Zero's brow was creased as he calmly stood guard, watching Web Spider and his Reploid troopers be peacefully walked into the stockade building that had been expanded off of Maverick Hunter HQ. Among his own team, there had been a clear line between those that seemed almost expectant of X's success, and those that were troubled like himself. He had his suspicions of why that line was drawn where it was.

Yet, the results were self-evident. Not a single Reploid had died. Zero had been listening, though. Closely. The conversation between Web Spider and X told him more about X's focus and intentions than most other things could have.

Zero turned as the last soldier was led into the stocks at last, intent on finding X...

X was in Dr. Cain's medical lab, standing near Shimmer, who had forgone minor repairs to immediately return here. The cyborg victims all seemed to be asleep, with Dr. Cain and Warp Turtle working away at their programming interfaces off to the side.

"The same response from all of them," Shimmer muttered after a long silence.

X looked to him. "Remove the cybernetics the lab gave them, but accept prosthetic replacements from us?"

Shimmer nodded. "They'll never really recover from this. There's simply no way."

X bowed his head. "...We have an opening now. A small one. I can spare that lab proper focus."

Shimmer closed his optics, tilting his head back. "Why couldn't we save these people, X?"

Dr. Cain glanced across the lab briefly, but didn't interrupt. The only minor glance Warp Turtle spared them indicated he was in a similar place mentally. In part, it was a relief to Dr. Cain that none of them seemed to feel the need to hide their true emotions around him in that moment. Perhaps he'd taken steps in the right direction...

X looked down at his right hand. He could always see the blood on it from the first human he'd failed to protect. It was now part of a rosary of trauma in his mind, moments of heart break that had either broken him or spurred him forward, but each changed him. Losing Zero, taking Vile's head off, annihilating the viral X-Hunters... Cadis' suffering, too. "...We can't save everyone, Shimmer, but if you feel I failed to support you enough, I'm listening."

Shimmer slowly shook his head. "Impossible choices. It's why we tried to avoid this mess. ...I just can't get her voice out of my head."

X glanced to the particular cyborg he knew Shimmer meant. Even resting, she seemed pained to some degree. "...Be glad of that. It means your heart still works."

Shimmer looked to X more directly. "...You still hear them all, don't you?"

"And their screams," X whispered in answer.

And that was when the lab doors opened again. Dr. Cain, Warp Turtle, Shimmer, and X all focused toward it, finding Zero marching into view resolutely.

"...Shimmer," Zero started in a subdued voice, "how are they?"

Shimmer shrugged somewhat. "Suffering, but Dr. Cain and Warp Turtle are doing all he can for them. I can ask no more."

Both Warp Turtle and Dr. Cain took the reminder to refocus on their coding and designs.

Zero nodded, and then settled his gaze on X. "We need to talk."

X closed the door of the small tac-briefing room Zero had led him into. It was poorly lit, and neither seemed to have a mind to change that.

Zero turned, a hand resting on the table at his hip, his eyes tightened at X's own. "Your conversation with Web Spider was very interesting... Sir."

X closed his eyes for a beat at the prefix. "I imagine it was. It didn't go exactly how I wanted, but in the moment there was no reason to risk lives with half-truths."

"So you believe the human government is going to turn on you?"

X tilted his head faintly. "I'm counting on it."

Zero paused, his face shifting to both incredulity, but also curiosity. "...This related to your circle of friends you think I don't know about?"

X rubbed his hands together slowly. "Zero, you spent the entire Doppler situation investigating me. I know you learned something more than what was used to put me off-field-duty."

"So why don't you just tell me what's actually going on?"

"Because you might not agree with it, and I don't make a habit of putting people in situations they'd rather avoid."

"Even if it means you're hiding things from them?"

"Our organization protects half the world by hiding intel from public knowledge, Zero. Neither of us like it, but it's necessary to save lives. That is the only justification I expect or accept for such deceit."

Zero closed toward X, looking down into his face from near touching. "And I'm getting sick of being out of the intel loop, Commander. If you want me to make my best decisions, I need to know."

X met his gaze calmly. "But does Iris? Do the council? If you don't like what I have to say, you'll do your duty, and report it. And that will put a lot of lives in danger."

Zero actually grabbed onto X's shoulders, and lifted him against the wall. "I GET IT! You don't trust me! You think I'm a murderer who won't hold back enough! But maybe if you included me in this secret organization of yours, I wouldn't have to!"

X was only mildly startled at first, and then let himself hang from Zero's hands without contest. "I do trust you, Zero. I trust you to always do the right thing, damn the consequences. Our methods differ, not our intents. And I need someone I can trust on the outside of my plans, or they may well collapse under their own weight."

Zero narrowed his eyes. He eased back, setting X down. "You're scheming a bit much for my tastes, X. If I didn't know better, I might worry you've been a Maverick for years, and you're the one behind all the outbreaks in the first place!"

"But you do know better."

Zero didn't argue the point, but he was clearly annoyed by the response.

"Here's what I can promise you. I want to end this Repliforce situation with as few lives lost as possible, and becoming the leader of the Maverick Hunters helps my plans long term. And I fully expect—and hope—that if you don't like what you see me doing, that you'll try to stop me."

"How the hell am I supposed to stop something I know nothing about!?"

"Because my actions are what they are, regardless of any plans, Zero!" X finally raised his voice to cut through the emotion. "I value my comrades' trust and help day in and day out, but I know exactly how dangerous the line I'm walking is, and how terrible a toll it's demanding of my closest friends! I need to make sure something is there to stop me from falling off the line on the wrong side!"

Zero eased back, glaring down his face at X. "...So I'm your fail-safe if all your scheming backfires, hm?"

X nodded seriously. "Especially you, Zero. Everyone knows you and I butt heads. It won't surprise anyone if you stand up to me to stop me."

Zero became curious again. "...You need it to look like I really want to take you out?"

X shrugged faintly. "If it gets that far, yes."

"...That's a big ask of a 'friend,' X."

"A terrible ask."

"...Is that why you let Iris decide who faced her brother?"

"In part, at least."

Zero exhaled, and eased back a natural distance at last. "...Alright, X. I'll see how this goes. Because, yeah, you can be damn sure I'll stop you if you go too far."

X offered his hand with a gentle smile. "I'm counting on it."

Zero gripped his hand, and they shook.

"How did this even happen?" a frustrated engineer demanded of a particular troop-carrier in Maverick Hunter HQ's ship bay.

It was a cavernous space, used to quickly deploy crews onto the capital ships for full-scale operations.

The engineer was half-buried in the guts of the main engine, clearly adjusting some larger portions of equipment.

Double trundled up nearby, carrying a large crate. "I've got your replacement parts, sir!"

The engineer finally pulled himself out, glancing Double up and down. "Where's Ikan?"

"Got called over to transport 4 urgently! Asked me to relay these to you at transport 7."

The engineer twitched. "What? What happened to 4?"

Double shrugged. "Didn't tell me, sir, I just do what I'm told!"

None other than Cadis appeared some meters away, coming around one wing of the transport. "Apparently transport 4 has a bad fuel leak that was missed on the post-flight check yesterday."

Both Reploids focused on her.

"A fuel leak?" the engineer demanded. "This can't be right! We checked those ships in full detail, ma'am!"

Cadis raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying...?"

"I think we have a saboteur," the engineer grimly confirmed.

Cadis frowned, somewhat reflexively glancing to Double, who seemed blissfully happy standing by to serve. She tightened her gaze, then touched her audio-receptor. /Tripwire, Spikesaw, Snapvice, any other odd problems on transports today?/

Tripwire and Snapvice confirmed all clear, but Spikesaw soon replied, /Transport 10 has a hydraulic leak that would've caused a crash on next landing./

Cadis' brow creased, and she focused on the engineer near her. "Do you have the damaged pieces, still?"

He lifted a finger, and promptly dove back into the engine. With some grunts that made Cadis start to ease closer to help him, he finally popped back out before she could fully attempt to, and offered her a greasy, oil-gunked machine pump of some kind.

"Oil-diverter. The primary one."

Cadis cringed faintly, but took the messy piece in her hands. "Thanks." She started to scan it with her targeting screen.

Tripwire's voice returned on comms. /Any evidence of suspicious damage? I'm going around to collect the repair reports./

/I'll go pull copies of the security footage,/ Snapvice added.

Cadis stayed focused first, turning the damaged engine part over in her hands, getting a detailed scan of its entire structure.

In the meantime, Double was finally able to help the engineer, handing him different pieces and tools as he dove back in and stuck a hand out periodically.

Cadis stopped for a second, then turned the component back over in her hands as if it was nothing.

/Laser cut straight across part of this diverter. Hidden along a contour of the mechanism. That wasn't accidental./

Tripwire's response was instant. /Collect all damaged parts immediately. Snapvice, I'm requesting your data-pull be classified as a security threat. Tell no one outside the team of the data until we get it to X and the command staff./

/Copy!/ rang out from all three, and they got to work spreading out to collect the rest of the evidence.

Double glanced after Cadis with a faint smile, but his eyes were sharper.

X twisted from Tripwire, Cadis, Snapvice, and Spikesaw immediately after hearing their report, his eyes locking toward Iris, Dex, and Alia. "Full security lockdown. Now. I want all security footage of the hangar examined between this moment and those ships coming back from deployment last."

Dex gave a sharp affirmation, starting the security protocols. A yellow-alert filled HQ, and the perimeter gates gave warnings as they started to power shut.

Alia twisted her chair. "What about current operations?"

"Maintain contact, but use one of the emergency bunkers as a retreat rally point if needed until lockdown is ended."

"Yes, sir!"

Iris called over, "Sir, Repliforce may notice this and try to act."

"Keep me informed, but we can only move in so many directions at once.'

Signas and Zero glanced back to X at the holomap.

"Sabotage has your attention, obviously, but we can't just freeze everything, X," Zero voiced.

X nodded. "We aren't. Unit 61, great work. Stay on this, and keep Signas up to date. I have to deploy."

Everyone froze for a beat.

"What?" Zero blurted out, but Alia had been close to doing the same.

"The biolab situation. We have an opening, and we have our best and brightest checking for the saboteur. I'm going alone, and obviously Signas has command if something prevents me from being contacted."

"With no backup?" Alia added sourly.

X looked to her with an apologetic but tired expression. "Those civilians suffered horrendous crimes. I can't ignore it when I have a genuine chance, but this sabotage can't be ignored either."

Alia got some kind of alert, quickly glancing back to her console. "...The council wants to know what's wrong, too."

X tapped his helmet. "Patch them through to me directly, I'm going."

Alia exhaled heavily, but did as ordered, and Unit 61 hurried out in X's wake to get to their work as well.

Zero and Signas shared a glance.

"He's lucky he's got you."

Signas smirked. "Happy to help."

"You can't just deploy on your own, during a lockdown that you ordered!"

X hopped up into the telefield array. "You asked me to handle this mess for you, councilor. If I fail, we know you're bringing the hammer down regardless, so let's dispense with the wasted time, hm?"

"You're on thin ice, Maverick Hunter."

"People are dying. I'll dive into that ice-water if I have to, councilor."

And then the field cut off his signal.

X melted out of the telefield just outside the broken exit Airstrike had led his team through with the cyborgs. Once again, the outside was all but dead, no indication the large facility had any activity at all.

X formed one buster, and slipped inside, his helmet gem glowing as he activated his full suite of sensors and feeds. The mixture of multiple light wavelengths, sonic detection, and even atmosphere testing quickly started to map out the structures around him, even some of the internal structures behind the surfaces depending on thickness and resistance to the vibrations.

The more it seemed the place was drawing him in, the less patience X had. He shifted from cautious slowness, to thruster-blasted flickering down halls, and between bulkheads. He passed the cyborg lab, then a series of halls that had clearly been used for storage and experimentation on the humans.

Finally, he came to a sealed gate, massive from all sides. He paused as his sensors analyzed it. They couldn't penetrate more than a few inches, though some the extrapolation from the external size and his previous path helped fill in some inferred spacing behind it. There was a lot of facility above for this to be the 'last' room.

And then the gate resounded with a hard clank, then slow, heavy ratchets, splitting the mechanism across the middle, letting it left and drop out of the way.

Now X's gaze tightened. A huge power supply column started ahead to the left, and ran all the way up to what had to be near the roof, with a wide, spiraling stairwell wrapped around it, rising higher and higher into the purple-green haze of the power system.

And there were also dozens of mechaniloid cup-wheels, hornets, and even construction vehicles charging down the 'steps' toward him.

X snapped his other buster into form. "Time to get serious..."

X burst forward, both busters blazing in arcs and snaps. His body drove forward or leapt high, but his arms danced and glided, unleashing pulse-blasts with such speed and precision that they almost resembled ribbons flying off from some mad dance, tearing through mechaniloids in every direction, or back through their aft sections in the case of the construction vehicles with large ramming blocks on their fronts.

He ascended the spiral rapidly, all but a cloud of collapsing debris in his wake. As more and more mechaniloids tried to push down on him, he started to switch through cutting weapons. Slash Beast's, Overdrive Ostrich's, Jet Stingray's, Crush Crawfish's. They all spun, buzzed, ripped, and tore out from X in various paths or arcs, letting him simply fold his way through the chunks raining down ahead of him.

Abruptly, the ceiling of the spiral itself started to collapse further ahead, apparently triggered by some explosives. There was also a path leading to one of the higher levels just out to the right.

He was being herded.

X narrowed his eyes as he blazed straight for the collapsing debris... and then strafe-arced his legs to drive him into the opening for that level.

Unsurprisingly, a heavy gate slammed shut in his wake. X looked out from that to see a strangely techno-organic structure ahead of him. The surfaces of the hall appeared to be completely enclosed in cybernetic vines of some kind, with purple buds nearly as big as he was periodically sprouting out of any given surface.

He'd fought enough Mavericks to know where this was going.

There was no point sneaking. He burst forward, staining the air with thruster speed. As he'd expected, the bulbs reacted in two different ways. Some snapped open and started to unleash fast-charged plasma-orbs, effectively omni-directional turrets. The rest actually burst forward on extensions of cyber-vines, forcing X to slide flat on the ground, or side-flip over or around them before they crashed into—and often through—the opposite surface.

Mildly charged plasma bolts were enough to blast apart the turret bulbs, so X simply kept flitting across the alien architecture, dodging rams and snapping off shots.

After only a dozen or so meters of these, he heard unmistakable sounds of power-drilling above. His speed was already such that he was safe, but entire sections of the hallway in his wake were collapsing down between teams of drill-mechaniloids on the surface above.

Shortly after that, the floors were blown out, forcing X to fly across gaps while still dodging and returning fire at bulbs.

Finally, a hall section ahead of him started to collapse just after he was forced to leap over a gap. X yanked his legs forward, thruster-blast to halt himself, and then jammed his feet down before his secondary thrusters ignited.

He hovered there, then pirouetted into a spin with both busters firing, ripping apart several bulb-turrets and a few hornet mechaniloids that tried to fly in from the gaps in the ceiling or floor.

His thrusters lost power, and he flipped forward, a hand reverting. He just caught the edge of the next section of floor with his fingers, and quickly yanked himself up onto his elbows. He cycled his respirator in exasperation. "Yeah, Alia, no back-up was stupid, I hear you."

The part of his mind that pointed out his foolishness had taken on an uncanny resemblance to Alia's own voice in the last year.

X picked himself up fully, and hurried along to keep climbing.

Signas, Zero, Cadis, and Tripwire were around the holotable with Alia, Dex, and Iris in Maverick Hunter HQ's command center. Alia had a datapad in one arm that she kept checking, likely a signal scan for X, but she was involved.

Dex started as the holotable showed three-dimensional models of the security footage in the hangar of the affected ships. "So we've fully reviewed the footage between the ships' return and the discovery of the damage. The main problem is that our security scanners that supplied this mapping data do still have some blind spots. We don't really have a good way to model around corners throughout the whole facility."

Signas stroked his chin. "And those individuals that moved into and out of the blind spots?"

Iris lifted a finger, and pointed. She controlled the footage to speed between several instances of Reploids moving under shadows in the hologram under the wings or bellies of the different ships. It was mostly the same team of repair Reploids, along with Double, who'd been assigned to the hangar for the entire day.

"In almost all cases, the blind spots were too brief to cause the damage involved. These three," Iris continued, turning the display into three copies of the bay, each playing a particular moment of some of the Reploids vanishing into the blind spots, "were long enough to do possible harm, but were also in the wrong locations for each ship in question."

Zero set his hands on his hips. "Could the damage have been done by the ship crews before landing?"

"In theory," Alia chimed in. "Some of those deployments were extended due to the wide coverage. It'll take all the longer to properly analyze the footage for all the affected ships."

Signas nodded, "We must be diligent. Who feels best able to review that footage?"

Alia opened her mouth, but hesitated, everyone noticing her eyes flicking to her datapad. Dex cleared his throat.

"Happy to, sir," Dex declared calmly. "Want me to start immediately?"

Alia glanced to Dex with meek appreciation, and Signas tipped his head to the faceplated Reploid. Dex simply stepped away, returning to his console and getting started.

Cadis leaned onto the holotable with her hands. "Can I see the sped-up full view, again, please?"

Iris quickly obliged.

Everyone glanced to Cadis somewhat, but watched with her as the sped-up process looped a few times, Cadis' optics clearly tracking a few specific points.

"...Were the damaged parts replaced or repaired before the damage was found?"

Alia blinked, and pulled something else up on her datapad, Iris also checking something on a smaller holoscreen near her waist.

"Oh no," Iris whispered.

Alia's shoulders sank slowly as well. "...Yes. All of them."

Zero and Tripwire both dropped their heads.

"You mean all of these sabotaged parts were put into the ships, and we just... happened to find them again?"

Alia quickly explained, "Emergency protocols, sir. Every repair is checked a second time before the final clearance is given on the complete status. It's really just there to cover mistakes or confusion because the repair teams get really slammed sometimes. Especially after major battles."

Tripwire ran a hand down his face. "Good catch, Cadis... it just also means that literally anyone with access to the parts bays could be our saboteur."

Cadis slumped, exhaling. "That's a whole other set of cameras and feeds to check, for who knows how long?"

Alia tapped at her datapad for a moment. "Actually... Every instance of sabotage was specifically very precise. They were intended to be missed until the ship was used again. Only someone with strong engineering background, or someone working on very specific instructions, could do that properly."

Signas tilted his head. "But, in fairness, isn't our entire repair staff up to that description?"

"Not exactly. You don't need to be a genius to replace malfunctioning parts. There's a big difference between finding a problem with troubleshooting, and knowing exactly how to create a problem that's hard to find."

Cadis nodded a little, but her eyes scanned over the footage, which was still looping, once more. Her eyes slowly tightened. Something was... off. The way the teams were moving. "...Every repair team has specific assignments, right? No one really just free-floats between tasks?"

It called everyone's attention back to her abruptly.

"...Correct," Alia confirmed softly, waiting for Cadis to continue.

Cadis gestured at the footage. "Freeze it?"

Iris obliged.

Cadis then pointed at Double. "Watch him."

Iris restarted the loop. Though it was at absurd speed, everyone present could process information quickly.

Several moments of Double stumbling over himself, dropping equipment, and having brief, mildly heated exchanges with different teams. They were pingponging him between them to avoid dealing with him, turning him into a goffer.

Signas turned grim. "...What kind of aptitude scores does Double have for engineering?"

Alia checked. "...Abysmal. He's honestly barely above task-able intelligence in most areas."

Tripwire folded his arms. "But everyone knows he's a completely klutz already. He'd be a prime target for manipulation."

Zero tilted his head. "...Cadis, you're sharp. I'd like to suggest to Signas that you see what you can do to get close to Double, and see if you can figure out who might be manipulating him."

Signas glanced between them, though Cadis was still startled. "...If you're amenable, Cadis, I'll confirm the order."

Cadis' mouth hung open. "U-uh... I'm... no intel officer, sir."

Tripwire smirked. "You've got great attention to detail, however. I can back you up if you think it's too much?"

Cadis flicked a faint smile. "...I... guess if Tripwire can assist me, I'll be amenable, sir."

Signas tipped his head. "Granted. Tend to it."

They both quickly left the command center.

"Alia, why don't you go back to making sure our commander isn't in over his head?"

Alia blushed, but tipped her head to Signas' 'favor', and hurried back to her console.

Iris took a breath. "I suppose I should help Dex review the ship footage for us, sir?"

Signas glanced to her. "Please. This may be the only lull in combat we have."

Zero offered her a bracing smile before she hurried to her console as well.

More privately, Zero opened an internal comm link to Signas, who accepted it.

/Do you think Double is being pushed around by the council to make X look bad?/

Signas frowned. /Possible, but it seems counter to their interests. They'd undermine him after the fact, not while he's cleaning up their mess. It's his constant flouting of their authority they're biting back on him for./

Zero nodded subtly. "I'll join security patrols for the lock-down. Call me if you need me, sir."

Signas simply tipped his head.

X grew suspicious as he burst out onto an open platform about half-way up the facility tower. He stopped, but kept both busters ready, his optics scanning around with his sensors. The floor was weak, and the only obvious path forward was a doorway on the opposite side.

Motion and sonic waves alerted him from below. He dove aside, and a spinning mass erupted out of where he'd been standing.

The thrusters driving it finally paused, revealing a turtle-like mechaniloid with a shell armed with spikes.

X started to aim, but it cut all thrust entirely, and dropped out of sight with surprising speed.

X firmed, and started to build energy over his frame. He looked around the perimeter of the 'deck', assessing which portion was least likely to collapse the tower completely.

He seemed to make a choice near the door he'd come from, and then dove aside. This time, he was flipping over his head as the mechaniloid was still punching up through the ground. With both busters aimed forward, X unleashed.

The beam of plasma pulsed outward first, then gushed out like a torrent, erasing the turtle bot, and punching a several-meter wide hole into the facility where X had come from.

Finally finishing his flip, X landed to a crouch, his body steaming for a moment as his hands reverted out of his busters.

"Unsubtle as ever, I see."

X jerked his helmet, his sensors having trouble isolating the source of the sound beyond above. It was rebounding heavily off the various surfaces.

"So you've been expecting me. Specifically."

"Oh, of course. The master knew my experiments would get your attention. I simply expected you to be at the head of the first charge. It's a small matter."

X did ready one buster, but kept it down at his hip for the moment. "All our missing Hunters are accounted for. Are you one of Sigma's creations?"

"You mean like the pair you blew up last time? Mm. Not quite."

X frowned. Was that a direct reference to Bit and Byte? He'd been forced to destroy their united body during the Doppler battle, but he'd pulled their personality drives.

Wind lashing around something spinning and falling made X's optics lock upward. A yellow-orange mass flickered down, and slammed down to its haunches on the floor just near the huge hole he'd burned through the building.

X couldn't avoid a perplexed expression. The maverick before him was essentially a giant mushroom with arms and legs. Mechanical, of course, with optics nestled just under the frilled cap.

"What... are you?" he had to ask.

The vented faceplate had enough articulated to 'smile' at the corners. "Split Mushroom! If you need a name..."

X refocused more seriously as he noticed something more disturbing. Split Mushroom's optics weren't hazed over. That sign of infection that had helped him discern the nature of the virus in the very beginning... it was absent. His brow started to knit.

"...You're not infected."

Split Mushroom's optics joined his smile. "Wasn't necessary! There's plenty of black-market need for my work, but when the master offered me such an amazing opportunity for so simple a price, who was I to balk?"

"...And you call him 'master'... for fun?"

Split Mushroom shrugged. "When a generous employer has eccentric demands, I choose not to look a gift horse in the mouth."

X's expression finally fell grim and sorrowful. "...So you mutilated those people just... for fun?"

"Well the fun was a bonus. With so many subjects to experiment on, I progressed my cybernetic development several months! I have to maintain my edge in the market, after all."

"...You're psychotic."

Split Mushroom shrugged. "You call it psychosis, I call it scientific method. And all I have to do, to keep up such a golden goose, is kill you!"

X's expression grew strangely hollow. There were still hints of grim focus and grief, but a cold realization had washed over him despite it.

"No..." he whispered, bowing his head. "The virus wants me to kill you..." His lips shivered, then spread into a grimace. It's poking and prodding my sensibilities. I wouldn't be surprised, but the sheer cruelty of the methods on others...

Rushing air resounded. Split Mushroom rebounded off the opposite wall, above the huge hole, and ripped toward X like a cannon-ball while somersaulting.

X's eyes snapped open, focused and sharp, cold and calculating.

Just before Split could impact, X's left arm was just abruptly upright, at the end of a violently rigid uppercut.

Split Mushroom cried out in surprise and pain as he was knocked straight back out of his spin at full speed. The dent in his faceplate matched to how far he flew, tumbling along the deck until he crunched against the wall. He was recovering immediately, but it was clear he was reconsidering his adversary.

X slowly lowered his arm, his optics locking onto Split Mushroom again. "You're mentally ill. Surrender right now, and you'll be detained, and given treatment for breakdown in your moral coding."

"Well isn't that pedantic?" Split Mushroom muttered darkly. "I see how I was swindled now, but you'd best not underestimate me just because you pity me!"

X started to walk toward the maverick by choice. It was clear a darkness was broiling inside him, one he was barely keeping at bay, but he had enough terrible memories to help hold it back. For now.

Split Mushroom smirked, and suddenly wrenched upward, clouds of nanite-spores bursting out to the sides.

Just a moment later, the spores actually crackled with power, and then solidified... into two more copies of him.

X paused, his head dipping as he recalibrated his sensors for multiple targets.

They weren't illusions, nor were they cheap doubles. Sonic, heat, and even energy radiation confirmed they were identical to the primary, or original, Split Mushroom.

And then all three launched themselves into somersaulting barrages, ricocheting off walls to come flying in at X from different angles.

X was forced to flip, twist, and slide around their attacks. Their speed was intensifying as they bounced again and again, too. X's optics flickered around, tracking them even at that speed, but tracking and countering were two different things. He had to keep dodging their flurries of rams for the moment.

"You really are an interesting specimen!" one Maverick called out.

"We understand why master wants you studied now!" another added.

"Your capacity is completely unrelated to your frame! You're practically a battle cruiser!"

X flowed between two of them with a side-flip. So the virus is reassessing me. That's why he's so cautious this time. It means my plan is likely to work, but the cost...

He closed his eyes for a beat, and that cost him.

All three Split Mushrooms slammed into him in a rapid rush, sending X flying back and crashing against the far wall. He slowly slid down to his feet, his head bowed.

Split Mushroom stopped, his three bodies eyeing X suspiciously.

"Giving up wasn't likely. Something wrong, Maverick Hunter X?" one of the bodies prodded.

X lifted his head, his optics slowly drawing open. "Are you creating clones, or are they actually duplicated Reploids? Each with their own personality drives?"

The three shrugged. "That's for me to know, and you to find out," they said in unison.

"...You really should tell me."

"Why?" they demanded dryly.

X's colors suddenly snapped, and his busters were out in an instant. Electrified webbing was already airborne.

The two side bodies tried to dive away, but the webbing caught fast to their lower bodies and the flooring, shocking them enough to make them crash flat.

The center body reeled back, but another blast of webbing slammed into his front, legs, and the floor, making him stumble flat while jittering from the energy shocks that prevented him from actually coordinating his frame.

X walked up to the three, that terrible coldness still in his eyes. "Tell me, or I start destroying bodies."

The center body growled. "So that's the trick, is it? You're a professional after all. You act all goodie goodie in public, to your friends, but you're really the worst killing machine out there. I'm the original!"

The two other bodies twitched additionally. "NO, I AM!"

"Don't listen to either of them, it's me!"

X nodded to himself. "You really did duplicate yourself. That's impressive tech. I also wonder if that's part of what drove you mad."

The center body tried to wrench upward at X, but X somehow just emitted a signal, and all three bodies were shocked so severely they went into emergency stasis.

And with Split Mushroom's codes, X was able to shut the facility down at long last. He raised his head back, just standing there for a moment.

/X!? Are you alright?/

Alia's worried voice was both expected and painful in that moment. It reminded him how cruel he was being to his friends, to... her.

/...I'm unharmed, and the maverick controlling the lab has been neutralized./

She heard everything in that quiet, grim tone. /...X... what do you need?/

X slowly bowed his head. /...for this to end./