Utopia

Chapter 2: Stranger

Thunder and rain poured over Doppler Town that night. The storm that was moving closer to MHHQ as if to convey the omen of tragedy that would soon be approaching.

During the night reploids began to act strangely. They walked out of their homes and began murderous riots all over the city. It was pure chaos. And where was the supposed savior Dr. Doppler in all of this?

He was busy hiding in his lab creating a new body for an unknown reploid he’d found on the street a few months ago. Doppler felt sorry for the reploids unfortunate destruction and decided to build him the ultimate body to defend himself in the future.

‘Reploids can be such monsters sometimes, just like humans…’ He thought to himself. He laughed a diabolical laugh just then as if his last piece of sanity had been swept away. All he knew was that he had to keep building the body for his subject. It had to be perfect, at all costs.

Back at Hunter Base X and Zero were startled awake by the emergency alarm. Mavericks were on the loose all over Doppler Town causing it to be considered a war-zone. The safest approach was to clear each infected area of the city one by one.

“You and I will take separate paths X. I’ll scout around and take out some of the main mavericks nearby while you go to the outer parts of town and take care of the rest.”

“Sure thing Zero See you later.”

His first destination was the Ski resort where the maverick Blizzard Buffalo used to work at. It didn’t take X long to find him. He was working away on an ice-sculpture. X did not know what the purpose of this was, however.

“Blizzard Buffalo stand down and come back to Maverick Hunter with me!”

The maverick didn’t even turn around. He kept working on his ice-sculpture as if he didn’t even hear X behind him.

“Hey!” X raised his voice “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

“No, he doesn’t. It seems these mavericks have been completely taken over by the maverick-virus!”

X quickly turned around towards the mysterious female voice that had just answered his question. He turned to see a female in black armour from the neck down. She had a white complexion with green eyes and her hair was long, blonde, and tied in a pony-tail. Her armour looked identical to any ordinary fighting reploids design minus the large boots. Her boots were platform knee length hooker boots fixed with metal plating for protection.

“Who are you?” X asked.

“Shut up, shut, SHUT UP!! I’m trying to work here!! Stop distracting me! I’ll kill you!!” Blizzard Buffalo shouted in anger.

“The formalities come later X. He’s gone crazy! We have to take him down now!” The woman commanded taking out her weapon. She took out her arm cannon which looked similar to Xs with the exception of her hand staying in place and multiple cannon holes appeared around it.

X aimed his X-buster at the mavericks’ chest while the woman ran to the side a few feet away from them. She tapped her headset and held her microphone.

“What are you doing?” X asked looking in her direction.

“We have a giant maverick on our hands here. Can you analyze it and tell me its weak spots?”

“Ok. Give me a few minutes.”

‘Who is she talking too?’ X looked puzzled as he jumped to avoid Buffalos icy wind blasts.

She ran towards the maverick and Xs direction.

“X we have to keep him pre-occupied for a few minutes! I’ll explain later just do it!” The woman yelled forcefully.

“I guess I have no choice!” X shouted back shooting plasma blasts at the enemy. They hit him, but did not do any damage “Why aren’t my shots hurting him?”

X ran swiftly dodging the attacks until a large ice bullet hit X in the stomach sending him sprawling to the ground.

“X!!” The armoured woman shouted “Get up please! Hang in for just a bit longer!” She turned her head to her microphone “Hurry up!” she mumbled into the headset.

“Almost done” The navigator answered.

The woman ran to Xs side and carried him to a nearby crevice beside the ski-resort. They huddled quietly while Blizzard Buffalo looked for them.

“Finished” The navigator informed “The weak point is the neck!”

“But it’s covered in armour!”

“Find a way to make his head go back, snag his armoured plating, and shoot! I’m sorry that’s all I can suggest the rest is up to you… By the way is he with you?”

“Yeah”

X opened his eyes and sat up “Where is Blizzard Buffalo?” X asked as he stood up wearily.

“He’s looking for us. Can you fight?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Our enemies’ weakness is his neck! It’s covered in armour, so we’ll need to find a way to get it off and shoot the synthetic skin underneath. Can you help me?”

X nodded and readied his buster cannon “I have an idea. You sneak up behind him and quickly climb to his shoulders, grab the neck plating and pull it off. Make sure he struggles enough to throw you off. Once it’s off and I know you’re a safe distance away I’ll charge my X-buster and defeat him.”

“Ok good plan. You distract him while I sneak behind him, so his sensors won’t catch me.”

X ran out of hiding and towards Blizzard Buffalo shooting like a mad man. The woman ran behind her enemy and noticed a large pile of snow. She climbed onto it and jumped off landing on Buffalos shoulders. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightening her grip on the plated protection. She gritted her teeth and pulled as hard as she could until she felt the armour piece rip off and she was flying in mid air. She was blinded by a flash of light as X charged his shot and hit him. A loud scream echoed across the empty ski-resort as he fell backwards onto his sculpture.

Silence filled the air as X walked towards his enemies’ dead body. The woman followed his lead as they both bowed to pay their respects. Afterwards X knelt down on one knee and extracted his weapons chip.

“This should be useful.” X said holding it up to his face before he put it into his blaster.

The woman retracted her buster weapon and smiled at X “My name is Jade.” She reached out her arm to shake his hand. He returned the sentiment.

“Seems like you know who I am already.” X smiled.

“You are a well known fellow” Jade smiled “I have been looking for you X and your friend Zero where is he?”

“He is working.”

“I see maybe another time then.”

“You said you were looking for me? Why? Who are you?”

“I can’t say much right now. All I can tell you is that we want peace just as much as you do. I… We are doing the best we can in fighting our enemies, but I don’t think we can fight them by ourselves much longer. We are asking for your help. You don’t have to answer just yet. When the time comes that you gain my trust I will show you what you and I are fighting for…”

“Show me?” X asked baffled.

“There is one important thing. Don’t tell anyone except for Zero that we talked. This is nothing to get your entire organization involved with. Make sure Zero doesn’t say a word either! Promise I am trusting you…”

“I promise Jade.”

“Until we meet again blue stranger…”