X1

X landed safely back in Dr. Cain's lab but the Doctor was nowhere to be found.

"Doctor? Hello? I managed to penetrate Sigma's second line of defense in his fortress!"

Then X looked over at the computer console where he saw a note. It read:

Dear X,
I've been monitoring your progress and I see that you will make quick work of Rangda Bangda thanks to your weapons upgrades. Once you return here safely I will be gone. It's getting too dangerous to stay here so I've taken a shuttle and vacated the premises. The coordinates for the next two lines of defense should appear automatically on the computer screen should you manage to break through them. And don't worry about me. I'm somewhere safe. I'm counting on you, X. The world is counting on you.
Signed, Dr. Cain

"Doctor...where are you? I can't do this alone! Doctor! Zero! Someone!"

X fell to his knees and crumpled the piece of paper in his hand. He then rose to his feet and felt an eerie calm fall over him.

"No, I can't stop. Not when I'm this close to finishing off Sigma for good. With his end comes the end of our suffering. And with that, we can finally be at peace."

X looked once more around the familiar lab before teleporting to the pre-designated coordinates of the third defensive line inside Sigma's Fortress.

. . .

X found himself in a narrow passageway that only had one direction: up.

"Alright Sigma, I know you're close. Do what you will but I will finally bring peace at any cost!"

X kicked his way up the tight column to a landing where he found a lone Maverick shooting its offspring once again.

"*sigh* Not now. I can't deal with this now..."

X quickly darted around the massive Maverick to an unexpected security door.

"Already? So soon? Mmph, better prepare for this..."

X charged his Z-Buster to full capacity before entering the chamber to fight yet another Maverick he'd once destroyed before. From above came a crashing heap of metal smashing its way through the ceiling and landing in front of X.

"Armored Armadillo, now you too will finally be put to rest."

The Maverick's eyes grew red but still felt cold in X's eyes.

"Termination parameters set. Kill the Hunter. Engage."

Armored Armadillo's body began hurling itself all around the room, sending X into a furious frenzy of dashing and dodging.

"Armadillo! Stop this! If you keep this up any longer we'll both be killed!"

From the spinning mass came a voice.

"Kill Hunter at any cost, even if own life is required to terminate. Kill Hunter."

X had no choice but to unleash his powerful Z-Buster shot into Armored Armadillo's frame once he had the chance. And it came sooner than expected. Armored Armadillo came to rest right in front of X. For a moment, time slowed. X saw deep into his former ally's eyes but could see nothing of what he once knew. A sneer crawled across the Armadillo's face and his head began to expose a laser gun. In his moment of slowed time, X took the shot and the room went dead with silence. Armored Armadillo laid on the floor, circuits buzzing everywhere and his armor melted firmly to his body.

"Must...terminate...at all costs. Self-destruct...engage."

X's eyes widened as he saw Armored Armadillo's body begin emitting hot beams of light from all its crevices. X turned and dashed for the door but the intense explosion had already begun. He felt the heat drawing closer to him from the blast with every nanosecond. He could feel the cold steel from the next security door on his fingers and the hot fiery death overtaking the back of him. He leaped into the door and just as the blast was about to succumb him...SLAM. The security door shut and locked. X laid there with a few minor burns but nothing he wasn't already used to. The explosion continued in the other room. X could hear parts of the ceiling fall and the pipe fixtures on the walls pop off and shatter into a thousand pieces.

"Wow...barely made it out alive. Can't say the same for Armadillo..."

X rose to his feet and dusted off his armor. Once again he could see his journey would send him upwards again. He kicked off several walls in an all too familiar fashion and came across a few more straggling Mavericks. A wall turret and a miner. Nothing he couldn't handle.

"I'm sorry to keep this short but time is of the essence!"

X tossed several pellets from Z-Buster into the turret's central firing unit, causing immediate failure and self-destruction. The miner threw a pickaxe towards X but was easily dodged by walking a few feet closer to his foe.

"Nice try...now take this!"

X's onslaught of pellet shots drove the miner to the ground in a heap of his own scrap metal. He didn't stand a chance.

"As much as I hate doing this, I know it'll be for the good of everyone, human, Reploid, and even Maverick."

Greeted by another security door, X walked through to find Sting Chameleon standing there in his usual cocky pose.

"Oh great! It's you...what, no snarky remark?"

Sting Chameleon's head merely tipped to one side as his crimson eyes lit up.

"Target achieved. Keep target busy until preparations are made."

X dimmed his eyes in confusion.

"Preparations? If you think I'm preparing to go Maverick you are SORELY mistaken!"

The chameleon disappeared from view as it blended into the wall. X ran to the middle of the room for a better view all-around. He switched his Z-Buster to the homing missile upgrade for when his foe would re-emerge.

"C'mon, Sting! I don't have all day!"

But nothing. Just the sound of a quiet rustling about the room. X felt like he was being kept away from something, thinking back to what his autonomous enemy said at first. Preparations for what? But X could wait no longer.

"Alright, you asked for it!"

X fired off three homing missiles that all locked onto a corner of the room and flew towards it. More rustling was heard and the missiles followed suit. They connected with Sting Chameleon and forced him out of hiding.

"Damage too severe. Preparations complete. Shutting down..."

Sting Chameleon's eyes went from crimson to pure black. Steam escaped from all his connective parts and he flew apart like a broken vase.

"Hmm, this isn't right. Something strange is going on here. Sigma! Whatever you have planned I will take you down!"

X saw the gateway to the next area open up and he dashed through. This time he headed down past some Mavericks trapped in a room with no doors and two lowly Mavericks on the floor leading to the next security door.

"More remnants of this revolution. I'll show you what a-"

Before X could even approach the Mavericks, they powered down and fell to the floor. The way ahead was now accessible.

"Umm...okay. I don't like this. Maybe my next opponent can shine a light on these mysterious Mavericks..."

X entered the next security door. The lights flickered off and all that could be seen were a few random balls of light emanating from a moving object. X knew who it was.

"Spark Mandrill! I know you're nothing but a puppet for Sigma now, but tell me what is going on with these Mavericks!"

The lights came back up and Spark Mandrill's big face greeted X happily with a smile. That was all X would get out of him though as he smashed the ground sending waves of charged electricity across the floor. X dashed up to the wall and kicked off, firing a few pellets into Spark's frame. With Spark temporarily stunned, X switched to his Shotgun Ice weapon and readied himself for more fighting.

"Preparations nearly complete. Keep X busy. Keep X busy."

X tired of all these cryptic messages and froze Spark Mandrill in his place with a solid Shotgun Ice blast. Spark broke free and charged the wall with his fist. Making no mistakes, X kicked up to the very same wall and leaped over the towering Maverick.

"No way in hell I'm letting you take me down with those fists!"

Another Shotgun Ice to Spark Mandrill's head sent it breaking off and shattering into the wall behind him.

"Finally. I just wish I knew what all this talk of 'preparations' is about!"

X took no time to see the frozen corpse of Spark Mandrill. He had to break the third line of defense, and he was unsure where it was.

"Ugh, these pointless battles are really doing a number on me. I hope I have enough left for the final threat..."

X walked through the next security door into a water-based area. Most likely Launch Octopus would be his next target. "Target," thought X. "That's a word military people use to mean those they want to kill." X didn't want to kill anybody. If anything, he'd wish to see them reprogrammed into normal society. But in times like this, sometimes direct action is the only course. X ventured forward, dashed underneath a slew of bubble fish that eagerly gaped their maws, waiting for X to draw near their vacuuming sockets. X needed to press on to Launch Octopus and stop whatever preparations the Mavericks were talking about. Just as X passed the last bubble fish, he could see from the corner of his eye all the fish turn belly up and slowly rise in the water. They had been terminated without so much as a whisper. In the next security room, Launch Octopus wasn't even mobile. He merely stood in one place and fired homing shots.

"This is it? Launch, what's gotten into you? Are you still you?"

Launch Octopus' eyes shone a very dim red.

"Ready...ready...ready...ready..."

He kept repeating that over and over. This fight was almost a joke in its simplicity. X couldn't just walk by though. The only way out was with the destruction of Launch Octopus. So X switched to his Rolling Shield weapon and placed himself just behind his adversary. The homing missiles weren't even homing in on him. They just glided through the water, crashing into the wall and puffing out of existence like billowing smoke.

"I'm sorry old friend, but this has to be done."

X turned his head away from his target as he fired multiple rounds of Rolling Shield into Launch Octopus. After a few moments, X heard a large THUD and turned back to see parts of Launch Octopus lining the watery floor in front of him.

"It's done. Now let me go!"

The security door opened slowly and allowed X to continue. He jumped up through a narrow area and out of the water. In front of him was another laser-tripping hallway...without the lasers.

"Huh. Just a dead room I suppose. No matter. Just brings me one step closer to Sigma..."

X dashed across the non-threatening wires and deactivated turrets to yet another security room.

"I suppose all that's left is Flame Mammoth. If only he could tell me why everything is shutting down!"

X walked past the security door and saw Flame Mammoth standing there.

"Alright Flame Mammoth! I'm ready! Come and get it!"

No answer. No movement. He just stood there and stared. Even the word 'stare' wasn't accurate, though. His eyes were black.

"F...Flame?"

X walked over to the monstrous Maverick and touched him. The slight bit of contact sent the Maverick careening over and crashing to the ground. He was dead.

"What? What the hell is going on?"

The security door opened without X even walking near it. It wanted him to go through. It beckoned him. All that stood between him and the next security door was a very small hallway.

"This must be it, the third line of defense! Okay now we can put an end to this charade!"

Once X touched down in the next room, he heard a cackling voice bellow from the rafters.

"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha! Welcome, X! Now will be a test of your true mettle!"

X gasped.

"Sigma! It's you! How DARE you abuse my friends like this!"

"Friends? Abuse? I'm not the one that killed them, X. You are."

X clenched his fists so hard he made indentations in his palms.

"Rrrrrgh, come out and fight!"

"Oh no, not yet. Like I said, this will be a test of your fighting skills. Those 'preparations' you'd been hearing about were the final finishing touches on my latest defensive weapon. I purposely deactivated those Mavericks so you would get here all the sooner. I knew you'd take out those last remaining ones, anyway. They could never be a challenge for someone with such limitless potential."

X charged his Z-Buster to full capacity and aimed it high in the air.

"Alright! I'll fight your machine! But you're next Sigma! Do you hear me?"

Suddenly a large red and purple vehicle crashed to the ground in front of X. Right after it, a spiked sinister-looking device slammed on top of it.

"Say hello...to D-REX!"

Combined, the two parts looked like the face of a hideous beast. It had large green eyes, sparkly white teeth and a very short temper.

"Now play nice, and show me your true strength X!"

The voice trickled off into oblivion as the 'D-Rex' powered itself up.

"This machine could only be the work of Sigma!"

X powered up his Z-Buster and aimed at the top structure. He scaled the wall and aimed at the eyes but within seconds the top section slammed forward, sandwiching X between it and the wall.

"Ungh! Dammit, I'm too slow!"

The top section backed away and merged with the bottom section. X laid on the floor, clutching his chest. He saw beams of electricity flowing from the top to the bottom of the D-Rex and a surge of energy building from between them.

"Nnngh, this can't be good. Must fight! Fight through the pain!"

X rose to his feet and saw the surge of energy form into a massive ball of light. The ball of light fired from the electric beams straight at X. He jumped up and scaled the wall, barely making it up before the ball singed the toes of his boots.

"Now I just need to find his weakness...damn you Sigma!"

X tried many different weapons in succession; Rolling Shield, Chameleon Sting, Fire Wave, but to no avail.

"I'm growing tired of this! Sigma, just face me now!"

The D-Rex wasn't hearing X's words. It continued dashing in and out towards the wall behind X, forcing him to jump and remain stationary. He even sometimes rode the bottom half of the D-Rex just to avoid a collision. X then leaped from the wall to the top of the D-Rex and began firing pellets at its green eyes. All they did was bounce off. He then tried powering up his Electric Spark to its fullest capacity and surging the top of the D-Rex with power. X barely got the shot off before the entire D-Rex slammed into the wall, forcing X to slam into it as well.

"Ack! Well at least I...WHAT?"

The immense amount of energy forced upon the D-Rex did nothing but create a few burn marks in its yellow plating.

"I just can't destroy this thing! But now is no time to cut and run!"

Just then, a lightbulb went off inside X's head.

"Of course! The Boomerang Cutter! Anything is worth a try at this stage...God knows I need anything now."

He armed his Z-Buster with the slicing Boomerang Cutter and fired a shot into the D-Rex's big green eye. It flew off like the top of a tin can.

"Yes! I've found it! Nice try, Sigma, but you won't get me here!"

X placed himself on the bottom of the D-Rex and fired up and down, alternating between each blast.

"So much for being prepared, eh D-Rex?"

The large creature-machine began falling apart. Its body had been halved so many times it looked like a deck of cards had been tossed across the room. All that remained was its still running CPU.

"Not even your best creations can stop justice, Sigma!"

X fired one last Boomerang Cutter into the CPU. It firmly sliced its way through, spewing electricity and micro-wiring everywhere. The rest of D-Rex's parts crumbled away into rubble, leaving X alone in an otherwise empty room.

"I've...done it. Urk...my chest. I'd almost completely forgotten! Okay Sigma, I'll fight you but not like this. Let me get back up to one hundred percent, then we'll see who is the better Reploid!"

X grabbed his dented chest and rose to his feet.

"Zero...we're almost there."

X teleported back to Dr. Cain's lab for what might possibly be the final time...