-37-

Splash Woman beamed into the same spot on the roof where she had been singing earlier. She took in a deep breath and looked at the city around the base; so futuristic looking to her, so strange and immense to the point of making her feel small. She couldn't fully accept this was her world now, the place where she would live until her final deactivation. The mermaid shook her head, this future was not bad from what she had seen, but she would certainly feel safer with Blues by her side.

"But he's gone… and I still can't process that fact no matter how much I try," she realized. "I've tried to ignore how this makes me feel, but…"

But the truth was that no matter how much she tried to forget about Proto Man, his memory always lingered in her mind, memories of them together always resurfaced, reminding her of the immense happiness she shared with him, knowing that they two were the first Robot Masters to share such bond made things between them far more special, and the feeling of emptiness that his absence caused her when she was alone like this was becoming almost overwhelming. The only times she could find a distraction from this sadness being those moments when X was near.

"But X is not him," she thought. "X is…family."

Yes, X was family. But family in what sense? She had yet to find an answer to that question.

"So here you are," a voice she identified as X called.

Splash Woman turned around to find Mega Man X and Alia behind her. They had obviously been looking for her and now she felt bad for making them, X in particular, worry.

"Viktor told us you left HQ without mentioning where you were going," X said, his tone of voice betraying how concerned he had felt. "I'm glad to see you're back safely, going out at times like these is dangerous."

"It's a good thing my sister told us you went to Cossack Laboratories and were back on your way here to HQ," Alia said as she placed her right hand on X's shoulder. "X was worried about you."

"My apologies," Splash Woman offered, feeling moderately surprised after detecting the concern in Alia's voice was sincere, as the mermaid didn't think the navigator truly cared. Perhaps Alia was far more honest than she had imagined. "I needed to get some information for Doctor Cossack, but it seems I misjudged, I…"

"Hey, don't feel bad, I know your intentions are noble," X said, walking up to her and holding her hands in his. "I just don't want to see you damaged, you are very important to me."

"I don't want to see you injured either," Alia said as she also approached her so she could hug both her and X, forming a circle the mermaid found very comforting. "We are your friends, Splash Woman, and I would be very sad if you get hurt."

"Thank you…" she sighed and managed to return their smile. She broke the hug once she felt calm enough and nodded at them "Thank you for your friendship, I really do… so, shall we go back to Control Room? I'm sure we are needed there."

"Yeah, we better go," Alia smiled, glad to see Splash Woman was feeling better.

=0=

The mermaid followed X and Alia into the Control Room, noticing the rest of the elite team was already there: Vile and Scarlet were standing in a corner, keeping to themselves; Axl and Pallette stood close together to Signas left, both of them paying close attention in case the Commander of the Maverick Hunters said something important and further right, Zero and Layer sat next to each other. Viktor Cossack was also there, but he was sitting in a terminal and was still working on his own. Looking at the scientist now and recalling how excited he had been when he first heard about his ancestor's laboratory, Splash Woman decided it was best not to give him the location of the Cossack Citadel just yet, as she feared Viktor would act recklessly if he had access to that information.

"I'll just tell him after Lumine is defeated," the mermaid thought as she followed X and Alia.

"Nice to see you're back," Viktor said once he noticed Splash Woman had returned. "Did you find anything useful?"

"Yes, but I… I think it'd best if we wait until the emergency is over before we look at it. I'm sorry, Doctor Cossack, but it's safer this way."

The scientist chuckled and nodded. He was so amazed by Splash Woman having the ability to act this way that he couldn't feel upset by her decision. And it didn't really matter either, he could wait until things were back to normal. It was, just as the marine Robot Master said, safer that way.

"Agreed," the man smiled. "I wouldn't want the Citadel to be compromised if we go there now."

Splash Woman was about to answer, but the main monitor in the room screeched and started showing only static until, little by little, Lumine's face appeared on screen. The New Generation smiled evilly and then spoke, saying this:

[Hello, Maverick Hunters. I imagine congratulations are in order, you defeated all my men and secured my nuclear bombs before the time limit I gave you. You should feel proud of yourselves.]

[But that is nothing but an empty victory. What you accomplished is meaningless! My Nightmare Soul Factory is finally complete and operational, and I can now flood this world with Nightmare Virus if I want to!]

[Oh, but fear not, using the Nightmare Virus that way would be a waste, it's much more effective to use the Nightmare Souls as fuel for the Nightmare Drives I'm assembling here… and there is something else I want to show you all, look.]

Lumine moved to the side then, revealing a gigantic underground hangar where stood a missile so tall and massive it easily dwarfed the eight bombs the hunters had just secured.

[That is the Great Winter, the ultimate nuclear bomb! Powerful enough to destroy everything! I will launch it in three hours and trust me when I say you can't stop me, this world will die!]

Lumine's face vanished then and the monitor flashed twice before going back to what it was displaying before. The room had gone silent, as every hunter and navigator was now wondering what Lumine's new threat really mean. Most of them couldn't believe one single nuclear bomb could be so dangerous, tough both X and Zero knew it was possible.

"Alright, I guess I'll be the one who asks," Vile announced from the corner, his voice hiding how upset he felt. "How screwed are we? I can tell things are bad and that you know something we don't, Signas, so drop the silence and talk to us, damn it!"

"Things are indeed very bad," the Maverick Hunter Commander managed after he quickly composed himself. "I was certainly not expecting this."

"And he's not lying," Viktor Cossack rejoined.

"What exactly is the Great Winter?" X asked, "Can it really do what Lumine said?"

"Yes, it can, and more," Signas answered, interfacing with the monitor so a different image of the titanic missile Lumine had showed them appeared on screen for all to see. "The Great Winter. They called it this because it doesn't matter where it explodes, it will cause a nuclear winter covering the whole planet."

"And the blast would be several times stronger than the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. The Great Winter is really that powerful," Viktor Cossack rejoined. "Apart from the nuclear winter Signas mentioned, the actual blast could theoretically decimate an entire hemisphere."

"But… but why would someone create a weapon like that?" X demanded, furious at the idea that such a powerful weapon existed and that Lumine had it.

"A terrorist organization that conquered several countries created it," Signas said. "The leaders of this group were convinced the only way to achieve their goals was to have a weapon with the power to destroy the world."

"This happened thirty years before you were found, X," Viktor Cossack explained. "The Commando Team was able to stop the terrorist group, free the countries under their control and secure the Great Winter. This crisis led to the formation of the High Command."

"And the High Command stated they had dismantled the Great Winter after the Commando Team delivered it to them," Signas provided, thoughtful as he spoke.

"Well, the High Command clearly had other plans for the thing!" Axl said then, he was frowning and feeling quite upset by this development. "They goofed it and now their mistake came back to bite us all in the a…!"

"Whatever their reason, it is done and in the past. Right now we have to deal with this situation, and quickly," Zero intervened then. The crimson hunter was feeling as worried as everybody else, but managed to keep his emotions under control. "And we have to remain calm, otherwise we'll make mistakes and that's what Lumine is counting on."

"Zero is right on that," X agreed. "We need to focus on finding a solution to the problem."

"Yeah, tell me how?" Vile said. "We would normally go blast him, but we don't know where that asshole is hiding!"

"A problem we can solve," Signas said then, stepping forward and taking back command of the situation as it was his duty. The tall reploid had assimilated the situation to the point he felt sure of the course of action that needed to be taken, and was now using his full intellect and remarkable logical skills to find a solution for the most immediate problem.

"What do you want us to do?" Alia asked then.

"I want you and the other navigators to find the place from where Lumine is transmitting," the Commander said. "You have thirty minutes, use the standard procedure to calculate his approximate location; utilize all the satellites we have if you need to, it doesn't matter what it takes, you find where that maniac is hiding!"

"Yes, sir, right away!" Alia stood straight, determination filling her every circuit now. She couldn't fail this; the survival of every living thing in the world depended on her success. Taking a deep breath, she turned and looked at Layer, Pallette, Scarlet and all the other navigators present in the room. She nodded at them and pointed at their terminals. "Okay ladies, you heard Commander Signas, let's get to work. We will use the transmissions sent from the areas our hunters just cleared to triangulate Lumine's location, I know we can do it!"

=0=

Thanks to their hard work and determination, Alia and her navigator team completed the necessary calculations faster than what even Signas had imagined, only thirty minutes.

"We have it!" Alia exclaimed, right fist up as she celebrated their triumph. "We know where Lumine is hiding!"

"Excellent!" Signas appraised. "Good job, now put it on the main screen!"

"Of course," the blonde navigator said, then motioned to her right. "Layer, if you please?"

"With pleasure," the tall navigator pressed a sequence of keys on her terminal and the image of an island covered by a tropical jungle appeared on the huge monitor. "That's the place."

"Laguz Island," Zero frowned at this revelation. "I don't like it at all."

"Neither do I," X agreed, "this might be difficult."

"Why? That island doesn't look that dangerous to me," Axl said.

"That's where the Erasure incident happened, kid," Vile corrected. "Don't you ever read?"

"Nah, I'm too busy hunting Mavericks," the prototype answered with a grin. "Anyway, what's that large building in the island?"

"That one over there?" Zero said as he pointed at the monitor. "That's the Laguz Research Laboratory, X and I almost died in there."

"I'm familiar with the technology Berkana used to steal DNA souls from reploids all over the world," Viktor Cossack interposed then. "I'm sure it would be fairly simple for Lumine to modify the old machines in the Research Laboratory to turn it into that Nightmare Soul Factory."

"That makes sense, and judging from all that has happened so far, I believe you are correct, Doctor Cossack," Signas said, considering how this revelation affected their current situation. "I don't think Lumine brought back Berkana or Gareth, but you should be prepared for that possibility."

"It doesn't matter if they're back. We'll retire them again if they try to stop us," X swore with a determined frown.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I like the way you think, X!" Vile approved with a laugh. "Very well, what are we waiting for? We know the coordinates to that island, let's go blast Lumine all the way to the deepest hole in hell!"

"I support that motion," Axl said, eagerly anticipating the opportunity to finally stop Lumine once and for all. "Alright guys, let's do this!"

"Make sure you four recharge your weapon energy levels before you go," Signas ordered. "And I want you all to have a full subtank with you."

=0=

Notes:

Laguz Island and the Reploid Research laboratory are of course locations from Mega Man Xtreme 2. I believe it would be fitting to use them here.

The Commando Team is the name of the group formed by Captain Commando and his three friends. It's simply another nod to Capcom that I thought would be fun to include.