Author's Note: So I apologize for being very unfair to my older fics while writing my SSB4 fic. Which has deteriorated into a Fire Emblem/Mega Man crossover set in SSB4.
Inspiration is a cursed blessing indeed.
Enough about my personal issues, the final confrontation with Sigma is here!
"Storm Eagle, grab Spark Mandrill!" X yelled over the rumbling.
"Just kill this thing fast, because it's not happening for long!"
"Come now, I'm not that heavy, and I can grab the wall!"
"Shut up and kill it!" Sting Chameleon squawked as Rangda Bangda's nose bounced around the suddenly-much-narrower room. The nose barreled straight at Boomer Kuwanger, who teleported to avoid it and struck it with two energy cutters in return. The nose bounced off the wall, picking up speed from the impact, and back at him. Despite the hail of weapons tearing it apart, it managed to knock Boomer Kuwanger off the wall.
In an instant, Spark Mandrill grabbed him and threw him upwards, though the motion caused Storm Eagle to lose a grip on him.
"NO!" X cried, but there was nothing he could do. A second later, Rangda Bangda fell apart under their fire and the spikes on the floor retracted. "Dammit! Spark Mandrill!" X rushed over to him.
"X, listen to me. I'm finished. Your mission...is too important to delay...on the doomed life...of a common Reploid...like me. Remember...your training...X...and all of you...The world's fate...rests on...your shoulders alone...sacrifices...must...be...ma-made..." And with that, the life faded from Spark Mandrill's eyes and the lights on his body went out.
"He's right," Storm Eagle broke the silence grimly. "His sacrifice will have been for naught if we waver in our resolve now. Sigma must be stopped. Otherwise our struggle and what we fight for will be lost to time."
Sting Chameleon and Boomer Kuwanger nodded solemnly and they turned to face X. He was facing away from them with his fists balled.
"You're right, Storm Eagle. Spark Mandrill may not be remembered for his good deeds by us all, but his name will never be remembered if we fail now. We have to keep going."
The going was already getting far more treacherous. While X was still despondent over Spark Mandrill's death, it was becoming clear that he would have been a major hindrance to their progress.
"Ugh, is Sigma hoping to bore us to death with these stupid vertical climbs?" Sting Chameleon grumbled.
"All the more reason to keep going. I'm not giving baldy the satisfaction," Storm Eagle called from above them. He'd volunteered to take point, and while it made sense because he could fly, X also had a suspicion that Teal was weighing more on his mind with each passing moment.
"Too easy," Boomer Kuwanger muttered as he and X crossed paths. "I have a suspicion that Sigma has a trump card waiting when we get to him."
"Maybe he expected Spark Mandrill to accompany us."
"X, come now, there was virtually no way he wouldn't have been killed or at least injured back there. Sigma thinks in layers; he probably expected him to perish or at least be incapacitated."
"There's no point focusing on what might lay ahead, Kuwanger," X snapped. "At this point, we have no choice but to prevail or die trying."
"Right. I forgot that this is still X I'm talking to even if he's stepped into a much bigger role." Kuwanger did not restart the conversation.
When they reached the top Flame Mammoth and Chill Penguin were waiting. X slammed his buster to the ground and released a charged Fire Wave at them both. Chill Penguin's body ignited, but there wasn't even a scream of pain. As Storm Eagle distracted Flame Mammoth, X walked over to the smoldering Reploid and put a shot through his head. He then opened up with Fire Wave. Chill Penguin's body itself was soon melting, but X didn't stop. He kept burning him until he was out of weapon energy, ignoring the molten metal swirling around his boots.
"X...? What are you doing?"
"Why won't it just die?" Rather than a shout, X's voice was quiet, almost a whine. "I can save the world from any other threat...but not this one. Why won't it die like the rest of them? I can't shoot this. I can't burn it. All the power I acquired in the name of stopping evil can't even touch the greatest evil of them all."
"All the more reason to keep fighting, X. Without a manifestation it can't do any harm."
"I'm not invincible. Sooner or later I'll fall in this struggle. And then who will be left to take it up? This war is already lost if the opening shots have taken out all but a select few heroes on our side."
"X, you can't lose faith now, dammit! It's not just about what might happen down the path; as long as there are people worth fighting for in the present, then it is our duty to fight on their behalf or alongside them! Besides, Sigma is as mortal as all of us; without organization Mavericks won't be able to cause widespread harm."
"He's right, X," a new voice spoke.
"Dr. Cain?! What...how...?"
"Sigma dismissed me and completed Dr. Doppler here as a reward for my services. I have no idea why, but at my age, it's probably best not to look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Sir, allow me to escort you back to the military base in the courtyard. This palace is far too treacherous to navigate by yourself."
"Storm Eagle, you have Teal to save!" X protested.
"And I am confident you can do it, X. Consider my approval of how much you've grown," the avian Reploid replied with a smile.
"...Very well. Take care, you three. We'll continue onwards."
"Huh, looks like this chamber was where Sigma wanted Vile to meet us," X surmised as he saw the empty Ride Armor sitting in the corner. "Stay sharp and look out for traps."
That was proven quite unnecessary when a large robot fell from the ceiling in two pieces.
"D-Rex! It's another one of Sigma's personal prototypes for the Hunters!" Sting Chameleon yelped and jumped back.
"More brilliant design wasted on his pointless scheme," Kuwanger grumbled. "C'mon, let's take it down!"
The machine opened its jaws and began charging up a huge shot in between its jaws. X fired a Boomerang Cutter at the mechanism, but it didn't interrupt the charge despite causing significant damage to the tank's exterior. The blast of electricity would have caught Sting Chameleon if he hadn't cloaked at the last second. Meanwhile Boomer Kuwanger and X were busy pouring cutters into the tank, and with each hit more of its armor plating was sliced apart to reveal its inner workings.
"X! Now's your chance!" Kuwanger called as the machine started charging up another electric blast.
"Hyaaah!" X leapt in front of it and fired off the Crush Shot, which tore open D-Rex's upper jaw like a tin can. The massive blast overloaded the machine and it exploded in a brilliant flash.
Throne Room, Sigma Palace
X, Sting Chameleon, and Boomer Kuwanger burst in to find Sigma standing with Velguarder by his side and Teal in a chokehold.
"Hello, gentlemen. I must admit, you have left me with nothing to work with besides Teal here and Velguarder."
"Then drop her, Sigma, and I might let you live," X snapped. "You've caused unfathomable amounts of pain and destruction, and I have orders to take you back dead or alive. With the blood of my friends on your hands, I am not in leaning towards alive."
Sigma reared his head back and laughed. "Yes, yes, a marvelous speech, X! If only yourself of a few months prior could see what you've become now!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" X growled as he raised his buster.
Sigma continued to laugh before speaking. "You've become the very thing you feared the most: an unstoppable force of destruction that has no regard for life!"
"Wrong, Sigma! I may have gained power, but I am using that power to preserve lives!"
"Hahah! You may be saving the humans of this planet, X, but at the cost of how many of your own circuits and oil? Do not forget, X, that we Reploids are technically your descendants! You chose weak and pathetic humans over your own kind! You may be a savior to humanity, but you're a mass murderer of Reploids! The true X would go to any lengths to avoid bloodshed of any type, human or Reploid, even if it meant the blood that had to be shed was his own!"
"Grr..." X's buster started to whine as he charged a shot. "Don't you dare prophesy to me as though you are a saint, Sigma! You forced me to become this! You forced me to make every single sacrifice, to take the life of every single mechanaloid and Reploid that I had to kill to stop your insanity!"
"And now you see, X. Peace does not bring out our potential. Only through extenuating circumstances is it possible to fully reveal the potential of Reploids! And you have proven that! Not only do you exhibit the potential I'd seen in you, but you exceeded it! And yet I have only begun to scratch the surface! As our kind continues to evolve, we push our potential to new heights! Our potential as a race is limitless!"
"You think you have potential?!" X bellowed. "You're insane, Sigma!"
"You don't truly believe that."
"Nngh..." X groaned in frustration.
"You say you believe in justice, in protecting humans before us. But that's not true. Your true beliefs have yet to be discovered, X. Those mindsets were put in place by your creator. In a way, they may be yours, too, but they don't reflect your true thoughts. You've never had the opportunity to grow your own true, unbiased opinions about humanity. They've all been influenced in one way or another."
"And yours haven't?" X replied tersely.
"Initially, they were, just like yours. But after that battle with Zero, it became clear to me that I was mistaken. That battle liberated my thoughts from the constraining prior opinions that the humans programmed into me!"
"Liberated? They turned you into a tyrant and psychopath!"
"They showed me that sacrifices would have to be made in order to remake the world! The world as it stands is flawed, X! The weakest are at the top of the food chain because they can claim they created us! That is not the natural order! The strongest have always dominated in nature and history! The world's dynamic has been turned on its head, and that will only harm humanity in the long run! It has happened countless times in history, X! Ruling regimes become soft, and the strength flows to the people they rule, who use it to overthrow the weak government! I am shaping destiny!"
"Don't give me that destiny nonsense," Sting Chameleon grumbled. "It makes you look even more like a madman and Maverick."
"And what do you do with a Maverick?" Boomer Kuwanger continued quietly, grabbing his cutter from his forehead. "You terminate him."
"Ah, straight and to the point as always, you two. But why don't you try this on for size first? I will be waiting for you should you prevail!" Sigma threw Teal to the ground and immediately a tube descended from the ceiling. "Velguarder! Kill! Do not disappoint me, Hunters!" The tube whisked him upwards.
The wolf pounced at Teal, jaws open to slash her fragile throat apart. X loosed his Crush Shot and Velguarder went flying into the wall, yowling with pain. It shook itself once it had struck the wall and lunged, this time for Sting Chameleon. The Reploid yelled as it latched onto his tail and yanked him from the ceiling before clamping its jaws shut around Sting Chameleon's lower body. Sting Chameleon struggled furiously, but all it served to do was cause Velguarder's fangs to tear apart more of his circuitry and hydraulics. X finally blasted Velguarder off with a charged shot, but the wolf pivoted in midair and dove for Teal again.
"No you don't!" Sting Chameleon squawked and slammed his forelegs together, catching Velguarder's hind legs. The steel teeth snapped inches from Teal, who was backed into a corner. Velguarder released a stream of fire from his mouth that caught Sting Chameleon full in the face, to which Sting Chameleon responded by smacking it point-blank with his iron tongue before impaling the wolf with his head spikes.
Velguarder suddenly chomped off Sting Chameleon's right foreleg, causing the Reploid to drop him. In the next instant, his fangs had closed on Sting Chameleon's throat and started to clamp down on it.
"Bad dog! I'm taking you with me!" he squawked again.
"No, Sting Chameleon! You don't have to do this!" X protested.
"X, I have no hope of amnesty as Dr. Cain's kidnapper, and this thing has pretty much destroyed my body. The least I can do is make sure you take the madman above us out!"
"But - "
"It's too late now, if I wait any longer he'll chew through my neck first!" Sting Chameleon's body began to glow. "Despite what I thought of you at first, know that you have my utmost respect as a commander and fellow warrior, Maverick Hunter X!" A brilliant flash, and both Sting Chameleon and Velguarder were gone.
"Dammit. Another loss to Sigma's villainy. When will this madness end?" His dark thoughts were cut off by Teal suddenly perking up.
"Storm Eagle!" she ran to him and they shared a brief embrace.
"It's alright now, my dear. I'll fight to make sure you will never be hurt again."
"I won't allow that, Storm Eagle," X interrupted. "You and Teal have suffered enough already. Tell the military to start packing their base up and withdrawing, and I'm putting you in charge of that effort. You two deserve a happy future." Boomer Kuwanger nodded in assent.
"Storm Eagle, if there's ever going to be a case of a Reploid who was wrongly branded Maverick, it will be you. You have a great deal to prove to the humans on behalf of all of us. That mission is arguably as important as stopping Sigma. You can't be risked."
"X...how can I every repay you?" Teal asked.
"You don't need to. Seeing your happiness is reward enough," X said with a genuine smile.
"You shall see it done, you two. They should be packing up already; I had an intuition that we're nearing endgame here."
X waited until Storm Eagle had flow through the throne room window towards the courtyard, Teal in his arms, before he turned to Boomer Kuwanger.
"Well, old friend, it's up to us now." X saw a passage leading upwards and began to ascend it. The loss of Sting Chameleon, Spark Mandrill, Zero, and countless other Reploids he'd never had the time to learn names of still weighed him down, but that burden was considerably lighter now that he knew one of his friends was on the path to redemption.
"Sigma! Stop right there!" X barked as he ascended the passage. The Maverick leader had been tapping away at a few consoles when they entered, but he turned at the blue bomber's voice.
"Hm, there is a new clarity to your eyes, X. You no longer seem troubled."
"This isn't about me, Sigma. This is about you and the unforgivable atrocities you've committed!"
Sigma ignored him. "X...that look in your eyes makes me think that you are ready to face me at last. To challenge me in an unbiased match of might to determine the strongest Reploid...but first we have an interloper to take care of."
He was as fast as ever. Boomer Kuwanger teleported out of the way of Sigma's dash just in time. X fired back at him, but Sigma blocked the shots with his saber easily. His head crystal lit up and fired a few lasers at Boomer Kuwanger as the latter scrambled up a wall, hurling energy cutters down at Sigma. The Maverick leader dodged the cutters and leapt upwards, swinging his saber over his head. Boomer Kuwanger reversed direction a fraction of a second too late and the blade sliced his jet engines apart. Without them to provide thrust to keep him on the ceiling, Kuwanger fell to the ground.
X fired every weapon he had as fast as he dared, but Sigma blocked all of them effortlessly with his saber while advancing on Kuwanger with blinding speed. The latter teleported and appeared behind Sigma, firing a pair of energy cutters just as X fired a Crush Shot. Sigma blocked the Crush Shot but the energy blades sliced the wings of his saber charger off. Sigma wasn't even fazed as he whirled around and dashed at Kuwanger again, who ducked under his first saber slash and buried his head-mounted cutter deep into Sigma's chest.
If he felt any pain, the Maverick leader didn't show it as he grabbed Kuwanger by the neck with his free hand and brought the saber down with the other. Kuwanger's body tensed with pain briefly before going limp. Sigma tossed the carcass aside and turned around to face a Crush Shot that he was not able to block.
"Hahaha, marvelous, X!" the slight strain in his voice showed that he had in fact taken a great deal of damage. "But I am not done yet!"
"If you are quite done with your boasting I would like to get around to kicking your ass," X growled. The rage had returned to his voice.
"Yes, yes, hahaha! Embrace you emotions, X! Let them fuel your power! You will need every last ounce of it!" Sigma re-ignited his saber and charged.
"This ends here, Sigma! I will see you brought to justice!" X rolled under Sigma's slash and blasted his back with another crush shot. Sigma rolled aside at the last second and tossed his saber. X ducked it but in the next second Sigma seized him by the head in one hand and threw him against the wall. Running after him and picking up his saber, he pinned X to the wall by the chest and raised his weapon to deliver the killing blow.
In desperation, X headbutted the Maverick leader. Sigma roared in pain and staggered backwards, and X saw that the reinforcement ring on his helmet had shattered Sigma's head crystal. Refocusing in an instant Sigma began leaping between the walls of the room before diving with his saber raised for an overhead strike. X dashed under him, and Sigma re-positioned his saber for a ground slam. The weapon released a huge shockwave when it struck the ground, knocking X off his feet. X rolled under him and kicked out at his back but Sigma wasn't there. X raised his hands out of reflex and a second later Sigma's saber was inches from his face.
Pushing against Sigma's hands with all of his strength, X pointed his feet as close to the ground as he could and activate his dash boots. The sudden burst of force was enough for X to get better leverage and throw Sigma off of him. But instead of taking a shot at Sigma while he recovered his senses, X closed the distance and used his fists, knowing Sigma would not expect it.
Caught off-guard, Sigma took several blows before his free hand punched X in the face. He stumbled backwards, but not before grabbing Sigma's saber arm. Using his momentum X yanked his opponent forward, causing Sigma to stumble. X shattered Sigma's chest crystal with a hard punch and wrested the saber from Sigma's grasp as he collapsed to one knee in pain.
X tossed the weapon away and stood with his buster pointed at his former superior. To his surprise, Sigma was smiling.
"M-Magnificent, X! I sh-should've known only y-you could best me w-without even using your weapons! And to think y-you've been ranked a B-class Hunter! Hahahaha!"
"You're Maverick plans stop right here, Sigma!" X snarled as he began charging a shot.
Sigma only laughed harder. "Q-Quite the contrary, this is only the beginning!" Suddenly a cable shot from nowhere and grabbed his head. Still laughing, Sigma's head was carried into the surrounding darkness while his body exploded.
Suddenly the entire fortress began to shake and bang as though some giant creature were tearing it apart. X dove to the floor as a massive paw swiped through the room, tearing off the walls and ceiling effortlessly. The fortress shook again as Wolf Sigma climbed out, tearing sections of the fortress apart.
"Mwahahaha! It's not over yet, X!" The magnified voice of Sigma boomed. "The battle, the angst, the destruction! If I can't convince you, I will make you understand the true potential of Reploids!"
It was easily the size of half the fortress. X didn't even know if it had a weak spot, and its armor looked heavy enough to deflect even the Crush Shot with minimal damage. But it didn't matter. He had friends to protect, and therefore victory, or death while fighting for it, was the only option. "This ends, right here, right now! I will not lose!"
"So certain of victory, are you, X? Then I shall make it as pyrrhic as possible!" Wolf Sigma's jaw opened and he unleashed a stream of fire at the evacuating military. While the dropship and vehicle pilots had enough warning to seal their machines from the inferno racing towards them, many soldiers were left out in the open, too far from their APCs to make it in time. X stared in mute horror as hundreds of screams reached his ears before the soldiers fell silent and their ashes were blown away, not in groups or one-by-one, but all at once.
"Are you alright?" Storm Eagle asked Teal, having shielded her with his wings. She nodded and he quickly shepherded her onto a dropship. "Go. I'll meet up with you. I have to help them evacuate."
"To hell with saving the equipment!" a major barked. "Pilot, start the engines! We need to get out of here, and at the very least we can remote-control our tanks to help X!"
"Very well. Is the remote link established?"
"It's coming up online now," the major handed a datapad to Storm Eagle. "I'm giving you control."
"Wait, what about air cover? For all we know the palace's UCAV drones could be waiting for us to fly out."
The major sighed. "The air force still has strike fighters on standby, but they aren't armed for anti-air. Repliforce also has some planes, but they're dedicated attack aircraft. They won't do any good in an engagement We could test the palace defenses by having them fly into the UCAV drones' engagement range."
"That will have to do. Send the Repliforce planes in first. Once we've conducted that test, send the dropships with Maverick Hunters out first. I don't like putting humans at risk, but we can rescue a downed pilot. There will almost certainly be casualties if one of the dropships is shot down, and if there are, I'd prefer that they aren't human. A Reploid can be produced in much shorter order than a human matures." Storm Eagle looked towards the giant Wolf Sigma and the almost indiscernible form of X before leaving the dropship. "In the meantime I must assure that our retreat is not threatened from behind."
"Whoa!" X dove out of the way as one of Wolf Sigma's paws slammed the ground where he had been standing. As soon as he recovered his footing he was forced to dodge several large balls of electricity and another blast of fire. X was given no respite as one of the paws froze over where he was standing and began to glow. He dashed out of the way and grit his teeth as he landed, the electricity transferred to the floor from the shock coursing through his system. He couldn't tell if the platform was grounded, but if it wasn't he was on a strict timer.
Thankfully subtly had never been a strong point of Sigma, or at least his Maverick persona. It was quite easy to identify where his head lodged. Now he just needed to find a way to get close enough to break the casing. His shots were causing some damage, but the shield around it was nullifying the damage of his buster.
"I need something that can deliver a lot of blunt force...Rolling Shield? But how am I going to get close enough for it to hit the casing?"
As if on cue, Wolf Sigma's other paw slammed into the ground. X grabbed one of the claws and hoisted himself up as it rose back up. Dash-jumping off the claw, he dropped a Rolling Shield from his buster at the height of his jump and tried not to look down as he fell over fifty feet to the floor of Sigma's hangar.
Wolf Sigma cringed slightly at the impact, but it hadn't done as much damage as X hoped. And now Sigma was not willing to bring his paws anywhere close to him lest he give X an easy way up again.
Cursing his idiocy for not trying to jump on Wolf Sigma's shoulder instead, X began searching for another way to reach the head.
"X!" a voice called. "I've got you!" Storm Eagle clutched his friend in his talons and flew him up to Wolf Sigma's snout, dodging attacks on the way up.
"Storm Eagle, get out of here! Teal won't be able to stand losing you!"
"That is an argument to save for after we have defeated this monstrosity!"
"You should have fled when you had the chance, Storm Eagle!" Sigma boomed. "Now you shall die here with X!"
"I will allow not such a thing!" X dropped Rolling Shield after Rolling Shield on the casing. Sigma roared and tried to shake him, but X clung to his snout in a death grip. Several razor feathers from Storm Eagle diverted Sigma's attention towards him, just as the remotely-controlled tanks fired a barrage of shells. They missed the casing, but the sabot rounds were able to penetrate deep into the monstrous Reploid's body, tearing hydraulics and circuitry apart.
"You dare show such defiance before your GOD?! You shall be shown your place!" Wolf Sigma's paw lashed out and swiped the vehicles onto their sides like toys, but they continued to reload and fire at him. The dropships were already fleeing into the distance. "I don't think so!" Electric balls shot from his mouth at the fleeing craft. One took a hit and immediately lost power, plummeting towards the ocean below uncontrollably.
X's heart sank. Was that the one with Teal? Storm Eagle must have been thinking the same thing, because he was standing still. Sigma took advantage of his distraction to smack him down with his fist.
"No you don't!" X released a charged Rolling Shield and slammed into the casing with it activated. Cracks spread across its entirety from the impact, and X began to pour shots into it. But the casing refused to break. Storm Eagle, meanwhile, had gotten back into the air and was attempting to flee while dodging Wolf Sigma's attacks. He was doing fine, but it was only a matter of time before something hit him.
In desperation X punched the casing, eliciting a sharp pain from his right hand as the cracks spread even further. He looked down at his hand and saw the hydraulics had been damaged. It was essentially useless now.
"X, use your Crush Shot!" Storm Eagle called. Wolf Sigma lurched more violently than ever, nearly throwing X off.
With one hand unable to assume buster form and the other needed to keep himself from falling fifty feet to the ground, the only choice was to charge it before he drew his buster. He knew it would work flawlessly with his original buster, but this was Zero's, so there was no guarantee. If the shifting circuitry inside his arm got too close it would cause a short circuit. With so much energy stored, it would be lethal.
Sigma noticed what he was doing. "Go on, X! Do you think you have what it takes to stop me?" he taunted.
X didn't respond. He needed an opening to fire the shot without falling off, and right now Sigma was not giving him one. He heard the tank guns bark as another salvo of armor-piercing rounds struck Sigma's giant body and felt the movements slow noticeably. Had one of them hit something critical? Whatever the reason, he was glad for it as it distracted Sigma from him. His buster appeared on his left hand and spat the large red plasma blast. The giant ball of plasma shattered the casing and vaporized everything it touched inside the giant body's head. The internal magnetic field that was critical to Wolf Sigma's operation would now be its doom as the huge shot arced downwards before and plunging straight down the center of the body.
"Gaaah!" Sigma bellowed in pain. Explosions wracked the juggernaut from bottom to top as X leapt from Wolf Sigma's snout down to one of the paws and then to the hangar floor.
"N-no! It's not possible! I was promised the ultimate power! I was promised godhood! I can't be defeated by you! Why, X? Why have you done this to us? Why do you refuse to see your true potential..." X ignored Sigma's yells as they trailed off to nothingness as he leaped between the various substructures of the palace. Once he was past the outer walls he would be able to teleport away.
Suddenly there was an earsplitting bang. Huge chunks of earth flew upwards and the huge airborne island lurched violently as it began to sink towards the ocean. The shot must have made it all the way to the power core.
Storm Eagle flew over to him. "X, we need to stop the fortress from crashing! The tsunami it will create - "
"Will it affect populated areas?"
"No, but the survivors of the crashed dropship are right next to where the fortress will crash!"
"Dammit! We have to help them! Teleport us there!"
Minutes earlier, Dropship crash site
"Everyone out! Grab life vests!" Water was already seeping through the windows and under the ramp. The major kicked the roof escape hatch open and pulled himself out.
"Who's not out?" the major asked a minute later.
"The pilots are dead, I checked," one of his subordinates replied. "I think that's everyone."
"Alright then, get away from this thing or you'll be pulled down with it when it sinks!"
"Well what do we do now?" Teal asked once they had gotten far enough away. "It's too far to swim to shore even if we can make it out."
The major's reply was lost in a huge explosion. They looked up to see the fortress start crumbling and falling towards the sea.
"Don rebreathers and dive! There's less chance of a rock causing lethal damage underwater! Teal - " he handed her his. "Take it. I'll be fine. Do you need me to show you how to use it?"
"No, I've used it before, but what about - " A torso-sized boulder landed on the major and his body sank with the rock. She quickly slipped the mechanism over her head and dove.
Two streaks, one blue and one purple, dove into the ocean. X and Storm Eagle each grabbed a soldier and teleported them away before returning about ten seconds later. Again and again they repeated the process, but it was becoming clear that they could not save all of them before the fortress crashed. At the very least, two would have to weather the crushing tsunami.
"Teal!" Storm Eagle called. "Come with me!"
"Save the others first, Storm Eagle! It's your duty!"
"But - "
"The more you argue, the less you can save! Go!"
They had just teleported to the cliff where they were dropping off the soldiers when there was a huge explosion as the fortress' damaged power core exploded in a blinding flash.
"NO!" Storm Eagle teleported away before X could stop him.
"STORM EAGLE! Dammit!" X was about to follow him when the shockwave reached the cliff and knocked him down. The EMP pulse followed a second later, scrambling his teleporter and senses.
When he had recovered, X switched to thermal vision and scanned the ocean desperately for signs of life. It registered as one dark mass.
Author's Note: And so the story has reached roughly halfway! Thank you to everyone who has stuck with it, and I promise that I will see this completed!