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The Dream Machine Chapter 18: Cry “Ahem… I’d like a hot fudge sundae.” The clerk behind the counter locked his eyes on Zero, slightly confused by the order. “Did I hear you correctly, commander? You want a hot fudge sundae… for breakfast?” “Yes.” Zero leaned against the counter, suddenly feeling a little more assertive. “Hot fudge sundae.” “Right!” The clerk turned and started preparing the order. It was early in the morning, 6am to be exact, so only several other early birds were having breakfast. Zero purposely arrived early to avoid the crowd. “I always have one of these when I’m depressed.” X said brightly as he ate another spoonful. “It’s called a hot fudge sundae.” “Hi! I’d like twenty orders of breakfast A, please!” Zero heard Dr. Sky’s voice announce. Zero and the clerk’s eyes simultaneously went wide. “Twenty?” The clerk’s eyes went even wider when he saw Dr. Sky, who looked quite small standing next to Zero. “Are you sure?” “Oh! I mean twenty-one! I’m hungry, too.” Zero lowered his brow, then leaned slightly back to see the neatly lined up row of assistant bots looking up at their creator. The clerk, who couldn’t see any of the assistant bots, turned and continued to prepare the sundae, muttering something about “one of those days” as he worked. Dr. Sky and Zero exchanged awkward glances, each remembering the exchange they had the night before about X. Zero stormed off before she could say anything else to him. The assistant bots glanced curiously between the two as they stood in complete silence. “Here’s your hot fudge sundae, sir.” The clerk put the sundae on the counter. It was Dr. Sky’s turn to stare at Zero, as he quickly grabbed the dessert and walked to an empty table. The clerk turned his attention to Dr. Sky. “The twenty-one breakfasts will be 105 credits.” She stumbled a bit as she heard the amount, and the clerk continued. “Since you don’t work here, we don’t have an account for you, so….” “Oh dear...” She scratched the back of her head. “I totally forgot about credit. Um… anyone of you guys have any credits on you?” She looked hopefully at the assistant bots, who all shook their heads. “Uh… maybe you should cancel those orders…” Zero suddenly appeared back in front of the counter, having watched the exchange from his table. “Just put it on my account.” He quickly said to the clerk, and started back to his table again, before Dr. Sky could thank him. The clerk started handing Dr. Sky platters of breakfasts, which she handed off to the assistant bots. He looked a little relieved when he realized she wasn’t eating all of those breakfasts by herself. The assistant bots, lead by Evariste, headed off to join Zero at his table. The red hunter did not have time to protest before his table was crowed by the little robots. He sighed and continued eating his sundae. There was something strangely therapeutic about being surrounded by these little guys and eating the sundae. They were all quite happy, enjoying the breakfast, even the questionable oatmeal. He hadn’t felt this peaceful since the last time they sat together like this, when he was still staying at Dr. Sky’s lab. Zero sat alone inside the greenhouse, his gaze lost at the artificial sunset. Something bounced off his back, knocking him out of his trance. Upon turning around, he saw of Dr. Sky’s assistant bots picking up a rubber ball only slightly smaller than himself off the ground. The assistant bot headed towards Zero, with a playful look on his face. Zero turned back around and hoped the bot would leave him alone. He’d had enough optimism and cheerfulness from that scientist, but the bot did not leave him alone. Instead, he sat down next to Zero to watch the sunset. “You know, I had a friend who liked to play sports, too.” Zero spoke. The assistant bot beeped a reply. “No, he hated to compete; he didn’t like to keep scores.” Several more assistant appeared, probably to see why the first one did not return, and joined in the sun gazing. Soon, all twenty of them sat down, and urged Zero to continue talking about his friend. “He’s a great fighter, but he really hates to fight.” Zero smiled just a bit as he thought about X. “Pretty useless, if you ask me. Heh.” The strange thing about feelings is that it’s an erratic quality. Sometimes when you’re feeling very peaceful, you remember the most painful things. Evariste, who sat across from Zero, looked up from his food and saw something rolling down Zero’s cheek. The spoon Zero was holding clinked against the glass bowl as his hand shook. When Dr. Sky arrived at the table, she also noticed something was wrong with Zero. “Um…” She set down her meal tray and walked to Zero’s side of the table. “Zero?” He quickly stood up and rushed out of the room. “You guys be good and eat your breakfast, I’m going after him.” She followed Zero out the cafeteria, but he was already out of sight by the time she reached the hallway. Something else caught her eye, though… a familiar looking Reploid was being lead down the hallway, his hand in handcuffs in front. The Reploid also seemed to recognize her, and nervously turned his face away. “Hey…” Dr. Sky said suspiciously as she approached the familiar looking Reploid. “I’ve seen you before...” Something clicked in her head as she recalled where she saw this Reploid. “You’re soup guy!” “What?!” The Reploid nervously looked around. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He glanced at the hunter leading him down the hallway, silently pleading he would walk faster. “You spilled soup on yourself! At the Maverick base, when I was trying to escape!” She rushed up to him, her excitement brewing. “Were you at the base when it was destroyed?! How come you’re still alive?” “Uh…” The Reploid looked around again. “TALK!” She demanded. “Miss,” said the Hunter leading the Maverick, “I don’t think this is the appropriate place for interrogations.” “Just tell me!” She ignored the Hunter. “Was X there? Did he destroy the base?” The Maverick was still for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Yes… he killed everyone…after he got the data from the computers.” “So how come you’re still alive?!” She continued. Even the Hunter was interested now, and did not ask her to stop the impromptu interrogation. “I… hid…” He lowered his head, looking ashamed of something. “He killed everyone while I was hiding.” “You said data from the computers.” Her voice was a little calmer now. “What data?” “The Mavericks have been building…a new weapon.” The Maverick swallowed. “All of our conventional ones are no good anymore for attacks aimed at underground locations. So we built a new one.” “Doyle was a part of this?” She half whispered to herself. The next thing she knew, the Maverick had knocked down the Hunter guard, grabbed the light gun from the Hunter’s pocket and had it trained right between her eyes. His eyes were plastered with fear and desperation. “He’ll kill me! He’ll kill me!” He screamed as he waved the gun at Dr. Sky. A green flash blinded her momentarily. When she opened her eyes again, the Maverick was on his knees, blood and oil running from a large gash in his torso. She quickly stepped backwards as the Maverick fell all the way down, broken in two pieces. A green energy beam appeared again and speared the head of the Maverick. Looking up from the bloody mess, she saw Doyle as he pulled his light baton from the body. “Why…” She whispered. “He was about to kill you.” He said matter-of-factly as he deactivated his baton. “I was only doing my job.” “He was about to implicate you.” She narrowed her eyes. “You made sure you destroyed his memory banks so his data couldn’t be used against you, right? He was already dead, but you had to make sure he wouldn’t be a nuisance.” “Think what you want.” He smiled at her. “I would clean up, if I were you. When stains set in, it’s impossible to get out.” She looked at herself, realizing for the first time that the Maverick’s blood was splattered on her white lab coat. Several other hunters came up to her and asked if she was alright as Doyle walked away. ---------------------------- X grasped the computer chips in his hands. Before he destroyed the Maverick base, he extracted some interesting information. Killing the Mavericks one by one would take too long. Two would be built for everyone one he deactivated. This new weapon the Mavericks developed would do the job nicely. He smiled. Then he frowned again. Did I actually enjoy that thought? He shook his head. “Something kept you from this simplistically idiotic method before… What changed?” “This is the right thing.” X said to himself. His thoughts drifted back. “Mommy, mommy!” A child screamed as she started to push away the rubble burying her mother. X approached the child, unsure if anything he could say would make her feel better. He was sure her mother was dead, but started to help her remove the rubble anyway. She cried in his arms when they found her mother, barely recognizable after half a ton of cement fell on her. Mavericks. Another memory. Zero stood across the room from him, his sword drawn. Words were definitely insufficient now. Reploids. “Sir, did you want anything else?” X put the chips away and smiled at the waitress. “No, I’m good.” X put down some money and got up to leave. The waitress picked up the money and headed for the register. The waitress standing behind the cash register stared after X as he left the restaurant, then turned to the first waitress. “Wasn’t that the famous Maverick Hunter, X?” The second waitress leaned over the counter. “I don’t know.” The first waitress handed the money over the other. “He’s weird, though. Just sat down, ordered a hot fudge sundae and let the thing melt. He didn’t touch it at all.” She motioned back to the table where X was sitting. “I think he might have been crying, too.” “Oh no!” The second waitress gasped and looked out the window to take another look at X. “A cutie like him? Cry? Someone must have broken his heart!” “Or maybe he broke someone else’s heart.” The two waitresses sighed. “Or maybe you two should get back to work.” The two waitresses stiffened as they heard their manager’s voice. The manager looked on as her two waitresses suddenly saw some tables that needed assistance and rushed away from the cash register. As soon as X was out of the restaurant, the tears returned. He hated himself. “Mister, why are you cryin’?” A young girl looked up at X, and he wiped his tears away as best he could before wearing a smile again. “Because I’m sad, but don’t worry, I won’t be sad for long.” He was still smiling, but the tears kept falling. She looked at him thoughtfully, then pulled a lollypop out from her pocket. “Here,” she said as she offered the candy to X, “you should have this. It cheers me up.” “No… Thank you, but it’s much more than I deserve.” Fan Fiction - Top |
