Chapter 10: Hunters Become the Hunted
All eight Mavericks were defeated…Zero's part had all been recovered…And the pieces of the Second Armor had been fully reassembled. X was more than ready to finish the mission he had begun, all he had to do now was check up on Alia and see if she had found the location of the X-Hunter's main base. But first, he made a quick recovery stop to heal up the damaged bits of his armor. He then made his way to the command center and went straight for Alia, who had put away the static imagery that had replaced the Maverick's mugshot and was now more focused on scanning the island itself for any signs of the X-Hunter's base.
"What's the situation Alia?" X inquired as he stood behind her chair, and she replied with a confident tone in her voice "I've done it X! Without the eight Mavericks around to run interference, I've picked up on the X-Hunters' signal off the coast of the island." X widened his eyes happily and smiled, saying to Alia afterwards "That's great news. How far off the coast are they?"
"At least three miles…They are hiding in a fortress wedge within a glacial island, and it seems they had some tunnel built that connect the fortress to the computer facility Magna Centipede was occupying. It's not hard to imagine that they've been using those tunnels to move the supplies Crystal Snail was harvesting from those caverns to the fortress without any of us noticing." Alia explained in great detail, leading to X saying confidently "Right now we don't need to worry about what they are using the tunnels for. If you can send me into there, I'll infiltrate the fortress and take out it and the X-Hunters for good."
"No need to drop you into the tunnels, actually. There's little interference preventing me from sending you directly into the fortress itself." Alia explained while zooming the computer screen in on the island she mentioned earlier, putting a mark on the entrance itself as she types in the coordinates for the teleported to take. X nods his head and says "That sounds go-" before he was done though, the sirens went off within the HQ once again, with Alia's computer screen immediately getting bombarded with some heavy static to signify interference from an outside source.
It wasn't just her computer screen, but the screens all the other navigators were using as well. A sharp screech through her headphones took Alia by surprise and made her grit her teeth before the sound balanced out, and she remarked through the pain in her ears with "W-What? Who could be hacking into our systems?" The answer came in the form of a familiar face appearing on all of the screen and the holographic projector in the center of the room, with X turning to look at that one in particular while remarking in an unsurprised tone "Who else could it be?"
In seconds, Agile's face appeared on the projector and screens, and with a smile on his face he pulled back and began to laugh slowly and quietly. His voice echoed across the room as he said "Well well, Maverick Hunters…It seems you have defeated our eight Maverick generals. Well done, well done…All of you should give X a round of applause for all of his hard work." X looked fully at Agile's face on the projector and said "Agile…What do you want?" "Why X…I thought you would have already come to hunt us down. Well since you are here, I suppose I shouldn't waste any time explaining myself…" Agile responded with a polite tone despite the gravity of his presence here.
After a couple metallic coughs, Agile said "You have fallen right into our little trap. Remember that computer that released the signal across the island? Well what you stopped was just a preliminary test of it's incredible power! In just thirty minutes, we will be able to send another signal straight to your little HQ, and with it all of you shall become Mavericks yourself. And yes X…That will include your little friend Zero, who we know you've almost gotten rebuilt by now." X widened his eyes and then grit his teeth, while Alia stated to X from the sidelines "He's blocked off the signal to the computer facility X! I won't be able to send you directly back there anymore!"
Agile glanced over at Alia's spot from the projector and noticed that she had manage to override his hijacking, stating in an impressed tone "Clever navigator…But it matters not what you do, you'll never break through the firewalls we set up around the facility itself. We connected those to our lives, so if you want to stop this signal…Then come to our base and fight us again, Maverick Hunter X!" "Fine…If a rematch is what you want, then I'm coming right after you all, X-Hunters!" X exclaimed confidently while clenching his fists in anger at what they were attempting to do.
"Tick-Tock…Tick-Tock, X…Time runs out with every word you and I exchange. I will surely miss our conversations once you are gone though, you can be sure of that." Agile then drops his hijacking of the HQ's computers, and everything goes back to normal almost immediately. X turned to Alia and said "Alia, are the coordinates set?" "They are. Go now X! We have almost twenty-eight minutes left!" Alia responded swiftly, and X did not hesitate to run out of the room and make it for the teleporters, entering the closest one he could and being warped right to the X-Hunter's base.
X lands right within the entrance of the base, which shared the same aesthetic theme as the innards of the computer facility he had infiltrated earlier. With open windows letting a cold arctic breeze blow inside, X lifted his arm cannon up and looked on ahead at the metallic expanse in front of his path and then sprinted forward without hesitation, armed to the teeth with the eight Maverick weapons he had picked up along the way and the entirety of his Second Armor. He could not hope to waver even once now, not when the X-Hunters had made their goals clear.
X quickly ran into some bat Reploids first, but he dealt with them without stopping his sprint by switching to Overdrive Ostrich's weapon and using the charged variation of it to send a wave of Sonic Slicers down from above to slice through them all. As the bats blew up behind him, X leaped bravely down a flight of tall metal pillars towards a jet-propelled platform hovering above a bed of spikes, letting nothing distract him unless they posed an immediate threat, in which case he took them out with some quick buster shots.
Landing on the platform caused the jet to switch over to the other side, pushing the platform towards the other side of the bed of spikes while screwdriver-bit Reploids leaped at X to try and push him off. X grabbed one around the screwdriver and threw it behind him to make it explode upon hitting the wall, and then took out the other one with a couple buster shots. He then switched to Wheel Gator's weapon upon noticing a computer of some sort in front of him, and with a charged shot to increase the strength of the weapon he sent it out to have it grind right through the computer and explodes into a series of spikes once it reached the center in hopes of slowing the X-Hunters' plan down.
X leaped off the platform and ran forward, dodging the spikes that flew out from below thanks to the charged Spin Wheel while positioning his arm cannon in front of him to take out a row of screwdriver Reploids with a single normal Spin Wheel. Leaping and Air Dashing over the Spin Wheel as it climbs up the metal steps in front of him to take out more enemies, X eventually reaches a point where he has to jump directly up to climb a ladder into the next part of the base, which was basically an ascension through a couple shafts.
But upon climbing this ladder, X was placed in-between a familiar obstacle in the form of the enclosing walls that he saw at the beginning of this mission. A flying drone with strong extension poles on it's sides does the same thing as before, pulling the two walls closer together from the very top. But this time X could do something about this prematurely, and as he climbed up the walls just to be safe with some swift jumping he switched to Magna Centipede's colors and fired up a Magnet Mine straight up. The mine attracted to the robot and blew it up upon attaching to it, stopping it from pulling the walls in further.
X finished his climb by landing on the floor to the left and then leaping forward with an Air Dash to get lined up with one of those shielded drones and fire another Magnet Mine at them so it would interfere with their shield and make it open up so the mine would explode right as X landed on the ground in front of them. He leaps through the smoke of the explosion and goes forward, destroying another drone with another mine before going up to yet another ladder that he would need to climb to move on. X was aware that he was going into another area with collapsing walls and quickly blew the drone up by firing a Magnet Mine up to take it down.
He then wall jumped his way to the top and went to the left, temporarily switching out to his normal armor colors so he could fire a charged shot from both of his arm cannons at one of those scorpion tank Reploids that were in his way. He then went up a set of ladders while taking out more scorpions, using a third Magnet Mine on yet one more drone at the end to stop the walls from being collapsed, and after ascending up this shaft with wall jumps he sprinted forward and saw a gap and a claw on the other side of it waiting to grab him.
X wasn't going to have any of that, and used a charged shot to destroy it before leaping right across the gap and continuing on unimpeded for a few good seconds. He had to destroy another claw before leaping over another gap, followed by him also dealing with a one-wheeled boar Reploid in a similar fashion as both claws. X noticed the variety of enemies at this point and realized that the X-Hunters were throwing everything they got at him, but no matter the combination of enemies X had dealt with them all by this point and no doubts in his mind meant that nothing was stopping him from taking each enemy down without a single hit to his body.
Climbing up another shaft with some wall jumps, X leaped straight at a bipedal robot with spikes on top of it's head and swerved a bit to the right to avoid the energy bolts it fired, punching right through the front of the robot with his left hand to disrupt it's magnetism and make it drop to the ground as X safely lays a hand against the wall and magnetizes to it before leaping his way up to the top while avoiding all of the other spiked energy bolts from any other drones in his way.
X dashes across the floor once he gets to the top, and comes across one final set of collapsing walls as he looks up past the two ladders on the floor below his feet. One more Magnet Mine was all X needed to free up his way to the top of this shaft, and as X leaps between the falling parts of the destroyed drone he switches back to his normal armor colors and keeps a firm expression of confidence on his face. He threw all of his trust onto his fellow Maverick Hunters to keep the HQ safe in case the X-Hunters tried to pull an attack while he was gone, as he knew they trusted him to stop the X-Hunters and save the day for all Reploids and humans out there.
Once X was at the top of the collapsing walls, he found himself face-to-face with the familiar sliding steel doors that marked the way to the main enemy in the area. Frost lined the metal walls as X walked over to the doors and let them open in the face of his presence, and as he cautiously walked through the passage to confront the enemy awaiting him X took a deep breath in and released some haze from his mouth. He then entered the second sliding door and ended up in a large but enclosed room with some yellow and black metal blocking the way onward through the ceiling while a window was open to the left, revealing the arctic wastes outside.
As X stood at the now closed steel door, it didn't take long for his opponent to drop into the room without warning from above, and as expected it was one of the three X-Hunters, Violen. However, the X-Hunter had received a bit of an upgrade since the last time he had confront X, with his cut-off arm now having his spiked ball attached to it. His other arm remained perfectly the same though, as did the rest of his body. "So we meet again X. You are certainly a fool for thinking you can barge in here and stop our plans!" Violen said with his gruff, arrogant voice.
"So you're the first one sent to attack me. I don't have time to waste with you, I'll end this quickly." X said with confidence and he laid a hand atop his arm cannon, and Violen just laughed and said "Hahaha! I'm not afraid of you X! My strength is far greater than before thanks to Serges' upgrades! I'm going to squash you like an ant, and then once the satellite dish is ready we'll begin the Age of Reploids with the conversion of your HQ into Mavericks!"
X focused on Violen as hard as he could, and his eyes glistened a bit as his helmet took effect, scanning the X-Hunter's body for any weaknesses he could find. To X's surprise, the scan reveals that of all the weapons in his arsenal, Bubble Crab's was the best to use against Violen. Switching to that weapon's colors on his armor, X exclaimed to Violen "You've done enough harm Violen! You and the other X-Hunters are through!" "Hahaha! Die X!" Violen exclaimed rather simply before he swung his spiked-ball arm out, making the ball detach from the rest of his arm and fly across the room while attached to a thick silver chain.
X doesn't waste any time and leaps right over the spiked-ball before it slams against the wall behind him, followed by X holding his arm cannon out and firing a stream of Bubble Splash right at Violen's face. The bubbles explode upon making contact with Violen's face, the water getting within the cracks around his eyes and causing a bit of short-circuiting that makes his vision switch between heavy static and a clear look at the area in front of him. Violen grunts in angered surprise at this move X pulled on him, and he reacts by pulling back on his morning star and swinging it around wildly to try and hit X.
As the spikes beat against the metal walls and bang heavy indents into them, Violen exclaims to X "What is this dirty trick of yours?! Fight me like a true Maverick Hunter would, coward!" X had landed on the ground on the one safe spot away from Violen's spiked ball, and that was to the right of his body. With arm cannon raised up and a charged shot forming, X said "I am…I'm eliminating the Maverick that's causing trouble." By the time Violen had heard the energy charging, X had fired a charged shot off point blank into the Maverick's face, which makes a brief explosion occur that blows off a good chunk of Violen's face and throws the brute onto the side of his body.
X then leaps across the room and lands at the end of the chain carrying Violen's spiked ball as it drops to the ground without it's master currently being able to control it. X switches to Overdrive Ostrich's colors and uses a Sonic Slicer to cut the end of the chain, making it so Violen could no longer use it against X. In fact, X had his own plans in mind for said spiked ball, with him walking behind it and lifting his right leg back as Violen slowly pushes himself onto his feet, the internal machinery on the right side of his voice exuding with sparks of electricity as his head twitches and he says "D-Darn you!"
Violen pulls back on the chain, but once he realizes that his spiked ball was cut-off from it he was far too late to do anything else. The panicked look of realization was put to a swift and sudden end when X cleanly kicked the spiked ball right through Violen's chest, taking out all circuitry that would prevent the X-Hunter from speaking or moving ever again. The spiked ball pins against the wall, sticking around the hole punctured through Violen's now defeated body and suspending him in an upright position as his arms limp down and his head tilted to the right.
X stood still for a moment in the center of the room and caught his breath, saying to himself "One down…two to go…" He had no time to waste though, as time was running out with every passing moment, and he had no way of knowing just how much time was left unless Alia wished to tell him…But he knew she couldn't unless things were down to the wire. X thus pointed his arm cannons up and used a couple charged shots to blow up the protection in the ceiling, making the chunks of yellow and black metal fall to the ground in a pile that would be big enough for X to use in order to get up to the next part of the base.
X made some strong leaps up to the next area, leaving Violen's defeated body behind without a second thought regarding his fate. This part of the base had a bit of moisture within the atmosphere, and the source of that became very clear as X moved a bit onward and see some water off the metallic ledge. X prepared for a switch in momentum and gravity as he leaped into the water, but also prepared a charged shot in his right arm cannon for whatever enemies might be waiting for him when he gets down into the dark cold depths.
Deep within the waters, X comes across some drilling fish Reploids that spin the waters around their bodies like miniature whirlpools before as the fly at X. The charged shot comes to good use here as X fires it off at the Reploids to take them all out, proceeding to sprinting through the dark waters while feeling the pressure around him, using his night vision to keep a perfect view of the environment as he eventually finds himself having to cross some pits while more of those fish Reploids block his way. After a couple pits, X ducks under a protruding metal pole and leaps up close to a shaft out of these waters.
This shaft was patrolled by a couple of those bipedal Reploids with spikes on their heads, and they were so close together that X had to destroy them now before continuing onward. He takes care of them by standing still and raising his arm cannon straight up, sending a charged shoot through the shaft that travels out of the waters as it destroys both Reploids in the way, striking a hole through the ceiling right after it exits and allowing X free passage to wall jump his way up to dry land for the time being.
Before X could wall jump up another shaft, he had to take care of a couple more drones, and thus used the Magnet Mine to take them out as he climbed his way up. Once at the top he saw a could one-wheeled builder Reploids patrolling the floors ahead and quickly switched to Wheel Gator's colors so he could send a Spin Wheel on ahead to take care of all of the Reploids on the floor while he follows cautiously behind it. Once the wheel did it's job, X saw another patch of water down below and the way there blocked off by a few more spiked drones.
X stepped back for a moment and held his arm cannon at the ground, switching to Morph Moth's colors before charging up to create a block of junk gathered together around a binding of silk, and with a light kick X knocked the junk block down to rebound off of the walls and ram against the drones to safely take them out and clear the way down, with the junk exploding once X switched back to his normal armor colors. Once in the water, X finds a spike bed that was too large for him to leap across and a couple of capsule platforms moving slowly back and forth.
X leaped at one of those platforms and magnetized to the side of it, slowly climbing his way around the circumference of it before he was lined up with the other one, at which point he switched to Wire Sponge's colors and used a Strike Chain to pull himself over to the platform and repeat the process to make it to the other side of the spike bed. Climbing up a couple steps though led X to another bed of spikes with a tricky platform to maneuver around, as the passageway was narrower than before.
But X also had the advantage of removing the water pressure by leaping out of it and getting atop the platform, using the space above it to slide forward with just enough momentum to cross the bed of spikes and land on the lone platform on the other side. Once there, X was greeted with a jet-propelled platform that went up and down towards a vertical shaft with walls lined with spikes. X leaped atop the platform and went up, noticing a couple of snail-like Reploids he hadn't seen before climbing up and down the spiked walls with a lone platform sticking out from the top of their shells.
X quickly came up with an idea on how to ascend the shaft quickly, and he switched to Flame Stag's colors and aimed his arm cannon downward while charging up energy. Using the burst of fire from the charge to launch himself upward, X made sure to land perfectly on the platform, using the same move two more times until he was safely at the top of the shaft. But he didn't switch off the Speed Burner yet, as there was an expanse of spikes to cross straight ahead, forcing X to propel himself through the air with a charged Speed Burner around his body to make it to the other side.
X then drops down the shaft past it and finds a large bipedal Reploid with turrets abound on it's body, but even it's intimidating appearance mattered little as X just ran around it's turret shots and kicked off the wall behind him to get above the Reploid and fire a Speed Burner right through the top of it's body to burn through it's innards and take it out quickly. X performs a quick on the back of it's head as he descends to get it out of the way and allow him to reach the steel doors it was guarding. It had not felt that long since he had taken down Violen, but X could not assume for a second that time was still on his side. Such arrogance would only serve as a detriment to his mission.
X entered through the doors and found himself looking down at a large pit of spikes, which he knew was meant to serve as an obstacle for him to constantly be aware of while he fought whichever X-Hunter was waiting for him. A set of four rows of platforms rode over to greet X, a gift to his opponent to give him a fair chance in this environment, X had suspected. Leaping onto the platforms while keeping his Speed Burner charged just in case he needed to bail, X was carried over the spikes until a part of the ground opened up, a towering machine rising up from the crevice with a familiar face riding within it.
It was Serges, who had discarded his hat and cape and now revealed his full mechanical body with plenty of blue, gold and red mixed within it all. He was hunched over slightly as he grasped his control sticks in the pod riding up and down the innards of this towering tank of his via a conveyor belt. Four cannons were mounted on a thick wall of purple metal on the front of the tank, and thick treads kept the tank mobile even on the spikes. Serges laughed a bit with his head raised, telling X as he saw some anger in his eyes "Well well…We've met each other again rather quickly, haven't we…Mega Man X? Tell me, how was your visit with Magna Centipede?"
X growled a bit but tried to keep his cool, and Serges responded to that by enticing him on with "Oh come now, surely you have something to say to an old friend?" X replied in response to that with an exclamation of "I don't care what you're connection to me or Dr. Light is, 'Serges'! You can taunt me with that all you want, but in the end you're my enemy, and if you wish to threaten Reploids and humans with your actions then I will take you down like the Maverick you are!"
"Threaten, hmmm? You think I've done all this just to threaten Reploids and humans? My goals are far grander than that, far beyond what the other two X-Hunters believe I'm wanting to do. All of my contributions have merely been to lure you around like a puppet, Mega Man X. Hehehe…You'll understand soon enough, blue bomber, how far outmatched you are in the long run. But for now…Lets battle for old-times sake, with my machine against your might!" Serges gripped his controls tightly and brought his machine to a powerful roar as it activated.
"You're not going to win!" X said before he swung his arm cannon up and fired a large burst of fire at the cannon directly in front of him, destroying it before it could even get a chance to attack. The platforms X are on start rising up and down at a rapid pace, making X feel a bit of inertia in his body as he focuses on the other three cannons. Switching over to Magna Centipede's colors, X quickly fires a few mines at the top cannon, figuring it would be the toughest to deal with if he didn't do so otherwise.
Three mines are enough to blow up the cannon, while the other two started firing off shots at X while he bobs across the platforms. They fired off arrows of electricity that broke apart some of the platforms individually, decreasing the movement space X was capable of utilizing as he focused on the remaining cannons. X leaped back to dodge some of the small electric balls that split off from the arrows, pulling back on his arm cannon as he grips it while he charges up energy for a straightforward buster shot.
X didn't let anything hit him as he prepared his attack, and once he felt the energy built up fully he summoned his other arm cannon and fired both charged shots out to take out the bottommost arm cannon. But by this point Serges had destroyed two full rows of platforms, and all he had to do was fire another arrow from his cannon to take out one of those rows. He may have been losing his offensive capabilities, but he was slowly preventing X from being able to move around. From first glance though, such a thing didn't seem to matter though as X quickly fired a Silk Shot into the barrel of the cannon and caused the electricity to rebound off of it and destroy it from the inside, which in turn set off a series of explosions that took out the entire front of the tank.
X stood on the last row of platforms and realized how little space he had left, and he cautious charged his arm cannon ready to take Serges out. But the man was one step ahead of X, and right as the wall blew up he had already leveled his pod in the center of the conveyor belt and raised his right hand up to reveal a lit bomb in his hand. "Checkmate, Mega Man X! There's nowhere for you to run except the spiked pit below!" Serges exclaimed before he threw the bomb straight at X.
X remained as calm as he could while noticing Serges covering his eyes up with his arm, and while gripping his arm cannon and switching to his normal armor colors the bomb went off and released a blinding flash of light from it's incredible explosion. The last of the platforms were taken out along with a large chunk of the ground, putting a gap into the ground so big that there's no way of telling how far down it went. After the flash went away, Serges moved his arm away and didn't see any trace of X's body in sight. Serges stood up and laughed a bit, stating happily "Finally! At long last, your bumbling nature was the end of you, blue boy!"
But Serges' celebration was cut short when he began to hear a familiar charged sound coming from below. He raised his eyebrows and said "No way…" but his words were quickly cut off by a charged shot ripping right through the bottom of his body and taking out the roof of his tank. Serges' widened his eyes in surprise as the upper part of his body fell forward, but with what energy he had he gripped onto the front of his pod. But X had already further decimated the tank by firing a second charged shot at the bottom of the tank's back support, by this point Serges watching that action occur, revealing that X had survived by leaping onto the bottom of the tank, right above the treads.
"H-Heh…Hehehe!" Serges laughed as the back of the tank began to collapse forward without as much support as before, and as X ignored the X-Hunters' demise to focus on creating a way out of here via a charged Silk Shot to create a platform of junk on the spikes beyond the tank Serges said "You are all so persistent…Every last one of you…But guess what? So am I…If you think this will be over with this body's demise, Mega Man X, then you are sorely mistaken…I won't ever die, not until Dr. Light's legacy is put to an end by Z-"
X did not hear the last part of the X-Hunter's sentence as his body was pressed against the spikes in the floor, doing enough damage to finish his life for good. X remarked to himself after a pause "…That just leaves Agile…" X then leaped onto the junk block he made and turned around, charging up a Speed Burner so he could propel himself and the junk block across the room before the tank exploded. He quickly then turned around and fired a normal charged shot at the wall ahead, blowing open a hole in the wall that would allow him to leap straight through it with a midair somersault before the junk block broke apart.
From his somersault, X rolled across the ground past the hole in the wall and fell down onto a lower platform and got a chance to collect himself as he stood on one knee and cocked his arm cannon upward, scanning the environment around him and immediately noticing a shielded Reploid patrolling a ledge up ahead. X quickly charged up energy and took out the Reploid as it attempted to throw it's shield at him, with X leaped up and pressing the shield against the ground as he stands upright.
By this point in time X was deep enough into the X-Hunter's base that the frost was no longer plaguing the walls, and the more deeper and advanced machinery could be seen behind the grated walls. X knew this would be the final stretch he'd have to deal with before confronting Agile, and with the fate of all Reploids riding on his shoulders X steeled his cautious mind for whatever could possibly come his way and then sprinted forward, leaping right over the ledge the Reploid was guarding and using a charged shot to take out another one on a ledge ahead before he lands on the platform below said ledge.
After crossing past this ledge, X fires down at one more shielding Reploid, hitting it's head while also taking out one of those six-legged insect drones that jumped down for an attempted surprise attack. X then goes down the lower path and leaps over a couple gaps, followed by him then jumping off a wall to get to a higher ledge close to a ladder. There was a platform whose jets could be manipulated by stepping on top of it, but X didn't need to use it since there was a wall close by for him to use to get to the next ledge, especially once he combined the Air Dash for better horizontal movement.
Making it to another ladder, X climbs up and takes out a rhino tank Reploid with one swift shot of a Sonic Slicer. He then backflips onto the next ledge and sprints over to a ladder, climbing it up to reach a more vertical shaft with another one of those jet propelled platforms. However, X had an idea on how to climb the shaft without using the platform, and he quickly leaped onto the wall to the right of the ladder and jumped up it repeatedly until he was right underneath a platform, all this time charging up the Speed Burner.
Once he was ready, X Air Dashed away from the wall and then fired his Speed Burner downward to launch himself onto a new platform. X then wall jumps his way up to the next platform via the opposite wall, followed by him using a charged Speed Burner to launched himself up to another one. He repeats this basic formula while taking down the enemies in his path until he made it to the very top, where he was left to then take a ladder down to the next part of the base. Climbing down the ladder, X used Spin Wheel to deal with any enemies in his path while crossing a couple spike pits until he made it to the very bottom.
Nothing in this base was a threat to X, who was so motivated to save the Reploids and humans that could be threatened by the satellite dish that he still refused to let any enemy lay even a finger on his armor. After a few more seconds of traversing the base, X came across a long hallway with a spiked floor, and it seemed impossible to cross from X's point of view. But then he looked up at the flying insect drones in the area and got an idea. Switching to Crystal Snail's colors for the first time since acquiring the power, X fired a shot of ivory goop up at the drones and watched as they crystallized and dropped harmlessly onto the spikes to create platforms for X to cross.
X leaped his way across the spike pit and landed before the sliding steel doors leading to what he could only assume was Agile's chamber. Walking through the passageway, X emerges from the other side of the doors into a darkened room with a floor of spikes and two pink-blue metal platforms on both sides, with X falling onto one while Agile stands on the other, his arm still removed after their last battle. X stayed his ground with a firm expression on his face while Agile looked the slightest bit surprised to see him there, remarking to that effect with "…So you've made it here already. I didn't expect you to make it to me so soon…"
"Violen and Serges are dead. You're the last threat standing between me and the end of your threats to the Reploids and humans, Agile." X commented, and with a smug look on his face Agile lifted his head up high and said "I'm not afraid of you X. You were only able to defeat me before because of a miracle…Miracles never happen twice, I'll have you know." "Then lets get started." X said calmly while holding a hand onto his arm cannon.
"You're right. Words are wasted here. You're life is over now, Maverick Hunter X! Allow me to show you why you would never survive the future!" Agile suddenly pulled his laser sword out of his belt and activated it while stabbing it through the socket where his arm no longer was. Suddenly, Agile's body began to undergo a metamorphosis of sorts, with his shoulders extending out into a pair of jet-like wings as his main body grows a couple of turbines on both sides of his hips, all the while Agile groaned in both pain and delight from the transformation. From these two turbines grew some spikes that acted as landing feet, and Agile's hit fit perfectly in the front of this strange combination of parts as Agile fully transformed into a small aerial machine and lifted himself up off the ground.
With Agile in this form, he stated with a more distorted, echoing voice coming from the sides of his body "This is the future of Reploids, X! Where we all evolve past our normal bodies and shape the world in our beautiful image! Outdated relics such as yourself will be lost away to the tides of time! If you think your prissy little armor makes you strong enough to match us evolved Reploids, then perish in your ignorance for good!" X simply responded to Agile's words by switching to Magna Centipede's colors and raising his arm cannon up, charging energy within as the arm cannon whirred to life.
"Do you think a simple charged shot will do me any harm? Ha! This body is perfection, it cannot be scratched or broken! …Wait a minute…Your armor does not have any blue highlights in it…Just WHAT are you planning on firing at me?" Agile stated in a first arrogant then puzzled tone, and X just replies simply with "You should know what happens when a magnetic force is charged for a period of time, especially since you thought you were in control the whole time, Agile."
"Magnetic…force…? W-Wait a second…No!" Agile thought about what X was saying for a moment, and then was dumbfounded by just how X could possibly have known that such a force would be the one weakness of his evolved state. From X's point of view, you'd see that he was scanning Agile's body from the very beginning with his helmet's power, and even as the form changed the weakness remained the same throughout. "Violen and Serges' deaths were for Persius and Zero…This is for Magna Centipede!" X said before his energy charge had reached full capability, and he fired what was within his arm cannon straight at Agile's body.
Flying through the air swiftly was a miniature black hole of magnetic force, one that tethered itself close to Agile's body and began to pull on it quickly, with Agile grunting in futile resistance as he remarked "H-How?! How could you possibly have known my weakness?!" The spikes below his body are the first to be torn away and swallowed into the black hole, with his face plate being next in line rather slowly, giving Agile enough time to glance past the black hole and look at the armor, specifically the jewel on his forehead.
As his body continues to be pulled apart and dragged into the black hole, Agile remarked "O-Of course! I g-g-get it now! That jewel…It is capable of infinite…potential! T-T-That makes you the first…ever-evolving Reploid on the planet…! Hahaha…I should have known…better than…this! Hahahaha….HAHAHAHAHA! I can live with this demise then…The future of the Reploids will be advanced without me thanks to what I have learned! A-Avenge me…MA-!" Agile cannot finish his sentence as his voice box is dragged into the black hole, and a few seconds later what remained of his evolved body followed suit.
The black hole fizzled out of existence at X's command then and there, with him switching back to his normal armor colors before the black hole could've affected him as well. And just like that, the X-Hunters were all dead, none of them and their obstacles managing to put a dent on his armor. But X had still pushed his body very hard to make it this far, though considering all he had left was to disable the computer facility before it could transmit the signal, X knew his body could handle just a little more strain.
Even so, X paused for a moment to contact Alia after so long, and she immediately said to him "Unbelievable…You took down all of the X-Hunters like they were low-class Mavericks. You still have fifteen minutes to spare X. I can now send you to the corridor right before the computer facility itself. Just give me a few seconds to set the coordinates and…Bingo! You're ready to go!" Alia activated a teleporter beam from within the X-Hunter Base, using it to grab hold of X and take him to his final destination, where he'd finally be able to put an end to the X-Hunter's plans once and for all…
Next Time: Never Surrendering
Author's Note:
Just letting you all know ahead of time that next week I'll be uploading the last two chapters and the epilogue of the story. Glad to have made it this far, and I thank all of you for reading.