident maverick…" Zero said as he approached the unguarded control panel a few steps ahead of him.

"No need for that, I am here!" Magnetoid Mole shouted as he emerged from the ground, right behind Zero. The maverick managed to surprise the crimson hunter, and took advantage of this by slashing his back with his sharp claws with enough force to send him rolling down the ground and crashing into a large rock. "You're Zero? I expected better from a hunter as famous as you!"

"Oh, we're just getting started!" the crimson hunter said as he jumped back to his feet. "We hunters have been looking for you for quite a while, Mole, it's time you face justice!"

"It's time you face death!" the maverick taunted and went underground.

Zero started dashing left and right so he wouldn't be an easy target, as he knew Mole was planning on hitting him from below again. He was familiar with Magnetoid Mole, who was very notorious for murdering as many reploid diggers as he could every time he invaded a mine to steal energen crystals. Mole was in fact very dangerous, with a body count of at least sixty.

"Stay still, you cursed blonde cheater!" Mole shouted as he emerged with a burst of dust and gravel from the ground. The maverick had tried to smash claws first into the crimson hunter, and had missed him by very little.

"In your dreams!" Zero countered, taking this chance to dash back, halberd at the ready and when he was right next to Mole, he went into a crouching position and exclaimed: "Denki Tatsumaki!"

The powerful electric tornado caught Magnetoid Mole in a spinning blast of electricity, causing him great damage as he smashed against the ceiling. When he fell, Mole realized his power core had dropped to an alarming 45%.

"Don't think you've won!" Mole growled as he got back up. He waited for Zero to try another attack and when the hunter was about to use his special technique again, the maverick released a powerful magnetic wave, which he used to lift the pieces of raw iron and metal scattered around them, spinning them at great speeds and slamming them into Zero.

Even when taken by surprise by this new attack, Zero was able to block and slash through most of the junk and rocks the maverick threw his way before being hit and thrown off balance and rolling right in front of Magnetoid Mole.

A quick scan revealed Zero his core was still at a healthy 73%, but he really didn't want to give Mole a second chance to attack him; luckily for him, Magnetoid Mole was so eager to destroy him he became completely careless.

"Die, Zero!" Mole screamed, spinning his claws to rip him apart by digging right through him.

"Not today, Magnetoid Mole," Zero said, quickly bringing his halberd up, impaling the maverick straight in the chest. The hunter, his grip firm on his weapon, got on his knees and called forth his special technique for a second time. "Denki… Tatsumaki!"

The resulting electric blast annihilated Magnetoid Mole, destroying his body almost completely in a fiery explosion that left only his head and chest intact. Zero crouched to look at the remains of the maverick and picked up Mole's weapon chip, analyzing it and uploading the Magnet Barrier into the Hunters' weapon database.

"Layer, it's done," Zero called as he examined the control panel, pressing a series of buttons to deactivate the giant Tunneler. "Send the bomb squad, the area is clear."

"Excellent, they'll be there soon," the navigator promised. "Good job, Zero!"

"Thank you, Layer. I'll see you in a minute."

=0=

"This is inconceivable!" Lumine screamed and smashed his fist through the screen that showed the status of the areas his generals controlled. The last one had just gone from green to red, indicating the hunters had destroyed his last maverick.

"Fine… let them have this victory. This is just a minor setback," the deranged New Generation said as he looked at his trembling hands. "Yes, it is fine, no need to worry. I still have the backup plan. I can still kill this world and build mine over its ashes…"

Grinning maniacally as he imagined the burning ruins of civilization, Lumine made his way down into the laboratory where his scientist 'friend' was still working on a very special project.

"Did you complete it?" he asked as he entered the lab. "Well, did you?"

"Yes, it is complete," the Doctor said. He was standing next to a large, floating sphere of black and red metal. "I just finished it."

"Excellent," Lumine appraised as he circled the sphere. It was roughly his size, and it pulsed with warm, inviting power. "You really outdid yourself, Isoc."

"Can I leave now?" the tall reploid asked. "I do not wish to be here when the hunters arrive."

"Leave?" The mad reploid smiled sinisterly. "Oh, no, you will stay here."

"But you promised…"

"I lied!" Lumine interrupted. "Now start building me a spare body in case X and his friends destroy this one… well? Start working if you want to stay alive, you lazy, obsolete piece of trash!"

"As you wish," Isoc said, seething with silent rage as Lumine walked out of his lab.

=0=

Notes:

Alright, all the Mavericks are defeated and we're now ready to enter the last few chapters of the second arc of the story; I'm sure you all know what's coming now, and I'll do my best to make it interesting.

Denki Tatsumaki means Electric Hurricane.

And the mysterious doctor was indeed Isoc, just as many of you guessed. He isn't happy with Lumine, of course, but there's not much that he can do at this point.