Author's Note: So obviously X is going to have to come back from this somehow. I hope I made it believable.
Vile has obtained his final loadout! He has Distance Needler, Popcorn Demon, Infinity Gig, Fatboy, Necro Burst , Splash Hit, Stubborn Crawler, and Sea Dragon's Rage. Let's just pretend Armored Armadillo is a prick and didn't give him anything.
The EMP round had shaken X out of his grief, and though his tears continued as the security forces locked him down, they were now of regret. He'd failed to control his emotions, and now his friend was paying possibly the ultimate price. X eventually managed to fall asleep, after hearing one of the techs announce Zero would be okay.
When his subconcious self awoke, he found himself facing Dr. Light.
"Doctor, take these emotions from me!" X begged and his eyes welled with tears. "I...I'm not ready for them..."
"X, your emotions can serve you well. But beware that they can also be made to serve evil's interests. I gave you this power because it can push your capabilities far beyond what any other robot could hope to reach. But it is up to you to control them. If I were to do so for you, I would be enslaving you."
X blinked and looked at the hazy blue image of his father. "But...how...?"
"There is no set way to do so, X. If I were to show you how I did so, for instance, I would be forcing you to do things by a way other than your own, defeating the purpose of your independent thinking. However, know this: For everything lost, there will always be something for which that sacrifice was worthwhile."
"So..." X realized in a roundabout way his father was telling him.
"I cannot tell you any more, X. You have interpreted my words as you chose to. Now go, my son. You have already made me proud, but you cannot leave your job half-finished. Goodbye..."
X suddenly awoke and remembered he was restrained. He looked over and saw that Zero had been repaired and had already left. He must have been out for...his clock was showing...a day?! He also noticed that the Hunters hadn't bothered repairing his battle damage.
"So..." X spun his head and saw Zero, flanked by two human Reploids wielding EM stun guns. His friend's customary smile and positive demeanor was replaced by a fixed line and an unreadable face. "Are you ready to explain yourself, X?" The tone told X everything he needed to know: one misstep and he would either be joining Sigma or shot.
X looked away guiltily. Though he had snapped and managed to regain control of himself, his acts were constituted as Maverick. Nobody would bother understanding, besides Sigma and maybe Zero. "I...I'm not sure what happened. So many things have been happening..."
"X, I understand you're under a lot of stress from this crisis, but we all are. That's not an excuse for acting Maverick. If you hadn't helped us out as much as you had with this, you'd be dead already."
"Zero...you don't understand how I feel. Watching my friends die, or worse, killing them, doing what I always abhored nonstop for four days..."
"Your breaking point is clear, X. That's not what I wanted to know. I already can guess why you snapped, but why did you shoot me? Why did you destroy things?"
"I...didn't want to be reminded of those things...that I hadn't lost yet. I tried to distance myself so that when I did, it wouldn't hurt as much..."
Zero sighed. The explanation was hardly what he wanted to hear, but most likely the truth. So this was what X's emotions were capable of doing...no wonder Dr. Light had tried to safeguard against it. "We need to talk more about this later, but I am convinced you are not a Maverick. Stand down."
With that, the Hunter guards left and Zero approached X to unshackle him. "Zero...I'm sorry. Are you okay now?"
"Don't worry about me, X. I assume there was a reason you were out for almost a day?"
"Yeah...some 'rock bottom' safeguard Dr. Light built into me. Guess this must have happened to him or someone he knew..."
"Your old man's either a prophet or an eerily good predictor of history. Take it easy; I'll get the techs back in here to repair your damage. In the meantime, I'm going to take on Armored Armadillo."
"Zero! I thought you said it was too dangerous!"
"He's forced my hand. His forces are digging under the city; if we don't attack his base within an hour he'll collapse the tunnels he's digging and bring the city down."
"Damn that groundhog..." X muttered ruefully. Before he had left the Hunters Armadillo had irritated X frequently about the latter's "inferior" combat abilities, in addition to challenging random Hunters to fights and boasting of his own powers. X's hatred of Armadillo had come to fruition when the latter had dared a new C/D-ranked Hunter to shoot him with his weapon before using his hyperreactive armor to charge up an attack and destroy him, especially when he heard Sigma had accepted Armadillo's justification that said Hunter was a 'waste of circuitry'. His antics were nothing short of bullying and sometimes constituted Maverick behavior, but because of Armadillo's high standing and his unique role within the Hunters, Sigma didn't take action beyond verbal reprimands.
"Well there's nothing we can do past responding to the challenge. And Sigma's minions outside of Armadillo's army have largely withdrawn to the palace, and those that haven't are in the process of doing so. The risk wouldn't be any greater than if you invaded the mine yourself."
"Alright, well...take care, Zero. I'll join you when I can. And...thanks." Zero raised his hand in acknowledgement but didn't turn to face his friend as he left the repair bay. X kept looking at the spot where he had last seen his friend while the repair technicians got to work.
Sigma Tunnel Network, Abel City
Armored Armadillo smiled as he registered teleporter signatures. Good. He had the Hunters' attention. Oddly, he didn't spot X among the group. Though Sigma had ordered him to issue the ultimatum, Armadillo had privately been hoping only X would respond as was the case with the others. Nevertheless, he was confident that most of the Hunters that arrived would be easily dispatched by his army.
Unfortunately, Zero was leading them, and the red robot was doing everything to protect his troops. Armadillo would have to change that. "Vile!" The purple Reploid nodded to acknowledge that he'd heard. "Go and separate Zero from his group. Preferrably, throw him into one of the minecarts."
"I don't need to listen to you! If it was X leading them it'd be a different story, but I'm not taking on Zero!"
"You sound scared, Vile," Armored Armadillo taunted. It was a dangerous move, but it usually brought his obedience.
"Hmph!" Vile stalked off. There was a crash and Vile burst into Armored Armadillo's command center in his Ride Armor, seizing the latter with his fist. "Listen, you fucking mole, I'll do what I want, my way! I'm tired of you giving me orders!" Vile threw Armadillo against the wall.
"Sigma will hear about this, Vile! I will make you rue this decision!"
"Why do you care, so long as you get what you want in the process?" The Ride Armor thudded off.
Armored Armadillo sighed. He went back to monitoring the battle. The tunnel network consisted of a series of tunnels dug by both Sigma's forces and the people of Abel City. Several unfinished subway tunnels and sewers made up the majority of the portion under Abel City, with the network eventually leading out of the city and into an old mine in whose entrance Armadillo had established his command center. Right now, the Hunters were still pinned down near their entrance point by his forces, but it was clear he was losing as a result of Zero's efforts.
That would change soon enough.
Zero saw Vile's Ride Armor approaching and signalled for the Hunters to scatter. They would have to take it down together; even Zero couldn't hope to last long in such confined spaces. Especially if Vile had learned his lesson from before.
The Ride Armor closed the distance frighteningly fast, and one of the Hunters was trampled beneath the massive feet before anyone could react. Zero tried to distract Vile, but it was clear that the latter wasn't interested in him. The Ride Armor's cockpit shielding deflected Zero's attacks, and his saber attacks were always met with a devastating counter-rush. After it happened twice, Zero backed down to avoid damage, and he could only watch as his troops ran or were slaughtered. About half of them managed to reach the exit beacon; the others' remains were strewn across the tunnel.
"I'd love to destroy you too with this new Ride Armor, Zero, but I'm afraid that privelage is reserved for X..." As Zero slowly began to back away from Vile at hearing this, Vile continued, "...I won't kill you, but I didn't say anything about this!" Vile seized Zero and threw him down the tunnel and walked down another tunnel that would eventually merge with it. "Bon voyage, you transgender red cocksucker!"
"I'm surprised Sigma hasn't put a censor on this guy yet," Zero grumbled as he twisted and turned his body in midair to minimize the shock and damage of any impacts. He was airborne for almost a half a minute before he slammed into the back of a tunnel-boring machine, but he managed to recover quickly. However, the mission had already gone horribly wrong and they hadn't even made any ground. At this point, Zero realized he had flown out of one of three tunnels, and with no idea which one he had come out of, he blindly guessed. Finding a minecart, Zero examined it, puzzled.
Then he realized he was meant to ride it. That was an absurd notion, but it would likely get him past the majority of the defenders. "Here goes nothing," he muttered and climbed on. To his surprise, the cart began rolling immediately, and spikes protruded from both ends as the cart picked up speed. Soon the track ahead began sloping down, and the Bat Bones were quickly left behind while the Flammingles were simply run over or impaled, their fragments showering Zero. Despite the proximity of danger, he found himself enjoying the ride. A screech different from the Bat Bones suddenly caught his attention, and he looked up and saw a Bubble Bat peering at him from a hole in the wall for a brief second. Zero smiled at seeing another Wily creation, even if it wasn't on his side.
Ahead, he saw the track ended and Zero used his momentum to dash off the cart as it crushed itself against a wall. Slicing down with his Z-saber, he cut a pair of Bat Bones and another Flamminger down. As he dropped down a shaft, a sudden rumble started up behind him and Mole Borer burst through the wall. Zero cursed and began fleeing down the hallway, but the mech was just as fast.
Zero saw spikes and several Bat Bones further down the hallway. He was going to land on spikes either way (A/N: No invincibility frames here!), and there wasn't time to destroy the bats...
X hurried to the teleporter array as the comm net erupted with frantic cries for evac and damaged Hunters were being rushed out of the teleporter room. He teleported into the same tunnel Zero had last broadcast a signal from, and was immediately confronted by the Bat Bones that Zero had outrun. X easily shot them down with his buster. Suddenly, a different screech echoed through the dim tunnel and the Bubble Bat that Zero had seen swooped out of its cave upon recognizing X as a Dr. Light creation. The bat dove straight for him, and X shot it down without hesitating. As X examined the wreckage, he noticed "M501" stamped on the interior of the drone. He also found a repair kit inside the corpse. Odd. X took the repair kit and moved on. Suddenly, as he began crossing a series of spiked pits (and noting the minecart's wreckage in the bottom of the first), the earth shook and X heard the rumbling engine of a Mole Borer. Zero must have triggered it! X hastened to the shaft and dropped down.
His scanners immediately picked up Armored Armadillo's subtank behind him, but Zero was slowly losing ground to to the massive tunneling machine. X made a snap decision and fired a Boomerang Cutter to pick up the subtank while dashing after the Mole Borer.
X dropped a fireball out of his buster and the charged Fire Wave expanded into a sheer wall of heat and flames, roaring after the Mole Borer. As the flames consumed the machine, its diesel tank exploded and the machine shut down. X ran through the fire as soon as it was tolerable and saw Zero panting on the other side.
"Are you okay?"
"Hey...X. Glad to see you up and fighting again. I'm fine, that Mole Borer just caught me off guard."
"Not like you to be that way," X teased. Zero's lack of response quickly sobered X's mood. "Well...I suppose we should keep moving. What happened to the Bat Bones?"
"Destroyed. Let's move on."
X nodded, grateful for Zero's acceptance of his change of tack. X charged a Chameleon Sting and carried Zero as best as he could over the spikes, and they soon came upon broken minecart tracks.
"Looks like we're both going to have to fight this one out. I'll take point." X said.
"...Alright..." Zero was reluctant, but at the same time he understood that X needed to prove himself again.
They traveresed the tunnel, blasting Spikies, Bat Bones, and Mets out of the way and making some small talk. Vile was waiting for them just before the end.
"You have X as your tag team partner now, Zero? The Hunters must be getting desperate..."
"What we're doing is none of your business anymore, Vile. Now stand down or I will destroy you."
"Hah! You could barely beat me the last time we properly met, and I have grown much stronger since then! You think X is the only one with potential?"
"Zero," X spoke up. "I'll take him. I have more experience fighting him."
"You, X? All you did was hide under that cloak Sting Chameleon gave you like a pussy! You're even worse than Zero!"
X ignored him and continued, "Anyhow, you have a better chance at stopping Armored Armadillo."
"X, I couldn't even stop a Mole Borer on my own. You're the one who has a better chance. We both know his weakness."
"Hey, don't ignore me, you two! I'll just fight you both!"
At that, the two spoke unanimously: "Then that shall be the end of you, Vile!" Zero added, "Your arrogance will be your downfall!"
"Haha! Bring it on!" Vile's body bristled with weapons.
X was caught in a Splash Hit vortex, and Zero weaved and sliced through a barrage of Popcorn Demon missiles. But even Vile had his limits. With so much energy devoted to keeping Zero busy he had nothing to use against X, and the blue bomber managed to break free of the vortex without further harm, unleashing a charged Homing Torpedo. Five drones emerged from X's buster and augered straight into Vile. They weren't able to penetrate his armor and exploded instead, knocking Vile off his feet. Swearing, the purple Reploid unleashed a Necro Burst. Zero was thrown back in mid-charge, and X's next attack was vaporized by the energy field. Both were pummeled mercilessly by the field, and Vile gave his paralyzed opponents no respite, attacking X with a rocket fist and Zero with a Fatboy.
"Zero!" X watched in horror as his friend disappeared behind a rise in the minecart tracks, energy coursing through his body. Fortunately the Necro Burst had expired and X fired off a Spiral Crush, vaporizing the rocket fist much to Vile's surprise. Though he managed to avoid some of it and remainder of the shots hadn't penetrated, it gave X enough time to recover.
"What are you going to do without your babysitter, X?" Vile mocked. X fired a Boomerang Cutter, which slashed through Vile's cannon. X caught it as he dashed towards his surprised foe. Before Vile could react X tackled him and began to viciously slice the former apart with the weapon.
"You've taken everyone I care about from me! You forced Storm Eagle to fight me, you kidnapped Dr. Cain, and now you've killed Zero! But you won't take me!" With that, X stabbed one end of the cutter straight into Vile's helmet. The red glow behind his signature T-visor faded, and X ran to where he'd seen Zero disappear.
To X's surprise and immense relief, Zero was okay. "I've got some major damage, but I'll live. The shrapnel in those missiles conduct energy..."
"Zero, I'll go on myself. Get yourself repaired."
"Thanks, X...I owe you one."
"If it means I don't look like a Maverick to everyone, then that's enough." Zero laughed and teleported out. X returned to Vile's disabled corpse and considered kicking it into a spike pit before realizing what he was doing.
"I'm supposed to be protecting both Reploids and humans...how quickly things changed in the last week. I can't let those things get the better of me again..."
Though he didn't kick Vile into energy spikes like he originally planned, X didn't do anything else. He dropped down and his scanners suddenly revealed a Heart Tank further ahead. He almost didn't notice the Mole Borer right in front of him, but luckily he didn't trigger it and a blast of flames to the diesel tank solved that problem quickly. X picked up the Heart Tank and noticed another minecart. Now it was his turn...he couldn't suppress a smile of anticipation.
Armored Armadillo cursed and opened a transmission to Sigma to recover Vile. With the purple Reploid potentially dead there wasn't really a need to report to Sigma what had happened earlier, Armadillo mused. He was a warrior at heart, and he lived by that code at all times. Besides, the eight armies were nothing but a forwarding of and cloak for Sigma's next plan. If they had begun an attack, so be it, but their plans hadn't been irreparably disrupted...
A minecart crashed into the command center's door, battering it half-open. Maybe he should have listened to Boomer Kuwanger about those after all. X pried open the smashed doors and walked in.
"I should have figured who would abhor base defenses enough to provide me with those. Hello, Armored Armadillo."
"Speaking of armor, been rummaging through Hunter Base's recycler recently?"
"Save it. We both know why I'm here."
"Yes, you're here to convince me not to fight for Sigma, no? We both know the answer to that already, X. I'm under strict orders to protect this mine. There is nothing Maverick about obedience."
"Spoken like a true Maverick! If you follow the orders of one then you're a Maverick by extension!"
"It is not my position to question Sigma's actions or orders! I am a warrior, X!"
"You are a Reploid! We were given the ability to think and make decisions for ourselves!"
"And my decision was to obey the orders of others! My kind are not supposed to think outside of battle! It is my calling to fight and only to fight, X!"
"Other Hunters would already have fought you! I'm giving you a chance to spare your life against every protocol, and you refuse it!"
"I follow orders, and nothing more! Hear me, X! That is your great weakness! You do not know when fighting is necessary!"
"You don't know when it isn't!"
"Enough! I am under orders to stop you, and while conversation is fulfilling that purpose for now, there's only one true way to dispose of you!" Armadillo tucked into a ball and shot across the room, bouncing off the walls with enough force to make boulders fall from the ceiling. X shot them down, but one stray buster shot struck Armadillo's hyperreactive armor, and the Reploid began to glow. Four massive energy shots shot out of hidden ports in the armor. X dodged them all, but Armadillo himself struck the blue bomber from behind before unfolding from his ball form. Lasers spewed from a hidden cannon in his forehead, but he couldn't fire them quickly without absorbing energy.
X dodged them and fired off a charged Electric Spark. The pulse smashed into Armored Armadillo, and with a blinding flash, the electromagnets on his armor shorted out and the plates fell off. Armadillo's eyes widened through the arcing electric fields. "Impossible!"
"Believe it! I'm not the same robot you always picked on when you were a Hunter!" X gathered energy between his hands and threw it as an energy ball. The Hadouken tore through Armored Armadillo's now-vulnerable body, and with a spectacular scattering of metal fragments, his body exploded. X walked over to one of the fallen armor pieces and began to copy it, but Armored Armadillo suddenly managed to stand, wielding a pair of katanas usually hidden under his back armor plate.
"Augh!" X yelled and grabbed his arm as his buster was sliced off.
"You're defenseless now! You're stronger than you were before, but you're still inferior to me!"
X immediately changed his other hand to a buster. "I'm right-handed, but I don't think I'll mind this time!" His buster suddenly spun a cocoon of energy and hurled it at Armored Armadillo. The musical tone of the projectile as it was spun and fired was almost mocking; the Reploid was destroyed by his own copied Rolling Shield.
Sigma Palace
Sigma smiled as he watched Armored Armadillo's death. That stubborn prick had followed his orders to the last, even though they weren't necessary for more than a day. Sigma turned and nodded to a technician. The rock surrounding the palace suddenly crumbled and a massive portion of the plateau broke off like an iceberg calving off a glacier.
Sigma watched Abel City recede as the now-flying fortress ascended. He wondered what its inhabitants were thinking. The fortress possessed formidable defensive arrays and shielding but lacked firepower with the range to bombard Abel City, and thus flight was more for intimidation and evading the Hunters. Sigma suddenly cursed inwardly as he remembered the Maverick Militia commander had a tracking beacon in case reinforcements needed to be mass-deployed or a mass evacuation was necessary. He'd have to deal with that.
"All generals, report to the command center!"
Minus Armored Armadillo, they responded within minutes.
"I have a task for you. You are to assassinate the leader of the Maverick Militia. Kill all of his troops too, and act quickly. The Hunters will be mounting an assault soon, and we can't afford to let them access the teleporter beacon. Storm Eagle, you have command."
The avian Reploid bowed and lead his comrades to a waiting transport. Another departed simultaneously to evacuate the remainder of Armored Armadillo's army and pick up the shattered remains of both the Reploid and Vile.
Speaking of Vile...Sigma had to admit he had performed admirably and had far exceeded the potential that he thought he saw, even if he had obeyed Armored Armadillo's orders over Sigma's own. He needed to teach Armadillo his place once the latter was repaired; as nothing more than a warrior his command decisions were often rash and shortsighted but he knew how to play his troops to their maximum, and Vile's overzealous reaction was proof of that.
With regards to the purple Reploid himself, Sigma was slightly dismayed of Zero's presence as it had foiled his test slightly. It had given additional insight into X's changes when governed by emotion, but Sigma hadn't needed that anymore. Rather, he wanted to pit the two against each other and see who would truly come out on top in a death battle. From the appearance of it Vile probably wasn't irreparably damaged though, and he could always stop X when the Hunters made it to his fortress. Sigma fully expected them to reach the teleporter beacon, for he knew that his generals were divided in their loyalties enough to undermine their efforts. That would be where the override would come into effect when he deemed it fit, but he already knew it didn't work completely...
Hunter Base
Zero was poring over a map of the Maverick Militia HQ with several squad leaders. This invasion would commit all of the Hunters' resources, including their all-too-valuable speeder bikes and Ride Armors. The extreme investment meant minimal casualties were an absolute requirement, and thus careful planning would be needed.
X walked in. "Hey, Zero."
"X! You did it! Sorry we can't have some time off right now, but take it easy for a bit."
"No, Zero. This is really important."
"What?"
"We need to succeed. I found some of the computers in Armored Armadillo's command center weren't purged..." X's voice cut off as a deep rumble shook the earth. Everyone stared out the window as a million-ton slab of rock capped with a fortress detached from the plateaus above Abel City and began to climb into the sky and retreat over the ocean.
"...so..." X managed to say once he had recovered. "That was supposed to happen. And we can't get a teleport signal lock without certain coordinates or a way to penetrate Sigma's defensive matricies. Fortunately, the computer in Armored Armadillo's command center indicated that our primary target has both, in addition to ways to bypass some defenses and a complete schematic of their defensive plan. There's also security cameras, but the computer doesn't provide an access code so we'll need to hack them to get a live feed."
"X...you're a lifesaver." Zero turned back to the map and X joined the commanders in conference.
Author's Note: So can you tell I hate Armored Armadillo? Anyhow...
The next chapter will be another completely unique one; and a "boss rush" of sorts, though I plan on having something more along the lines of a boss rush in Sigma Palace.