Final Chapter: The Undead Arbiter of Humanity, Neo Sigma
Falling through the air past hundreds of feet of darkened machinery, X makes his way to a singule secluded room at the very bottom of his descent. Sigma was waiting for him in his new body, and the threat of the satellite dish attached to this very facility was still high. Zero said he would take care of the computer once he dealt with his clone, and X had plenty of faith in his revived friend to take care of business while he finished Sigma off. Countless people at the Maverick Hunter HQ were counting on him to succeed, and right now he was so far underground that he had a very low signal to the base, and thus Alia could not reach him very well.
It didn't matter though, X was going to succeed without having to have someone motivate him. He had his own motivation to rely on, and that's what will allow him to have the strength necessary to defeat Sigma. After a few more seconds, X passed through a hole in the ceiling to the solitary room and landed on the ground, his shock mechanisms within his boots preventing him from suffering the recoil. He kneels down a little bit and lifts his head up to look at Sigma, who was standing directly in front of him with a smirk on his face and his arms drawn out from his cape.
"I knew you'd come after me alone X." Sigma said arrogantly, and X lifted himself up and held a hand on his arm cannon while remarking "I'm not going to stop Sigma, not until I defeat you!" Sigma responded by holding his right hand out and saying "To pursue me so relentlessly…Good X, you're becoming more and more like a warrior with every battle you face. In due time, you'll be completely used to fighting…"
"The fighting will stop when all Mavericks are defeated, Sigma! I'll keep going until that happens, no matter what you try and throw at me!" X exclaimed, and Sigma told him in turn "You don't get it X…The world will never be free of threats, whether it be Mavericks, or the corrupt humans of the world abusing power and tools for their own gain. You'll always be a weapon pointed at others, never stopping until the day they deem you useless." "Then you don't understand humanity at all!" X exclaimed in response.
"I don't? Hahaha…That's funny, considering for all your talk of empathy and understanding…You know nothing about the darkness of humanity, X. But this is never going to amount to anything more than mere words, and neither side will bend. I will force my ideals to succeed over your empathy for the humans by crushing every last piece of metal within your body, X!" With that, Sigma grabbed onto his right shoulder and swung the cape right off of his body, summoning forth two sets of wolverine claws from his hands so he could shred it to pieces before grinding the metal claws together and remarking "This is where I take my vengeance, X!"
X raised his arm cannon and quickly shot at Sigma, but he responded by slashing his claws out to cut the little shots down before suddenly dashing right at X while using a movement similar to the Dash Boots X wears. X leaps back and connects to the wall before Sigma could slash through his body with a swing of his right claws. Sigma's attack ripped right through the floor, leaving very visible gashes and tearing out a good amount of circuitry in the process. X slides down the wall a little bit while switching to Overdrive Ostrich's colors and firing a couple of Sonic Slicers at Sigma's chest.
The attacks slip between the gaps on Sigma's claws as he lifted himself up, but they only managed to put a small slit into Sigma's chest as it makes contact with it. X quickly switches to Flame Stag's colors and charges up energy before he reached the ground, and upon leaping off the wall X fires the Speed Burner off to launch himself across the room as Sigma attempted to stab his claws forward. Sigma punctured the wall as X landed on the ground and turned himself around, using two normal Speed Burner shots to try and hit Sigma's back only for him to hold his other claws behind him and cut through the flames with ease.
Sigma then pulled his other claws from the wall and turned around, crossing his arms in front of his face and grinning before his body suddenly distorts into multiple forms before he vanishes all at once. X couldn't detect where Sigma had gone off to even with his scanning capabilities, so he decided to rely on instinct instead and leaped forward before Sigma could attack him from behind. His move turned out to be an appropriate one as Sigma reappeared above where he once stood and dived down with both of his claws.
But before he punctured the ground, Sigma teleported again and reappeared behind where X was now at a few seconds later, swinging his right claws straight down and cutting right through the back of X's armor with enough force to launch him forward as well. X is slammed against the wall on the other side of the room with some visible tears now on his back, though none of them run that deep into the armor. X pulls himself from the wall while Sigma crosses his arms in front of his chest and surged with electricity, summoning forth an arch of five violet balls over his body while X was recovering.
X turned around and switched to Crystal Snail's colors the moment he saw the orbs, and fired a Crystal Shot out from his arm cannon to hit one of the orbs and make it turn into a crystallized object that is able to reflect the other four orbs right back at Sigma before it lands on the ground. But Sigma had another tactic up his sleeve as he held his arms at the highest and lowest point he possibly could and created a wall of electricity between the claws to catch the orbs that were sent back him and then fires said wall straight at X.
The wall was big enough to leap over though, with X using the platform he had just created to do so while switching to Wheel Gator's colors and using both of his arm cannons to send a couple of Spin Wheels rolling along the ground at both sides of Sigma's body. Sigma didn't bother attacking the Spin Wheels, and instead leaped over them with a backflip and slammed his right claws into the wall behind him to stick to it and point his other ones right at X. Using the electricity powers he had been showing up until now, Sigma rapid fired a bunch of bolts from his left claws right down at X.
X hopped back and forth across the ground after he landed while moving backwards to get out of range of Sigma's attack while the Maverick leader grinded through the wall as he fell back down to the floor, but X was more than ready to strike him once he landed as he was charging up energy in his arm cannon to hit Sigma head-on. Once Sigma's feet touched the ground, X fired away, aiming straight for the Maverick's legs with all of his might. Sigma swept his right claw at his ground after pulling it from the wall, cutting right through the energy of the charged shot.
But then X leaped right at Sigma and switched out his arm cannon for his fist, going for a straight punch right into the jewel lodge onto Sigma's forehead. The punch was hard-hitting, cracking the jewel and making Sigma flinch a bit because of that. The flinch bought X enough time to use his left arm cannon and fire a charged shot that pushed him back as Sigma swung his left claw up in front of him, and though X got cut diagonally on the right side of his armor he managed to at least make his move worth it by damaging an important part of Sigma's body.
As well, his charged shot had managed to put a bit of a dent within Sigma's chest, one that would be ripe for exploiting once X got a chance to do so. While Sigma took a moment to collect himself, X tried to scan Sigma's body for a weakness, only to find a large "UNKNOWN" appearing underneath a copy of Sigma's frame, meaning that either his weakness could not be scanned, or he wasn't vulnerable to any of the Maverick weapon he had available. X lowers his arm cannon while holding onto it with his other hand, switching to Magna Centipede's weapon and hoping to break through the dent he had created with it.
However, Sigma crossed his arms and suddenly disappeared, and X turned around and aimed his arm cannon up thinking that the Maverick would appear above him like before. But then Sigma instead went against his expectations and appeared directly behind him and swiped his right claws diagonally up across the back of X's armor, digging deep through than before and pushing X right up into the ceiling at the same time. X hits the ceiling front first and then falls onto the ground on his back, flinching a little as he felt the front of his helmet crack but having enough functioning within himself to roll to the right before Sigma could stab both of his claws down into his chest.
X used a charged shot against the ground to quickly push himself onto his feet, and then Sigma got right in front of him and prepared for a downward slash with his left claws. However, X countered by throwing his right hand up and slamming it against Sigma's palm to stop him from bringing his claws closer for the moment, followed by swinging his other arm out to catch the other hand, locking both of their arms into a contest of strength as they grit their teeth at each other. X held himself straight up while Sigma pushed forward, and it inevitably didn't take long for the larger Sigma to get the upper hand against X.
X was pushed back, his body bending backward as he knees started to give way a little, and if he failed to counter this strength there's no doubt that Sigma would cut clean through him with his claws. Failure was not an option for X, and as he growled internally at this situation his helmet crystal suddenly responded to his determination and sheer will and glowed brightly, something Sigma immediately noticed right away as X started pushing back with plenty of force behind him, his hands glowing slightly and burning into the palms of Sigma's hands.
Sigma pulls away from X's body and leaped back, and the crystal stops glowing right then and there while Sigma remarked "That strange crystal on your helmet is bothering me yet again…Just what could it possibly be?" X remarked afterwards "What crystal are you talking about?" Sigma was surprised to hear that response, and grinned a little before saying "I see…You aren't aware of the power that crystal gives you. Hehehe, perhaps that is a good thing then."
Sigma quickly continued the battle by teleporting out of sight and putting himself directly behind X, but X turned around and backflipped out of the way of the Maverick's claw slash. While backflipping X had gotten the energy built up for a charged shot and took aim, launching it straight at Sigma's chest. Sigma cut through the charged shot while raising his arm up, and X pulled back on his arm cannon and prepared another charged shot without hesitation, firing it straight forward as Sigma created a wall of electricity between both claws to catch it.
Sigma then launched the wall at X, forcing him to switch to Wire Sponge's colors and fire a Strike Chain into the ceiling to pull himself out of the way of the electricity. Once the wall passed him by, X fell down to dodge the electric spheres Sigma sent his way, followed by X then kneeling on the ground and pointing his left arm cannon right at Sigma's legs, shooting out a couple Magnet Mines the moment he changed to Magna Centipede's colors. With Sigma's claws positioned the way they were, he was unable to cut the mines down in time and they attached to his knees, blowing up and taking off quite a bit of armor plating from the legs.
But Sigma doesn't falter in the slightest and slashed his claws out in a cross in front of his body, creating an X-like energy projection of six claw marks straight at his foe. X swerves his body to the right while holding onto his arm cannon, but the edges of the claw marks knick through the side of X's helmet, breaking off the part that allowed him to communicate with HQ. With some electricity coming out of his head, X focuses his sights on Sigma's chest again and prepared to fire a charged shot.
Sigma raised his claws up in preparation to defend himself, but the very second before he fired his charged shot X nudged his arm cannon up a mere inch and fired right at Sigma's face instead. The charged shot slips above the crossed claws and strikes Sigma right in the face, creating a small explosion that blows off a chunk of his head and makes Sigma stumble back in surprise. Following up on this, X leaps forward as Sigma's claws part, and with his other arm cannon out and some energy still stored he fires another charged shot point blank into Sigma's chest.
The shot pierced right through Sigma's armor thanks to the dent made earlier, and the charged shot struck the wall behind where Sigma stood with enough force to blow a hole through it. X's arm cannon stuck to the rim of the hole in Sigma's body as it limped down, and X quickly pulls back away and lets Sigma fall backwards flat onto the ground, with X panting a little from the amount of energy he used for all of his charged shots in a row. After a little time to relax, X whispered out "It's all over now…"
X turned around and prepared to try and get in contact with Alia, hoping that maybe there was still one part of his communication line that could be used. But he couldn't reach them no matter how hard he tried. "No signal…" X murmured before he looked around to try and find a way out, only for him to suddenly hear a rather eerie set of clinks and clanks behind him. X slowly turned around and looked at Sigma's body, and is shocked as he watches it slowly rise up off the ground and limp while it levitated in mid-air. Half of Sigma's face was blow off to reveal the cybernetic elements behind it, and his chest still had a hole in it, making the body's movements all the more bizarre to X.
"What's going on here?" X stated in utter shock as he raised his arm cannon and began charging energy. As he fired a charged shot to destroy parts of Sigma's body bit-by-bit, a voice suddenly echoed through the room in a creepy, cybernetic distorted voice "Hahahaha! You think this is over X? You really don't get it…" X recognized the voice as belonging to Sigma's own, but the Maverick's mouth did not move as those words came out. X kept firing while Sigma spoke on, with the Maverick commenting as only his head remained "Shoot me all you want X…I don't need this body to defeat you."
With one more charged shot at max power, X obliterates Sigma's head and recoils back a couple feet, tiring himself out for a little bit as Sigma's laughter continues to eerily echo throughout the room. X grits his teeth and assumed that Sigma had somehow gotten into another, much larger body much like the last time they fought. But the truth of Sigma's plans was far, far different than anything X could have ever predicted. As the light fades away from the room a little bit, a green light shaped like a head begins to flicker into existence.
The light materializes fully into a wireframe shaped like a gigantic copy of Sigma's head, and as X widened his eyes the head wasted no time in opening it's mouth and unleashing a powerful viral shockwave all-around. The shockwave hits X directly and throws him against the wall, with the room rumbling from the power Sigma exuded. X felt a brief recoil of pain through his entire body as he grumbled a little and then slowly pushed himself back onto his feet. In this strange new form, Sigma turned to look at X and said while sounding a bit unhinged "I told you X! You can never kill me! Destroy me again and again if that pleases you, but I will never die!"
X holds his arm cannon and angrily asked "W-What are you, Sigma?!" Sigma responded by laughing at first, then he followed up by saying with way too much enthusiasm in his voice "I am far beyond all Reploids and robots that have and ever shall be! My destiny is to rule this world with all Mavericks by my side, and obstacles like you shall be purged from existence! Prepare to follow Persius and Magna Centipede to the scrap heap, Maverick Hunter X!" This understandably struck a nerve in X's mind, and he clenched his arm cannon tightly as his reaction at first.
Boiling with righteous fury, X looked up at Sigma, ignored the increasingly prominent warnings on his scanner that Sigma's current form was giving him, and exclaimed with all of his might "NO MORE! I will NOT let you get away this time Sigma. Come back with as many bodies as you want…I'LL DESTROY THEM ALL!" "I only need this one to defeat you X! You will not be able to lay a finger on me again, regardless of what you try!" Sigma exclaimed in response as X charged energy in his arm cannon and went for a quick attack on Sigma's new body.
But Sigma just teleported out of the way and reappeared on the other side of the room as the charged shot obliterated the corner of metal above him. Sigma then laughed as he swiftly summoned about ten varying Reploid drones and sent them all at X. X switched to Overdrive Ostrich's colors and quickly sent out as many Sonic Slicers as he could from both arm cannons while running towards Sigma. Once the drones were cleared out X quickly switched to Flame Stag's colors and fired a couple Speed Burners right up at Sigma.
Sigma teleported again, this time reappearing behind X and hanging his head down so when he opened his mouth he could unleash a powerful laser beam from within that swirled around with cascading spiral energy as it burned through the ground. Sigma moved himself towards X while continuing to fire this beam off, and it was so large in size that X had little room to move in order to avoid it. Leaping from the ground and off to the left wall, X passed directly in front of Sigma's head and landed on the ground opposite of the beam, turning himself around and quickly attempting to strike him with a Silk Shot.
But the attack was very ineffective in hurting Sigma, leading to the Maverick teleporting to the other side of the room and suddenly summoning forth a swarm of twenty or so various Reploid drones to swarm at X. X stepped back and used Sonic Slicers to try and cut through the Reploids, but there were so many of them that he was pressed against a wall rather quickly before he could take them all down. The drones cover his body and start nicking his armor rapidly, with X finding his arms pressed against the wall and preventing him from fighting back for the moment.
He switched to Flame Stag's colors and charged up as much as he could, unleashing flames around his body to burn up the rest of the Reploids. His armor was cut into quite a lot as he stands upright on the ground, and worst of all Sigma's head was suddenly gone. But that wouldn't be that way for long as Sigma suddenly reappeared around X's body, trapping him within his wireframe form and dragging him through the air towards the center of the room, punishing his body with a bombardment of attacks from all sides while X is stunned and unable to do anything to fight back.
Once Sigma was done, he spit X out and smashed him against the eastern wall of the room, with large chunks of his armor broken off and thrown onto the ground. X was placed onto his knees, panting quite a bit as Sigma taunted him for being unable to harm him with a jaunty laugh and a proclamation of "I told you X! Your victory was never meant to be! You will die here, and then I will turn all of your allies into Mavericks!" X looks up at Sigma as his vision short-circuited a little, his head twitching from the chunk of metal knocked out of the side of his head.
With his teeth grit and his body looking as though it would break down entirely if Sigma attacked one more time, but X pushed himself up slowly as Sigma continued to taunt him, saying in a rather punctuated manner "All of the Maverick Hunters! All of the Reploids you've failed to protect! And even Zero himself will fall to my control! HAHAHA!" X grit his teeth as hard as he could, looking up at Sigma with all of his anger welling up inside of him to the point that he could not control himself for much longer, leading to his crystal glowing on his head as he exclaimed "Zero…is not…YOUR PUPPET! NO ONE WILL BE YOUR PUPPET AGAIN!"
X suddenly shifts to Crystal Snail's colors as his body radiated with his energy, and with him swinging his arms out he suddenly unleashed a wave of crystalline energy from across his body without charging at all. Before Sigma could attack, the Maverick leader suddenly finds himself frozen in time, with crystal sparkles around his form as X quickly swapped to Flame Stag's colors and then Bubble Crab's, using the charged variation of both weapons to thrust right through Sigma's head while surrounded by hardened bubbles and flames, shattering apart parts of his form and making his color change from green to light-blue.
X then quickly turned around and switched to Magna Centipede's colors, firing off the magnetized black hole and then quickly going to Wheel Gator's colors to fire two charged Spin Wheel that move around the pull of the black hole as they grind through Sigma's body, breaking it apart further and making the colors change to dark blue and then violet once it had passed through all the way. Following up on this, X widened his eyes and switched to Wire Sponge's colors, using a large Strike Chain to latch onto the back of Sigma's head and zap it full of electricity, which makes his colors change to orange in a matter of seconds.
While doing that, X swipes his left arm cannon through the air, sending out waves of Sonic Slicers that rip through Sigma's head like nothing, turning the color to a light shade of red. X then switched to Morph Moth's colors and fired five large chunks of junk right at Sigma's head, breaking out large chunks of his form and making his colors finally become dark red. Sigma is then unfrozen from time, noticing that his body was greatly torn apart and that X was no longer in front of him. "W-What?!" Sigma exclaimed in disbelief before he turned around and tried to pull himself back together, noticing the glow of X's crystal and the energy exuding greatly around his body.
"No! You will not use that crystal against me again! DIE X!" Sigma exclaims, opening his mouth and preparing to fire a gigantic laser from within to annihilate X. However, with light dragging itself into X's body from all directions like a radiant spark, X held his arms in front of his chest and thought back to what Dr. Light had told him about his Second Armor. "You can only use it once X…So use it wisely…" Was what was repeated in X's head, and with his eyebrows slanted and a firm expression on his face he knew above all else that there was no better time to use the Second Armor's ultimate technique than now.
With his anger fueling his voice, X swung his arms out and proclaimed right as Sigma fired the laser from his mouth "Giga…CRUSH!" The energy he had built up was thus unleashed, creating a cataclysmic explosion so powerful that X's body lifted up off the ground and he let out a hot-blooded roar. His energy broke through Sigma's laser with ease and quickly consumed the Maverick himself. The room was filled with flashes of white and black light as the walls and ground could barely hold back X's raw power, and Sigma let out a roar of pain and anger as his form is slowly broken apart by explosions across his entire body.
"D-Damn it! H-How is that crystal able to provide you with this much power?! Graaaaaaaaaah!" Sigma exclaimed, and as he was halfway through his destruction he began to laugh crazily, telling X bluntly as he perished "Y-You haven't seen the last of me! I WILL return! A-And even though he didn't join me at first…I can assure you X that so long as the doctor's words hold true, Zero WILL fall under my control! Enjoy your victory now…for it will not laaaaaaaasstttt!" Sigma's form disintegrated from sight as he reached the end of his sentence, and just as quickly after X stops firing off the Giga Crush and falls to the floor…Or rather, whatever charred metal remained of it.
There was barely anything recognizable in this room now that X was done with it, just nothing but the traces of destruction X had caused with his last resort. But Sigma was seemingly dead for now, and that was all that mattered. However, in doing so, X had exhausted all of his remaining energy, and not only were his eyelids barely able to stay open but his arms were limped forward and his legs were going to give way any second. Worst of all, the entire computer facility began to start trembling heavily, with explosions of various sizes going off across the area, many of them out of X's line of sight.
"I guess…Zero did it…Heh, sorry Zero, but looks like I'm the one who won't be coming back this time." X murmured in a disappointed tone before he let out a deflated sigh and let his body fall forward, but before he could come close to hitting the ground a familiar face caught him on top of his left shoulder, making certain to put X's right arm behind his neck so he could keep him held up to the best of his ability. X looked up and to the right of him, seeing Zero there with a bit of a smile on his face as he said in a slightly teasing tone "Come on X, I think you'd enjoy resting at HQ more than you would here."
"Z-Zero…? You managed to…take care of the computer?" X inquired in a tired tone of voice, and Zero said as he stood completely upright and looked at his friend "Yeah. I wish I had time to explain X, but we're going to follow Sigma to the grave if we stick around any longer." Lifting a hand up to his helmet, Zero quickly proclaimed as the ceiling began to give way above him and X "Alia! I got X and the computer is destroyed! Bring us back to base, pronto!"
"I'm already on it. Just me a second to lock onto your signals and…There! Returning you both to base now!" Alia proclaimed through Zero's communicator, and the beam of light appears on both his and X's bodies and teleports them away from the collapsing facility. From the view of all Maverick Hunters back at HQ, whether it be at the command center or across the base, they watch an overhead view of the X-Hunter's Base and the computer facility as both of those places are completely obliterated by the series of gargantuan explosions that were set off with the main computer's destruction.
As the X-Hunter's base falls into the sea, the Maverick Hunters all burst into cheer, with Alia putting down her headset and letting out a sigh of relief before remarking "That was far too close…Good work X, you and Zero did it…" Signas, who had finally returned to base after taking care of his own duties, laid his hand down on the back of Alia's chair and cracked a little smile, saying to his fellow Maverick Hunter calmly "They did very well…As did you though Alia. X couldn't have gotten this far without you. Now then, I think we should prepare a hero's welcome for our victorious hunters…"
After making it back safely to the HQ, Zero carried X to the healing pods so he could get some of his energy back for now. Once an hour had passed with Zero waiting patiently for X to heal, the two Maverick Hunters decided to make their way to the central command room, and upon entering they are greatly surprised when hundreds of their fellow Maverick Hunters had gathered here and erupted into applause and cheers the moment Zero and X make their presence known. The two stand there for a good few seconds before Zero closed his eyes and smiled, telling the stunned X "Go ahead…This one's for you buddy."
Zero folded his arms together and let X walk towards the crowd, keeping his distance away from the glory that X had earned as any good friend would. Signas was waiting for him at the very center of the room, and with his arms folded behind his back he lifted his head up high and waited for the crowd to quiet down before saying "X…As of today, you have managed to fight back the X-Hunter menace and put down their efforts for good, even going as far as to stop the revived Sigma…On behalf of all Reploids and humans out there, we would like to give you our thanks for a job well-done."
"I didn't do it alone though. I have to thank Alia for her help…And most importantly…" Turning from Alia to look behind him, X gives a thumbs-up to Zero and says "I couldn't have done it without Zero." Signas closed his eyelids and smiled at that comment, especially with the humbleness X showed, and remarked on such behavior by saying "Of course. You three make a great team, and it's an honor to have you all here to help exterminate the Maverick threat. But for now X, I think you have deserved some rest above all else."
"Thank you Signas, but I will try and get back to work as soon as I can. Just because the X-Hunters and Sigma are gone doesn't mean I can afford to slack off." X stated while looking back at Signas, and with an agreeing nod of his head Signas said "Do what you must X, but my offer still stands." With that little conversation out of the way, X was left to speak with the rest of the Maverick Hunters, and in time Zero himself also got involved as some of them welcomed him back to the HQ.
Zero was happy to be back where he belonged, and gladly talked with his comrades about some of the changes to his body. After a few minutes though, X got away from the conversing and got over to Zero, saying to him in a friendly tone of voice "How you holding up Zero?" Zero sheathed his beam saber and looked at X, telling him with a smile on his face "Pretty good. Doppler and Cain did a good job reconstructing my body…I feel as good as new. Didn't even take a scratch on me against that clone Sigma made."
"You don't feel anything wrong?" X inquired with a little bit more of a serious tone in his voice, and Zero acknowledged that change in tone by asking "…What's up X? Something you want to tell me?" X looked around a little, and then guides him and Zero over to a part of the room with the least amount of Reploids around and then says quietly "Zero…There's something I want to tell you."
"I'm all ears. I had the feeling you had something on your mind since we got back." Zero whispered, and X said afterwards "Zero, before I destroyed Sigma, he said-" Before X could get through his sentence, the door to the command center opened up, and who else would come through but the Reploid responsible for Zero's rebirth himself, Dr. Doppler. Making his presence known by stating "Has anyone seen Zero and/or X?" This stopped X from finishing what he was saying and he turned his head to look at Doppler with a firm glare, noticing Dr. Cain's holographic form appearing on top of a small spider-like walker as Doppler noticed them both and the two made their way over.
Dr. Doppler had a brimming smile on his face as he approached the two, saying while he nudged his glasses "I see you two both made it back safe and sound. Congratulations to both of you!" Doppler extended his hand out to shake X's own, and hesitantly X did that, not wanting his thoughts to known as he said honestly "Thank you for helping to put Zero back together, Dr. Doppler." Doppler grinned brightly and closed his eyelids, saying to X as he pulled his hand away "But of course. It was quite an enjoyable experience, one I hope to be sharing many more of with you and your fellow Maverick Hunters for months to come."
"H-Huh?" X said in a tone of surprise, and Dr. Cain spoke up at that point to explain "After repairing Zero, Doppler and I both came to an agreement that his services would be better suited here to restore broken Maverick Hunters and Reploids that need help. That way we can avoid incidents like what happened to Overdrive Ostrich." Doppler said confidently towards himself "If a complicated robot like Zero can be repaired by me, then any lesser Reploid will be a cinch! And while they are being restored, I will have many places for them to rest and regain their motor functions back at my personal creation, Doppler Town!"
With Doppler offering his services to the Maverick Hunters weighing on his thoughts along with everything else, X was understandably skeptical, but Zero stepped forward and said "Well, I can vouch for your work doctor. Welcome to the Maverick Hunters, and thank you again for your help in restoring my body." "Gladly. And if you come across any kinks or problems, just come to me and I shall repair them post-haste! Now come Cain, we must officially introduce my brilliance to my new partners!" Doppler said after pulling his arm away from Zero, and he quickly turned around and went off to speak to the other Maverick Hunters.
"Why…I have not see such life in Doppler since I created him. Challenging his mind with Zero's rebirth certainly seems to have helped him…" Cain said, letting out a grainy sigh before he looked at X and said "I wish I could spend some more time with you X, but I must take care of a couple things with the government now that your mission is complete. I may have lost my body, but the pain of politics still plagues me…" Cain went off onto his way, and now that Doppler was out of hearing range X slanted his eyebrows and hummed internally before Zero said "So X, what were you trying to tell me?"
X turned to look at Zero and told him quietly "Before Sigma died…He said that a doctor told him that you should've been a Maverick working at his side." Zero widened his eyes and said with his arms crossed "What? A doctor told him that? …Wait, are you suggesting the possibility that Doppler is secretly an ally of Sigma?" Zero firmed his expression upon realizing what X was getting at, and X nodded his head and said "I think there's a very good chance he is. That's why I was wondering if you felt anything wrong in your body…"
"X, Cain was watching over my reconstruction as well. I don't think he'd fail to notice any strange parts being inserted into my body." Zero said, and X glanced back at Cain's holographic form and remarked "Unless this hologram of Dr. Cain is a fake implanted into our base by Doppler to try and get us to trust him." Zero responded with "It's possible, but we can't jump to conclusions here X. For all we know, Sigma is trying to sow suspicions in your head…"
"But we should still keep an eye on him, right Zero?" X inquired while looking at his friend, and Zero nodded his head and said while gesturing a hand out beside his head and closing his eyelids "It can't hurt, but lets not try and force the issue too much X. If he is our enemy, then causing an incident within the HQ would be exactly the type of move he'd make…" X looked at Doppler, who was enjoying a rousing and happy conversation with Signas at the moment, and with him not even realizing it he moved his left hand away from his arm cannon and said with a quiet tone filled with suspicion "Yeah…That's all we can do for now…"
Next Time: Epilogue…