Part 3 

                        A Death in the Family 
                                    By: Kevin Banda 


Vile laughed, HARD. It was three minutes ago that Vile had destroyed
Zero, or so he thought. From behind
him a figure in crimson raised his sabre and slashed Vile's back. Sparks
and fire spewed from the wound. 

"AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!" Vile screamed loudly. "Maverics, get him! But
remember, Sigma wants him alive!" 

Twelve Maverics closed upon Zero. Zero smashed one's face in, another he
cut in half with his sabre. A
snail-like reploid and an alligator grabbed Zero's arms while a reploid
named Flame Stag jumped-kicked him,
slamming into his chest, then uppercut him. Then everything went black. 

Zero awakened to a friendly face. 

"X!" he said happily. 

"The one and only, at least the last time I checked." he replied,
"Listen, I've been working on an escape plan
since I got here and I've figured a way out." X explained all the
details to Zero. 

They opened a circuit board and got to work. In a matter of minutes the
force field was down. As they exited
three guards attacked them. The goo on Zero seemed to tense up. Zero
jumped up and tried to fire his arm
cannon, it was then that he realized that the gaurds had his and X's arm
cannons. He also noticed his sabre
missing. 

He punched a guard in the chest. It toppled over and exploded. X took
the other two with two punches and a
kick. They recovered their weapons. 

"It looks like Sigma wanted us to escape." Zero nodded, agreeing. They
had to solve many other puzzles and
fought many other battles. 

"Let's beam out." said X, smiling. They were about to do so when a blue
streak of light headed in a B-line for
Zero. 

"Look out!" X yelled out as he leaped in front of Zero, taking the hit.
He fell to his knees, then fell to the
ground. Zero wached in horror as his freinds lifeless body hit the
ground with a thud. Zero wiped a tear from
his eye. He knew he now had to face Sigma and his worst fear himself.