Days passed.
"Ryft should be along soon," Zero remarked, and Flurry looked up from her training exercises. "He was in my unit before --" He grimaced bemusedly. "Before I didn't have a unit anymore."
"Before you died?" she asked, clicking the blade off and looking at him.
"No, after. I was in charge of a special forces unit for a while."
"So why aren't you now -- or am I prying?" She moved to flip her hair and stopped. She had put it in a braid earlier that morning to keep it out of her face.
He shrugged. "I made a stupid mistake -- and I nearly lost all of them. I resigned." He swung his saber out, igniting it. "Ryft survived it -- and two others. They're dead now. Ready?"
"Mmm, no. Let me practice a little longer." She went through the motions automatically; she knew them by heart. "So, why's he coming?"
"He's coming in to work with us. I figured you need to try fighting someone else for a while. Different styles, and all that crap." He grinned lamely.
"He uses a saber?" She swung the saber in a quick arc, suddenly spinning at the end and adding a kick.
"Not a bad move there," Zero informed her. "No, he doesn't."
She didn't answer, trying her new move again.
"Have you tried incorporating your firepower with your attacks?"
She stopped, abruptly kicking out viciously. "No." She said it firmly. "I did just fine without it before."
"But you have it now," he said calmly, bracing himself for an explosion of outrage.
To his surprise, she replied gently, "I know. But I won't use it. It's my choice, Zero."
He shrugged. "Suit yourself." Finally get her a decent weapon -- and she won't use it!
A quick rap sounded at the door.
"Come on in, Ryft!"
Flurry stopped what she was doing and waved. "Hi, Ryft!"
Smiling faintly, he waved in return. His armor was silver-chased green, with bands of dark blue on the arms. He had a scar running down his cheek from above his left eye. Flurry thought it might be from whatever disaster Zero's unit might have had. She'd have to ask more about that later.
"Zero," he said. "I can't stay long. Dr. Cain needs my help."
Zero nodded. "Okay. Let's see what we can do." He grinned, stepping back. "Well, have at it. There's only one rule. No killing." He raised his hand. "Let 'er rip!" And he dropped it.
Flurry darted sideways, dodging a relatively mild shot of plasma energy. The way she figured it, that would only sting. Momentarily, she considered using her own power but immediately disregarded the idea. She suddenly charged at him, holding her lightsaber high. He darted into a roll and came up shooting. A shot stung her side, but the other missed and scored the floor.
"First strike!" Zero announced.
Flurry leaped, springing as high as she could to land near Ryft and dodge his shots at the same time. She swung the saber neatly, bringing the blade a hairsbreadth from his neck.
"Kill!" Zero sounded surprised. "Ryft?"
He grinned lamely. "I'm out of practice.
Flurry shook her head, laughing. "I'm just too good for you!"
"Try it again," Zero ordered, and Flurry sighed. It was going to be another long day.
X and Tourian had finished sparring with each other, and they were now trying to decide what kind of training would actually work for them both. They were seated at the mess hall, put in for the human Hunters, watching the humans who were off shift eat. It wasn't really all that interesting.
"I've taken you through every training routine I can think of," X said glumly.
"We went through the sims -- all of them!" Tourian groaned at the memory.
"You've been out on the bikes."
"I've sparred with other Hunters."
"You've downloaded the rules and regs."
"I stood in for Zero at a commencement ceremony, even."
"Bo-o-oring."
They both started laughing. It had been boring, even for the people the ceremony was recognizing. Tourian remembered seeing one doze off, only to be nudged awake by the person he'd leaned on.
"I suppose we could go watch the new ones start their training."
"I guess so."
The looked at each other steadily. "Nah," was the simultaneous decision.
Tourian had seen Flurry for a grand total of five minutes in the past two days. She'd slammed into him, knocking him down. Apologizing hurriedly, she'd darted into her quarters and darted out again, in such a hurry that she nearly knocked him down again. At least she's having fun.
"I have an idea," X said suddenly. "I'm on the roster for a patrol in about an hour. You can take Zero's place today."
"Why not?" Tourian grinned. "It beats sitting around here."
Cain sat back slowly, waiting for Ryft to come in. Zero had requested the Reploid to help with Flurry's training, but he should have been back by now. The scientist needed his help sorting through the data from the scans. It was far too much for a human, and Ryft was his best Reploid data analyst.
Finally sighing, he tapped the console. "Ryft, report to FLEER immediately."
FLEER was the computer's name. It stood for something, some government nonsense, but he couldn't remember exactly what.
Within minutes, Ryft was in the room, apologizing quietly. "It took longer than I thought it would. She's not bad -- even if she doesn't have a weapons system."
Cain smiled kindly, deciding not to tell him of Flurry's recent upgrade. "We need to start looking through this data. The computer never notified me of anything, but --"
Ryft was already at the console, watching the data stream by at far higher speeds than Cain could even imagine reading. An hour later, he was finished, shoulders slumped dejectedly.
"Nothing."
Cain nodded. "I didn't imagine there would be. I guess we should widen the search radius."
Ryft nodded. "I'll stay and mind the computer. It's time you took a break."
The old man smiled wanly. "You act like X, sometimes, Ryft. I'll go eat and go to bed. Don't hesitate to wake me if something comes up."
"Absolutely, Dr. Cain."
Flurry paused. "I suppose he's not coming back?"
"Probably not. Cain's running himself and Ryft ragged trying to find the Maverick base." He sat on the floor. "I wonder what X and Tourian are doing."
"Nothing," Flurry smiled faintly. "I think. They ran through all the exercises either of them could think of yesterday."
"Heh. So have we."
She heaved a sigh. "Do you know how Tremor and Jackdaw are?"
He blinked. "No, I don't. Maybe we should check your quarters for messages."
She nodded firmly.
As a matter of fact, the message was from an hour earlier, stating that the animals had a fantastic recovery and were waiting to be picked up. Once they arrived at the med labs, a furious yowl greeted them.
"Welcome back to the real world, Tremor," Flurry smirked, rubbing the cat's ears.
Jackdaw cawed rudely, flapping his wings.
"Right, right. I missed you, too."
The bird flapped delicately to her shoulder and snipped his beak at her hair. Tremor promptly jumped into her arms and swatted at the bird's wings. It would have erupted into a fight if she hadn't dropped the cat on the floor. He slapped at her boots, sticking tail and nose as high in the air as they would go.
"Don't bump into anything on your way out," Flurry called to him.
He hissed.
They left them in Flurry's quarters, and they were surprised to find Ayrmin there, looking forlorn. At which point Zero had smacked his forehead in disgust.
"A patrol!" he groaned. "Of course! He must have taken Tourian with him."
Flurry nodded absently, suddenly flopping on the bed. "What was your unit, Zero?" she asked, sitting up. "And what happened to it?"
He looked at her blankly for a moment. "Oh, yeah. That." He shook his head. "You really want to know about it?"
"Well, if it's not too much trouble." She crossed her legs. "I don't want to stir up anything painful."
"Too late," he said ruefully. "But it's all right. I'll tell you my little story."
She moved to the floor, where he sat slowly, getting comfortable.
"If we have time," she said quietly, "I guess I can tell you some of why we're here. In case you haven't already figured it out."
Zero looked at her downcast face. "Right. Whatever." He cleared his throat. "I'm not quite sure where to start . . ."