Chapter 48

Sixteen Hours

"By the time I'm done with you, there won't be anything left to save!" Sigma gloated, as he rammed himself through a nearby building.

But, she didn't care...

All that she could hear was the laughter and the sound of her own saber burying itself inside the nightmarish construct. Yet, as Zero clung to the masses of wires that she had torn out from his head, she still wasn't satisfied; she would tear him pieces by pieces, even if she had to do so with her bare hands.

As the colony crumbled all around them, he struggled, but the female reploid would not be denied.

With renewed anger she struck, and then... there was nothing...

It took a certain time for her to realize just what had come to pass, but in the blink of an eye, she found herself back at the Maverick Hunters' Headquarter. Everyone there stood in stunned silence, as they awaited for her to say something; but it wasn't until Alia inquired about her, that the red hunter spoke. "Zero, are you alright?"

"What the hell did you do that for?" The female reploid blurted out, visibly angered. "I had him! I just needed more time!"

"I'm sor..." Alia replied, barely letting out two syllables before being interrupted.

"It's Sigma, alright! We CAN'T let him get away!" The female reploid explained, not really making any sense.

That was when the Supreme Commander decided to step in. "Zero, that's enough!"

But the blond hunter wouldn't hear any of it, she brandished her arm cannon toward her navigator and ultimately said. "Send me back. Now!"

"It's over, Zero." Signas replied, pointing her toward a nearby screen. "Look!"

Having no real choice in matter, she looked, and what she saw was indeed more dire than anything she might have imagined. Eurasia was now entirely covered in a purple haze and slowly drifting through space as small explosions littered its inside.

Then Lifesaver, whom she hadn't noticed up until now, spoke up and explained the situation. "The level of viral hazard within the colony was rising well beyond the threshold that I would normally recommend for most reploids. Also, a massive explosion occurred inside Eurasia right after we brought you back; which kick-started the level of viral infection inside Eurasia beyond anything we have witnessed before. Truthfully, if the Commander hadn't brought you back when he did, I dare not imagine what would have happened to you."

"We've also lost signal with the colony's fail-safe system, which means that it was most likely lost along with the rest of the colony." The Supreme Commander added.

"Hmph! And where were you this whole time, while that was happening?" Zero asked, obviously referring to Lifesaver.

"I was monitoring the effects of the maverick virus inside the colony, as well as assisting Alia with dispatch." The bearded reploid answered.

"… … … Fine, I get it..." The red hunter admitted, reluctantly taking down her weapon. "It would be too risky to send anyone now, regardless of whether or not Sigma is still inside. What's our next move?"

"WE are going to try and figure out a plan to deal with this mess." Signas replied, visibly annoyed by her attitude. "YOU, are going to get yourself checked-up to make sure that the virus didn't have any adverse effect on you. Somehow, Alia managed to track down X's energy signature and brought him back, so he should also be up shortly; you'll both join us here once the Lifesavers have given you permission to leave."

"Very well." The blond reploid answered, a bit bummed, but at least demonstrating a certain understanding of the situation.

As her head cooled down, Zero was finally allowed out of the Lifesavers' care; and so, she set out to check on how X was doing.

Not so much because she was overly concerned about his health, but rather like it seemed to be what she was supposed to do. Though she would never admit it, she might have been feeling a sliver of guilt about having left him for dead out there.

If anything, a stray shot from the nightmarish contraption would have been enough to collapse the entire building and bury him under tons of rubble; a chance she probably wouldn't have taken if she had been thinking straight at the time.

The worst part about this mess, was that she was entirely helpless to do anything about it now. Eurasia had already been lost to the mavericks, and Sigma was allowed to walk freely while she was stuck here waiting for Signas to formulate some kind of plan.

At least, the blue hunter could probably shed some light over the situation, even though she might have to do some digging in order to get him to spit it out.

In the end, the Lifesavers agreed to let her in, and she found him sitting on an examination table as he, most likely, awaited his tests results.

He didn't seem in much better shape than before, but at least, he seemed OK. "Hey." The female reploid calmly greeted him.

"Hey..." X answered, obviously having done some thinking of his own.

"How are you doing?" Zero asked, trying to fake a sufficient amount of concern.

"The Lifesavers say that I'll be alright. They didn't have enough time to restore my armor in pinnacle shape, but I'm sure they'll work on it once they get the chance." The blue hunter replied. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine..." She answered, uncomfortable. "You gave me quite a fright out there, and it sounds like things are about to heat up again."

"Yeah..." He began. "I'm not really sure what happened out there, nobody has been willing to tell me just what was going on; and well... it doesn't really get any better than that."

"You really don't remember what happened out there?" The female reploid asked.

"Not really... I remember Sigma, and some shooting..." X tried to explain. "I honestly don't know..."

"… … Did he tell you anything?" She asked, a foreboding feeling washing all over her.

"I honestly can't say. He almost sounded like he was in a hurry... At first, I thought that he might have been there for me, or something about that evolution nonsense he's been going on about. But it seems like he may have been after very same thing that we were." He finally admitted. "For all I know, he might have been trying to do something with colony's fail-safe system."

It all made sense now, that's what Sigma had been after all along. That machine he had taken over, was the only thing preventing him from ushering the fall of Eurasia and he had manipulated her into crippling it just so that he could use it to spread the virus all over the colony. "And you, do have any idea of what's going on?" X, asked, unaware of the inner monologue that was going on inside her.

"I don't know much more than you already do..." She replied, lying. "Eurasia is lost and its too dangerous to send someone out there for fear that they might become infected with the virus; we're still waiting for the Commander to come up a plan as to what we're going to do next."

"Wow..." X whispered, as he gazed upon the ceiling.

"You know, Zero..." The blue reploid began, sounding almost serious. "If he hadn't been in such a hurry, I very well could have died out there. Mavericks, Sigma, Eurasia, it seems like things are only gonna be going to hell from now on... And... just... don't do anything stupid, alright? ... Don't die..."

The blond hunter smiled faintly, as she reached his side. Then, leaning in, she pressed her lips gently upon his cheek and said. "Take care of yourself, X..."

A few hours later, every members of the Cell were gathered together at Signas' behest, so that he could outline their plan to deal with the infected space colony.

The Supreme Commander began. "I know that you're all anxious to hear about your next assignment in regard to what happened within Eurasia. But first, I would like to make something perfectly clear... This is the first real crisis that this cell has had to deal with. We didn't see it coming and we're not entirely sure how it happened, but the fact is, that it did happen."

He then went on. "This is the kind of matter that this cell was created for and once this operation is underway, there will be no turning back. From here on, nobody backs down, nobody quits. So if you don't have the stomach for it, or have any doubts at all about your ability to pull this off, I suggest that you leave immediately."

The Supreme Commander went silent.

Despite her own apprehension regarding this situation, Zero knew that there was simply no way she could walk away from this. Eurasia, Sigma, this was all too important for her to simply walk away.

X, Alia, Lifesafer, Douglas... all of them remained there, along with everyone else that were important enough to be there.

And so, the Commander said. "Very well. Alia, take over from here."

The female navigator executed herself, proceeding to display live footage of Eurasia on the main screen before beginning. "This morning, a group of maverick terrorists have managed to overrun the space colony Eurasia and had succeeded to cripple the station's infrastructure enough so that they could divert it from its orbit."

Moving on, she explained. "Subsequently, members of this cell tried to override Eurasia's current course, but were forced to withdraw after an explosion caused the colony to become entirely infected by the maverick virus. Our calculations have revealed that the space colony is on a direct course with Earth."

Lifesaver intervened. "Needless to say, even if a direct collision could be avoided, the amount of concentrated virus currently located inside Eurasia, could spread the virus all over Earth; which would be just as bad as far as our organization is concerned."

"Indeed." Alia nodded. "So, while I hate using such metaphors, the fall of Eurasia could very much mean the end of civilization as we know it. We have no choice... For the sake of this world, that colony must be destroyed. Thank you."

And so, after the blond navigator excused herself, the Commander came back to outline the specifics of their plan. "Our current intel suggests that given the current speed at which the colony is progressing, Eurasia will come into direct collision with Earth in little more than sixteen hours."

Signas took a pause, allowing all of that information to sink in within the audience. "Now, of course, we are not going to stand idle while this is happening. However, recent pushes toward the demilitarization of space has left us with very few options in regard to how to deal with this threat." Then switching the screen to the schematics of what seemed to be some sort of laser cannon, he went on. "Our first option is 'The Enigma'. The Enigma is a bleeding-edge prototype of laser cannon, which was developed jointly with Repliforce prior to the fall of Sky Lagoon. It's a bit old by today's standards, but it was the strongest ordnance we could requisition on such short notice."

From the crowd, engineer Douglas raised his hand. "Hm, Sir? As is, the Enigma isn't going to do squat until we can get it fully operational; and while its cannon can certainly pack enough firepower to reach space and beyond, it's not with second-hand components that we'll be able to blast a colony the size of Eurasia out of the sky."

"Indeed." Signas replied. "That's why X and Zero will be assigned to retrieve the necessary parts to rebuild the Enigma from the ground up. We'll all be counting on the three of you to make it happen."

With that, Douglas fell silent and the Supreme Commander moved on. "We've also managed to get our hands on a large space shuttle, which if packed with sufficient explosives, could potentially inflict some serious damage to the colony. It is, however, not quite up to speed yet, so we'll also need some more parts before we can make use of it. However, the Enigma still remains our best option and so, we'll stick with the original plan if at all possible."

Everyone within the Cell nodded and Signas then began going over the details. "As mentioned before, X and Zero will be in charge of retrieving the various parts we'll need to put together both the Enigma and our shuttle, while Engineer Douglas will work tirelessly to make sure that our plan ultimately succeeds. Alia will oversee the operations with the both of you, while simultaneously helping me coordinate the efforts of our other hunters into the field. Every single hunter available will also assist us in this endeavor and do their best to keep the peace once this incident becomes public; as well as dealing with any maverick activities that might spark as a result of this crisis. We won't leave anything to chance, and as such, every hunter going out will have to report to a member of the Lifesaver corps so that their level of viral infection can be properly monitored. Lifesaver, in particular, will be assigned exclusively to monitor X and Zero; as well as any hunter affiliated with the retrieval effort."

The commander then concluded. "That is all people, starting right now, we have sixteen hours ahead of us to prevent Eurasia from falling. Let's make it happen!"

Author's ramblings :

I don't have much to add about this chapter, as I feel it is rather self-explanatory. One thing I'd like to point out however, is that I didn't quite stick to the original script as far as the Eurasia incident is concerned.

Normally, the plot revolved around Sigma's plot to get himself defeated in order to spread the maverick virus all over Earth and merge it with a special one planted inside Eurasia, thus creating a stronger strain of said virus in order to cause a chain of events that led to the series as we know it today. However, I felt that the plot was rather confusing, or rather overly complicated; issue, which this chapter is trying to address.

Overall, I like the idea of having everyone in the Crisis Cell involved, if only to reinforce the feeling of urgency that comes with the sixteen hours deadline.

Now, I'm not gonna stick too closely with the plot, as I have a couple ideas to make it more interesting; but overall, I'll try to keep it as compelling and as simple as possible.

Preview :

The clock is ticking, and X and Zero are constantly driven forward as Eurasia gets closer and closer to Earth.

However, our female hunter is suddenly called to Signas' office, who hand her over a special assignment, that no else can be trusted with. Trouble is brewing within the Industrial District, as the eight-legged horse prepares for its last desperate flight.