Forgot to mention this last time; (Blah.) stands for telepathic speech, assuming the site lets me use this format. Eh. We'll see.
(Insert Time Stamp Here) between paragraphs will be used as sub-scene changes within a flashback. You'll see it later on.
Menolly5600: ...Wow... Now that's a review! Thank you for catching those errors! They have now been fixed (though I could have sworn I switched it to Signas the first time...). Also, sorry about dropping their initial reactions. They just... didn't fit right in the remix. Don't worry, though. I have plenty to make up for it comedy wise evil snicker.
Okay, yeah, and one more warning to issue before it becomes a problem. THIS IS A NON-YAOI FIC! If any of the scenes give you dirty thoughts, then you have had your head in the gutter for way too long. Editor's Note: Too true.
Final warning: Zero will be breaking out his lovely vocabulary starting this chapter.
Final final note: If anyone wants me to put back in the definition of terms, let me know via Review, and I'll plug them in at the end of Chapter 1 again.
Shooting Stars and Reploid Arms
Chapter 2 Remixed
"Zero, I have to know. What exactly did you put in my record?"
Ten minutes and several breathing sessions later, X was very, very sorry he'd asked.
Zero had taken an extreme liberty with his pacifistic nature. X had been molded from the commander of the 17th Maverick Hunter Unit to the head medic of a small hospital, which had recently folded from the rising cost of medical coverage, located outside of Maples, Kansas (which appeared to be the name of the town they had landed in). He had landed quite literally in Zero's lap after his medical training sans doctorate degree had dumped him in the US without any sort of guide. From there, he met Axl, and as a consequence thereof, took up said job at their local hospital.
Zero hinted something about the fact Axl had dabbled in football as a reason why X had taken such a stressful job. There had also been mentions of broken bones and poorly mended egos -- adding any more detail than that sent Zero off into laughing tangents lasting for hours at a time.
Zero had also taken the time to fill in Axl about his new roll. He was now signed on as a translator of ten different languages, several of which included Russian, Sioux, Japanese, Chinese, Korean –
"But I don't like North Korea or China!"
"That's because they're as stubborn as you."
"Hey!" -
And Vietnamese, just to name a few. He was also listed as the self-proclaimed King of Drama even though he could never get up the nerve to act in front of anyone other than his friends
"And this brings us to my file," Zero snickered. He tapped the computer screen teasingly. "I've got gun licenses for ten different firearms, a hunting license that expired last year, and fishing license due to go out next month, have a black belt from five different studies of martial arts, and a waiver to carry a concealed sword."
"They still have those?" Axl blinked, staring at his mentor blankly.
"Yep."
X, in the mean time, was still having a mental argument with himself on whether or not he should waste the energy on strangling the leader of Unit Zero. He finally decided sometime later not to.
"Tell me one more time, Zero!" Axl's voice whined from the main room of their two-room apartment.
"Alright, alright," X could hear the slight laugh in his friend's voice hidden under the fake bravado of annoyance. "So, the First Maverick War was when X was promoted to Commander of the 17th Hunter Unit..."
Colonel Jack O'Neill was not having a very good day. Janet had yet to find the time between sleeping, eating, and trying to keep patients alive to fill out the paperwork to return him to active duty. General Hammond had recently informed him that two ex Eagle Scouts who dabbled in the Boys and Girls Club of America mentor program with very unusual records and one medic who had graduated fifth in his medical class at a little known school in some backcountry non-US city-state even Daniel had never heard of, were soon going to be joining the SGC. They had relatively no military service, even though one of them had a rare little slip of paper saying he could carry around katanas and kodachis in his back pocket.
Well... kodachis, yeah. Katanas were really, really hard to hide in a back pocket, seeing as they normally ran the length of the wielder's arm. Now that he was thinking about it, so were kodachis, seeing as they were crosses between katanas and daggers, so they'd make quite an interesting bulge and...
But back on the point of why Jack was having a bad day.
He and his team, Teal'c included, were going to be the royal escorts for the Diner Trio. All three of whom were currently walking towards him like astronauts, the sun at their back, their steps in near perfect unisons, and their attitudes showing as clear as crystal in every act they made.
A boy about the age of nineteen with a bounce in his step to match was on the far left end of their line. Wild, orange hair was sticking out the front opening of his backwards white and blue baseball cap, while even more hair was spilling out behind it, reaching about his mid back in length. Emerald eyes flashed in all directions, taking in the guards at the entrance, the supply truck as it was checked by the MPs before departing the checkpoint. With his casual dress of a white and blue t-shirt and off-yellow dirty pants, Jack was pretty sure he could drop this kid in any American city and lose him in an instant, even with the hair and unusual cross-shaped well hidden scar. He mentally tagged the boy as a possible candidate for Black Ops training.
The middle of the Diner Trio seemed to be the middle aged one. He was laid-back in his movements, his streaming ankle-length pure blond hair, kept back out of the way by a simple thin holder, kept time with his loose bounce. A military issue duffle bag was casually resting over his shoulder, held in place by his loose grip on the bag's handles. Red seemed to be his predominate color, seeing as he wore a plain red t-shirt and red jeans. His ice blue eyes observed O'Neill and his team casually, stopping for only a moment at Teal'c, widening for something around half a second, before returning to looking like normal, almost board eyes. Jack took a careful note about the fluid way he walked. He would have put money on the fact blond boy was their swordsman.
The last one of the Trio was kind of short, and looked more like a boy just reaching his twenties than a man of the humble age of thirty-five. He had short brown hair which liked to go everywhere but down. When he thought about it hard enough, Jack could almost see the resemblance between this member of the Trio's hair and Daniel's after his archeologist had worn his combat helmet for too long. This guy had a liking for blue: blue jeans, blue tank top, blue tennis shoes even. His eyes, though, were what caught Jack's interest. They were a solid amber-green and were just as hard as diamonds.
The civilian in him fought down an involuntary shiver. This guy had eyes that screamed "I can kill you and not bat an eyelash about it", but it was a controlled kind of look. Like he wouldn't do it unless Jack decided to get stupid enough to go between him and whatever he was after.
It was the killer who extended his hand in greeting.
"Hi." His voice was warm and friendly. Just like a cat just before he gets up and eats you... Jack's mind shuddered.
Jack forced a smile on his face, taking the offered hand. "Hi. You must be the new boys. The guys Hammond got from the diner?"
"That's us!" the youth piped in. He draped himself over the blond as if to include him in the statement. The blond casually shrugged him off, leaving him to fall flat face down on the dirt.
SG-1 stood staring at them blankly. Even Teal'c was giving them his trademark one-eyebrow raise of disbelief.
These are the guys the General wants? Major Samantha Carter, scientist extraordinaire, blinked in the back of her mind. The Trio was attentive in the elevator. Even the young orange-haired goofball was listening, though not necessarily hanging on, to every thing Jack and Daniel were telling them. What could he have seen them do to make him want to pull almost every trick he had to get them clearance?
But she hadn't noticed the goofball taking in every last detail, noting quickly where every possible exit was, where every guard was posted, every emergency exit marking and alert button they passed. She never noticed that the slight giggle from the orange haired teen was meant something more along the lines of figured out how to make an exit than a straight giggle of excitement. And the boy really did mean make an exit, as in blow up a wall or three with a couple of well-placed C-4 packs.
Teal'c, however, was quickly coming to the conclusion that, of all three, the young boy was the most dangerous. He had caught every last subtle shift of eyes, every last innocent gesture meant to allow him a clearer view of possible escape routes.
The boy locked his eyes with Teal'c, nodded slightly, smiled, and winked at him, before bouncing on the blonde again, laughing. "Are we there yet?"
The former First Prime of Apophis fought back a blink. The child had just signaled the fact he knew Teal'c knew what he was doing... and that he didn't care.
Daniel's relative impression of the group as a whole, especially the long haired blond, was that they were all relatively nice, normal guys, who just happened to catch the eye of a certain talent agent going by the name of General Gorge Hammond. The blond and he had quickly worked into a debate on their way down about different archeological backgrounds and histories on several earth cultures.
Daniel paused for a moment, laughing. "I guess you're going to be the new translator?"
"Nah," the blonde had smiled. He ducked another grab by the boy, this time grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "He is."
"Uh...Hi...?" the orange-haired boy waved slightly, looking almost exactly like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
"Hi." Daniel blinked. The blonde allowed orange to slip through. Orange Hair stuck his tongue out at blondie before redirecting his bounce towards their silent, brown-haired companion, who was still listening like a statue to Jack. "...Gods help me if I have to tutor him..."
Blondie just laughed.
Axl sighed, plopping down on his own bed. For once in his life, he wasn't being forced to share quarters with anyone. Not with X. Not with Zero. Not with some recruit who was going to get killed as soon as Sigma got board again.
(Axl?)
Axl laughed both aloud and within his mind. (I'm fine, X. Just soaking in the fact they gave me my own room!) Axl could almost feel X wince at the boy's near shout.
(That was stupid,) Zero's voice shot in next. Axl pouted. Zero's answer was to laugh. (You know, X, when we get back to HQ, we really have to have a talk with Signas. Compared to Hammond's office, we've got closets.)
(But he also has more paperwork.) There was a pause, like a calm wind before the storm, (And he also has the NID to try and filter through.)
A feeling of rage swept from the section of the link which led to Zero's domain. (X?)
Calm filtered from X's segment. (Get in line, Zero.)
Axl listened to his two heroes as they swapped idle conversation about Hammond and his flagship team. He had to admit it. It felt good to hear them, to feel their emotions mingle with his own as their banter idly wound down for the night. It felt more than just good, Axl decided to himself, to have had them accept him and his, for lack of a more appropriate noun, curse.
There was no possible way he would ever forget those first breathtaking moments when he unbarred the links he had barricaded as tightly as he could, and felt X and Zero consciously reach for his own mind...
Two Weeks and One Talent Agent Earlier in the middle of a certain corn field...
Terrified.
There was no simpler way to explain it. Sneaking his way back through soon-to-be-pop-corny-goodness, he was completely and utterly terrified. Sure, he'd managed to get out his explanation to them, only to turn tail and run like some kind of scalded kitten from the ninth level of hell.
Hell, they probably thought he was from the ninth level of hell.
Why hadn't he let Alia talk him into practice explanation runs?
(Three Hours Earlier)
The air was silent enough to hear the snap as Zero brought his jaw back under control.
Axl held up an exhausted hand, "Please, Zero, just, don't ask. At least... not out loud." He sighed, a tired, anguished sigh. "You have no idea how hard this is for me to explain." Rolling his eyes, he almost giggled, "Yes, X, I really am trying not to listen to what you're thinking. It's a lot harder than before, though, and I'm pretty sure it's due to the fact all three of us are in various stages of shock and... Yeah. Okay. Enough stalling. You're gonna want to be comfy for this."
Axl waited a moment for the two Hunters to organize themselves into some semblance of comfort, before taking a deep breath. He was so nervous and embarrassed he had switched back to his old habit of poking his index fingers together.
"Remember...remember back after Lumine tentacle whipped me but good? How badly I was out of it and how close..." Axl shivered. "Right... Skip that part. Bad memories all around.
"Well...I guess...I got so close to the edge...close to death or...or something. Lumine's tentacle hit triggered something. Some kind of emergency protocol or... something, I don't really know what. But whatever it was, it...it linked me, somehow, to you. To... both of you."
This time he didn't allow even a breath for that to sink in before barreling onwards.
"I didn't know. I honestly didn't know. Not until later and...the thing. Whatever it is. It needed time to grow, to get stronger, before I really started noticing anything. That leave time Lifesaver tossed me on by locking me in the medical ward? Turned out to be the perfect amount of time for it to..." Axl shivered again, not with the cold of a near-death memory, but with a kind of self-loathing attitude. "...Sink its teeth in your respective heads...
"The cleanup sweep you guys ran while I was on leave was when it really made an impact. Remember how they managed to toss that lovely little tech toy in and scramble the signals but good? Everything you sent out got out, but everything Alia and the Spotters tried to send in was scrambled up worse than X's energy drinks up until I showed up with a pissed Lifesaver on my tail and screwed with Alia's radio set, running it through my own internal radio?
"...I didn't use the radio to get in contact with you. I couldn't. The thing was fried..."
X and Zero exchanged a meaningful look. "Define fried." To his credit, Zero's voice held its normal calm.
"Hardboiled would have been a better definition, only there wasn't any water involved. Alia checked. Ran it through about a hundred different tests." Axl snorted in laughter, as though chuckling at a sour joke. "My system isn't even interface compatible with the main one...
"Once she had that figured out, she confronted me. She didn't blame me for anything, X. I... I felt like such a kid. I... I went straight to denial. Then shock, when she showed me the hunk of charred plastic which had been the radio. Finally... Well, guilt hit. Even after Lifesaver's Guilt Squishing Fist of Doom, it still stuck around.
"Lifesaver, right. He checked me over again. Every last little component he could check without getting in too deep, he looked over, and tested, and... Well... Turns out my Copy Matrix can make permanent alterations... I've got like a, I don't know, an overactive section of my processor which normally doesn't do anything. It hasn't fried itself -- hell, it's gotten more active and gained mass since Lifesaver started monitoring it. Ack!" Axl put both hands up as if to stave off an attack. "Panic! Bad idea! Don't! It's not gaining mass anymore, honest! Lifesaver says it stopped gaining mass about the same time I got switched back to active duty."
X seemed to sag in relief.
Eyes downcast, Axl whimpered, "But it is getting stronger."
Zero tensed.
"I try not to listen. I really, honestly, try not to. They're your thoughts, not mine. I don't have a right to listen in on them. Alia and Lifesaver have helped out a lot, covering for the little slips I made now and then. Alia even got me a book she found in your library, X; Your Mind and You? That helped a lot, too..."
"They've been getting worse though, haven't they, Axl?" X's voice was calm, comforting, understanding. Axl could only nod, muted by embarrassment and more than a hint of shame.
"How bad?"
"Zero." X elbowed his former teacher, scolding him for his seemingly careless tone. Zero ignored it, repeating his question once more.
"Answer me, Axl. How bad?"
His answer came, not in spoken words, but in a small feeling. Like a note pushed under an otherwise sealed door, he almost saw Axl's answer as he 'heard' it.
(You used to love someone named Iris.)
"I... I should go figure out where we are now. Bye!"
As quickly as he could, Axl stood up, ignoring his own aches and the dull worse-than-ache thrum of shock from Zero, and ran.
("Present")
Axl slowly placed one hand behind his head, trying desperately not to shake.
"So... Yeah. Remember when you thought things couldn't get any worse? Well... They're worse. We're not in 21XX anymore. We're in the year 2002. January 6, 2002, to be exact. Oh, yeah, and according to the sign we're in cornfield located in Kansas and the only reason I know about it really not being 21XX is because 90.1 FM doesn't have any good music on it anymore; just a bunch of classical songs like celli quartets and Wall Street Stock Reports which is really stupid since rock way outdoes Wall Street and -- Ack! Please don't kill me, Zero!"
On second thought, maybe trying to lessen reality's blow with a crack about the celli quartet hadn't been such a great idea.
"Axl!" Zero lunged for orange hair, clawed fingers missing their target by a fraction of an inch courtesy of a timely blue tackle.
It wasn't just terror which stopped Axl from moving even an inch from where he'd landed rump-first in shock. It was the fact that, while Zero may have been yelling obstinacies per normal at X, for not only sitting on him, but having stopped his attack mid execution, his emotions spoke differently. And it wasn't just the normal overflow emotions Axl could hear. It was almost as though Zero was purposely trying to push his thoughts towards him in an effort to hear their counterpart's echo.
(He's not scared of me...?)
Zero's head whipped back to face Axl, his blond ponytail slapping X across the face. "Fuck no, I'm not scared of you, Axl! Thoroughly enraged, maybe-"
(Not!) Zero's mind all but screamed.
"We talked about it while you were scouting, Axl." X moved off the blond-haired warrior, giving his ponytail a yank equal parts teasing and punishment. "Since there's no sign that this link will stop growing, and may in fact grow to dangerous proportions should it continue to be blocked, we've decided to give you our permission to read our thoughts."
Axl started at the two as though they had gained extra heads.
(You're not scared you're not scared you're not scared... And that terrifies me.)
(We accept you, idiot! Of course it terrifies you!) Zero's 'voice' echoed and rebounded, a distant whisper despite its volume.
(We accept you, Axl, for who you are.) X's voice now, as soft as Zero's, but just as demanding in its tone.
When he had started crying, Axl wasn't sure. All he could remember were Zero's hands gently cupping his face, resting his helmeted forehead against his own, his feelings of warmth and acceptance trying to flood him. All he could remember was X's gentle grip on his hand, his whispered words of nothingness alternating with pulsating feelings of understanding as Axl openly sobbed.
And that single breathtaking, heart stopping moment, as Axl's willingness to open his own mind to his friends joined with Zero's constant attempt to push his feelings towards Axl rusted the last lock on Axl's link with Zero's mind free.
Both of them had doubled over from the shock, Zero grabbing tight to Axl's shoulders as Axl's one free hand gripped Zero's forearm in an effort to keep themselves upright. Whatever X had exclaimed was lost in the rush of mind touching mind. A chain reaction of feelings cascading outwards, memories good and ill sweeping forward, two separate entities' thoughts mixing into one constant whole.
The second door rusted free under the onslaught, catching X by surprise, but not, for some reason, Axl/Zero. They/he switched their/his hold, grabbing onto X's shoulders and steadying him. They/he leaned X forward so that his helmeted temple came to rest on their/his own. It helped somehow, they/he realized; lessening the distance eased the flow of emotions, memories, and thoughts.
(X? Zero, Axl? Yes. Talk about a rush. You guys alright? We're fine, all of us. Sorry about acting as trigger. It's alright, Zero. No apology needed. What's happening? No idea, but it feels... Nice. Yeah, nice. Comforting. This is what it -- we -- have been trying to do from the very beginning. You mean the link? This, whatever this is, has been its goal? From the start. Three minds together fight better than one. Three standing together against one always has better odds. A sword and shield to keep us, all of us, safe. Safe? From what? I'm not... Not a whole lot out there that could take us. Speak for yourself. Safe from everything. It's getting a little... Thinking individually is getting harder... I'm sorry I pulled you two into this. Eh, don't be, kid. This isn't your fault, Axl. But still, it's my mind that... Yeah, so? We accept you for who you are. ...You… really do? We -- really -- do...)
Three consciousnesses echoed as one unbroken whole, three voices echoing aloud and within the realm of the mind.
"My charges..."
Before one consciousness split, returning to three, and diving them all in to darkness.
(Sometime Later)
Systems flashed behind closed eyes, sounding off in their normal trill of post-recharge warm-ups. X winced, his hand automatically coming up to blot out the painful light at its source. He paused a moment, his hand gently brushing over his eyes, before releasing a huff of annoyance.
(Great. Pretty sparkling lights. Last thing I need with a headache.)
Zero's voice snorted, sounding odd and yet right echoing within his mind. (You think you got a nasty headache, X? Mine talks. Sounds a lot like you, too.)
X blinked, for a moment, lost in a wave of shock. Opening his eyes, he found Zero had just come to the same sudden conclusion as he had, and was looking at him with an otherwise unreadable expression.
(...Zero...?) X nudged his thoughts towards 'where' he guessed Zero's mind might link with his own. Zero's eyes widened a fraction in awed shock.
(...X...?)
If he hadn't already been sitting down, X would have fallen. Emotions rumbled through his mind, feelings of awe, wonder, excitement, and more than just a pinch of fear, and not all of them were his own. He swallowed a parched throat.
(Is this... Is this what Axl was afraid of...? What he had to deal with before...?)
Zero slowly nodded, his eyes sliding down to look at his own hand. (I... think so...) His head snapped upwards, realization hitting him the same time it hit X.
"Axl!"
Axl's answer came in the form of a mental grunt, (Come off it guys... Five more minutes, please...?)
X exchanged a look with Zero, who in turn shrugged, a slight smile on his lips.
X couldn't help it. Despite the oddity of this strange, new situation, he fell over laughing.