It was only a couple of minutes after Roll left that Bass returned to Maverick Hunter Headquarters. His little area of sanctitude seemed bitter after he had snapped at her. Part of him was still irritated at her, and another felt bad. He grudgingly figured that he would apologize to her at some point, but for the moment he was far too grumpy to bother. He wanted more than anything else to fight something, but as an official Hunter he had to do what Signas told him. If he asked, Signas would probably let him go explore the world just like he had said before, but with Roll not feeling happy and X about to leave for months, Bass didn't feel that it was right. Not at that point anyway.

Roll better be grateful I don't just leave her by herself. I'm way too nice these days.

As irritated as he was, he gave consideration to the idea. It was futile thinking. He wasn't going to leave her there alone. Well, for the moment, he would. Going back to the research lab to work on the virus was too much for him right then. His fingers almost itched, and he concentrated hard to keep them from turning into busters. There was nothing in the HQ that could be shot other than the targets in the training room, and the thought of working with such weak and predictable non-opponents made Bass sick. He wanted some real action.

So Bass went to the mass-mission navigation room. It was made specifically for the larger operations to be able to handle all the aspects of it. Several reploids were gathered there, each busily going about their tasks as they monitored all the various Hunters that were fighting for the sake of peace in Arcadia. The simple, long hall was flanked on each side by monitoring stations for each fighter. The long room wasn't straight, but in a long loop that circled from the leftmost door (the one Bass had entered), all the way around to the right door that existed in the same wall as the left. At the middle of the loop, or the opposite side of the room as the doors, was the main computer monitor, a huge screen that covered much of the wall. Below that was the departing teleport pad, a large platform meant to send larger numbers out at once over longer distances than normal teleporters.

Alia, Layer and Pallette were at their stations on each side of the larger monitor, with smaller screens of their own that watched over X, Zero, and Axl respectively. Bass found himself instinctively wandering over to Pallette's station, and he quietly sat behind the chirpy navigator to watch. He was at least going to see something happen, if he couldn't participate. Pallette noticed him, but she just winked and waved, too busy to do more than that or care that Bass didn't wave back.

Bass recalled the mission's premise: to eliminate the remaining Mavericks in Arcadia, discover any plans they were making or had made, and keep everything contained without damaging any more of Arcadia. Sultana Aubade's attack on Roll had resulted in chaos for Arcadia. The entire western quarter of the city had to be quarantined and all humans evacuated from it. Another quarantine was set for the entire city so that all reploids could be tested for the Maverick virus. Thankfully the number had proven small, for whatever reason. No one knew how the virus spread, but no one complained about its short reach. The city was returning to life again, but many people, humans and reploids alike, had chosen to leave until the entirety of the Mavericks were dealt with.

Bass knew all about the mission. Signas wanted him in the meeting so that he could find out what Bass had learned about the virus (very little) and learn what he could do to get more resources to help the research. What they needed were Maverick CPUs, so that Bass could figure out where to go from there.

"Okay, Axl," Pallette said to her Hunter through her headset. "I'm going to go into radio silence now. Just go ahead into the Jenner Brands building. That's where the Maverick signals are coming from. X and Zero are covering you. Good luck!"

Forte peered at the screen Pallette was watching. The focal point seemed to be some skinny green reploid with a very bright yellow-blonde ponytail sticking out of the top of his head.

Ugh, why the hell is Pallette watching this bozo?

It took Bass a minute to remember Axl's copy shot. He hadn't seen it in action before, not like this.

Kid needs to find a better-looking Maverick to imitate...

Axl didn't have a lot of options. The basement of the building had a few other Mavericks in it, though Bass wouldn't have approved of their forms any more than he would Axl's current one. Of the three Mavericks in the room, the most normal looking reploid was one that looked uncannily like a nine year old boy in a teal armor suit. However, the presense of rather emo looking hair was very off-putting. Long blue bangs swept over the Maverick's face, accenting his soft brown eyes. He seemed to be in a bad mood, and he twiddled with the handle of his fencing foil a lot.

The long, glowing neck of a bright pink flamingo lowered itself downwards as the Maverick it belonged to conversed quietly with the boy. Despite its color, no one who saw him would dare call him feminine - not so long as he had a deadly sharp axe held up by the black arms that sprouted under his wings. The horns sticking out of his head further impressed upon Axl that annoying this Maverick wouldn't be such a good idea. Axl recalled his memories from the Maverick Hunter suspects list. The first reploid was Darling Malachite, and the second was Fulgor Flamingo.

The last was clearly the most impressive, and also the oddest. This was Slant Macrocosm, and since electricity had been cut off to the quarantined part of Arcadia, she served as lighting for the room. This Maverick was composed of several different spheres, some like asteroids and others like planets. Two golden comets were arms, but the real light source was her center - the sun of her mini universe. The pulsing orbital objects lifted and separated, forming long legs, and a now definite feminine shape. Star dust formed a glowing body with a beautiful mirage of shimmering hair. This lasted for a moment more before her body parts all crumbled together again into a round universe, orbiting gently around.

This sight was hard to depart from, but Axl couldn't stare at her all day. He admonished himself for being so quickly distracted. There were other Mavericks in the room, and as a Hunter he needed to know what was going on around him at all times. This was a perilous mission, but Axl was not the sort of person to notice ambient danger. He blithely went into situations that would scare the normal reploid, simply not realizing how terrifying the circumstances really were. In fact, he was actually enjoying himself. This was what he liked to do second best: infiltrate. Itching for his first choice, namely shooting them, Axl made himself calm down. He would have plenty of time for that. His mission was to find out as much as he could before things got exciting.

"It's almost time." Fulgor Flamingo said, carefully expecting the edge of his axe. "So this Spectral Saturnine really can teleport past the Maverick Hunter's anti-teleportation field?"

Axl started. None of the Hunters had expected the mysterious Maverick to be here, much less that something this serious was going on. This mission was proving interesting already.

"That's right." Malachite said, beaming with pride as if he had been the one that brought it about. "Spectral has the device built right in-body! It's just a prototype right now but-"

Darling stopped himself, and he glanced at Axl. "Hey Striker, you set up the mechaniloids, right?"

Striker Longshot. That was the name of the Maverick Axl had copied. Trying to appear aloof, he answered, "Yeah, they're going. It'll distract the Hunters long enough to do what we have to do here."

The small reploid seemed a little doubtful. Axl wondered if Mavericks ever just trusted each other.

"Did you see Venom Pterosaur while you were out there?" Darling asked. "She's late and she needs to hurry up."

"No, I didn't. She can find her way down here on her own." Axl scoffed. "I'm not her babysitter."

The boy-roid gave him a long glance before shrugging and turning to Slant Macrocosm. "Hey Slant, you move further over there. We need to give Spectral as much room as we can when she comes. I don't know how stable the new teleporter is."

The sort of girl-roid that was Slant Macrocosm went over to the wall, switching back to her human illusion to have the appearance of walking rather than floating. Once there, she settled back into her planetary form, comfortably humming something to herself as her stardust floated around her.

"Where is that Venom?" Fulgor complained, getting fidgety. "Spectral will be here soon."

"Calm down." Malachite folded his arms, standing with the posture of a 1700s army general. "She's coming. She wouldn't miss Spectral."

As if on cue, a new voice - a nice one, actually - echoed down the empty elevator shaft. "Who'll be here? Did I miss Spectral?"

"Not yet, Venom." Fulgor grumpily shouted back. "You're lucky you didn't or else you'd get it!"

A few clatters and a thunk later, a giant pterodactyl reploid hit the basement floor, her shape becoming more apparent as she stepped into the light cast off by Macrocosm. She was actually a very lovely reploid, despite her large tan wings and a pointed head. Her draw was a bit open, revealing perfectly white and sharpened teeth. She stayed near the open elevator shaft, casually hanging about. She had a glance at her claws, pulling out a nail file and running it along her metal claws.

"Well," she said casually. "I'm here now so relax. Darling said she was coming at the hour, and it's two til. No need to hang around here like lazy people."

"Stop arguing." Darling said. "Just keep yourselves contained until Spectral gets here."

"Once he does, what then?" Axl said. "I mean, aren't we going to attack Maverick Hunter HQ?"

The boy-roid grinned, looking awful cute as he did so. "Heh. First things first. We don't have the teleportation codes for them yet. Hold your horses."

"Come on, don't we have a strategy?" Axl decided to try a little and see how much he could get the Mavericks to talk. "We're not just going to appear there and hope that we shoot something important, are we?"

Fulgor guffawed. "He's an eager one, isn't he?"

"Spectral knows what we'll be doing." Malachite added a chuckle. "Just you wait and see. We'll find a way to figure out what's what with the Hunters!"

"I want to get my claws on that Axl." Venom almost purred. "He's a cute one! Oh, I don't know, which do you think is cuter, Axl or Zero?"

"Oh no, you've got it all wrong." Macrocosm's laughter was like sunshine. "X is the cute one. All of his talk of a peaceful world and doing that right thing is so...charming! What a naiive little sweetheart. I'd love to pull him to bits and see what keeps him so innocent, if he wouldn't make such a precious Maverick, that is. Humph, Zero is stuffy and Axl just a bland soldier with a trigger finger."

"You're crazy. Axl is so much cuter!"

"You're just stuck on hair. Hair is such a shallow topic!"

"I think Roll is cute." Fulgor spoke up, teasing. "Sort of annoying, but very sweet looking. Like our little master here. Fancy a pretty lady, Darling? You'd make quite the match."

Malachite growled and rolled his eyes. "Shut up. If it weren't for her than we'd be in a lot better position by now. Sultana was wrong to just attack her outright."

"Whatever. Anyway, I definitely think Zero is cuter." Venom decided. "Axl is adorable, but at the end of the day it all comes down to brute power."

"Pssht." Macrocosm laughed. "It all comes down to hair, you mean."

Axl gagged. He didn't care what they thought or about winning a competition of Maverick's opinions. He already got enough guff from Pallette and the other Hunter girl-bots about his cuteness, and quite frankly he was already sick of it. He wanted to be taken seriously as a Hunter. Not that this exchange bothered him much - if they didn't take X seriously then he didn't stand a chance. Fortunately for him, the conversation ended.

All at once they silenced, and Axl did too. There was nothing specific that quieted them, or not something they could identify. Automatically the group separated into a circle, and Slant Microcosm even dimmed her light. At some point they became aware of a distinctive glow to the center of the room. It wasn't like an electrical light, but something entirely sinister. It was a glowing mist-like orb devoid of all emotions other than poison. The purple aura expanded outwards slowly, becoming a sphere in the air.

Moments later, a reploid body faded into the air, thin and bony. The glow dissipated, leaving behind a disgusting apparition. This reploid was the skinniest thing ever, with dark, faintly purplish skin, where its tight, grey robes didn't cling. A cloak, tattered and ragged, hung about the skinny shoulders. The robe had ratty sleeves and extended only a little downwards past awkward hips. The only part of it still in good quality was the thick, grey hood, a darker grey than the rest of the garments. That same ghostly, purplish light from before eminated weakly from an orb atop a staff the Maverick clung to. It looked the same shape as the Maverick's skin and bones, but it was clearly some sort of metal. The glowing orb was backed by a ridge like the fin of a violent fish.

The Maverick was still only a moment. It slowly turned to the left and right, getting a look at the reploids surrounding him from under his hood. A thin, bony hand reached up, finally casting back the cloth to reveal his face. Everyone shuddered. Even the obstinately determined Malachite couldn't help but bite his adorable lip, wondering if he should back away slowly.

It was a face of horror. White, needle teeth protruded from a gaping mouth, set in a wide, dead jowl. There was no nose to speak of, only two white eyes, each opaque and seemingly lifeless. This Maverick didn't appear to have any eyelids, or else this reploid just never blinked. Two fin ridges similar to the ridge on the staff were on each side of the head. Finishing off the look was a lone stem extending from between the eyes, and a smaller orb hung on the end. All in all, it was as if a deep sea angler fish had been mutated with a human.

"Darling Malachite." Spectral Saturnine said in a voice that sounded like death by drowning. What made it even worse was that this reploid's mouth didn't move, but the voice emerged from somewhere in the deep cavern that was supposed to be the mouth. "I bring greetings to you and yours."

"Greetings, Saturnine!" Darling tried to sound as solemn as Spectral, but he just couldn't. He was just too darn adorable. "Welcome to our little group."

The angler-roid nodded to him and said no more. After a moment, the Maverick began slowly walking toward "Striker Longshot".

"Know this." the Maverick said. "I am Spectral Saturnine, and the very data of my father Sigma resides within me. I am his daughter, his heiress."

"Wait, that thing's a girl?" Fulgor whispered to Darling. "You'd never know it by looking!"

She was obviously miffed at being interrupted. Slowly she turned her head to the side, casting her opaque sights on the offending reploid. Darling shuffled away, dodging her icy stare. Fulgor bowed his head a bit, reluctant to meet her eyes as he pretended he'd said nothing.

Spectral didn't push the issue. "As I was saying, I am a child of Sigma. I have his aims in mind for the betterment of the reploid race, and there is nothing that can interfere. There is no enemy strong enough to stop me and nothing so sacred that I would not tear it down in the accomplishment of my goals. I want you to know this."

Axl was dumbfounded. But he was supposed to be Striker Longshot, and he had his part to play. "Well, yeah, I think that way too. We've got to start a society for only reploi-"

Spectral was quick, and with one thrusting motion of the staff, everything flashed purple and Axl not only found himself on the floor, he found himself Axl again. His armor was returned completely to normal. Even worse, the Mavericks had him surrounded. Especially Macrocosm, who sent her planets around him so that he couldn't escape without running into any of them. Darling's dazzling fencing foil stuck close to his eyes, and Venom hung back near the elevator shaft, cutting off even that glimmer of hope. That was when Axl realized that their positions had been planned from the beginning. They had been ready to capture him from the first.

"See?" Malachite laughed as a bully would at the trapped Hunter. "I told you we'd find a way to get into your headquarters. You're not a good actor, you know that?"

"Quick, Fulgor, cut off his head." Spectral hissed, releasing again the purple glowing from her staff. "We don't need to bring all of him."

The shining pink flamingo lifted his stone axe to do just that, gleefully obeying. His staff hung in the air for only a moment before plunging straight downwards to Axl's neck. Axl's life flashed before his eyes.

And then something green flashed before his eyes.

It was the Z saber, slashing at the Fulgor Axe and holding it out of reach of the young Hunter. Axl grinned. He didn't have any time to waste.

"Alright!" he exclaimed, rolling out and getting to his feet. "Thanks Zero!"

"No problem at all." The pony-tailed Hunter said as he swung again at his opponent.

"Venom! I thought you were watching the entrance!" Darling screamed in hate.

There was no answer other than angry squawking. Venom Pterosaur had to both dodge X's buster shots and try to drop bombs on him, and that sort of thing doesn't allow for a lot of talking. The full out battle began then. With warriors like X and Zero around, Macrocosm was too busy attacking to hold him down.

Axl's had out his pistol ready to shoot at the planetary Maverick, but a bony staff got in his way. He grinned. So Spectral wanted the fight? He would show her that he was a lot stronger than she expected. His pistol blasts filled the air. The angler-roid, however, was very nimble. She dodged most of them, sending the ones that did fly more precisely towards her away with her staff. Axl knew what to do. He shot upward towards her head, then rolled in closer as she blocked those to get in several free shots.

Spectral took three shots to the chest. Staggering back, she fell to the cold, concrete floor. The skinny thing didn't thrash on the floor like a dying spider for long before she was back on her feet, swinging at Axl with the dark blade. The nimble Maverick recovered quickly, and she began to dash into the deeper parts of the basement. Axl wasn't far behind, and yet somehow in the assortment of pillars and stored boxes, the angler-roid was lost.

X had often accused Axl of not thinking his battles through, and even though Axl argued with himself that letting this Maverick get away was bad, some part of him forced himself to stop and think. He glanced back at the others. From the pink feathers still floating in the air around Zero, Axl figured that he must have beaten Fulgor. Venom too was out of the picture, and X had moved on to doing something about the planetary bodies floating around him. Zero got into a sword fight with Darling Malachite, and Axl couldn't help but be a little impressed with how Darling handled himself for being so short.

That was when it hit him. If the Mavericks were trying to get him so that they could hack into his mind and steal his knowledge of Maverick Hunter Headquarters, then of course Spectral would try to separate him from his friends. He jumped around, immediately readying his pistol, but it was too late. The young Hunter found himself dodging the fastest opponent he ever faced. She swept in closer, knocking a nasty gash into his helmet.

"Weakling!" Spectral mocked. "Least of all Hunters! I hope you are prepared to die!"

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing!" Axl replied, his confidence not at all shattered by his injury.

But as the fight continued, Axl failed to notice that the purple glow emitting from Spectral's lure and the orb of her staff. All of his concentration was in the fighting, and it was some time before he could realize that he was surrounded by a mist. It was interfering with his systems, and he could feel auxiliary programs slowing and shutting down. His limbs were barely moving fast enough to block all the punches from Spectral, and his pistol had disappeared. As everything slowed to a crawl, Axl knew that a new teleportation field was being set up. Like a man drugged he fell to his knees. Making matters worse, a dark knife flicked out from under Spectral's robe and jammed itself into his chestplate, dangerously close to his power core. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Axl!"

The young reploid was so far gone he could hardly tell which of his friends was calling for him. Even then, he didn't despair. With every ounce of his strength he forced his remaining systems to power up, and his core went on overload.

I've got to get rid of that staff!

Axl summoned all his clarity to grab the staff, forcefully tugging it away from Spectral as he rolled back and kicked her. The knife still stuck dangerously into his chest, but once he snapped the staff on his leg, his mind instantly de-fogged. Axl spied his pistol on the ground where he must have dropped it, and he snatched it up. Spectral was taking the chance to run off and get lost in the darkness of the storage room.

"Oh no, you don't!" Axl proclaimed. "It's over, Saturnine!"

With this shout, Axl shot out a row of blasts, knocking Spectral off her feet. Before the angler-roid could get back to a standing position, Axl was there, standing in front of her and looking rather smug. A second later his hand shot out, running clean through Spectral's skull. The body of the Maverick slid down, smacking into the cement floor unceremoniously. That was the end for her, and her broken body was even more disgusting than her undamaged one. Axl glanced at his hand. It was holding Saturnine's CPU, completely intact and without so much as a scratch.

"I did it!" Axl exclaimed. "I've got the CPU!"

Everything went dark, and for a moment, Axl worried that the Mavericks had some greater trap waiting for them. He engaged his night vision.

"It's alright!" X called out. "Slant Macrocosm was lighting the room, and she's gone now."

"Good." Zero said. "Malachite was annoying, but I got him. Hey Axl, bring that CPU over here."

Axl obeyed, and the three Maverick Hunters met in the center of the almost pitch-black storage facility. It was handy being machinery. Axl looked at his friends, and both of them seemed relatively undamaged. X had a few scorch marks and Zero's armor was a bit banged up but they were little worse for wear. Both of them, especially X, seemed more worried about Axl.

"That Maverick didn't hurt you too much, did he?" Zero eyed the frightening gash in his friend's chestplate.

"No, she missed." Axl replied cheefully, still playfully staring down the CPU.

"Wait, that was a girl-bot?"

"That's what she said she was. Weird, huh?"

"Where did you learn that move?" X too was staring at the data processor in Axl's hand, squeamish.

"Bass taught me! He called it the Skull Man strike." Axl admired his handiwork with glee. "And no damage to this at all! Man, I wish Bass could see me now!"

Back at the navigation room at Maverick Hunter's, Bass smiled. It was a firm, prideful smile. Watching Axl fight had been a good idea after all. The young Hunter was pretty impressive to Bass.

"Hey, Bass."

It was Pallette. She pulled off her headset and held it in his direction. The dark robot pulled off his helmet, for once revealing his pale blonde and much flattened helmet hair. He set down the helmet ran one hand through his locks before pulling on the headset.

" - You did a good job, kid. - "

Axl gasped in surprise. " - Bass! Wow, all the stuff you taught me really helped! I mean, I thought I was strong before, but this is awesome! - "

" - Heh, I've used your type of weapon for years. I'm bound to know a trick or two that you don't. - "

"Let's not get off focus." X said. "It looks like we've taken out most of the Mavericks here, but we've got to clear out the entire quarantined part of the city."

"I don't think that will take long. I mean, once they had me they were going to try and leave." Axl pointed down at Spectral. "She was going to get everyone out."

"She can break through Maverick Hunter teleportation blockades..." X's mouth formed a firm line. "That means other Mavericks can do the same thing."

"It's just a prototype." Axl said. "Only Spectral here had it. That's what they said, anyway."

"We're going to have to put a stop to this as soon as possible before they build another prototype. Hey wait, we need Bass." X said. " - Pallette, get him back on the line. - "

That brightened Bass considerably. He took the headset back from the peppy navigator, smirking. He was finally going to be able to go in and kill something, and X was finally acknowledging his usefulness. Forte wondered what X had in mind.

" - I'm here. - "

" - Okay Bass, - " X transmitted. " - Axl will teleport this CPU back to you. We have to get to wherever Spectral was trying to go, and we can't wait on a normal computer to find the right file. Since you aren't advanced enough to get the virus, the quickest way for us to find out is to have you hack her CPU. Can you do that? - "

Forte immediately winced. They didn't want him to fight? How was he supposed to hack a Maverick's CPU? Alia had only showed him so much about a reploid's mind, and Dr. Light had only told him about the general concepts. He didn't like this at all.

" - I'll get it. - " Bass answered, thinking himself optimistic and a little stupid. " - Just send it over here. - "

" - Alright. Alia, get the blockade down and we'll send it over. As soon as you have it, be ready to set the security measures back up. We don't want to give any Mavericks the chance to escape. - "

Bass numbly handed the headset back to Pallette as the girls went to work on taking down the blockade. His face settled into a grim scowl while other Hunters rushed around, scrambling to get everything in order. There was much to be done. Besides taking down the anti-teleport field, they had to get scanners set up to track any Mavericks to make sure that they didn't escape. Navigators for other Hunters surrounding the containment area were busily alerting their soldiers what was going on and to be ready for anything. Bass went over to the side of the teleport pad, numb to all the activity and noise about him.

"The anti-teleportation field will be down," Alia announced over both the comm and the navigation room's loudspeaker. "In 3...2...1...now!"

Axl teleported out, and he reappeared under the main viewscreen still holding the CPU. He saw Bass at once, and he handed over the CPU as Douglas and two of his assistants approached.

"We've got him." Alia said, pulling at several controls in her station. "Reactivate the anti-teleportation field."

"You hold still, Axl." Douglas pulled out a power drill as his assistants brought armor to the young Hunter. "You're not out of the fight, but I'm not letting you out of here with that gash in your chestplate and run a diagnostic. We'll be done in just a minute."

So much was going on in the navigation room. Bass had never been a part of an operation this big, and the many navigators were getting information from the Hunter leaders about the status of the Mavericks. None of them had escaped, and they were all proving to be mechaniloids. A Maverick group like that wasn't going to last long. Tension built up in Bass. Were they really expecting someone like him to just hack and have what they needed?

Well, he had said he would do it, so that's what he was going to do. With a wince, he converted his finger into the appropriate size zip drive and plugged in. Being a Maverick brain, the first Bass had ever examined, he expected more from coming in contact with its corrupted data. It was unremarkable. Initially, anyway. Getting his bearings, Bass tried to find specific memories. That was when it proved to be the most confusing thing he had ever seen. Last week Alia warned him that reploids with copy abilities were even more complex than second generations, but to Bass it was the underestimation of the century. Simply finding the right memory module was proving difficult.

Alia looked up from her viewscreen, and she called out to Bass, "Finding anything yet?"

"I'm trying, give me a minute!"

He gritted his teeth. People were depending on him, so he couldn't get bogged down in random data. Navigators around the room were staring at him, and Fortunately the firewall was similar to that on Dire Minuet's computer: it had few defenses against the simplicity of first generation minds. Bass' hacking programs made short work of them, and soon enough, he was grinning. He was getting the hang of the reploid mind. Spectral Saturnine had tried to teleport, so the coordinates of where she intended to go were easy to find - sort of. Hoping he hadn't screwed up, Bass went over to Axl. Douglas was right; the repair on Axl had only taken a bit. He was already drilling in the replacement armor.

"Hey kid, I'm giving you the coordinates, and some other stuff of what you'll find when you get there." Bass reached over Douglas and hooked into Axl's zip drive. "The first one is where Spectral was planning to run away to, and there's two more of where 'she' was for the past couple of hours. I don't want to transmit them."

Axl nodded. "Yeah, you never know who's listening."

"Hey, Dougie, you done yet?" Pallette called out. "We've got to go!"

"Just a second..." Douglas let the drill run for a little longer, then pulled away. "Alright, done!"

"Get ready for another drop in the shield!" Layer called out.

"Good luck, kid." Bass too got off the teleporter pad. "See you when you get back."

"Have fun with that CPU." Axl cheerily replied. "Tell me if you find anything cool on it!"

As the process of taking down the anti-teleportation field and sending Axl back to the fight began, Bass inwardly drooped. Numb, he walked back over to Pallette's station, watching as Axl rejoined X and Zero. Plans of sending teams to the teleport locations were formed without his notice; he didn't bother to pay attention. Bass went ahead and loaded the coordinates into Pallette's computer so that she could begin scanning. From there, Pallette sent the data to the other girls' stations so that they could run scans of their own, among other things. The constant typing and scanning and whatnot was all beyond Bass' knowledge (or concern).

"Y'know," Pallette said with a wink. "Everybody talks about how nice Zero's hair is, but I like yours too. It's kinda cute rumpled like that."

Bass grimaced, grabbing his helmet and abruptly jamming it back on his head. There was a reason he never took it off. Wily's design quirks were not surprising to him. Pallette was just trying to be funny, but Bass was too cross. She scoffed at him teasingly. Forte only sneered.

I just better get out of here... Bass' thoughts were sour. They've got real fighter-bots to assist.

And so he left, taking the cloud of darkness along with him. Dodging the technicians and navigators was a task, but eventually Bass got out of the mass-mission navigation room. It took him far longer than he wanted it to take, leaving him even more grouchy. He paced through the halls, staring at the Maverick CPU still in his hand. It disgusted him. He sullenly began his fuming trek away from the noise of the mission workers to quieter parts of the base.

I need to head back to MY research lab. Bass let his angry fangs out even though there was no one there to see it. Because I'm a dang scientist now...

Bass had always been reluctant to take on the task of curing the Maverick virus ever since Roll brought it up. Now it was only getting worse. He wasn't getting fighter upgrades, he wasn't getting sent on assignments, and now X was giving him a hacking task. He never wanted that. In a world filled with darkness, his one happiness was destroying idiots, and yet that was denied him. Talking to Roll had almost comforted him, but the wound was only growing sore.

He stopped. He didn't want to go to the lab. Part of him wondered why he was pausing. He couldn't do what he wanted, so why complain about it? What else was he going to do?

Bass pounded the side of his fist into the wall. Cursing a second later, he went to inspect the damage. He wanted to get his rage out in peace without having to be yelled at by Signas. Not that Signas ever literally yelled, but to Bass it was all the same. Nagging was nagging, whatever the volume. Fortunately the damage wasn't much. However, his gaze at the wall allowed him to notice a door and the number painted on it. This hallway he had passed through many times, but he had rarely been inside that room. He wasn't intruiged, not really. He knew what was behind it.

For once, he actually felt like opening it.

It was a small lab, not one used too often. There were several small labs like it, most of them designed to work with only one or two forms of technology. Either they were things that the Hunter researchers were developing, or things that they were curious about. This one held something that was painfully familiar. It was a capsule. Bass had seen it before. He could still remember the time Rock first showed him. It was Dr. Light's.

Bass let the door close behind him, and he quietly sat down next to the capsule. It looked mostly the same as when he had first seen it, but there were a few panels here or there added to secure the structure. He recalled everything that Alia had told him about it, how this was supposed to be the main module for Dr. Light's numerous capsules throughout battle sites. How in the world had Dr. Light managed that? Bass didn't know how Dr. Light did anything. The man was a genius, and Bass overwhelmingly began to believe that he himself was not.

"I can't do this..." he said outloud, hoping that somehow he would get an answer.

Silence. Bitter, Bass resisted trying to punch something else. He didn't want to damage anything important, not in here. He slid the CPU on the counter of the lab, in the front area where the computers were. The entire back of the room was filled with the capsule alone, making the already small room feel even more cramped.

Bass didn't like coming to this room. At times he would feel the urge to come, but it was hard for him to be so close to Dr. Light without him really being there. That, and he didn't want to look weird in front of the others. He had told Roll about Dr. Light's fate, but he didn't tell her that he was in the building. It would torture her far worse than him to know that her creator was trapped inside the very thing that kept him alive past his years. And yet, since no one could fix it, the thing just sat there, useless and stupid. Bass could only imagine about how it made X feel; the new bomber never entered the room at all. It was the one point that Bass pitied him for.

The dark robot found himself recalling all he could about the capsule. He only knew of its existence less than a month before Dr. Light died, so he'd had little opportunity to ask the good doctor about it. Mega Man had explained some of the technical details to him, but he too had been afraid to touch it. No one but Dr. Light or Auto had ever worked on its construction. The thing was a big, fat mystery to Bass.

All the same, he found himself pulling at one of the panels on the base of the machine. It had always been loose, as Alia would often look there. She was really the only one that came into the room with any sort of regularity. Most of the researchers were too afraid to touch it. Dr. Light was alive in there, somewhere. One wrong move and that wouldn't be true anymore. Bass, daring himself to just look at the mess of wires and panels that made up the capsule. It was just as confusing as before - this wasn't the first time he had looked.

Sighing, Bass leaned back against the wall. What was the point, now? He wasn't a scientist. He could barely get information out of a reploid's mind, much less fix something created by the world's greatest robotics inventor. What was he supposed to do?

"It's really all very simple, Bass." Dr. Light told him. "Each piece of a machine has a specific purpose. Figure out each part, and the whole will work."

It had been a long time since Dr. Light had told him that. He was talking about Crystal Bot. Bass felt himself lucky. Crystal Bot might have been his technician, but if he couldn't figure out how to at least keep her maintained, that was the end of his upgrades. So he always had to talk to Dr. Light about how she worked. Bass wouldn't have even thought to ask, otherwise. Hearing about an X style machine straight from his creator was convenient. Bass was finding out every day how useful that information proved to be.

Out of habit, Bass looked down at the wiring again. Did he see something missing to the left? He got up and snatched a drill from the wall so he could start pulling out the next panel, and things got a little clearer for him. Some of the circuitry inside was mildly alike to a power core problem he'd faced while rebuilding Roll. But Alia had been the one to solve that problem, and Bass wasn't completely sure how she did it. Peering in closer, the idea occured to Bass that there was something, a little something, missing from the capsule. He couldn't figure out what it was, but it was something. Bass stared in closer, hoping that something would actually click in his head and it would all make sense.

And then, it actually did. There was enough power in the capsule to keep it operating in the sense of preserving the human AI (oh, how it was freaky to think of the human brain that way!) but not in the sense of being able to show the holographic imaging. Or so he thought. Mega Man had told him certain things about it, but none of it clearly confirmed or denied his guess. He couldn't figure out how the innards of the machine got so messed up. Was it a design flaw? Mavericks trying to understand it by reverse engineering it? Wearing out over time?

He was stalling. If he was right, then all he needed to do was hook up a power conduit to the proper module. If he was wrong, then hooking it up would short out the machine, destroying the capsule and killing the scientist within permanently. All of the pros and cons hanging about in his head laid out evenly; there was no way to find out one way or another without doing it.

Bass gritted his teeth. This decision was killing him. Sense told him to just wait for Alia and see what she knew. That wasn't a very good option, even if Bass were patient: she knew less than him about it. The only reason Bass had a clue was because this was (if he was right) a simple mechanical problem. Nobody actually knew how this thing functioned. Alia was the leading Hunter scientist as far as old technology went, so if she didn't know asking anyone else was pointless. Asking Roll might have worked, if Bass didn't already know that she was intentionally told very little about it while her creator was alive. Giving security-sensitive knowledge to a housekeeper-bot was too risky, even for the naiive blue bomber.

"Okay...crap...what do I need to do this?"

Bass rubbed his eyes with anxiety. There were only so many replacement parts available, and Bass had to think of something modern that would work. He wasn't even sure of what old tech would work, but he had to have some options. He guessed the TC-315 power conduit. Alia had said that it was the most compatible conduit, but she had been talking about Roll at the time. Did this count for machinery other than robots?

"Eh, if it works on both reploids and Roll then it's got to work here..."

Bass had no reason to say that, and he knew it. He was just guessing, like he was with everything else. So he weighed his options. If he was wrong, then not doing anything would only produce more of the same: Dr. Light trapped with no way to talk to him. Trying but failing meant essentially the same thing, because no one in the world would be able to fix the problem if it wasn't what he thought it was. Again, no way to talk to him. Why not try if that was the outcome either way?

Bass knew that the only difference was reactions. If he accidentally killed Dr. Light, Roll would cry and X would want to kill him. The voice in the back of his head told Bass that X would probably understand at least a little, but Bass ignored it. He was in no mood to listen to rationality.

That left him with only one choice in the end: do it and see what happens. In a rush that passed him by without noticing, he had gathered the tools for the job, as well as run to the supply room for the TC-315 power conduit. His concentration was too strong. He forced himself to pause and focus, taking a simulated breath before he settled with finality to the capsule's bottom half, ready to work. Shutting away his doubts, he very carefully got to work. He inserted the conduit with gentle care, clicking everything into place. There was nothing left but to back away and see if it would run.

A light blinked on the top, indicating that the mechanism recognised the rise in power. Just as it looked like it was working, all the lights cut off with a snap.

"No!" Bass yelled, glaring at the machine's innards and wondering where he went wrong. "No, no, no..."

But there was nothing Bass could think to do. It was too late to save Dr. Light. He knew of the possibility of being wrong, but now that it stared him in the face he lost control. He didn't want to believe it. With a hideous swear, he crumpled, burying his face in his hands. He had screwed everything up...

"Wow...now that felt strange..."

In an instant Bass' head was up. There before them was the ghostly image of Dr. Thomas Light, wavering slightly as the holographic generators synced themselves. Once the hologram noticed who was near, his face lit up, every bit as happy as Bass remembered him to be.

"Bass, is that really you?"

"Yeah." He was so happy that he hardly knew how to respond.

Dr. Light beamed. "I never thought I could see anyone from the past. After the robot apocalypse...oh, never mind that, it's so good to see that you've lived! Things have been so strange for me these past few...however long it's been. Everything suddenly went dark for me and after the longest time I'm finally awake. Goodness, what in the world happened?"

"Eh, you had some sort of power problem. I think I fixed it." Bass said. As he spoke he could feel himself forget all he had been through since Dr. Light's death, and he found his old mannerisms rising within him again. "You know me. I'm so awesome I just had to survive the apocalypse just to come back and fix you, since I'm the greatest robot ever and all."

"And still proud of it, I see." Dr. Light laughed. "How long have you been back?"

"Eh, something over two months. There's lots of Mavericks to kill, and you know I have to get in on that." Bass smirked. "What the hell have you been doing with yourself? I hear some crap that you've been just hiding out in random spots giving X armors. Come on, is that how you're going to spend your retirement years, just popping in and out of existence?"

The good doctor merrily shrugged. "I do what I have to for peace. The trouble with this capsule is, nothing like it has ever been built. That means I have to test it for flaws or inefficiencies without anyone's help or notes. So I can only remain in holographic state for a short time before I have to recharge the silly thing."

"Oh, so it goes on and off to save power."

"Precisely. I feel sorry for X. He gets to see very little of me, though...I feel strange telling him about the past. It depresses him."

Bass rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. He's on a mission now, so he doesn't know you're repaired. Oh hey, how long do you think you can stay aware for now?"

"I've been charging while I've been shut off." Dr. Light said. "I could easily manage several hours."

"Good. There's someone else who really wants to see you." Grinning as he switched over to his comm. " - Hey Roll, you around? - "

" - Yes. About before, I'm really sorry- - "

Bass rolled his eyes. He'd almost forgotten about it. " - Shut up about it already and get to research lab 9A. - "

" - What's in lab 9A? - "

" - You know how you used to take care of Dr. Light a long time ago? Let's just say that I've got a job for you, and I think you're going to like it. Now hurry up. - "

Bass smirked, impressed with himself. He had figured everything out, and there was no way Roll would leave the Maverick Hunters now. Maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all. He had fixed Dr. Light and kept his promise to Mega Man all at the same time. All he had to do was give Roll all the technical knowledge he had and let her keep Dr. Light active.

Hell, I really am smart.

Bass glanced over to the door. When Roll came in, the look on her face would be priceless. He didn't want to miss it.

\\\\\\\

Author's notes:

- So much technobabble in this chapter! I should write the next Star Trek movie. Man, this chapter took so many rewrites! Peeps, plan out your stories before you write them so that you don't have so many rewrites. Doing things on the fly isn't always the most productive way to go about it. I thought I would get this chapter out right quick for y'all, but not so. Oh well. At least I think I know what I'm doing for the rest of this.

- Remember how I said in the other stories that you could only block teleports either in or out? Well, in the X series they've figured out how to block both at once. They gotta advance somehow, especially with Mavericks on the loose. If Crystal Bot's mini teleporters were around, they wouldn't be able to work.

- While Dr. Light's capsules are neato for gameplay, for plot they are dang annoying. How do they work? Are they recorded messages or living AI? Can he come out of the capsule? Why do the capsules only activate once - does Dr. Light only want to talk to X once per capsule? Bah, I worked it out my own way, but it's still a hurdle for anyone trying to write in the X series, unless they ignore it altogether.

Mavericks!

thomas

======Spike Malkin

"Get out! You're not welcome here!"

Spike is a scarecrow Maverick who was once a farmer's assistant. He shoots needles from his arms, as well as just sticking them in himself and kicking or punching you with that spike. He also uses his needles as swords, and can summon crow-bots to shoot lasers down at you. The player that beats him gets the Scare Spike, which allows you to block enemy shots as well as have a short range weapon. It's not as strong as Zero's saber, but for X and Axl it's a great addition.

This one was a little weird, but it all worked out interesting enough. Since Thomas Light is a doctor, I looked that up at thesaurus .com and got "spike" because another meaning for the word doctor means to mess with something. "Tom" can also refer to cats, so after a while of looking around, malkin came up. One of its meanings is scarecrow.

Seventh Shade

======Cudgel Phantasm

"Have you seen my reading glasses?"

Phantasm is a wind element Maverick who has the appearance of being a gargoyle with a bull's head. He has two muscular arms that stick out of a black robe and bear a huge hammer, which he can either throw, swing, or ground pound with. He doesn't have legs, and he flies across the room. In his spare time he prefers to read ancient Roman literature. The player that beats him gets the Stone Cudgel, which basically works exactly how Phantasm uses it. So yes, you can ground pound too.

This one was sort of hard. Shade went to Phantasm easy, but I had to get creative for "seventh". In korean, if you use the Sino-Korean numbers, seven is ch'il, which sounds a lot like "shill". Shill means a lot of things, but it's also a shortening for "shilleagh" or beating stick. I like the end result. I wanted to take a specific monster, and gargoyles and bulls sound awesome together.

ShadowNeko003

======Shade Crawler Sam

"Ssssss...the taste of metal flesh..."

Shade is a snake Maverick that loves stalking prey. He can spit venom and has a very fast bite. Don't let him snatch you up, or major damage will result. He actually stalks you here and there throughout his level, and you can get his damage down some before you have to face him as a Maverick. He's tough, so that's definitely a good thing, especially if you don't have his weakness. The player that beats him gets Venom Vapor, a spray shot that does wide damage to a variety of enemies.

Shadow went to shade easy. Even though neko is "cat" in japanese, I was getting tired of feline Mavericks so I made this one a snake, because that's what necks made me think of. Sam is Sino-Korean for three. Yeah, korean has two sets of numbers, because the true Korean set only goes up to 99, and they use Chinese influenced numbers for amounts higher than that. I really like how the name turned out.