The white-furred Enzyme II purred softly as the young Zoalord's fingers gently scratched the space between his insectile-armored head and his left shoulder. Gently rubbing his head against the Zoalord's abdominal muscles, the Enzyme II tilted his head up so he could look at his Lord through his left pair of eyes. If anyone had asked him who his favorite Zoalord was – anyone he personally trusted, anyway – he would have told them that, out of all of the Twelve, Lord Ingriam Mirabilis was the one he liked best.

The kid treated the Standard Zoanoids like a bunch of really big pets, at least when one of the other Lords wasn't sending them off to die at the hands – or blades, or what-have-you – of the various Guyvers. Still, as far as he was concerned, it was much better to be thought of as a pet than as brainless cannon fodder. At least Overlord Ingriam actually cared when they didn't come back.

Laying his head in the Zoalord's lap, taking care to make sure he didn't drool, Enzyme II kept purring. The kid seemed to be enjoying the sound, and he would have been the first to admit that he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the petting. Still, nothing this calm and peaceful could last forever.

Not for a Zoanoid, anyway.

"Ingriam, what are you doing?"

He instantly recognized the calm, almost toneless voice of Overlord Edward Caerleon. He only just managed to repress a shudder. That guy was plain creepy.

"Oh, ah, Edward," the little Overlord said, sounding surprised, and a little guilty besides. "I was just taking a little break."

He could practically feel the little Overlord fidgeting as Overlord Caerleon stared down at him.

"Rienzi had made his report," the Sixth Zoalord said at last, obviously opting to just ignore him; something to be grateful for, at least. "He has said that, under his command, a group of your Alvix models found traces of the Fifth Guyver's scent inside an abandoned mansion. He has also informed me that they were able to aid in the capture of a group of humans that had been staying inside that building. He will be bringing them to this facility for processing shortly."

"Um, are you really sure that that's a good idea, Edward?" Overlord Ingriam asked, radiating worry and uncertainly. "I mean… Dad told me that Guyvers can sense Zoanoids. Wouldn't the Fifth Guyver be able to sense them?"

Turning to look at Overlord Caerleon, Enzyme II wondered just what the elder Zoalord was going to say to that. He found that he had to give Overlord Ingriam his due, even if the kid was a Zoalord himself. There just weren't many guys with the balls to talk back to Creepy Caerleon like that.

As the little Overlord moved his hand to another spot, down below the armor on his left shoulder this time, he repressed the urge to shudder. If Overlord Caerleon had picked up on that last thought… well, the consequences didn't really bear thinking about.

"What would you suggest he do with them, then?"

"Well, um… I think we'd want to keep them unprocessed for as long as we can. Dad says that Sho Fukamachi and Ryan Crouger are a lot different than each other. And Ryan really doesn't like Zoanoids."

He himself hadn't gotten access to any kind of reports on the Guyvers, since those kinds of things were reserved for Zoalords and certain elite Hyper Zoanoids, but he knew at least a few things about how the Fifth Guyver operated. The gossip channels in this new base might not have been nearly as well established as they had been in the older bases, but Hypers still talked, and Standards still talked, and all of them still shared the same huge eating area.

It was one of the more concrete demonstrations of the old adage that what "they" didn't know wouldn't hurt them— in this case, the Twelve. Suffice it to say, Enzyme II had at least some idea of how ruthless the Fifth Guyver could be when it came to dealing with Zoanoids.

There was no way that a bunch of Sleeper Units were going to be able to do a job that even his fellow Guyver-killers had a hard time with. Unless one of the Zoalords decided to make that bunch into Guyver-killers. Then he wasn't quite sure how the fight would go.

XxXxX

They had landed and made their was back into the hotel awhile ago, and Ryan had just managed to restrain himself from belting Aptom across the face. It was more out of sheer annoyance than anything else, since that bounce hadn't done much good for his stomach and his ears were still ringing. Now that he was back in the hotel room lounging on the huge, comfortable bed, he decided that it wasn't really worth the hassle.

"So, you gonna tell me just where you were and what it had to do with those two walking appetizers you brought me?"

"Not much to tell, really," he said with a shrug. "I just went to scope out the enemy stronghold and got discovered." Ryan flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling before he had finished saying the last word.

"You were just out taking a tour of the new Chronos L.A. building?" Aptom asked, raising an eyebrow and sounding like he was either about to laugh or just shake his head.

"Yeah, that's about it," he chuckled. "Basically."

"You're starting to get really into the whole spy-guy thing, aren't you?" Aptom said, smirking.

"Well, they always say that you should know your enemies," he said, trying to sound sage and wise and all that good stuff.

"They were giving out free food, weren't they?"

He sat right back up after that, slightly indignant. "Why does everyone always assume that that's my motivation?"

"Because it usually is," Aptom retorted, snickering.

Lobbing the pillow at Aptom's head, he was completely unsurprised when the Zoanoid-eater ducked, and only mildly so when he caught it and threw it back. Pulling it back out of the air, Ryan shoved the pillow back behind his head.

"You suck," he said, rolling over on his side so he could stick his tongue out at Aptom rather than just towards him.

"That's what you always say when I win an argument," Aptom said, grinning back at him.

Rolling his eyes, Ryan flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "Still, it was a waste of a perfectly good meal. And all those snacks, too."

"Aww, are you sad because you had to burn off all those nice calories you'd taken in while you were hanging out in the Chronos L.A. building?"

"Yeah, that," he said, smirking slightly as he pulled the covers up and over himself.

"G'night, kid. Sleep well," Aptom said, flipping the light off.

"Night, Aptom," he said, rolling over on his stomach so he could fall asleep.

)Nine million positions in this world, kid, and you just had to pick that one. And here you wonder why you wake up sore all the time.(

)Talk later; sleep now.(

)What do you think I've been doing for most of the day? I think I'm at least entitled to do a little exploring on my own here, kid.(

)That only works when we're wearing the Guyver, Snake-head. Or maybe you need to be reminded-(

)I remember how we got here, all right?( Elegen snapped. )I was right there with you when we flew over.(

)Then you should at least remember how long it took us to recover from doing that. Now shut up and let me sleep.(

Elegen gave the impression of sighing in resignation. )Sweet dreams, kid.(

Ryan yawned, nestling the side of his head into the hotel pillow and waiting to drift off.