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21XX
Axl grimaced, gripping the pistol in his left hand as the right arm hung limp at his side, wading through the Reploid scrap piled waist-high across the wasteland, searching for survivors.
And I thought Crimson Castle’s wreckage was bad, yeesh...
“Axl,” X’s voice rang from his earpiece, “status report.”
The prototype Copy-Reploid shook his head on instinct before answering. “Nothing. Just scrap and scrap and even more scrap.” Even as his ankle brushed against more loose wires, he kept trudging. Maybe he should ask. “X, it’s been four years since this new war broke out. I think we should wake-”
“No.” X’s voice gained a noticeable edge to it. “He made it clear not to wake him up, under any circumstances.” The first Reploid sighed. “Besides, we’d need Mother Elf to undo the seal, and we can’t rescue her unless we track down Weil anyway.”
Axl’s eyes widened upon hearing that. This was the first he’d heard of it, but it made sense. If he was still a carrier for the Maverick Virus, then Mother Elf was a pretty smart security measure.
He holstered his gun, satisfied that nothing would jump out to attack him. “Alright, X. Do you have any idea where he is?”
X sighed again. “I don’t know...wait a second.” He audibly grit his teeth. “We’ve caught him on radar north of Noah’s Park, if you can get fixed up in time I’ll meet you there!”
Axl grinned, activating his teleporter. “On my way!”
Ten minutes later, with his arm bolted back in place and his weapons locked and reloaded, Axl warped onto the battleground and immediately dodged as an enormous energy blade crashed down where he’d been standing, carving into the stone like it was butter.
X was already there, Buster visibly smoking from overuse as he dashed around the massive claw swiping at him. Axl jumped to his feet and pressed both his triggers down, shooting at the titan’s helmet to try and dent it. “X, what the hell is this thing?”
The blue bomber sped back to fire a Charge Shot into the giant’s back, causing it to stumble briefly. “Weil said its name was Omega, this is what he’s been working on! This is his weapon to enslave Reploidkind!” Jetting upward, he grimaced as bright light surrounded him, equipping an armor.
Axl dashed in to keep Omega busy, grabbing its sword arm and firing his thrusters at maximum to pull it away from the transforming hero. The giant roared, batting Axl aside and slamming him into the ground, but he’d succeeded, as X’s Ultimate Armor manifested once more.
“Take...this!”
With a roar of thunder, X dashed forward, body encased in lightning as the Nova Strike smashed through Omega’s raised claw, practically shattering it outright.
As the claw tried to regenerate itself, metal fragments floating up to reassemble themselves, Axl took his chance to rocket into the air and open fire. Shooting at the now-unarmored limb, it burst into flames and malfunctioned, arm dropping to the ground.
His own leg thrusters sputtered and died, and a warning flashed through his optics, showing that they were scorched beyond repair. Landing on the ground, he dodged Omega’s remaining arm as it swung, barely missing the copy-Reploid.
X slammed into the titan again, crashing into its chest and knocking it over with another Charge Shot. “Axl! Now!”
“You got it X!” Taking aim with both pistols, Axl opened fire, hitting the helmet’s neck joint with a persistent barrage of concentrated fire, trying to pierce the flexible material covering it. It began to tear, even as Omega struggled to evade, and finally it ripped apart under the continued bullet fire.
And that was when Axl saw a familiar red armor-plate through the hole, and his fingers slid off the triggers. “Zero?!”
X noticed it too, scowling. “I should’ve known...Weil would be able to access him since he has Mother Elf...and if anyone could synergize with her, it’d be her original data source!”
The copy-Reploid paused for a moment. “Wait, X, are you saying that Omega is actually Ze-!”
His question was interrupted by being slammed down by Omega’s sword, knocking him to the ground and denting his helm. More diagnostics flashed, showing that his Copy Chip’s data was malfunctioning. Axl’s eyes widened as it took effect, his body restructuring itself into something new.
Something...powerful. His hand closed on his pistol, which flashed with a glowing bolt of green lightning.
The next few moments were a blur, as he and X charged at the same time, triggering a Final Strike that vaporized Omega’s legs and remaining arm. From inside, the two could see Zero scratching at the torn neck material, trying to escape, a feral grin on his face and a violent red glow in his eyes, but he began to slow down as the damage caught up to him.
The copy-Reploid’s memory files were starting to grow corrupted. He wasn’t entirely sure what or who he was anymore...some sort of failsafe program was taking effect, reformatting his core as his Copy Chip shattered under the strain. His last thought before shutting down was...
X...
X watched as not only Omega shut down, but Axl too...or whatever he was now. He looked far different now. He contacted Hunter Base. “X to Headquarters. Omega...Zero’s been neutralized and Axl’s out of commission. I’ll bring them back for analysis now. Ready...ready two quarantine cells.”
A moment of silence passed before Layer responded. “X...understood. Setting warp coordinates now.”
Minutes later, X tapped his foot and waited as Layer analyzed his compromised comrades. “I’ve got news for both. Who do you want to hear about first?”
The blue bomber sighed. “Let’s get Zero out of the way.” He had a pretty good idea where this was going, even if he hoped it wasn’t true..
“Well,” she started, “mentally, there’s not much of him left. He’s pretty much entirely reverted to factory settings, in other words...he’s gone Maverick. ” She suppressed a sob. “At best, I could try to install a totally new personality, but I doubt it’d take. Zero...he’s gone.”
X clenched his fist. He’d expected it, but that didn’t make it any less painful to hear. “We need to seal him, as much as possible. Make sure Weil can’t get to him. Maybe Mother Elf could restore him, but for now...we need to treat him like any other non-viral Maverick.”
Layer tapped her screen, frowning. “We can’t let this get out.”
“It doesn’t have to,” X replied, “don’t let anyone know. As far as anyone else knows, this is just Omega we’re locking up.” He crossed his arms as Layer pressed a few buttons, sealing Zero semi-permanently within his quarantine cell. “And Axl?”
The navigator nodded. “Well, the bad news is, his memories are gone, too. Not like Zero, where it’s been reset to prior settings, I mean totally wiped. Also, his Copy Chip is fried, along with any data relating to who he was. Basically, he’s a whole new Reploid now, and he won’t be reverting anytime soon.”
X clenched his fist. “Is there any good news?”
“A bit.” Layer minimized the screen and turned to face X. “I think he managed to copy most of Zero’s data, and once his chip was damaged it pretty much bled into his own data to turn him into...well, this.” She turned the screen to show him.
It sort of looked like a bizarre cross between the two Reploids, Axl’s general frame combined with Zero’s colors and figure. Even his new hair was a dead ringer for Zero, but with a wilder style reminiscent of Axl’s fringe.
X peered closer at the Zero-Axl fusion. “How damaged is he?”
Layer sighed. “His circuits are extremely fried, it’s going to take almost a century for him to self-repair to an operational level, and if we try to tamper with it we could trigger a permanent shutdown or even a self-destruct, he’s in a very volatile state. For now, I think we need to quarantine him, for his own safety.”
X hesitated...but nodded. “Alright. Do it.” Layer nodded and tapped at her monitor, making it happen. “Goodbye, Axl...goodbye, Zero.”
22XX
When he awoke, he knew nothing, but he could hear a scream, and that was enough to spur him into action. Rising to his feet from the ankle-deep sludge coating the floor, his hand brushed against a weapon, picking it up on instinct.
Somewhere behind him, a girl spoke.
“Zero?”
Is that my name?
His eyesight cleared, revealing a horde of faceless blue machines marching towards them. His finger found the weapon’s trigger and gripped it tight, stepping in front of the girl to shield her.
“Help me. Please.”
As he saw these Mavericks advance, his trigger finger itched.
Mission Start