(A/N: Apologies to my readers for this update taking so long. I've been dealing with a lot of personal drama, which sucked away my inspiration for writing. I'm happy to say that I'm back, and I hope to finish this particular story arc very soon. Also, apologies if this chapter seems a bit short, I couldn't think of anything else to add to it that couldn't wait for the next chapter. Thanks, and enjoy!)

After what seemed like ages to her, Rei felt herself begin to come around. The white light that had been her final sight had been gone for some time, replaced by the familiar darkness she knew whenever she closed her eyes. She opened them slowly, allowing them to adjust to the dimness of her surroundings. It seemed she was in a room that wasn't quite as dim as the halls she had passed through.

Her head throbbed as she sat up. In the entire time she had existed, there were many days that Rei cursed her ability to feel pain. It didn't matter what caused it, nor the degree of it. She just knew she hated feeling it. She had done many things over the years to injure herself, thankfully none of them were more severe than catching a few fingers in a closing door or being burned by a hot surface. Still, the pain was a nuisance, one that she marveled humans could handle as well as they did. She figured they adjusted themselves to the ever-present threat of discomfort, theorizing that it was preferable to stop an activity upon feeling the start of an injury rather than risking greater harm by continuing.

She tensed as she heard approaching footsteps; that tension was immediately followed by the all-too familiar stinging sensation of freed circuitry, the one that told her something was damaged. It tended to happen to her periodically, whether due to her own clumsiness or her becoming an unwilling co-conspirator to one of Nami or Trysta's wild ideas. Like the last time Nami thought it was funny to change Dax's access codes when Dr. Kiloh was performing maintenance on him...

A tiny arc of electricity from the damaged wiring in her shoulder caused her vision to blur, jabbing a spear of pain between her eyes as it did. Stifling a groan, Rei cradled her head in her hands, trying to will the discomfort to go away. The pain was clearly of the spiteful type, as it only intensified, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut in a vain attempt to be rid of it.

"Here. Let me take a look at that for you." The female voice was firm yet kind. It reminded Rei of how Trysta would sound if she didn't have that tone of superiority grafted to her vocal cords at all times. She heard the scraping sound of metal against the hard floor as the other figure moved closer. She heard the other individual hum to herself as she surveyed the damaged area, punctuated every so often by a muttered curse and a vow to cause someone "some real hurt" once she was done.

"Well, Pretty, you've got a fair bit of circuitry damaged here," the strange female replied. "Luckily, it isn't anything I can't fix. I'll have you back in perfect working order in a few minutes. And with any luck, you'll stay in order, provided Taze doesn't get near you again."

"Hey! I said I was sorry!" A second voice cut in abruptly. This one was male, and from what Rei could tell, it came from a location a few feet from where she was.

The female let out a snort, then seemed to return her attention to Rei. "All right then, Pretty. Guess I'll get working on fixing you up." Rei could hear the sound of various tools being activated. "Fortunately for you, because these circuits are damaged, you won't feel any pain while they're being fixed. The only bad news is it's a pretty tedious operation to get the old ones out and the new ones in. In other words, I can fix you, and you won't feel much of it, but it'll take some time."

In spite of her pain, Rei gave a slight nod. "Do...do what you need to do," she said quietly. "Just be careful."

"I will. Believe me, Pretty. I will."


"Trysta!" Dax's sudden shout through the dim silence startled Trysta enough that she drew her pistol, spinning around to point it in the direction the shout came from. Only once she felt her heart rate return to normal -not to mention remembering her pistols were out of energy- did she lower her weapon. She knew his voice well enough; there was no reason for her to have her weapon drawn asides from the combination of the dark room and her own frayed nerves kicking in.

Zero stood just behind her, his eyes scanning the room. "I have to say, they're quick," he said. "It didn't take them nearly as long to get here as I'd figured."

Trysta nodded in agreement. "Likewise. Whatever's jamming our signals is also making it hard to tell where everyone is. The directional tool in our comms has been reduced to bare-minimum functionality, which limits its range to only a few meters, at best." She holstered her gun, kneeling to pick up the energy packs from the weapons of their prior opponents. "I'm just glad they're safe." She added as she popped the packs into her pistols. They were far from fully replenished, but the extra energy would do in a pinch.

"Do you think they found Rei while they were heading over here?" Zero asked.

She shrugged. "I hope so, but until they're visible, your guess is as good as mine. I just wish these damn rooms weren't so dark. Even with its sensitivity set to max, my visor is barely picking up any readings from them."

It was on the tip of his tongue to mock Trysta and her "human" eyes, with their decreased sensitivity in dark locales, but Zero kept silent. Such an observation -accurate as it was- would only set her off again, and that was an annoyance he could do without for a good long time. "Don't you have other sensors in that thing, ones that could detect individuals without needing to see them?" he asked instead.

"I did, until that last little skirmish I got into," she replied. "For some reason, its identity sensors aren't responding when I attempt to activate them. I'm not sure if the wiring suffered damage in that fight, or if the circuitry is just damaged from age and usage."

Zero frowned, thankful he was out of her range of vision so she couldn't see it. "Not good for you, from the sounds of it," he said. "If all the rooms are this dark, you'll be at a disadvantage in a fight."

She smirked. "Well then, I'll have to make sure any fights are carried out under super-bright lights." she answered. She was about to continue when she heard Nami's voice through the gloom.

"Trysta!" Nami shouted, running up to her and hugging her. Trysta, though initially surprised by the gesture, returned it gently. After several seconds, she pulled away; as she did, she gently held Nami by the shoulders, as though the simple gesture of hugging wasn't one she was comfortable with.

"I'm just glad you're all right, Nami," she answered, her tone showing a tinge of awkwardness at her friend's outburst. "It hasn't been easy getting to this point, but it's good to see you all here."

Axl nodded. "Yeah, it was quite a ride to get in here, but I'm glad we're finally getting to regroup. Now all we need to do is find out the source of all this and put it out of commission for good."

Trysta raised an eyebrow. "Considering we still don't know what we're up against here, that could be easier said than done," she said. "Unless we can find some kind of technical readings on what's going on in here -or even do something as simple as taking down the system that's jamming our communications- we're literally flying blind."

"Sounds like we need to find a control room or other central hub for this place," X replied. "Maybe we can find a simple computer terminal, one that would grant us access enough to download a schematic or some sort of facility map that would help us locate it."

"I...I saw a few terminals while I was looking for everyone," Nami replied. "I don't know that they still functioned, but they looked like they might be helpful."

"And where there's a few terminals, there's bound to be more," Axl finished for her. "Come on. Let's find one and take these losers out!"

"Hold on just a minute." Dax's voice echoed a bit in the large room. He had been scanning the room since they had entered, but asides from the duo standing before him, found no other active energy sources. Which meant only one thing in his mind...

Fists clenched, he advanced on Trysta, stopping a few feet from where she stood. "Where's Rei, Trysta?" he asked, his voice taking on a dangerous edge. "I don't pick up any readings besides our own. Where is she?"

Trysta shrugged slightly. "I don't know, Dax," she replied. "I had hoped she was with you."

"We thought she would be with you," X interjected. At least, that's what I was hoping...

She was glad the room was dim enough to hide the slight paling of her face at the realization her friend was lost. "This...this place is so large, she could have wound up anywhere when we were redirected," she began, her tone sounding less certain than it did normally. "I had hoped she would find her way back to us on her own. But now..."

She never finished her sentence. She would curse herself later for forgetting Dax's ability to move quickly when the situation asked for it.

Before she could react, she felt the back of his hand violently strike across the right side of her face. She staggered, the blow knocking her off-balance enough to stun her considerably. She heard the loud clatter of her visor hitting the floor next to her, knocked from her eyes by the force of the hit. As she started to straighten up, a second strike to her face -from his fist, this time- knocked her to the floor, the ribs on her left side absorbing the hard impact. She instantly tasted blood in her mouth, and she spat several times to clear the blood that had suddenly begun to pool inside her mouth. She quickly ran her tongue over her teeth, checking to make sure none of them had come loose from the force of the hit; she felt a surge of relief that they were all still solidly anchored in her mouth, though the injuries to her mouth still caused her to wince. Not only had her lower lip been split, but the insides of her cheeks had sustained some wounds, all of which bled a bit too heavily for her liking.

"Shut up!" Dax shouted, his eyes narrowed angrily. "I'm tired of your excuses! Every time something happens, it's never your fault. There's always some 'circumstance' or other that lets you off the hook. Well, I'm not going to let this slide, Trysta! If it hadn't been for you, Rei wouldn't be in this mess to begin with!"

Trysta spat again, then wiped away the blood that lingered on her lips. "Dax, that isn't true," she retorted. "They wanted to come..."

"Spare me your crap, Trysta," he sneered back in response. "You weren't supposed to know about this mission to begin with, let alone be part of it. And you held the entire mission for ransom out of some petty little desire for glory for yourself. That alone is bad enough, but to drag Nami and Rei into your little ego-trip, knowing damn well they aren't suited for combat, makes things even worse."

"Oh, please." Despite the slight spinning sensation she felt in her head, Trysta glared darkly in Dax's direction. "Tell me, Dax, when have you given them any sort of task, asides from the mundane crap back at the lab? At least here, they have a job to do besides window-dressing and routine number-crunching." She could faintly hear him snort angrily, but she didn't care. "Everyone back at Obsidian treats them like they're made of glass, like they'll crack if they're so much as touched wrong. They're judged as being 'too delicate' for the more difficult, dangerous lab work, and I'm really getting tired of it."

She heard Dax walk toward her, and braced herself for another volley from him. "Say what you want, and think what you will, but I won't treat them like they're delicate and useless," she continued. "I've practically grown up with them as my companions. In my mind, they're as capable of fighting as you. No, I take that back. I think they're more capable than you are of fighting, if only because they aren't antiquated piles of scrap like you are!"

Nami, seeing that Dax was raising his fist in preparation for another strike, ran over to him, grabbing his arm tightly. "Dax, stop!" she cried, her expression showing her fear. "Hurting Trysta isn't going to help us find Rei!"

"It also isn't going to help us accomplish this mission." Zero surprised himself by hearing his own voice in defense of Trysta. "Whether you like it or not, they're all here, and none of us are able to leave until this job is done." He further surprised himself by moving to stand between Dax and Trysta, a sentiment he knew the others in the group all shared. He thought he was the absolute last individual who would stand up for that arrogant girl; she asked for this to happen, and she got what she deserved. Yet, something about her being attacked didn't sit right with him. He wasn't sure what it was, though he figured part of it had to do with their current circumstances not being Trysta's fault.

"She didn't choose to have things turn out this way," he heard himself continue, hearing Trysta move to stand up behind him. "I doubt anyone would choose that. All we can do from here is get back on track."

He silenced himself immediately, shocked at the words that were coming from him. Here he had just been thinking she deserved what punishment Dax was dishing out, but the words coming from his mouth were saying something totally different. Instead of berating her for her stupidity, or congratulating Dax on his actions, he was standing up for her.

There was still one question that was foremost in his mind, however. Did he actually believe those words, or were they as hollow as the room they all stood in?

"Zero's right," X chimed in at that moment, moving to stand next to his friend. "She didn't intend for any of this to happen, and I'm sure she wouldn't have insisted on bringing the girls if she knew it would happen. Instead of bickering and pointing fingers, let's focus on finding Rei and finishing this mission."

Dax let out an angry-sounding growl, his shoulders tensing as he struggled to calm himself down. Being the girls' self-appointed "big brother", he tended to be more than a bit protective of them. But the Hunters were right, he was letting his emotions and his worry about Rei get the better of him. She wouldn't want him to fly off the handle and hurt Trysta, regardless of what that silly girl got them into. And now that he had done so, he felt a horrible wave of guilt that made him feel sick. In spite of the modifications Dr. Kiloh had made to make him more pacifistic, it still was often a struggle for him to keep his temper in check. No matter how many different ways Trysta had found to push his buttons, he had never before raised a hand with the intent of hurting her. The fact that he had just done so out of anger only worsened his feelings.

"I...I'm sorry, Trys," he said slowly, keeping his gaze averted. "I'm just so worried about Rei. You know how she is..."

"Yeah, I know," she replied, her voice sounding slightly distorted from her injuries. "And I'm worried about her, too. This place is too large and dangerous for someone to wander around in by themselves, regardless of who they are. But going at each other over who's to blame isn't going to help us find her any faster."

"You're right, Trys," Nami replied before Dax could speak. "Why don't we look for a working terminal and see if we can't find out more about what's going on in this place? Maybe it'll give us some clues about where to look for Rei, and maybe we can find others who can help us along the way."

Zero felt himself smile a bit at Nami's exuberance, amused at how naïve it made her sound at that moment. "You seem a bit too optimistic there," he said. "But I guess we could use the optimism right about now. So, let's get moving."

The others nodded in reply before beginning to leave the room through the nearby door. Behind him, he could hear Trysta walk the short distance to retrieve her fallen visor. As her footsteps approached behind him, Zero waited for her to catch up. "I was glad to see you show some restraint towards Dax," he said as he fell into step beside her. "After all, he's under a lot of stress right now."

"Tell me about it," she replied flatly, still rubbing the painful area on her cheek where Dax had hit her. "I'm just glad he didn't hit me at full power, otherwise I'd be picking bits of my teeth off the floor. But he's worried about Rei, as am I."

"If that really is the case, I hope you take these sort of risks into consideration before you insist on things being done your way. If you'd thought about the dangers in the first place, then no one would have to worry about Rei at all..."

He would have continued, but the glare he was certain Trysta gave him from behind her visor -which she had returned to its place over her eyes- caused him to pause his thoughts. She then quickened her steps so she walked ahead of him slightly, refusing to give him so much as an insult or snide comment.

Hm. He thought to himself, shaking his head a bit. Guess that'll teach me to offer any more friendly advice to her.


Rubbing her tongue against the wounds on her lip and inside her mouth, Trysta noted they were becoming progressively less tender. She could still taste the dried blood that clung to them, and one tiny nick that she had probed too zealously had already reopened and begun bleeding again. Mentally cursing her stupidity, she forced herself to ignore them, sure they would heal over in no time.

It hadn't surprised her that those wounds had bled as profusely as they did. For as long as she could remember, Trysta recalled herself to be a rather heavy bleeder whenever she was injured. Whether it was the severe, dark bruises she received during training, or the cuts and scrapes she managed to get from her typical day-to-day activities, they always seemed to bleed a bit more heavily than identical wounds that were seen on acquaintances. No, what bothered her was her own slow response to Dax's attack. She cursed letting her guard down, but Rei's absence had brought her up short. She had been so sure that Dax had found her -or that she had found her way to him- that it never crossed her mind that her friend could still be missing. Her error had proven a costly one, as well as a painful one.

She didn't blame Dax for being angry. Ever since Rei and Nami had arrived at Obsidian so many years earlier, he had taken it upon himself to be their protector and big-brother figure. She always thought he took those duties a bit too seriously, but he would never agree with that assessment whenever she had previously brought it up. Figuring it was part of his being a retired combat Reploid, she eventually let the matter drop.

Zero, on the other hand, she could not forgive so lightly. He could damn well see she was still smarting from the hits she had taken, she knew he was smart enough in that regard. What she had hoped was that he would have had the sense to keep his mouth shut; instead, he addressed her with the surface attempt of giving "advice", which she took as being more of an attempt at gloating at her misfortune.

Oh, damn this all to hell! She shouted mentally. Part of her wished that their mission together was over, and that no further missions were necessary. That part of her hoped then to have some semblance of peace, as those damned Hunters would go back to the lab they were brought from, and would leave her to her own devices. But then, she remembered Nami's happiness when she was around Axl, and X gradually drawing Rei out of her shell, and she felt a bit of shame for wishing they were gone. They had done a lot of good since their arrival at Obsidian. Even Zero, for all his stubbornness and lack of deference to her, had brought some good with him. He had given her the best challenge she'd ever faced, and she now had a new goal to strive for, among other things.

She rolled her eyes at her wandering thoughts, glad she had her visor in place to hide the gesture. While its casing had a few new cracks from its uncouth treatment, it still functioned normally. And that small normalcy was comforting to her in a place where things were anything but.


"You know, you were sitting there when I left an hour ago to analyze that data you asked for." Footsteps approached behind her, followed by the sound of someone sitting in the chair to her left. "Not only were you sitting in that exact same spot when I left, but you were still muttering to yourself and glaring at the screen as though you could reach through it and strangle someone."

She resisted the urge to slap him, knowing his armor would only leave her with severe bruises on her hand. "Very funny," she retorted. "For the record, I have not been simply sitting here for an hour. I did other things as well."

"Like what? Filing your nails?" He would have added more, but the acidic glare he received in return shut him up.

"You know damn well that I've been busy! After all, you aren't the only one who runs things from this room, remember?" She stood up, pacing the room slowly. "I just can't believe that that brat evaded us so easily. We were so close to getting her, and she slipped out from right under our noses. How the hell do we explain that?"

"Simple. We may have plants."

She spun around to face him, a lock of hair falling to obscure her vision. "What?" she asked sharply, brushing the errant lock back into place. "Are you saying that there are spies in my base?"

"No," he replied evenly. "I'm saying we might have spies in the base the Master entrusted us to maintain and operate. Last time I checked, you weren't given sole ownership of this place, and I have as much interest in it as you do."

"Oh, will you either tell me what you found out or just shut up already?" She rolled her eyes as she returned to her seat. "I'm getting a migraine from all your pointless complaining."

It was on the tip of his tongue to remind her that she was a far bigger complainer than he could ever hope to be, but he decided against it. It wouldn't do any good to poke her further, and it might end with him missing a number of vital parts. He decided to instead do as she asked and tell her his findings, lest she find creative ways of separating his extremities from his torso.

"Okay sis, so I'm sure you know how all of our guard units are the same RZ Guard models, right?" she nodded without speaking, letting him continue. "Well, I ran a check on all their ID signals, to see where their origin points were."

"And...?"

"And ninety-nine point nine percent of those units had matching ID signals, which showed they came from the same location. They were all made in the same facility, shipped in the same shipment, and arrived here at the same time."

She rested her elbow on the table, propping her chin in her hand. "That's all well and fascinating, but what does it have to do with out little lost pet?" she asked.

"That's where that remaining percentage comes in." He tapped a few keys on the console keyboard in front of him, which brought up a sequence consisting of several individual rows of numbers. "These are a sampling of twenty ID signals from our RZ units. Notice anything interesting about any of them?"

She nodded, a nasty scowl crossing her face. "I do. And I don't like it."

He shook his head. "Neither do I. I wish I'd caught this sooner. If we really do have altered RZ units roaming the base, it doesn't bode well for our task."

Her smile returned, as cold and brittle as it ever was. "As always, allow me to handle that, my dear brother," she replied. "I know the perfect way to exterminate rats."

"You always do have a plan, sis," he replied, his face not sharing her smile. "And I think my knowledge of that fact frightens me slightly."