Assault

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As the night passed, the scientist continued to work laboriously on the Hunters, in doing the task she had committed herself to. Finally, she put her tools down and wiped the sweat from her brow. 'Finished', she thought. 'And it looks like the treatment is taking. Especially the ones on Axel and Zero. Thank God.” She sat down and allowed herself the luxury of a small meal. Even though the work was a success, there were still tests and simulations that had to be done to see just how well the procedure took, if at all.

As she ran the simulations, something, or lack of, caught her attention. Something didn't feel right. The base had become too quiet. One of the sentries should have checked up on her hours ago. Worried, She checked one of the surveillance monitors and saw that there were no soldiers in any of the corridors throughout the complex. The perimeter was deserted as well. She went over to the three Reploids and began the boot up sequence to return them to an operational state.

Once done, she ran to the room's gun locker and grabbed two high powered Buster Rifles. Then she ran to the entrance and closed blast doors. Once she had done that, she ducked behind a heavy steel science table and waited. Turning to the warriors, she muttered, “Come on, come on! Finish rebooting!” The sound of loud banging coming from the bulkhead drew her attention. There was only One Maverick who used brute physical force to get through something powerful to defend against a bombing raid.

党Dammit!” she yelled. “Gutsman!!!” She remained crouched, waiting for the enemy to break through. There was no exit. It looked like this would be her last stand in this war. Priming the weapons, she aimed them at the door. Suddenly, someone grabbed the rifles from her hand. Turning in shock, she noticed Zero standing there, holding the weapons. “If you want to fight, You might want to try disabling the safety first.” Flipping a switch, he handed one of the rifles back to her.

Axel stretched and walked next to the swordsman, saying, “That guy just refuses to terminate, huh?” Rock took his place with his teammates, replying, “Like a cockroach on Slagging Steroids. Firing positions. Usual plan. Don't screw up, because I left the award back with the Jeep.” Axel smiled and said, “Too bad. I was hoping to give it to the idiot breaking down the door. Axel readied his pistols, Zero the rifle and Rock his arm and they aimed at the door.

The blast door shot out of the wall and past the four until it crashed into the wall. A task force of Maverick drones poured into the room as the team opened fire. Rock prepared to charge at the General, yelling, “I've got ugly!” Axel, in a sarcastic tone yelled, “Can you be a little more specific?” Without a word, Rock charged into the enemy, landing powerful blows that knocked the enemy back, using the copied ability from his last encounter with Gutsman.

Zero yelled, “What happened to the soldiers? Shouldn't they be helping?” Ciel shook her head and replied, “No backup! They were ordered to evacuate at the first sign of the enemy near the base!”
"Oh, yeah,” Axel groaned. “That's a real help! Where do you think ugly disappeared to?” A massive crashing sound filled the room as Gutsman went flying through the wall. Zero yelled sarcastically, “Can we destroy this bastard this time, or do we need it's core again?”

Rock punched the machine again, yelling, “Aren't you supposed to be shooting something?” The swordsman smiled and drew his Z-Saber, saying, “I'd prefer to do this the old fashioned way!” With that, he ran into the Maverick onslaught, cutting down the enemy with his weapon. Axel groaned. “Why am I always the only one stuck shooting these things?” As they continued their attack, Rock hit Gutsman with a devastating backhand, knocking a section of it's frame off its face.

Delivering a final strike, the Hunter delivered a punch that imploded the Maverick's head. Zero, Axel and Ciel had also finished wiping out the remaining drones. Zero turned to Rock and said, “You okay?” Confused, Rock replied, “Yeah, why?” Axel pointed to his left arm, which was now missing from the leader's body. The Reploid looked at it for a moment, Then said, “Wow. Didn't even notice.” At that moment, cables came out of Rock's shoulder and wrapped around the severed limb.

The arm got pulled along the ground and onto his body, then self-repaired itself to it's proper place. The Hunter stood there blankly for several moments, then said, “Okay. That was just freaky.” Zero turned to Ciel and said, “Looks like the treatment worked. The Maverick's self repair ability is now completely synched with his systems.” Rock raised his hand, muttering, “Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that this is a new feature in the Mavericks? How come I never came across it and why do I have it?”

Ciel answered, “It was Zero and Axel who gave it to you. They had me replicate your copy ability and implement the feature that they received from Quickman and Protoman. I also gave you their Base Weapon Protocols, which were activated in the battles that should have killed them. You have the power of three legendary Reploids now, and if you're going to take on Bass, you're going to need it.”

Rock stood there blankly and mused, “Okay. That could not come out any more unnerving. Why did you give me their abilities?” Zero let out a sigh and replied, “Because, even though we can repair ourselves, Our Power Cores are to badly damaged to continue. You're going to have to finish this war solo. To do that, you're going to need all the power you can get.” Axel added, “We'll go with you as far as we can, but after that, You're on your own. This is your war now, boss. We're just along for the ride.” Rock nodded and said, “Okay. Then what are we waiting for? We have a war to finish.”

Just outside the base perimeter, a lone red armored Maverick stood looking at the base that the warriors were gathered. With an evil grin on it's cold metal face, it said, “Well now. It looks like things are about to get interesting.” He stayed there, looking at the complex. He would not move from his location under any circumstance. He had his orders. All he needed to do was wait, watch and listen. Only when Bass gave the order, would he allow himself to move a single servo. He didn't want to become like the other Generals who crossed his leader. No. He would sit, wait and when the time came, exact vengeance for the disgraceful defeat of his counterpart Cutman at the hands of these creatures called Reploids.

As he stood there, Bass' voice rang in his audio receptors, “Metalman. Why are you just standing there, you fool? You have your orders.” The Maverick nodded, replying, “And I am carrying them out exactly as they were given.” The Tyrant  muttered, “Should have known better than to give orders to a literalistic Maverick and not be obscenely specific.” With a sigh, Bass muttered, “If you are done being a bolt brained, Dimly lit, over programmed and Under functional Moron who seems to be the only person to annoy me by actually following my orders, Then get your sorry Output back to my fortress! They will make their move soon, and I want to be fully prepared!”

Metalman nodded and headed back towards the capital city of Bass' empire, stating in a voice of surrender, “There is just no pleasing that man.”