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The Dream Machine Chapter 5: Toppled Balance “It’s good to have you back, Zero.” Signas said. Some of the Maverick Hunters gathered at the command room of the Maverick Hunters HQ. Minutes after they met in front of Cove-08’s substation, Alia had arranged transportation to Cove-01 for Zero, X, and herself. Leaders of several other Maverick Hunter units, upon hearing of Zero’s return, had also rushed to join in the debriefing at the Maverick Hunters HQ. Dr. Cain was also present. “Thank you, sir.” Zero replied as he looked around the large meeting table. Many of the Hunters gathered were strangers to him. Alia told him that many of the Hunters perished during the Eurasia incident, and several were lost recently due to increased violence from Mavericks. It seems more Reploids were going Maverick than usual. The Maverick Hunters needed all the help they could get. “We’re still unsure of exactly how the Sigma matter was resolved before you disappeared.” It was one of the new unit leaders, Doyle, who spoke. “We haven’t formally been introduced yet. I’m Doyle, leader of the 13th unit.” Doyle shifted forward in his seat, revealing what Zero recognized as a double headed laser baton strapped to his back. “We are investigating the events leading to Sigma’s destruction, and perhaps you can answer some questions.” At that comment, several of the Reploids seated at the table glanced over to X. “Well, after I turned Maverick I fought X in battle. X let his guard down and I beat him. We were both severely damaged, and Sigma showed up. The next bits are a bit sketchy.” Zero looked evenly at his reflection in the highly polished tabletop. He looked up again to continue his account. “I think X beat Sigma, but when X’s back was turned, Sigma snuck up from behind X and shot us both. I used the last bit of my strength to destroy Sigma.” He looked towards X, who looked expressionless. “That’s all I can remember.” “Yes, thank you.” Doyle said, then turned to X. “X, can you guess why you can’t remember any of this?” “I couldn’t tell you, Doyle.” X now looked slightly concerned. “None of it except for Sigma sounds familiar. I wasn’t damaged when you found me; in fact, I was in pristine condition. It’s highly unlikely I survived a battle with Sigma without as much as a scratch.” X shook his head. “We think maybe part of his memory was deleted when we reactivated him at the labs.” Douglas, the Maverick Hunter’s top engineer, joined in the discussion. “There is a lot about X we still don’t understand, since he wasn’t constructed from the line of Reploids of Dr. Cain’s design.” Douglas nodded towards Dr. Cain. “He seemed to have lost all his memory about Zero, not just his memory from the battle with Sigma.” “Perhaps we can table this matter for now.” Signas got up from his seat at the head of the table. “Zero’s account of what happened is the only account we have, so there is nothing we need to do about this investigation right at this moment. I’d rather we talk about the Mavericks, who have been a force to reckon with these last several months. Since you’re all here, this is a good opportunity to debrief on that subject as well.” Signas glanced over at Alia, who got out of her chair and moved to the monitor at the front of the command center. “Five of the 20 coves in the western region of this continent have been attacked this week.” Alia announced. “Two were heavily damaged and evacuations were necessary as a precaution.” A photograph of the decimated cove was displayed on the screen. “We have caught three of the individuals responsible for these attacks. After downloading their memory files and analyzing their mainframe, we’ve discovered that these Mavericks have been infected-” a slight inflection could be heard in Alia’s voice “-with the Zero Virus. What’s even more disturbing is that each attack on the cities was masterminded by a single Maverick infected with the Zero Virus. Douglas.” Douglas pressed some keys on a digi-pad in front of him and immediately the monitor switched to a data readout of a single Reploid. “What you see on the screen now are data we collected on one of the Mavericks responsible for the attacks. We had data from the employer of this Reploid on the Reploid’s capabilities and specifications. That’s listed on the screen in green.” Douglas typed in something else in his digipad. “What you see now appearing in red beside the green numbers, are the calculated capabilities and specifications we came up with after we reviewed battle data with the Maverick collected by our Hunters.” “That’s probably the biggest concern, above all.” Sitting next to Douglas was the Reploid huntress Aya, who was another member of the 13th unit. “Output levels over 12 percent of prespecified limit should cause the main systems to shut down on the Reploid, and if the Reploid did not shut down, then it should have been burned out completely within 10 minutes. Yet, this Reploid demonstrated powers 30 percent above normal output for several hours as he attacked Cove-15.” “The 13th unit has been also investigating this matter.” Doyle’s stare went straight for Zero. “The effects of the Zero Virus are difficult to pin down at this moment, since we can only say there is a correlation between increased output ceilings and being infected by the Zero Virus. No laboratory data has been able to substantiate this.” “I already have a team of my best scientists looking into to the Zero Virus, Commander Doyle.” Dr. Cain finally spoke. “We can’t go around infecting Reploids with the Zero Virus to find out how it ticks, so we can only work strictly with the field data. If there’s anything to find from them, you can be sure I’ll find it.” “Thank you Dr. Cain.” Signas took control of the meeting once more as Alia returned to her seat. “Dr. Cain and his team of scientists will work on the Zero Virus data while the rest of the units work on defensive measures. We can’t make a move against anything or attempt to contain the virus until Dr. Cain’s team come up with a plan, so the only thing the units can do right now is to stop Mavericks before anyone else is harmed, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious.” “Zero,” Signas ordered, “you will work with X in the 17th unit. With your disappearance we divided the 0 unit’s members between the other units. Now is not exactly the right time to do any rearranging of the command structure. I hope you understand that it will be awhile until we get the 0 Unit back up again.” Zero nodded, and noticed X studying him from across the table. Signas continued to assign posts to the unit leaders, finally sending Unit 17 to Cove-02. The units are to leave for their new assignments the next morning. As the Hunters were filing out of the command room at the end of the debriefing, Amp, a member of Unit 17 rushed up to Zero. Amp had been waiting outside the command room for Zero. “Zero!” Amp said in a gleeful voice. “You’re back! I knew you’d be back!” “Amp,” Zero greeted the younger Reploid. “How’ve you been holding up?” “Doing okay.” Amp glanced over Zero’s shoulder and watched X leave with Douglas in the opposite direction. “Um… does X still not remember anything about you?” Zero nodded. “I was afraid of that. When I heard the news you were back, I thought maybe seeing you again would jog X’s memory.” “It’s not important if he remembers me.” Zero said. “We need to worry about the attacks right now.” “That’s just so like you to say, Zero.” Amp let out a sigh. “I’m glad you haven’t changed.” Zero’s eyes flickered a bit, curious as to what Amp meant by that comment. The younger Reploid noticed this and continued. “X has changed. Since the last battle with Sigma, I mean. It’s not something huge. His eyes have grown… colder. You know how he was, right? He’s very empathetic towards everything, including the enemy. Adamant about that standard all the time, makes no exceptions. You two balanced each other out in that respect.” An expression of panic crossed Amp’s face, worried that he had offended Zero. Zero shook his head and asked Amp to keep going. “With you gone, he lost some of that… like the balance got tipped.” The two Reploids caught up some more before Zero said goodbye to Amp and headed towards his new assigned quarters. “Balance got tipped, eh.” Zero muttered to himself. “X…” Fan Fiction - Top |
