Megaman X Side Story
Part III: New Blood

	It was pitch black and deathly quiet. The only noise X could hear was the beeping of the life support monitor that was beside his bed. Slowly opening his eyes, he could see the source of the sound and that the monitor was the only source of light in the room. From what he could tell, he was in Lifesaver’s emergency ward. Unfortunately, that was all he knew. He wasn’t sure what day it was, how long he had been in the ward or how he even got there in the first place. Too exhausted to move, X simply closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
	It had been four days since X went berserk in the training room. He was slowly beginning to recover which eased the tension that was felt by everyone at base, hunters and maintenance workers alike. What X didn’t know was that Alia had been at his bedside for the greater part of those four days. Rarely did she ever take her eyes off of him; she had never been so worried about him in her entire life.

Maverick Hunter Command Center

	It was very late at night, Douglas and Signas were the only personnel still awake. They were both sitting at a console, conversing over X.
	“Lifesaver said he regained consciousness earlier today…” Douglas commented.
	“mmm…” Signas mumbled.
	“You’re still worried about what happened the other day, aren’t you?” Douglas asked.
Signas nodded and replied. “Yes, very… his behavior was extreme to say the least. What do you suppose caused it?”
	“I really don’t know. Even though we’ve learned a lot about X in recent years, we still don’t know enough about his systems to get an exact answer about anything.” Douglas replied.
	“I see…” Signas said.
	“It takes days for us just to repair normal battle damage. If this kind of thing happens again, who knows how long it’ll take to fix. Even Dr. Cain had trouble repairing X and Zero…” Douglas continued.
	“Hmm… maybe we should bring Dr. Cain in to have a look at X.” Signas commented.
	“Perhaps, he was the one who found him after all.” Douglas replied.
The two continued on debating for the next several hours. Meanwhile, Lifesaver had confirmed that X’s systems were all operating normally and released him to his quarters. However, X was still asleep, so several medical reploids had taken X to his quarters to free up room in the ward.
	Alia couldn’t sleep, she had been awake in her bunk all night, all she could think about was X. Since she couldn’t sleep, she decided to see how he was doing. She left her quarters and made her way to Lifesaver’s ward. Opening the door, Alia found the room to be completely empty.
	“Where could he be?” She thought to herself.
She then went to the standard medical room to see if he was there but it was empty as well. The next logical place for him to be would’ve been his own quarters.
	“…but, he never woke up today, how could he have gone to his quarters?” She asked as she made her way to X’s room. Slowly pushing the door open, she saw X lying in bed, asleep. Alia walked over to his bunk and looked down at him, her eyes began filling with tears.
	“Oh… if only you knew how much I really did care about you…” She whispered softly and ran her fingers through his hair. X let out a slight groan and stirred around a bit. Alia didn’t want to disturb him too much, she knelt down and gave him a light kiss on his lips before departing and making her way back to her own quarters.

	Though X’s body was very exhausted, his mind had never been working as hard or as fast in all his life. That feeling had overcome his subconscious again, that feeling of evil. The same feeling that consumed him earlier in the week. Although he was unable to identify this evil feeling, it still seemed familiar to him. Like he had dealt with it before.
	“Could it be Sigma?” he thought to himself. “No… that’s impossible, I saw him die right before my very eyes… even viruses die…” X continued thinking.
	His thoughts soon became less focused; he lost all concentration as he felt himself slipping again.

	X could only stand by helplessly, waiting by that door for what seemed to be an eternity. He heard shots being exchanged, the loud crashing sound of a riding armor. He could also hear screaming and yelling. Behind that door, a war was being raged, between the Maverick that almost took his life, and his best friend.
	“Zero beat him before… back on the highway he could’ve ripped Vile to shreds, I know he can win.” He thought to himself.
	Suddenly, it grew quiet. X stepped closer to the door but he couldn’t hear a thing. Something was wrong, very wrong and he knew he had to help Zero; that was crystal clear to him. X rushed through to door to find a horrifying sight. Vile hadn’t received a so much as a scratch and Zero who appeared to be badly damaged was locked in an energy cell. Vile turned to face X.
	“Well, look who’s come to rescue his friend… the artifact!” Vile snickered.
X stared coldly at Vile, not saying a word.
	“What’s the matter antique? Voice box blow out?” Vile snickered again.
Not wanting to hear anymore, X raised his buster and aimed it at Vile.
	“Oh, you wanna try me again, after Zero couldn’t beat me? What makes you think you can do any better you relic?” Vile said, quickly agitated with X’s actions. X still said nothing as he charged up his buster.
	“That’s it! This time I am going to rip you to pieces. See you in hell X!” With that, Vile charged X with his riding armor. X dashed out of the way and blasted Vile in the back, but he took no damage and charged X again. The two went back and forth, exchanging blows. However, X soon began to tire and ceasing the opportunity, Vile fired a shot at X with his shoulder cannon and trapped him in his place. Vile took a deep breath and slowly made his way over to X.
	“Well, this seems all too familiar… where do I remember this from?” Vile said in a sadistic tone as X struggled to break free.
	“This really is… goodbye X…” Vile continued and prepared to terminate X.
	“Not this time!!!” Zero shouted from the back of the room as he broke free of the cell.
	“Zero! But, how did you escape?” Vile shouted. Zero jumped onto the back of the riding armor.
	“I’m takin’ you down pal!” Zero said, and with that, he self-destructed. When the dust settled, Zero was nowhere to be found. Bits and pieces of the riding armor were scattered all over the room but Vile was still intact.
	“What a worthless gesture…” Vile said. “Zero you stupid idiot, you sacrificed yourself, for what? To prolong X’s life for but a few brief seconds? You deserve to die for being so foolish” Vile said with a chuckle and turned to see X.
	“What the?!?!” Vile shouted. X was now free of Vile’s electric bonds and was fully charged again.
	“How did you break free? Where did that energy come from?” Vile asked.
	“It’s a secret…” X said in a grim tone.
	“No matter…” Vile growled. “You’re still no match for me you piece of junk!” he shouted and rushed at X. The fight began again, this time it was Reploid against Reploid. Vile had underestimated X, as X clearly had the advantage over Vile.
	“How can this be?!” Vile shouted, breathing heavily.
X watched Vile, perfectly calm and ready for his next attack.
	“I’m superior to you in everyway! So how is it possible that you are defeating me?” Vile yelled.
Again, X said nothing.
	“I’ve had it with you!!!” Vile screamed and charged at X. X stepped back and charged his buster rifle, Vile came rushing towards X, screaming at the top of his lungs. Just as Vile came within a few inches of him, X threw his buster forward and fired…

	Vile lay on the ground, torn, beaten and barely clinging to life. X stood tall and triumphant.
	“Why… why in the?” Vile muttered. “Damn…you…X…” With that, Vile took his last breath and grew silent.
X let out an exhausted sigh and then he remembered. “Zero!” he shouted and began to frantically look around the room. He found Zero, lying in a mangled heap at the very back end of the room.
	“Zero!” X shouted again as he ran towards him. “Zero…” he fell to his knees, looking at what was left of Zero. Zero opened his eyes and smiled at X.
	“Way to go…X…” he said in a tired voice.
	“Please, hang in there Zero. Just hang on!” X pleaded.
	“I’m sorry X… I’m already too far gone…” Zero replied.
	“No Zero! You’re going to be okay!” X shouted.
	“Sorry X, this is how it has to be… besides, you’re stronger than me now… I’d just slow you down.” Zero continued.
X sighed, he hated feeling so helpless when others were in pain.
	“X… take my buster rifle…” Zero said as he held his arm out.
X took Zero’s hand and the buster rifle was transferred into X’s systems.
	“Get…Sigma… I know you can…” he said in a low voice that was barely audible.
	“Zero, Zero!” X shouted to him.
Zero’s eyes closed and his body went limp.
	“ZERO!!!!”

That battle had seemed so long ago, and so much had changed since then. However, X was in the exact same situation as he was when Zero died in that battle. There was one slight difference though, this time, X had no idea what to do. The world was at peace but, that peace would be threatened again, he just knew it. That threat was coming and soon. However, X had no idea what that threat was. Something told him that this new threat wasn’t Sigma in fact, whatever was coming was quite possibly even more horrible and terrifying than Sigma could ever hope to be.
	He lie still in bed, looking at the sky through his window. X was fully conscious for some time now and was just debating on what his next course of action should be. He had to be prepared for this new danger; it was just a matter of how to prepare for something that was completely unknown to him.
	X was often regarded as not only the most powerful Maverick Hunter in existence, but also as the most powerful Reploid ever made. He had lost count of all the times he had heard himself being referred to as such. With all his power and strength, he hated fighting. Every battle he had ever gotten into, he regretted his actions.
	“Why must reploids fight against each other?” He’d asked himself that question every day ever since becoming a Maverick Hunter. After all these years of fighting, there still was no answer for his question, and with each battle that passed. It seemed as though the likelihood of finding that answer became bleaker and bleaker.
	Megaman X, he was not intended as a prototype robot, rather the final step in Rock’s evolution. But, as time took its course, he became the prototype of the entire Reploid race. Every Reploid in existence was modeled after his schematics. That thought sometimes scared X. In some ways, he was indirectly responsible for all the pain and suffering the Mavericks had caused over the years. All the people injured or killed, were the result of berserk reploids that were designed from him.
	“So, why haven’t I gone Maverick?” X thought to himself. If so many like him had gone Maverick, then why hadn’t he? Wasn’t that the way things were supposed to happen? It seemed as if that were not so, and X was happy for that fact. His greatest fear was that he would go Maverick, and that there would be no one who would be able to stop him.
	“I can’t let that happen…” he said to himself, getting out of his bunk.
	“I can’t let everyone down.” He continued.
X grabbed his helmet off of the desk and looked at his reflection in the red crystal.
	“Whatever this new threat is, I will be ready. I will defeat it!” With that, X left his quarters and made his way back to the training room.

	Upon entering the room X flipped on the light switch and made the assumption that the training facilities had indeed been used since his incident those few days ago.
	“I wonder who was in here…” he thought to himself. “They usually keep this place closed for a week at least if something like that happens. I wonder what’s been going on.” He continued.
	While unconscious for all those days, X took it upon himself to re-write his own programming. With so little as a thought, X was able to activate any armor of his choice. He figured it would be easier to switch this way, especially in combat. With that, X suited up into his third armor and thought to himself what training exercises he should work on this time.
	“Maybe I should tone it down a bit this time, I don’t need to kill another week by sitting around thinking.” X said to himself.
	This time he had also brought with him, something he hadn’t looked at for over two years, Zero’s beam saber.
	“This might be useful…” he thought to himself and sheathed the saber onto his back.

	Zero’s beam saber, a powerful weapon that had been modified by Zero himself to be even more devastating than a standard issue beam saber. It was given to X after the clean-up crews found Zero’s remains all those years ago. X had only used it once prior to now. A small group of Mavericks began attacking just a few weeks after Sigma’s death, it was their hope to take advantage of all the chaos and take control. However, X defeated them single-handedly using Zero’s saber. The weeks and months that followed that incident brought Zero back into the focus of attention and X was tired of hearing about it, so he locked away the saber.
	Now however, X had regained all of his lost memories and felt that it be only right that he carry Zero’s spirit with him into battle. He was now hard at work in the training facility, using both the saber and his armors in unison. X’s short range fighting abilities had always been somewhat lacking, it seemed that was the only thing that could distinguish X and Zero from one-another.
	X was working out against close-range targets, trying to alternate his attacks between the buster rifle and Z-saber.

	“I hope I’m doing the right thing…” he thought to himself.
Once again, X had an audience during his training routine. Signas, along with three young hunters were watching X.
	“So… that’s him? That’s the infamous X?” One of them asked?
	“That’s correct” Signas replied.
	“He’s pretty good…” Another spoke.
	“I guess all the stories about him must’ve been true.” Said the third, who was a female.
	“He’s going to be your new commander.” Signas said.
The others said nothing, they just continued to look on as X was working at his fullest. Wiping out targets left and right, X's speed and strength continued to grow at an amazing rate. The four members of his audience were shocked to say the least.
	“Is he this good in the battlefield?” One of the hunters asked.
	“Better even…” Signas answered with a slight grin.

X landed on the ground and took off his helmet; sweat was pouring down his face. Lifting up his arm, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and was ready to get right back to work when he heard the training room door open. He turned around slowly to see Signas, and three younger hunters behind him.
	“Signas, what are you doing here?” X asked.
	“I came to see how you were doing, I’d heard you’d woken up.” Signas replied
	“Yeah… I decided that it would be best if I got right back to work.” X said.
	“So I see… well, I’ve brought you some presents this morning.” Signas commented, smiling.
	“Presents?” X cocked an eyebrow.
Signas took a step to the side to fully reveal the three young hunters to X.
	“Allow me to introduce you to your new detachment unit X.” Signas started. First pointing to the hunter on the left. “This is Nightblade” he said. Nightblade was a young male hunter whose armor was mostly black with green and purple accents. He had tall ammo storage stocks on his shoulders and didn’t wear a helmet, his hair was short and bright pink.
	“Next, we have Maxter.” Signas said, pointing to the hunter in the middle. Maxter was also male; he looked slightly younger than Nightblade. He was modeled after X, and their appearance was nearly identical. His armor was mainly white with blue accents; he looked a lot like X in his first armor. He had black spiked hair and an ambitious look in his eye.
	“…And finally, we have the lovely Irea” Signas concluded, pointing out the last of the hunters. Irea was a female hunter who was short in comparison to Nightblade and Maxter. Her armor was practically the same as Maxter’s, except with a more feminine shape, and red accents instead of blue. She had flowing red hair that reached down to her shoulders.
	X looked over the three new hunters and smiled with approval.
	“So… how good are they Signas?” he asked with a smirk.
	“Need you dare ask X? You know I only give you the best.” Signas said, pride filling his voice.
	“They look tough enough, let’s see what they’ve got.” X replied.
With that, Signas nodded to Nightblade, Maxter and Irea. The three new recruits jumped right into the training exercises. X took a knee and Signas crossed his arms, both were watching the three young hunters run their paces.
	“They’re not too bad…” X commented.
	“They’re the best of the new recruits.” Signas replied.
	“They’ve got some interesting armaments…” X said.
	“Yes, Nightblade uses a pair of heat shortels and Irea is using a thermo-saber, it’s similar to a beam saber except instead of a blade of energy, it uses a blade of flame.” Signas said.
	The two continued watching. Nightblade appeared to be the quickest of the group, and the most daring. He had developed several unique fighting skills with his heat shortels that could prove to be extremely dangerous. X had heard about the heat shortels before, they were an experimental weapon. Once activated, not only the blade but the entire weapon becomes surrounded by an aura of heat, thus making the handle the only place used to handle them. The temperature produced by the shortels was so extreme, that if dropped onto a slab of titanium 10 feet thick, they would melt clean through it in a matter of seconds.
	“He’s got guts using a weapon like that…” X said to himself.
X and Signas continued watching for a good ten minutes.
	“Okay, you can take a break guys!” Signas shouted. “So… what do you think?” he asked.
	“I’m very impressed, these kids got talent.” X said, smiling.
	“I know, I trained them afterall.” Signas snickered.
Irea, Nightblade and Maxter made their way back over to X and Signas when the base alarm went off.
	“What’s going on?!?” Irea shouted.
	“It’s the emergency alarm!” Signas shouted. “Everyone to the command center, on the double!” Signas continued as he made a break for the door. The others quickly followed him.

	X, Signas, Nightblade, Irea and Maxter ran quickly through the hallways until they made their way to the command center. Everyone was a buzz as the alarms were going off.
	“Alia, report!” Signas said.
	“We’ve got Maverick activity at point #6418!” She replied.
	“How did this happen??” X said.
	“We don’t know, it just happened in an instant.” Douglas said from the back of the room.
	“Who’s out there now?” Signas asked.
	“Vax’s unit is on the scene now!” Douglas replied.
	“Get him on-line! We need to know what’s going on!” Signas shouted.
	“Roger, I’m on it!” Alia answered.

A scrambled image appeared on the main screen, it cleared up after a few moments and the Maverick Hunter, Vax appeared on the screen.

	“Vax, what’s going on down there?” Signas asked.
	“No idea sir, by the time we got here, the Mavericks had already left.” Vax replied.
	“How? That’s impossible.” X said, we just got word of the attack a few minutes ago.” He continued.
	“I know, we don’t have any clue who or what caused this, but in that short amount of time, whoever it was, was able to wipe out a quarter of the city.” Vax said.
	“Vax! Take a look at this!” One of the hunters in his unit said from the background. The image on the screen shifted to a damaged brick wall with a message written in blood on it.

	“The end is near… We’re coming for you… X!”

Everyone in the command center stared at the image on the screen, everyone grew silent. The only noise was the blaring of the emergency alarm.

	“So… this is it…” X said to himself.