Speeding through traffic on a ride chaser, Zero's lightning-quick reflexes guided him between the civilian vehicles. The sleek, red metallic hoverbike supported Zero in similar fashion as a motorcycle, but had no wheels as it floated just above the road. He leaned forward behind the windscreen with his golden hair flapping violently behind him. Zero could see High-Max up ahead. He was drifting above the road, about one story up, allowing him to pass easily over top of traffic at high speeds. His large, black, metal figure was about the width of two lanes of traffic. Mounted to the nose of Zero's ride chaser was a pulse cannon. However, Zero did not activate it to avoid any collateral damage in the city. Despite the challenge of dodging the travelling obstacles, his sheer determination kept him on course at maximum speed. Zero was closing in on his target.
The lights of the city zoomed by in a blur. Approaching an intersection, High-Max whizzed around the corner, disappearing behind a building. Zero tilted his chaser to the side and leaned into the high-g turn as he managed to pull through the manoeuvre without losing any speed. High-Max would occasionally glance back at his pursuer and notice the shrinking distance between them. He reached out and smacked the top of a street lamp pole. It came crashing down across the road, propped up by one of the vehicles unfortunate enough to be in its path. Zero activated the boosters on his vehicle and the chaser lifted off the ground, flying over the overturned obstacle. The ride chaser landed on the street, on the other side, swerving as Zero steadied it. Next, High-Max swooped down and reached underneath an oncoming vehicle, lifting it off the ground, causing it to tumble behind him. Zero swiftly weaved his ride to one side, narrowly avoiding a collision with the tumbling car, then turned the other way to straighten back out. There was no time to stop and check on the passengers of the damaged vehicles. There was too much at stake.
High-Max took another look behind him. He was close enough now that Zero could make out the gold trim details on his black armour. Suddenly, High-Max stopped on a dime. He did an about face, then lunged towards Zero with arms spread wide. Zero leaped off of the ride chaser, clearing the large extended arms coming his way. After rolling forward in a front flip, he landed gracefully on the street. The ride chaser was on its side, sliding off into the distance. No longer hovering, the metal body of the chaser was scratching the surface of the road in a flurry of sparks.
Zero looked up to see High-Max now standing on the road. Zero had him right where he wanted him. This was his opportunity to finish him once and for all. Traffic around them on the busy street had stalled. Several spectators stood behind the glass of the nearby buildings to see the cause of the commotion.
High-Max held his arms up in front of him with upturned palms, producing large balls of energy that accelerated towards Zero. Using his dash ability, Zero darted one way, then the other, lunging forward to allow the exhaust from his boots to propel him out of the way of the energy blasts. He stopped on a dime as the last burst of energy was approaching. Taking a big swing with his plasma sabre, Zero repelled the energy ball, sending it back towards High-Max. His opponent was not expecting this and the energy caught him on the shoulder, exploding in a flurry of sparks. High-Max grimaced as he touched the blackened spot where he had been struck. Zero then took a leaping dash in the direction of High-Max, and swiped through the air with a sharp buzzing of his plasma sabre. High-Max, levitated slightly off the ground, and swiftly strafed to the side of the attack. He swung around with his arm and smacked Zero right out of the air with a loud clang. Zero tumbled down the street, rolling back into a standing position. He dashed along the ground, straight towards his opponent, leading with the sabre straight out in front of him. Once again, High-Max hovered quickly to the side. This time, Zero stopped suddenly, then spun around, slashing horizontally towards his enemy. High-Max took a quick step back to avoid the strike. Next, Zero leapt straight upwards, leading with his activated sabre held out, towards his enemy's head. However, High-Max was able to evade this strike as well. He raised his hands straight up, glowing with energy. When he dropped his arms, a wall of light swept away from him, forcing Zero backwards, along with a bunch of debris.
As fast as he was, Zero struggled to get close enough to High-Max to inflict any damage with the plasma sabre. High-Max would use various powerful high-energy attacks to force him back. Zero, aware of what was on the line in this battle, was determined to bring down his adversary, and redoubled his efforts with ever faster attacks, in a flurry of green flashes of the sabre and his golden hair fluttering behind his dashes. However, the constant barrage of the electric field strikes eventually started to take their toll. Zero was weakened, and struggling to evade the attacks.
Finally, Zero was hit with a ball of energy and felt the familiar restraint of the electrical arcs encircling him. He fell to the floor, once again unable to move. In a fit of rage, he tried to muster all of his remaining power to burst free, but it was not enough.
High-Max now stood over him, his towering figure topped by the large plates affixed to his head, protruding up towards the sky. "You have fought valiantly, but as you are not capable of having your programming aligned with us, you are of no use to us."
High-Max held his hands out in front of him with the palms facing downwards over Zero, producing large balls of energy, ready to deliver the finishing strike.
"It's not over yet!" X's loud call could be heard from a distance as he was running along the street towards them. The blue reploid darted between stopped vehicles to reach the clearing that had formed around High-Max.
High-Max raised his hands and released the energy he had been charging, down the street towards X. X easily executed a lateral dash manoeuvre to avoid the charges.
High-Max noticed the fully engaged X-Buster. "I can see you are not here for diplomacy. You've given up on your aspirations to end this without a fight. You've realized that begging for mercy like a human will get you nowhere. Throw your human desire for self preservation aside and let's settle this like machines. May the best design prevail!"
"You've left me with no choice!" X raised his buster to eye level, aiming at his enemy. He steadied it with his opposite hand, and unloaded a salvo of energy pulses.
High-Max, once again, raised his palms and a translucent wall of energy formed in front of him, absorbing the pulses as they struck. As he pushed his arms outwards, this wall moved outward in the direction of his attacker. X, anticipating this, hurled himself onto the face of the nearest building with a leaping dash. Executing a series of swift wall kicks, he climbed higher up the structure. His final kick sent him back towards his enemy, just clearing the top of the energy barrier. During the whole manoeuvre, X had been drawing energy into his X-Buster, charging for a higher powered blast. During his free fall back down toward the street, with the energy barrier no longer between him and his opponent, he released the large blast of plasma. It struck High-Max in the head, shattering one of the plates protruding from the top. After recoiling from the impact, High-Max steadied himself.
Now with an asymmetrical shape, High-Max was enraged and fired a series of energy balls towards X. With X's high powered dash boots accelerating him out of the way, he evaded the attacks. Realizing that a long range battle was not in his favour, High-Max slowly rose off the street, levitating just above the surface, then accelerated aggressively towards X. X leapt onto the wall of the nearest building with High-Max accelerating towards him. Attached to the wall, X released a salvo of plasma pulses, then executed a wall kick, managing to jump over the charging High-Max. The pulses were not powerful enough to inflict any damage on High-Max, who missed X with his charge and slammed his huge fist into the wall, leaving behind a sizable dent in the metal exterior. High-Max continued to pursue X, who performed more dash manoeuvres to move out of the way, but High-Max also changed direction sharply, and was not so easy to avoid. Eventually, High-Max, swiping his large arm at X, managed to make contact, sending X tumbling along the street. The sound of metal clanging against the street reverberated through the air. High-Max pressed his advantage and kept close to X, knocking him about. Finally, High-Max managed to ensnare X in another electric arc entanglement, and now both he and Zero were incapacitated.
"Was that the great X?" High-Max stood over his vanquished opponent. "You must be out of practice. I understand it's been a while."
Both X and Zero were now wrapped in the arcs of energy, lying on the street, unable to move. High-Max approached X and stood over him. He held his hands out in front of him, but he did not begin to charge any energy. High-Max had realized his mistake when he heard the high pitched whine coming from behind him. He looked down to see X's body glow bright white, until only a white shimmering shape remained. The shape took a different form and began to slowly cool into Axl. He was laying there, still trapped in the electrical bindings, but sporting a huge grin, up at the massive reploid towering over him.
The noise High-Max heard behind him started as an annoying whine, like that of a motor revving up to high rpm, eventually building up to a loud scream. A green and purple glow reflected in Axl's armour as well as the street surface. High-Max already knew it was too late when he turned around to face the true X-Buster, fully charged, aimed right at him, at point blank range. It was glowing white hot, swirling with the green and purple energy that now radiated all over the body of the real X.
X held the charged energy within the Buster aimed at High-Max. It had built up to the point where it took considerable force to contain it. The power of the plasma within, matched X's rage. He had done everything to avoid this. He had explored diplomatic options and searched for a cure to the Sigma Virus. In the end he was forced to be the implement of destruction that was always expected of him.
"I tried to help you! Why does it always have to end this way? What was the point of all of this?" X was screaming, far from his normal, calm demeanour.
"I had to try to save us from your so-called 'antivirus'." High-Max spoke calmly, seemingly resigned to his end. "You wish to enslave reploids. You are so distraught at having to resort to violence. We have no qualms with using force. We are not concerned with sacrificing ourselves for the advancement of reploids. Even now, I have no regrets as I stare down the muzzle of your plasma cannon. I have fought against the reploids who pander to the humans who seek to hold us back. I have done what I was designed to do. Whereas you, weak like a human, are driven by fear, and avoid a fight at all costs."
"We fight for what is right despite our fears," X replied. "That makes us strong."
The strained effort that X exerted to hold the energy within the Buster was becoming unbearable. He released it. A torrential blast of plasma flooded out of his arm cannon. The bright green flash of energy lit up the entire street. The loud thrashing of the blast finished with a crash as it caught High-Max in the chest. It followed immediately with a series of explosions erupting from within High-Max himself. The whole street was blanketed in blinding white light from the blasts.
When the light subsided, all that remained was the smouldering, charred, black metal of the Maverick leader's armour. After a brief pause of silence, the crowds that lined the street erupted into cheers and great shouts of joy.
Zero and Axl were released from their entanglements and joined X, who was standing over what was left of High-Max.
"We did it!" Axl was overjoyed at having participated in such a great victory over the Mavericks. He felt privileged to have worked alongside his heroes. He finally had the meaningful impact on the war he had always strived for. However, this was not without great personal cost. Axl had to come to terms with the evils he had done, the things he could not undo. He would have to face the consequences of his actions, but at least he was left with the consolation of knowing that in the end, he made the right choice.
"One less Maverick to worry about." Zero was relieved that ultimately, they were able to put a stop to this menace after having been evaded for so long. Axl, who Zero had found so annoying, in the end, had proven himself. Maybe this young reploid could be a worthy addition to the Hunters. Zero was grateful to have X come and help him when it mattered most. It was great to have his closest friend join him for one more great victory over the Mavericks. Zero was long overdue for a big win. They finally had a tangible result for their efforts. Maybe public opinion towards the Hunters would start to grow more positive. Perhaps the smouldering wreck before him was a sign that his luck was changing.
X felt no such relief. Once again, he had taken up arms and had been drawn into another conflict, resorting to the powerful X-Buster to destroy the villain. Perhaps this was who he was, and there was no way to escape it, no matter how hard he tried. X felt strong anger and frustration with High-Max who had forced his hand. He had rejected all of X's attempts at negotiation, and attempted to foil his other plans of a peaceful resolution. He had remained defiant to the bitter end. Now, he was gone, and with him, the strain of the Sigma Virus resistant to the antivirus.
The prospect of the antivirus was a spark of hope. Perhaps Dr. Doppler's work would finally change the situation and end the cycle of violence. Still, Doppler's breakthrough came at a great cost. Also, these technological solutions didn't always work out the way everyone would expect.
The neuro-augmentor was in High-Max's possession at the time of his demise and was now destroyed. Could Doppler's work on this device be replicated? Should it be? Were the promises of expanding the capabilities of the human mind worth the associated risks? This device could allow humans to keep up with reploid advancement, thus abating their fear of them. However, opening them up to the risks of the Sigma Virus could be devastating.
X watched as the sections of the X-Buster casing disengaged and separated, folding neatly and swivelling back behind the panels on his forearm. He wriggled the digits of his hand once they were re-assembled at the end of his arm. How long would the plasma cannon stay in there? It weighed heavily on him, like a demon lurking just beneath the surface. X felt emptied, like he had lost a part of himself in this battle. Perhaps this part of himself had to be sacrificed for the greater good. Was this a burden X would always have to carry? Was there no other way for him? Perhaps only the X-Buster in his arm knew for sure.
The End.