Maverick Hunter X – Next-Level Insurrection
Chapter 5: Highway to Oblivion
(A/N: Hey folks! Here's the next chapter of Next-Level Insurrection, where we begin things proper with Central Highway. This whole chapter took about three weeks to do, and I hope you enjoy this. I'm not one to brag or beg people to read and/or review, but it would be really appreciated if people gave me their feedback or spread the word. I do want more people to know and like this story, see how I do. Anyway, enjoy!)
DISCLAIMER: It is heavily advised that this story be read with awesome Mega Man music playing in the background. I do not own any Mega Man X related characters or themes. All characters from Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX, and Mega Man Legends are all owned by Capcom. Please support the official release!
The world around X seemed to be black. He couldn't see anything since he began his last fight. He could barely hear any sounds. It sounded like murmurs and vague gossip, but he couldn't make it out. Then a light emerged, and before long, his eyes began to slowly open, his visuals rebooting.
"…X…king up…"
The voices he heard were getting more clear. He recognized it as Cinnamon, and thought he heard Alia as well.
"Nana, Zero! He's waking up!" he heard Alia say. Eventually, his vision was completely returned, as he had awoken.
X sat up and surveyed his surroundings. He was no longer on the missile base. He was back at Maverick Hunter HQ, stunned it was still standing and that some of the Hunters were still here. He woke with a throbbing headache, as Cinnamon tried keeping him still. Of course, he was least concerned of that.
He could not forgive himself for letting this happen. Sigma had unexpectedly betrayed the Maverick Hunters, and enlisted many of their own to go Maverick and launch a terroristic attack on the entire globe. Of course, it wasn't his fault entirely, but X couldn't help but feel guilty and accountable for what happened 12 hours before in France.
"I've been out for how long!?" X yelled.
"Twelve hours." Alia said shrewdly. "You sustained a lot of heavy damage and overheated your systems. We weren't sure if you were to recover at all. Much less live."
"Sounds like you took a massive beating." Said Zero as he walked in the room. "I found you totally scrapped and in bad shape. Kuwanger would have minced you if I didn't step in. You're welcome."
Nana ran in as well. She was relieved her favorite Hunter was okay, but needed to refrain herself from running up and hugging him. It would have been very embarrassing for her.
"X, you scared me… well all of us, really." She said, seriously. "I would have called for help or warned you, but the radio and scanners were jammed once you hit the base."
"I'm sorry, Nana. It won't happen again. I promise…" X gritted his teeth and clenched his fists when he said that last part.
The Hunters saw Sigma's declaration, it was on every frequency. They were as shocked as the rest of the world, and suffered heavy losses. Before last night, the Maverick Hunters were counted in at least 1,500. Now only about a hundred remained. The others had either defected to Sigma's side, or were killed by his hands—whether by the missile attacks or by their own fellow Hunters.
"I don't understand." Said Cinnamon. "Commander Sigma has always been kind and caring to all of us, he was like our father. What changed?"
"I would assume closed-mindedness." Said Alia. "He seemed to think we Reploids were perfect and near faultless, but the humans that govern us were not right in any way. That kind of arrogance and mentality can bring a person to the path of evil."
"Perhaps." Said Nana. "Or maybe he saw something we didn't… Something political or deeper that no one could notice. But that's a longshot for right now…"
"It doesn't matter." X said, getting up. "He's our enemy now… we have to stop him."
X walked out of the infirmary and rushed to the control room. Nana ran after him in a worried manner.
"X, stop! You need to rest!" she shouted. But it was no good. X kept running, not stopping for anyone. When they reached the control room, X was surprised to find the place was practically empty. A place that would normally have a dozen navigators on duty now only had one: Iris.
X looked at Nana, who had a solumn look. They didn't need to speak any words. It was easy to figure out all the other navigators were either murdered or resigned. Nana and Iris were literally all that were left.
Iris was speaking with Repliforce's chief general and leader on the screen. He was mostly yellow in armor, wearing a military cap and jacket, with a chrome face and silver mustache. His name was General Churchill, and he looked calm and stern the whole conversation with Iris.
"…and that's the situation, General." She said. "Death tolls are rising and it seems Sigma's forces are scattering. However, most of them seem to be confined to the United Kingdom for now."
"And what of X?" asked the General.
"Right here." Announced X, surprising Iris. Nana immediately went to her station across from Iris and logged in.
"Good to see you alive and well, X." said Churchill.
"Thank you, sir." X saluted. "What's the situation?"
"About 30 to 45 seconds after Sigma's transmission ended," said Iris, "large scale missiles hit multiple major cities in the FAR [the Federation of Asian Republics] and the URO [the United Republics of Oceania]."
"How many casualties?"
Iris hesitated when X asked. She looked at Nana, who was checking. It wasn't good. She solemnly shook her head, Iris felt it best to dance around it.
"We don't have an exact estimate or number right now." She said. "But it isn't looking good."
X wasn't having it. "Rough estimate?"
"With all due respect, X, I'm not a mathematician. I'm only an intern."
"You were an intern, Iris. Now you're a member of our team."
"X, please—" Nana pleaded, until Churchill cut her off.
"Nana, you are not going to dissuade X." he said. "You may as well give him the answer he's looking for."
Nana and Iris realized it was pointless to argue with X. Nana knew her secret crush was not going to like the answer, but he wasn't going to let them dance around it either. With a heavy sigh, she gave him the count.
"At least 800 million people worldwide are dead." She said. "About 600 million sustained major injuries. And that's only from the missile strikes."
"At this moment, Sigma and his followers are attacking cities across the map." Said Churchill. "My men are doing all they can to stop them before they can exceed the chaos. X, I want you to rest. Leave this crisis to Repliforce."
"Sir, with all due respect, I've rested enough." Said X. "This uprising is my responsibility, I have to help."
"I understand, X, but the losses suffered to the Hunters are too deep. You and the other Maverick Hunters are ill-prepared to face Sigma's army of Mavericks. Forgive us, but we will handle this. Churchill out."
X tried to protest, but the General had cut off the feed already. The Blue Bomber was not happy with this. Repliforce was expecting him, nay, the entire Maverick Hunters to sit back as Mavericks caused wide-scale havoc. While true in that the Reploid Army only responds to major dangers to global security, the Hunters were the bulk of many Maverick arrests and deaths. For the army to take over the Hunters' jobs like this seemed blasphemous to some of them.
"I'll try getting in contact with Professor Rimmer." Said Nana. "At least make sure she's still alive through all this."
"I guess there isn't much we can do for right now." Said Iris. "Just wait and hope that brother resol—"
"ENOUGH!" X suddenly shouted, surprising the two girls and loud for even the rest of the base to hear.
"I am not just gonna sit around and do nothing, while Sigma kills innocent people!" he said. "I'm going out to help! I'm going to stop Sigma's uprising!"
"X, I get where you're coming from," said Nana, "but there isn't enough of us to handle this, and there isn't much we can do about this. Repliforce will straighten this whole thing out."
"And what if they don't? What if this just escalates and Sigma makes us look worse? If I don't do something, Nana, things may get even worse!"
"You've seen Repliforce in action! You should know what they're capable of!"
"Of course I do, but their job isn't to hunt down Mavericks, it's ours!"
"So you're mad because they're taking your duties? Is my little X hurt in the feels by that?"
"That isn't funny, Nana! Besides, they're a military group. I have more experience in this and I can do it with as little damage to the surroundings as possible."
"X, we nearly lost you already! I don't wan—we, don't want to lose you for real. Please, just stay."
"I'm sorry, Nana. But I can't stay here while people are getting hurt. I'm heading out there and you can't stop me."
"Not even if I do the 'kawaii face'? You know you can't say no to that…."
"I can if I walk away and not see it." And X looked away as Nana did the cutest and most adorable face that would make anyone's heart melt. She knew X couldn't say no to her when she made that look, and X knew too. But he was not going to be swayed.
"I'm going now. See you when I get back." X said and teleported off.
Nana gave an exasperated and sorrowful sigh. She really hoped she could convince X otherwise, but she realized there was no changing his mind. From the corner of her eyes, she could see a few Hunters entering the room, mumbling about X and what he was doing. Even Nellia, who was off her confinement after Sigma's betrayal, was amazed.
Zero wasn't too surprised. He always knew of X's compassionate heart, and how much he cared. But he never knew the kind of determination he had. X was always unsure in battle, would make mistakes or hesitate when the situation called for it. But not here. This was different, there wasn't a sound of hesitation in his voice. He looked determined to defeat Sigma and his goons, or die trying.
Of course, that's what worried him. "X is gonna need some backup out there. We can't just sit here spinning our wheels."
"Not you too, Zero." Nana said, worried.
"I'll look after him. If he steps in it, I'll make sure to get him out."
Nana sighed, but relented. She could see the other Hunters talking amongst themselves. They seemed to have been wowed by X's compassion and determination as well. She noticed some of them teleport or run off. She had a good feeling what was happening.
"I'm with X!" said Nellia. "We ain't sitting around for a solution, we'll be the solution!"
Nana was surprised. X had left quite the positive influence on everyone here, that no one wanted to stand by anymore. They wanted to be in action and help. It was ironic; out of all the Hunters, X hated fighting the most, yet he had just inspired his fellow hunters to fight as well. Nana needed to help too.
"Iris, can you take the call for Professor Rimmer?" she asked. "I got a Hunter to navigate!"
"Of course." Said Iris.
6:30 – CENTRAL HIGHWAY – SOUTHAMPTON
X found himself running across several freeways, surveying the damage. It was worse than he thought. Buildings were catching fire and debris was everywhere. The freeway he was on was barely holding on by a thread. Suddenly, a Beecopter Mechaniloid arrived and blasted the supports keeping it up. X quickly jumped up, brandishing his Buster, just before the freeway was destroyed and laid charged shot after charged shot at the chopper until it was scrap.
X landed on the Central Highway above the city. This road was one that allowed travel to and from all the major cities in England, but wasn't officially established until well after the war. Traffic was worse than usual at this time due to the Maverick attacks, but X would have to move quickly in spite of it.
As X continued forward, he found himself facing several Maverick goons. These were uncommon in his missions, where smaller grunts would get in the way of progress, up until now. The first one he saw was a spiky tire with eyes rolling towards him. X wasn't going to waste his time with it, and just jumped right over it, until another one came in. X decided to use a few buster shots to destroy this one.
"At least it isn't a stupid Jamminger." He said. Not even five steps after he said this did a pink flying Maverick appear and smack him back a bit before laughing at him.
"I have got to learn to keep quiet." X said while blasting it. He always hated those things.
"No, I believe that would us." Said a voice over the comms.
"Huh? Nana?"
"Hey X. Sorry it took a while to get in. I'm helping you just this mission."
"Heh… I don't know why, but I had some feeling you'd pull through. I'm gonna need your help with this."
"I'll do what I can. There's massive Reploid activity around the country, but there's Repliforce readings dead ahead. As well as big Maverick signs."
"Roger! I'll keep an eye out!" X said as he dashed off.
X ran into a Gun Volt enemy, an armless enemy that fired electric waves on the ground. X was about to fire his buster when a lion-like Reploid appeared and slashed it to pieces, as well as the other enemies ahead. He was gold in armor and had an eyepatch on his left eye, as well as sharp claws. This was Slash Beast, one of Repliforce's commanders.
"Looks like I found Repliforce." Said X.
"Didn't the General say we had this?" asked Slash Beast.
"He did, but I'm still helping."
"Oh you punks helped alright… helped me find some prey for doing NOTHING AT ALL! Now stay out of our way!"
Beast pushed X aside and ran forward, leading his battalion into battle. He noticed that Beast's forces were merciless, not stopping for any mercy and shooting and slashing anything in their way. While effective in getting rid of the Maverick hordes, X knew that it was not the safest way. Someone could get hurt.
X continued forward, blasting some enemies, when some flying enemies with spikes on the bottom appeared. He noticed they were stopping a bit short of him and some oncoming cars.
"X, those are Crushers! The spikes on their ends are cranes, they'll destroy parts of the road!" warned Nana.
"Got it!" X wasted no time in using charged shots at the Mavericks. Without anyone telling, he realized the spiked cranes were the weak point and carefully hit shots at them, destroying them.
The oncoming cars barely honked at him, but X wasn't sure if it was out of genuine thanks or anger for standing in the middle of the road. X jumped over several gaps made in the motorway from damages, until he came across a giant bee-shaped helicopter. X recognized it as a Beeblader.
These were usually meant for transporting cargo and other Reploids, but it seemed these models were specifically designed for combat. The Beeblader fired off some missiles which X dodged with ease and fired off charged shot after charged shot at the machine. X thought perhaps the best shot was one right at the blades when he heard some crying nearby.
X turned and saw a family of two parents and a young boy, outside of their broken car. The young boy was crying and very afraid, having to be consoled by his two parents.
"It's going to be alright, Jeffrey." Said the father. "We'll make it out. We'll make it."
"I…I'm scared, daddy." Said Jeffrey.
"So are we, sweetie…" said the mother.
X saw the human family weren't too far away from the Beeblader. If the machine were to fall, it could cause this part f the road to collapse, and even if they weren't crushed by its remains, they may not have survived the fall. He hesitated once again. He couldn't chance that.
As he contemplated this, Slash Beast zoomed in again and threw crescent energy projectiles at the chopper's blades. X was in a pickle. He knew he couldn't stop him in time, and eh wasn't sure he could save the family. With all the speed he had, X shoved the two parents onto the next road section and grabbed the child. That was when the Beeblader crashed down, taking down the road.
Slash Beast was agile enough to leap over to the other side and not go down with the machine. X was not so fortunate. He gripped the child as they fell with the BeeBlader. Fortunately, the section and the machine got wedged inbetween the support beams.
"Jeffrey! Jeffrey, are you there?!" shouted the father from above.
"Speak to us, sweetie!" cried out the mother.
X looked down at Jeffrey. Thankfully, he was unharmed, but he was scared more than ever and crying harder. He mumbled about he was going to die and praying to himself. All X could do was pat his head and cuddle to keep him calm.
"Shhhhh, it's okay." He said. "It's okay, little guy. I got you. I'm gonna get you out."
"Who…are you?" asked the boy.
"I'm a Maverick Hunter. I'm here to help, so don't cry."
"We're going to die… I know we're going to die. I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go…!"
"Ssssh, don't worry. You're not gonna die. I promise I'll get you out of this. Just trust me."
Jeffrey sniffed and wiped his tears away. He was still scared, but he trusted the robot. X put him on his back, and the youngling wrapped his arms around the Blue Bomber tightly. X quickly but carefully wall jumped up the support beams, trying to get them out. Jeffrey was scared, but tried to brave it, holding on to X tighter.
Very soon, X jumped out and they were back on solid ground. Jeffrey was let down carefully and hugged X, smiling very happy.
"You did really good, kid." Said X.
"Jeffrey!" yelled the father, as he and his wife ran to their son.
"Mommy! Daddy!" said Jeremy as the family embraced. X couldn't help but smile. The father looked up at X.
"Thank you so much for saving our son." He said. "I don't know how to repay you."
"You don't have to." X said modestly. "Just get to safety and quick. I'll take it from here."
"Thank you again!" said Jeffrey, waving X goodbye. X smiled and rushed off.
X was calm through the whole thing, but he was internally fuming. He was enraged how little Slash Beast cared that innocent lives were in danger. He put that family at risk and didn't even give a damn. That made him absolutely livid.
"Hey X. I did a scan of your systems while you were comatose, and something didn't—" began Nana, before she was cut off.
"You… did what?" X asked. Nana was blushing on the other line.
"N-N-Not in a weird way! I was just studying you and your schematics—No, I mean your abilities, your uhh…. I'm sorry, I could've worded that all a bit better…"
"Look, it's fine. So what were you saying?"
"Well I was running scans along with Alia and we noticed you had extra details that weren't there before. Particularly forms and abilities, that we can only assume came from the Sky Lagoon mission."
X didn't respond right away. He was trying to remember and think about what happened that horrible day. Or was trying not to. He didn't want to think about the events of that night, how Dragoon killed millions of people in one stroke. However, his fight with him stuck out.
"That's right. When I was fighting Dragoon, my optics flashed up at every move he did." X said. "It was like I was memorizing and scanning all of his moves."
"In a sense, you did." Said Nana. "Alia discovered that you have a Copy ability that allows you to download and utilize the powers of any Mavericks you beat, but only those you have met. And it's only special abilities that you see your opponents or allies use."
"So that's what that was." X said as he was blasting some annoying Jammingers. "My systems were analyzing Dragoon and downloading his skillset."
"Precisely. I think that if a major Maverick appears, your optics will begin downloading the Maverick's skillset and download anything you see while fighting him or her."
"That's incredible…. How many abilities do I have right now?"
"It appears only Dragoon's Hadouken and Blaze Kick. Those are in the Fire Form you unlocked."
"Then I'll have to try that one out…"
X came across yet another Beeblader, but this one was also sending Maverick minions down to deal damage. Repliforce troops were swarming down to help, but they were easily dispatched by the Mavericks. X wasted little time. Almost by some instinct, he held his buster up and pressed its side with his fingers. A display popped up with various listings. Most of them had multiple question marks, except for two that read "X Form" with an arrow pointed at it, and "Fire Form".
X pressed the listing for Fire to see what happened, and a female voice was heard: 'FIRE FORM'
X soon found himself glowing red and a circular energy ring enveloped him from bottom to top, slowly turning his armor from blue to red. The armor also was more distinguished, with several fire patterns on it and his helmet having more articulations as well. He was now in his Fire Form.
He was impressed with his new form, but now was not the time to be distracted. X began using his buster to take down the smaller Mavericks. To his shock, they seemed to be usual buster shots but with a more fiery edge to them. X was loving the features here. He decided to deal with the Beeblader next. Clasping his hands together, he fired off a Hadouken attack and it obliterated it in one hit.
"Wow! I don't remember Dragoon's Hadouken attack being able to do that!" said Nana. "That is some power, X!"
"I… I wouldn't go too far, Nana." X said modestly. "But the abilities are very impressive, I must admit…"
"Try not to get too ahead, X! I'm getting dozens of Maverick signals coming in your direction, and they're airborne!"
X could only assume it meant Storm Eagle had a fleet on his side. He was still trying to digest the fact Eagle was a Maverick now, and he couldn't. It was a betrayal to him. As X looked up, he noticed two fleets of airships locked into combat. One was of Repliforce, the other were Sigma's supporters.
Storm Owl personally led the battalion against the Mavericks, willing to do whatever it took to take them down. At the heart of Sigma's fleet was a dark blue battleship shaped like a swordfish. This was Storm Eagle's main ship, the Death Rogumer. The ship was dealing the most damage to Repliforce, destroying most of their units and sending Maverick vessels in the air.
It wasn't just the air either. Nana informed X that it was lowering its altitude, and it looked like it was sending down Mavericks to deal damage on the ground. These came in the form of Road Attackers, Mavericks driving cars with cannons on them.
"X, don't let those Road Attackers get through to the rest of the road!" shouted Nana.
"Already on it!" X said, dashing forward.
X leapt forward and used a jumping Blaze Kick on one of the Attackers. This destroyed both it and the car; he wasted little time in using some well placed Hadouken bursts on some more, but the battleship kept sending more. Even with his newfound abilities, X wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up.
Fortunately, he wouldn't have to.
"KYUUBATA!"
Suddenly, a figure leapt passed him and threw a fiery spinkick right at the Road Attacker, blowing it to bits. The next one stopped right in front of the figure. It was Nellia. She then began attacking the car, throwing punches and kicks right at it. She was unrelenting in her assault, eventually breaking it down little by little, until she finally ended it with a mighty punch, blowing it to pieces; only the metal underworks remained and the driver was blown away into the sky as well.
"Oops. Not sorry." She said.
"Nellia? What are you doing here?" X asked.
"I should ask you that… Listen, we heard what you said X, and… it inspired us. Everyone's lending a hand in fighting this rebellion now."
"She's right, X." added Nana. "I think your personality's rubbed off on us all, even a little bit."
X was quite surprised. He knew what he had to do, he had to stop Sigma's uprising. What he didn't anticipate was how much of an impact he had on his fellow hunters. He felt quite proud yet also ashamed at the same time. Ashamed for what? He wasn't given time to figure it out, as more Mavericks appeared, with Nellia standing her ground.
"You go on ahead, X!" she said. "I'll deal with these guys!"
"You sure you can handle it?" asked X.
"Trust me, X. No bot can handle me! Now hurry!"
X nodded and rushed off, barely acknowledging the Mavericks he was facing. Nellia smirked confidently as she jump kicked a driver's head clean off. She threw the rest of his body off and took control of the car. She could have easily beaten up every single one of the Road Attackers and their vehicles, but she thought the idea to hijack a car and use it was a bit easier and more fun.
Now behind the wheel, Nellia turned around and fired the cannon at the Mavericks coming at her. They were mostly trying to take out the civilians and humans in the area. Nellia fired off to make sure that they wouldn't be hurting anybody.
"Now this is a demolition derby!" she yelled out.
X continued onwards and began shooting fire shots at the Death Rogumer, only doing some burn marks on the undersides. Just then, the shaft door opened up and something jumped out, something big. X gritted his teeth at what he saw. It was Vile, and he was on a navy blue mini-mecha known as the Ride Armor.
"Have a nice nap, X?" Vile cackled. "We've been redecorating while you were out, hope you like the new designs. Personally, I think the destroyed buildings and corpse piles are picturesque!"
"Vile!" shouted X. "You have some nerve showing up in that shell, you cowardly psychopath!"
"First off, I prefer 'sociopath'. Second, just because I'm in this thing doesn't make me a coward. It was 'gifted' to me by Lord Sigma, guess he thought I needed to be handicapped against you."
"So you're just his lapdog, is that it?"
"Lapdog? HAH! That's a good one X! I never thought you to be so funny. He just has something I want, and I'll kill anyone and anything that gets in my way!"
"You won't get far enough to do any killing! I'm taking you down!"
"Ooh, I'm so scared! X might actually hurt me this time...!"
X was done wasting his time talking to this sociopath. With anger in his eyes, he unloaded multiple fire buster shots at Vile and his Ride Armor. The mech was only barely scratched, but Vile was completely unscathed. He charged his mech at X and it punched him repeatedly, X hardly having any time to dodge. The Blue Bomber then jumped up, hoping to hit a Blaze Kick, but Vile grabbed him with his mech by the leg, and smacked him into the ground about three times, took a pause, then did it two more before throwing him off into the side.
X was getting rattled and taking massive damage. Charging up energy, he released a massive Hadouken attack. Miraculously, it totaled the mech in one hit, but Vile just walked through the debris as if it didn't matter. X jumped up and hit a spinning Blaze Kick to Vile's head. The purple Maverick just took it, almost entirely unfazed and cackling.
"Wow, that actually kind of tickled." Said Vile. "Let's find your soft spots!"
Vile quickly pulled out a plasma pistol and shot X in the chest, point blank. The shot totally pierced X's armoring. The purple Maverick chuckled a bit and fired off more shots from a foot away, chipping away at X. The Blue Bomber felt weaker the more Vile shot at him. Vile then kicked a grenade right at X to deal heavier damage than before, and knocking X back to his normal form.
The blue Maverick Hunter was suffering from déjà vu. He was down onto one knee, the damage severe, Vile standing tall, and our hero looking worse for wear. Sigma's enforcer just laughed at X's suffering as he pointed his shoulder cannon at X, blasting him.
"Sigma's wrong about you!" said Vile. "Limitless potential my ass! You're just a fly playing hornet. You aren't the Reploid that would lead our people to a new age. I am… the most powerful rogue! ME, VILE! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Vile decided to kick X down yet again and aimed his cannon to finish him off. Just then, a small energy cyclone hit Vile and blew him back a foot or two. It was Storm Owl, flying down to aid X.
"You should have listened, X." said Owl. "This isn't your fight. Flee now!"
"I… can't…" X said, it was all he could muster.
"Oh don't you worry about X, old bird." Laughed Vile. "In fact, I'd more worry about what's gonna happen to you!"
Without another word, Vile charged at the Repliforce commander and grabbed him by the buster before he could do anything. The Maverick literally punched a hole through Storm Owl's torso, then shot him five times with his pistol. Vile would then place a grenade in the hole he made, but he wasn't done with the old bird quite yet. Grabbing him by the face, Vile flew up high in the sky by the Repliforce fleet, cackling as he would, and shot him point blank with his shoulder cannon.
This triggered quite the big explosion, destroying several smaller ships in Repliforce. But Vile walked it off without a scratch. A defenseless X was both shocked and horrified. Not just at what Vile had done, but at how Vile survived the blast he created. The Repliforce Air Force was in disbelief and grief, their beloved commander dead in the most horrific way imaginable… with nary a trace he even existed, save for small parts and his cap.
Vile flew down back to X, laughing it all up. "Boy was that fun! Way more exciting than any mission I took up with you Hunter chumps. Now… where were we…?"
Vile prepared to aim his cannon at X once again, but ended up being stopped again. This time by a small electrical spark in front of him, which dealt a great pain seconds later. Vile looked to see who or what it was. It was Zero.
Zero had a special "instant transmission" maneuver that gave him an instant teleport right to where Vile was and gave him and electrical strike with his saber for his troubles.
"X, are you okay?" asked Zero.
"Thanks to you, old friend." Said X.
"I can't believe you would take that weakling's side, Zero." Said Vile. "I have massive respect for you, but X… he's nothing but a cowardly shit! He's worthless to our cause!"
"I'll gladly take a 'cowardly shit' over a Maverick murderer any day of the week, Vile!" said Zero.
Vile just scoffed at this. As he looked about, he noticed that the Hunters and Repliforce were beginning to gain the upper-hand, the Mavericks being sent into retreat. The Death Rogumer hovered above them. Vile didn't feel like retreating, it wasn't his style. But even he knew his priorities.
"Looks like that's my ride." Said Vile. "Guess we'll have to pick this up another time. And X, a word of advice: let the big bots do the heavy lifting. Ha ha ha ha…."
"You aren't getting away, Vile!" shouted Zero, charging his buster.
He fired a charged shot, but Vile jumped up and onto the Death Rogumer as the vessel took off. Zero cussed himself for letting him escape. Nellia drove up to them in a beaten-up Road Attacker car to report.
"Perimeter's secure." She said. "The remaining Mavericks are pulling back, and those Repliforce punks are driving them out the city."
"Good to hear." Said Zero, despite her tone in the Repliforce comment. He then turned to X, who was still on one knee and very unhappy.
"Vile's right." Said X. "I'm not strong enough for any of this. I let this happen, Storm Owl's dead because of me."
"X, don't beat yourself up over Owl's sacrifice." Zero said. "He knew the risks and did what was necessary. You did more than enough to drive out all the Hunters from here."
"Besides, Vile's a war machine by designation." Added Nellia. "You shouldn't expect to defeat him, even with your newfound power. Though I would bet if you trained or got new abilities…"
"Look, the important thing is the mission was a success. X, I think you have done enough. Everyone's helping out in some way. I'm sure you'll help in some way too. I'm going to scout ahead, see if I can gather intel on where Sigma's hiding. You should get back to Hunter Base and get some rest."
X did not need to hear something like that, but he realized he was in no shape to argue right now. With a heavy sigh, he relented. "Alright. We'll hook up a bit later, good luck Zero."
Zero smiled and ran off a bit to do his own mission. Nellia was about to head off first, but stopped and turned back to X.
"X, I think Zero knows you won't quit so easy, and neither do I. I know that if you powered up or trained, your power could increase exponentially. You may even be as strong as me and Zero are… hell, maybe better."
"Thanks for the encouragement, Nellia." Said X, smiling a tad. "I appreciate it."
"I'm gonna join in the rescue and resistance ops. Rest up and we'll meet up again soon. X, I know you can do it."
X smiled at her and the two traded a thumbs up, before Nellia jumped off the Highway to her new mission. X stood up, still dazed, and teleported back to Hunter Base, now with new purpose.
TO BE CONTINUED….
(A/N: Ho. Ly. Shit. About 6k words and 19 pages in this one chapter. I know this was a very long chapter, but I appreciate you guys sticking through thhis long. I wanted to add a scene with Sigma and his Maverick commanders, but I didn't wanna make this longer than it already is. Now we'll be doing the eight Maverick bosses, just have to figure out the boss order. Until then, see ya!)