Chapter Nineteen
Gamma had to all but force Signas to let Lilly stay in the base. He was displeased with her sudden action of bringing a child into a dangerous area, but after swiftly explaining all of the reasons it was better for her, and after pointing out how Lilly acted around the other hunters, Signas was quickly convince by Gamma's final decision, despite how much he didn't like the fact a child would now be residing as a resident at Hunter Base.
X had an opposite effect on little Lilly. He was the first one to see her when Gamma had returned, and like the silly reploid he was, immediately attached to her. Lilly's effect was the exactly same. Despite how late it already was, 10:13 P.M., Lilly was too ecstatic to sleep, and demanded she be shown around. Gamma and X obliged to her request without any form of complaint. They didn't 'sleep' much anyways.
"This is so cool!" Lilly squeaked, looking about sharply. Her eyes stayed wide with amazement as they walked, never once changing. X snickered, walking at her side. "Yup! There's a lot of stuff for you to do too!" His grin only seemed to increase as Lilly smiled herself, clinging to X's arm. Gamma could already see that Lilly would most likely cling to X; she didn't need a scanner to see that.
They two showed Lilly multiple areas of the base, and introduced her to many of the hunters there. Axl and Shadow had about the same reaction X did, but Zero was a little mellower about it, but he ended up taking the little girl in just like everyone. "Don't let Zero fool you, he only sounds mean because of his ego. He's really a big softy when it comes to kids." X cackled, ducking a swing from Zero's fist as he lashed out. In truth, it was rare for a reploid to see a human child for more than a couple of moments, unless it was a horrible occasion that no one ever wanted to happen. No one knew why, but mot reploids took very kindly to children. It was like something in their systems made them cute and adorable.
Lilly was now perched on X's shoulder, glancing around from such a high place. "Woow, you guys are really tall! I can see the end of the hallway from up here!" She eeped, putting both of her hands on X's head for support. X looked up at her slightly, smiling against. The green discs in his eyes rotated once as they focused, before he grinned. "Don't fall backwards." He stated, walking carefully. Lilly giggled, nodding quickly in response to his comment, "Okay! I won't but don't drop me!"
"Never!" X replied again. Gamma snickered as they threw comments back and forth. Finally Gamma found something that amused her something more than her hand did. X's antics were always something she enjoyed, and she had many memories of them. She was slightly envious of him. He could relate to humans what most others couldn't. He had more emotion than any other reploid in existence, and it was most probable that he took things to heart more than others did. He was like a civilian reploid, but even more human than them. Gamma didn't know to scan his systems to know that either. Being around humans made him happy, but protecting them made him happy too. Gamma did not have emotions like that.
Gamma was built to protect humans at all costs. She knew in her programming there was a coding that willed her to keep an eye on X and Zero both. That coding was her prime purpose aside from helping the humans, and she did enjoy it to an extent, but the feeling was not mutual. Side glancing at Lilly, Gamma analyzed all of her facial expressions. She couldn't read humans very well, and she knew only the basic emotions that humans had. Gamma was curious to see how closely X's emotions and Lilly's emotions matched up.
It was a few hours before poor Lilly fell asleep. She had been so excited about her new home that she had fallen asleep while X carried her. It didn't take long for them to notice when Lilly's wait became slightly more apparent on his shoulders. As they took her to the housing floor, Gamma finally spoke up. "You and Lilly are very much alike." She mumbled, tilting her head from left to right a few times. She didn't look at her commander, too busy counting the paces of her steps.
"What do you mean?" X asked again, a bit of shock drenched his voice. Gamma figured he'd be slightly surprised. He never saw himself the way others did. After pondering on what to say exactly, Gamma finally spoke up again in her quiet voice. "Your emotions are similar. You both feel happiness, sadness, anger. 'You' even feel love, and no you can't deny your little crush with Alia." Gamma's face plates tightened up as she smirked, cackling as X yelped. If he could have blush he would have.
"I don't know WHAT your talking about. I might have stronger emotions, but I nothing like a human." He backfired. "and I DON'T have a crush on Alia!" He quickly added. X was lying between his teeth, and Gamma knew it. "You even LIE like a human!" She accused, punching a light fist to his arm. "You even feel things more. I swear X, I 'wish' I had that kind of ability. I would have to thoroughly say that I am beyond dull when it comes to the human race."
That was exactly what Gamma thought, especially now. She didn't see herself as anything special, at all. X huffed, "You are not dull, Gamma. There's not a reploid out there like you. I can't even copy your invisibility ability yet, and that surprised even me." He shook his head, frowning a bit more. There he was, showing emotion again. There was a lot of it too. "Please, don't ever say that again." He spoke, looking down at the floor as he walked.
"Alright, I won't." She nodded quietly. "I will see you two in the morning. My thought processor has been running very slow lately, so it might be best for me to go ahead and turn in for the night. Tell Lilly I said goodnight?" Gamma asked, stopping for a second to receive X's answer. He nodded once and spoke quietly, "Good night Gamma." After the small words, Gamma turned from X and Lilly, heading for her room again to ponder on her own mind.