Chapter Twenty-Two

The door to the elevator slid open at the loading back. Hover bikes, vehicles, and emergency care units were all filing into the dock. As Gamma stepped out of the small compartment of the elevator shaft, she noticed two hover bikes making their way into the loading dock as well. One was a blueberry blue, while the other was a bright red. X and Zero had finally returned. Silently, they stepped aside, helping the medics unload a few hunters. Many of them were alright, just in need of repair, but a few of them were severely and offline.

Axl, the 'rookie' of X's team stepped out with his companion Shadow. The little reploid was built for speed above all else. They frowned, carefully falling out two medical beds. Things were bad. Gamma shook her own head, coming to assist. "Are these all of the casualties?" She asked, glancing at Shadow from the corner of her eyes. She waited for a look on her face to give her an answer, but she simply spoke. "There's another unit coming. Five reploids are in that one, two hunters, three civilians." She sighed. "It was really bad. We'll tell you all about it, and I'll give you the tape from my visual screen later." She grumbled.

"Thanks." Gamma nodded her appreciation, staring at the scowl on her face. As she slowly looked around the room, she quickly processed that everyone's face seemed stressed. "Take them to the medical wing; I can assess their injuries in a few moments." She spoke to Axl and Shadow this time, but did not look at them. Axl scratched at the brown spiky hair sticking out of the back of his head, "Right." He sighed, before helping the other move the beds.

Gamma slowly pivoted on her heels, before stalking over to X and Zero. They were chatting to each other again, making small talk it looked like. Both of them spoke quietly, as if no one else would hear them. Yeah right. Gamma's acoustic system quickly picked up their whispers.

"That could have been handled better…"
"We did our best. Things are hard."
"They shouldn't be THIS hard though. Those hunters lost their lives because we weren't ready; who else has to die before we finally win again those mavericks?"
"Come on X, don't be so hard on yourself."
"I'm sorry. I'm just sick of all the fighting. I can't take it anymore."
"Don't give up X. You'll make it through, we all will."

Gamma finally approached, and as they did, they both went silent. As if on cue, they looked up at her with blank looks. Gamma frowned, "You can try to hide it all you want, but I still heard you." She stated simply. Her voice was drawled, but she didn't press the matter anymore. "X, Zero is right. Things will get better if you keep your hopes up. We're all tired, but there's nothing we can do but keep fighting." She shook her head thirty degrees to the left and right, small pings of pain shooting up and down the metal 'spine' in her back.

"I guess. I just don't see why there has to be so much killing. It'd be so much easier if we could just work something out. It seems like every week I have to watch more of my friends die. I just don't know if I can keep doing it." He looked down, letting out a long sigh. Gamma could see all of X's sorrow. He had seen many of his friends die recently, many to which he had known for years. It was going to be the hardest on him. His emotional personality was a great strength, but Gamma could see how it could also be a burden too.

Gamma sighed, "How many mavericks were there this time? I know you don't want to talk about it, but I need to get the calculations for the next assault. Their numbers are slowly increasing. It's like they're getting civilians and ex-hunters and turning them against us. Not to mention the enhancements they have made. It's curious." She mumbled, not noticing the stares that her companions were giving her. They only half understood what she might be thinking. X sighed anyways, offering a weak smile. He was never one to stay down for long.

"Sure thing Gamma. You're a big help, no matter what you say. I wish you could have been out there on the field with us today." He stated quietly. X was trying really hard to hide the relief in his voice that Gamma hadn't been in the fight, but he couldn't even hide that. X was a bad liar anyways, no matter how hard he tried to hide the truth from people. "I wish I could have been out there too. I simply don't trust my scanners well enough to use them. It's like I have too much information stored up here. Everything is becoming cluttered." She tapped the side of her head gently, metal clanking on metal.

"Say, how about you two go check on Lilly. We went to check on her this morning but she was asleep. We didn't want to wake her up." Zero snorted, interrupting them. His left eyes twitched in annoyance, as if silently saying 'Can we just drop the damn subject?' Gamma smirked lightly, snickering at his face. Zero wasn't trying to be amusing, but she couldn't blame him for trying. Zero turned to her slowly, a small glint in his eye. "You're as bad as Axl are Zero, and you know it. Keep trying, I don't find you scary in the least bit." Gamma grinned, turning on her heel.

"Why you!!" Zero snarled, trying to dart after before a medic called for his assistance. He bristled, glaring daggers at the calculation reploid. "Just you wait Gamma! I'm not going to put up with that tongue of yours forever!" He howled as he turned, storming his way over. "Sure sure Zero, whatever you say." She huffed, rolling the azure disks in her eyes.

She grabbed X's arm, tugging him along at a speedy gate. "Come on X! Let's go check on Lilly. Maybe SHE'LL be happy to see us." She looked back at Zero, sneering at him before she stepped back into the elevator shaft, X whining behind her.