|
The Dream Machine Chapter 14: Break! “Zero, I need you to check this out for me.” Zero turned from the data pad he was studying and saw Aya of the 13th unit rushing up to him with one of her own. Zero quickly skimmed over the data and looked a bit annoyed and curious. “This is an abandoned, above-ground compound.” Zero tapped the screen. “Why are you showing this to me?” “We got wind that there are Mavericks hanging out at that compound. Since Commander X has been hitting mainly Maverick compounds, I thought…” Zero jumped out of his seat and gave Aya a quick pat on the shoulder before tearing out of the room. “Thanks!” He yelled as he disappeared past the doorway. An amused look crossed Aya’s face. “This should be fun.” She mused. “Aya, have you seen Zero?” Fade, one of the members of X’s 17th unit poked her head through the doorway, carrying something in her arms. “He just left for a mission.” Aya approached the other Hunter and tried to get a better look at the bundle in Fade’s arms. “Why do you need him?” “Someone’s looking for him; another one of those little bot things.” Fade showed Aya the assistant bot wrapped in a metallic thermo blanket. “He’s not doing well, but he’ll live. Said something about needing Zero’s help and gave me a set of coordinates before he passed out.” Aya considered the bot for a second. Surely this had something to do with Dr. Sky. “Show me the coordinates.” Fade presented a sheet of paper with coordinates written on it. Aya immediately recognized it. “You said ‘another one of those little bot things.’ Has another one been by before?” “Yes, a couple of days ago.” Fade tiled her back slightly in thought. “She was very cute… Emma was her name, I think. Commander Doyle accidentally ran into her, and then teased her about writing a love letter to Zero.” The pieces started to fall into place. Of course Doyle would recognize Emma. Aya thought. She recalled from her research a photograph of the Sky family…standing before their new laboratory years ago. Their daughter, Azria Sky, held a doll tightly in that photograph. Emma was modeled after that doll. Doyle would remember; having lived with the Sky’s since activation. Sky would still be alive, but not for long. “I’ll take care of it.” Aya smiled. “Take the bot to the infirmary and have Alia or Douglas take a look at him.” She looked down at Evariste, who started to open his big blue eyes. “Don’t worry about Dr. Sky, okay? I’ll take care of her.” Evariste nodded and closed his eyes again. “Better hurry.” ------------------------------------ Klink. Something made a noise outside of Dr. Sky’s cell. From the window. Normally this would not be a noise she would investigate. It would either be Milnor, one of the more playful assistant bots trying to set up a trap for the others, or an escaped squirrel outside from her green house But this window doesn’t lead to outside. It leads to one of the tunnels that the Mavericks dug. There are no squirrels. Not to mention I’m bored to death. Sky moved to the window and stood on her tip toes to peer out. Nothing but dirt… must be my imagination. “HI!” Someone stuck her head within view, causing Dr. Sky to fall backwards with surprise. “Are you okay?” Dr. Sky looked up and saw it was Aya. “Dang it, Aya, did you have to do that?!” The scientist nursed her back as she got up. “But I am glad to see you. Did Evariste make it back to the base okay?” “Yeah, someone’s taking care of him.” Aya peered around the small cell. “Wow, what horrible accommodations.” “I’m not here on vacation!” Sky protested angrily, waving her arms in the air. “Get me out of here!” “Okay, okay.” Aya presented a laser cutter. “Just give me a little time to make this hole bigger.” Sky nodded and stood back as Aya slowly cut through the bars. She just hoped someone wouldn’t discover them in the meantime. “Time for dinner.” Someone announced outside Sky’s door. Ahhh! I spent hours here without food or water and now they decide to bring me food? Of all the times… during my escape?! “Uh… I’m not hungry right now!” Sky tried to speak loudly to drown out the noise of the laser cutter. The door started to open and she impulsively shoved it back. “A girl and her diet, you know!” She nervously laughed. Even Aya rolled her eyes at the terrible excuse. “Hey!” The Maverick on the other side of the door shouted. “You made me spill this soup! Now you’re going to get it!” He shoved the door open, which threw Sky slightly backwards. The Maverick first looked angrily at Sky, then with surprise at Aya. “What the…” Sky spun around. “I’ve got to tell you Aya! Allison, no Doy-” The Maverick clamped his hand over Sky’s mouth and started to drag her off. “Mmmmff!!!” Dr. Sky hit and kicked at the Maverick to no avail. Down the hallway from where Aya stood, several Maverick guards had been alerted of the intruder. “I’ll come back for you!” Aya shouted before darting out of view from the window, sinking Dr. Sky’s hope of escaping. She stopped struggling and allowed the Maverick to drag her out of the cell. What’s worse, she hadn’t managed to warn Aya about Doyle. ----------------------------------------------- X arrived at the abandoned compound. The detector Dr. Light built him showed a massive reading of the Zero Virus at that place. Normally Hunters could not track down Zero Virus readings from afar. One of the Hunters must physically be in proximity for the reading to take place, making it hard to track down Maverick bases. This detector Light built him was much superior. The range was a good two thousand miles, making the effort a lot easier. Easier? X thought to himself as he pushed the large doors to the hanger open. Should it be this easy? The doors opened. It was never easy, and it shouldn’t be easy now. A Reploid landed not far from in front of him. X immediately recognized the Reploid as a member of the 13th unit. “Weaver?” X couldn’t contain his surprise. The Hunter did not look like he was here on official business of any kind, and the look on the Hunter’s face told X that Weaver had gone Maverick… and yet… how come he was getting no reading? “X, so you’ve found this base.” Weaver casually slinked towards X. “Are you here to kill us?” “What are you doing here?” X demanded. “My other job. I suppose since you’re about to die anyway, I can tell you that I’ve gone Maverick, along with a couple of other ex-friends of yours.” Weaver bared his teeth, almost smiling. “Would you care to join us, now that you’ve officially renounced the Hunters?” “I’ll never be like you.” X shook his head. “I still have a conscience.” “A conscience?” Weaver said incredulously. “A conscience?!” Weaver placed his hand on his chest for emphasis. “I’m not the one killing every Reploid in sight! At least I’ve got a narrower spectrum.” Weaver pointed his finger accusingly at X. “You’re just walking Death! You’re more of a monster than any one of us will be.” It was then that the Reploids actually emitting the Virus readings leaped out from behind the boxes and lunged at X. Firing energy blasts to push the rush of Mavericks back, X looked for an out. He was in the lower in ground position, a disadvantage with a long distance weapon. Right now it would make sense to draw the Z-saber. He could take care of more of them close range with a sword swing than an energy blast. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It’s Zero’s sword. The Mavericks started to close in, there were too many of them to deal with like this. An green blur of light slashed through the Mavericks closest to X. When the Mavericks fell, Zero’s and X’s eyes met. Without words, they agreed now was not the time for them to fight and continued to work on killing the Mavericks. When they were done, their attention turned to Weaver. “What are you doing here?” Zero asked Weaver, already suspecting the truth. “Those Mavericks looked like they were taking orders from you.” “He’s a Maverick.” X explained. “He confessed, but I’m not getting a reading. Are you?” “Fool, it’s not an ordinary strain of the Zero Virus.” Weaver started to glow. “Now you’ll both die.” In a bright flash, Weaver grew large talons in both arms and scratched them against each other. “So who wants to go first?” Without another word, Zero drew his saber and leapt at Weaver, not noticing the large crate suspended in mid air above his path. X saw one of the downed Mavericks eyeing it anxiously, waiting for the right moment to throw a kunai at the thin rope it hung from. Before X could stop the Maverick, a kunai shot through the air towards the rope. It was too late for Zero to stop by the time he noticed. X propelled himself through the air and grabbed Zero, throwing both of them off the falling crate’s path. Though they escaped the heavy crate, they were flying straight into some exposed steel beams from construction. Steel beams and debris exploded from where the two Hunters landed. Zero winced at landing awkwardly on his back, but his internal systems told him everything was fine. He looked and saw he narrowly missed getting skewered by some of the nearby beams. Another couple of feet… “Arrugh…” Zero whipped his head around and saw that X had not been so fortunate. A bloody steel beam protruded from his chest, live wires stuck out menacingly, and X’s face looked very pale. “X!” Zero wanted to do something, but moving X or trying to get the beam out could cause more damage. Yet he couldn’t just leave X sitting there. “I’m not finished with you!” Weaver leaped at Zero, brandishing his talons. Zero quickly reactivated his saber and jumped up to meet Weaver. The light of the saber was intense, the fire superior to normal. When the saber and Weaver’s talons met, there was no contest. Weaver was sliced immediately in half. Zero gazed back at Weaver’s remains, eyes burning with hatred. A moment passed before Zero regained composure and rushed back to tend to X. “X?...” Zero surveyed the area around the pool of blood. The blue Hunter, though, was nowhere to be found. “X.” Zero whispered sadly before turning to leave. Fan Fiction - Top |
