Minor change made to this episode's title. My pacing was a little off compared to where I wanted to be with this, so what I wanted to do will be in the next episode.

I hate history as a school subject.

Now, that probably sounds odd, considering how many times I've mentioned that I like getting on the Internet and reading about history, but that's because I'm actually doing something interesting to me. History class, on the other hand, couldn't be more boring if my teacher made it. I like to think that, while they were going to school to get their teaching degrees, history teachers trained their voices to be as uninteresting and droning as possible. On a normal day, I thought I would've had trouble staying awake long enough to learn something. On a test day, I was lucky if one second I was looking at the pad on my desk with my test, and the next I was on my face in a small puddle of spit.

Which is why I couldn't pull Ibuki out of class and down to my house when classes were done for the day. Anything to get my mind off of it. Even ignoring the protests of my best friend trying to get me to slow down for her.

I thought ninjas were supposed to be fast?

"Yeah, but we can't exactly run if we're being dragged around everywhere!"

"Oh, sorry."

I finally slowed down when we got to my house. Once we were inside, I explained the situation to my mom, who had taken the day off from work for some reason, which got her to lead us into the basement. One Trans Server trip later, and we found ourselves in our team's Command Center. A part of me was nervous. The text was about as clear as mud, so we had no idea what to expect. I was nervous. I was excited. I was ready to face whatever it was that we were being called into handle.

What I wasn't ready for, though, was the scowling face of an eagle-based Mutos Reploid staring us down the second we finished transferring in. I don't think Ibuki was ready for that either, since we both let out quick shrieks and jumped back a step. Whoever this guys was, he didn't look like he was here to say good things about us.

Middy snickered behind us. "Nice first impression, girls."

I wanted to turn around and glare at him. I wanted to say something to him about shutting up. About how we weren't exactly expecting a complete stranger to be in our faces the second we got here. Problem was, though, that none of that came to mind. Instead, it felt like I was getting lost in his sharp, blue eyes. A creeping sense of fear crawled its way up my spine like a colony of ants was running up my back.

He locked eyes with me, and we stared at each other for a few seconds. I didn't know what to say or do, but the way he looked at me told me he was waiting on me to do something. Eventually, though, my brain made my body do the first thing I could think of.

My feet snapped together, my arms went straight to my sides, and I bent as far forward at the waist as I could. Thinking back on it now, I'm pretty sure Sensei would've thumped me on the head for not keeping my eyes forward. I don't think anyone could blame me, though. I panicked.

"Hm," I heard him say, "Not exactly the salute I was expecting."

Oh, right. Salute. Forgot, the Maverick Hunter Corps is technically a military operation. Should probably think a little more rather than just act on instinct.

"But, then again, from what I understand, you haven't had the proper training yet, so it may be a little much to expect something simple."

Ibuki put her hand on my shoulder, trying to get me to stand up straight. I held still for a second. Just long enough to let the eye roll I need to do pass. Once I straightened out, Ibuki and I snapped our hands up.

"That's better," he said before walking away. I already didn't like this guy, and his attitude wasn't doing him any favors with me.

"Now then," he continued, walking around our Command Center, "it's come to my attention that we have had some very disturbing information about this unit. I need answers, and you are going to give them to me."

I looked over at Colonel Blaze, trying to give him a look that told him what I wanted to ask.

"Cadets, this is General Storm Eagle, second-in-command of the Maverick Hunter Corps."

Okay, so he did get what I was going for. At least now we have a name to put the…

...wait…

"Storm Eagle?" I asked. That name sounded so familiar to me.

"General Eagle," the man himself said, "You'll do well to refer to your senior officers by their rank. Understand?"

This was going to take some getting used to.

"Yes, sir."

General Eagle took a few steps around the room. It seemed like he was inspecting things around the room before he said anything else.

"If you must know, I am a newer generation model of a retired Reploid from nearly 200 years ago."

I had to think on that a little. I'd done a lot of reading on the Internet, but I couldn't remember too much about that long ago. The Cyber Elf War was a little more recent, so it caught my interest more easily than older things. It took me a minute though, but I finally managed to remember something.

"Wait, wasn't that one of the Reploids that turned traitor to the Maverick Hunters back then?"

There was usually a buzz in the room with the handful of people working away at their stations. They'd usually quietly chatted with each other, probably about the work they were doing. Once I asked that, though, it was like someone put a spotlight on me. You couldn't hear anything other than the hum of the computers around the room. I looked around, knowing what to expect but still kinda surprised to see it. Ever set of eyes in the room (a couple of Reploids in the room were based on insects and had more than 2 eyes) were locked onto me, and none of them were anywhere near shut. I looked over at the General, and he was the only one who wasn't looking at me with shock.

Or anger. Or anything, really. That was more unsettling than an entire room of people staring.

"Yes, that's the one," he said after a couple of seconds, "he was the original that I was designed after. I don't think you'll have to worry about anything though. I am regularly tested to ensure that I have not been infected with the Maverick Virus.

"That being said, I am in the middle of running an investigation, so it would behoove the two of you to stand in line with your commanding officer and keep your mouth shut until you are asked a question."

Not wanting to start an argument with him, mostly because I felt like I would probably lose and I still wanted to be a Maverick Hunter, Ibuki and I quickly walked next to Colonel Blaze and stood straight. I watched as the General walked around the Command Center. He would stop at a station and talk to the person there for a few seconds before moving on to the next one. I slowly turned my head, wanting to see if the Colonel was doing or saying anything. Nope. He kept hit eyes straight forward.

He must have been trained as an actual soldier at some point.

I turned back and waited on whatever it was we were waiting on to happen. A few long, agonizing, lifetime-stretching minutes later, and he finally came back to the three of us.

"Now then," he said, "the reason for this investigation is simple. Some very disturbing intel about this unit reached my desk. I feel it's necessary to look into these allegations myself and determine whether or not these claims are true and, if they are, determine the appropriate discipline.

"I have it on good word that the actions of certain individuals in this unit have created a legal complication for the Maverick Hunter Corps."

I tried not to look surprised at that, but I had to wonder about it. What could someone have done that could get us into that kind of trouble? I mean, Ibuki and I hadn't been Hunters for very long at that point, and the Mavericks we'd brought down were arrested, not destroyed. I knew I hadn't done anything myself, and even though she was a ninja, Ibuki did her best not to go back to the Glade whenever assignments were being handed out.

So, what happened?

"It's come to my attention that one of you three decided to plant recording devices into a private office belonging to Berkana Industries."

Oh, that.

"We've detected several incoming video and audio transmissions originating from the Berkana Industries tower, and the reception of those signals has been traced to this room. I have reason to believe that this was done intentionally and without proper authorization. Authorization that would not have been granted, regardless, because we are not in the business of enforcing laws and invading privacy."

General Eagle's voice got louder and louder with every word. He was on the verge of shouting by the time he was done explaining what he was doing here. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, and it was all I could do not to start shaking from there.

"I have reason to believe that the perpetrator of this act is standing before me. I have an indication of who it might have been, so I am giving that person a chance to step forward and take responsibility. Trust me, you want to take responsibility. The consequences of your actions will be less severe if you do so.'

The three of us stood still, not saying a word. Ibuki and the Colonel had no reason to do or say anything here. Me, though, I wasn't too sure. I knew it wasn't me specifically, but I knew who it was that did it. Which made me wonder. If Tango was assigned to me, does that make me responsible for anything he did without me knowing? I mean, of course that would make sense. I should be able to reign him in, even if he was modeled after an ocelot. Wild cats tend to do whatever they want to do. Domestic cats do what they want to. But should I step up? I didn't know he'd done it until I'd gotten home that night. But then, there were a few times where I watched the cameras. I could've said something to him then. I should've said something to him. But I didn't. I didn't think about the problems that could've come from having those cameras up.

And now, here we were, being glared at by a purple-armored, eagle-based Mutos Reploid.

I could feel one of my knees start to move. My body was about to make me take responsibility for the cameras, and I wasn't going to stop it. Something else, however, did.

"It was me, sir."

I felt my eyes go wide when I heard that. It was more surprising to see Colonel Blaze take a step forward. I looked at General Eagle, and I could see that, that had caught him just as off-guard as me. He quickly washed the surprise away, though, and started in on him.

"I see. Honestly, Colonel, I'm not surprised," Wait, what? "You always find a way to push the boundaries of the rules here. Unfortunately for you, this time you've gone too far. Do you have any idea what this could do to the Corps as a whole if this were to get out? Do you know what kind of storm we would have to deal with if a lawsuit were to come from this?

"Honestly, Colonel, I expected better from you. I'll be honest, I have no doubt in my mind that you weren't the one to actually plant the cameras yourself. If anything, I expect the actual truth to be that you gave the order to do so and your recruits were only following orders. Either way, you will be answering for this.

"I will determine the extent of your discipline later. In the meantime, you are hereby ordered, on record, to retrieve the surveillance equipment and destroy any footage that has been recorded from said equipment. You will then be suspended from your duties for seven days, or until a proper disciplinary order is handed down to you. Understood?"

"Aye, sir." Colonel Blaze answered. Without another word, General Eagle stormed out of the Command Center. A moment of silence passed before Blaze said anything.

"Back to work, everyone." With that, he left too. The room slowly got back to normal-ish, but it was hard to say it was the way it should've been. There was still a tension in the room from everyone else. I stared at the door that shut behind him before Ibuki put a hand on my shoulder.

"Want to talk about it?" She asked. I knew what she meant, which was why she didn't try to stop me when I started racing out of the room myself. It didn't take me long to find and catch up with him. Colonel Snow-Cap didn't exactly walk with the pace of someone in a huge rush to get something done. He'd gotten to an elevator before I caught up with him, and Ibuki caught up with us. He didn't say anything when we'd walked up to him. He just hit a button. We stood in silence, waiting for the elevator to come to us. When it did, the three of us piled in. Snow-Cap hit a button for, what I was guessing, the floor he wanted. Honestly, it wouldn't have surprised me if it was a random one. The car barely moved a floor or two before he reached down on the panel and hit the emergency stop. I wobbled for a second, trying not to fall over when the elevator cab suddenly stopped.

"You two got something you want to ask?"

It took me a second to process that. Mostly because that second was wasted on me thinking about how much I was thinking about things. It's a common thought for me. When I finally got back into the moment, I knew I didn't need to think about my actual question.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" he asked.

"You know what," I said. "I should've told the General the truth about what happened."

Colonel Blaze raised an eyebrow to that. "And where would that've gotten you, exactly? Besides the two of you out the front door?"

I...legitimately couldn't answer that.

"Wait, why would I have gotten kicked out?" Ibuki asked. It wasn't a bad question.

"Because of your personal connection to each other. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to think that you two might've colluded with each other to come up with the idea. This way, all of the blame falls on me. If anything, there's no reason to believe anything other than the idea that you two were following orders and, since you haven't undergone Rookie Training yet, didn't know better than to dispute the orders. I covered for you two to make sure you wouldn't get in trouble for what your cat did."

"But, aren't you going to be in a lot of trouble?" Ibuki asked. Colonel Blaze shrugged.

"Not any more than usual. It's not my first time, doing something like this."

"It's not fair," I said, crossing my arms in frustration.

"You want to get thrown out, then?"

"No, not that. I mean, it's not fair that we can't even look into anything about the whole situation."

Colonel Blaze raised an eyebrow. Didn't take me long to figure out what that meant.

"I mean, back before the days of the Cyber Elf War, the Maverick Hunters had the power to run investigations into possible Maverick attacks or Virus outbreaks. They used to be able to work with police officers to run those investigations. I thought that we'd be able to do more than sit on our hands and wait for something to blow up. But now," I brought my hands to be back of my head, locking my fingers in frustration. "now I just feel like out time's being wasted. I don't like it."

"You don't?" The Colonel asked.

"No. In fact, I hate it."

Colonel Blaze didn't say anything. He stared at me for a few seconds before turning toward Ibuki. I looked at her too, and saw the same thing he did. She was looking down at the ground, digging the toe of her shoe into the floor. It was pretty obvious she felt the same way I did. The Colonel still didn't say anything. We sat in the still elevator for a few more seconds before he hit the emergency stop button again. The cab lurched a little bit before it started going down. We were pretty high up, so we had a little time to think about things.

Or, in my case, still be frustrated.

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