Utopia (2)
Chapter 3: Vengeance
X spent the rest of the day destroying mavericks and taking down boss mechaniloids who had gone crazy from the virus. Zero did the same. By the time both hunters returned to base they were exhausted. They had destroyed a hefty number of mavericks using the various weapons they had obtained from previous mavericks.
X thought about the battle with Blizzard Buffalo and that mysterious girl named Jade he had met. ‘Who is she? Who does she work for? Why is she looking for us? What is her motive? Should I tell Zero? What did she mean by show me what we were fighting for?’ X thought to himself while walking down the hallway with Zero.
“You ok X? You look spaced out” Zero commented while looking over at him.
“Huh? Oh yeah sorry”
“Well quit it. I hate it when you’re like this. You bore me.” Zero snorted heading to his room.
“Zero… Wait… Come to my room for a second. I need to tell you something private.”
“Ok.”
X and Zero entered the room as X shut the door behind him.
“Now before I tell you this you have to promise not to tell anyone else.” X whispered.
“Fine, I can keep a secret.”
“Nobody understand?”
“What’s your point X?” Zero said impatiently.
“I ran into a girl during my first mission. She was apparently looking for me and--”
“Awww X has a girlfriend!” Zero winked jokingly cutting his friend off in mid sentence.
“No! She was looking for the both of us; me and you. She wants us to help her with something important, but she won’t say what. She wants to meet you, but she wants us to keep our meeting and everything a secret. Only the two of us can know about this ok?”
“This sounds suspicious to me. Are you sure she isn’t a maverick?”
“She helped me in the battle against Blizzard Buffalo. I can’t see her being a maverick. I trust her and I want her to trust me. Us too”
“I’ll go along with it because you are X, but I’m not keeping my guard down.”
“Ok, see you later.”
“Later X.”
The next day X and Zero split up again to look for the remaining mavericks throughout the city.
X had one final destination to go too. An old abandoned factory in the more rundown outskirts of town. He was told that a maverick was residing there, but the deeper he wandered inside the darker and more deserted it became. There was nothing more then rusty, beaten down assembly lines, computers, pipes and the like.
“I don’t see any mavericks around here…”
X arrived at the back of the factory and found seemingly dormant ride armour. A click sound echoed around him as a laser blast shot through the air hitting his leg and making him fall onto his backside. Standing on a high window sill stood Vile, laughing manically as he jumped down into his ride armour.
“Hehehe you’re trapped X!” Vile held a timer in his right hand “See this? It’s set to blow this place up in minutes! Until then I’ll keep you occupied.”
“Vile… you bastard”
X rushed to his feet only to fall back down catching himself with his hands.
“Shit my leg!”
X stood up again this time putting all his weight on his good leg. He aimed his X-buster and shot random blasts at Viles armour carrier making small dents in the metal.
Vile shot back sending X flying onto one of the assembly line tables. He jumped landing in front of X. X shot at Viles head, but Vile dodged it gracefully. His machines giant mechanical arm grabbed X by the throat lifting him off the ground.
“Meet Goliath my newest weapon. He and I will defeat you! Vengeance is mine!” He sneered as he watched the painful expression on Xs face “Did you think you could get away with what you did to me? way back then… You’ll pay… I’ll send you to hell where you belong.”
Vile raised X up to his level. He locked the settings on his ride armour and stood on the front ledge. He took his arm and started punching X in the stomach making him vomit and cough up blood. Xs face turned white as his airways compressed leaving less and less room for oxygen to flow. Vile kept punching and kicking him; beating his body like a punching bag. The room was starting to turn hazy when suddenly he heard someone yell.
“Vile that’s enough!”
“Leave some for us!” A second voice responded.
“Go fuck yourselves! He’s mine!” Vile snapped.
The reploid duo deactivated the bomb and proceeded towards Viles armour Goliath cutting the arm that was holding X off releasing him from the robots grip.
“What are you doing?!” Vile screamed angrily.
X fell to the ground gasping. He shook his head regaining his vision and aimed for Goliaths open wound using the Parasitic Bomb weapon. The armour carrier began to explode into a pile of fire and circuitry while the decapitated arm lay lifeless on the floor.
“We are the Nightmare Police! Bit and Byte! I am Bit” A short thin reploid announced with gold armour.
“And I am Byte! We keep order in this town under Doppler!” A tall chubby reploid continued with red and green armour.
“This reploid is ours to destroy!” Bit said.
“I don’t think so! You’ll never destroy him as long as I’m alive! I’ll be back!” Vile stated looking in Xs direction before teleporting out of the factory.
The two reploids turned towards X smiling deviously.
“You’re ours now Maverick Hunter. Prepare to die!” Bit grinned.
“That’s right. Two against one is fair for someone with your battle record boy!” Byte joined in.
X used the Ray Splasher to stun his two enemies while he planned his next move. Byte fell to the ground, but bit jumped out of the way heading in Xs direction. X shot an Acid Burst upwards hitting Bit in the face. He grabbed his face screaming as the acid burned through his eyes.
Byte stood up and threw a mini-bomb at X. X pushing himself onto the floor rolled out of the way using his good leg. Bit, now blind, shot sprays of lasers all over the room hoping to hurt X wherever he was. X used the Triad Thunder to cancel out the laser blast and counter-attacked with the Gravity Well causing them both to collapse onto the floor under extreme force.
“Fuck I can’t move!”
“Speak for yourself I can’t see or move!”
X hopped towards them using his leg and arms. Once close enough he leaned over and stabbed them both in the head with the knives from his Spinning Blade attack.
Bit and Byte lay motionless on the floor as X used one last Parasitic Bomb to burn their corpses.
X teleported back to base. Zero was there to greet him. Zero ran over to X once he saw the condition he was in and called the on-site medics for immediate attention.
“How did your missions go?” X asked lying on a bed in the infirmary.
“Successful.” Zero replied sitting beside him.
“Any more information on Doppler?”
“Dr. Cain thinks he may have found something, but he wants to wait a few days until you are well enough to fight again. So rest up and get better fast.”
X laughed and closed his eyes drifting off to sleep. His last conscious thoughts focusing on when peace would finally come…
Chapter 4: Lab of Doppler
X healed from his injuries quickly during the next few days as the two Maverick Hunters gathered in the main control room to discuss their strategy. Dr. Cain gave them their briefing and confirmed that Dr. Doppler was the one behind the maverick outbreak and that he was creating some sort of battle body for a reploid. It didn’t take them long to conclude that the new battle body was for Sigma and they had to stop him as soon as possible. They were both assigned to infiltrate the lab immediately.
Both men arrived at the closest teleport sight near Dopplers Lab weapons in hand ready for anything. A rustling in the trees nearby caused them to look upwards.
“Hi X!” Jade waved sitting on a tree branch.
“Jade, how are you?” X waved back.
“This isn’t social time X. We’re on a mission here.” Zero reminded him.
“You must be Zero.” Jade greeted climbing down from the tree.
“X told me about you. Your secret’s safe with me. Now we have to get going.”
“I’ve come to help you. I had a bad feeling about Doppler since the beginning. Now it seems my theory has been proven with this maverick outbreak. Let’s go put a stop to this once and for all!” She took out her weapon and ran ahead of them towards the entrance of the lab while X and Zero ran after her.
The three ran through Dopplers Laboratory. The three comrades fighting alongside together made all the mavericks that crossed their path no match for them. Zero started to see a black figure in the distance. He squinted as it proceeded closer to him.
“A giant maverick is headed this way. Stay focused!” Zero warned.
The giant reploid stopped abruptly when they came into view. The large maverick could hover above ground, had two sabers, and long range arm cannons. Two volatile laughs came from the large machine.
“X, it’s so nice to see you again. Don’t you recognize us?”
“Bit and Byte but I thought I retired you back at the factory?”
“We don’t go down that easily boy!” Byte said “We have merged into the ultimate fighting machine. Godkarmamachine O Inary!”
“This is pointless!” Zero shouted “We have to get Doppler. You two go on ahead I’ll finish them off!”
“But Zero…” Jade stated with great concern.
“It’s ok Jade. I can handle him. X and I are both top-Class Hunters. You and X will be fine!”
“Ok, be careful…”
“Good luck Zero.”
X took Jades arm and ran past the mechaniliod towards the elevator. He hit the open button and they both jumped inside as the door closed.
“There are three floors here. I’ll cover the second floor and look for hostages and any innocents. You take the third floor. Doppler should be waiting for you.”
“But… will you be alright by yourself?” X asked with grave concern.
*Ding Floor 2*
“Yeah, don’t worry about me.” Jade responded giving him a thumbs up.
“…Good luck and please keep in touch with us.”
“You have my word X. Give Doppler and Sigma good wallops for me!”
X smiled and nodded watching her depart for her floor ‘I hope her and Zero will be ok…” X thought to himself staring at his feet.
*Ding Floor 3*
X held his buster cannon out staying alert for any surprise attacks. He cleared the area quickly until he heard a familiar laugh coming from the average, purple armored reploid ahead of him.
“Vile!”
“I told you I’d be back! And I have a new battle armour that will kick your ass harder then my other one did!”
Vile lunged at X with his battle armour. X jumped out of the way and threw a Parasitic Bomb towards Vile sitting up top of his machine. He dodged it, but the front of his machine was badly damaged.
X threw another parasitic bomb discretely rolling it onto the floor in Viles direction. Since Viles battle armour was so high X saw this as an advantage. The bomb exploded damaging the legs of his machine. Vile cursed and his machine fell forward onto the floor like a tree axed in a forest.
“M-my new battle carrier NO!!” Vile screamed. He lifted the functional arm of his battle armour and smashed a fist into the ground pinning X underneath it.
“Fuck you! I won’t lose to you again!” Vile huffed pushing down on the control that pushed the arm down “You piece of scrap metal! No, you’re lower than scrap metal! You are shit; pure, useless shit!!”
X could hardly move being pinned under a fist of that size. He slowly moved his X-buster to a direction that he could get a good hit of Vile in. He charged his buster aiming directly for Viles face. X shot and Vile flew backwards so fast that his hand flew back releasing the body carriers arm from crushing him. He shot out some Acid Bursts onto the shoulder blades of the machine causing its arms to become non-functional from circuitry damage.
Vile ran towards his machine trying everything to get one last attack out of it until it exploded with him inside.
“X, I’ll haunt you until the day you die!”
X heard his intercom begin to beep as he answered it.
“X, it’s me Jade. Can you hear me?”
“Yes, I hear you… wait, how did you get my intercom code?”
“Zero is with me. I’m using his check the ID number.”
“Hi X. Bit and Byte are dead, so I decided to explore the second floor and found Jade. She had just defeated a bug like maverick, and this floor seems secured thanks to her.”
“Are you ok X?” Jade asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. Vile returned and I defeated him.”
“Good work.” Zero commended “I am badly damaged from the rough fight with Bit and Byte so I’m going to head back to base for repairs. Jade found a few kidnapped humans being held here. I’ll catch up with you in a bit. Find Sigma and Doppler. Give them hell X!”
“Roger that.”
“X I’m going to take these people to a safe location away from here. I’ll meet you outside the base after you defeat Doppler and Sigma. Keep your guard up!”
“I will. See you both later.” X nodded turning off his intercom.
X continued searching the lab to look for Dr. Doppler. He finally found him. He had weapons of his own and was prepared to fight X and win.
“I have been expecting you. You could be a great asset to my army, so I will offer you this one chance to join me. What do you say X?”
“Never will I join you! Your schemes end here and now!”
“What a shame. I guess I’ll just have to retire you and make you a part of Sigmas battle body. Too bad you won’t see my glorious world filled with reploids serving Sigma!”
Doppler threw off his lab coat and revealed his armour and aimed his weaponry. X and Doppler battled viciously until X delivered the final blow sending Doppler crashing to the ground in exhaustion.
“You are strong X. I know you can defeat Sigma…”
“Doc can you talk…?”
“Yes… Sigma… the former leader of Maverick Hunter who has led the past two maverick wars… You have only seen him disguised in wolfs clothing…”
“What do you mean?”
“…His true form is that of a virus… He corrupted me and possessed all of the mavericks here… He used me to build him a new physical battle body for him to use…”
“Where is he now?”
“There is a secret underground hanger in this building… You can get there by taking the elevator to the main floor and destroying the back wall of the elevator… You’ll find stairs leading to where I hid his body… I don’t think he has synchronized with it yet… please… destroy it before it’s too late…” Doppler breathed heavily feeling the pain of his wounds from the battle.
“Doctor, will you be ok here?”
“Yes, now go hurry!”
“Thanks doc…”
X made his way to the underground hanger and found the room where Sigmas battle body was stored.
Suddenly his intercom started to beep again.
“X can you talk now…?”
“For a moment Zero I’m in the underground hanger where Doppler has stored Sigmas battle body. Doppler is ok. I fought him and he has been freed from Sigmas control. Sigmas original form is a virus.”
“I see. My repairs are finished, so I’m heading back to where you are to help.”
“Ok, find Doppler. He should still be in his lab on the third floor. Get him to safety then meet me underground here.”
“Ok X I will do that. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
X entered the final chamber. He saw the battle body. He jumped when he saw it starting to move.
“Welcome X… It’s been awhile!”
“Sigma…!”
“It was so easy to corrupt that old fool Doppler and I would have corrupted him entirely if not for your interference, but it’s destiny for us to fight don’t you agree? Let the eternal struggle begin!!”
X and Sigma fired their weapons with the best precision, power, and accuracy. The fire in their eyes burning with intensity as the blood spilled from both men as they blew each other away.
X delivered the final shot with a charged shot through the chest causing his battle body to collapse into pieces.
“No! My magnificent battle body! It can’t be! You bastard! This isn’t over yet…” Sigma growled as the room began to collapse “If I can’t kill your physical form then I will possess your spirit!”
Sigma began to rise out of his battle body in the form of a holographic image; his true form of a virus. X shot blasts, but they all went through him causing no damage.
“He’s like a ghost! I have to get out of here before this place caves in!” X ran towards the stairway heading to the main floor, but it had caved in already leaving him trapped with Sigma right behind him.
“Shit! It’s a dead end!”
A green light appeared behind X and the entrance was cleared. Dr. Doppler ran past X and lunged towards Sigma. Zero behind him stood by his partners’ side and watched.
“Shit! Doppler! What are you doing to me??”
“How do you like that Sigma? It’s my special vaccine; the anti-virus for the Sigma Virus! X I’m sorry… for everything I have done… I know that I can never atone for my sins, but I can at least make things right by taking Sigma with me!”
“I-I’m fading!!! No!”
“Goodbye X, Zero…”
The room began to explode as the room in front of them began to collapse.
“X we have to leave now!”
X ran with Zero. As he did so he looked back at the sight of Dr. Doppler and Sigma being buried under the rubble.
Outside he watched as the lab of Doppler exploded in flames…