1: The Second Charge
When X beamed back into Maverick Hunter HQ, he ignored everyone around him as he rushed to the med lab. "Are they okay?" he demanded of Lifesaver. "Octavia and Zero? Are they alright?"
Lifesaver shrugged his shoulders. "Octavia's fine. She was just flash blind. She's recovering nicely, and should be ready to join you in battle again soon." He gestured to where Octavia was pushing herself to her hooves, her eyes covered by a purplish visor that resembled dark sunglasses.
X rushed to her side, gently stroking her mane. "Where'd the glasses come from?" he asked, confused and concerned.
"A reploid not in the registry stopped by and gave them to her," Lifesaver explained. "Introduced himself as Prometheus. Said the glasses would interact with her armor to let her maneuver by echolocation if her eyes took too long to recover, as well as protecting them while they recovered. After he gave them to her - and spent a few minutes brushing her mane to calm her down - he went up to talk to Dr. Ciel and Dr. Cain."
X nodded, managing a soft smile as Octavia nuzzled him to assure him of her well being. "And Zero?" he asked.
"He...is not doing so well," Lifesaver explained, gesturing to the stasis capsule - based off the original Light Capsule X had been found in - that held the portion of Zero that was recovered. "He's missing several crucial components, and what parts he still has are badly damaged. We've put him in stasis until the missing parts can be recovered and his repairs completed."
"So...he's alive, but in a medically induced coma?" Octavia inquired.
"Basically," Lifesaver confirmed.
"Alright," X said at last, getting back to his feet. "Octavia, you stay here and rest up. I'm going to go finish Sigma once and for all."
"Father, no!" Octavia called out, getting to her hooves. "Don't leave me behind!"
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, X," Lifesaver stated bluntly. "According to new protocol, you can't go out on Hunts when she's injured. New directive from Dr. Ciel."
"What?" X demanded angrily. "Why?"
"To keep you from becoming a monster," Ciel said bluntly, walking into the med lab behind X. "Do you even remember what you did after Octavia beamed out?"
X blinked. "I don't...I broke through the defenses to place the beacon."
"I meant specifics," Ciel pointed out, turning on a screen and calling up the video files of X's rampage through that part of Sigma's Fortress.
X stared in shock at the footage of his brutal treatment of the Boomer Kuwanger duplicate and the large spider mechanaloid. "I...did I..."
"Prometheus was able to give me a few details about your construction," Ciel explained. "Something that was deliberately designed so it couldn't be duplicated, and thus is in no Reploid in existence...but is in you and Zero. It's triggered by your fear for Octavia, especially when she isn't present. As such, you aren't allowed to go on missions while she's in the med lab."
X swallowed the bile in his throat, still staring at what he'd done. "U-understood."
"I'm ready to go," Octavia pointed out, hopping down from the bed and walking up to X's side. "This sonar is really advanced. Someone who really knows sound technology must have designed it. And we can't really let Sigma recover his forces any further."
Ciel nodded. "If you're both ready to go..."
X and Octavia beamed into the new section of the Fortress, X immediately bracing himself protectively around Octavia. "Are you sure you're up to-"
Octavia promptly shot a bat mechanaloid out of the air, one X hadn't even seen yet. "I'm not helpless," she growled out. "I can fight."
Sighing, X nodded, leading the way further in.
The first obstacle they faced was a set of three moving platforms. For some reason, X felt nostalgic at the sight. The pair leapt across easily. The mechanaloid enemies proved no true obstacle, and before long they entered a chamber containing a duplicate Chill Penguin. Knowing from the real Chill Penguin about his vulnerability, X and Octavia immediately switched to Flame Mammoth's weapon. The copy was unable to face the two pronged flaming assault - especially as it had only a basic combat program - and quickly went down.
Beyond there, Octavia took control of a Ride Armor, using the systems in her glasses to interface the sonar with the Ride Armor's systems. At the end of the path, they left the Ride Armor behind, climbing up twin passageways where shooting up resulted in everything they encountered being easily destroyed before it could become a threat.
In an open air area, they encountered a duplicate of Storm Eagle. X used his strategy of freezing the wing joints and breaking them off, while Octavia used Chameleon Sting to fry the duplicate's highly-sensitive optic circuits, causing its systems to crash.
After a short climb upward, they encountered another Fortress Guardian. This one seemed to be a giant face. The eyes and nose were separate drones that attacked in different patterns, and the mouth was a spike trap.
"Careful of the spikes," X warned. "They generate an electromagnetic field specifically designed to fry positronic circuitry."
Octavia blinked. "You mean what makes your inorganic brain work?" she asked.
"Precisely," X confirmed.
"But my brain's organic," she pointed out. "What effect would it have on me? I mean, the sonar isn't registering the spikes as a danger, except the points, and them minimal."
As they had been talking, each of the eyes had attacked, colored blue as they moved towards first X and then Octavia before returning to their protected sockets. At that point, the walls closed in, forcing X to climb to avoid the spikes. Octavia, however, was caught off guard and fell into the spikes, but managed to land between two.
"Octavia!" X called out worriedly as the nose started to bounce around. "Are you alright?"
Several blasts shot upwards, impacting the nose. "I'm stuck, but otherwise fine!" she called back up. "According to Varia, if the spikes were smaller, I could walk right over them, and between them if they were larger. But I'm just the wrong size for these. I can beam out just fine, though!"
Before long, all three parts of the Guardian were obliterated. The spikes vanished as it ceased to function with a rather impressive explosion. Octavia happily climbed out of the pit.
"Setting up the beacon to get us to the next sector," X stated happily, tousling her mane.
With a wide grin on each of their faces, they beamed out.
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I was planning to go to sleep but this took precedence.
So much potential for a star trek reference.
... I can only hope that 'Prometheus' makes a return appearance.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
This Prometheus reminds me of someone from the ZX series.
6451386 oh i know exactly who Prometheus is...
anyway, it seems like someones been reading Bob and George, eh?
6451408 Is Bob and George a novel?
6451424 A comic, really. It's been finished for a few years now.
Zero's in stasis instead of dead huh? Guess there might be a break in before the second game to ensure continuity.
Here's guessing Prometheus was designed primarily by a certain wub-happy equinoid.
Purple glasses purple glasses there be a vinyl reference
6451565
Or there's the pieces he's missing that need to be recovered to fully repair him, according to a new doctor. Three pieces, specifically.
I love the hidden clues from our comic Histories if Prometheus is who many of us think he is.
Prometheus... that has to be a rebuilt Protoman. the sonic device, the reploid not on registry and brushing of a mane, they are all heavy clues about him being... him. Also. the name... Protoman, prototype man... Prometheus... of historical legend.
6451408 I was think the exact same thing. Then I realized that that comic has been around for a long time, since I remember reading it over 10 years ago or so.
I can't hear anything. I think your story is broken because I can't hear the melody of the future.
This is bull****. Everyone else here can hear it but me! Come on!
Yeah, X and Zero go Papa WolfBear on anything that hurts Tavi or when they are worried about her. I can totally see it!!!
Prometheus.... Tats, did you by chance read the BobandGeorge sprite web comic????
Because if it's the same guy from the comic, that means Vinyl might still be alive in a stasis tube or in Acapulco
6451605 Does this mean no boob lights for Zero???
6451763
I did read it.
And no, she's not in stasis or Acapulco.
he ignored everyon around him
1. Everyone.
6451767 It was a great web comic, set my standards for years to come of what I'll read. And some great running gags!
from reading willy's Wittle Wub I'm guessing this:
Protoman has a split or second personality and it's this personality that is in charge of his body here as opposed to the personality that's in charge during willy's wittle wub. Furthermore this second/split personality is female.
6451859
Incorrect.
Somehow, I get the feeling this is related to Freak Mode.
Soo... Is Prometheus Protoman?
Also...
Careful now Octavia, somehow, somewere, Vinyls head just got a little bigger.
And when is Octavia goign to get her battle cello? Come-on, you know it needs to happen
YAY 300TH UPVOTE BY ME!!! XD
6451605 Would this mean they would have to retrieve them from reploids that have names that are reminiscent of french words?
6452333
If you're referring to that side quest in X2, then yes.
6451767 But everyone went to Acapulco when they faked their deaths. That's why nobody knows what the fuck happened in the so called "Cataclysm"
6452421
Not in this timeline.
6452433 BAH! Everybody loves Acapulco. Be they ponies, robots, old me, or even Dark Lords of Fire and Chaos, everybody loves Acapulco.That being said, will a certain Lightning Elemental be showing up, or even better the previously mentioned Dark Lord of Fire and Chaos? In either era?
Guess with this minor setback, Octy doesn't have to bat an eye at this echo of a defeat. I'd almost say she got visor after that.
6453045
Nope. It's only the name being used.
6453046
you know what? I don't even care anymore, make your punny puns but know this: every joke kills twilight a little more with their cheesiness
tse1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.3EfwlbvvjwN/KKO8JGTY0w&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0
Ohh, Poor Zero.. but I do wonder.. Zero and X have some of Vynals Coding in them, did she program X's "Aucard" mode? She must have added something to Zero right? I just wanna really see both Zero and X beat the ever loving sh-
out of Sigma.
Will Sigma be afrade? (That guy makes me wanna scream in fustration, I can never beat him.. not in X4 or 6.)
6453694 Ah, okay. Originally, my family thought that you had to have only one health left.
When we got to that spot with one health left, we were SOOOOOO mad when it wasn't there.
yeah. He's from megaman X canon. Somehow the bastard survives all that time and gets a few upgrades too. It always bugged me because he kept the same color scheme, visor, and face but hardly anyone went "oh wow you look like protoman!"6452107
6455748
If she is aging 10 times slower than normal, and she reaches physical maturity at 200, she would look 20 then, and since she would start aging normally then, because physical maturity is at about the halfway point of lifetimes she would live for about another 20 years, which is 220.
6458096
Physical maturity is not the halfway point of lifetimes.
Humans reach physical maturity at around 20. Average human lifespan nowadays is about 80 years.
Not only that, Granny Smith has been canonically stated to be several hundred years old.
6458130
ya I was guessing on when that happens, so in that case, 260
6458195
Assuming ponies lifespans are equivalent to humans.
All that was meant to say was that, by the time 200 years had passed - the end of the X series - Octavia would be physically as old as she is in the show, and would then be aging at the normal pony rate. You weren't supposed to start calculating her expected lifespan as a result.
6455713
Women can't resist my long flowing locks, I'll slap a stamp right on my package, and deliver your wife the Rock. My shining armor is red, the color of victory, while your fruity suit is blue, like your balls will soon be.
Ya know, I imagine Octavia's voice to be a bit like Rarity's, but a bit(lot) less over the top.
6458218 well the regular lifespan of humans is about 80, and their physical maturity is about a quarter of our lifespan, so I put the ratio the same (it's not it's about 1/5 for horses so 280), which would have been 260, sorry for the trouble, i just think about things like that, I'm a nerd. A cool Brony nerd but a nerd nonetheless.
6458251 So Mega Man harnessed all the powers of the masters
And killed Zero with his mega laser schlong blaster
And then he banged his wife until she screamed "Yes more"
Then she loved him again cause she's a shallow whore!
6458728
What'd you say?
Nozing! Douhce.
6456327 Where did you hear that from? I played and beat all the Megaman X games and got no mention of anyone like Protoman. The ONLY one i can think of is Dynamo from Megaman X6 but, he is too different from Protoman to be Protoman. You will have to show me proof of this.
6463384 Prometheus (Protoman) is not from MMX canon … but he IS my personal favorite piece of Bob & George MMX fanon!
So, have some mustaches for including him, Tat.
6451657
Good times. Kept me from being bored out of my gourd in 11'th and 12'th grade history class after I finished all my work for the day.