Chapter Thirty-Three: A Steady Heart
Headquarters was a flurry of action, Hunters moving in blurs of motion as Navigators and Engineers prepared them for the upcoming assault. Alia’s serene face was a mask to the world, hiding the chaotic upgrades she was receiving as she rested within the maintenance pod alongside Layer. Her connection to the upgrade server kept her in a state of ‘awake but not,’ a sort of dream like feeling as she saw what the network saw, heard it all, but never comprehended it. She was half in Cyberspace and half in reality; diving, it felt, into streams of data as she downloaded, unzipped, and installed the program upgrades. Through the network, she ‘saw’ Layer go through the same phenomena, and a sort of thought of how such a mass connection could prove useful floated in her mind before it was obliterated by the onslaught of data.
Hovering above her prone form, Signas rested his hand on the pod’s glass lid, concern clear on his face. He had, in an uncharacteristic display of worry, given her a chance to back out after Gate’s taunting transmission. But Alia, in the short time as a Hunter, had grown stronger than before and Signas had to admit respect and admiration to her steadfast decision to go with Layer and infiltrate Gate’s laboratory. Despite his claim to being alone, Signas knew better than to think the man had any honor or morals left to him, and had ordered a full-scale attack against Gate’s army of Nightmares.
Duty and emotion were always a problem to balance, if Zero and X were to be used as examples. Signas had thought he did well keeping that balance, but as he stared down at Alia and wished she’d wake up and tell him she changed her mind, the Commander found himself losing that sense of balance. He knew he needed to have faith in her, in all of his troops, but he was losing that faith. Or was it the sense of faith in himself? Did he make the right choices throughout this ordeal?
He bowed his head. The only thing left Signas could do now was pray, and hope if there was a divine power, it would answer a machine’s request.
Keep her, and everyone, safe…
~*~
Although his injuries were grievous, and his origins as mysterious as X’s and Zero’s, Axl was much simpler to repair than Lifesaver expected. All of Axl’s parts were made of the same basic material that went into normal Reploids, the only difficulty Lifesaver had was repairing the cage that kept Axl’s core safe. Its material was an unknown mixture, and as much as Lifesaver would have liked to analyze it to recreate it for the best fix, he didn’t have time. He was forced to use basic reinforced titanium to reconstruct what bits of the cage was damaged. Everything else, as they say, fell into place and Axl was ready to be re-deployed.
The only true issue Lifesaver really had was more on the programming side. It was programming that separated Axl from other Reploids, and the first time the gunner was booted up, he immediately began attempting to attack something, forcing Lifesaver and his staff to shut him down. It took a bit to figure out what the hell was wrong, but cue Delia sauntering up and finding the culprit within minutes: the emotional chip had been removed from the start-up list.
After that it was smooth sailing, but Lifesaver had to wonder how Delia was so quick to spot such issues, as if knowing they were there all along. He knew she was an incredible Engineer, but Engineers were not that proficient in Reploid repair, they were meant more for weaponry and other non-sentient machines. But Delia didn’t stick around to be asked; seeming to disappear the second Lifesaver looked away. For a woman with strange features, she managed to blend in her surroundings remarkably well. Either way, he had to thank her after all this ruckus settled down—her restoration program for Zero and X was working incredibly well all considering; they were far, far from deployable for the upcoming battle, but the mere fact they were up and speaking independently was practically a miracle.
Or a sham, but Lifesaver wanted to be positive for once in his life, so he went with miracle.
A whooshing noise of his office door opening revealed Axl, now fixed up and emotionally stabilized, striding in with Delia close behind; the woman placed an order sheet in front of Lifesaver, and Axl waited somewhat patiently for his final test.
Lifesaver read the paper as he jammed the network cable into Axl’s back neck port, ignoring his wince. “You’re joining the assault, Delia?” the doctor Reploid asked as he tapped his console.
“Yes,” she smiled at Axl, who looked to the side with a slightly embarrassed look. “Signas asked for back up for Alia and Layer in the infiltration mission, but did not want Axl to go alone. Since I proved my fighting capability, he said I have temporary clearance.”
“Just when did you get combat programming and experience?” Lifesaver edged.
“Don’t pry,” Axl admonished. “Are you done yet?”
Lifesaver glared at Axl. “Be a good boy and take your damn diagnostic quietly.” Axl snorted, and the doctor turned back to Delia. “Well?”
The woman’s smile was beguiling—luckily, Lifesaver was technically asexual, else he might actually fall for the trick. “I’m just taking a page from Alia’s book.”
That was a lie, but Lifesaver dropped the topic, because it was obviously not getting anywhere. “Fair enough. It’s an inspirational act.” He gave Delia a look as he leaned a hand against his console.
She persisted with her smile. “Is Axl finished?”
The doctor looked at Axl, whose glare had been burning holes in his skull for a while now. “You tell us, boy.”
“Yes,” actually, he wasn’t, but Lifesaver let him jerk the wire out and suffer the two-second freeze up. The gunner rose to his feet and turn to Delia, “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Delia answered, then glanced away a bit. “Although I hope I’m more of a help than burden. Only reason I got Red was because I had the element of surprise.”
Lifesaver thought she was laying the girl-charm on too thick, but Axl was obviously falling for it, claiming he’ll protect her and all that. The doctor had to disable his voice modulation program to avoid giving a snarky comment, and waved the two out before he got himself possibly in trouble. As they exited, Lifesaver leaned his hand against his console again, turning off the scanner Delia had stood in front of.
He extracted the data and looked at the screen. “Let’s see what miss muffet’s got for me…”
Outside heading to the debriefing room, Delia walked as close as possible to Axl, noticing his not-so-subtle side glances with a secret glee. She had no previous intention of actively saving him, but then her conquest wouldn’t mean much if he got killed before she actually got a chance, and now he was further in her debt than she could imagine. Delia smiled up at him, playing her part expertly, even wrapping her arms around his for good measure.
“I’m scared, but I’m also excited,” Delia chittered, making Axl smile. “It’s so… so exciting to do Hunter work. Especially moreso, now that it’s with you.” She looked at him in such a way she knew he’d blush, and blush he did.
Axl’s smile was also so genuine it hurt to see it. “I’ll try not to disappoint you,” he said, gentlemen-like.
“So why did you turn off your emotion chip?” Delia hedged. “I mean, that’s really dangerous.”
“I did?” Axl blinked at her, then used his free hand to rub the back of his helmet. “I don’t remember doing that.”
Delia mentally frowned at that, although she made the show of brushing it off by bringing up some other useless topic. A Reploid should always be aware of what he or she shut down and start up, regardless of what process it went through. Unless Lifesaver tampered with something, of which Delia bristled at—she rather liked Lifesaver, the crotchety old bitch he was, and would hate to have a reason to resent him.
Reaching the debriefing room door revealed X storming out of it, not even giving them a passing look as he grumbled angrily under his breath. Zero came out a few seconds later, still having that lethargic, lazy look on his face, but he actually noticed the two standing nearby.
Axl hazard a guess, “Signas said Pops couldn’t go on the assault.”
“Smart boy,” Zero muttered, but neither of the younger Reploids could discern if he was sounding tired or sarcastic. “Layer and Alia already deployed. Gate deployed somethin’ or other shortly after, got a whole squad gunnin’ for it.”
“Alia and Layer left already?” Delia frowned. While Axl was re-initializing his emotion chip, Signas had informed her they would be the girls’ backup, and that was only an hour ago at most. She was expecting them all to be deployed at once.
“We better get a move on, then,” Axl nodded to Zero. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Uh.” Zero slurred something else, but the other two didn’t stick around to hear it. They went right into the debriefing room to report their departure.
The blond stared at the empty space for several seconds, struggling to remember what he was doing. Nothing came to mind, and X’s face filled his memory. A quick grin flashed across his face before he adopted the lazy expression again, ambling away from the office toward where he believed X would be.
~*~
“Your ex is a freak!”
Alia carefully rolled down the protective sheet over the spikes of the wall, making sure she kept her face neutral. Layer had always been a cool and composed Navigator, but it seemed her combat programming gave her a new persona, and a very bitchy one at that. Ever since dropping into the massive hole that had once been the ruins the labs was originally located, all Layer did was complain.
“I hope the rest are all right,” Alia said when Layer scrambled up the wall before the spikes penetrated the protective sheet. “The Nightmare is… well, a nightmare to fight.”
“That was a lot of creeps, but I have faith in the Hunters.” Layer said, and her words made Alia think of Signas. For being Reploids, it seemed Layer and Signas were quite spiritual. “C’mon, we got bigger worries.”
Her thoughts lingered on Gate’s taunting transmission, how he all but demanded she come to him and try to take him out. The mad gleam in his eyes, the corruption in his voice… it actually helped steel her resolve. Maybe Alia won’t be strong enough to take him down, but she had the full will and intention of trying with all her power. She might be weak in strength, but if Alia was going to die, she was going to die with the knowledge she gave it her all.
She didn’t want to tell Signas that, but Alia was fairly sure she wasn’t going to walk out of this intact. She was glad their backup was coming, although they seemed to be a fair bit behind…
“Think the Nightmare got to Axl and Delia?” Alia spoke as they once more came up to a spike-covered wall.
Layer forced air between pursed lips in a sound of annoyance. “Even if so, Axl is versed enough in combat to rip through. From what I hear, Delia is like Iris, and if she’s got a mech then they’re fine.”
Alia needed more optimism like Layer’s, but as she maneuvered the grappling rope to go over the platform and release the shielding sheet, her pessimistic thought process was probably just as useful. It was like Zero and X, if she wanted to think of it like that.
“Heard Zero and X were pissed,” Alia commented nonchalantly as she climbed the protected wall. She peeked over the edge, and again the way was clear. Where were all the guards?
“Of course,” Layer shoved at Alia’s bottom, forcing her onto the platform so she could climb before the shield wore. “Let’s move, Alia, while it’s clear.”
“It could be a—”
“It is. So we have to trigger it.”
What sort of tactic was that? Alia’s better mind screamed at such a ludicrous notion, but Layer was technically the battle veteran. When the swordswoman scaled the wall, Alia let her lead them down the narrow hallway. After such a harrowing climb, a plain walkway was a welcome sight, and was much more normal. How could anyone function in such a laboratory? Or did they go through a decoy entrance?
Well, if it were a trap…
The door looked innocent enough, even opening when they approached. Layer pulled her rapier free as Alia readied her buster arm, and they stepped through into a darkened room. The door naturally shut, and locked of course, behind them; when the room brightened, both girls gawked as the missing floor and the middle platform, well-timed jumps being the only solution.
“Well, I’ll be—”
Layer’s snarky comment was cut off by the entire room shaking, and Alia smelled something terrible. Racing to the edge, she screamed and scrambled to jump over; Layer looked and her entire face went white at the rapidly rising lava coming up. She too leapt to the middle platform, following it with another expert jump to the other side of the room. Alia jumped, but fell short of the platform, barely grabbing it with her hand. Layer snagged her wrist before she fell, and pulled the scrambling blond up just before the lava touched her boots.
The women slammed themselves into the opposite door, but it didn’t budge. Alia pounded at it with her buster arm, the lava now beginning to spill onto their platform and hissing toward them. Layer looked around frantically for any sort of clue, and finding none, slammed her rapier into the slit of the door.
It opened as the lava touched their boots, melting their heels as the women vaulted through the door. It closed just as lava reached it, locking and instigating its heat-protective barrier. Cores pounding and both shaking madly, the girls grasped each other by their bracers and tried to calm their panicking systems, heaving deep breaths.
Alia shivered more when she swore she heard Gate’s condescending laughter echo further down the hall.
After shaking off the sensation of narrowly avoiding death, the women picked up the pace and Layer kept her mouth shut. At the end of the hallway was another door, and both women glanced at each other before Alia approached, opening it. Immediately she leapt to the side, Layer the opposite side, as a laser beam shot through. When it faded, Alia charged into the narrow passage with her partner following closely behind, both barely rolling into a shallow pit in the ground to avoid another laser blast.
Layer couldn’t help it. “Gotta hand it to Gate. Least he figures, ‘if I throw everything and the kitchen sink, I’m safe.’”
“Is that really a good thing?” Alia asked as she waited for the beam to dissipate.
“Sure. You dated a smart guy.”
As they scrambled out of the hole and into the next pit to avoid another beam, Alia had to wonder if Layer’s optimism had any limits whatsoever. And if it did, she hoped she never saw it.
~*~
Isoc was careful he stood precisely on the crack in floor, lining his left side to the hairline crack in the wall. If he moved a centimeter in any direction, his call risked being recorded or dropped altogether. Once he assured of his accurate placement, he dialed the number into his internal cell phone. Rather comical, to him at least, to have such a device.
The phone picked up before the first ring completed. "She didn’t bite." Was the first thing said.
“Complete refusal then?” Isoc muttered. Realizing how foolish he was to speak out loud, he repeated the sentiment into the phone chip.
"Yeah, pretty much. Too preoccupied with her game with gunner-boy. She’s on her way with him, by the by."
Isoc scowled. / And am I correct to assume you didn’t tell her who you meant by ‘benefactor’? /
"C’mon boss, shouldn’t you have more confidence? She doesn’t know I talk to you or Gate. How goes the H.M.P?"
Isoc fought to not smile. / Surely the Hunters are dealing with him now. /
"Not that fake. The real High Max Project."
The scientist shrugged slightly. / He didn’t take well to the simulated data-DNA I made. But he’s back up in a new body, and he took to that very well. He’s ready to be deployed once the shuttle is complete. I take it you’ve gained the needed clearance? /
"It’s like smashing a baby’s head in. Signas is too hung up over Alia to even know what the hell he’s talkin’ about, let alone what someone asks him. You’ll get the pass within the next few days."
/ Very good. / Isoc heard a footstep. / I’ll contact you later. /
"What happens if Gate gets killed?"
/ I won’t, so we’re fine. /
"Gotcha. I’ll be waiting."
Isoc turned just as the footsteps came to him, and once seeing who it was, he smiled. “Feel good enough to move about on your own, hm?”
An arm lifted up and flexed. “Never felt better. This New-Gen shit is incredible.”
“Make sure you practice with it,” Isoc said, going to a shelf on the side of his lab. He took down a helmet and handed it to the Reploid, switching one optic to scanner mode. Yes, he was doing very, very well. “You’ll need to perfect it once the plan is in motion.”
The Reploid pulled the helmet on and snapped the red visor over his eyes, grinning. “A merc always gets his job done, and always repays his debts. For repairin’ me, I’ll do anything you want. Anything.”
“I’m counting on you, Dynamo. Now, get out while you can; Gate will soon be sieged by Alia, and from what my bug tells me, Axl will be in shortly.” Isoc waved him off.
Dynamo was sure to have a snarky comment or two, but he kept them to himself, opting instead to turn and get out in the chaos the women were creating. He could take them out himself, given his new powers and body, but he had a much bigger plan to carry out. Isoc watched him leave, a feeling of pride at his handiwork welling within his core. That feeling, however, was cut when he felt severe eyes boring into his back, and he turned around hesitantly.
The Professor stepped out of the shadows, a smile showing under that hood. “Crafty old man.”
Isoc wiped away any evidence of fear and straightened his stance. “I told you I am far more capable than Gate, and with the same resources, I’ve come a lot farther with my sanity intact.”
The Professor actually laughed. “It’s because of his descent into insanity you got away with what you have. Don’t discredit him, he did his job admirably.”
Isoc scoffed, but said nothing more. No one argued with the Professor, especially since he knew Red was also skulking around somewhere, ready to take his head off should the Professor so much think the order. To have someone so powerful, so tightly bound to one’s will regardless of soul or mind…
Isoc left the laboratory, heading for the exit. He’ll have that power over someone eventually, but for now, he’ll play his role. He had all the time in the world, after all. Once he was gone, the Professor tilted his head slightly, looking toward a dark corner; a few moments later, Red seemingly materialized out of the shadows with a wide grin on his face.
“You know what to do,” the Professor grunted.
Not another word was spoken—Red teleported directly out, leaving the Professor alone. The hooded Reploid touched a hand to where Dynamo’s helmet once rested, scooping up the flat recording chip and storing it into a small finger compartment. He looked around, as if mentally bidding the place farewell, before disappearing himself.
~*~
Delia was actually genuinely amazed by Axl’s focus on his mission. Several times she had shifted her embrace around him to more inappropriate holds, but never once did the chaser flounder or he panic at her grazing touches. He certainly was a boy to admire; battle-hardened yet still holding on to a bright innocent to light up anyone’s dark day. It was rather… cute and endearing, as much as she didn’t want to admit it.
Eventually she gave up, holding on to him and periodically checking the mech neatly folded up in the passenger pod of the chaser. In all honesty, she really didn’t need the thing, but she had to keep appearances up, and so they lugged the dead weight around. Once they got there, she could probably snap Axl out of his concentration enough to embarrass him to chuck the waste of metal before taking on Gate.
Her face darkened at the thought of Gate. Really, she was secretly elated to have conned her way to go on this mission. She could only hope Alia and Layer survived so they could get to them.
The chaser lurched and turned sharply, making Delia cry out and tighten her hold as the machine swerved and started to lean precariously, Axl slamming on the brakes. Finally it stopped, and when the dust settled and both of them had a leg out to support the chaser, they gazed down the road. Waiting a few feet away were Red and some hooded Reploid.
Delia and Axl openly gawked. Red was alive?
“Well well well!” Red clapped as his eyes fell on Axl. “My brat survives! Should I be proud of you?”
Axl frowned, and righted the chaser. He put it on standby and slid off of it, Delia making a protesting sound. Without looking, Axl ordered, “Go meet up with Alia and Layer, Delia. I’ll catch up.”
“You can’t be serious,” Delia replied incredulously.
“I am. Go.”
She wanted to protest, to protect him—she didn’t save his cute little ass for nothing!—but never before had Axl spoken to her in such a commanding, serious tone. He wasn’t going to go with her, and she’d only get in his way. She wasn’t as versed in combat as she made it out to be, but…
“Be careful,” Delia muttered, completely meaning the phrase for once as she scooted forward and revved the chaser up.
Red and the other Reploid stepped to the sides, opening the way for her to go. “Head on over, miss,” Red called. “I’m here for the boy, and despite your interference before, I quite like your pretty face and ability to kick ass.”
Delia snorted, turning on the shields for the chaser before jetting past Axl, between the two other Reploids. Sure enough, neither made a move against her, and within seconds Delia was gone down the road. Red and his companion came back to each other’s side in the middle of the road, and Axl drew his guns, one pointed at each.
Red waved his hand in the air nonchalantly. “Don’t worry, my buddy here is just gonna watch.”
Axl’s gun didn’t move from him, and Red figured now was the best time to drop the bomb shell. “You know, brat,” Red spoke, stepping forward and drawing his scythe, activating it but making no other aggressive movements. “I bet you wondered why I went bonkers on you. Why I sent those Mavs after you and tried to kill ya. Why I killed those of our gang. Didja ever wonder?”
“You’re Maverick,” Axl responded, coldly. Memories weren’t going to interfere again; old feelings had to be put down.
“Well, yeah, but I’m also not even Red.”
At that declaration, Red’s body began to glow. Axl took a step back as the body still bolstered to a bigger size, and once the light faded, an unknown Reploid had taken Red’s place. He wasn’t as tall as the real Red, but still towered at an impressive height. Clad in thick green armor, decorated in gold and red, he looked like an officer of the Hunters, his uniform armor reminding Axl of Signas, the green hat even of similar style. Metal ‘wings’ were mounted on the Reploid’s shoulders, and the scythe was replaced with a saber.
“Who the hell…” Axl whispered.
“The name’s Redips,” the Reploid said, his voice misleadingly calm and gentle. “And I’m a perfected New-Gen.”
“Redips?” Axl never heard of the name, yet why was he dressed like a Hunter officer?
“I’d say ask Signas,” Redips said as he transformed back into the slimmer, more agile Red-form. “But you won’t live long enough to get back.”
Realization dawned on Axl, and he foolishly dropped his arms. “If you’ve been masquerading as Red…”
“Yes,” the hooded Reploid finally spoke. “The true Red was disposed of some time ago.”
Axl felt as if the cooling unit in him just exploded, numbness spreading throughout his body and originating from his chest. How could he not have known Red was replaced…? How did they get to Red? Why? And how the hell was he a perfected New-Gen? They were still…
What the hell is going on?
“Red was a weakling,” Redips goaded, snapping Axl’s attention to him. “Went down rather easily. Couldn’t take many hits, surprised he lasted in the world as long as he did. But I suppose, like father like son? You certainly were easy to take out, as well…”
Axl’s numbness vanished, his body feeling enflamed with hatred, guilt and anger. How dare he call Red weak… how dare he commit those atrocious acts that he did, marring Red’s name, defiling his honor?
Axl shook his head furiously and dashed toward Redips, guns up and letting off a volley each. Redips jumped to the side, and Axl skid a foot past him before pivoting and, using momentum, spun himself in play while pulling the triggers. Becoming a whirlwind of bullets, Redips was practically jumping everywhere to avoid being hit, the Professor calmly hopping up onto an out of the way boulder, bullets ricocheting off and flying haphazardly. When the gunner stopped spinning he dashed right for Redips, one arm over his nose as he charged.
Redips once more dodged to the side, but Axl activated his hover mechanism for a boost of speed toward the direction Redips jumped to. His left arm lashed out, hooking Redips across the face with the butt of his gun—Axl spun with the movement, bringing the right gun up and firing off a bullet. The fake managed to tilt his head to avoid a full hit, but the bullet still tore right through his cheek, blood gushing out. Redips bared his teeth and brought up his foot, planting it into Axl’s stomach and kicking him a good few feet away. Before Axl could right himself enough to get moving, Redips brought the scythe above his head and swung down; all Axl could do was cross his guns and let them take the brunt of the damage.
One gun was ruined, the other bent horribly from the blow. Axl threw the scythe off and let off a quick shot to make Redips back off. He looked down at his ruined gun, scowling deeply. It was too damaged to even activate its merge function… Frustrated and further angered, Axl threw the gun at his enemy, who sliced it out of the air.
It was a wasted move, and Axl moved in quickly. His free hand lashed out and grabbed Redips’ face, forcing the gun between his lips and fired a few bullets upward into the brain circuitry. The last time he got him in the mouth, Axl didn’t inflict the proper damage—this time, the asshole was eating lead. To make sure, Axl also angled the gun downwards and shot four bullets down his throat toward his core.
He let Redips go, and the body stumbled back, obviously trying to remain online despite the damage. Determined to be rid of the imposter once and for all, Axl grabbed the scythe from Redips’ slack grip. Before it reverted back to its original saber form, he brought the weapon across Redips’ waist, dissecting him just like he did Tornado Tonion.
The two smoking halves of Redips fell to the ground, his stolen form fading and reverting to his bigger, original body. His eyes were wide, surprised, and Axl stood over him with a dark, dark glare.
“Eat lead,” Axl hissed, and put one last bullet right between Redips’ eyes.
Head circuits complete destroyed, Redips’ head exploded from the pressure and ignition of fluids from the gunshots. Axl holstered his remaining gun, kicking the upper body aside before retrieving the broken gun. A slow, mocking clapping of hands made Axl freeze, and just then, he remembered Redips had a friend.
The Professor hopped down from his perch, the only thing visible from the hood was a creepy smile. “Very good. You’re better than I had hoped.”
Axl drew the working gun again, and the Professor held his hands up in peace. “Now now, if I wanted to kill you, I’d have helped Redips there. I’m merely a voyeur.”
“Those who watch are taking notes and refining their own plans,” Axl growled. “What’s your plan?”
“If I told you that, my boy, you’d have to join me. But I’ll tell you this: your data extraction and copying ability surpasses that of even ‘perfected’ New-Gens.” The Professor smiled at Axl’s look. “Your creator was quite delighted with you, but as unfortunate circumstances happened, he couldn’t work out all your limits. That’s something you’ll have to do yourself.”
“Work out my limits?” Axl’s grip on the gun tightened, but he was careful to not pull the trigger just yet. “What do you know of my creator?”
“Not much, to be honest. But you, my boy… You, I know. You’re a Reploid—replicated android, so to an extent you are just like the rest of us, copies of X. But we lost our potential like X has, lost our abilities to truly adapt and discard our limits. You’re the first Reploid who could do such.” The Professor held out his hand. “Everything you want to know about yourself? I can tell you. Your data extraction, Axl, can help create something awesome. Something incredible, powerful, intact and complete… it could even erase something at potent as Sigma’s Virus.”
Axl tensed. “Who are you?”
“Just an old professor wanting one last chance.”
That was a lie, even Axl knew. But he stared at that offered hand with narrowed eyes and lowered his gun.
~*~
Gate was as handsome as ever, even as he stood with that insane grin on his face when Alia and Layer finally burst through the final doors. The women felt beaten and worn out, but seeing Gate gave Alia an odd burst of energy—she had to end this now.
“Most impressive,” Gate drawled, leaning back against the console behind him. “All of my defenses have already been destroyed. I confess that I have nothing use…”
“Gate!” Alia called, racing forward a bit toward him. “Surrender! Please!”
“Please?” Gate laughed. “You plead with me to surrender so I might suffer another evaluation of being Maverick? Alia, if I surrendered, my fate is to die. Otherwise, I can continue to live and merely destroy you… the same way you destroyed me.”
“I didn’t know they’d go so far!” Alia stepped forward again, and Layer grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her. “Gate, I didn’t know! They were going to report us! I thought they’d scramble your data and that be the end of it, I swear…”
“You should have tried to protect me from even that little bit, Alia. So much for us.” Gate hissed. “I protected you from whatever came at you, helped you, promoted your good standing, and you let me fall just because you didn’t have the backbone to stand up for me. I can’t believe I ever loved such a weak woman.”
Gate grabbed his lab coat and threw it over his shoulder, revealing slimmed, shimmering gold armor underneath. The coat became a white cape, and his helmet’s usual cold gray and blue became glimmering gold to match. Blue inlaid broke up the frigid golden plate, glittering with energy. Gate threw back his head with a hysterical laugh, the room suddenly darkening; beneath her toes Alia felt the ground seeming to vanish and she back up just as Layer stepped forward. She looked around, and when the lights returned, the floor had broken up into small platforms, a few more formed above and scattered around the room, and behind Gate stood a massive, gorgeous stained glass window. What seemed to be a bottomless pit awaited them should they fall.
“Come on, Alia!” Gate taunted as the blue decorations pulsed and he began to levitate.
Layer immediately launched herself at a wall, kicking up it to a higher platform. Alia manifested her buster and fired off a shot at Gate; he didn’t bother trying to move, the shot harmlessly bouncing off his armor and into the pit below. Alia gaped in disbelief, and Gate just laughed at her; she tried the highest level charge shot, and when it impacted Gate’s chest it seemed as if it were trying to drill through. He swung his arm, however, and knocked the shot toward Layer, who had to jump down to a lower platform to avoid it. Layer leapt off the platform at Gate with a mighty jumping slash, but her rapier raked down from shoulder to waist and not even a scorch mark was produced.
“What the hell…” Alia whispered when Layer hopped back to a platform, a look of disbelief on her own face.
Gate lifted his arms, admiring the golden bracers. “Red outdid himself when he gave me those samples… and I was able to merge one with the remnant of Sigma. This impenetrable armor is a result of that fusion, as was the Nightmare!” he lowered his arms and smiled serenely. “By now, the Nightmare will overtake what’s left of Sigma’s Virus, and the two will merge to form a super-virus. All you fought for, Alia, is for naught.”
He tapped his helmet thoughtfully then. “But two against one is a little unfair, don’t you agree? High Max!”
There was a rumbling sound under them, and Alia threw herself off the platform seconds before it shattered, a massive black and gray Reploid rising up between the debris. His cold white eyes were fixated on her, and as she scrambled back as far as she could from it, she felt all her resolve leave her.
“Your Hunters were easily disposed,” High Max intoned, his voice emotionless. “And now, both of you shall be as well.”
He spread his arms out, two shimmering silver shields forming from his palms and spreading til they were as high as he. Layer vaulted over to him, planting her feet on his shoulders between the shields and stabbing down with the rapier. While the brunt of the blow was repelled, some armor did give way and High Max threw her off and onto the wall. Layer barely managed to start kicking up its smooth surface to prevent falling down into the pit, and Alia turned to Gate.
Gate finally launched an attack, a massive red ball of energy racing toward her. Alia jumped back, her heels clipping the edge of a platform and making her falter. With a cry she managed to whirl around and grab onto the edge, and as she hung there she shot at the ball of energy, hoping to force it to explode before it came to her. Several pellet shots achieved that goal, and Alia hauled herself up to avoid aftermath fragments from hitting her. Gate, however, did not expect her to do such an act, and when the fragments of his own attack hit him he cried out in pain.
Alia wanted to giggle at the irony of such a revelation—that it would take Gate to kill Gate. Angered, Gate hurled another energy orb at her, this one a blue color. It serenely landed on the platform under hers, and Alia aimed for it.
Suddenly it vibrated and began to draw her to it, making Alia lose her footing and fall to the ground on her ass. She began to slide toward it; panicking, Alia flopped over on her stomach and tried to scramble away, but the draw affect was too strong. Layer was too far away and preoccupied with avoid High Max’s attacks to come to her aid, and Alia knew if she died right now, Layer would have no chance against High Max and Gate.
I’m sorry… Alia mentally lamented. Layer, I’m sorry.
Alia turned and fired at the energy orb, but even ten pellet shots in and it didn’t rupture. It sucked them all in and seemed to grow even better, the draw power even stronger! Helplessly Alia was drawn toward it, and if it didn’t suck her right up and cause her to combust, it’ll pull her off the platform and down the pit.
She closed her eyes and awaited some sort of ending, but as he hips just left the platform the wall behind her exploded and the impact of so much debris ruptured the energy orb. Alia pulled herself back up the platform, perplexed as a humanoid shadow sailed over her, and she heard Gate’s yell of pain. The blue orb must have also had remnants burst from it.
A metallic thud made Alia look over her shoulder, and her heart was elated to see the slimmed, mech-clad Delia standing between her and Gate. Looking like a fleshless Reploid in the mech, Delia pulled up the protective black visor from her eyes to get a good look at Gate.
Delia might have been giving him a dirty look, or her interference just pissed him off that much, but Gate howled in anger and charged right for her.
Delia snapped the visor back on and jumped straight up into the air, pulses of energy pushing out of her boots and she activated the mech’s hover ability. When Gate came rushing at Alia, the blond let out a volley of shots at Gate’s seemingly unprotected face. He lifted his arm and blocked the shots, but it made him stop, and Alia hopped to a different platform toward Layer, who still struggled with High Max.
Layer had managed to break one of High Max’s shields, but the bastard kept summoning it. Alia shouted something to her, and Layer dropped down to a lower platform to hear her better. High Max also dropped down a level, charging up an orb of electricity in his palms.
Gate flung a sphere at Alia, who hopped up just as Delia spun in the air toward the sphere and split it with a heel crush. The orb splintered, and Delia grabbed Alia’s arm and suspended them in the air above the flying pieces, watching in satisfaction as both Gate and High Max were slammed with the attack. High Max stumbled, nearly falling into the pit in shock, and Gate was thrown into the wall.
“Enough!” Gate snapped, and he kicked off the wall toward High Max. He landed on High Max’s back and slams his fist through the massive Reploid’s armor into his right shoulder blade.
High Max shuddered and all three women heard his systems suddenly shut down. Gate managed to keep himself and the deactivated shell in the air for several seconds before he let the shell drop down the pit, a massive green Nightmare Soul in his hand that he ripped from High Max’s body. Alia protested as Gate opened his chest compartment and threw the Soul into him, slamming the compartment shut as his entire body began to glow. The platforms vanished, the floor once more materializing, and Delia brought Alia down gently. She landed as well, rising the visor and all three women watched as Gate grew in size, shape contorting.
Once the light vanished, the monstrosity that was a merge of High Max and Gate’s appearance, plated in gold and silver and outlined in the familiar blue Nightmare virus. When Gate laughed, rising into the air before the stained glass window dramatically, his voice was far too deep to be either High Max’s or Gate’s. It sounded like the voice of a demon, reverberating in the women’s heads.
Delia snapped the visor back into place. “Whatever, like some flashy new body’s gonna save your ass.”
Layer went up to Alia, putting a hand on her shoulder. “This is it, girl. You ready?”
Alia lifted her buster, re-routing her weapon energy to it for a massive over-charge. “You bet.”
She let the shot go when it finished, Layer and Delia launching themselves after it. Gate chopped his arms through the shot, and the two melee fighters were at either side of him. Layer slashed at him with her rapier, Delia throwing a punch for his face, but the shields High Max utilized suddenly were thrown up just in time to ward off their attacks and blow them away into the walls. Layer managed to flip herself around and her feet hit the wall, letting her push off to launch a furious spin attack; Delia wasn’t so agile in the suit, slamming into the wall and creating a human-shaped crater before falling to the ground, barely catching herself and landing on her feet.
Alia remained on the ground, running under Gate to fire up between the shields. However, the shield not fending off Layer moved to protect his underside, and Alia growled.
We all have to attack! She wanted to say it out loud, but Gate was smart, he’d…
Delia was back in the air against him, going for the now unguarded side with a kick. The shields keeping Layer and Alia at bay, Gate’s hand snatched up and grabbed Delia by her ankle. He began to swing her around like a rodeo rope, slamming her head into the ceiling before flinging her at an alarming speed to the ground. She impacted hard, nearly breaking through the floor, and when the dust settled Delia did not move.
“Delia!” Alia cried, racing toward her. A warning shout from Layer and the blond whirled around just to be hit by a massive blue energy sphere.
Alia went flying from the discharge, hitting the wall above the door and falling onto her face on the ground with a pained groan. She tried to rise up, but her systems, still unused to such a quick onset of physical damage, clogged her processes with warnings and she was slow to get up. Due to damage, one of her eyes switched to scanner mode, and when she looked at Gate and saw his insides literally crawled with the Nightmare virus, her heart sank. Even if they destroy Gate, all that Nightmare would be free… and if they did destroy Gate, would they have the strength to fend off that much Nightmare? This was getting more and more hopeless by the second.
Gate rose a bit higher and placed his palms close together, energy crackling as he gathered it for one massive strike against all three. Layer rushed to her fallen comrades, rapier and arms up as if that would be enough defense. Delia was just rousing when Alia finally got to her feet, and the orb in Gate’s hands was already massive.
Whatever taunt Gate was going to spew out was lost when there was a sudden roar of a chaser engine. Before Gate could turn, the stained glass window shattered as a chaser barreled through, energy wheels slamming into his back and knocking him from the air. Gate screamed in pain as the impact avoid his shields and actually hit him; when he and the chaser fell to the ground the rider jumped off, flinging the machine toward the wall where it slammed against it, turning off.
X already had a full level five charge shot ready when Gate got up, and he let the blast go right at Gate’s head. It hit dead on, throwing Gate back into the air and into the wall right under the window, scattering more sparkling, colorful shards into the air before they rained down like dagger rain. The massive Reploid fell to the ground face-first with a groan, entire body smoking, and already X was charging his buster again.
“X!” Alia cried as she stumbled toward him. “Stop, X, enough! He’s down!”
“But not for the count!” with those words, X fired again, but this time with only a level two. It landed on Gate’s back, burning a shallow hole into him.
The plasma of the shot incinerated any rising Nightmare escaping the body, and Gate’s transformation failed. His body reverted back to normal size, and as Nightmares began to pour out, X fired them all down, Layer cutting down what few came for them. Once it seemed clear, X lowered his buster arm and glared back at Alia, making her cringe.
“Well, there.” He grunted. “And you’re bloody welcome.”
“I for one,” Delia grated out from behind her mask, “Am thankful for saving our asses.”
Gate pushed himself up slightly, panting hard. Even his special armor showed the damage X’s chaser and shots caused, blood pooling around him rapidly. With a groan he flipped over onto his back, unable to hold himself up. A despaired sound left Alia’s mouth before she could help it and she raced to him, dropping to her knees next to him and grasping his hand.
“Gate,” Alia muttered. “Gate, please…”
“There you go again,” Gate coughed. “Pleading the impossible... Damn woman.”
Alia knew better than to even voice her desire to want him to hang on, to stay alive. She knew better than to even let him live… but she couldn’t point her buster at him anymore. Layer and Delia gathered near X, the three watching as Alia rubbed the back of Gate’s hand with her thumb.
“I truly regret my weakness,” Alia whispered. “Gate, if you could just believe one thing, believe that. I was never proud of my actions. I really loved you, and I thought…”
“Shut up!” Gate snapped, even dying down vindictive. “Shut up and go your… damn merry way! I don’t… give a ratloid’s ass any… anymore. Just… go…” his head turned to look at the other three, eyes narrowing at X. “I… shouldn’t be shocked… it’s you who could kill… kill me. Defeated even if… using Zero’s DNA…”
X took a step menacing step forward. “What did you say?” he hissed.
Gate sputtered out a laugh, oil and blood dribbling down from his mouth. “Oh, you’re… you’re in for a… great wake up call, Mr. Limitless… Potential! Enjoy your… damn peace. My Nightmare… is yours…”
Gate ripped his hand from Alia’s, ignoring her teary eyes. “Get… the hell away… from me.”
Alia shook her head and stood up, fleeing out of the laboratory with a hand covering her eyes. Layer immediately went after her, and when Gate’s eyes closed, X scoffed. He also left the lab, and Delia waited a few moments before approaching Gate. The dying scientist opened his eyes halfway to see who would sit and watch him die, and Delia pulled off her helmet.
His eyes narrowed, and Delia smiled wickedly. “You deserve this,” she said, teasingly. “You should have just let them kill you when you first were accused of being a Maverick.”
“Who the… hell…”
Delia tucked the helmet under her arm, and her form began to glow. Her hair shortened to a bob cut, her form slimming to a smaller, less curvaceous and pleasing sight; when the light faded, her hair was a drab brown, her eyes a dull blue when she opened them.
Gate swore between gritting teeth. “Edali…! I knew I recognized you… you… bitch…”
Delia laughed. “I didn’t get away clean with the sabotage just to wait for you to get your vengeance. While everyone else cowered in corners and watched over their shoulders, I made sure you’d never find me. And then I made sure if you did, I could get rid of you. You improved far more than I did, but the New-Gen tech is pretty amazing, isn’t it? A little string pulled here and there, and I got myself a new body I can modify with whatever form I want, so long as I had data to piece it together.”
Gate tried to rise, hand reaching for her neck. “I’ll… kill you, Edali…!”
“Oh no, Gate,” Delia pulled out a hand pistol from her suit, pressing it against the gem of Gate’s helmet. “You get to go to hell knowing the very bitch that started the whole coup against you dealt the last hit.”
With the edge of the pistol, she flipped open the compartment in the gem, and reached in with her thumb and forefinger. She yanked out Gate’s memory chip just before pulling the trigger, destroying his cranial circuits. Ensuring he was dead, Delia adopted her sexier form before going toward the console that somehow avoided damage, booting it up as she dialed into her internal cell phone.
The phone picked up before the first ring completed. "So he bit, eh?" Was the first thing said.
“The dust,” Delia said. “Where can I meet you to hand you this shit?”
"At the usual spot, of course. I’m so glad we’ve reached an agreement, Delia."
“You just keep in mind your part of the deal, Double.” Delia pressed the download key, and when the chip full of Gate’s research was spat out of the console, she plucked it up and stored it within a wrist compartment.
"I always do, sweetcakes. See you when you get back."
Delia hummed as she set the lab to explode within two minutes, teleporting out. Not bad for a day’s work.
<--- PREVIOUS CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER --->
Headquarters was a flurry of action, Hunters moving in blurs of motion as Navigators and Engineers prepared them for the upcoming assault. Alia’s serene face was a mask to the world, hiding the chaotic upgrades she was receiving as she rested within the maintenance pod alongside Layer. Her connection to the upgrade server kept her in a state of ‘awake but not,’ a sort of dream like feeling as she saw what the network saw, heard it all, but never comprehended it. She was half in Cyberspace and half in reality; diving, it felt, into streams of data as she downloaded, unzipped, and installed the program upgrades. Through the network, she ‘saw’ Layer go through the same phenomena, and a sort of thought of how such a mass connection could prove useful floated in her mind before it was obliterated by the onslaught of data.
Hovering above her prone form, Signas rested his hand on the pod’s glass lid, concern clear on his face. He had, in an uncharacteristic display of worry, given her a chance to back out after Gate’s taunting transmission. But Alia, in the short time as a Hunter, had grown stronger than before and Signas had to admit respect and admiration to her steadfast decision to go with Layer and infiltrate Gate’s laboratory. Despite his claim to being alone, Signas knew better than to think the man had any honor or morals left to him, and had ordered a full-scale attack against Gate’s army of Nightmares.
Duty and emotion were always a problem to balance, if Zero and X were to be used as examples. Signas had thought he did well keeping that balance, but as he stared down at Alia and wished she’d wake up and tell him she changed her mind, the Commander found himself losing that sense of balance. He knew he needed to have faith in her, in all of his troops, but he was losing that faith. Or was it the sense of faith in himself? Did he make the right choices throughout this ordeal?
He bowed his head. The only thing left Signas could do now was pray, and hope if there was a divine power, it would answer a machine’s request.
Keep her, and everyone, safe…
~*~
Although his injuries were grievous, and his origins as mysterious as X’s and Zero’s, Axl was much simpler to repair than Lifesaver expected. All of Axl’s parts were made of the same basic material that went into normal Reploids, the only difficulty Lifesaver had was repairing the cage that kept Axl’s core safe. Its material was an unknown mixture, and as much as Lifesaver would have liked to analyze it to recreate it for the best fix, he didn’t have time. He was forced to use basic reinforced titanium to reconstruct what bits of the cage was damaged. Everything else, as they say, fell into place and Axl was ready to be re-deployed.
The only true issue Lifesaver really had was more on the programming side. It was programming that separated Axl from other Reploids, and the first time the gunner was booted up, he immediately began attempting to attack something, forcing Lifesaver and his staff to shut him down. It took a bit to figure out what the hell was wrong, but cue Delia sauntering up and finding the culprit within minutes: the emotional chip had been removed from the start-up list.
After that it was smooth sailing, but Lifesaver had to wonder how Delia was so quick to spot such issues, as if knowing they were there all along. He knew she was an incredible Engineer, but Engineers were not that proficient in Reploid repair, they were meant more for weaponry and other non-sentient machines. But Delia didn’t stick around to be asked; seeming to disappear the second Lifesaver looked away. For a woman with strange features, she managed to blend in her surroundings remarkably well. Either way, he had to thank her after all this ruckus settled down—her restoration program for Zero and X was working incredibly well all considering; they were far, far from deployable for the upcoming battle, but the mere fact they were up and speaking independently was practically a miracle.
Or a sham, but Lifesaver wanted to be positive for once in his life, so he went with miracle.
A whooshing noise of his office door opening revealed Axl, now fixed up and emotionally stabilized, striding in with Delia close behind; the woman placed an order sheet in front of Lifesaver, and Axl waited somewhat patiently for his final test.
Lifesaver read the paper as he jammed the network cable into Axl’s back neck port, ignoring his wince. “You’re joining the assault, Delia?” the doctor Reploid asked as he tapped his console.
“Yes,” she smiled at Axl, who looked to the side with a slightly embarrassed look. “Signas asked for back up for Alia and Layer in the infiltration mission, but did not want Axl to go alone. Since I proved my fighting capability, he said I have temporary clearance.”
“Just when did you get combat programming and experience?” Lifesaver edged.
“Don’t pry,” Axl admonished. “Are you done yet?”
Lifesaver glared at Axl. “Be a good boy and take your damn diagnostic quietly.” Axl snorted, and the doctor turned back to Delia. “Well?”
The woman’s smile was beguiling—luckily, Lifesaver was technically asexual, else he might actually fall for the trick. “I’m just taking a page from Alia’s book.”
That was a lie, but Lifesaver dropped the topic, because it was obviously not getting anywhere. “Fair enough. It’s an inspirational act.” He gave Delia a look as he leaned a hand against his console.
She persisted with her smile. “Is Axl finished?”
The doctor looked at Axl, whose glare had been burning holes in his skull for a while now. “You tell us, boy.”
“Yes,” actually, he wasn’t, but Lifesaver let him jerk the wire out and suffer the two-second freeze up. The gunner rose to his feet and turn to Delia, “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Delia answered, then glanced away a bit. “Although I hope I’m more of a help than burden. Only reason I got Red was because I had the element of surprise.”
Lifesaver thought she was laying the girl-charm on too thick, but Axl was obviously falling for it, claiming he’ll protect her and all that. The doctor had to disable his voice modulation program to avoid giving a snarky comment, and waved the two out before he got himself possibly in trouble. As they exited, Lifesaver leaned his hand against his console again, turning off the scanner Delia had stood in front of.
He extracted the data and looked at the screen. “Let’s see what miss muffet’s got for me…”
Outside heading to the debriefing room, Delia walked as close as possible to Axl, noticing his not-so-subtle side glances with a secret glee. She had no previous intention of actively saving him, but then her conquest wouldn’t mean much if he got killed before she actually got a chance, and now he was further in her debt than she could imagine. Delia smiled up at him, playing her part expertly, even wrapping her arms around his for good measure.
“I’m scared, but I’m also excited,” Delia chittered, making Axl smile. “It’s so… so exciting to do Hunter work. Especially moreso, now that it’s with you.” She looked at him in such a way she knew he’d blush, and blush he did.
Axl’s smile was also so genuine it hurt to see it. “I’ll try not to disappoint you,” he said, gentlemen-like.
“So why did you turn off your emotion chip?” Delia hedged. “I mean, that’s really dangerous.”
“I did?” Axl blinked at her, then used his free hand to rub the back of his helmet. “I don’t remember doing that.”
Delia mentally frowned at that, although she made the show of brushing it off by bringing up some other useless topic. A Reploid should always be aware of what he or she shut down and start up, regardless of what process it went through. Unless Lifesaver tampered with something, of which Delia bristled at—she rather liked Lifesaver, the crotchety old bitch he was, and would hate to have a reason to resent him.
Reaching the debriefing room door revealed X storming out of it, not even giving them a passing look as he grumbled angrily under his breath. Zero came out a few seconds later, still having that lethargic, lazy look on his face, but he actually noticed the two standing nearby.
Axl hazard a guess, “Signas said Pops couldn’t go on the assault.”
“Smart boy,” Zero muttered, but neither of the younger Reploids could discern if he was sounding tired or sarcastic. “Layer and Alia already deployed. Gate deployed somethin’ or other shortly after, got a whole squad gunnin’ for it.”
“Alia and Layer left already?” Delia frowned. While Axl was re-initializing his emotion chip, Signas had informed her they would be the girls’ backup, and that was only an hour ago at most. She was expecting them all to be deployed at once.
“We better get a move on, then,” Axl nodded to Zero. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Uh.” Zero slurred something else, but the other two didn’t stick around to hear it. They went right into the debriefing room to report their departure.
The blond stared at the empty space for several seconds, struggling to remember what he was doing. Nothing came to mind, and X’s face filled his memory. A quick grin flashed across his face before he adopted the lazy expression again, ambling away from the office toward where he believed X would be.
~*~
“Your ex is a freak!”
Alia carefully rolled down the protective sheet over the spikes of the wall, making sure she kept her face neutral. Layer had always been a cool and composed Navigator, but it seemed her combat programming gave her a new persona, and a very bitchy one at that. Ever since dropping into the massive hole that had once been the ruins the labs was originally located, all Layer did was complain.
“I hope the rest are all right,” Alia said when Layer scrambled up the wall before the spikes penetrated the protective sheet. “The Nightmare is… well, a nightmare to fight.”
“That was a lot of creeps, but I have faith in the Hunters.” Layer said, and her words made Alia think of Signas. For being Reploids, it seemed Layer and Signas were quite spiritual. “C’mon, we got bigger worries.”
Her thoughts lingered on Gate’s taunting transmission, how he all but demanded she come to him and try to take him out. The mad gleam in his eyes, the corruption in his voice… it actually helped steel her resolve. Maybe Alia won’t be strong enough to take him down, but she had the full will and intention of trying with all her power. She might be weak in strength, but if Alia was going to die, she was going to die with the knowledge she gave it her all.
She didn’t want to tell Signas that, but Alia was fairly sure she wasn’t going to walk out of this intact. She was glad their backup was coming, although they seemed to be a fair bit behind…
“Think the Nightmare got to Axl and Delia?” Alia spoke as they once more came up to a spike-covered wall.
Layer forced air between pursed lips in a sound of annoyance. “Even if so, Axl is versed enough in combat to rip through. From what I hear, Delia is like Iris, and if she’s got a mech then they’re fine.”
Alia needed more optimism like Layer’s, but as she maneuvered the grappling rope to go over the platform and release the shielding sheet, her pessimistic thought process was probably just as useful. It was like Zero and X, if she wanted to think of it like that.
“Heard Zero and X were pissed,” Alia commented nonchalantly as she climbed the protected wall. She peeked over the edge, and again the way was clear. Where were all the guards?
“Of course,” Layer shoved at Alia’s bottom, forcing her onto the platform so she could climb before the shield wore. “Let’s move, Alia, while it’s clear.”
“It could be a—”
“It is. So we have to trigger it.”
What sort of tactic was that? Alia’s better mind screamed at such a ludicrous notion, but Layer was technically the battle veteran. When the swordswoman scaled the wall, Alia let her lead them down the narrow hallway. After such a harrowing climb, a plain walkway was a welcome sight, and was much more normal. How could anyone function in such a laboratory? Or did they go through a decoy entrance?
Well, if it were a trap…
The door looked innocent enough, even opening when they approached. Layer pulled her rapier free as Alia readied her buster arm, and they stepped through into a darkened room. The door naturally shut, and locked of course, behind them; when the room brightened, both girls gawked as the missing floor and the middle platform, well-timed jumps being the only solution.
“Well, I’ll be—”
Layer’s snarky comment was cut off by the entire room shaking, and Alia smelled something terrible. Racing to the edge, she screamed and scrambled to jump over; Layer looked and her entire face went white at the rapidly rising lava coming up. She too leapt to the middle platform, following it with another expert jump to the other side of the room. Alia jumped, but fell short of the platform, barely grabbing it with her hand. Layer snagged her wrist before she fell, and pulled the scrambling blond up just before the lava touched her boots.
The women slammed themselves into the opposite door, but it didn’t budge. Alia pounded at it with her buster arm, the lava now beginning to spill onto their platform and hissing toward them. Layer looked around frantically for any sort of clue, and finding none, slammed her rapier into the slit of the door.
It opened as the lava touched their boots, melting their heels as the women vaulted through the door. It closed just as lava reached it, locking and instigating its heat-protective barrier. Cores pounding and both shaking madly, the girls grasped each other by their bracers and tried to calm their panicking systems, heaving deep breaths.
Alia shivered more when she swore she heard Gate’s condescending laughter echo further down the hall.
After shaking off the sensation of narrowly avoiding death, the women picked up the pace and Layer kept her mouth shut. At the end of the hallway was another door, and both women glanced at each other before Alia approached, opening it. Immediately she leapt to the side, Layer the opposite side, as a laser beam shot through. When it faded, Alia charged into the narrow passage with her partner following closely behind, both barely rolling into a shallow pit in the ground to avoid another laser blast.
Layer couldn’t help it. “Gotta hand it to Gate. Least he figures, ‘if I throw everything and the kitchen sink, I’m safe.’”
“Is that really a good thing?” Alia asked as she waited for the beam to dissipate.
“Sure. You dated a smart guy.”
As they scrambled out of the hole and into the next pit to avoid another beam, Alia had to wonder if Layer’s optimism had any limits whatsoever. And if it did, she hoped she never saw it.
~*~
Isoc was careful he stood precisely on the crack in floor, lining his left side to the hairline crack in the wall. If he moved a centimeter in any direction, his call risked being recorded or dropped altogether. Once he assured of his accurate placement, he dialed the number into his internal cell phone. Rather comical, to him at least, to have such a device.
The phone picked up before the first ring completed. "She didn’t bite." Was the first thing said.
“Complete refusal then?” Isoc muttered. Realizing how foolish he was to speak out loud, he repeated the sentiment into the phone chip.
"Yeah, pretty much. Too preoccupied with her game with gunner-boy. She’s on her way with him, by the by."
Isoc scowled. / And am I correct to assume you didn’t tell her who you meant by ‘benefactor’? /
"C’mon boss, shouldn’t you have more confidence? She doesn’t know I talk to you or Gate. How goes the H.M.P?"
Isoc fought to not smile. / Surely the Hunters are dealing with him now. /
"Not that fake. The real High Max Project."
The scientist shrugged slightly. / He didn’t take well to the simulated data-DNA I made. But he’s back up in a new body, and he took to that very well. He’s ready to be deployed once the shuttle is complete. I take it you’ve gained the needed clearance? /
"It’s like smashing a baby’s head in. Signas is too hung up over Alia to even know what the hell he’s talkin’ about, let alone what someone asks him. You’ll get the pass within the next few days."
/ Very good. / Isoc heard a footstep. / I’ll contact you later. /
"What happens if Gate gets killed?"
/ I won’t, so we’re fine. /
"Gotcha. I’ll be waiting."
Isoc turned just as the footsteps came to him, and once seeing who it was, he smiled. “Feel good enough to move about on your own, hm?”
An arm lifted up and flexed. “Never felt better. This New-Gen shit is incredible.”
“Make sure you practice with it,” Isoc said, going to a shelf on the side of his lab. He took down a helmet and handed it to the Reploid, switching one optic to scanner mode. Yes, he was doing very, very well. “You’ll need to perfect it once the plan is in motion.”
The Reploid pulled the helmet on and snapped the red visor over his eyes, grinning. “A merc always gets his job done, and always repays his debts. For repairin’ me, I’ll do anything you want. Anything.”
“I’m counting on you, Dynamo. Now, get out while you can; Gate will soon be sieged by Alia, and from what my bug tells me, Axl will be in shortly.” Isoc waved him off.
Dynamo was sure to have a snarky comment or two, but he kept them to himself, opting instead to turn and get out in the chaos the women were creating. He could take them out himself, given his new powers and body, but he had a much bigger plan to carry out. Isoc watched him leave, a feeling of pride at his handiwork welling within his core. That feeling, however, was cut when he felt severe eyes boring into his back, and he turned around hesitantly.
The Professor stepped out of the shadows, a smile showing under that hood. “Crafty old man.”
Isoc wiped away any evidence of fear and straightened his stance. “I told you I am far more capable than Gate, and with the same resources, I’ve come a lot farther with my sanity intact.”
The Professor actually laughed. “It’s because of his descent into insanity you got away with what you have. Don’t discredit him, he did his job admirably.”
Isoc scoffed, but said nothing more. No one argued with the Professor, especially since he knew Red was also skulking around somewhere, ready to take his head off should the Professor so much think the order. To have someone so powerful, so tightly bound to one’s will regardless of soul or mind…
Isoc left the laboratory, heading for the exit. He’ll have that power over someone eventually, but for now, he’ll play his role. He had all the time in the world, after all. Once he was gone, the Professor tilted his head slightly, looking toward a dark corner; a few moments later, Red seemingly materialized out of the shadows with a wide grin on his face.
“You know what to do,” the Professor grunted.
Not another word was spoken—Red teleported directly out, leaving the Professor alone. The hooded Reploid touched a hand to where Dynamo’s helmet once rested, scooping up the flat recording chip and storing it into a small finger compartment. He looked around, as if mentally bidding the place farewell, before disappearing himself.
~*~
Delia was actually genuinely amazed by Axl’s focus on his mission. Several times she had shifted her embrace around him to more inappropriate holds, but never once did the chaser flounder or he panic at her grazing touches. He certainly was a boy to admire; battle-hardened yet still holding on to a bright innocent to light up anyone’s dark day. It was rather… cute and endearing, as much as she didn’t want to admit it.
Eventually she gave up, holding on to him and periodically checking the mech neatly folded up in the passenger pod of the chaser. In all honesty, she really didn’t need the thing, but she had to keep appearances up, and so they lugged the dead weight around. Once they got there, she could probably snap Axl out of his concentration enough to embarrass him to chuck the waste of metal before taking on Gate.
Her face darkened at the thought of Gate. Really, she was secretly elated to have conned her way to go on this mission. She could only hope Alia and Layer survived so they could get to them.
The chaser lurched and turned sharply, making Delia cry out and tighten her hold as the machine swerved and started to lean precariously, Axl slamming on the brakes. Finally it stopped, and when the dust settled and both of them had a leg out to support the chaser, they gazed down the road. Waiting a few feet away were Red and some hooded Reploid.
Delia and Axl openly gawked. Red was alive?
“Well well well!” Red clapped as his eyes fell on Axl. “My brat survives! Should I be proud of you?”
Axl frowned, and righted the chaser. He put it on standby and slid off of it, Delia making a protesting sound. Without looking, Axl ordered, “Go meet up with Alia and Layer, Delia. I’ll catch up.”
“You can’t be serious,” Delia replied incredulously.
“I am. Go.”
She wanted to protest, to protect him—she didn’t save his cute little ass for nothing!—but never before had Axl spoken to her in such a commanding, serious tone. He wasn’t going to go with her, and she’d only get in his way. She wasn’t as versed in combat as she made it out to be, but…
“Be careful,” Delia muttered, completely meaning the phrase for once as she scooted forward and revved the chaser up.
Red and the other Reploid stepped to the sides, opening the way for her to go. “Head on over, miss,” Red called. “I’m here for the boy, and despite your interference before, I quite like your pretty face and ability to kick ass.”
Delia snorted, turning on the shields for the chaser before jetting past Axl, between the two other Reploids. Sure enough, neither made a move against her, and within seconds Delia was gone down the road. Red and his companion came back to each other’s side in the middle of the road, and Axl drew his guns, one pointed at each.
Red waved his hand in the air nonchalantly. “Don’t worry, my buddy here is just gonna watch.”
Axl’s gun didn’t move from him, and Red figured now was the best time to drop the bomb shell. “You know, brat,” Red spoke, stepping forward and drawing his scythe, activating it but making no other aggressive movements. “I bet you wondered why I went bonkers on you. Why I sent those Mavs after you and tried to kill ya. Why I killed those of our gang. Didja ever wonder?”
“You’re Maverick,” Axl responded, coldly. Memories weren’t going to interfere again; old feelings had to be put down.
“Well, yeah, but I’m also not even Red.”
At that declaration, Red’s body began to glow. Axl took a step back as the body still bolstered to a bigger size, and once the light faded, an unknown Reploid had taken Red’s place. He wasn’t as tall as the real Red, but still towered at an impressive height. Clad in thick green armor, decorated in gold and red, he looked like an officer of the Hunters, his uniform armor reminding Axl of Signas, the green hat even of similar style. Metal ‘wings’ were mounted on the Reploid’s shoulders, and the scythe was replaced with a saber.
“Who the hell…” Axl whispered.
“The name’s Redips,” the Reploid said, his voice misleadingly calm and gentle. “And I’m a perfected New-Gen.”
“Redips?” Axl never heard of the name, yet why was he dressed like a Hunter officer?
“I’d say ask Signas,” Redips said as he transformed back into the slimmer, more agile Red-form. “But you won’t live long enough to get back.”
Realization dawned on Axl, and he foolishly dropped his arms. “If you’ve been masquerading as Red…”
“Yes,” the hooded Reploid finally spoke. “The true Red was disposed of some time ago.”
Axl felt as if the cooling unit in him just exploded, numbness spreading throughout his body and originating from his chest. How could he not have known Red was replaced…? How did they get to Red? Why? And how the hell was he a perfected New-Gen? They were still…
What the hell is going on?
“Red was a weakling,” Redips goaded, snapping Axl’s attention to him. “Went down rather easily. Couldn’t take many hits, surprised he lasted in the world as long as he did. But I suppose, like father like son? You certainly were easy to take out, as well…”
Axl’s numbness vanished, his body feeling enflamed with hatred, guilt and anger. How dare he call Red weak… how dare he commit those atrocious acts that he did, marring Red’s name, defiling his honor?
Axl shook his head furiously and dashed toward Redips, guns up and letting off a volley each. Redips jumped to the side, and Axl skid a foot past him before pivoting and, using momentum, spun himself in play while pulling the triggers. Becoming a whirlwind of bullets, Redips was practically jumping everywhere to avoid being hit, the Professor calmly hopping up onto an out of the way boulder, bullets ricocheting off and flying haphazardly. When the gunner stopped spinning he dashed right for Redips, one arm over his nose as he charged.
Redips once more dodged to the side, but Axl activated his hover mechanism for a boost of speed toward the direction Redips jumped to. His left arm lashed out, hooking Redips across the face with the butt of his gun—Axl spun with the movement, bringing the right gun up and firing off a bullet. The fake managed to tilt his head to avoid a full hit, but the bullet still tore right through his cheek, blood gushing out. Redips bared his teeth and brought up his foot, planting it into Axl’s stomach and kicking him a good few feet away. Before Axl could right himself enough to get moving, Redips brought the scythe above his head and swung down; all Axl could do was cross his guns and let them take the brunt of the damage.
One gun was ruined, the other bent horribly from the blow. Axl threw the scythe off and let off a quick shot to make Redips back off. He looked down at his ruined gun, scowling deeply. It was too damaged to even activate its merge function… Frustrated and further angered, Axl threw the gun at his enemy, who sliced it out of the air.
It was a wasted move, and Axl moved in quickly. His free hand lashed out and grabbed Redips’ face, forcing the gun between his lips and fired a few bullets upward into the brain circuitry. The last time he got him in the mouth, Axl didn’t inflict the proper damage—this time, the asshole was eating lead. To make sure, Axl also angled the gun downwards and shot four bullets down his throat toward his core.
He let Redips go, and the body stumbled back, obviously trying to remain online despite the damage. Determined to be rid of the imposter once and for all, Axl grabbed the scythe from Redips’ slack grip. Before it reverted back to its original saber form, he brought the weapon across Redips’ waist, dissecting him just like he did Tornado Tonion.
The two smoking halves of Redips fell to the ground, his stolen form fading and reverting to his bigger, original body. His eyes were wide, surprised, and Axl stood over him with a dark, dark glare.
“Eat lead,” Axl hissed, and put one last bullet right between Redips’ eyes.
Head circuits complete destroyed, Redips’ head exploded from the pressure and ignition of fluids from the gunshots. Axl holstered his remaining gun, kicking the upper body aside before retrieving the broken gun. A slow, mocking clapping of hands made Axl freeze, and just then, he remembered Redips had a friend.
The Professor hopped down from his perch, the only thing visible from the hood was a creepy smile. “Very good. You’re better than I had hoped.”
Axl drew the working gun again, and the Professor held his hands up in peace. “Now now, if I wanted to kill you, I’d have helped Redips there. I’m merely a voyeur.”
“Those who watch are taking notes and refining their own plans,” Axl growled. “What’s your plan?”
“If I told you that, my boy, you’d have to join me. But I’ll tell you this: your data extraction and copying ability surpasses that of even ‘perfected’ New-Gens.” The Professor smiled at Axl’s look. “Your creator was quite delighted with you, but as unfortunate circumstances happened, he couldn’t work out all your limits. That’s something you’ll have to do yourself.”
“Work out my limits?” Axl’s grip on the gun tightened, but he was careful to not pull the trigger just yet. “What do you know of my creator?”
“Not much, to be honest. But you, my boy… You, I know. You’re a Reploid—replicated android, so to an extent you are just like the rest of us, copies of X. But we lost our potential like X has, lost our abilities to truly adapt and discard our limits. You’re the first Reploid who could do such.” The Professor held out his hand. “Everything you want to know about yourself? I can tell you. Your data extraction, Axl, can help create something awesome. Something incredible, powerful, intact and complete… it could even erase something at potent as Sigma’s Virus.”
Axl tensed. “Who are you?”
“Just an old professor wanting one last chance.”
That was a lie, even Axl knew. But he stared at that offered hand with narrowed eyes and lowered his gun.
~*~
Gate was as handsome as ever, even as he stood with that insane grin on his face when Alia and Layer finally burst through the final doors. The women felt beaten and worn out, but seeing Gate gave Alia an odd burst of energy—she had to end this now.
“Most impressive,” Gate drawled, leaning back against the console behind him. “All of my defenses have already been destroyed. I confess that I have nothing use…”
“Gate!” Alia called, racing forward a bit toward him. “Surrender! Please!”
“Please?” Gate laughed. “You plead with me to surrender so I might suffer another evaluation of being Maverick? Alia, if I surrendered, my fate is to die. Otherwise, I can continue to live and merely destroy you… the same way you destroyed me.”
“I didn’t know they’d go so far!” Alia stepped forward again, and Layer grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her. “Gate, I didn’t know! They were going to report us! I thought they’d scramble your data and that be the end of it, I swear…”
“You should have tried to protect me from even that little bit, Alia. So much for us.” Gate hissed. “I protected you from whatever came at you, helped you, promoted your good standing, and you let me fall just because you didn’t have the backbone to stand up for me. I can’t believe I ever loved such a weak woman.”
Gate grabbed his lab coat and threw it over his shoulder, revealing slimmed, shimmering gold armor underneath. The coat became a white cape, and his helmet’s usual cold gray and blue became glimmering gold to match. Blue inlaid broke up the frigid golden plate, glittering with energy. Gate threw back his head with a hysterical laugh, the room suddenly darkening; beneath her toes Alia felt the ground seeming to vanish and she back up just as Layer stepped forward. She looked around, and when the lights returned, the floor had broken up into small platforms, a few more formed above and scattered around the room, and behind Gate stood a massive, gorgeous stained glass window. What seemed to be a bottomless pit awaited them should they fall.
“Come on, Alia!” Gate taunted as the blue decorations pulsed and he began to levitate.
Layer immediately launched herself at a wall, kicking up it to a higher platform. Alia manifested her buster and fired off a shot at Gate; he didn’t bother trying to move, the shot harmlessly bouncing off his armor and into the pit below. Alia gaped in disbelief, and Gate just laughed at her; she tried the highest level charge shot, and when it impacted Gate’s chest it seemed as if it were trying to drill through. He swung his arm, however, and knocked the shot toward Layer, who had to jump down to a lower platform to avoid it. Layer leapt off the platform at Gate with a mighty jumping slash, but her rapier raked down from shoulder to waist and not even a scorch mark was produced.
“What the hell…” Alia whispered when Layer hopped back to a platform, a look of disbelief on her own face.
Gate lifted his arms, admiring the golden bracers. “Red outdid himself when he gave me those samples… and I was able to merge one with the remnant of Sigma. This impenetrable armor is a result of that fusion, as was the Nightmare!” he lowered his arms and smiled serenely. “By now, the Nightmare will overtake what’s left of Sigma’s Virus, and the two will merge to form a super-virus. All you fought for, Alia, is for naught.”
He tapped his helmet thoughtfully then. “But two against one is a little unfair, don’t you agree? High Max!”
There was a rumbling sound under them, and Alia threw herself off the platform seconds before it shattered, a massive black and gray Reploid rising up between the debris. His cold white eyes were fixated on her, and as she scrambled back as far as she could from it, she felt all her resolve leave her.
“Your Hunters were easily disposed,” High Max intoned, his voice emotionless. “And now, both of you shall be as well.”
He spread his arms out, two shimmering silver shields forming from his palms and spreading til they were as high as he. Layer vaulted over to him, planting her feet on his shoulders between the shields and stabbing down with the rapier. While the brunt of the blow was repelled, some armor did give way and High Max threw her off and onto the wall. Layer barely managed to start kicking up its smooth surface to prevent falling down into the pit, and Alia turned to Gate.
Gate finally launched an attack, a massive red ball of energy racing toward her. Alia jumped back, her heels clipping the edge of a platform and making her falter. With a cry she managed to whirl around and grab onto the edge, and as she hung there she shot at the ball of energy, hoping to force it to explode before it came to her. Several pellet shots achieved that goal, and Alia hauled herself up to avoid aftermath fragments from hitting her. Gate, however, did not expect her to do such an act, and when the fragments of his own attack hit him he cried out in pain.
Alia wanted to giggle at the irony of such a revelation—that it would take Gate to kill Gate. Angered, Gate hurled another energy orb at her, this one a blue color. It serenely landed on the platform under hers, and Alia aimed for it.
Suddenly it vibrated and began to draw her to it, making Alia lose her footing and fall to the ground on her ass. She began to slide toward it; panicking, Alia flopped over on her stomach and tried to scramble away, but the draw affect was too strong. Layer was too far away and preoccupied with avoid High Max’s attacks to come to her aid, and Alia knew if she died right now, Layer would have no chance against High Max and Gate.
I’m sorry… Alia mentally lamented. Layer, I’m sorry.
Alia turned and fired at the energy orb, but even ten pellet shots in and it didn’t rupture. It sucked them all in and seemed to grow even better, the draw power even stronger! Helplessly Alia was drawn toward it, and if it didn’t suck her right up and cause her to combust, it’ll pull her off the platform and down the pit.
She closed her eyes and awaited some sort of ending, but as he hips just left the platform the wall behind her exploded and the impact of so much debris ruptured the energy orb. Alia pulled herself back up the platform, perplexed as a humanoid shadow sailed over her, and she heard Gate’s yell of pain. The blue orb must have also had remnants burst from it.
A metallic thud made Alia look over her shoulder, and her heart was elated to see the slimmed, mech-clad Delia standing between her and Gate. Looking like a fleshless Reploid in the mech, Delia pulled up the protective black visor from her eyes to get a good look at Gate.
Delia might have been giving him a dirty look, or her interference just pissed him off that much, but Gate howled in anger and charged right for her.
Delia snapped the visor back on and jumped straight up into the air, pulses of energy pushing out of her boots and she activated the mech’s hover ability. When Gate came rushing at Alia, the blond let out a volley of shots at Gate’s seemingly unprotected face. He lifted his arm and blocked the shots, but it made him stop, and Alia hopped to a different platform toward Layer, who still struggled with High Max.
Layer had managed to break one of High Max’s shields, but the bastard kept summoning it. Alia shouted something to her, and Layer dropped down to a lower platform to hear her better. High Max also dropped down a level, charging up an orb of electricity in his palms.
Gate flung a sphere at Alia, who hopped up just as Delia spun in the air toward the sphere and split it with a heel crush. The orb splintered, and Delia grabbed Alia’s arm and suspended them in the air above the flying pieces, watching in satisfaction as both Gate and High Max were slammed with the attack. High Max stumbled, nearly falling into the pit in shock, and Gate was thrown into the wall.
“Enough!” Gate snapped, and he kicked off the wall toward High Max. He landed on High Max’s back and slams his fist through the massive Reploid’s armor into his right shoulder blade.
High Max shuddered and all three women heard his systems suddenly shut down. Gate managed to keep himself and the deactivated shell in the air for several seconds before he let the shell drop down the pit, a massive green Nightmare Soul in his hand that he ripped from High Max’s body. Alia protested as Gate opened his chest compartment and threw the Soul into him, slamming the compartment shut as his entire body began to glow. The platforms vanished, the floor once more materializing, and Delia brought Alia down gently. She landed as well, rising the visor and all three women watched as Gate grew in size, shape contorting.
Once the light vanished, the monstrosity that was a merge of High Max and Gate’s appearance, plated in gold and silver and outlined in the familiar blue Nightmare virus. When Gate laughed, rising into the air before the stained glass window dramatically, his voice was far too deep to be either High Max’s or Gate’s. It sounded like the voice of a demon, reverberating in the women’s heads.
Delia snapped the visor back into place. “Whatever, like some flashy new body’s gonna save your ass.”
Layer went up to Alia, putting a hand on her shoulder. “This is it, girl. You ready?”
Alia lifted her buster, re-routing her weapon energy to it for a massive over-charge. “You bet.”
She let the shot go when it finished, Layer and Delia launching themselves after it. Gate chopped his arms through the shot, and the two melee fighters were at either side of him. Layer slashed at him with her rapier, Delia throwing a punch for his face, but the shields High Max utilized suddenly were thrown up just in time to ward off their attacks and blow them away into the walls. Layer managed to flip herself around and her feet hit the wall, letting her push off to launch a furious spin attack; Delia wasn’t so agile in the suit, slamming into the wall and creating a human-shaped crater before falling to the ground, barely catching herself and landing on her feet.
Alia remained on the ground, running under Gate to fire up between the shields. However, the shield not fending off Layer moved to protect his underside, and Alia growled.
We all have to attack! She wanted to say it out loud, but Gate was smart, he’d…
Delia was back in the air against him, going for the now unguarded side with a kick. The shields keeping Layer and Alia at bay, Gate’s hand snatched up and grabbed Delia by her ankle. He began to swing her around like a rodeo rope, slamming her head into the ceiling before flinging her at an alarming speed to the ground. She impacted hard, nearly breaking through the floor, and when the dust settled Delia did not move.
“Delia!” Alia cried, racing toward her. A warning shout from Layer and the blond whirled around just to be hit by a massive blue energy sphere.
Alia went flying from the discharge, hitting the wall above the door and falling onto her face on the ground with a pained groan. She tried to rise up, but her systems, still unused to such a quick onset of physical damage, clogged her processes with warnings and she was slow to get up. Due to damage, one of her eyes switched to scanner mode, and when she looked at Gate and saw his insides literally crawled with the Nightmare virus, her heart sank. Even if they destroy Gate, all that Nightmare would be free… and if they did destroy Gate, would they have the strength to fend off that much Nightmare? This was getting more and more hopeless by the second.
Gate rose a bit higher and placed his palms close together, energy crackling as he gathered it for one massive strike against all three. Layer rushed to her fallen comrades, rapier and arms up as if that would be enough defense. Delia was just rousing when Alia finally got to her feet, and the orb in Gate’s hands was already massive.
Whatever taunt Gate was going to spew out was lost when there was a sudden roar of a chaser engine. Before Gate could turn, the stained glass window shattered as a chaser barreled through, energy wheels slamming into his back and knocking him from the air. Gate screamed in pain as the impact avoid his shields and actually hit him; when he and the chaser fell to the ground the rider jumped off, flinging the machine toward the wall where it slammed against it, turning off.
X already had a full level five charge shot ready when Gate got up, and he let the blast go right at Gate’s head. It hit dead on, throwing Gate back into the air and into the wall right under the window, scattering more sparkling, colorful shards into the air before they rained down like dagger rain. The massive Reploid fell to the ground face-first with a groan, entire body smoking, and already X was charging his buster again.
“X!” Alia cried as she stumbled toward him. “Stop, X, enough! He’s down!”
“But not for the count!” with those words, X fired again, but this time with only a level two. It landed on Gate’s back, burning a shallow hole into him.
The plasma of the shot incinerated any rising Nightmare escaping the body, and Gate’s transformation failed. His body reverted back to normal size, and as Nightmares began to pour out, X fired them all down, Layer cutting down what few came for them. Once it seemed clear, X lowered his buster arm and glared back at Alia, making her cringe.
“Well, there.” He grunted. “And you’re bloody welcome.”
“I for one,” Delia grated out from behind her mask, “Am thankful for saving our asses.”
Gate pushed himself up slightly, panting hard. Even his special armor showed the damage X’s chaser and shots caused, blood pooling around him rapidly. With a groan he flipped over onto his back, unable to hold himself up. A despaired sound left Alia’s mouth before she could help it and she raced to him, dropping to her knees next to him and grasping his hand.
“Gate,” Alia muttered. “Gate, please…”
“There you go again,” Gate coughed. “Pleading the impossible... Damn woman.”
Alia knew better than to even voice her desire to want him to hang on, to stay alive. She knew better than to even let him live… but she couldn’t point her buster at him anymore. Layer and Delia gathered near X, the three watching as Alia rubbed the back of Gate’s hand with her thumb.
“I truly regret my weakness,” Alia whispered. “Gate, if you could just believe one thing, believe that. I was never proud of my actions. I really loved you, and I thought…”
“Shut up!” Gate snapped, even dying down vindictive. “Shut up and go your… damn merry way! I don’t… give a ratloid’s ass any… anymore. Just… go…” his head turned to look at the other three, eyes narrowing at X. “I… shouldn’t be shocked… it’s you who could kill… kill me. Defeated even if… using Zero’s DNA…”
X took a step menacing step forward. “What did you say?” he hissed.
Gate sputtered out a laugh, oil and blood dribbling down from his mouth. “Oh, you’re… you’re in for a… great wake up call, Mr. Limitless… Potential! Enjoy your… damn peace. My Nightmare… is yours…”
Gate ripped his hand from Alia’s, ignoring her teary eyes. “Get… the hell away… from me.”
Alia shook her head and stood up, fleeing out of the laboratory with a hand covering her eyes. Layer immediately went after her, and when Gate’s eyes closed, X scoffed. He also left the lab, and Delia waited a few moments before approaching Gate. The dying scientist opened his eyes halfway to see who would sit and watch him die, and Delia pulled off her helmet.
His eyes narrowed, and Delia smiled wickedly. “You deserve this,” she said, teasingly. “You should have just let them kill you when you first were accused of being a Maverick.”
“Who the… hell…”
Delia tucked the helmet under her arm, and her form began to glow. Her hair shortened to a bob cut, her form slimming to a smaller, less curvaceous and pleasing sight; when the light faded, her hair was a drab brown, her eyes a dull blue when she opened them.
Gate swore between gritting teeth. “Edali…! I knew I recognized you… you… bitch…”
Delia laughed. “I didn’t get away clean with the sabotage just to wait for you to get your vengeance. While everyone else cowered in corners and watched over their shoulders, I made sure you’d never find me. And then I made sure if you did, I could get rid of you. You improved far more than I did, but the New-Gen tech is pretty amazing, isn’t it? A little string pulled here and there, and I got myself a new body I can modify with whatever form I want, so long as I had data to piece it together.”
Gate tried to rise, hand reaching for her neck. “I’ll… kill you, Edali…!”
“Oh no, Gate,” Delia pulled out a hand pistol from her suit, pressing it against the gem of Gate’s helmet. “You get to go to hell knowing the very bitch that started the whole coup against you dealt the last hit.”
With the edge of the pistol, she flipped open the compartment in the gem, and reached in with her thumb and forefinger. She yanked out Gate’s memory chip just before pulling the trigger, destroying his cranial circuits. Ensuring he was dead, Delia adopted her sexier form before going toward the console that somehow avoided damage, booting it up as she dialed into her internal cell phone.
The phone picked up before the first ring completed. "So he bit, eh?" Was the first thing said.
“The dust,” Delia said. “Where can I meet you to hand you this shit?”
"At the usual spot, of course. I’m so glad we’ve reached an agreement, Delia."
“You just keep in mind your part of the deal, Double.” Delia pressed the download key, and when the chip full of Gate’s research was spat out of the console, she plucked it up and stored it within a wrist compartment.
"I always do, sweetcakes. See you when you get back."
Delia hummed as she set the lab to explode within two minutes, teleporting out. Not bad for a day’s work.
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