Peace had returned to the Maverick Hunters, and was now into its third day. Already work was under way to repair the damage from Midnight's escape. No maverick, or mecanaloid, problems had been reported to the hunters, and everyone was enjoying a short vacation from work.
Zero, Axl, and Alia where all sitting in X's room of the Infirmary. X had recovered quite well from his injuries, as was about to be released. Alia, of course, had worried about him the entire time he had been in the Infirmary.
X was sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting for a nurse and doctor to come and do a final examination before he would be cleared to go. Alia was sitting in a chair near him, Zero propped against the door and Axl standing at the foot of the bed.
Axl had been telling Alia about a prank he had pulled on Zero, and had caused everyone in the room to laugh, bar Zero of course. In the prank Axl had emptied Zero's shampoo bottle and poured hair dye into the empty bottle. When Zero had washed his hair it had dyed pink, and stayed that way for about a week before the dye wore off.
"It's not funny! I was stuck that way for a week! And it took hours of washing to get it out!" Zero said, moving closer to the group and glaring daggers at Axl.
Axl was holding the corner of the bed to avoid falling into the floor, and Alia was laughing so much her chair tipped back at one point. X laughed, but between laughs could cough, and after a long fit of coughing Alia became concerned.
"X, are you sure you're ready to leave?"
X smiled. "I'm fine Alia, just a little cough that's all."
"You're lucky to even be up and moving at this hour…" said a new voice. The group turned to see Dr. Cain entering the room with a nurse and medical doctor by his side. The two medical technicians ran over to X and immediately started applying small instruments to him to check for any complications.
"Hello Dr. Cain." X said, the nurse pushing him back down onto the bed.
"Hello X, it is nice to see you're alright. After having the roof and walls fall on you I feared the worst."
Zero chuckled. "Yeah, but X is stubborn like that. Not even the building falling on him could kill him."
X smiled at his red friend. "Thank you very much, but remember you have almost been killed far more times than me."
Zero laughed. "Yeah, I almost was done for when those ruins fell on me last time, but Dr. Cain fixed me…then there was the time that I got a hole stabbed into my back by a metal pole…then there was the other time that the road iced and I crashed my bike…" each time he named off an accident he would hold up a finger to count them, and each time he did so it made Alia feel uneasy.
"…Um, maybe you should try and not go on any dangerous mission for a while X…" she said, concerned about her love.
X chuckled. "Oh, don't worry Alia. I'll be fine."
Axl smiled. "Yeah, you don't even know half the times X almost got killed." He said, in a stupidly proud voice.
Zero and X turned to him with a dull look as if to say "SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" Alia looked shocked and turned back to X.
"So, how many times have you almost been killed Megaman X!" she yelled, clearly getting unnerved. Dr. Cain moved toward her and gripped her arm tightly and began to pull her toward the door.
"I think we should go Alia, wouldn't want to make X's blood pressure soar when they are doing tests….Zero, Axl, come along!" he said pushing Alia out the door.
X raised a hand and waved at his friends as they left the room.
Great, now Alia is going to keep asking me if I've had any near death experiences, all the time…
Dr. Cain and the group exited the Infirmary and walked into the doctor's office, all sitting at the large table as directed by Dr. Cain. Alia sat across from Zero; Axl next to her, Dr. Cain took a seat at the head of the table and sighed.
"I want to ask you a few questions, all of you…" Dr. Cain said, causing everyone to look at him strangely.
"What's up doc?" Axl asked.
"Well, when you where interrogating Midnight…did he tell you anything about The Brotherhood?"
Zero and Axl glanced at each other for a moment, before Zero spoke. "Not really…well he went on a rant about how humans created reploids as slaves and stuff, but other than that he never really talked about it…why do you ask?"
Dr. Cain leaned forward in his chair, his face growing dark.
"Because, I did some research and learned some things about them that aren't so good…"
"Like what?" Axl asked.
"They're a group of reploids who fight for reploid independence. They think of themselves as liberators, saying that humans have created reploids and hold them under an imperialistic government. In their eyes humans created reploids as weapons and slaves, and when the battles are done the humans will take the spoils."
Zero smirked. "Well they're kinda stupid for thinking that, huh?"
Dr. Cain sighed. "No…Not entirely."
Axl almost jumped out of his chair. "What, you're saying you think that too! But you're a human, you know why reploids where made, YOU HELPED MAKE THEM!"
"Axl calm down, I'm just saying I can see where they are getting the idea from…let's just say that humans have done some pretty bad things to each other in the past, sending countries to war for unknown causes, kidnapping other people and making them slaves, destroying whole lands just to take a few items that they like…it's happened before."
Alia, who hadn't been in the interrogation room at the time, was taking all the information in that she could. "So what are we supposed to do about them, The Brotherhood? Midnight worked for them, and look what he did! What if they have other members willing to attack us!"
Dr. Cain smiled. "Well that my dear Alia is where you come in."
"What do you mean?"
"I know for a fact that The Brotherhood would give anything to make the Maverick Hunters fall, and as long as I am Director of Operations that cannot happen, I have too much influence. But I have a plan to capture The Brotherhood and put a stop to them."
"And just what is that?" Zero asked.
"…Alia, I have very good news for you." Dr. Cain said with a smile, standing from his chair.
"What's that?" she asked, clearly confused.
The doctor smiled at her and walked around her chair, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I am going to retire…"