Chapter 4 Maverick Hunters

A week has passed as Lan carried on with his studies in school. No one has seen Alia since the fire. Even Miss Mari didn't know what happened to Alia. Lan sighed as he prepared home. He was soon handcuffed on one hand.

"What the?" Lan jumped by this sudden action and turned to see a familiar blonde in a blue uniform with the same symbol on her PET. "Alia?! What's going on, and why are you dressed as a cop." Alia scoffed as she dragged Lan to a police car.

"There's no time to explain Mister Hikari, but I need you at HQ." Lan retaliated as he pulled back on the hand cuff. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on?!" Alia stood there for a second before glaring at Lan. "Just get into the car, I'll explain everything." Lan shrugged but complied as he wanted answers what's going on. As he sat in the back, Alia joined him before removing his cuffs. "What do you want to know?" Alia asked.

Lan took a deep breath. "Everything, aside from what your wearing, you knew that NetNavi that started the fire, what's a Maverick? And why haven't you shown up to school in a week? What is going on?" Lan said.

"This is classified to Civilians, but since you're a Net Saver, I will let that slide. I am part of a secret police force called the Maverick Hunters. Our duty is to hunt down rouge NetNavis that commit crimes. It all started after two incidents that happened two years ago. One involving two NetNavis called PharaoMan and another called LaserMan." Lan recognized those two NetNavis. Thankfully they were deleted so they wouldn't have to worry about Dentech being destroyed. "Wanting to stop repeating the same mistake, the police division developed a special force for dealing with Hazardous NetNavis, and that's where we come in."

Lan nodded understanding where this is going. "I see where you're going, so you have things under control, that's great. But why do you need me?"

"Don't get the wrong idea." Alia stated. "These are just orders. Thanks for nothing." Lan glared at Alia. "Why are you blaming me for this?" He asked.

"If you didn't get involved with that Maverick, I wouldn't be doing this." Alia growled. She was clearly still mad about Lan engaging the enemy. Lan didn't understand her. He was just doing his duty as a Net Saver. Sure it was risky, but he needed to do this. "And it's all because I got involved? Why didn't you do anything about it!"
"Hey! I was on an undercover mission trying to trap the Maverick! Until you and that stupid first gen got in my way!" Alia argued.

"MegaMan is not stupid Alia! It was my duty as a Net Saver to stop Viruses! Unlike you hunters who do nothing and just sit and wait for miracles to happen!"

"You little….UGH!" Soon everyone in the car went silent. Lan looked away from Alia as he starred out the window. A minute passed as the two refused to look at each other. Lan was thinking about that so called "Maverick" Flame Mammoth

"Speaking of…that Maverick, do you know him?" Alia shrugged. "He….was a member of the hunter group. I'm not sure how he went Maverick." Lan went silent from Alia's response. He used to be one of the hunters? Lan wasn't sure at this point if he could trust her. But at the same time she did rescue MegaMan.

The car drove down to find a secret entrance after entering an abandoned warehouse to Hunter HQ. The tube led to a large building in an unknown location. They entered a drive in and parked up. As they got out. Alia removed the cuffs from Lan's wrist. He rubbed it in relief as they walked in. Alia guided Lan to an elevator. She scanned her eye and the elevator went up. Lan watched outside of the elevator seeing the beautiful woods that surrounded the area. Soon after a couple of minutes. They were at the top. The door opened to reveal a man who looked to be in his 70's typing on his computer behind a wooden desk. He wore a blue robe around himself with some white highlights. He had a short white beard and had a bald spot of where the hair circled behind. "Alia I assume?" The old man asked.

"Of course Doctor Cain." Alia said and stepped out to salute. Lan came out and looked at the old man. "Uh…hey." Lan said. The man Doctor Cain looked at Lan. "Ah, you must be this Net Saver everyone has been gossiping about for the past two years." Cain said. Lan rubbed the back of his neck. "You could say that." Cain nodded and looked away from his computer to pay attention to Lan. "I am Doctor Cain, founder of the Maverick Hunters."

"Lan Hikari, Net saver. "You already know that though." Dr. Cain looked at Lan as he got up from his chair and walked around his desk. "You must be wondering why we brought you here correct?" Cain asked. Lan nodded. "Well, I will tell you. Over the past week Maverick activity has been increasing lately. I don't know why but even our A class Hunters can't keep up. Most activity is in Dentech. We assume that this is where the operation has been going on." Lan was shocked that his city was in danger again, but what was worse is that he did not know about it. "Wait…how can that be?" Lan asked. "How come this was not mentioned or even talked about?"

Cain sighed. "Mavericks can sneak by their way into the system. Mavericks can be anyone for that matter. I do apologize if you were not aware of this. Even our watchers such as Sting Chameleon is unable to keep up with every Maverick that he come across"

Lan was surprised. This whole Maverick thing on was in his town and to make things worse there is an operation going on. "And furthermore," Cain continued. "Since I don't involve outsiders to help us, I ask you to assist us in the hunt." Cain said. Lan thought about this. It's been a long time since he saved the world, two times. Now a new threat appears and is called for help once again. "Alright, I'll do it." Cain clapped his hands together. "Excellent! Alia, your mission is to watch over Lan." Alia who was watching the entire time was shocked. "Sir, with all do respect, why do I have to do this?" Alia asked in frustration. She never thought in her life as a hunter she would be babysitting an outsider. This was atrocious.

"Alia, you and I know Lan is no longer safe on his own. He won't be able to handle the mavericks head on." Cain explained.

"But sir, I didn't join the Maverick Hunters to babysit some unexperienced net op!" Alia shouted.

"Unexperienced? Alia, must I remind you that this boy has saved this world twice from both PharoMan and that giant NetNavi LaserMan?" Cain asked getting a little riled up.

"That was child's play, we could have taken down any of those-"

"No more excuses Alia, I've given you a mission, that's an order!" Cain finally snapped silencing Alia. She stuttered at the volume but nodded. "Y-yes sir." She said with a bit of venom before heading to the elevator. She punched the wall before the door closed. Cain sighed tiredly from Alia's stubborn nature. "I wish she would stop shutting people out." Lan looked at Cain. "Is she always like this?"

Cain looked at Lan. "Thankfully no and I wish she would stop this behavior of hers. Though a bit more tamed than Kaz. That boy is a nightmare. However, I wish she wouldn't be so cold." Lan listened. Alia wasn't always like this? "I find that hard to believe." He thought.

"But anyways it's not important. What's important now is that I want you to help us find Mavericks." Cain said.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Lan asked with a skeptical look.

"Go check with Sting Chameleon." Cain said. "He will give you the information about that." Lan nodded and prepared to leave. He was about to leave for the elevator before being called by a "And!" Lan turned around and looked at Cain. "Welcome to the Maverick Hunters."

A/N: I do apologize for a very long wait. I had some issues with the story and some problems going on. I deeply apologize for the wait.