Chapter Text
Storm Eagle and Teal arrived in the desert where it was reported that Overdrive Ostrich was.
“The report say Overdrive Ostrich has gone Maverick,” Teal said. “What would drive him to become one, Sam?”
“I… do not know,” Storm Eagle admitted. “Shortly before Sigma’s rebellion, he retired from the Hunters because he lost his wings, but he promised to keep in touch with me. But after Sigma’s rebellion, all of my contacts with him have been cut off.”
“Do you think the virus saw through our scheme, and decided to use Overdrive Ostrich as a fall back should we turn out to be traitors?”
“Maybe? But still, we’re only traitors from the virus’ point of view. Besides, Overdrive Ostrich was one of our men. If he’s still capable of listening to reason, then he’d listen to me. Which is why it’s up to us to save him from the Mavericks’ clutches.”
“Very well. Let’s go.”
Little did Storm Eagle and Teal knew they were watched by the Mavericks. And not just any Maverick, but Violen.
“Master Serges, I spotted two of Mega Man’s friends,” Violen said in his intercom. “Should I try to ambush them?”
“What, do you take me for an idiot? Of course you can!” Serges said through the intercom. “We need to take as many of Mega Brat’s allies as possible, so they won’t carry on fighting in his stead once we have Zero!”
“Alright, here I go!” Violen said, before getting on a Land Chaser.
However, Violen was so heavy, the Land Chaser broke under his weight. Then the land collapsed under his weight, and Violen found himself in a chamber in the missile base.
“Violen, you nincompoop!” Serges shouted through the intercom. “Why would you think using a Land Chaser would be a good idea?!”
“But Master Serges, you made me to be your brawn!”
“AAAARGH!!!” Serges shouted.
The shout was so lout that Iris, who just teleported in, managed to hear it.
“That voice… it must be one of the Counter Hunters!” Iris realized, and rushed inside the base.
Going to where she heard the voice, she found a path blocked by a boulder.
“Damn it… why can’t it be easy?” Iris asked herself.
However, she couldn’t give up. Serges was behind the boulder. So Iris ignited the saber she got when she started training, and slashed it at the boulder. Thankfully, it was working. With the sword, slowly, but surely, Iris managed to tear herself a way through the boulder.
“Phew! Now, to apprehend the Counter Hunters.”
When she entered, she found a bulky Maverick.
“Are you one of the Counter Hunters?” Iris asked
“Oh, you want to challenge me?” the Maverick said. “Well, you’re not Mega Man, so tough luck.”
“Do you really think I’d let you turn Zero in a Maverick?”
“Oho! So we have a third party that seeks to resurrect Zero on their side!”
“I don’t want Zero resurrected so he’d work for Repliforce. I want him back for his own sake… My weakness is what put him in his current state, so I will be the one to save him!”
The Maverick realized Iris was being serious, and started laughing.
“…Very well, then,” the Maverick said. “If you’re so willing to throw your life away, then so be it. I am Violen of the Counter Hunters, and I’ll crush you like a tin can! You will not live to see Zero resurrected!”
With that, Violen grabbed a flail whose chain sprouted from his head, and swung it at Iris. Quickly, Iris’ self-preservation instincts kicked in and dodged; even if Reploids did not have the Laws of Robotics hardwired in, the Third Law, “A robot must preserve its own existence as long as it does not violate the previous Laws”, was too important even for humans to follow, and since Reploids were supposed to be mechanical humans, well… Some quick thinking from Iris caused her to cut off the flail.
“Wha-oh now you’ve done it!” Violen said, trying to grab Iris.
However, he was a barehanded robot, while Iris was armed with a beam saber. Also, despite knowing not to underestimate X, Violen was not that smart, so he did not know he could turn Iris in a sitting duck by grabbing the wrist of the sword-holding hand. Still, he managed to punch Iris in the gut, with Iris retaliating by slashing him in his gut. Violen then faked a flinch so he could get a chunk of dirt, hurling it at Iris, who sliced it in half.
“Why is she so strong?!” Violen asked himself. “She’s not a combat Reploid!”
However, just as he asked himself, he felt an aura he was programmed to recognize.
“This aura… Mega Man?! But how?! Mega Man was programmed to be male!”
This distraction, however, proved to be fatal for Violen, as Iris chopped his head straight off. She then checked Violen’s innards, and pulled out a red torso, complete with arms, that looked a lot like Zero’s, except with some differences like rectangular shoulder pads and a handle on the back. Nevertheless, Iris knew those parts were Zero’s; they were red and white, the chest had a curiously-placed pair of green orbs, and the right shoulder had a “Z” on it.
Soon, the door opened, and X entered.
“Iris! You’re not supposed to be-“ X said, before stopping in shock at seeing Iris holding Zero’s torso next to Violen’s broken body.
“X, please… don’t get in my way. I am the one who must save Zero…” Iris said.
“Iris, I want to save Zero just as much as you do. All of us Hunters do.”
“I know, but… it’s my fault Zero is in his current condition… so I must be the one to save him…”
“So… you’re not angry with me for… not keeping Zero safe?”
“I was for a while… but I was more angry with myself.”
Iris then kneeled, holding Zero’s parts to her chest.
“What kind of girlfriend am I if I cannot protect the man I love? Why did I have to be a non-combat Reploid? Why am I so weak?”
X, not knowing what to do, hugged Iris.
“I understand you perfectly,” he said. “After all, you’re the most similar Reploid in design to me.”
“Y-yeah… me and my brother were created in an attempt to replicate you as closely as possible… but what does this have to do with anything?”
“Because, by design, you loathe violence. I do too, but… I feel that if I don’t do anything, those I care about will get hurt. And sometimes, even everything I do cannot prevent pain. It’s… a horrifying situation, what we find ourselves into. One where balance is near impossible to achieve. If you try to be a pacifist, your conscience gets irreversibly stained with blood. If you try to fight against the war directly, the war fights back and makes you feel your efforts are for nothing. Truly, a dreadful dilemma.”
“Then… what am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, Iris… but for now, we must keep the faith that we’ll save Zero. I’ll keep searching for the Counter Hunters… and if you’re so desperate to save him yourself, I’ll allow you to come with me until we have all Zero’s parts.”
“Th-thank you, X,” Iris said, before the two Reploids left the chamber.
“S-so… they’re-re actually crafti-ting more Mega Me-Men?” Violen asked, before shutting down.
“OH GOD DAMNIT! NOW I HAVE TO GLUE YOU BACK TOGETHER! AND YOU EVEN LET THEM GET AWAY WITH ZERO’S PARTS YOU MORON!” Serges was heard shouting through the intercom.
After going for a while with a Land Chaser, X and Iris eventually found a Light Capsule. The capsule activated, Dr. Light’s hologram appearing.
“X, enter this capsule,” the hologram said. “It will further enhance your acceleration system. It should now be powerful enough to boost you to full speed without a surface to react to. You can accelerate in mid-air.”
“Thank you, Father. I hope to use them well,” X said, before entering the capsule.
Serges entered the control room of the missile base.
“You won’t have your victory, Mega Man…” Serges mumbled. “When you’ll return to your beloved city of morons, you’ll find out it was destroyed…”
Meanwhile, Storm Eagle and Teal spotted an ostrich-themed Reploid rushing through the desert. Storm Eagle dived and tackled the ostrich down.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?!” the ostrich yelled.
“Sorry, but I had no idea how else we could stop you from running,” Teal apologized.
“Wait… that voice… Teal?! Is that you?! But how?!” the ostrich said.
“Uh… we found you while on a mission to find MIA Hunters?” Storm Eagle explained, confused.
“C-Commander Smith?! B-but they said you were dead!” the ostrich, now revealed to be Overdrive Ostrich, said. “They-they showed me the footage! They showed me the ruins of the Death Rogumer!”
“Who-who told you this?” Storm Eagle asked, perplexed.
“Some short guy accompanied by a giant brute and a lanky guy,” Overdrive Ostrich explained.
Suddenly, the two felt the ground shaking.
“What’s going on?!” Teal asked.
The answer came in the form of a launched missile. The two saw X and Iris riding it, while X fired his buster at him and Iris slashed the missile’s chassis. The missile blew up in the air, hurling the two Reploids near the trio.
“X! Iris! Are you two alright?” Storm Eagle said, dusting X off while Teal dusted off Iris.
“We’re alright… we managed to destroy the missile we’ve heard was going off as we were leaving, so it was worth it,” X explained.
“Wait, what about Zero’s parts?” Iris asked, before taking out Zero’s bust from the hyperspace in her dress’ pockets. “Phew, they’re intact.”
“Is that… Zero’s torso?!” Overdrive Ostrich asked.
“Yeah, I had to kill a Maverick to get it,” Iris explained.
“And you actually did it? Damn, girl, I didn’t know you had it in you!” Teal commended Iris.
Meanwhile, Overdrive Ostrich looked at X and Iris, and saw something curious.
‘How… strange… X and Iris… they’re so much like Commander Smith…’ he thought. ‘And here I was, condemning X for a crime for which Commander Smith is living proof that he did not commit it…’
Suddenly, they felt another tremor.
“Are they launching another missile?!” Iris asked.
The answer was quickly given: yes.
“Damn it!” X said, before rushing towards it, jumping as high as he could, and then trying the air dash. Unfortunately, it was not enough… but it did have a huge impact on Overdrive Ostrich.
‘X… he really is just like Commander Smith…’ he thought. ‘Y-you always were a role model to me, Commander… You taught me that it did not matter if I could no longer be in your unit… I’d always be your friend…’
And then, determination flared in Overdrive Ostrich’s eyes, before he did something no one thought he could do again. Something no one thought an ostrich could do. Fly towards the missile, in a heroic sacrifice. Knowing what he was planning to do, Storm Eagle then took off after him, for one final talk.
“Sam, no!” Teal said.
In the sky, Overdrive Ostrich, heading for his sacrifice, he recalled his past serving under Storm Eagle.
“Wow… the sky is so nice, after all… I forgot…” he mumbled.
“You could say that again,” he could hear Storm Eagle say.
“Commander Smith?”
“It’s really thanks to X that you can fly again. I just know this…”
“Yeah… too bad it will be the last time… You should go back and leave… Teal will be sad if she loses you… tell Mbatian I died happy…”
“Will do. Goodbye, Daffy, old friend…” Storm Eagle said, before he dived back, just in time for him to escape the explosion caused by Overdrive Ostrich’s crash in the missile.
“Y-you didn’t really do it,” Teal hugged Storm Eagle, with a sigh of relief.
“I didn’t have to. This was his moment. There was no point in stopping him. All we can do is fight to honour his memory…” Storm Eagle said.
“This would be unnecessary,” a voice said.
The heroes looked to see Metallix, carrying Overdrive Ostrich’s body. The two were inside a purple octahedral.
“He’s lucky that I interfered when I did. The leader of the Counter Hunters, Serges, armed an extra missile just so X won’t win. While he could not have anticipated for Overdrive Ostrich to want to give his life, he wouldn’t have survived if I didn’t interfere.”
“The Counter Hunters are just that determined to turn Zero into a Maverick…” X said, angrily.
“Take him to fester his wounds,” Metallix said. “And be heavily on guard.”
With that, he left.
“X, who are these Counter Hunters? And why do they want to turn Zero in a Maverick?” Teal asked.
“They’re a bunch of Mavericks that somehow know Zero’s full potential and upgraded his body so he could use it,” X explained. “This is related to the incident a while ago where some Mavericks infiltrated the HQ and stole Zero’s body. They couldn’t steal his core processor and system buffer. That’s because I put it in a secure network in a secret chamber in HQ and only let Iris and Dr. Cain know about it.”
“So we’re fighting these Counter Hunters for Zero’s parts…” Storm Eagle said. “And this conflict involved Daffy-Overdrive Ostrich-which can only mean one thing… if you fought any of these Counter Hunters before, we must ask him if they’re among the three people that tricked him…”