-Zero's Dilemma-
-Legal Action like a Boss-
The members of Hunter Base were quite shocked at what they were witnessing, or at the very least overhearing. Even the new members from the Repliforce felt like they were being ordered around by the General himself.
RayTech, sponsor of the Maverick Hunter's post-Sigma technology, was being threatened with a lawsuit...
By Layer.
"Well I'd like to think that some people don't appreciate finding out that a company that primarily makes toasters and microwaves got one of their most celebrated heroes close to being decommissioned just to get back some stolen tech," the Navigator threatened the Board of Directors.
"Ma'am," an elderly human stood up, "no disrespect, but you can hardly make any of your claims stick and if word gets out, we'll take you to court for defamation."
"Actually," Layer pressed a few buttons on her console, sending a file to the Board, "I do have evidence of your facility being raided along with confirmation that the item in question was there."
"Look here you synthetic bitch!" a younger board member said in a fury, "The world doesn't need your kind running around to police it anymore, so what, the guy beat Sigma, we'll send him a Christmas card or whatever, point is, without Maverick's what do you people have left to hunt."
"Daniel!"the head of the board, a man in his 60's, chastised the younger man, "Very well Miss Navigator, RayTech will look take responsibility for this incident, it was in fact our fault for putting him in that position."
"Thank you for you time sir," with a curt nod, Layer shut down the comm. link.
-Outside-
Time had slowly resumed for the workers at the base, some still fixated at the rather heated debate in the communications room.
*Door Opens*
Layer calmly and quietly walks towards her post.
"Damn," a familiar blue Hunter admitted in shook.
The rest of the crew agreed with a nod before resuming their duties.
-Infirmary-
A rather bored red-clad Hunter was laying his head back as he flipped the channels on the room's Television.
"I've seen this episode seven times already!" Zero threw the remote back and started thinking about what to do, "How is that even possible?"
The swordsman began thinking deeply before an idea popped into his mind.
"Hey Comm. Room," the Hunter held a hand against his helmet.
"Yes sir!" the attendant answered snappily.
"Could you link me up to Axl?" Zero requested.
"Right away sir!" the comm. room worker began tapping at a digital keyboard to link the Hunter's up.
-Giga City-
A familiar gunslinging reploid was chatting with a blonde nurse at what appeared to be a research center.
"So the Professor is letting you go in and out of the city now?" the new generation reploid with orange hair inquired, "That's great Cinnamon!"
"Yeah, my father is less of a recluse now and he's still mellowing out," the cheerful girl answered with a smile, "I'd still have to be chaperoned by Marino or Massimo whenever I go farther than the old base."
"So, take what you can get," the Hunter smirked.
*Ring*
"Wait a sec Cinnamon, someone's trying to call me," Axl held his hand over the side of his helmet to answer the call.
"Hey Axl!" a familiar and unusually bored sounding Zero said condescendingly.
"Z-Zero!?" the new generation reploid leaped in shock, "w-what's this about?"
"Y'know I can track you right?" the voice said smugly.
"Of course, and as you know, I'm working on the tower here as our new Hunter outpost," the youngest member of the Hunter's big three said proudly.
"Really?" doubt filled the red reploids voice, "'coz Nana intercepted the call to ask about how X and I are doing and I seem to recall something about you slaking off with Cinnamon..."
"Hey Zero!" the nurse Reploid joined the conversation.
"Nice to hear a familiar voice from Giga City," Zero said cheekily.
"So watcha been doing over there anyway?" Cinnamon asked.
"Meh, there really aren't that many problems anymore since the Cadre so we've just been gathering dust while waiting for something new," the swordsman sighed.
"You should appreciate the peace that you fought for Zero," the nurse scolded the elder Hunter.
"You kinda do at the start, but it gets old fast," the Hunter ended with a chuckle, "so Axl got you deputized huh?"
"Yup, me, my dad, Massimo, Nana, and even Marino signed up," the girl answered, her face beaming with pride.
"Good to see the old team being so eager," Zero admitted, "might stop by sometime when I've got less paperwork to file."
"Okay Zero, I should tell you though, Marino's been looking for a way to blow off some steam since she can't do what she used to anymore," Cinnamon sounded a little scared.
"Aw c'mon Cinnamon, Marino might have the speed, but Zero's got years of experience under his belt," Axl interrupted.
"Hey Axl, Marino's been working on her fighting since then, she's changed, a lot y'know," the blonde Reploid defended her friend.
"Well, Zero's been picking up moves like there was no tomorrow and he's started learning how to fight with nunchucks!" the trigger happy Reploid began sounding like a kid in an argument.
"Hey, you shouldn't believe all the rumors you hear around the base Axl!" Zero scolded his friend.
"Sorry Zero, got a little carried away back there," the new generation Reploid apologized.
"Besides, I figured nunchucks out months ago," the red swordsman replied, "I'll leave you two back to your date now."
"Hey, we aren't on a d-" Axl was cut off by a long beep ringing in his ear, "Zero!"
Unbeknownst to the new generation Reploid, the nurse beside him was beginning to turn red.
-2 weeks Later at Maverick Hunter HQ-
Zero still hadn't gotten over his 'spare parts' issue and began loitering around the base, which didn't go unnoticed by the staff. Thankfully, he was still being a productive member of the group and decided to help with the technicians and even picked up a few basics from the Engineers on hand. The Repliforce troops on the other hand, were still being refitted to compensate for the technological gap since their hibernation. The human members of the group were heading to the cafeteria for lunch.
"Been a while since I've seen the Grapearls," Zero rubbed his chin, heading to the cafeteria for some quiet.
The Grapearls were the human side of the Maverick Hunters' field operations, they were mostly ex-military or at the very least, trained very well, and their numbers reached 5,000 assigned all over he world, with some even in space. To keep up with the physically superior Reploid Mavericks, they were fielded with refurbished power armor, mostly spare mechaniloid parts that were fit for human use. Eventually, they became popular enough that corporations far and wide began begging for them to advertise their products, which lead to the development of the Grapearl, named after the team. The powered armor known as the Grapearls essentially allowed humans to go toe-to-toe with most Mavericks and also permitted the wearers to carry several additional combat options such as: guns, swords, cannons, shields, etc...this is not counting the built in weapons systems and barrier already found in the suit permitting that the pilots manage the limited energy stores properly.
*Door Opens*
The Grapearl squad were socializing over lunch, the men were noisily making jokes at each others' expense and getting drunk, the women were engaging in rather stereotypical gossip and the staff were holding back the urge to setting the room's self-destruct sequence.
Zero was gonna fit in fine here.
"Hey, isn't dat..." a member with spiky blonde hair halted the poisoning of his liver.
"Yeah, that's..." a giant of a man beside a beautiful blonde trailed off.
"The S-Class Hunter...Zero," a man with an overly exaggerated and shiny forehead finished for his dumbstruck companions.
"What? Am I making people uncomfortable?" Zero looked at all of them, staring at him.
"Not at all," a jovial man with dark blue hair stood up to greet the surprise guest.
"So you running this operation?" Zero asked the man with an equally big smile.
"Just out in the field," the man shook the veteran Hunter's white-gloved hand, "Rossiu usually deals with the more managerial type things."
"..." the forehead man waved in affirmation.
"Well, I'm Zero," the swordsman chuckled.
"I would've never guessed," the commander returned the laughter, "name's Simon."
"So out of curiosity, how does a Grapearl handle?" the pilot in Zero asked aloud.
"Well, its kinda like a Ride Armor, only smaller and cramped," Simon explained, "though one of my perks as Commander is to trick mine out with what would normally be considered as a valid reason to kick me out."
Zero felt like he was gonna like hanging around with this crew.
"Commander Zero," an orange-haired boy, no older than 20 approached the Hunter, "could you tell us how you dealt with Sigma in his Moon base?"
"Gimmy," a pink-haired girl of similar age smacked the boy on the back of his head.
"Ow, what's the idea Dari?" Gimmy complained.
"That's not how we address a commanding officer," the girl scolded, "you have to forgive him, my brother can be an idiot sometimes."
"It's fine, I'd actually be happy to tell you if you wanna listen," the swordsman appreciated the respect he received.
Suddenly, all the members of the Grapearl Squad came to a deep silence and gazed at the Reploid.
"Did I do something wrong?" Zero looked to Simon.
"Well, most of us lost our homes to Sigma's attacks," the commander said, "and we at Team Dai-Gurren look at every opportunity to enjoy hearing about how his plans failed."
"Team Dai-Gurren?" the S-Class Hunter gave a confused look.
"We're known collectively as the Grapearl Squad, but this bunch of bozos here at Hunter HQ are Team Dai-Gurren," Simon explained.
"I see," Zero nodded before beginning to narrate the events of the last battle against Sigma.
-An Hour Later at the Hangar-
"You've got a wild bunch on your hands," Zero felt sorry for the human commander.
"Well, their family to me so what can I do about it?" Simon laughed at the comment.
"Simon!" a girl with sky blue hair waved from afar.
"Nia! I'll see you with the others after patrol okay!?" the man looked much brighter when he spoke to the woman.
Zero knew that look. It was the look he had whenever he was with Iris.
"Nice girl," Zero patted his new friend on the back.
"She's the best," the man gave a smile that covered his whole face.
"Take care of her, few people have what you have," the swordsman said sternly, "the rest are jealous."
"Haha, who would've thought that the 'Legendary' S-Class Hunter would be so sentimental," Simon cracked a joke.
"Comes with age I suppose," Zero replied before the two came to a halt.
In front of the two was something that Zero could only describe as a samurai with an oni for a chest...which wore sunglasses.
"This is my ride," Simon placed a hand on the Armor's shoulder plate.
"This is a Grapearl? Doesn't look like the stuff I see on the promotional vids," the Hunter was confused at how different it looked compared to the standard units.
"This is the prototype, which ate thru 90% of the Projects budget like a drill piercing the earth's thick crust," the man made an unusual reference.
"This, is Gurren Lagann!"
-End-
AN: So I was thinking about how there were supposedly human Hunters, and I didn't wanna make any OCs while having characters that could go toe-to-toe with the usual baddies and even Zero, Axl, and X if the need should arise...
So you guys know who I brought in XD.