zero forgets the babyleash [X/zero]

[usosmall]

Though Doppler and his forces seemed to have been taken care of just a few months ago, the rise of Maverick activity continuing made X anxious. It was why he wanted to investigate this old lab in the middle of a snowfield like this, only taking a small squadron with him to be on the safe side.

He isn’t sure if Sigma is still out there somewhere, or if the rise in incidents were just the remnants of those still loyal to Doppler trying to continue his work.

X adjusts the thick, tarp-like poncho around himself as he enters the lab, keeping his footsteps quiet and instructing the other Maverick Hunters he’d brought with him to do the same. Zero was away on another mission for the time being, though he’d assured him that he would keep his line open just in case anything went awry. Zero usually didn’t break protocol like this for anyone other than X, and vise versa.

It made X feel wanted, and he appreciated that.

Dr. Cain had even insisted to join X on this mission, but X had refused. The Maverick Hunters and X could take care of themselves, but Dr. Cain was getting on in years, and even X had noticed his mobility declining in the past year alone. On the other hand, X understood the need to help, and feeling powerless to contribute. He would relay anything he found to the doctor, allowing him to work as a Navigator for the time being.

For now, however, radio silence. X noticed himself getting lost in his own thoughts too easily as well, and forced himself to focus on the mission at hand.

The lab was dark, and his threat detection wasn’t as sophisticated as Zero’s was, but X had some of the best hearing of any of the Reploids at HQ. He listened for shuffling, doors shutting, footsteps – anything that wasn’t him or his own squad.

Silence.

Had this been a red herring? No… he can see lab equipment, and remnants of Limited experiments on a few of the tables. Someone was definitely here. Or, they had been.

X shuddered at the thought of the Limited coming back, or being reinfected by one of those things. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, and the world didn’t need more evil copies of himself running amuk. X and his squad kept to the shadows, keeping a sharp eye out for anything suspicious. It was easier the deeper they traveled into the lab, the scant blotches of daylight peeking out of the fogged-up windows fading behind them.

Reconnaissance isn’t something he’s particularly attuned to – that was more Zero’s specialty. The few Hunters he’d brought with him were also only B-rank or lower. X had a responsibility to make sure they all got out of here safe and alive, and he would put himself in harm's way if it meant everyone else could escape their their lives and limbs.

X tapped a light on his tarp, and instructed the other Hunters to do the same. They would go a little further, and if they encountered anything major to report, they would retreat and return with an actual combat unit.

It isn’t long before he hears an echoing thump behind him, and one of the Hunters scrambles back, panicking.

“Commander!!”

X spins around, barely having a chance to react before something lands on the ground behind them, the horrible glow of a green, acidic core illuminating the small hallway. The form twitches and frothes at the mouth before more beings drop down all around them, the glow illuminating their forms better and revealing them to be horrible, reanimated corpses of civilian Reploids.

X is quick to form his Buster, but the enemy has them in an awkward pincer in this small hallway. One of the creatures lunges forward at a Hunter, and X immediately fires back, struggling to keep them all in his vision and also look for an escape route.

“Stay close to me!” X calls out, already beginning to radio for backup. “We’ll hold them off until--”

His eyes lock onto one of the zombified creatures, sensitive hearing picking up the familiar whir of a core overloading. The other creatures follow suit, and X and none of the other Hunters have a moment to react before they all detonate at once.

…

………

He isn’t sure how long he’d been laying here, but it was long enough for his joints to have frozen stiff. A thin layer of snow and ice covers what’s left of his armor, the tarp having crystallized and frozen in an awkward lump. Everything around him is a blur of white, black lumps, and static. And X feels…

Very, very cold.

He wheezes once. Twice. Each breath is a struggle as X attempts to dislodge the ice that had built up in his exhaust fans, broken body convulsing a bit with the effort. The Reploid manages to turn his head slightly in the rubble, a horrendous wet wheeze shuddering out of him as he realizes that it wasn’t just ice that had clogged up his vents.

Black, shimmering in the setting sun. Oil. His oil.

Was… was he hurt? What had happened? Where was his squad? He came here with other Reploids, didn’t he…?

X struggles against the pain and the cold to focus, but he can already feel his consciousness escaping him once more. Can't move. Felt like something was pinning his limbs into the snow. Weakness, or ice. Or both. Had to… alert someone what happened. Distress signal. Someone to come help.

Zero.

At first, he calls out, a strained, static-filled whisper that immediately gets overpowered by the howling wind. ...right. He's not gonna hear that.

A message? He can't pull up his own console long enough to compose anything. This is... really bad. He didn't want to die here. He wasn't supposed to.

Had to…

He can feel his injured form shaking, a generic SOS the first thing his processor can grab in its failing state. 'Unit down', but no location, no specifics. That’ll have to do. He can’t…

...stay…

…

The last thing his hearing registers is the crunch of his helmet against loose ice.

Comments

[v1le]

The guard droids rounded a corner, their scanners streaming across radially into the air. After the last remnants of red specks pixelated away, Zero dashed to the other side of the corridor. He was quick and silent, his energy signature being concealed with a program the doctor had made for covert missions such as this. The fact that they were still recovering from a previous Maverick war meant there weren't enough hunters to spare and Zero much preferred working on his own anyway. Especially if it meant whatever unit X was leading had enough support for the Blue Bomber.

Zero went still when the hum of machinery suddenly shut off. The lights went out and his optics took a moment to adjust to their night setting. He was surprised it took them this long to notice an intruder, it didn't matter much anymore. He was deep enough inside that he was only a few doors away from his goal. He had downloaded one set of data from a server a few levels below, he just needed to hook up to the one on this floor and he would have what they were looking for. It was only a mild irritant having the guard droids now on high alert, not enough to set off the alarm but they were moving quicker with their scans. They must not have thought it was a major breach yet.

Once inside the computer room, he crouched down to conceal himself and pulled out a wire from behind his aural cone to connect himself to the drive. The stream of data flowed into him and was promptly sent over to Cain’s Lab for analysis. It gave him a moment to check the open-line he left for X while his friend was out on his mission.

It was mixed feelings at first when he came back to life and found out that X was now leading their hunters. He was proud hearing that his friend had grown so much, no longer needing to rely on Zero as much for support, but there was still that part of him that would always worry when the two weren’t working together. No news should be good news, though he had to remind his hardware to cool off when checked again within seconds. He finished uploading the data to Dr. Cain, then opened his message log promptly after. What he thought might have been from X at first was instead a message sent from the doctor.

‘It’s hard to say if this won’t lead to a dead-end, but I’ll see what we can do. Good work, Zero. Have you heard from X?’

Zero teleported out of the base. He would respond to the message at a safe distance.

“No. Are you sure he went with enough back-up?”

‘...He’s not alone…’ But Zero could tell already his worry had been infectious. It wasn’t his intention to make Dr. Cain paranoid, too.

He would have asked the doctor about what he could make out of the data he sent over to change the subject but another energy reading was picked up and Zero halted all communication. Without thinking, his buster was out and firing towards his peripheral.


“...Doppler?” Zero tensed as the cloud from the impact dissipated. He thought it was the evil scientist for a moment until he double checked his scanners. The remnants of Limited confirmed his suspicions. “Tackione.” He fired again but a barrier prevented his shot from doing any damage. He would have to use his saber.

Tackione saw his dash coming and moved. “You’re not surprised to see me? But of course…you wouldn’t.”

“Never say ‘die’.” Zero growled when his slashes kept missing. “I see you got yourself a new powered up body from your mutant boss. Too bad you’re going to lose it so soon!” He was sure his next attack would hit until Tackione was speaking again.

“Should you really be worried about me? Someone needs you.”

Zero froze. His processors had a hard time registering the implication.

“Or you could keep fighting me. I’m sure whatever you found and killing me is more important than your friend’s life.”


He was already teleporting back to H.Q. He needed X’s coordinates.

Now.






.

[usosmall]

X is almost surprised when he wakes next, the flickering view of a night sky greeting his prone form.

At some point, the blizzard had passed, and a cold shudder runs through his battered form as he tries to shift a little under the moderate covering of snow. The pain catches in his throat, and X bites back a hoarse gasp as the current runs through him. His processor is a mess, fumbling around with thoughts of where he was, what had happened, and who was even left with him.

'My... squad...' Sluggish thoughts turn to anxiety, and then overwhelming fear.

The fact that nobody had come to check on him, no sounds of other fellow Hunters rummaging through the rubble, trying to find survivors. No banter. No movement at all. A different kind of pain clutches his core, and his head leans back against the ice.

He had to make this right. It... couldn't have been that long since the attack, right? Maybe he could still turn this around, at least avenge them.

But as it was, X found he was having trouble keeping himself above water. His energy was depleted, and all he could do was stare up at that empty sky as his core failed, little by little. He... didn't want to die here. Especially not when his own carelessness had caused the deaths of others. Again.

So he struggles to allocate resources, use the energy he had left to get up, move. At least to a nearby teleporter to report what had happened. Pulling everything he had into one big push, X lurches out from under the snow, ice, and rubble to roll onto his front, the sight of his own cold, bloodied hands in front of him nearly glitching out into static. He can hear crunching all around him, broken limbs shifting under him, the crack of ice, and whatever other damage his frame had taken.

X sways a bit in his half-laying, lay-upright position, feeling the ground tilting all around him. He can feel his cold, battered body trembling under the exertion. But he had to move. As slowly as it took. As long as it took. But also not too long.

Tired. Sick. Weak. Pain. But he had to soldier through it.

'Dr. Cain... Zero...'

X drags himself forward, arms weak and legs refusing to cooperate. Fine. Whatever. As long as he was moving. Breathing was difficult, though. His fans were still clogged with ice and snow, making an unsettling rattling deep in his chest. He pulls himself forward a few more feet, but stops abruptly to wheeze out a horrendous-sounding cough.

'Zero... Zero...'

A few more feet, leaving behind a trail of oil and Reploid blood behind him in the snow. Tired. Can't think. Had to move. Get back to...

...where...?

Oh. HQ. Right.

What was he doing out here again...? He had to report... something.

A bloodied hand reaches out in front of him, intending to grasp a chunk of ice and pull himself forward further. But the spot is unusually soft, and his arm just sinks into a mound of snow. With a startled yelp, X finds himself falling forward face-first into the mound, remaining there for awhile longer while his body and mind attempt to catch up with the rest of him.

...

Where was he...?

[v1le]

"Oh no..."

'I found his signal! You should be able to get there soon.'

That didn't comfort Zero at all. He was in H.Q for less than a second before taking off to the region X's unit was supposed to be checking out. Barely enough time to brief Dr. Cain on the Takione doppelganger he ran into (he wasn't sure yet if he believed it was really Takione) or the data collected on limited. There was no time, his hardware burned at the thought of X being kidnapped again---

Was it fair to call it paranoia when his instincts were usually right? Every time he had a bad feeling about X being alone, something awful occurred. Kidnapping, brainwashing, the options were awful in how they managed to surprise Zero. Save for outright killing him, Zero wasn't sure what else they could do at this point. If limited was still being used...

"X! Can you hear me?"

‘His communicator isn’t online.’

“I know! But if he’s close, maybe he can…”

‘Zero?’

Dr. Cain’s voice wasn’t registering anymore. Zero had stopped dead in his tracks, his processor struggling to come up with a reason for the reploid standing in front of him.

‘Zero, what on Earth are you doing?’

He shut off the connection.

“Hello.” The boy reploid waved at him politely.

It was like the first introduction they had. The twins were brought on to help at H.Q, one being charged with monitoring their mother computer while the other helped bulk up the defenses of their anti-cyber attack unit. To his surprise, they were familiar with Zero and both acted like shy children that needed Dr. Cain nudging them forward. He told them it wasn’t rude to talk to ‘the’ Zero, especially when they would be working with him soon.

Then they lost contact with one of the twins. The only one that stuck around and would regularly make a point to see Zero when he wasn’t busy with work was standing in front of him, almost a year after Zero had to comfort X about his death.

“Middy?” His first impulse to take on a protective role when civilians were in enemy territory was at odds with his confusion. “It can’t be, how are you—why—”


“Whoa, you got a new buster again!” In the snowy region, the sound of Middy’s boots against the slush covered earth was loud to his aural cones. He didn’t flinch the first time the twins ran forward towards him but in this setting, his mind came back to him and Zero remembered they weren’t in a safe area and X was still missing. “...Did I do something wrong?”

It would’ve hurt him being looked at that way if not for his logic circuits reminding him that if that Takione look-alike was wandering around, there was a chance limited was used to create Mavericks with shape-shifting abilities. And yet, when he performed a quick scan, it matched the energy signature of Middy. He watched the boy uneasily.

“Zero, you remember me, don’t you?” Middy’s outreached hands finally lowered. “I’m one of the people you didn’t save. You went outside to fight while X went online. Alone. Why did you do that, anyway? He’s alone again, you know.”


His saber was out but he didn’t strike. He didn’t need to, Middy was already gone.

[usosmall]

Each time his consciousness lapsed, it felt longer and longer. Except this time, he could feel the remnants of a fever dream he couldn't quite remember, slowly tumbling away into blackness and noises. He thought maybe he heard someone calling out to him, but he couldn't quite figure out who's voice it was.

Though as he pulls himself awake in the mound of snow and slush, his aural cones pick up the sound of... footsteps? Small, almost hesitant. X winces slightly, rolling his head to the side enough to pry one eye open, crusted with ice.

"Hey."

X tenses, his gaze lowering in confusion. That... was a voice he knew, wasn't it? Was he still dreaming? Was he just going crazy?

"Wow, you're a mess."

It sounded... young. Definately not Zero, and definately not anyone in his squad. A civilian? All the way out here?

"Nothin' to say, huh? That figures. I was expecting an apology, at least."

An apology for... what?

Curiousity starts getting the better of him, and X reroutes his remaining energy to the pistons in his neck to start peeling his face from the snow. But he doesn't get far before a small, but strong boot stomps on his helmet, forcing him back down. X's eyes widen and a startled noise escapes him as the figure's shadow leans over his battered form.

"You don't even remember me, do you? You probably don't even care." The voice continues, dread beginning to flood into X's CPU as recognition sets in. "You wouldn't even hear me out before blasting everything in sight! Good job, hero."

Blood-stained fingers curl into the snow as his form trembles. No, this... had to be a dream. He was dreaming. A nightmare. Something. There was no way--

"So where's my brother, mister hero? Did you kill him, too?"

The boot digs in deeper, grinding into his broken helmet. Even if he could respond, X didn't know what to say. A million thoughts run through his head, most of them apologies, but it wouldn't mean anything in this situation.

"Dummy!"

The boot gives one last shove, pushing his face further into the mound. The familiar, purple figure stands over him with his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

"You're a dummy and that's all you're ever gonna be. You couldn't save me, or my brother, or anyone. You'll bleed out here all alone and you'll deserve every bit of it."

X's shaking hand moves again, struggling to reach for the young Reploid, but Techno steps back in response. Small footsteps begin moving in the opposite direction, and X feels the desperation clawing at him more aggressively.

"No... please... come back..."

It's quiet now, nothing but the gentle howl of the wind around him.

"Techno... I'm sorry..."

[v1le]

"Doc, do you read me?"

'We still haven't been able to pin point X's signal. He might have gone offline again.'

The comment made Zero's already shaken state worsen. His sensors couldn't have been malfunctioning, Zero knew what he saw but his logic circuits weren't capable of bringing back an answer that he felt comfortable with. The enemy here must have been using Limited to revive reploids again but in their previous confrontations, it was almost always Mavericks with combat features that were used.

'Zero, are you alright?'

Zero hadn't noticed he went quiet. He didn't want Dr. Cain worrying over him when X needed to be located. "I'm fine. It just feels like we're in a graveyard..."

'...'


"I'll head back once X is located, and a not a second later. I need to focus, we should break contact until one of us finds something."

The old man looked uncomfortable. 'Be careful, Zero.' The communicator went black.

He didn't have time to comfort Dr. Cain. The only way for Middy to exist is if Techno did, their software had been coded that way when the twin reploids were created. Zero needed to be on guard, not just for himself but he didn't want know if the twins had been rebuilt with combat features and were sent out to scout for 'survivors'. X could be at risk while in an already vulnerable state.

His hair whipped behind him as he dashed through the region. The snow was melting beneath his afterburners, allowing him to speed up despite the slush covering the area. His scanners detected energy readings again, at first giving him hope that he had located his friend. Zero braked suddenly when he registered that it was another hunter. It was such a faint reading, this reploid was barely living. Zero fired at debris covering the source of the energy reading. It revealed a fragmented reploid, she was missing most of her torso and an arm. Her optics weren't online and it gave him sympathy watching her struggle to see him.

"Don't move. Save your strength once you're back at base."

She was struggling to get up. "T-turn back..." It was all she could get out before she started wheezing. There was frost and ice covering crevices of her exhausts that prevented her body from regulating temperature properly. When Zero leaned down to touch her, the metal stuck to his gloves.

"Once you're back online, maybe -you- can give us some answers..."

He said this, though there was a part of him that had been threatening to come out since he saw Middy. He would not panic. He couldn't, this was a survivor in need of serious medical attention, so Zero would just have to push away his worries of how awful a state X had to be in if one of his unit had gotten this level of injuries. Zero sent a brief message to their Lifesavers to let them know he was teleporting a hunter to their medbay. All that was left was the stains from her internal fluids from where her body had been torn apart, looking grim in slush-covered ground. It didn't make him feel any better to note that the only reason she didn't lose serious amounts of internal reploid fluid was because it must have frozen over time, not her system's nanites repairing the wounds.


"Damn it, X...You better not die on me." Zero was off and running once more.

He hated silver linings but if he found one of X's unit, then his friend had to be close by now. He fired at more debris to make a pathway in the abandoned base. The explosion that must have occurred did a number on the place, Zero could barely qualify being inside of it as he worked his way to build a path forward. The bodies he found afterwards didn't emit any source of energy. He couldn't distinguish hunter body pieces from remains of destroyed enemy mechaniloids.

It worried him when he had gone deep enough into the area and it had become less obscured by broken down chunks from the structure. Something was leading him forward.

"Just go ahead and try to trap me..." His buster had already been kept charging since the last time he fired. "I'm right here! Show yourself!"


At the end of a lengthy sprint, he was now in an area he could actually classify as a room. Lights were turned on shortly after he yelled. There were still mechaniloid remains around him, eerily being brought back into active status but not being functional enough to do anything beside move slightly. Sparks ran across a few of them, making Zero remind his instincts not to react. He wouldn't waste a fully powered shot on something that wasn't a threat just because he was scared.

...

He didn't like admitting to himself in this type of setting that he was scared. Zero wasn't given much time to dwell on the thought, either, there was a figure watching him from above. It must have been a type of computer room. His scanners picked up on the energy reading and Zero kept his voice steady when he addressed the presence above.

"Your brother already said hi." He didn't need the screen above to be made transparent for him to know it was Techno. "There's nothing here to defend yourself with."

'Maybe...' The purple boy always had a smug air around him. He looked pleased about something. 'Shows what you know. I gotta go back to check on an old friend of ours, in the mean time this guy can spend some time with you. That's how it works, right?' Techno sneered. 'You fight and he messes up because you aren't there to hold his hand.'

"X?!" Zero was ready to jump through the screen. "Where the hell is he---Oof!" He didn't see it coming when a large mechaniloid sent him flying.

His body collided with a wall, it would've been a worse impact if he hadn't caught himself while he slid down the side. His enemy was charging at him again, a guard 'droid that was in semi-functional state. He promised himself he'd beat the shit out of whoever revived the twins after he was done destroying everything around him and found X.

[usosmall]

X had finally pulled himself forward enough for his hand to fall upon something thick and crusty, his trembling hand almost recoiling at the suddenness of it. Through his glitching vision and the blinding white all around them, it was difficult to discern what it could have been at first.

But as his sight trails to the scene around him, he knows what it is, and why. Rubble, and fragments of Reploid bodies are blown across the landscape. X isn't sure how far he managed to travel, but it was enough for the weight of the sight to fall upon him.

Frozen blood. Those were bodies. He'd... finally found his unit.

X's body shakes violently as he slumps back down into the ice, curling inward slightly. He kept failing people. Maybe that had been a hallucination earlier. Or Techno's ghost. Maybe he deserved all of this, everything that was happening. Did he deserve to keep going like this? Maybe he should just die out here, stop getting innocent people hurt.

If he stopped moving, his body wouldn't generate heat. The ice would clog his vents, cutting off circulation until it eventually suffocated him. He could lay here with the bodies of the rest of his unit. He would apologize for everything when he finally faded into Cyberspace.

But... what about Zero? He probably got wind of what had happened by now. He was probably already on his way. If Zero found him like this, dead and busted and frozen in the middle of some snowfield...

...he would still be hurting more people, wouldn't he?

X's fingers curl inward more, optics vacant as he weighed his options. It... was getting difficult to think coherently, and the sun had already long-since set. It drifts back to his encounter with Techno, wondering if he was already in the late-stages of a permanent shutdown. But the boot on his helmet felt so real, it couldn't have been--

"Hey, buddy!"

The voice cuts off any further thought, and his attention refocuses. That... that voice...

Already? Here?

"Wow, I thought you'd be happier to see me."

Heh... of course. Zero wouldn't let him just give up and die out here, would he?

Relief and sadness clash with each other at his friend's presence, and X makes a little more of an effort to look up and greet his companion. It's difficult to make out his form properly, but--

Just as X was about to allocate the energy for some kind of response, he freezes. The words catch in his throat, and his relief turns to sudden, abject horror.

It was Zero. But... that form...

Before the incident at Sigma's palace. Before X had to spend almost a year trying to locate his friend's body parts and reclaim them from the X-Hunters. Before X had to feel the life from his friend draining rapidly in his arms. And he was just here, stance proud and smiling down at him like none of that ever happened.

He had to be dreaming. Hallucinating. Whatever. This wasn't real.

"Looks like you need a hand getting up, huh?" The words were colder than they'd just been, fear settling in X's chest as he struggled to scramble back. "Here..."

A hand rushes for his throat, peeling X's body off the ground and suspended in midair as his eyes lock onto his friend. Or this... thing with his friend's face. Parts of Zero's armor start dissolving away, resembling scorch marks from an explosion. A rush of energy sparks through X's body, and his legs kick in mid-air, trying to wrench his way out of the creature's grasp.

"It's always like this, huh?" 'Zero' continues, locking eyes with the blue Hunter. "You can't do anything for yourself. I always have to come scrape you off the ground because you messed up in some stupid way."

The hand tightens.

"And you can't argue because you know I'm right."

The words hit like a truck, and X gradually stops struggling against the grip. Logic should have told him that this... creature, hallucination, this-- thing was just trying to worm its way into his conscience. But he... can't argue. He can't fight it. Zero's right. He always is.

Couldn't he save anyone? Can't he do anything right?

"You can fix this, though." Zero smirked, X was listening intently. Good. "I'm not gonna kill you, actually. It'd be too much of a waste. Instead, you're gonna come with me. You're gonna work with us to undo all the damage you've done."

Zero's chestplate starts bubbling, like searing acid, melting and warping into something...

Familiar...

X's eyes widen at the large red eyes glaring up at him, remembering the sensation of something parasitic overriding his routines long ago. Zero's grin widened.

"We need you, X..."