Chapter Text
Klaxons blared as red lights flooded the levels of Eurasia, even turning its beautiful gardens and parks on the top level crimson as the entire space-platform started to tremble. Reploids and humans alike were crying out in alarm, automated systems lighting up to show pathing to emergency exits with escape pods.
Even as hundreds of citizens started to run for escape, strange sparks and bursts of energy crackled off of bulkheads, out of lamps, even simple utility panels. Humans yelped or cried out as they were zapped by the occasional jolt of this strange anomaly, but something much worse started to happen.
A Reploid man tried to pull a human woman away from one of the panels that had just burst with energy. When it struck him, he writhed, screaming in agony, terrifying the woman herself and the people fleeing nearby.
Clawing at his own head, the Reploid glared down at the people fleeing, and started to snarl like a beast, charging at them.
Reploids were going Maverick from single contacts with the crackling discharge.
Worse still, as the first handfuls of people — Reploids not infected and humans — reached the escape pods, they found them locked off, inactive, and unresponsive. Screams sounded, panic started to take hold.
And the whole colony was starting to creak and groan... as it started to angle toward Earth, its outer shields beginning to scorch and flare from the upper atmosphere.
A particular Reploid walked out of one of the service access tunnels, entirely casual, even whistling idly despite the madness all around him. His black and purple frame glistened, his purple hair lashing a bit under his armored helmet as he kept his visor-cover active over his optics.
"Well, well. This will be quite a show." He then touched his audio-receptor. "It's done. Your package is fast-acting."
A smooth, almost elegant voice replied to his private line. "Make sure it sticks, Dynamo, or you won't see a single credit."
Dynamo rolled his optics. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." He cut the signal for himself, and pulled a strange cylinder from behind himself, twirling it in the hand as he moved along. "Don't see how they can stop a crash already in progress for something this massive..."
Maverick Hunter Headquarters, down on Earth, was a renewed and far more robust edifice than before. The old core fortress had been elevated higher with an entire additional facility above the command level. A stand-alone dock had been added officially, to accommodate the influx of resources from the former Repliforce.
And every single ship in that renewed armada was lifting off, full-thrust, and driving hard for the massive fire in the sky that was Eurasia's approach.
Commander-General X's voice filled every ship and every hall of HQ.
"Space-Colony Eurasia is crashing. This is not a drill. All Maverick Hunters not already assigned tasks are to evacuate all personnel from the space-colony. This is priority one. Scans are showing anomalous energy discharges and not a single escape pod has fired. Assume catastrophic system failure on all systems. Emergency authority is fully active. Do whatever you have to do to get those people off that station."
Inside the command-center, beneath whatever the new structure was atop the fortress, Operations Lieutenant Alia was rapidly relaying data and orders with her headset, while her hands danced across the central control console.
Vice-Commander Signas stood just to her side, glancing across to Dex at one of the support consoles.
"Do we have any tactical data on those discharges, Dex?"
"None yet, sir! It primarily shows up on electromagnetic spectrums, but it's not behaving like electrical charge should! We need eyes on the ground up there!"
Alia shifted her focus at hearing that. "Admiral Airstrike, ETA on your front line evacuation ships?"
Airstrike stood on the bridge of his cruiser, already close to docking with Eurasia amidst storming atmosphere and crackling, alien energy around the space-colony's edges. "Our armored shuttles are landing now! Capital ships will have boats ferrying evacuees in two minutes."
Alia frowned sharply, and glanced to the holo-display of Eurasia crashing toward Earth. "We're already out of time."
A surprising distance from the city with Maverick Hunter HQ, deep in a fortified jungle base, Web Spider straightened as his direct comm systems activated at his command console in the facility's core.
Megaman X's face appeared. His bearing was stern and cold, and his armor was strange, a dull gray with sharp angles, like a dire-knight. "Web Spider, bring the plasma-induction cannon online, and target Eurasia."
Web Spider's various optics flared. "E-evacuation isn't complete, Commander-General! You just gave specific orders—!?"
"That colony is never hitting the ground, Web Spider. Ready the cannon, and await my signal to fire. You are not the only piece on the board. Have some faith."
X's face vanishing off the screen instantly left the former Repliforce commander grim, but he did turn, adjusting controls. Heavy machinery began to whir and groan all around him.
Just outside, a tremendous cannon, silvery and maintained in excruciating detail, articulated up and to one side, locking into position with the crackling pink-blue end of the barrel already aimed at the colony.
It was hell in space for the rescue teams. Unit 27 was among the first to land on the quaking, crackling space-colony, near one of the failing escape pod docks. Mapteron lead the charge, firing magnet-mines to parts of the bulkheads and garden-decor that were sparking with the strange energy. Blowing them apart cleared a safer, wider lane.
Some of the civilians at the back of the panicking escape-pod group saw the Reploids clearing a path. Warp Turtle stomped out into the open, and snapped his hands out, emanating pulsing waves of his unique time-distortion effect, slowing falling debris to harmless decent.
"Hurry, we have an evac shuttle this way!" Neon Tiger shouted as he ran up, waving sharply for people to come toward him.
Blast Hornet took to the air, such as it was, and got a quick birds-eye view of the local area.
As people and non-combat Reploids started to flood toward Unit 27, one of the humans grabbed onto Warp Turtle's arm.
"There are Mavericks! The Reploids that get shocked go Maverick immediately!"
Warp Turtle's optics widened, but he quickly waved the human along. "Evac now, but thank you. Go, go!" He touched his comm the next second. "Possibility the energy discharges contain Maverick Virus coding! Be alert!"
Just as that group was finally trickling past Mapteron, he saw one of the rabid, frenzied Reploids, starting to charge toward the fleeing people as if it was a starving madman and they were a fresh meal.
"Confirmed, have a Reploid that is not behaving naturally in top-level district 12!"
His blades snapped inside his tail, and shot out of his arms just before the crazed Maverick reached him. Mapteron spun out of the Maverick's path, and delivered surgical strikes to the four limbs. Servo-fluid and sparks crackled out, and the Reploid slammed flat... still writhing and flailing while snarling.
Mapteron quickly tried to pin the Maverick down with a hand to the back, but the crackling power from the limbs arced sharply, forking up his forearm like a ravenous spider.
Mapteron barked in pain and stumbled back, then shivered, his optics flaring as he felt the infection starting to haze over his mind.
"NO! N-Not..." his body twitched and shivered, while Neon Tiger and Warp Turtle started to bolt for him in panic themselves.
Mapteron suddenly screamed, folding over himself... as the energy stormed, surged, and burst out of him like a cloud of static.
As Neon Tiger and Warp Turtle reached him—Blast Hornet making sure the last stragglers of their group got on the shuttle—Mapteron heaved his respirator, and nodded to them.
"It's the virus! This whole slagging colony is an infection vector!" He sank to his knees. "Disable me, lock me down until I'm verified!"
"Mapteron..." Warp Turtle trailed off in astonishment. "Did... did you fight it off?"
Mapteron slammed a fist down into the flooring. "I'm not turning into a murderer again! NOW LOCK ME DOWN, and get these people out of here!"
Neon Tiger and Warp Turtle quickly shackled Mapteron, Neon Tiger grabbing the now passive Maverick on the ground, and ran with him back to the shuttle. Blast Hornet sent his drones out to intercept any suddenly arcing jets of the strange energy, and then sealed the shuttle in their wake.
Word of the virus was spread urgently and quickly. With a disaster already on their hands, it didn't change the tension noticeably, but fear was creeping through every Maverick Hunter deployed now. Unit 76 was in one of the lower levels of the colony, their ship bored into the side with armored hull and lasers.
Turbo flickered around, blowing apart whatever devices were crackling with power, and disabling the crazed Mavericks that were in his range. Acid Seahorse, Pyrostrike, and Blast Squirrel focused on rounding up the panicked civilians with clear directions and shouts, Blast Squirrel especially serving as a rallying mark as he stayed in the air.
One of the Mavericks scrambled out from on top of an abandoned transport, roaring as she leapt to tackle Pyrostrike. With civilians all around him, he couldn't dodge, and he grabbed the diving Reploid, energy surging over him as he cried out.
"RUN! Get to the evac!"
He shoved the Reploid off with enough space. With the virus spread, the Reploid seemed to lose energy and collapse where she landed. Pyrostrike shivered and rattled, clutching at his head.
Acid Seahorse braced, ready to neutralize Pyrostrike if he had to. Civilians were too close, still, he couldn't take risks.
Blast Squirrel called down, "Pyrostrike! Talk to us!"
Pyrostrike continued to shiver, growling through his teeth as his head pulled back. A haze was clawing at the edges of his visor.
He felt it. The blinding rage, the bloodlust. Illogical hatred feeding any subtle negative emotion. But he had more this time. He wasn't an ignorant victim. He knew more than anyone what this was doing to him. He could still hear Alia's pained cry as he tore her arm apart, mocked her, tormented her.
The X-Hunter screamed in rage and guilt, his body flexing out as the surging power suddenly crackled, burst, and discharged off of him like so much exhaust.
"Never... again..." he seethed.
Turbo flickered up to him at last, and Pyrostrike didn't fight having restraints put on his arms.
"We have to go!"
Blast Squirrel swept down, grabbing the unconscious Maverick, securing her, and flitting after them. Acid Seahorse was relieved, and carried up the rear guard for them.
Zero was between areas, and his brow was creasing harder with every passing second. A volatile version of the Maverick Virus, a crashing space-colony, and the evacuation wasn't happening fast enough.
He sliced through debris as the colony shook violently and constantly, shouting and waving for scattered civilians to cross his path to join the other evacuation groups.
Screams behind him made Zero twist, his optics locking on a horrifying sight.
One of the Mavericks had made it to the crowd, and grappled one of the Maverick Hunters there. In a few seconds, the Hunter was a roaring, raging Maverick as well! The first Maverick collapsed, but the other whipped around, wounding several humans with his cutting blades on his arms.
Zero flickered into view over the closest human, his Z-saber out and blazing with emerald fire, his expression darkly morose.
The collapsed Maverick and the infected Hunter last all four limbs in a shearing rush that followed in Zero's wake.
"There are medical supplies on the shuttles! Hurry! Hunters! Help anyone who can't run!"
As the crowd finally started to empty away past him, Zero glanced around quickly. With no immediate rescues needed, he might be able to carry the two infected he'd just disabled.
A group of Mavericks came leaping over benches and transports off to his right, and Zero ran to meet them. The first few were disabled via lopped-off limbs, but one of them roared at Zero—and the energy discharge leapt across the gap, scattering over Zero's shoulder and head.
Zero shouted in pain and frustration, stumbling back... but he paused, just wincing a bit as his systems surged with power.
The Reploids around him discharged, pouring more of the viral energy into him, but as they collapsed, he simply glowed with power.
Zero looked down at his hands, growing afraid.
A thunderous crash and chorus of screams in the distance snapped his attention across the span, to see one of the other evacuation groups suddenly trapped by a burning, collapsed building, with Mavericks running up from all sides.
Zero shot forward, and his body flashed into a stain on the air with his empowered speed.
The shocked civilians only saw a warping, rushing wave of green-white power before Zero appeared on their far side. The Mavericks were all collapsing, their energy gone, and Zero roared as he slashed down with his blade into the collapsed building.
A pulse-wave of green power erupted from his slash, incinerating the building clear to the far side, creating a gash through the debris several meters wide.
Zero's eyes were wide with horror at his own power, but he hid it quickly, and snapped to the people behind him. "HURRY! Evac is still loading!"
As they finally started to pour around him, Zero took a shuddering respiration, and jogged over, starting to collect the disabled Mavericks so he could get them out, too.
Alia looked to Signas. "Sir, the virus is disabling dozens of our people. Some of them can somehow shrug it off, but not everyone!"
"We need mass quarantines set-up around the docks. We have to get everyone out, but we can't ignore the virus threat," Signas returned firmly, then tapped a control. "Commander-General, do we have any other resources to handle this virus vector?"
"I've been analyzing the data from Alia and Dex," X's voice returned, still oddly calm and detached. "It's an unstable variant. I'll have an anti-virus fabricated by the time evac is complete, but it will require direct application. Quarantine will be necessary."
Alia glanced across to Signas, and used their private line... which did not include X anymore. //It seems that only X-Hunters can resist the infection, and we can't be everywhere.//
//Our old failures finally have a pay-off,// Quickman's voice returned. //We're doing all we can, but time is running short.//
Alia nodded to herself, and then spoke across Maverick Hunter comms, "All units, we have five minutes. If your ship is full, get out of there!"
Airstrike's ship had docked some minutes after the first wave, when it was clear the lifeboats weren't enough. A full cruiser, it was soaking up fleeing civilians like a sponge along several dock-gates on its connected flank to the buckling space-colony. Airstrike himself was airborne, firing flares from one of his turbine-busters to draw attention from as far as possible. He also fired the occasional hawk-torpedo down toward rabid Mavericks to help cripple them and keep them away from panicked civilians.
On the ground, Crush Crawfish put himself deep, beyond the civilians, able to quickly sever servos from Mavericks. His claws did start to jitter and quake with the virus, but he periodically smashed the ground with them to apparently assert dominance over his own frame, dispersing the viral contagion like static.
Shimmer ran along with groups of civilians, casting cloak-fields over them to help them break away from chasing Mavericks. He then speared the infected limbs with his stinging plasma bolts to disable them until he could finish with any given group, then run back to secure and carry the infected as well.
Inferno used his bulky frame to carry groups of civilians at a time, especially through rougher terrain.
Just as he let a group go toward the ship, part of the floor exploded open near him, and jolts of viral power stormed up his body.
Inferno roared in pain, stumbling away while grabbing at his head. Airstrike, Shimmer, and Crush Crawfish all froze, locking their optics on him to assess how bad it would get.
Growling thunderously, Inferno reared back, stomped his feet wide, and wrenched his arms out, screaming in anger and guilt as the haze finally burned off of his optics and the power dispersed off his frame.
Fresh reminders of the torturous murder he'd performed in the manufacturing facility under Sigma kept his mood dour despite his successful defense.
"Inferno, do you need to fall back?" Airstrike checked, his tone more sympathetic than the words alone would imply.
"No... I need to help."
And Inferno ran for the next group struggling through quaking wreckage.
Deepfreeze and Blizzard Buffalo were uniquely suited to the disaster at hand. They snap-froze huge chunks of terrain or bulkheads, temporarily halting their ability to carry current of any kind. This let swathes of civilians rush toward their ship safely.
This was further aided by Overload and Volt Catfish. While the viral discharges weren't truly electricity, they were utilizing electrical systems, and the portions of the arcs that were raw electrical charge allowed both of them to redirect, contain, and disperse it rapidly.
Periodically, each of them had to shiver and lock up, fending off the virus' attempts, but they kept at it, each painfully aware of how many Reploids they'd helped kill or injure the last time they fell to the virus.
Gravity Beetle groaned as his arms shivered out from his body. He was unleashing powerful waves of his anti-gravity weapons to keep a deep-level hall clear as civilians ran through to get to his unit's breach-shuttle in the wall not far behind him.
Quickman flickered about the civilians, fending off rabid Mavericks at the rear, and periodically shoving them away on the flanks from the utility tunnels Gravity Beetle couldn't afford to block.
Tunnel Rhino and Barrel were at two different junctions, shouting and giving directions to escape as workers for the space-colony were cut off from better escapes by collapsed stairs, ladders, and malfunctioning lifts.
A Maverick suddenly leapt from behind one wave of civilians, grappling onto Barrel's back as he was mid-shout for another group further on.
Barrel barked and twisted, grabbing at the smaller Maverick on his back, even as the infection started to crackle and jitter over his frame.
"Barrel!" Tunnel Rhino shouted, breaking formation to run to his comrade's side.
"Stay away!" Barrel shouted, gritting his teeth after and arcing his back as he groaned violently with the effort of resisting the blinding rage of the infection.
The carrier Maverick finally dropped off his back, unconscious, and Barrel shivered around a few steps before he finally curled down, clutching his head... and the energy dispersed off his frame.
"...Barrel?" Tunnel Rhino called, only just loud enough over the disaster around them.
Barrel straightened, nodding to his friend. "Still clear-headed for now. Let's get these civilians on board, then you can lock me down?"
Tunnel Rhino nodded, waving sharply as another group of civilians ran around the closest corner.
Unit 61 was having a rough day. Tripwire, Spikesaw, and Snapvice were charging along with a large group of civilians, firmly giving directions as they tried to get them away from a cluster spawn of Mavericks. A huge bulkhead had burst to life with the viral energy right into a group of fleeing civilian Reploids. A perfect storm.
Lancing plasma bolts rushed over the trio's heads, taking out legs of the Mavericks behind them in rapid order at last. The Mavericks continued to violently crawl along, but were drastically slowed.
Cadis reverted her sniper-rifle back into her arm, her half-visor shifting to scanning rather than targeting modes again as she quickly looked around from her perch in a burning tree, near the ship her unit had used.
"Looking clear for now! Come on, come on!" she confirmed into her unit's local comms.
"Nice shooting!" Tripwire returned, and then twisted, waving everyone past him.
Once Snapvice and Spikesaw were around his position, Tripwire coiled his tethers, then fired them off toward the Mavericks.
"Tripwire, what are you doing!?" Cadis barked in dismay as she dropped down from her perch.
"They need help, too!"
His tethers coiled around the furthest Mavericks first, the energy shooting down the lengths and into his frame almost instantly. Tripwire cried out, falling to his knees.
Cadis froze, realizing she couldn't touch him to help. "Tripwire, don't make me hurt you, too! Why do you always..." she growled out of it, rushing closer even so.
It was her voice that really cut through his haze. The only survivor of his wrongs as a Maverick himself. All her friends slaughtered, her forced to huddle in the shadows for hours, thinking it was her fault.
The energy burst off parts of his frame, his visor locking ahead, and he kept lashing his tendrils, whipping the discharged Mavericks back to himself.
"Would you stop!" Cadis called to him, her hands hovering around him anxiously, not touching as he kept re-blasting himself with infection energy. "Tripwire, if you make me put you in emergency stasis, I am going to yell at you for an hour after we get you a new frame!"
"Just... one more..." Tripwire groaned out.
Snapvice and Spikesaw were urgently looking out from the gate of their ship, not wanting to expose the civilians aboard if they left them.
Tripwire finally got the last Maverick's unconscious body yanked back to his knees, and he roared as he straightened his frame. At last, the energy dispersed. He slumped, panting, and Cadis exhaled with relief... though she still thumped him upside the head.
"Ow!"
"You dolt! Now come on! Let's get these guys on board!"
He chuckled out of it, and hefted himself up to grab Reploids with her, both of them hurrying back to their ship.
Storm Owl looked across the controls of his carrier, checking the scanners. The evacuation was almost complete, but Eurasia was shaking all the more. He had to grip the side of his control console to avoid being thrown aside during a particularly rough rupture in the colony's top level.
"Slash Beast, Vi, are we secure?" he called into comms sharply, gesturing at the bridge crew. They started to prepare to take off.
Vi, the cyborg woman rescued by Shimmer during the Repliforce rebellion, ran up the boarding ramp behind the last few people, twisting to quickly assess the area, "No one else!"
Slash Beast grabbed an aged human from Vi's group, and hefted her into the ship. "Sorry," he added to her quickly as Vi leapt back inside and he locked down the entry hatch. "Yeah, Storm Owl, we're clear!"
Storm Owl started to call for departure, but halted, looking out in alarm at a lone Reploid just shuffling out from behind flaming wreckage. It was crackling with the virus, but without prey to hunt, it was just a suffering, wounded Reploid, unaware of how much danger it was in.
He was caught. He had never been infected, and he knew the risks were intensely high for him if he bolted out to the victim. Yet his duty was clear.
"Start to detach! I need to gather that Maverick!"
"Sir, look!" one of the crew declared.
Storm Owl looked out again, his eyebrows rising as he saw Zero rush in, grab the Maverick, glow vibrantly with the viral attack, and boost-leap for Storm Owl's ship all in one fluid rush of motion.
"Get a hatch open for Zero!" Storm Owl ordered urgently instead.
"Aye, sir!"
Zero saw the hatch pop open just near the bridge, nodded to the viewports, and ran to it, dropping inside with his rescue.
And all of the Maverick Hunter ships finally pulled away, like fish darting off a disturbed wreck. Even as they did, across all of the ships, Airstrike and his fellow X-hunters, their unit-mates, Zero, and even the Hunters down in HQ watching the scanners, began to fall into despair. Down on Earth, Depthcharge was watching in dismay on a holoscreen, Jessica sitting on the couch behind him, a hand held to her mouth in horror.
Eurasia was too close to Earth's surface. The red-line was just behind it. Dex had to check, his console running calculations. "...This will... decimate the surface..."
Alia was in shock. She was frozen, unsure what to do for once, her hands shivering over the controls.
And then X's disturbingly calm voice filled the comms.
"Web Spider, initiate. Epsilon protocol is engaging."
Web Spider slammed down the confirmation for firing on his primary console, his entire base quaking with the pulsing shock of the huge cannon finally unleashing it's vibrant mass of charge and plasma.
The cannon-beam flashed across the sky, and pierced Eurasia like it had fallen on a glowing spike... just before a catastrophic detonation from the conflicting energies tore the space colony into several huge chunks.
"It won't be enough!" Dex cried in dismay.
Signas looked down to the central display with Alia, his brow creasing.
"...What is epsilon protocol?"
Alia blinked, and watched as the display shifted to global mapping... with several cities across most of the continents on the hemisphere flashing brightly.
"...Something's activating..." Alia breathed out in confused fear.
Tall, powerful sky-scrapers in dozens of cities started to transform. Yellow-white light crackled and stormed over their surfaces as huge plates shifted out, then down, exposing tremendous pylons thrumming with the yellow energy, each lifting up into position as the highest point in each city.
Mad power skittered and jolted up each pylon, to the tip, and then arced, burst, and then ripped across the sky. They all converged toward different chunks of the Eurasia wreckage.
Fear turned to awe as the Maverick Hunters watched. Yellow-white power tore through every piece of Eurasia, vaporizing most of the mass, shattering the rest into tiny particles, and managing to catch and blast those particles around between storming foci of power as if in the sway of some great undertow.
In seconds, Eurasia's wreck was nothing more than tiny debris, already burning up in the last reaches of the atmosphere as the yellow power finally faded.
Stunned silence filled every ship, HQ's halls, and even many streets and cities watching the disaster live on the holonet.
The inactive pylons boomed, lowered, and receded as their housing structures resealed into apparently normal buildings once again.
Zero rested a hand on the viewport he was using to see this, Storm Owl, Vi, and Slash Beast watching behind him in open awe.
"...How did he build that...?" Zero whispered to himself, a strange dread washing over him.
On that very ship, down in the hold with the rescued civilians, Dynamo was covered in a simple cloak, similar to many others present... but he was frowning sharply at the view.
His client would not be pleased.
The news coverage in the hours after the incident was muddled. The scandal of just how a massive weapon system had been built in dozens of cities across the globe was quickly buried under heroic descriptions and statistics on how many lives would have been lost if the wreckage had impacted. This included affirmations that the former-Repliforce reinforcements of the Maverick Hunters were exactly the right decision.
There was even footage of Commander-General X, in his strangely grim, gray, knight-like armor, shaking hands with Council Chair Teagan at a press conference.
And before the day was even out, squads of Maverick Hunters were deployed into the cities. Maverick Hunter troops, mostly former-Repliforce, marched along in the wake of high-ranked veterans, like Airstrike, Deepfreeze, Quickman, Cadis, Turbo, Mapteron, and Storm Owl.
These squads marched through civilians, into various buildings, places of business, and even a few residences. Alarm and protest were dismissed with official holos. Council-approved Maverick arrest.
Reploids were being pulled from their places of work, homes, or adopted families. All under the implication that they were tied to the Eurasia disaster. Even the news coverage of these Reploids crying out in protest, with civilians shouting about the violation of rights, were quickly buried in the headlines.
And Alia was watching all of this from Maverick Hunter HQ, her optics grim as they shifted from feed to feed, some internal, others public. She was watching Maverick Hunters act like secret police...
She finally spoke up on the X-Hunter lines again.
//I traced the news coverage oddities as much as I can without setting off alarms. Various contributions from dozens of dummy corporations barely an hour after we'd finished evac.//
Mapteron replied, //And our 'evidence' for arresting these civilians?//
//Classified at the highest level. Only the Commander-General has it all, and the Council is taking his word as gold these days.//
Signas joined in discretely, not shifting his optics from the same feeds Alia was viewing, simply a few paces further to the side, near Dex's station. //Supposedly based on the Commander-General's new virus-detection system that's housed in that private fortress over our heads.//
Cadis followed next. //I'm definitely uncomfortable with what's going on, but I'm also a little weirded out by the suspect my squad arrested. Now that there's no one watching, he's... just kinda seething. Not responding to questions.//
//Who would?// Dr. Cain's voice cut in, a sharp tinge of bitter anger to his voice. //This is beyond the line. X has been reclusive and worrisome these past months, but we can't ignore this.//
//I do have a question.// It was Pyrostrike.
Alia returned, //What is it?// with a more softened tone to her old mentor.
//Where is Zero?//
Alia frowned, and finally turned to her console proper, moving to it and adjusting a few controls. Her brow knitted further. //...He's off grid. He has to be actively blocking tracking for this.//
Signas added, //Warp Turtle, Shimmer, get eyes on our wave of Mavericks in the stocks, please. I don't like how quickly things are falling off the map.//
//Copy.// Warp Turtle affirmed, shifting out of his lab that moment.
Shimmer blinked, already in the stockade. //I'll do a quick headcount while Warp arrives.//
Iris hurried to her door, already concerned before she'd opened it. Zero was there, and she didn't even have time to ask what was wrong before he rushed past her, and signaled the door to close. He was trembling, and held himself against the wall immediately after. If he were human, she would've expected him to pass out any second.
"Zero, what's wrong? A-are you injured from the disaster...?" She had a million questions about the Eurasia incident, but now she had far more pressing concerns before her.
"I'm scared," Zero breathed out heavily, very much forcing the words out with his respirator cycle. "Please, help..."
Iris' eyes widened, and she hurried closer to him putting her arms around him from the side. "Zero, I'm here. Of course, I'll help. Come away, sit..."
He moved with her, and that somehow frightened her more. He was always stubborn and proud, but right now he was frail and passive. He all but collapsed into the couch of her living room before she could slip in beside him, her armored coat folding.
Zero stayed inside her arms, but he also folded over, a hand clutching his helmet, the other clawed down in his vision. He could almost see the crackling viral energy on it again. "A-am I infected?"
Iris' concerns were not diminishing. "N-no, Zero. Why on earth would you think that?"
"I-it made me stronger! It felt... good. I felt like I was rejuvenated, like I was somehow restored."
Iris rattled her head subtly to try to keep up. "What did, Zero...? Please, cycle your breath, calm. I'm here, I'm listening. You have time."
Zero started to burst emphatically, but calmed abruptly as their eyes locked. He shifted gestures fully, and reached up to gently caress her cheek. She tilted her head to his touch, but didn't try to hide how worried she still was for him.
"...You're okay? You're safe?"
Iris nodded. "I'm safe, Zero. So are you, here, with me," she offered with a little smile.
He did finally seem to ease fractionally, and sagged, his head resting at her shoulder. She would have blushed if not for how concerned she was, and instead she just held onto him, caressing his ponytail.
After a few moments of silent recovery, his voice finally rasped up at her ear. "How much do you know about the space colony?"
Iris focused, becoming serious as much as worried. "I did some... less than legal digging as soon as it started. The viral discharges struck you?"
He nodded rapidly.
"Did you hurt someone?"
His head shook just as fast.
"What has you so frightened, Zero? Please..."
"The virus empowered me, Iris... like it belonged in my system. I could... I could almost do things like X."
Iris did lock up for a beat, the levels of shock taking a few seconds to wear off. "...And... you didn't want to be examined at HQ?"
"I don't know what's happening!"
She gave him a comforting squeeze.
"I'm sorry, I just panicked. I didn't know who to trust, especially after that super-weapon appeared out of nowhere to destroy the colony! Y-you... you're the only person I knew for sure wouldn't turn on me..."
Iris' lips parted softly in deep shock and sympathy. In another context, that sentiment would've made her swoon. "...And you were right, Zero. I'm here to help you. And... I agree that something is very wrong with X."
Zero nodded, and only then eased back a little to look into her eyes again. "D-do you know anything about that super weapon he activated?"
Iris nodded seriously.
Zero cleared his throat, and straightened a bit. "Tell me."
Iris eased upright herself, taking a moment to collect her thoughts, folding her hands together in her lap. "It was fabricated under Council approval. Their security is laughable if you know their tricks. There was something else I managed to crack out of a deep-security server under... Maverick Hunter control."
Zero's brow creased. "Go on?"
Iris eased more fully. If Zero wasn't going to reprimand her for cracking Hunter security, it meant they were very much on the same page, and she didn't have to couch her terms as much. "The discharge system was programmed with anti-viral properties. New ones. Coding I've never seen before."
Zero's expression persisted, and his head eased back warily. "How exactly...?"
Iris nodded to his trailing question, deadly serious now. "That discharge specifically countered the virus on the space-colony as it fired. I suspect your medical teams will find all the victims cured once they actually analyze them from the ambient charge it created across the atmosphere. But that's not the most interesting part."
Zero's attention was locked.
"The anti-virus was coded weeks ago, at least... and those creation dates for the files of code had been doctored. The coding work done to doctor them was incredibly sophisticated, so I'm still trying to parse the original dates."
Zero sank back into her couch, his optics wide and glancing around as he tried to process this information. "...X knew about the virus before it was ever used to attack us."
"That's the very strong implication, yes."
Zero leaned onto his knees again, his shock and fear finally fading to purpose and focus once more. "...Signas, Alia, are they involved?"
Iris shrugged gently. "I have no proof they know or were involved."
Zero nodded, and looked to her almost sadly. "...I know fighting is nothing but nightmares for you, but I don't know who else to ask for help now, Iris..."
Iris smiled gently, touching his arm. "This is the life we've got, right?"
Zero smiled a little at last at the reminder.
"I'm with you, Zero. What do you need?"
Jessica was worried. Though the disaster had been averted by Depthcharge's old comrades, everything happening since was weighing on both of them... but especially him. She had just finished washing up some dishes in her home in the country, where Depthcharge stayed with her since he'd left the Hunters. Her mind was lost in painful thoughts, so she just stared off into space while drying her hands for too long.
"...You alright?"
She stirred, looking over to see her dear Reploid ducked under some of the cabinets to look at her. How he could stand to navigate his massive frame through her tiny, human-sized home was lost to her, but he never seemed frustrated by it.
"I-I am, Depth, it's just... Are you?"
He blinked, and then his efforts melted away. He bowed his head with closed optics. "...No. I'm... sure it's no surprise, but I'm struggling with the urge to go back and help. I'm very sorry. I will keep my word to you."
Jessica was relieved to see him admit it. She came out of the kitchen, stepping around to him, and caressed his metal cheek. She could see it soothe him, which always charmed her, even in such a painful moment.
"I was so happy when you came walking up that hill, away from all the nightmares and violence."
He nodded gently, offering a wan smile with his optics.
"...But can you forgive yourself, if you don't go back?"
He blinked, and didn't hide the fear her question pulled to the front of his mind. "I... I don't know..."
Jessica eased closer, wrapping an arm around his neck to hug him since he was far too big to hug otherwise. One of his great hands softly held to her back to return it.
Even in that embrace, her eyes opened, worried for him... and guilty for holding him away from where his core wanted to be.
...She had to think.
Dr. Gate was staring in barely controlled fury at a large holoscreen, his fists clenched in the screen-lit gloom of part of his lab. He finally let out a roar at the footage of the vaporized space colony, and slammed both fists into the large console at his waist, denting parts of it.
The door behind him hissed open, Dynamo raising an eyebrow as he sauntered into the room. "Need to watch your core temp there, boss. No reason to get steamed."
Gate slowly glared over his shoulder. "Says the agent who completely failed to stop this utter loss of months of effort. Eurasia was to set the stage for the rest of my work, you fool! What reason do I have to keep you around now!?"
Dynamo shrugged. "I did everything you ordered, but by the time I could delay anything, I would've been really obvious to the Maverick Hunters. I figured that would ruin your plans worse, wouldn't it?"
Gate narrowed his optics to slits, but did straighten, calming as he looked forward again. He touched a control that he hadn't crunched, and the lab was lit up, more screens popping into existence all around it. Body designs, virus coding, chemical compositions were all detailed out heavily on each, as well as geographic locations spread across the planet.
Gate fully turned to face Dynamo at last. "I can see how you survived so long. You have some brains under that ridiculous helmet plating."
Dynamo just reacted by smoothly brushing his hands along said helmet, clearly fond of it.
Gate continued, "The rest of my plan can still work, it just demands more process after the fact. You'll scout a few specific locations for me. You have the week to get this done, or you're not getting a single credit."
Dynamo just offered his hand, and Gate dryly slapped a datapad into it.
"And my payment for the colony job?"
Gate glowered, but touched part of his own forearm, exposing a miniature console, which he tapped into rapidly. "Done."
Dynamo glanced off, internally checking accounts... then smiled. "I'm on the job, boss." He tipped his hand as if his helmet could come off with it, and slipped out of the room again.
Gate looked down through the flooring, glowering, but also pondering. "With the Zero-virus completely stymied, I have to move forward with the Nightmare project." He brought a hand up to rub his chin slowly. "I need to buy time. My team isn't ready yet..."
He stopped, clearly realizing something, and shifted to his console, pulling a new screen up. Whatever he saw made him start to smile again.