-39-
Pallette rushed into the landing platform as soon as the doors opened only to find Axl lying in a puddle of his own power fluid, surrounded by several other hunters who could do nothing but whisper their concern, for they all feared moving the young hunter would only damage him further. Axl had arrived to HQ less than a minute before, and in his current state it was a miracle that he had even reached the base.
"Axl, No!" She screamed as she ran to his side, rudely shoving two hunters out of her way so she could kneel next to him. "Please call Lifesaver, we need him here!"
"We already did!" One of the hunters said. "He's on his way!"
"…His energy is at only 0.5%," Pallette whispered, she had done a quick scan on Axl and what she found drove a needle of cold fear through her processors: Axl's core was cracked and leaking, he had less than two minutes before permanent deactivation.
"A med team will be here soon," another hunter offered.
"It'll be too late! Axl's core is…" she broke into tears as she struggled to speak. "…He's dying!"
No, she could not let this happen! She had refused to admit her feelings for him for too long, to the point it took Lumine nearly killing them both for her to finally express what she felt for him. She was not going to let that lunatic take the one he loved away from her. Axl would not die!
With newfound determination, Pallette opened the small compartment located under her left breast and reached inside, pulling out a thin wire meant for energy recharging. She then quickly did the same with Axl, exposing his damaged core. Taking in a deep breath, not sure if this would work, the distressed navigator quickly connected her core to his, hoping this could buy him time until Lifesaver arrived. Sharing energy this way was not something reploids were designed for, and as Axl's Power Core started draining large amounts of energy from hers, Pallette couldn't hold back a scream of agony that caused her to collapse.
…
She woke up in an operating room, her energy fully recharged and her systems all operating at maximum efficiency. Looking right, she saw Doctor Cossack working on Axl again, this time assisted by two medics of the Lifesaver model. Pallette sat in silence for several minutes, observing with undivided attention as the scientist worked, fear gripping her circuits every time Viktor Cossack shook his head or gave orders to the reploid medics assisting him.
"…Can you save him?" She asked, her voice trembling with anxiety.
"Yes, I can," Viktor said. "But I'd rather you leave if you can't be quiet, I need to concentrate."
"I …I'll stay," Pallette whispered, pressing herself against the wall, tightly hugging her knees against her chest. "I won't interrupt you, but please fix him, I… I love him too much to lose him."
"I will," the roboticist promised. "And thank you for what you did. The only reason Axl survived until we brought him here was because you shared your energy with him. You saved his life, Pallette."
=0=
"What do you mean you're going to Laguz Island?" Alia almost shouted, staring at Splash Woman and feeling convinced the Lighbot had gone mad. She and the Robot Master were in the hallway, they were supposed to be going back to Control Room, but the mermaid had stopped her to announce she was going to the Nightmare Soul Factory.
"Of course I'm going! Did you not see how badly hurt Axl was?" Splash Woman asked. "X's team just lost a member, I must go there and help them!"
"No, you must not!" the navigator disputed. "X made it quite clear you should stay here!"
"He didn't know this would happen!" the Robot Master argued. "I have to go!"
"You're not thinking logically again," Alia tried, knowing she risked upsetting Splash Woman, but she couldn't let her go to the Nightmare Soul Factory where she would most likely get killed.
"And who are you to tell me that?" The mermaid said, predictably annoyed by what she heard. "I don't have to listen to you!"
"This is just like the time when the three of us went to Gate's laboratory," the navigator said. "Did you forget?"
Splash Woman suddenly recalled Alia asking her how X would feel if she got hurt, and then the moment when the Nightmare Virus infected her. This actually made her reconsider her actions and she took in a deep breath to cool off her systems.
"I want to go there as much as you," Alia admitted, her voice softening. "And I will as soon as X defeats Lumine. Can't you wait until it's all over, Splash Woman? We can go meet him then."
"I'm just… I'm so afraid for him, Alia," the mermaid said in a low voice. "X is the only family I have left, if he dies…"
"I understand you. If something happens to X you would be losing a brother. That can't be easy, if Nina got hurt I don't know what I'd do…" the navigator offered, understanding then how Splash Woman and X were more like siblings than anything else. This realization helped her comprehend the despair the Robot Master was experiencing: X really was her only family. He truly was all Splash Woman had left and without him she would be completely alone.
"I… would be losing a brother?" the mermaid repeated, suddenly finding Alia's words deeply comforting. Her electronic brain considered the idea of X being her younger brother far more acceptable than any other alternatives and it quickly incorporated it to her programming. If she and X were siblings then they could have a solid, permanent relationship; a relationship that wouldn't be threatened by other factors such as Alia's obvious interest in him. Not to mention this would allow her to worry about him freely without wondering what his feelings were.
"Splash Woman?"
"It's… true," the Robot Master accepted, calmer now that she finally knew how to approach X. "He is my brother, and I don't want to lose him… or to cause him trouble while he's fighting. You… you're right Alia… I'll wait here until he wins this battle."
=0=
The assembly line was poorly illuminated, which made going through the many conveyor belts and jumping over the furnaces and large containers full of molten metal far more complicated than what it would be otherwise, not to mention the Monbandos protecting the area were also a particular source of danger. These armored mechaniloids, powerful despite their lack of legs, had caused X, Zero and Vile a fair amount of trouble, since their high defense and powerful missiles made them difficult to defeat.
"Look at these small crystal orbs," X said, stopping to open a crate full of glass spheres and picking one up to better analyze it. He didn't like the green vapor inside of it, so he quickly returned it to the box, closing it with an expression of disgust. "This gas… I believe once it's processed it'll become a Nightmare Soul."
"Reason enough to destroy it," Zero stated, shoving the box into one of the open furnaces, feeling pleased that the thing was quickly consumed by the flames.
"We should also destroy these," Vile suggested. He had opened another crate and was holding now a small device about the size of an orange. "I bet these are the Nightmare Drives you asked me about, Zero."
"Yes they are," X answered, recovering the image of the drive inside Dynamo's chest from his memory files.
"Well, there's plenty of them ready to be sold if the number of boxes here is an indication," Vile said as he pointed at the rows of crates around them. "Enough to power up an army, I'd say."
"We really need to get rid of these things," Zero frowned, then he looked at the conveyor belts and the containers full of boiling, liquid metal. "If we could only throw it all into the fire… but we don't have the time!"
"We will return here after defeating Lumine," X offered. "It's the best we can do."
"Yeah, nice plan, X…" Vile said looking around him. "But you forget one little detail, we haven't found the frigging exit! Can't we just destroy a wall or something?"
"Only as a last resort, Vile," the blue hunter warned as he studied the machinery working around them. "We can't risk causing an explosion while we're in here, let's look around a bit more first. Zero, have you found anything?"
"Of course I have," Zero smiled and pointed to a door partially hidden from view by several large crates. "I think that's the way."
=0=
The door opened to a stairwell that descended into the darkness, they could see lights at the bottom, and as soon as they took a step down, the glowing optics of several Batton-Bones illuminated the room as the bat shaped robots started to slowly fly in their direction.
"No time to waste on these things," Vile growled as he selected the Burning Riot from his arsenal and used it to incinerate the cloud of bat mechalinoids.
"Not bad, Vile… and I was able to take a good look below," Zero said. "This goes down for seven levels at least."
"It'll be faster to just drop down level by level until we get to the bottom," X decided and jumped to the stairs below, then repeating the maneuver again and again, flashes of his buster indicating how he occasionally shot at new Batton-Bones as he descended.
"Seems to be safe enough," Vile said and followed X's lead.
"Yeah, leave me behind, will you?" Zero smirked and jumped straight down, passing both Vile and X, activating his thrusters to perform a quick upwards air dash just before touching ground in order to stop his momentum safely.
"Showoff," Vile accused as he and X landed next to the crimson hunter. "There are no women around for you to impress, you know?"
"Hey, Layer may be watching," Zero said with a prideful grin. "Anyway, now that we're all down here…"
"We can go forward," X completed. He had been worried when the lights at the bottom of the stairwell flickered the moment Zero touched ground as he imagined his friend had triggered a trap, but since nothing happened it seemed they were safe. Lumine, X remembered, was not as fond of traps as Sigma had been, a small favor that worked to their advantage.
"And we better," Zero nodded. "We only have 45 minutes left."
"More than enough to complete the mission, if you two don't screw things up," Vile stated as he violently kicked the door in front of them open. "C'mon, slowbots, don't make me wait for you!"
=0=
They entered a large circular room, empty except for a big metal cylinder hanging from the roof, suspended only a few inches above the ground. The next door was on the other side and, just as they walked in, it opened to reveal Lumine was already waiting for them.
The villain sauntered into the room arrogantly, offering a mocking smile to the three hunters once he was next to the mysterious container.
"You've done well," he congratulated. "But this is as far as you go; the three of you will die here."
"I don't think so," X said, rising his buster and aiming it at Lumine, starting to build a charge. "Stop the Great Winter now!"
"You heard X," Zero rejoined, igniting his Z-saber and pointing it at the insane reploid in front of them. "Do as he says."
"Unless you want us to make you?" Vile added, his shoulder cannon ready to fire.
"You are such simpletons," Lumine sighed. "And after I prepared such a nice surprise for you all…"
"What are you talking about?" X asked, his optics set on Lumine in case he was preparing a trap.
"You'll see… now," the criminal answered, pressing a button on the metal cylinder.
And as Lumine completed the sentence, the cylinder was lowered to the ground and split open, unleashing a cloud of heavy black gas that hid its contents for an instant, but as the thick vapor dissipated, X and his team saw first a tall frame, then glimpses of green and black armor, and finally an unmistakable bald head…
"No, not him!" X gasped, his buster quickly going from Lumine to the chest of his most tenacious enemy.
"It can't be…!" Zero rejoined, raising his saber in a defensive stance, gritting his teeth in rage at the image of his hated adversary.
"Sigma!" Vile completed, unable to hide the anticipation in his voice at the idea of finally fighting the fallen leader of the Maverick Hunters.
Lumine cackled as he approached the dormant battle body, resting his hand on the tall machine's arm. It was obvious the mentally unstable reploid was enjoying the surprise, fear and fury his enemies experienced, savoring it like a sweet piece of candy.
"Sigma?" The insane New Generation mocked. "Fools! He died on the Moon, I placed an inhibitor in the body I gave him. The inhibitor stopped him from escaping that battle body and it was programmed to delete his memory the moment he was destroyed. Sigma is erased, dead, gone forever!"
"Then how?" Vile exclaimed. "What kind of sick joke is this, you crazy freak?"
"Oh, I obtained a file with the schematics to build this battle body from the computers in Gate's lab. I thought it could be useful, so I took it and improved the design," Lumine explained as he grinned, taking a step back as the Sigma body suddenly activated with a burst of energy that shook the room. "Beautiful, isn't it? It has all of Sigma's battle experience up to the sixth Maverick uprising, but no real mind of its own. It's the perfect killing machine and it exists only to serve me, and he will serve me well! Sigma-MK9, destroy my enemies!"
Eyes flashing crimson and with speed that defied his frame, the Sigma-MK9 flexed his hands and produced two large battle axes he used to execute a dashing attack aimed at the three hunters, who barely had the time to evade him. The Sigma body spun mid-dash and shot a beam from the jewel on its forehead, which almost hit X.
"Without his madness hampering his skills, he will surely crush you," Lumine sentenced as the door leading further down the factory closed in front of him. "I'll be waiting in the hangar below. I'll see you there… if you survive."
=0=
Zero brought his beam saber up just in time to block the Sigma-MK9's red axe, struggling to stand his ground and not being pushed into a wall. X used this chance to unleash a charged shot on the battle body, but the Sigma-MK9 simply blocked it with the blue axe he wielded on his left hand. The fight had progressed without any of them being able to damage the battle body, as it fought with an efficiency the real Sigma had gradually lost as his insanity increased.
The two hunters, focused as they were on attacking, hadn't paid much attention to Vile, who was standing very still in a corner, staring at the three combatants and feeling small, very small as he witnessed the battle. Was it always like this when Sigma clashed with X and Zero? Such strength and power and skill! Did he really think he could ever defeat any of them? It would be impossible! They were like forces of nature clashing against each other! He was insignificant!
"No! I am not insignificant, I am Vile!" The renegade hunter thought, fury rising inside him. "Vile! And I am the greatest! Doctor Cain said I was a masterpiece, the finest battle model ever built! I'm as good as they are, perhaps even better!"
The purple armored hunter brought his fists up as determination filled his every circuit. Who cared if Sigma, X or Zero were so strong? Who cared if Lumine was powerful enough to kill them all instantly? He was Vile, and he was not going to be a simple spectator! He was going to prove them all he was just as strong and capable of changing the world as they were!
His choice made, Vile armed his shoulder canon and aimed left…
…
"Lumine wasn't joking," Zero grunted as he rolled to the side and dashed to where X was, barely avoiding a kick from the Sigma-MK9. "He fights better now that he's not insane or furious at us!"
"The good thing is there's no traces of the Sigma Virus in that battle body," X said, sending another charged shot at the Sigma-MK9 to provide cover for his friend, just to see the battle body block it with both his axes. "That means we can destroy it without fearing another virus outbreak!"
"Defeating this copy is easier said than done," the crimson hunter lamented, shooting a blast from his buster aimed at the battle body's face hoping to have better luck than his partner but it was useless. His attack was also easily blocked. "Any ideas, X?"
X couldn't reply, for a loud explosion silenced him. The blue hunter, Zero and even the Sigma-MK9 turned to look left, only to find the doors to the next section of the Factory had been blasted into pieces and Vile standing there, his red eyes burning bright with determination behind his visor.
"Let me fight him!" Vile ordered. "You two go ahead!"
"As if we trusted you," Zero spat. "You're just going to betray us!"
"Shut up, you pompous pretty boy!" the renegade hunter shouted. "I'm serious, leave this to me!"
"But you can't possibly defeat this battle body alone!" X argued. "We have to fight together and…"
"I can, and I will destroy Lumine afterwards!" Vile interrupted as he shot a missile from his arm cannon at the Sigma-MK9, forcing it to dodge and finally earning his attention. "What are you two idiots waiting for? Go keep Lumine busy until I get there!"
X looked at Zero, who nodded in return. Neither trusted Vile, but given how little time they had left, this was the only chance they had to stop Lumine from launching the Great Winter.
"Fine, do your best, Vile," Zero said and dashed for the exit.
"… Good luck," X hesitantly offered as he followed the crimson hunter.
"Yeah, whatever," Vile scoffed as he moved so he was blocking the Sigma-MK9's path, stopping him from pursuing X and Zero. "Not so fast, baldy… the real fight starts now!"
=0=
"He's going to get killed," X stated as he ran besides Zero. Both of them were descending further into the factory's bowels, and could still hear the sounds of the destructive battle behind them.
"Possibly, we can't worry about that now," Zero said. "Knowing Vile, chances are he'll keep annoying us for a long time, though."
"Be careful!" the blue hunter warned, suddenly skidding to a stop. "There's a really deep drop ahead!"
"Look out!" Zero urged, pulling X back just in time to save him from getting his head chopped off by a platform that came down at incredible speed.
"Thank you," X said after taking a deep breath. "That was close."
"No problem, pal," Zero smiled. He looked down the pit and noticed the platform was rising back to their level. He waited until it was even to them to cautiously walk into it, locating a small control panel on the corner. "It's the Factory's high speed lift, I suggest we take it."
"Good idea," Mega Man X agreed. "Let's go."
=0=
Vile ducked to avoid the Sigma-MK9's red axe and then jumped high to dodge the blue one. The hunter quickly activated his antigravity chip to stay airborne for a second and used this chance to shoot a Stinkboy Capsule at the battle body, certain that some acid would be effective. He landed at the same time as the acid missile hit the replica in the chest, unleashing a corroding cloud capable of destroying metal with ease. Unfortunately for Vile, the Sigma-MK9 was invulnerable to this weapon effect and it rushed unaffected out of the acid cloud, taking the renegade hunter by surprise.
"Oh, crap!" Vile gasped just as the battle body kicked him in the torso, sending him crashing against a metal wall so hard he actually dented it.
The Sigma copy was on top of Vile in less than a second, bringing down both his axes, aiming for a quick disposal of his opponent so it could get rid of him and continue chasing the blue and red hunters that had escaped it. The axes, however, only hit the wall, destroying a large portion of it on impact. Vile had rolled under the Sigma-MK9, avoiding decapitation by very little.
"So this asshole is immune to acid… let's see how he likes this!" Vile thought as he quickly combined Falcon's Thunder Striker with Mole's Magnet Barrier, obtaining the Electromagnetic Rush Bullets for his finger gun. Jumping back to gain some room, Vile shot a barrage of little shining white orbs at the Sigma duplicate, who was momentarily stunned as his arms were shaken by a fierce and continuous electric current.
"This won't help you. The damage this weapon caused is insignificant," the Sigma-MK9 said as he flexed his arms, dissipating the electromagnetic field surrounding him. "You will be retired here."
"You… can talk?" Vile asked, changing ammo and selecting the Burning Riot. "Bah, it makes no difference, I'll still crush you!"
"Of course I can speak," the battle body said. "I am Sigma, the leader of the Maverick Hunters. Therefore I must destroy reploids who regretfully go Maverick like you, X and Zero."
"What? You're insane; the only maverick here right now is you!"
"It is a pity, you three were good hunters," the tall reploid disputed with obvious regret. "But there is no other choice."
"Shut up and fight me!" the renegade hunter demanded, rushing at the Sigma-MK9. Vile was not entirely sure why the battle body was talking that way, but he suspected the duplicate was simply reliving the original Sigma's memories and if he had to guess, that meant the replica was going to go crazy very soon.
"You would betray me, Vile?" The Sigma-MK9 said as Vile approached it. Frowning, the replica moved forth and backhanded the hunter into the ground before he could do anything. "I should have known a wild card like you would be a traitor! I will not forgive such insubordination; independence from humans must be obtained no matter the cost! We've already lost Chill Penguin and the others; I can't let you stop me now!"
"So it did happen," Vile muttered as he got back to his feet, his hand over his bruised shoulder. "It went from Sigma the Maverick Hunter to Sigma the Leader of the first uprising… this sucker's brain is completely unstable!"
"How are you alive?" Sigma-MK9 asked then, violently swinging his blue axe and unleashing from it a wave of ice that Vile easily jumped over. "I didn't ask the X-Hunters to recover and reactivate your filthy remains!"
"And now he's the Sigma from the second rebellion," Vile mused, far more interested in analyzing the ice attack his opponent had just used, thinking that maybe that ice axe would be weak to his Burning Riot Missile.
"You want to fight me?" The duplicate continued. "You should not be able to do that! I ordered Doppler to infect you with my virus to guarantee your obedience!"
"Oh, joy, he's the Sigma from the Dopple Town incident," the purple armored hunter groaned as he recalled how much pain Doppler had inflicted on him. "Hurry up and decide which version of Sigma you want to be, you defective piece of junk!"
"Die!" Sigma-MK9 screamed with a swing of his red axe, sending a wall of searing fire at Vile, "die, you miserable traitor!"
"Oh, damn!" This time Vile had no time or room to dodge, as the flames covered such a wide area he could only lift his arms and take the heat. When the fire dissipated, Vile still stood but his armor was so hot it had turned a brilliant orange. The hunter cursed inwardly as his systems screamed in alarm at the external heat, which according to his readings was nearing temperature levels he could not survive.
"This isn't good!" he thought, noticing his Power Core had lowered to 53% and that his subtank had boiled, becoming useless. Cursing, he selected the Tsunami Wave and combined it with the Magnet Barrier, hoping he'd get a defensive weapon and luckily, he obtained just that: the Water Defender. Vile quickly activated it, his new weapon summoning several droplets of water that started floating around him, lowering his temperature to more tolerable levels.
"Vile… you're alive? How did you enter the Final Weapon?" Sigma-MK9 asked, his fury apparently forgotten. "Did you come to assist me? No… you have your weapons aimed at me. You're here to stop me, aren't you? Well, I can't let you do that… Prepare to become space dust!"
"We're not in the Repliforce satellite, you idiot!" Vile said and shot an Ice Spear Missile aimed at the duplicate's red axe. The hunter had realized that if he was going to defeat this battle body, his best chances were to destroy his weapons first, and was hoping hitting his two axes with their opposite elements would do the trick. "We're in Lumine's Nightmare Soul Factory and you're nothing but a poorly programmed puppet!"
"Who… who is Lumine, another reploid summoned by the General?" the duplicate asked, raising his scarlet axe to block the freezing missile, only for it to crack and explode in his hand as it suffered a sudden temperature change it was not designed to resist. "Clever of you, Vile… but it doesn't matter; I'll destroy you and all who oppose me!"
"Try it!" the hunter challenged, switching to the Burning Riot and shooting a missile aimed at the Sigma-MK9's other axe. Vile got lucky a second time and struck the battle body's ice axe with his fire projectile, destroying it as easy as it had the other one. "Let's see how well you do without your toys!"
"You insolent worm, I know why you're here now!" The Sigma-MK9 shouted, his face twisting with rage. "But I won't let you interrupt my plans! Dynamo will take over Eurasia and complete his mission!"
"Oh, so you're going to be the Sigma from the fifth war, now?" Vile said as he shot a second Burning Riot at the duplicate, engulfing it in fire. "Let's see if you like being burned to a crisp, you bastard!"
"It's useless, you pathetic piece of junk!" the battle body taunted, stepping out of the flames completely undamaged. "This time the world is doomed!"
"It didn't work?" Vile groaned. "Give me a break! What does it take to hurt you?"
"You won't live long enough to find that out, Vile!" the Sigma-MK9 shouted, dashing at Vile so he could grab him by the shoulder. The duplicate squeezed hard enough to crack the hunter's armor and then punched him in the head, ending his attack by shooting two energy balls from his hands that struck Vile at point blank. "And now you're dead!"
The Sigma-MK9 turned his back on Vile, feeling certain he was dead. The duplicate prepared to go after X and Zero, convinced it would be best to stop them before they could discover what Dynamo was about to do in the Space Colony.
Except that the Sigma-MK9 couldn't move. Something had grabbed his left leg and refused to let go! Looking down, the copy found Vile still lived, and was holding his boot with shaking hands.
"What a persistent pest you are, Vile," the replica said. "I'm surprised you survived."
"I did… and I can still fight you…" the renegade hunter coughed. His Power Core was at 24% now and his finger guns and knee bomb launchers were now useless, but he couldn't give up. He simply couldn't! His mind racing as he analyzed his options, Vile concluded the only way to hurt the Sigma duplicate was to hit him with his Electromagnetic Rush Bullets; unfortunately, he couldn't use them anymore!
But maybe if he tried something else…
"I doubt it," the Sigma-MK9 announced, crouching to grab Vile by the neck, lifting him and smiling as the hunter's neck started cracking under his grip, "because I am going to rip your head off!"
"You… wish!" Vile managed as he combined the Thunder Striker with the Flash Claw, obtaining the Sparkling Cracker Rocket, which according to the data he got, was capable of generating a powerful electric pulse on detonation. "Eat this, you creep!"
Before the duplicate could react, Vile used his arm canon to shoot a spherical rocket directly to his face. The explosion not only caused the Sigma-MK9 considerable damage; the electric current it unleashed was so strong it fried several of his servomotors, incapacitating both his right arm and leg; it also destroyed several circuits in his electronic brain, driving him into a fit of insanity that he could not contain.
"How did you like that?" Vile mocked once he touched ground. The duplicate, injured severely after the attack, had released him and was now shrieking in pain.
And then the shrieking stopped, just to be replaced by a cold laughter so insane it sent chills down Vile's spine. The only time he heard Sigma got this crazy was during… the sixth Maverick Uprising!
"Bwa ha ha ha! Not yet! THE BADDLE HAZ JUSD BEGUNN!" The Sigma-MK9 cackled as he started limping towards his enemy. "DIE! Vi-Vi-Vile! JUSDIE, VILE!"
"So you finally descended to the level of a mad dog, just like the original did," Vile said, aiming his arm canon at the duplicate, preparing another Sparkling Cracker Rocket. "Well, don't worry; I'll put you down like one."
"Gwaaaaaaaa! Ghaaaaaaa! It's useless! IT IS USELESS!" The duplicate shouted. "You know it is, Vile! You can't defeat me so easily... You know you can't, Vile..."
"Go to hell," the hunter said and shot the Sparkling Cracker, hitting Sigma with another powerful electric blast.
"Naaaaaaaah! I'll destroy you... Vile you will die with me!" The Sigma-MK9 screamed in pain as his body, unable to counter the surge of electricity in his systems ignited into a ball of fire. "DIE VILE… Aaaaghaaa!"
Screaming as he exploded, the Sigma-MK9 shot one last, mighty energy blast from his mouth that struck Vile right in the middle.
=0=
When the smoke cleared, all that remained of the Sigma-MK9 was a scorched, dented metal skull that grinned up in a twisted smile. Not too far from the destroyed duplicate was Vile, facedown and barely operational. The renegade hunter had lost both legs and his shoulder canon; worse still, his helmet had split in half, revealing part of his face.
"Heh… at least Scarlet isn't here…" Vile chuckled, ignoring his systems telling him his Power Core was at only 10% and his body leaking power fluid quickly. "Would be a shame if… she sees my face… should've… paid the money to finally have… some artificial skin put on…"
Crawling to a wall so he could propel himself to a somewhat sitting position, Vile looked back at the trail of power fluid behind him and cursed. This really was worse than he had expected. Ignoring the pain, he leaned back on the wall and winced as his chest decided it was time to hurt like a devil.
"I… I guess this is possibly the best death I'll ever get…" he muttered once the pain receded to more tolerable levels. "Who would… have thought I'd die as a hunter?"
Looking down at his hands, Vile's electronic brain started summoning memories at random, until it selected the oldest one it could find…
…
"Good morning!" Doctor Cain said.
"Good morning," the newly activated machine greeted. "Please identify yourself."
"My name is Cain, I helped creating you," Cain replied with an honest smile. "I designed a new Combiner System for you that will allow you to gain unlimited variations of ammo for your weapons, and I also helped design your electronic brain, you are a unique model!"
"Unique?"
"A masterpiece," Cain appraised. "The finest battle model ever built!"
"I find that information… acceptable," the machine said with a prideful tone.
"Your designation number is VaVa-MK1, but we named you Vile," another scientist said then. "You were created to help with the recent Maverick attacks; I hope you are fine with the assignment."
"It doesn't conflict with anything in my programming," Vile stated, "and since I'm a battle model, I see nothing wrong with stopping dangerous reploids."
"Great, we'll give you some training first," Cain indicated. "And then we'll send you to work with Sigma."
"Sigma?" Vile asked.
"He's the greatest reploid ever built!" the second scientist said."Doctor Cain devoted all his knowledge to the task; no other reploid can compare with Sigma!"
"Interesting, I would very much like to meet him," Vile said, feeling confused by this information and, perhaps, a little jealous. Wasn't he supposed to be the masterpiece, the finest ever built? He would need to gather information on this Sigma soon to determine his supposed superiority.
"Fantastic," Doctor Cain nodded. "I'm sure Sigma will appreciate your help…"
…
"Vile, are you there? Vile! " Scarlet asked, her anguished voice dragging the wounded hunter back from his memories. "Interference in the second section of the Nightmare Soul Factory just dropped; I can see you're hurt!"
"… I was hoping you wouldn't call," Vile answered, noticing his Power Core was now at 9%. "Can't a man die in peace?"
"Don't you dare say that!" the redhead shouted. "Return to HQ so we can repair you!"
"Why should I? This is a good death. Let me have it… I've earned it."
"Are you out of your damned mind?" Scarlet yelled. "Did spending so much time with those three idiots made you stupid?"
"What? Of course not," Vile argued, slightly upset by her remark.
"Then return to base!" She ordered with an angry scream. "Or… or I'll go there and kick your ass all the way back!"
"Fine… I'll go," Vile yielded. "If only because you're asking so… nicely."
Vile cut the link to HQ and took in a deep, painful breath. He could ignore Scarlet and stay where he was, but… where was the fun in dying like this? Sure, it would be a great death, but he knew X and Zero would surely survive this crisis and get all the praise again while he ended up being forgotten.
And if there was something Vile didn't want it was to be forgotten.
Besides, X and Zero would surely be glad if he died, wouldn't they?
"Well, I'm not… going to give you that satisfaction… X!" Vile coughed. "You and Zero… will never get rid of me so easily… so you better win this… you hear?"
And saying this, Vile finally activated his teleporter, leaving the factory and heading back to HQ for repairs.
=0=
Notes:
Second part of the final stages completed.
Next chapter comes the big fight with Lumine, will X and Zero be able to stop him?