Nothing else was really clicking, so I thought I'd write it anyways. Let's see how many of you notice this is even posted.

A bright flash of light opened into a stunning vortex of color, and a Landchaser burst through, carrying its rider and belongings through to the other side. The blue armored reploid leveled a small flat device at the portal and activated it. A column of flame burst through the vortex before it collapsed in on itself.

The legendary progenitor of the Reploid race crushed the device in his hand, then dropped the pieces. And blasted the remains with his buster. He sighed and looked up at the night sky. "Well, that's the end of it…"

He focused then, and rode off into the night. Someone was bound to have picked up the disturbance, and he didn't want to be there if Mavericks showed up first.

It was time to go home.

By the time X was approaching Maverick Hunter Headquarters, his signal had already been picked up by the satellites orbiting the still half dead planet, and there was an excited buzz in the courtyard as he approached.

It quieted as he rode in, and stopped before Signas and Zero. Signas nodded, keeping with the formality of the situation. "Hunter X, mission debriefing at oh seven hundred tomorrow." Then he actually let himself smile a little. "Good to see you home, X."

X nodded, not trusting himself to say anything after the events of the past couple of weeks. Signas straightened. "Dismissed!"

The hunters in the courtyard dispersed, and X was immediately pulled off the Landchaser and into a bear hug by Zero. "It's fantastic to see you back, buddy! What do you day we go out and celebrate, eh?"

X groaned in response. "Maybe after the debriefing tomorrow. I'd like my head still in one piece by the time I get to Signas."

Zero sighed theatrically. "What am I going to do with you, X? Oh well, it's not like you're as hide bound as Signas himself. Still, we can go up and crash in one of the rec rooms for a bit."

X shook his head, and smiled sadly. "Sure, why not? I could use a distraction."

Zero's grin was infectious. "That's the spirit, come on!"

X followed slowly behind his friend, smiling a little in spite of himself. The crossed the threshold of the door into the rec room itself, and X froze upon what he saw. "Alia…"

Zero beamed. "Surprise!"

X stiffened, every circuit in his body screaming for him lash out, to destroy the image before him. He stood still, but Zero continued without concern. "A little after you left, we got a good tip and barged what was supposed to be a warehouse, but turned out to be a maverick holding facility. We found Alia, and a bunch of other reploids, being held there against their will. They were being kept as chips though, so…"

X nodded absently, finally forcing down the urge to open fire on Alia. "I see."

That was all he said before storming out of the room.

Years have passed since Mega Man X made his trip to the alien dimension he was almost ready to call home.

X reported on his mission faithfully, but with one deliberate error. He made no mention whatsoever of the second Alia on the other side. Which one had been real? He could not answer that question, so he left it to fate, and kept a shrewd eye on the spotter.

While the seventh Maverick uprising was a close thing, it was averted, the legendary Hunter wallowing in his deep depression for much of the war before shaking it off, helping Zero and their new ally, Axl, end it.

The eighth Maverick rebellion was won as well, but not without cost.

X, still holding Axl's unconscious form, turned to Zero, who was just getting off the link with Layer. "Zero… did anything about that seem odd to you?"

The red hunter blinked. "Huh? What do you mean, X?"

X narrowed his eyes. "It's just… who knows. Maybe I'm being paranoid."

Zero shook his head. "X, you need to trust your instincts. What's wrong?"

"You're going to think I'm crazy. It's just… up there on the moon, while we were in the radio black out… did anything about that black out seem funny to you?"

Zero shrugged. "Not really." But his eyes narrowed. "Now spill it. What did you notice?"

X looked over at him. "We might not have been in contact with the surface, but we could still radio each other."

Zero shrugged. "So? Maybe it was a shield, just affecting things that were still outside?"

X sighed. "Yeah, maybe… but isn't it easier to simply use one that covers a field and have troops with descramblers? Not to mention what they could have done to us if we weren't able to coordinate our strikes? Not to mention the effort it takes to block comm traffic like that these days?"

Zero looked at X with a faintly disturbed look on his face. "Yeah, so…?"

X shook his head. "It… may be nothing. Promise you won't say anything for now. Let me look into a few things when we get back."

"What do we tell Signas?"

"The truth… as far as it goes. I'd rather leave my suspicions out of it until I've got proof."

Zero snorted. "That's easy enough. You haven't even told me what you suspect."

X had a faintly haunted look in his eyes as he readjusted his grip on Axl. "That might be for the best."

X looked up from his screen, a tired and haggard visage on his face. I hate being right.

He saved all the evidence to a hard disk and concealed it in his armor before walking out the door.

He hadn't seen any of the three navigators as he walked towards Signas's office, which disturbed him. He usually ran into at least one of them whenever he wandered these halls. He shook it off though, and entered Signas's office.

Signas gave him a brief smile as he looked up from the terminal where he was doing his paperwork. He motioned for X to take a seat.

X sat, as expected of him, and waited patiently for Signas to finish. He did not wait long. Signas finished and closed out before turning his attention to his subordinate. "What can I do for you X?"

X grimaced and handed over the disk without saying anything. After taking a few moments to review the data, Signas looked back up at X. "You're certain about this?"

"Yes."

Signas sighed. "Great. Alright. Do what you have to, X. As of this moment Alia, Palette, and Layer are considered mavericks. Bring them in hunter."

X gave a short nod.

Despite their best efforts, however, they found nothing.

The Gigantis Island Incident, as it was later known, solidified X back into the roll of the Hunter he once was.

But, nothing can stay peaceful forever, and the cogs of fate began to move once more.

Hunter Moon S: Steel Dawn

Prologue – Leave Taking

She frowned.

"What exactly are you trying to say here? I thought I'd been hired for a job."

The man across the desk from her, seemingly human for all intents and purposes, smiled. "You have. I was just refreshing your memory."

"Well, I was there, so can we skip the preamble?"

He nodded. "Of course. Well, the point of all this is… if the one near the end was a copy, doesn't that mean there had to be one to copy from?"

Her eyes widened a bit, understanding the implications immediately. "So you think it's possible…?"

"For salvage? Yes. I think it's quite possible. How much? Who can tell? But the problem is the probable location of the necessary… ingredients, let's call them."

She nodded slowly. "I get it now… and how much are you willing to pay for this?"

"Helping an old friend isn't enough for you?"

She grinned. "Business is business."

He laughed. "Fair enough. But don't disappear once this job's done. I may need other favors."

She relaxed back into her seat and grinned at the man across from her. "I'm all about lending favors. For a price."

He smiled again, and the haggling began.

Professor Gaudile jumped up and down and did handsprings across the room.

Something that is quite disturbing to see a robotic platypus do.

But the Professor was understandably excited. That not withstanding, Cinnamon was quite embarrassed that the professor was doing that with guests over at the lab. Even if the guest was their old friend X, and even if a detailed scan of X was the cause of the professor's joy. It just… wasn't right.

"Professor!"

Dr. Gaudile grinned, as much as was possible for him, and ignored her as he cavorted around the room. Settling himself, he began babbling. "I don't think any of us have anywhere near the sheer genius Dr. Light had in his day. I mean, look at you, you're the prototype, and you're still the bleeding edge of technology! It's fantastic… the applications and derivatives of something like this are inconceivable. I mean-"

X chose to cut him off. "All I need is a workable process Professor. The sooner the better."

The Professor stopped in his ranting, slightly puzzled. "I'm sure it won't take me that long to complete my research, X, but why the urgency?"

X sighed. "You catch the news feeds yet?"

Gaudile nodded. "Yes, yes. Nasty business, that."

"And the process, Professor?"

"Well, I won't lie to you, X. It'll be tricky. I'll have to build another force metal generator to do it. It's still Supra-Force Metal we're talking about here, and I don't want to know what it could do to Cinnamon if she tried to make it."

"I'm willing to take the risk for this, Professor."

"I'm sure you are my dear, but if I can just make another, not attached to a reploid, there's no reason to endanger yourself for nothing."

She nodded. "You're right, Professor."

Professor Gaudile sighed. "You're still very innocent, Cinnamon. Try to remember that not every decision I've made has been a good one."

She nodded again.

Months Later:

Zero, the once proud Maverick Hunter, walked slowly down the corridor, none of his usual cockiness in evidence as he did so. He closed his eyes in remembrance of what had just taken place just yesterday.

…honorable years of service…

…primary host…

…countless lives lost…

He had stood before the judge presiding over his case.

It was what he had feared for the longest time, his past coming to light. Wily's son. Built to fight and destroy X, to take in and spread the original Maverick virus. Never mind that said virus had found a new host that didn't rebel against it, he was the primary carrier, therefore it was his fault so many people had died. Stupid paranoid idiots.

People were frightened. He supposed it was only natural for them to be so; only about ten percent of the planet was hospitable now, despite the best efforts by the mechanaloids that worked round the clock to repair the environment. There hadn't been hide nor hair of Sigma for some time, the Gigantos Island Incident having cleared the field of Mavericks for what seemed like good. And to have another high-level Hunter with Maverick potential… they panicked.

They were panicked because there was nowhere they could go if he had been one.

They needed a scapegoat, and they'd found one. Zero didn't know where they'd dug up the information, luck, too much digging, some dissatisfied Sigma lackey, he didn't know. It didn't matter in any case.

His years of service and the pleas of his friends, even Marino had come in from wherever she had been hiding herself to testify on his behalf, were good for something at least. He'd been downgraded from military execution to this.

Exile.

The double thick blast doors opened in front of him, and he shielded his eyes momentarily from the sun and the winds, which carried sand particles towards him.

"Great."

Three days later, later Zero was still walking through the sands. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

He stopped suddenly.

He was unarmed and in the middle of featureless desert, but still… something was off. He spun suddenly, and struck out with a fist, catching his invisible shadow across the face.

He became visible as he hit the ground. Zero's face whitened and he took a step back as he recognized the reploid. "You!"

He laughed and sprang to his feet. "What? No greeting for an old friend?"

"You are not my friend, traitor!"

The man shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But, I played the hand I was dealt. I lost. It happens. Luckily I have friends in high places who decided I was worth a second chance. They decided the same for you."

Zero growled.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"

He sighed, and adjusted his hat. "Too bad. Too bad you don't have a choice either."

Zero fell into a combat stance, hoping that he could get out of this situation without permanent injury. "Let me guess, it's one of those accept or die propositions, right?"

He shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint you, but the bounty on your head is only if we bring you back alive."

Zero growled. "You're not taking me without a fight."

The man smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Zero paused. "Wait… we?"

A beam knife fell across his throat then, and a feminine voice filled his ear. One he recognized. "Sorry, but you are coming in. Like it or not. Your life worth it, soldier boy?" Then she hit him across the back of the head, hard enough to stun him. The man whipped out a gun and fired, sending a purple energy washing through Zero's body, knocking him out.

A truck zoomed up then, and they carried him into the back. The woman grinned and hopped into the back with the Zero, while the man jumped into the cab. He turned to the portly green driver. "Target acquired. Hit it."

The truck sped off.

Signas looked at X, quite serious in his bearing. "The former Maverick Hunter known as Zero has disappeared."

"Really? Fascinating." Axl stated dryly. "I thought that's what they had in mind when they said 'exile'."

X and Signas ignored him. X spoke. "Hunting down Zero won't be an easy task, Commander."

"That's why I sent for you. You're the best and you know the target."

X nodded. "I'd like Hunter Massimo to accompany us as well."

Signas paused here, then started up again. "A rookie Hunter? That is highly irregular, X… but considering he went through the Gigantos Island Incident with you, I suppose he's experienced enough. Very well, done.

"This," Signas stated motioning to the papers on the desk they sat around, "is all the information we have on the uprising Zero's staged.

"Somehow, he, along with several confederates, willing or not, including our own mechanic, Douglas, has completely taken over Gaudile's laboratory."

"What!" Axl spluttered. "There's no way Zero would do something like that."

Signas gave a glare. "This is real life Axl, live with it." He readdressed X. "Your task, along with your fellow hunters, is to infiltrate the laboratory, and remove Zero from the equation at any cost. Do you understand me, X?"

X nodded. "Perfectly, sir. Let's go, Axl. We'll collect Massimo and move in on the base immediately."

Axl was gaping wide eyed at the two in horror. He scrambled out the door with X. "You… you can't really believe that, can you?"

X shook his head. "Of course not. But what you haven't gotten the knack of yet is reading between the lines, Axl. Signas's, and by extension, ours as well, hands are tied by the law."

"But… this is Zero, man."

X nodded. "I know. But this is our job. And it's a job we have to do. Go get Massimo while I go get something out of storage. We'll brief him in flight. I'll meet you in hanger nine."

Axl looked down. "X… I think I might quit over this."

X grimaced. "Save it until after the mission, Axl. If you do it now, you take down all of Hunter Command with you." Then he sighed. "Axl, do you trust me?"

Axl nodded reluctantly. "I guess so."

"Then trust me. There's a reason I didn't want Massimo at the initial briefing. Just go get him, and I'll brief you both in flight."

Axl nodded again, and took off to find the big reploid known as Steel Massimo.

"No sign of the Hunters, my lord."

The man nodded, and gripped his beam saber more tightly. "What are you up to, X? Are you really so blind?"

"My lord? If I may?"

He nodded. "You may."

The other reploid gulped a bit, but settled quickly. "My lord… the process was slightly different this time. Sufficiently different that it may not have been picked up by the Hunters at all. When the technicians helped me improve the device, we also lessened the energy spike associated with it…"

He nodded. "So they might not have picked it up…" He sighed and sat himself down in a chair. "Well, I can't say I wasn't looking forward to another confrontation with my old friends, but, if that's the case then so be it. Our return to this reality will be just that much more spectacular for its surprise." He straightened in his seat. "Open the gate, and send the troops through. Tell them to prepare for my arrival."

The aide nodded. "Of course, my lord." The reploid scurried off.

A scant fifteen minutes later, he stepped through the portal, onto his new world. Far enough from his goal that he was virtually inaccessible but close enough to strike whenever he wanted. The same reploid from before approached him. "Stealth field in place, sir…"

"Atmospheric modifiers?"

"Almost complete sir. We haven't spread our influence everywhere, but we should have complete coverage by the end of the day. Gravitational generators are being put into play as fast as the changes allow."

He nodded. "Then everything is going to plan, I take it?"

The reploid nodded. The 'Lord' sighed and twirled the inactive saber in his hands for a moment. He could hardly gut the reploid for competence, but everything going right for once was putting him on edge. Something had to be going wrong… it just had to. That was the way things went. "So absolutely nothing's wrong?"

The reploid nodded again, and eyed the saber nervously.

He brought the saber up… and sheathed it over his shoulder. His eyes brightened as he thought of something. "How about the hangers?"

"We can launch a few ships, sir, but we don't have the power generators up and running, so a fleet launch isn't advisable."

He nodded again. "I require a ship to be readied – one with stealth capabilities. I don't want to announce my presence just yet."

"You are leaving, sir?"

He nodded. "Yes… I require more informatation on this world. I'm going to check out the ruins of the last expedition. Who knows… there may be some... goodies left over."

His laughter billowed through the endless night, as he stalked off towards the hanger.