CHAPTER FIVE
It's About Time
The corridors were bathed in red light as X and his three companions raced towards the maintenance lab. After a time, the alert sirens shut off, only fueling Rock's worry.
The lab door was open when they arrived. Of course, this was because it had been blasted out of its frame and now lay on the ground in several small fragments. X ignored the wreckage and ran into the room, buster armed and beginning to charge. The others followed with their own weapons ready.
The room beyond was a fairly large maintenance facility, with capsules containing various types of armor, bits of mechaniloids, and computer terminals scattered around the floor space. It looked as though it would be cluttered under normal circumstances, but now it was a certifiable disaster zone. Lab desks and workstations were overturned or destroyed. The computer monitors were smashed, fires still burning in some of the cores, and anything that hadn't been bolted down was now on the floor—along with a few things that had. Damaged ceiling lights lent an eerie glow to the room, the red emergency lights only adding to the macabre atmosphere.
In the center of it all, sprawled face down amid the overturned contents of a tool chest, was a male green-armored reploid. He was still and silent, though there were no immediately obvious signs of injury. Hunched over him was another male reploid. Rock raised his buster slightly, before realizing that the second man's face was drawn in deep concern and he was checking his fallen comrade for damage. A quick glance of his eyes acknowledged the existence of the newcomers. Rock recognized him from X's photographs- this was the elusive Zero.
X approached, his buster lowered and eyes filled with worry. "Zero, is Douglas…?"
The man shook his head, making the immense blonde ponytail that trailed behind him ripple. "It's okay, X. He's just unconscious."
The blue Hunter let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. But where's the intruder?"
"I don't know." Zero rose and turned towards the company. He was an imposing sight in the half-lit room. He was taller than X, with blue eyes, the aforementioned blonde ponytail, and an impossibly handsome face that looked like his creator might have stolen from a statue of some Greek god. His armor was bright crimson, the color of human blood. Two green lights, glowing now in the shadows, adorned his chest armor. His helmet was crimson as well, tapering into points on either side of his head that gave his shadow on the far wall demonic-looking horns. The top of the helmet was grey, with a glowing, triangular shaped blue jewel. "I just got here a moment ago myself," he continued, scanning the room. "I didn't see anyone on the way, so…"
"I must still be here," a sinister-sounding voice said from one of the darkened corners of the room. When the surprised group turned their heads, the figure leapt from the shadows and onto one of the few remaining lab desks, looking down upon them menacingly. His armor was purple, a gigantic cannon pointed over his right shoulder. A full helmet with a T-shaped slit for his eyes hid his expression. Obviously, this was one of the Mavericks.
"Vile!" X said, immediately arming his X-Buster.
"So good to see you, X. And you, Zero," the man now identified as Vile stated, sarcasm lining his voice like poison on a knife.
Without thinking, Bass quickly made a retort. "Hey, who's the Boba Fett cosplayer?"
Vile's head swiveled to the black robot. "A real jokester, this one," he snorted disdainfully. "I am Vile, one of Sigma's top commanders. And I'm not here to talk. Get out of my way, or I'll force you out of it!"
"What the hell do you think you're doing, breaking into our headquarters?" Zero demanded, reaching to his back where a small cyndrilical object protruded from a box attached to his armor. He held it like a sword hilt and thumbed a small button. A blue-green shaft of light sprung from the handle. Rock's eyes widened as Zero twirled the energy sword experimentally, then sunk into a guard position.
The purple Maverick folded his arms contemptuously. "I'm merely following my orders. Sigma needs certain data to aid in his resurrection... which your pathetic Hunters have stored away. The security on this place was laughably easy to crack, and if that idiot there hadn't managed to sound the alarm before he tripped over his own feet and went offline, I'd be long gone by now."
Bass made a dismissive noise. "Hey, look who thinks he's all that and a bag of chips."
"Damn right I am, fish-boy." Vile returned, pointing at him. His voice reflected a strange playful anger, as though he were eager to prove it.
The Wily-bot snorted. "At least I'm not dolled up like a science fiction character. Don't you have a convention to be attending?"
"Forte, don't tease the Maverick," X muttered, with a look of exasperation. It was like hearing two children bicker.
"Yeah, this is typically when we blast the Maverick," Zero said. He motioned for Vile to attack him, trying to provoke the fight. His eyes had a glint that mirrored the eager tone in Vile's voice.
"I've killed you once, Zero. I can easily do it again," Vile said, his hand morphing into a gun which he pointed at the crimson Hunter. Zero did not so much as blink.
X, however, took a step forward and began charging his weapon. "And I've killed you three times, Vile. I can easily do that again, too."
Vile turned his head ever so slightly. "I've grown far stronger since our last encounter, Mega Man X. Go ahead and try!"
"That sounds a lot like an invitation," Blues said, adjusting his scarf before arming his Proto Buster.
"Let's kick his ass!" Bass shouted.
"We're with you, X! We won't let him get away!" Rock chimed in.
"Hmph. Very well, let us begin!" Vile leapt from his table before the last words left his mouth and unleashed his machine-gun like buster cannon at Zero. The Hunter dashed out of the way and took cover behind another overturned desk, the plasma bullets impacting the opposite wall. Vile immediately turned his shoulder cannon on X, launching a flurry of small missiles.
X strafed sideways as the projectiles approached. He sent his charged shot at the leading rocket, and in the chain reaction, the following missiles exploded as well. Now without a charge, X followed up with four rapid regular shots.
The Maverick jumped to the side to avoid the first pair of bullets and then rolled forward to slip beneath the last two. With a grunt, he jumped back to his feet and snapped off a few rounds of his machine buster at Bass, who now was the closest. The black Wily-bot had no trouble dodging the attacks by crouching.
Mega Man watched Vile press the attack. Though he had missed before, it didn't look like the Maverick was anywhere near giving up the fight. Rock desperately wanted to cover Bass, but he couldn't get a clear shot from his position. With a quick turn, Vile unleashed a barrage of missiles at Bass.
Bass' red eyes widened when he saw the salvo speed toward him. He dashed to the side, but the missiles continued to track him. He uttered a curse under his breath as he leapt into the air. There was a large mainframe in front of him, and with a fluid pulse from his leg jets, he vaulted over and took cover behind it. The missiles impacted and exploded violently against the mainframe, obliterating it. The shockwave sent Bass sprawling to the ground.
Before Vile could press the assault once again, Rock lined up a clear shot and discharged his weapon and hit home. Though the plasma blast did no obvious damage to Vile's armor, it shook him and diverted his attention. "Why you snot-nosed little brat…" Vile growled, spinning to face him. Rock could see the rage building in his foe, and he soon found himself looking down the barrels of Vile's weapons.
"Snot-nosed! Oh yeah! Well… you wear stupid purple armor!" Rock retorted. He scowled, and pointed his Mega Buster at Vile to show he wasn't afraid. Truthfully, he was, but that wouldn't stop him from staying in the fight.
"A real brilliant one, you are," Vile muttered, firing his buster at him. With a quick slide, Rock slipped underneath the shots, then stood up and made a face at the Maverick.
"You couldn't hit a skyscraper aiming that way, you stupid Maverick!"
"What!" Vile demanded. Rock watched as Vile balled his free fist tightly. "Fine! Dodge this!" The Maverick brought his shoulder cannon down, and launched a powerful blast of energy toward him. He swiftly dodged to the side, but only just barely; he could feel the heat of the plasma rush past him as it exploded into the far wall of the laboratory.
While Vile's attention was diverted away from him, Zero leapt from his cover right for the purple Maverick. Leading with his beam saber, he swung his glowing blade down at the violet warrior. His victim barely caught sight of him before he connected. Activating his own emergency acceleration system, Vile blasted out of the way hurriedly and stumbled back around to face Zero. The red Hunter skidded to a halt and spun around for another go at his foe.
After the near miss, Rock watched as Vile simply dodged and sidestepped each of Zero's graceful swings. He leapt over tables and around various other obstructions as Zero pressed his attack, but the red Hunter was showing no signs of giving in. Astonished at Vile's surprising speed, Mega Man cursed his Mega Buster for not charging faster so he could give cover fire.
"What? Is this all there is, Zero?" Vile snorted. "Sad." He executed a sweeping maneuver to dodge the saber and sent a cannon blast to Zero's chest. It rocked the red Hunter backward, and Vile prepared his buster to follow up the attack. Zero braced for another injury, but instead a golden plasma blast struck Vile from behind.
"Good shot, Blues!" Rock exclaimed, as Vile recovered.
The Maverick swung about, turning to face the gray robot who had just shot him. Without hesitation, he used his shoulder cannon to unleash two bursts of energy at him. Proto Man quickly dove to a prone position to avoid the screaming blasts of plasma. Though it was a rushed move, he had executed it with such grace that the moment the second shot cleared him, he pushed himself right back to his feet.
"Not bad," Vile said, sounding slightly impressed at his foe's feat. "Now, try this." The barrel of his shoulder cannon began to glow, and he dashed forward toward Proto Man and fired. The gray-clad robot managed to slip away by diving to the side, though the shot grazed the armor on his leg.
"Blues!" Rock shouted, but his voice was muted out by Zero's battle cry as he threw himself at Vile again.
The Maverick was caught off guard from the side by the sudden onslaught. The Z-Saber left a visible mark in the purple villain's armor as it made contact. "Back off!" Vile snarled, smashing Zero in the jaw with his fist. There was a loud clang of metal against metal and Zero stumbled backwards from the force of the blow. The Hunter ended up squarely on the floor with a heavy crash. However, Rock and X didn't let Vile capitalize on this; a charged blast from the Mega Buster and from the X-Buster rocked and stunned him briefly. Immediately thereafter, a series of rapid fire shots from the Bass Buster followed, and Vile was sent sprawling on top of the fallen Zero.
"Get off of me, you rust bucket!" Zero fumed, punching the weakened section of Vile's armor with his fist. The blow flung Vile off of him, and the crimson Hunter sprang to his feet immediately. While the Maverick remained on the ground, he tried to stab down at him.
Before the sword came down, Vile swiftly rolled to the side and watched as his beam saber cut into the metal floor in a shower of sparks. When Zero tried to withdraw his saber, Vile retaliated with a buster shot to the Hunter's chest. It did little damage, but bought enough time for Vile to scramble to his feet.
As he did so, however, a surge of electricity crackled from the dent in his armor. The purple Maverick visibly faltered; he staggered back a little and put a hand to his injury. With a grunt, Vile turned his head to the blue Hunter. "D-don't think you've stopped me, Mega Man X!"
"Stand down, Vile," X said, his buster trained on the Maverick's chest. "There's no need for you to die again."
Vile took a step back, but laughed mockingly. "You're so cocky. The time you've spent trading blows with me has only given me my avenue of escape!" He folded his arms. "By now, the other Mavericks have reached your control center and disabled the teleporter lock on this building!"
"What?" Zero demanded.
Vile gave him a quick bow and an arrogant chuckle, continuing to walk backwards. "And so, I bid you farewell..." He was now backed against a table. Sitting there was a heavy metal box and a small closed container. Blues made a small noise as the Maverick scooped up the objects. "Sigma will be very pleased with the toys I'm bringing him!"
X launched a charged shot at Vile, but before it could connect, the Maverick had vanished in a violet column of energy.
"Damn!" X muttered, slamming his hand on a nearby lab table.
Zero disabled his beam saber and with a snarl of frustration, kicked an already overturned desk. The metal splintered and contorted under the force of the blow. "Next time I see him, I swear, I'm going to rip that helmet off his head and beat him to death with it!"
His tirade was interrupted by a sound from still figure on the ground. "X?... Zero?"
"Douglas!" X exclaimed, disengaging his X-Buster and rushing over. "You're awake! Are you okay? Are you badly damaged?"
"Vile… he…" the green-armored man muttered, still obviously dazed. He pushed himself onto his elbows and shook his head. There was a dent in his helmet where Vile must have struck him from behind.
"We know. He's gone now, but he stole something when he left," X replied. "Do you know what it was?"
"Some data from the computer, he tried to force me to access it for him," Douglas replied wearily. "And some parts, I think." The man took X's offered hand and slowly rose to his feet. His balance was shaky at best; the damage dealt to him was enough to upset his gyroscopic stabilizers. He leaned on X's shoulder to steady himself. "I don't know what the data was, but the parts aren't too terribly vital. Just some experimental things I was working on..." Rubbing the back of his head, he continued. "I'm more worried that he'll break them. They're very fragile. I'll bet that idiot has already ruined half of the components…"
X sighed in relief. "Well, that's good news, I suppose. So he didn't manage to steal anything too important?"
"Probably not, I don't think we had anything in the computers that would be critical," he replied, slowly managing to get his bearings back. Auto-repair was already returning functionality to his stabilizers.
"No," said Blues, shaking his head. "He did take something important. He took our device."
Zero blinked. "Your device?"
"That peculiar box you brought in, Zero," X said, looking at Blues, his tone filled with concern. "Vile did take it, didn't he? I thought the thing he was holding looked familiar. And that's what you three are looking for?"
Blues nodded. "That was it."
Rock's eyes widened. "No!" he exclaimed, dejection rapidly filling his voice. Bass looked similarly dismayed, though he voiced no opinion.
Douglas looked thoughtfully up to the ceiling as his balance finally returned enough for him to remove himself from X's shoulder. "I wonder why he even wanted that relic," he said. "My scans didn't reveal much, save that it was really old; probably from around 20XX."
"What I want to know is," said Rock slowly, suddenly remembering something, "who is this Sigma guy Vile kept talking about?" The name had been mentioned several times in X's novel, but he hadn't understood the reference. The scorpion Maverick had mentioned Sigma, as well.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Rock realized that had been the wrong thing to say. X, Zero, and Douglas turned and stared incredulously at him.
"You're kidding me," Zero said, sounding dumbfounded. "You mean you haven't heard of Sigma? Ever? The Sigma?"
"Well, we're…" Bass stammered, as he tried to find an excuse suitable enough to throw the Hunters off. "We're from overseas!" He forced a smile that looked more nervous than genuine.
Blues shot a glare at Bass, but through his visor, it was all but invisible. Nonetheless, he had no choice but to try to keep up the façade Bass had just given them. "Our creator kept us pretty sheltered," he explained. "This is our first trip so far away from him."
Zero arched an eyebrow. "Still… not knowing about Sigma? I thought every Reploid in the world…" he trailed off, his expression flooded with confusion.
"Don't be too hard on them, Zero," X said. "They can't have been activated for very long."
The younger looking Blue Bomber laughed in response. "Yeah, we are pretty new to this world, that's for sure!"
"That's an interesting way of putting it," X replied, looking thoughtful.
"Hey, it works," Bass said, with a curt shrug. He obviously wanted to cut off this conversation now, before Rock slipped up again and said one thing too many.
"So, your friend here is called Zero, then," Blues said, pointing at him.
"Yup, that's me," the blonde warrior replied, a grin tugging at his lips. "Commander of the 0th Maverick Hunter battalion. I'd think that you'd heard of me, but considering you've never heard of Sigma…"
"Our creator doesn't care very much about world events," Rock said.
"It's naïve of him. But who are we to complain? It's his choice, anyway." Bass said, walking over closer to X and Douglas.
Zero grunted a noise of acknowledgement. "Guess it takes all kinds, then. Well, you know my name. What're yours, then?"
"I'm Rock!" he chimed, happily. "That's Forte, and he's Blues! Nice to meet you all."
"It's a pleasure," said Douglas. "You've heard my name already, but I'm Douglas, the head mechanic for the Hunters. I'm sorry to meet you under such distressing circumstances..."
"It's all right," Blues mumbled lightly. Rock glanced over at his brother. He could tell the older robot was troubled by this new development, though outwardly his face was impassive, emotions guarded by the black visor. Rock knew, however, that Blues was most likely pondering the same questions he was. It figured that the psychotic Maverick would take the one thing they needed to get home. Now they were stuck here chatting with a group of robots they didn't know and couldn't trust with the truth. What were they supposed to do? Vile was far stronger than they were, and even with all three of them, there would be no way they could bring him down. Their weapons were designed for 20XX, not the highly armored enemies of this future. Zero and X were the only ones who could damage Vile enough to stop him. Things were beginning to look grim, and both Rock and Blues' outlook for the whole ordeal was becoming progressively darker.
"Anyway," X said, breaking the short silence. "Normally, I'd say forget about Vile for now, considering he didn't steal anything too valuable..." The Hunter glanced quickly at his guests. Worry and impatience were spread on Rock and Forte's faces, but he couldn't get a feel for Blues' emotions with the dark visor shielding his eyes. "But, this artifact seems pretty important to you three."
"It is," Blues said.
"Very, very important!" Rock added, nodding his head to emphasize each word.
"You might even say life-threateningly so," added Bass.
A look of surprise washed over Zero's face again, and he asked the inevitable question. "What exactly does that thing do?"
Rock glanced at Bass, who turned to Blues, who looked back at Rock. They all tried to begin to answer, but couldn't come up with anything more than a few uneasy noises.
"You have no idea, do you?" Zero demanded, frustrated. "How could it be 'life threatening' if you don't even know what it does?"
"We have to get it back. All we know is our creator said that machine is very important and we have to see it delivered safely to him!" Rock shot back.
X observed the urgency in the boy's voice, and the clarity and earnest sense of worry in his eyes. "We should give them a hand, Zero," he said, looking over to his friend and smiling. "It's the purpose of the Maverick Hunters to help those in need, after all."
"Really? You'll help us?" Rock said, his expression brightening immediately.
Zero looked from Rock to X. He shrugged, with an amused grin. "Ah, heck. Why not?"
"Then it's settled. We'll trace Vile's teleporter signal and follow him," said X, confidently.
"Will you be okay, Douglas?" Zero asked, looking at the still shaken mechanic. "Do you need me to take you down to maintenance?"
"No, I'll be fine," the reploid replied. "I'll head down there after you guys leave. I can make it, no problem."
"Good," said Zero, turning to X. "Well, there's no time to waste. Let's head for the teleporters, we can call to get Vile's signal traced on the way." He headed for the door. The other Hunter and the three wayward travelers followed quickly on his heels as he dashed into the hallway, back toward the core of Hunter Headquarters.
As they headed away from the lab, Rock saw X bring two fingers to the black ring on the side of his helmet. Rock heard a chime, and the Hunter began speaking. "Alia? Are you there? Are you all right?" X's eyes narrowed as he awaited a reply. A moment later, his expression brightened considerably, but it quickly returned to being serious. "Zero, get on the communicator," X ordered, looking over to his friend. The other Reploid did as told, and pressed his fingers to the side of his helmet as well.
"Douglas was attacked," X said calmly, after listening to Alia speak for a moment. "Thankfully, he's just a little shaken up, and he'll be fine with a little rest." X's face soured again, and his tone grew equally as dark as he addressed Alia over the radio. "But we ran into an old friend in there." There was a pause, during which Zero visibly resisted cutting in on the conversation between the two. "Looks like Vile is back from the dead again. I need you to put a trace on his teleporter signal. He got away from us, but not before we roughed him up some."
Another pause, as X and Zero listened to Alia's response. The booted feet of the five robots pinged on the metal floor. "Well," Zero said finally, breaking the silence, "he intends on bringing back another old friend of ours..." His tone was more serious than even X's. Rock nearly froze. The crimson hunter's voice was quite intimidating; and he wasn't even trying to sound that way. Truly, Sigma must be excessively dangerous if someone as powerful as Zero was worried about him.
There was a long silence after Zero's statement. Then the two Hunters exchanged glances, and Zero gave a quick nod to his friend.
"Sigma, yeah," X answered the radio. "Vile stole some sort of technical data from Douglas' lab. Aside from that, he managed to take some experimental equipment and that thing Zero found earlier today." Another brief pause followed, and the blue Hunter continued. "I don't know. Though we did find its owners, and it looks to be very important to them. ...Rock and his brothers, yes. I'm going to give them a hand in recovering it." X winced as a garbled voice emerged from the depths of his helmet. From the expressions on his and Zero's faces, Rock guessed Alia was yelling at one or both of them over the comlink.
There was a disgruntled sound from the crimson Hunter. Zero furrowed his brow and pressed his fingers harder into the side of his helmet. "Hey! What am I, a solar calculator?" he indignantly demanded, cutting off the squawking from his communicator. "I'm going too, you know!"
"No, Zero, you're not a calculator," X said, turning to him with a smug smile tugging at his lips. "You make way too many mistakes on your paperwork for that."
"Hate you all so much." Zero muttered, deactivating his communicator. "Everyone's a comedian in this outfit."
"You're one to talk, Zero." X returned, but he quickly turned back to his previous conversation. "We'll be all right, Alia. Just get those coordinates to the teleporter room right away." Again, a short pause. "Thanks, Alia."
There was an audible but soft click as X removed his fingers from the side of his helmet. He turned his head to look at the trailing robots behind him. "You have nothing to worry about, guys. Once we get the coordinates locked in, we can beam there and get back your machine. I assume you three want to come with us?"
"Of course!" Bass shot back, his voice anxious and excited. Rock noticed a sly grin curl on his rival's face. His red eyes glinted with excitement, signaling Bass' appetite for battle had not yet been whetted. Sometimes he was so unbelievably aggressive, it boggled the young robot's mind.
Holding back a frustrated sigh, Rock quickly turned back to X. "We won't let you down! You can count on us!"
"You three handled yourselves really well back there," Zero said, not turning to face them. "I'm very impressed that the three of you could handle staying alive against Vile. That's no mean feat."
"Thanks," Bass said, the smug smile still at his lips. Mega Man rolled his eyes this time. The Wily-bot was enjoying this! The realization frustrated him a great deal. They weren't here to fight! They were trying to get home! Rock frowned wordlessly, and tried to focus on running faster. After all, berating Bass would accomplish nothing, and probably only serve to slow them down.
After several moments more of running full tilt through the Hunter Headquarters, they reached a set of automatic steel double doors. On them was written "Teleportation Room" in bold blue letters. Next to the oversized door, there was a small control panel with several green buttons. X pushed the one closest to the door, and the large steel panels slid into the walls with a soft hiss.
"Come on, you three. Go on in," Zero said, motioning for them to go inside. Rock nodded once in response and led inside with Blues and Bass not far behind him. The chamber was large and octagonal, with a series of platforms in the center of the room. Computers lined the back and side walls, and all the monitors flashed with various status screens, maps, and protocols. They would almost be seizure inducing for a human if the lights were out.
In front of the platforms, which Rock assumed to be the teleporters, there was a large metal control panel. A young looking Reploid stood behind it, punching buttons and flipping switches quickly. His brown eyes darted back and forth between the instruments as he worked. The man was of thin build, and he wore a dark green uniform. He looked up when he caught the motion of visitors into his chamber.
"Yo, X!" he shouted, eyes darting between him and his control panel. He raised an eyebrow upon spotting Rock, Bass, and Blues. "Who're the rookies? And what's with the kid?" His voice was thick with a heavy accent that reminded Rock of 19XX-era gangsters from Chicago or New York. "This ain't a playground. And I'm sure as heck not playin' babysitter for tykes while you go thrash Vile."
"They're going with us," X replied, walking toward the platform.
"What are you, nuts?" the Reploid returned, spinning from his console. He let out a heavy sigh. "You are. Figures. I think the eighth war knocked a screw loose in you or something."
"Don't concern yourself over it, Scotty," Zero replied, dismissively waving his hand at the Reploid operator. "These guys are with us. There's nothing to worry about."
"Whatever. Alia traced Vile's signal for you guys. Go and get onto the transporter pads and I'll send you there." X and Zero obeyed and took the two platforms closest to Scotty's terminal. Rock, Bass, and Blues took up positions behind them on separate platforms.
"Where are we headed?" X asked.
"Looks like some abandoned facility several miles outside of the city limits. Place sounds like a real dump. Have fun with that," he sardonically replied while rolling his eyes. "I don't envy you guys at all. You have a pretty sucky job." He flipped a few switches and pushed several buttons and looked back.
"Don't worry about us. We'll be careful," Zero said. "Now hurry it up. Time is a factor here."
"Yeah, yeah. Keep your freakin' ponytail on. I'm almost done." He pushed a few more buttons and looked back. "There we go. Good luck to you guys. And make sure to give that purple palooka a punch in the face for me." With a quick button push, the five robots were transformed into columns of light, and flung outside of the city.
------
As Rock landed and returned to his physical form, he caught sight of their target. Scotty was right. The place was a dump. It looked like a worn-down old warehouse, glass windows long smashed in, plasma burns all over the outside cinderblock walls, graffiti spray-painted on every surface. There was junk and litter everywhere outside; twisted metal debris being the most common. Rock jokingly imagined the fragments looked like rejected lawn gnomes.
"…This is Vile's base?" Bass demanded disdainfully as he surveyed the unlikely fortress.
"Apparently so. This is where we tracked him," X replied, with a shrug. "But we shouldn't judge this place by its appearance. Let's go have a look. Stay alert, everyone."
"Right behind you," Blues said, letting Zero take point with X not far behind.
They crossed through the debris field and into the building with little effort. The inside was as dilapidated as the outside, with crumbling walls, more graffiti, and the ever present trash. A stench of rotten garbage and sulfur perforated the building, and it made Rock feel ill. This place smelled worse than Junk Man's hideout from the seventh Robot Master uprising—and that took some doing. The rooms were crumbling, and everything looked so old that Rock was amazed the building hadn't collapsed on its own.
"Uh, yeah. I'll bet Vile's using this place as a hideout. Really brilliant," Bass muttered, folding his arms impatiently. "Are you sure you locked in the coordinates correctly?" His voice was condescending, very nearly mocking in tone.
X frowned, his eyes narrowing. "Alia's been doing this for years, Forte. She's one of the best the Hunters has to offer at this job. I'm telling you, Vile is here. Somewhere."
"Yeah. You smell that? The thing that smells like rotten eggs? That's not sulfur. That's the stench of Vile's ugly face." Zero remarked with a wry chuckle. "The one I intend to beat in with his own helmet."
"Still on about that, huh?" Bass asked, shrugging again.
"Forte, just be quiet and let's just help them look," Blues stated coolly. "If he's here, we will find him."
"Right," Bass muttered in reply, not concealing the annoyance in his voice.
They continued searching room to room, but until they drew closer to the center of the facility, they saw and heard nothing. They entered another room, this one smelling particularly bad. The room was mostly empty, save for a pile of debris in the right hand corner of the room as they came in, but there was nothing that should have been giving off this kind of odor visible.
"What died in here?" Bass demanded, holding his nose.
"Huh. This is weird," X said.
"X, Forte… be quiet for a second. I thought I heard something." Zero hushed them both, and moved over to the pile of debris. He moved very closely to it, and pressed the side of his helmet to it. Rock caught Zero raising an eyebrow out of curiosity, and he saw when inspiration hit the red Reploid hard. He moved back over to them after a moment, careful not to make much noise. "Over there. There are voices coming from underneath that rubble."
"Let's move it, then." X said, creeping over to the pile of debris. When Zero met him there, they both tried to pry some of the debris from the pile. Oddly, none of it would move apart. "…Welded together, it would seem." X looked over at Zero, who gave him a nod. They both reached down to the very bottom of the pile, and together they pulled. The metal made a sickening screech as they ripped the pile straight from the ground.
"Just as I thought." Zero muttered, looking down. There was a shaft with a ladder leading downward, and there were voices echoing up from below. He and X tossed the disguised door to the side, and it clattered to the ground loudly.
"So much for stealth, I guess," Blues muttered.
Zero began climbing down the ladder, with X following immediately behind. The blue Hunter turned his head to the time-travelers and motioned for them to follow.
Blues and Bass followed quickly, disappearing into the darkness. Rock hesitated on the edge, looking down the shaft. It was deep... very deep. It was almost as though the shaft led into the bowels of the earth, like they were descending into their own graves.
Pushing that morbid thought out of his mind, Rock stepped onto the metal rungs and began to descend. Reaching the bottom, he stepped off into what looked like another building altogether. The area around the group was clean and made of metal and concrete, looking very much like a military installation. The chamber where they emerged was small, the only thing at all important was a steel, automatic door leading out. Beyond it, Rock could hear raised voices.
"I'm telling you, it's your shift now!" one voice demanded. "Get up there and make sure no one gets inside!"
"No way, liar! I was up there the shift before this one!" the other, louder one shouted back. "I've been pulling more shifts up there than anyone else! It's your turn! Just go up there and do it and quit raising a racket! Do you know what Vile's going to do to you if anyone gets inside this building while you're in here arguing about being lazy?"
X and Zero exchanged glances and nods. With fluid precision, Zero ran in front of the door while X ran over to the side to push the button to open it. The door slipped open, revealing two startled, generic looking Mavericks. Before they could react Zero dashed inside, igniting his weapon.
"Probably something like this!" he said, cutting the Maverick on his left in twain with his Z-Saber.
"What the-!" the other exclaimed, seeing a red blur shoot in front of him. It was the last phrase he ever uttered, as Zero brought his saber around and lobbed off his head.
With a quick glance in both directions, Zero motioned the all-clear. The others quickly followed him into the hallway. Rock cringed slightly as he passed the bodies of the Mavericks, leaking coolant onto the concrete floor, but forced himself to remain looking straight ahead. The corridor extended both to the left and right. The path to the left met off at a t-shape intersection only about ten yards from their current position, but the path on the right led off deeper into the facility.
"Which way should we go?" Rock asked.
"To the right, I think. The longer halls usually lead somewhere," Zero muttered, keeping his eyes peeled for danger. "What do you think, X?"
"I agree. Let's go."
Zero again took point, but instead of X following closely this time, he took a position in the rear to watch for foes from behind. Bass followed close to Zero, with Rock and Blues near X.
"Your weapon..." Bass said to Zero, watching the glowing blade throw shadows onto the walls as they walked. "It's very interesting."
"What, never seen a beam saber before?" Zero asked.
Bass shook his head. "Other than yours? No. I didn't really get a good look at it when Vile was wrecking that lab."
The blonde angled the sword so Bass could get a closer view. "We'll they're really versatile weapons. Much more convenient than busters, if I do say so myself." He glanced pointedly at X, who just rolled his eyes.
"You used a buster for a long time too, you know."
"Yeah, but then I had the sense to realize my mistake," Zero said, grinning. "Anyway, beam sabers. There are several different types... This one here is the flexible kind, where the energy is fluid and you can use it more like a flail. There are also ones that are rigid, more like the lightsabers in Star Wars, y'know. Neither type is quite as powerful as that, but they can still slice through lighter reploid armor easily enough... They can also deflect plasma bullets, which makes them defensive as well as offensive!"
X sighed as Zero continued to rattle off the specifications of his chosen armament with all the fervor of a weapons enthusiast. Blues looked over at him, with a small smile.
"Is he always like this?" he asked quietly, so as not to disturb Zero's lecture.
"Pretty much," X said, shaking his head. "He has his moments... and they come frequently."
"You two seem like good friends, though," Blues observed.
"Oh, yeah." X laughed. "Zero's my best friend. We've worked together pretty much since I joined the Hunters. He's a strange guy, but I wouldn't trade him for the world."
"Hm," said Blues, with a half smile. "Glad to know you have people you can count on."
X blinked at the cryptic statement, but before he could say anything more, the scarf-bedecked boy had quickened his pace to walk beside Bass and Zero.
X turned to Rock, raising an eyebrow. "Now, is he always like that?"
"Yup," Rock said, shaking his head. "Always. You learn to get used to it."
"I guess," X replied, with a shrug, turning back around to watch the rear. There was no movement to the front, so odds were if anyone were to come, it'd be from behind. Rock turned to keep watch with X, and when he did, he could swear he saw something move at the end of the hallway. Before he could say anything, a figure turned the corner at the opposite end of the hallway, saw the wreckage of his comrades, then looked up to spot the dreaded Mega Man X.
"Intruder!" he yelled, forming a buster at his arm.
X and Mega Man fired off a few volleys of plasma, silencing him immediately. It was really X's who brought the Maverick down, though Rock's blasts hit home too.
"Good shot, kid," X said, looking for more enemies. It didn't take long after that for a group of four more Mavericks to take his friend's place. X and Mega Man immediately opened fire, with Bass and Blues joining in a second later. The entire hall was filled with plasma fire, and before their adversaries could get a single shot off, they lay on the ground, either badly wounded or deactivated.
"Let's hurry!" Zero demanded, when he saw they were clear. He quickened his pace, and the others matched his clip with relative ease. They reached the end of the hall a few seconds later and were met with another fork, which pointed to a set of large double-doors labeled "Lab."
"Let's knock and see if anyone's home," X said wryly, charging his buster.
"With pleasure," Bass smiled, doing the same. "On three?"
X nodded and gave the countdown. The moment he hit three, they both discharged their weapons into the door and blew it off its hinges. The metal sheets crashed violently to the floor, and the Hunters and time travelers rushed inside.
The lab was large, with several active computer terminals, but no one was manning any of them. The room itself was unkempt and disorganized, with papers and random objects spread over the floor and tables. There was another door in the back, which was tightly shut. Vile stood in the middle of the room, but he wheeled around as the door exploded out of the wall.
"Vile!" Mega Man shouted as the purple Maverick straightened in surprise.
"Oh, it's X and his scrapheap cohorts again..." Vile drawled, folding his arms. "I see you idiots managed to follow me."
"Hand over what you stole right now, Vile!" X shouted, pointing his weapon at him.
"I'm thinking… no," Vile replied, readying his shoulder cannon.
"Hand it over now," Blues said, stepping forward. "There's no escaping this time."
"Ooh, look who thinks he's a Class-S Hunter," Vile snorted. "You don't stand a chance against me."
"He may not be Class-S, but I sure as hell am," Zero replied. "Now, are we going to have to take everything by force?"
"It doesn't matter anyway," Vile stated. "You're already too late. By now, he has awakened…"
"What are you talking about?" Rock asked.
The door in the back of the room opened up, and out stepped a very tall, very powerful looking Reploid wearing green armor and a flowing red cape. He was completely bald, with a pronounced chin and a large jewel set in the center of his forehead. His eyes lacked irises, or even pupils, seeming blank and empty. Two pronounced scars ran from his forehead to his cheeks, crossing over the sinister eyes. As he left the door, he stretched, seemingly unaware of the Hunters' presence.
"At last, I've regained my body again!" he said, straightening himself up. "Vile, I'd like you to…" He paused, finally spotting the visitors in his chamber. "Eh?"
"We have some uninvited guests," Vile said.
"I can see that, helmet-brain!" the newcomer snapped, his hand moving towards the saber hilt at his side. "Why have you allowed X and Zero into the compound?"
"Funny story about that, actually," Zero cut in, with an arrogant smile crossing his face.
"Shut up, hair-boy. Vile, remind me to kill you for your incompetence later."
"Yes sir," Vile irritably replied.
"Your new body will be short lived, Sigma!" X shouted, his temper finally showing through.
"You can try, Blue Bomber," Sigma stated, drawing and igniting his beam saber.
"Hey… that's my title," Rock whispered to Blues.
"Quiet, Rock," he replied, watching Sigma and Vile carefully.
"Come on, X!" Zero smiled. "Let's teach him another lesson!"
X nodded, and a moment later, the hunters and Mavericks were deep in combat, completely ignoring the three time-travelers.
"Well, they seem to be doing alright without us..." Bass said, as X dodged a blast from Vile's shoulder cannon and Zero and Sigma locked swords.
Rock looked around the room, then spotted an odd looking object against the far wall. "Hey look! Over there!"
"It's the time machine..." said Blues, looking over.
"Quick, let's grab it and get out of this madhouse!" Bass suggested, as a stray plasma blast whistled between his head fins.
Rock frowned. "And just leave X and Zero to fight those two alone?"
"Fifty points if you can cut off his head before I blast it off!" X called to Zero, vaulting gracefully over Vile's helmet and shooting him in the back.
"You're on!" Zero replied.
"...I think they have it under control," said Blues, dryly.
"Damn, now I want a beam saber," Bass remarked, watching Zero swing the weapon in effortless arcs.
"No."
"Aww..."
"Let's just go, guys," Rock said, and tugged on Blues' scarf to get him moving towards the time machine.
The fighters were too distracted to notice as they snuck along the wall and made it to the device. Blues began fiddling with the dials.
"...Nothing's happening," Rock said, after a minute or so passed.
"Give it a moment. It'll take a little while to boot up," Blues replied. The machine began to hum softly.
"X and Zero better keep those two busy, then," Bass said, looking back at the fight. Neither Hunter seemed to have been injured yet. Zero and Sigma were still hacking at one another, unable to break through each other's defenses and land a blow.
Then Vile's shoulder cannon suddenly swiveled. "Zero! Look out!" X cried, but the warning came a moment too late. A blast of plasma swept Zero off his feet and sent him flying towards the nearest wall... and directly into the time machine. The full weight of an armored reploid slammed into the device, sending sparks everywhere.
"Zero!" X cried again, racing towards his friend. Sigma came dashing towards them as well, cackling madly. The time machine's hum grew into an angry whine. Just as X reached the fallen Zero and the blonde reploid began to stagger to his feet, a bright blue light erupted from the sparking device. Space and time rippled menacingly.
Before Rock could shout a warning, the portal swallowed him, and he was gone.