Chapter 3: Enter: the X-Masters
"You ok, Alia?" Iris asked as she approached her friend at her station.
"Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I be?" Alia asked, not looking up from her computer screen.
"Mega Man brings Dr. Wily to justice …" Iris read the screen over the blonde's shoulder. "Why you looking up stuff on your brother-in-law?"
"I don't know, Iris; it's just … something doesn't feel right about all this," Alia said, furrowing her brow, "Why'd he pick now to show back up? X has publicly asked for information on his past, from anyone; why did he wait 'til now?"
"I dunno," Iris shrugged when they got a beep.
"I got an email," Alia said, pressing a button to open. "Hmm, this is weird …"
"What's it say?" Iris asked, leaning over her friend's shoulder.
"Read for yourself." Alia slid to the side slightly.
Alia Light,
Blue and blue don't mix.
The First.
"Who's that from, and what's he mean by 'Blue and blue don't mix'?" Iris asked, looking quizzically at Alia.
"I don't know," Alia narrowed her eyes, pondering the message. "Blue and blue could mean X and Rock, but … what does it mean by that? And who's The First?"
Laughter suddenly filled the room as the door to the command center opened, and Alia quickly closed down the windows on her screen and turned to see X, Zero, and Rock walking in, Rock telling an old story and X and Zero belly laughing from it.
"And then, our oh so bright sister decidedshe and Rush could come and rescue me and Dr. Light from the awe inspiring might of the Christmas lights." Rock finished his story with chuckles of his own.
"So you ready to go home, X?" Alia asked, standing up and walking toward her husband to hug his arm. "Jean's coming for dinner tonight."
"Jean?" Rock asked, looking to his brother.
"Yeah, she's a human I made friends with some time ago.She and her daughter come over for dinner every Wednesday night." X explained, waving his hand as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.
"You spend time with a human family?" Rock asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Yeah, is something wrong with that?" Alia asked curiously.
"No, no … nothing, just curious, I guess," Rock shrugged, "We'll I've gotta go for a bit. I'll speak to you later, Bro."
Alia watched Rock go, the strange gut feeling of danger never leaving until the original Blue Bomber left the room. She then turned to her husband, "So, ready to jet?"
"You go on home, Ally. I promised someone I'd meet them. I'll be home soon." He said, kissing her cheek before turning and leaving as well.
"Zero?" Alia asked, turning to the red armored Hunter. "See what you can find out about what Rock has been doing."
"What will you be doing?" Zero asked, turning to the blonde already on her way out.
"Me? I've got a roast on to cook," She winked back before exiting the base.
"Check," X said as he maneuvered his knight in position to take his opponent's king next turn. "So are you going to surrender yet?"
Sigma smirked from the other side of the table, "After studying my records, it seems I have never yielded to you, Father, and I don't plan to start now."
"You were always stubborn, Sigma, Maverick or not," X grinned at the larger Reploid.
Sigma nodded in thought before moving his Queen across the board along a clear path. "Checkmate."
"You know, you were easier to beat when you wereevil, Sigma," X sighed, staring at the board.
"So do you think Alia will ever come with you on your visits, Father?" Sigma asked with a hopeful look on his face.
"I don't know, Sigma," X said, looking away from the Reploid he created with his own two hands. "Your Maverick-self did a lot to her, to all of us, especially her and Zero's girlfriend, Iris. Iris is especially bitter, and Alia … I've at least talked her down from pure, unadulterated contempt."
"I wish I could find some way to prove myself," Sigma sighed, "especially to those two, and toyou."
"You are, Sigma," X nodded to the former Maverick, "Serve your time, prove to everyone that you're not the monster you once were by doing the noble thing."
"Thanks, Father," Sigma gave a small smile, "So how goes theHunter business?"
"A lttle slow, but we do have what could be an uprising, led by some Maverick called the Puppet Master," X said, beginning to put away the chess set.
"Puppet Master?" Sigma asked in recognition.
"You heard of him?" X asked with a look of surprise.
"Heard of him, Father, I've fought him before." Sigma said standing up. "Father, if you're up against him, you need to set the Hunters to Code Red alert!"
"What can you tell me?" X asked, going into full Hunter mode.
"Powerful Reploid, very, very powerful," Sigma said, shaking his head, "I put my all into fighting him, and he still beat me, but he didn't heavily damage me while he obviously could if he so desired … funny …"
"What's funny?"
"Oh my …" Sigma's eyes widened in realization, "He sent me offline, and when I came back online I got a report from Hunter Command of a Red Maverick in a warehouse … I started feeling the effects of the Maverick Virus around that time … before I fought Zero. Almost like I was …"
"Already infected …" X finished for him before looking up, "Do you remember what he looked like, a description, aface, anything?" X asked, feeling the excitement of finding a breakthrough right under his nose.
"I'm sorry, Father, but I don't remember much; he stayed in the shadows … I remember one thing though … he had eyes exactly like yours …" Sigma said, turning to his creator, "only they lacked your kindness … they were pure evil."
"Thanks, Sigma," X said, pressing the button beside the door of the cell, "I'll tell the higher ups you cooperated with this; it might get your sentence shortened. As for now, I have to get home before Alia kills me."
"Give Alia my apologizes, Father," Sigma said as he always did before his creator left from his weekly visits, "Good luck facing the Puppet Master …" the former Warlord said then adding after X left his cell, "You will need it …"
"Almost done," Alia said, peeking into the oven in her and X's kitchen. She then turned back to see Jean feeding little Andrea her bottle.
The redhead noticed Alia staring and smiled politely, "Something bothering you, dear?" She asked, still cradling the baby.
"No … nothing important anyway," Alia said, quickly turning away to start chopping the vegetables.
"You lie about as well as your husband, Ally," Jean said, walking over to her friend, "What's bothering you?"
"Something just came to me a few nights ago," Alia said, glancing up with a sad expression, "I realized this is it. What X and I have, it won't get any better then what we have."
"You've only been married a month, Alia," Jean chuckled slightly, "All newlyweds have doubts."
"No, I don't doubt thatI love X, it's just …" Alia paused to find the right words before turning to her human friend, "It's just going to be us. We've gone as far as we can, mimicking human relationships. No matter what, it's just going to be us two and no more than just us two."
"You want babies, huh?" Jean gave a sad smile.
"It's so frustrating; they designed me with so much detailI even have a freaking period, and for whatever sick reason that gave me that I'll never know …" Alia complained, gripping her fists, "but I CAN'T have X's babies." She then snapped her face to the half awake child, "oh, I'm sorry, Andy, too much info for you, little one …"
The two women glanced up when they heard the front door open. "That must be X now," Alia said turning, moving toward the kitchen door to welcome her husband home. She wasn't prepared for the huge fist wrapping around her neck.
Jean clung to her child tightly and backed away as Alia was lifted off the ground by a massive red and yellow Reploid monstrosity. "Guts … you stay still and I won't break you."
"Easy, Gutsy," A second voice spoke up as a smaller Reploid, roughly the same height as X, strolled into the kitchen, looking the struggling Alia up and down. He had red and chrome armor, with scissor like blades on both wrists and a single, large scissor-like symbol on his forehead. "You must be the Copy's woman, huh? He's got good taste."
The strange Reploid bowed in mock-humbleness. "Allow us to introduce ourselves … I am Cut Man X, and this big guy is my friend and teammate, Guts Man X. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"W-What do you want?" Alia gasped, futilely pulling at Guts Man X's iron grip.
"For one, I wouldn't mind seeing you in a nice little teddy, begging me to have my way with you, but I'd settle for seeing your husband blown to itty, bitty pieces." Cut Man X stated with an insane smile, "That's what we're all here for. Other than taking out your copycat husband, we have the same goals as you Maverick Hunters. Protect humanity, only … we protect them from themselves as well as from Mavericks."
"You're a Maverick too …" Alia breathed.
"Na, gotta be a Reploid to be a Maverick, but like your husband and his buddy Zero, we're something else. Now, we better get a move on if we wanna be outta here before hubby dear shows up, huh, babe?"
"Hey, Human, make yourself useful!" Cut Man X barked as he turned to Jean, "Tell X if he wants to see his pretty, little love doll again,he'll come to the ruins of Dr. Light's laboratory one week from today. If he wishes, he may bring his brother and maybe he'll actually help him save his little lover. We all know he isn't worth a shit, so he'll need that help, but no one else. Got that?"
"Y-Yeah …" Jean nodded, fearfully as the two turned, Guts Man X carrying the helpless Reploid woman in his tight grip. "Hang in there, Alia; X will save you!" Jean called out as the two left her and Andy alone.
X smiled as he looked at the daisies at the flower shop. "Bro, you are whipped, you know that?" He heard a voice behind him and smiled when he saw Rock smirking at him.
"Oh, now you sound like Zero," X chuckled before picking up a bouquet of daisies and went to the cash register. "But, yeah … yeah, I guess I am. I don't think I could live without Alia anymore." He said as he pulled out some Zenny to pay for the flowers.
"Now YOU'RE sounding like your older sister Roll," Rock said, smiling warmly, "She fell for a guy and said the exact same thing …" he said then looking down sadly. "Too bad she was partially right."
"What happened?" X asked as they walked out of the shop.
"Long story short, she fell for the wrong kind of guy," Rock said as they started toward theiradjacently parked hover cycles. "He … went what you call these days Maverick … she was infected, as was our brother Blues, also known as Protoman, and the mechanic, Auto … I had to stop them … hardest thing I ever had to do …"
"So … that's what happened, huh?" X said sadly.
"I'm afraid so … I wish you could have known them before that though," Rock said, patting his back, "I'm sure you and Alia would have been warmly welcomed into the family."
"Thanks, bro," X smiled at his predecessor before mounting his bike, "You want to come over for dinner? Alia always makes plenty."
"No, thanks, I have to meet with some people, nothing important," Rock waved it off and hopped onto his own bike. "Take it easy brother," Rock said as he pulled out and disappeared around the corner of the block.
X gave a wistful smile before mounting his own bike and took off in the direction of his home. He wasn't prepared to see the yard filled with Maverick Hunter and police vehicles. X hopped off the bike before it even came to a complete stop and dashed toward the crowd of police officers and Hunters, quickly singling out Zero's easily blatant crimson armor. "What's going on?"
"X, uh … um …" Zero blanched, unprepared to face his best friend.
"Zero, what's wrong; where's Ally?" X asked, noting the blond Hunter turned a distinct pale color to his face. "Zero. Where is Alia?" X asked again, but only received a gulp from his friend. "Zero, answer me now …"
"We don't know, X," Zero finally forced out, "Jean called us a few minutes ago; someone came in and just … grabbed her."
X's eyes flashed yellow as he backed away from Zero and those around the house. "X, calm down, we'll find her ok?"
X just stared at him, his face devoid of emotion. Finally he spoke up into his internal communications system. "Hunter Command, this is Commander X, I want a full scan of the Japanese Islands for any sign of a signal from Vice Commander Alia Light… Archangel Armor. Now."
"Why Japan?" Zero asked, blinking in confusion after X's most dangerous and powerfularmor set latched onto his body.
"I know who took her and I know where his base is likely to be." X said, his wings spreading out wide preparing for flight. "Rock told me about the first Mavericks, even before you and Sigma. He showed his face at Ground Zero, and I'm going to make him sorry he came back from the dead. I'm going after Protoman."
Alia tried to focus, but itseemed someone had tampered with her focusing lenses in her eyes, leaving her in the darkness. "I see you're coming to, my dear." A vaguely familiar voice spoke through the darkness. She cringed when she felt fingers caressing her cheek. "You really are a beautiful work of art, Alia. The Copy chose wisely in his full-time prostitute."
"Who are you?" Alia spat, turning away from the touch.
"That doesn't matter, Ally," the voice chuckled, letting his fingers continue to brush her cheek. "You really are pathetic, as is your 'husband': two machines lowering yourselves to pretend to be human, when you are so much more. Even as a copy, X is wasting his potential. That is why I will enjoy destroying him for putting shame to the title Mega Man."
"If I had a Zenny for every time I heard that, I'd be rich," Alia laughed in spite of her situation. "X will come for me, and he will stomp you like he has every other Maverick who stood in his way."
"That's cute, Ally," the voice laughed heartily, "But I won't be the one destroying X. You will."
To Be Continued…