X had to go through a much more stringent security check upon his return, since the lockdown hadn't been ended yet. He showed no signs of complaint, and then joined the security patrols shortly thereafter, especially to help secure Split Mushroom's bodies.

Even Shimmer, who came out to thank X personally for handling the lab, noticed how quiet and distant X seemed. He still responded, even smiled somewhat, but his manner was muted severely since returning from the lab.

"Let me know if they need anything," was all X had left Shimmer with.

"Of course... Thank you."

Tripwire and Cadis reported to Signas later the same day, both looking exhausted.

"If it's a member of the crews, they're damn good agents, because we couldn't find any holes in their stories," Cadis started, her shoulders slumped.

Tripwire gestured to her, and added, "Short of directly asking Double if anyone gave him strange orders, which would blow any semblance of cover we have to the saboteur, we're at an impasse."

Signas pressed a fist to his chin as he considered their report. "...Iris, any progress with the ship footage?"

She turned from her station. "I'm only about sixty percent through the relevant files, but nothing suspicious yet, sir."

Signas shifted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Alright, we can't stay in lockdown for much longer without hurting ourselves more than the saboteur would have. Cadis, Tripwire, keep an eye on Double, please. Track who he meets, so on."

They both saluted, and hurried out to start back on that task.

Signas looked over to Iris. "Iris, please finish your task. We need to complete due diligence before focusing full resources on Double's circle of interactions."

She tipped her head, and spun back to her console. The relief from directly tackling Repliforce—and her brother—allowed her to focus much better.

Signas then addressed the command center, "End lockdown, and touch base with all scouting and perimeter watch teams immediately. We need to catch back up on intel before someone suffers for it."

Dex and Alia sounded off, though Alia noticeably had a security feed following X on his patrol as she worked.

With the lockdown over, X allowed himself a more obvious indulgence than he normally would have. He was in the expanded stockade, in a secluded part of it. Dimly lit beyond the cells themselves, it was rather like a mausoleum more than a prison.

He used a console freestanding in the walking path, tapping a few keys. With smooth, muffled hydraulics, three different cells shifted down to face him.

Only the heads were really recognizeable, the bodies built to be familiar in size, but completely devoid of weapon systems.

Vile, Bit, and Byte.

Once they could all see who had brought their cells down, Bit seemed annoyed, looking off in a huff. Byte just folded his arms, staring at X expectantly. Vile, however, seemed to chuckle a bit by the rattle of his helmet-like head.

"All three of you have been analyzed and offered psychological treatment. You've each declined it. I wanted to confirm why."

That at least made Bit look at him. Byte seemed mildly annoyed by the question. Vile actually stood up, drawing up to the hardened, but transparent wall of his cell that X stood beyond.

"Just because you call us broken, doesn't mean we are," Vile answered.

Bit and Byte chuckled faintly this time.

X tilted his head, his eyes tightening somewhat. "Even from a purely self-interested perspective, accepting the therapy would give you a higher chance of release from your captivity."

"But I'll never get my weapons back. Not without tipping off the humans in some way or another. I'd barely get to have any fun before you had me back in my box again," Vile explained, turning and pacing around his cell casually.

Bit added, "All we really want to do is crush you, but we'd have to have the right tech for it. Maybe if something catches our eye..." he trailed off with purposeful threat.

Byte concluded, "I'll settle for a close view of your whole world tumbling down when the humans turn on you."

X cycled his respirator. "So is that it? You're all so certain of the humans lack of value or lack of trust for Reploids, that you'll stay locked up because it's too much work to kill enough of them again?"

Vile thumped the wall as he got close to it again. "I've become particularly hateful of YOU and your Maverick Hunters rather than humans, but close enough."

X lifted his hands out. "None of you were infected. Why? Why stay so focused on the violence? After where it got you?"

Bit and Byte just laughed. It was Vile who leaned onto the wall, bowing his head to look 'up' at X.

"Do you think you'd change if you were locked up for saving your precious humans, Megaman X?"

X's eyes shivered, but not with anger. He bowed his head, clenched his fists... and then relaxed them open.

"...Thank you. I needed to hear that."

And with no further ado, he tapped a few controls again, sending the cells back up to their resting spots, while he turned to walk away.

Vile called out as his cell lifted off to retreat to its hold. "It won't be as fun as doing it myself, but you'll fall, X! And I'll relish the view!"

Alia squinted at her screen, then adjusted her feeds with a few quick key-strokes.

"...That can't be right," she muttered to herself, and pulled up more data.

On her screen were the read-outs and scouting information for the network hub that had been misbehaving since near the start of the Repliforce rebellion. As she shifted through different sets of data, it became clearer that the power-use from the facility was going through patterns of high and low usage at set intervals.

Alia frowned to herself, and did some extrapolations on the peaks and valleys she was discovering. Initially, it just seemed like gibberish numbers, but then she examined the differences in the values specifically.

As she realized what she'd stumbled onto, her head straightened, and she leaned back, a dark feeling shrouding her face.

Dex noticed sidelong, and finally looked to her. His screen showed Repliforce fleet movements in circling patterns over their starport. "...Alia? You okay?"

It rattled her out of her stupor, and she looked back to him. "No, not really. That network hub is..." She shook her head, and turned more fully. "Signas?"

He looked up from strategic simulations on the holomap for starport assaults. "Yes?"

"The network facility is using its power fluctuations to communicate."

Dex and Iris full-stopped, twisting slowly to stare at her in confusion. Signas just raised an eyebrow.

"Go on?"

Alia reached back, sending her data to his table.

First, it showed the numerical values, then their differences, and finally how the gaps effectively translated into morse code.

And the code was easily translatable by Reploid processors.

Signas 'read' it aloud, "'Can X come out and play?'" He paused, and then looked across to Alia. "It wants us to send our commander in to an empty facility with an infected network server hub?" he asked in incredulous confusion.

Alia gestured. "It only makes sense in the worst way. Those power fluctuations can only be caused by by the facility's usage of the utilities and the servers themselves. The network hub itself controlled it's input and outpout perfectly so it could create a coded call-out through the power system. It wants X to connect to the network."

Dex's expression slowly grew perplexed. "...Why would we do that?"

"I have no idea, but I think X would want to know he's being called out," Alia offered seriously.

Iris fidgetted. "That hub misbehaving so close in time to that biolab the commander just neutralized is also very troubling."

Signas tightened his eyes down at the data. On the X-Hunter line, he spoke up. /X, something you need to see in the command center. And Alia, would you agree that this is seeming almost like the virus itself?/

/Exactly./ Alia only nodded physically.

X's voice came through on the encrypted line, quiet and serious, /On my way./

X was frowning at the holotable, with Signas, Alia, and Iris arranged around the other sides. He was considering the message after the team had explained where it came from, and how it was structured.

"...And what is Repliforce up to at the moment?"

Dex turned from his console. "Storm Owl's flotilla has shifted routes somewhat, but still seem fixated on guarding their starport perimeter. No one has gone to the orbital station yet, but they have to know they're losing time."

"Thank you," X started simply, and then drew his eyes to Signas. "Maintain command. If there's a blip out of that starport, we have to come down like a hammer."

Signas raised an eyebrow. "...You're going to look into this obviously baited trap at the network hub?"

X nodded, but then looked to Alia, who was just opening her mouth to protest.

"Alia, I want you to operate for me during my dive. I've been getting strange readings from that hub since this mess started, but I will likely need back-up to avoid my body getting infected while I do."

Alia hung silently for a beat as the absurdity of that point filtered through her mind. "Are you crazy!? X! This is how you get Mavericks!"

Iris pressed her lips together to avoid giggling during this entirely tense moment just because of Alia's phrasing.

"Which is exactly why I need our best operator's help," X added more softly, his head tilting.

Dex, Iris, and Alia all gave him a dry look for that phrasing, and he just shrugged at it.

Alia snatched up her datapad. "FINE! You're really, REALLY lucky I like you, X. ...Sir."

Now Iris had to giggle, and she desperately coughed it away. This really just let everyone smile a little.

"I'll keep the place steady, sir," Signas added.

X gestured for Alia, and they hurried out of the command center.

Dex shook his head as he kept his sensor and scouting data up to date from the perimeter teams. "I don't know why those two just keep dancing around each other."

Iris glanced off sidelong. "...Probably trying to avoid splitting their attention."

Signas, feeling a bit playful compared to his usual, glanced to her. "...Commenting from experience, Iris?"

She squeaked, and hunched toward her station, speeding up her clicks and taps.

The telefield melted around X and Alia, both already walking toward the tall building that housed the network hub. On the outside, the only oddity was the regular flickering of lights connected to its power grid.

"Did the facility have any defense systems we should be worried about?"

Alia shook her head as they stepped up to the main gate. "Just a server farm, originally. It had observing scanners and alerts to local law enforcement to help with break-ins, but nothing that could threaten someone beyond locking doors."

X nodded, and started to reach for the door, only for it to hiss open in front of them. "...How durable is the building?"

Alia eyed the open frame herself before answering. "Tough for civilian construction, but still civilian."

"Good."

They stepped through. The door simply hung open behind them as they moved through flickering hallways, past abandoned offices, and input pads at various stations that were so badly corrupted they were only showing broken code and static.

And then a voice resounded through the facility, making X and Alia both halt.

"I'm so glad you accepted my invitation! I have such... fascinating things to show you!"

Alia just seemed soured by the voice, but she noticed X was full-stopped, staring ahead with narrowed eyes.

"...X?"

He glanced to her, offering a soft smile. "Just noticing something else in the building, but I'll look into it after we resolve this... host. What kind of uplink hardware do we need?"

Alia was curious, but let it go for the moment. "We'll want to get to the primary server rack; it's secured in the basement. Normally accessed by secured elevator."

X make a negative little grunt sound. "You have schematics?"

"Do you really have to ask."

"Just being polite."

They chuckled, and she gestured ahead, taking the lead. After several minutes of moving, she pointed down at their feet. "Four meters down here would drop us in front of the elevator's exit on the correct basement level."

X's colors snapped to green hues, and both busters articulated into radial emitters. Alia stepped back, watching with some pleasure as he fired off plasma-cutters from Wheel Gator to rip down a quick tunnel for both of them. It took a few pairs of cutters, but only a few seconds in the end.

"You're kinda scary with that swiss-army-knife of weapons in your body, you know that?"

X nodded quite seriously.

Alia pouted at him, but then followed him on a quick leap down into the basement.

Cadis turned from saluting Signas in the command center. She was actually stepping toward Iris, but was clearly worn out, stretching her neck servos as she came closer. Iris glanced up to her and pouted sympathetically.

"No luck, it seems?"

Cadis nodded. "That. Yes. Please tell me you've found anything we can dig into?"

Iris lifted a finger. "It's not much, but I might. I'm almost done with the whole review process, and this is the only bit that's stuck out to me so far."

Cadis immediately regained some vigor, and leaned in with Iris. A particular set of footage played from inside one of the troop transports.

It showed Double carrying a stack of crates for standard resupply. However, after just a few more seconds, he stopped, shifted all the crates to one arm, and touched his audio receptor. He frowned at whatever he heard, said something brief, then seemed upset.

Then one of the repair crew members appeared on the ramp of the ship, and Double jumped with fright, dropping all of his crates everywhere.

The repair Reploid clearly seemed annoyed, but trudged over to help Double pick it all up, and then just waved Double off so he could take care of it himself.

Cadis had an eyebrow up, and looked to Iris after the clip stopped. "And I'm assuming we have no in-HQ reference for that comm contact?"

"Exactly." Iris pulled up a data readout, showing comm contacts, to and from, with time stamps and remote addresses for the respective Reploids or stations involved. She tapped one part of the list. "It would have happened in this window. Double isn't even on the list until fifteen minutes later."

"And sorry to ask, but you've triple checked the timestamps?"

"Quintuple checked. I knew this might be all I had, so it needed to be iron clad."

Cadis grinned. "Iris, you're amazing. Do we have any tools for catching unauthorized comms?"

Iris mischieviously grinned back. "Not officially..."

Cadis giggled. "So?"

Iris pressed her lips together, and tapped up a few more displays. "Narrowing it down to the timestamps in question, I checked our security sensors. Telefields use a fundamentally similar targetting and projection method to our comm networks, so our security system is designed to interrupt or detect them. One unexpected spike appeared perfectly in time with the comm conversation."

"But it wasn't interrupted?"

Iris nodded. "Precisely, so I dug deeper. The coding involved is consistent with Council official channels."

Cadis widened her optics, dropping her voice. "You mean the council may have ordered him to sabotage us!?" in a harsh whisper.

Iris lifted a hand. "That's just the implication. Without confirming exactly who sent this, all we know is the coding is similar to Council methods. It's easy enough to fake that, if you know to."

Cadis frowned, nodding to herself. "Okay, okay, so... We need to investigate the Council facilities that might've sent that."

Iris slumped a bit. "And that's where we run into a wall. The range and strength could allow for any of a dozen different facilities. It would take weeks, and that's ignoring all the red tape we'd have to get through. Especially with how the commander has... annoyed them."

Cadis clenched her jaw, thinking rapidly. "...Maybe we can get Double to spill the beans?"

Iris blinked her eyes wide. "That's extremely high risk for how little we know, Cadis..."

Cadis pointed at the paused footage. "Double is an idiot, but he's being used. I don't want him to go away for something humans are pulling to undermine us trying to actually help."

Iris slumped. "...At least get permission from Signas?"

Cadis glanced over her shoulder. "I know I should, but..."

Iris touched her shoulder. "Cadis, please..."

Cadis exhaled, bowing her head, and nodded.

"Commander Signas?"

Alia exhaled a bit as she used a flashlight pop-out from her temple to see in the murky darkness of the basement level. "I figured, once that creepy voice started talking to us, that it'd keep taunting us as we went."

X chuckled despite the situation. "They usually do, too."

Alia had to pause. "...How many times have you been led through a deathtrap by creepy voices?"

X paused to count. "...Four times? Five? No, four... Five. Somewhere in there."

Alia had to shake her head, though she did laugh a little as they went. Then she paused. "Hey, you're not counting mine, are you?"

X burst out laughing as Alia blushed. It had just caught X on the perfect angle of absurdity and tension, and he literally folded over with mirth, holding himself up at his knees.

Alia tried to be annoyed, jaw shunted, but despite herself she started to giggle with his laughter. "...Well?" she finally demanded, still half-giggling.

X shook his head as he managed to recover. "Your voice is always comforting." It was sincere, though his voice still quaked with humor.

Alia started to blush softly, cleared her throat in social replication, and gestured ahead. "M-mission, yes."

X grinned as he moved along with her.

It remained quiet as they reached what was clearly one of, if not the, main server racks. Alia deactivated her flashlight, and pulled her datapad, checking EM fields for estimating the activity of the hub without connecting on network.

"I think this is it, yeah. These servers are almost all peaked."

X nodded, and moved closer. He paused when he saw a piece of equipment further ahead. "...Alia?"

She twisted to follow his gaze, and reactivated her light. She was frowning as she approached a network connection cradle. A tool for Reploids to fully, physically connect to a network. "...Even pulled out the chair for you," she muttered darkly.

"Is there any way to safeguard against infection through this kind of connection?"

Alia shook her head. "No. It's a direct link to your neural network, which has LAN connections to your powercore and personality drive. It's downright dangerous if you're not upgraded for it."

"Upgraded how?"

Alia pulled a small, rectangular device from her storage unit in her torso. "A specially designed router. Adds a physical barrier, additional firewalls, and a failsafe. Some of our operators have them installed internally because they use these connections frequently."

"And the failsafe?"

"Fries the router physically if certain conditions are met. I'm going to link the router to my disposable datapad, and you. That way, I can keep an eye on the connection, and I should be able to kill anything before it can hurt you."

X gave her a thumbs up, and then touched the side of his head, closing his optics. ...Yes, Dr. Light did give me options now that I'm looking for them. Better safe than sorry. "Apparently I have a physical separation option, too. I'll keep it ready. If you think I should use it, just say so."

Alia blinked. "...You didn't know?"

X started to ease into the cradle. "My body has more systems than I can use. I learn about them as I need them. I suspect it keeps me from going insane."

Alia was full-stopped for a moment at that abrupt, and rather terrifying, revelation. "...So it's not just those capsules that give you your abilities?"

X shook his head. "Let me know when you're ready for me to try connecting here."

He also offered his hand gently to her. She softly gripped it with one of her own, a moment of unspoken emotion between them as their eyes met. Then she cleared her throat, and started prepping her equipment.

As she handed him a wire, she was focused for the mission. "This first, then connect. And, needless to say, don't trust anything in that network?"

X gave a thumbs-up before he plugged in her router, and she connected the router to the cradle.

As he closed his eyes, he felt his neutral network expand outward. It was time to meet his host...

Tripwire marched along with Cadis, neither of them looking especially pleased.

"You realize how many ways this could go south, right?" he finally asked aloud.

Cadis rolled her optics a bit. "Do you have a better idea beyond waiting for a break?"

Tripwire made a small grunt, almost like a hiss in the back of a throat. He didn't have a better option, and he didn't like that fact. "...I don't like that much risk for low payoff."

Cadis stopped, turning to him. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before she finally spoke.

"We're the ones that take the risk so no one else has to, right?"

Tripwire tightened his optics. It was only a very conscious awareness of how badly he'd hurt her in his past life that kept him from trying to persuade her further. She was a Hunter now, not just a recruit, not just some kid inspired by a hero. She'd proven herself many times over. "...And you're willing to die for this?"

Cadis glanced down, but nodded. "Too many people would've died if that sabotage hadn't been caught. We owe them."

Tripwire sighed, then nodded, and gestured ahead. Cadis eased with a little nod of thanks, and started again.

"Spikesaw and Snapvice in position?" Cadis asked more simply.

"Already, yes. They've got all the engineer teams accounted for in the bays right now. If anyone gets squirrely, they'll detain them until we can talk to them."

Cadis nodded once more.

A few minutes later, they were entering one of the maintenance tool rooms. Double was in the far corner, humming to himself as he put a few specific tools into a kit box. Tripwire glanced to Cadis, who started forward again. Tripwire himself leaned against the opening, keeping his optics on them both.

"Double?"

He jerked, nearly dropping a spanner, and twisted to stare at her.

Cadis shared an awkward smile with a softly raised hand. "Sorry. Remember me? Cadis?"

Double cleared his throat, put the spanner in the kit, and turned to her with a salute. "Of course, my lady! What do you require!?"

Tripwire and Cadis both slumped a bit.

Cadis continued, "At ease, Double. Please."

He awkwardly relaxed, blinking at her.

"We've been looking into a few things here in HQ, and we just wanted to check in with you. Has anyone given you strange orders, or had you go off on your own without checking in with other teams?"

Double seemed utterly confused, and scratched the side of his helmet, his other arm planted on his rotund hip. "Weird orders... Off alone... Uh. I'm kinda always alone, ma'am. Don't know if I'd know a strange order or not?"

Cadis pouted gently. "...I see. Understandable. Um... how about specifically for the repair bays? Did anyone ever send you for a specific part that they'd already checked or anything odd at all? Anything that confused you?"

Double scrunched his face, rubbed his chin, and seemed to process that question for several seconds. "Hm. Mm. Nm. I don't think so?"

"You sound slightly hesitant? Anything possible?"

"Well, one of the repair guys asked me to drop off a few parts at very specific times to specific ships, but I figured they just didn't want to be inside the ships with me!"

Tripwire twitched in the background, and Cadis tried to keep her cool with that revelation dropped in front of her. "D-do you know which mechanic gave you that list of commands?"

Double started to snap his fingers. "Oh, oh, yeah. Hold on... Um." He pointed off in different directions as he thought, dismissing different ideas. "...Shoot. Wait... Oh! I think I have a record of it, that should have the ID! It's on my datapad, just back in my locker!"

Cadis twisted a bit. "Tripwire, why don't you go and... help our other squadmates? I'll help Double check over this?"

Tripwire squinted. He understood. If it was one of the engineers, they'd probably bolt fast, and it would be logical to have the bulk of their team ready to stop any runners. However, if Double had been manipulated thus far, there might be something waiting for her.

Cadis turned a little dismal at his hesitation. "...Something wrong, sir?"

Tripwire exhaled. "...No. Good idea, Cadis. Stay in contact, yeah?"

Cadis smiled. "Of course." She turned to Double. "Come on, let's check out your locker, okay?"

Double grinned. "Sure!"

X returned to awareness in a strangely literal datascape. It resembled some kind of military facility for the most part, save for the electric bright lights scattering across the walls regularly. Notably, there was no one present to greet him. He started to move forward, and the same voice from the intercom of the server building finally resounded around him.

"I've been told such fascinating things about you, Megaman X! If even half of them are true, this will be so much fun! For me."

X rolled his eyes. "I'm here now. What do you want?"

"To see if you can survive!"

X heard something heavy shifting behind him. He twisted, only to see a massive sphere with glowing hexagram patterns starting to crash down toward him, filling the hallway. "Alia, what happens if I get squashed in here?" X asked as he twisted and started to thruster-dash down the hall.

Alia's voice was garbled slightly to his senses, which made his brow crease.

"In theory, it should just kick you out of the system, but there could be dangers of sensory overload that might put you in medical for a day or so."

X had to leap up at the first junction, thruster-kicking from one wall to the opposite to keep climbing as the sphere crashed into the junction below him. "Should there be interference between you and me?"

Alia frowned in the physical world. "No, not at all."

"He's corrupting the signal with something then. Don't yank me out yet. I need to see where this is going."

Alia had been reaching for the disconnect until he said so. "...X, why do you always do this to me?"

"Because I can trust you."

She glanced off, glad he couldn't see how much that made her blush.

In the datascape, X was now flipping between free-floating platforms as energy surges tried to crash down around them. Just as he finally leapt free of that area, he reached several different tiers of a high, vaulted chamber. At first, he didn't see much of a threat present, but then golden orbs with suction-cup-like ends poking out of single points on each started to float out, and rush down toward him.

Each was large, easily as big across as he was tall.

X had to start dashing sharply from point to point, flipping and coiling around the spheres faster and faster just to stay out of their reach. He suspected the only reason he wasn't being outpaced already was Dr. Light's work on his processors probably exceeding the capacity of the servers hosting this... test.

Out of aggravation, he tried ripping a piece of flooring up and throwing it past the orbs nearest him, but they had no reaction to it.

"So they're just locked onto me, huh? Fine."

X continued kick-blasting higher, twisting, flying, reaching the top of the vaulted chamber, and then blasting down another hallway. More and more golden spheres were charging in on him, some materializing out of the walls.

Alia finally spoke up again. "X, I think they're tuned to your signal code in the network. Normally, I'd just spoof the code and send out dummy leads, but with you directly interfaced that could backfire on your neural network, too."

X nodded to himself as he side-flipped between two spheres that very nearly enveloped him. Spoofed IDs would likely overload his own system, forcing a shut down and recalibration. It wasn't all that different from Dr. Cain's anti-virus functionality, just more mundane, and less lethal. Directly, at least. Getting knocked out in this situation would leave him at the host's mercy.

X landed harshly, stumbling along a few leaping steps to avoid a few more spheres, while he realized something. He'd initially thought to dismiss the use of it, because of the dangers, but being in the datascape reminded him of another way he could utilize it...

His colors snapped to gold and orange hues, both busters activating.

Alia blinked. "X, what...?"

X wrenched his arms out, his eyes blazing golden, and energy images of himself burst out to either side of his form. As he started to blitz forward, the energy-images started to flip and coil in the other directions.

Alia widened her eyes. "H-how did you just duplicate your own signal presence!?"

"I can use my neural network to guide separate iterations of my signature through a digital space without actually duplicating my neural network. Part of the trick from Split Mushroom's tech."

Alia scoffed at the good of it. "That's brilliant!"

And what was more, as the golden spheres slammed into and tried to absorb the 'soul bodies' X had created, they overloaded themselves and dissolved. X kept rushing along, firing off more copies of himself as the spheres ate and erased themselves all around him. Able to trick the network itself in such a way, it was only a matter of time before X found the host.

Cadis pinched the bridge of her nose as Double led her into the actual locker room his block of teams used. Double had been talking her audioreceptors off about the most inane details of his day. She didn't want to snap at him, but why in Light's name had they let a Reploid off the line with such a damaged neural network? And in sensitive operations? Who cleared that?

Double led to about the middle of the locker room aisles, and led down to the far corner. He poked one locker, grinning. "This is me!"

Cadis relaxed a bit, thankful this would soon be over for many reasons, and then proceeded to watch Double poke at the lock multiple times in growing confusion. She turned dismal. "...Did you forget your code?"

Double blushed a bit. "Only happened... twice. Uh. OH, wait, sorry, I think this one is mine over here..." He started to trundle around to the immediate next aisle.

Cadis groaned, and pulled a dataslate from her storage unit at her back, starting to look up the roster and locker assignments. She only barely registered that Double had stopped talking after a few seconds, mostly assuming he was either opening his locker to verify it was his, or perhaps trying to think of his code again.

It was when she sensed rushing air just above and behind her that her instincts for combat kicked in.

In that timeless moment, Cadis had a reaction time no one could have faulted. Her rifle was configuring off her back, into her arm, already starting to aim up and behind her. Her head and optics were slower, just starting to register the strange plasma blade and—transparent?—forearm swinging it down.

She knew it was going to hit her before she could do enough damage. Desperation powered her systems, and she activated her comms while shouting urgently. "INTRUD-"

Tripwire was already wire-lashing himself down halls and around corners like a bolt of lightning. Snapvice and Spikesaw were charging along. Alarms were already going off, security lockdowns initiating, all in the few seconds after Cadis' interrupted comm blast.

Unit 76 was the quickest to join them, Pyrostrike leaping rather than running, Turbo blitzing across the halls, with Blast Squirrel jetting after him, and Acid Seahorse loping after them as best he could.

Tripwire rammed through the armored door with both legs, initiating his hydraulics. He tore through the metal bodily, Spikesaw ripping the rest of it apart in his wake.

Dashing past aisles, seeing nothing, nothing, nothing, then Tripwire froze.

Double, a burn-cut along side of his head, was trying to hold together two parts of Cadis' torso. She was utterly unresponsive, and her servo fluid and coolant lines had already created a puddle all around both of them. She'd nearly been cut in half, her rifle, unused, laying to the side, obviously dropped from her hands.

Various terrible things cut through Tripwire's mind, and he growled himself out of the rumination. He ran over, dropping to his knees near Cadis, immediately scanning her systems.

"What the slag happened!?"

Spikesaw and Snapvice both seemed aghast, but quickly took to guarding the two ends of the aisle. They could hear the sounds of Unit 76 rushing to join them.

Double fell back on his backside as Tripwire took to holding Cadis' right shoulder and torso together.

"I-I don't know! I was checking my locker for her, and something cut through my audio unit! When I came to, she was like this!"

Pyrostrike and Turbo leaped over the lockers to join Tripwire, Blast Squirrel staying airborne to quickly scan the whole room. Acid Seahorse was at the doorway soon after, starting to tap into security footage already.

"Why isn't she conscious!?" Tripwire yelled at nothing, his system scans actually getting errors, which was never more terrifying to him than that moment.

Pyrostrike crouched down, looking her over closely. "...Light's Labcoat, the poor kid... Tripwire, she... her personality drive..."

Tripwire roared, and actually hefted her up into his arms, squeezing her tight as the two 'flaps' of her torso tried to swing apart. "NO! She'll make it! Whoever did this is still in the building! I'm getting her somewhere secure!" /Using the bunker's medbay!/

The X-Hunters had a hard time halting their reactions to his private comm dispatch.

/What happened, who?/ Quickman's voice returned, uncharacteristically grave and sharp.

/Cadis,/ Spikesaw explained, Tripwire already rushing past Acid Seahorse, who didn't try to stop him. /Something... may have killed her. Tripwire's... making sure her personality drive is lost or not./

/Where's X!?/ Tripwire's voice burst out again.

/Still on deployment, Tripwire,/ Snapvice more calmly returned, realizing that Tripwire was so emotional he wasn't processing information properly.

Far away from the panic at HQ, Alia froze up, her hands locked over the console she was using to monitor X. She was still able to hear the X-Hunter comms, but X couldn't, not with his neural network completely locked up in the server hub. /W-who attacked Cadis?/ she finally managed.

/We don't know yet,/ Turbo returned grimly, looking over the body fluids that had poured out of the younger Reploid. /But definitely related to the sabotage now./

Alia tensely focused on X, then back to her console. The focus she would rob him of with this news, if she told him... But hiding it from him... Her brow knitted tight, and she touched her ear. "X... Cadis... may be dead."

Inside the digiscape, X was managing three soul-bodies as he kept blasting forward through various ludicrous obstacles. Currently he was leaping from ceiling to floor as gravity rapidly switched directions, trying to smash him with large orbs.

Then he heard Alia's quietly pained voice.

He jerked, the soulbodies flickering violently, and he tumbled at full speed... yet he corrected even as he did, snapping more bodies out as orbs tried to rush upon him. /What do we know!?/

/It's related to the sabotage. Tripwire is losing it, taking her straight to the bunker./

/Have Signas reach out to Dr. Cain, and get him to the bunker immediately. He's the only person who might be able to repair her, if anyone can!/

Alia jerked, completely startled by that urgent command from X. /Y-you're sure?/

/There's no time to hesitate!/

/Copy, doing it./

X cleared a large jump, and slammed down into sprinting, his busters reverting to fists, and his head bowed forward. He was done being tested...

"I feel like I should be more worried than I am getting brought out here in such a clandestine manner," Dr. Cain muttered as he looked up and around the X-Hunter bunker, Pyrostrike sealing the door behind them.

"So am I getting murdered for making X's life difficult or something else?" Dr. Cain's tone implied he didn't take the fear seriously himself, but was sincerely put-out by the situation. Warp Turtle and Shimmer's lack of complaint at him being pulled away from final tweaks on the cyborgs' components didn't settle well with him either.

Pyrostrike gave him a stare for that regardless, and then gestured ahead, moving around to lead. Dr. Cain frowned, but followed, and then his eyes widened the moment they stepped into a smaller chamber, just off the side of the main bunker itself.

Tripwire was there, looking over Cadis' inactive, torn-open body, already hooked to emergency energy supply and external coolant regulation. The Reploid was so intent, staring through the space around Cadis so powerfully, that he didn't even register the others' presence yet.

Dr. Cain bolted to the side of Cadis' cot, a little light out in his hand as he looked through the massive wound. "Light's Labcoat, this is what happened to her!? Why is she not in medbay!?"

That finally woke Tripwire up. "Because whoever tried to kill her is still in HQ, and clearly has enough access to surprise one of our best field agents!" His tone was more snappy than usual, and he groaned, rubbing his forehead. "...C-can you help her, Doctor?"

Pyrostrike leaned against the doorway, arms folded. The entire situation made him grim on every level.

Dr. Cain paused to stare back at Tripwire. "We have a fully active Maverick inside HQ!? Why are we n—What is going on!?"

Pyrostrike cut in with a raised hand before Tripwire could snap back again in his emotional storm.

"X will answer all your questions as soon as he can, Doctor. For the moment, please trust us. You are Cadis' only hope of survival..." he trailed off, eyeing Tripwire. Pyrostrike seemed more pragmatic about Cadis' odds than the clearly emotional Reploid near her bed.

Dr. Cain was clearly furious, but snapped around, and started to check the supply crates and cabinets in the small medbay. He quickly became surprised at how well-stocked it was, and not with Maverick Hunter equipment. It all seemed private sector or... custom. He'd have to make a list to hammer X with later.

"She's still alive, we just have to be deadly careful about the repairs in her case."

Tripwire visibly sagged with relief, his respirator cycling for what seemed like the first time in hours. Pyrostrike did also take a deep breath of relief.

"What's the specific prognosis?" Pyrostrike continued after that pause.

Dr. Cain moved back to Cadis' body, starting with placing stabilizer plating at the ends of the wound to keep her torn torso from shifting too greatly from itself. "Whatever did this was trying to kill her, yes, but it seems she shifted just enough mid-attack. It grazed her personality drive and system buffer instead of completely frying them. The problem is that this means her vital systems are un-grounded and exposed. A bit of static could kill her. It's a miracle transporting her like this didn't kill her!"

Tripwire bowed his head sharply, but didn't speak yet.

Pyrostrike came closer, but not against the bed, especially after Dr. Cain's warning. "Is there anything missing that you need?"

"No, in fact. Your secret bunker here has a remarkably well supplied medical bay, as small as it is, but this is dangerous, precision repair work. You had better make sure that my cyborg patients, Warp Turtle, and Shimmer don't think I abandoned them! I don't sacrifice one patient for another!"

"They know," was all that came from Tripwire. It was a defeated, weak voice. His surge of emotional chaos had been driving him from the moment he heard Cadis' voice cut-out on the comms. Now he was just melting down into guilt.

Pyrostrike squinted faintly at his comrade's manner, and then looked back to Dr. Cain. "If the cyborgs' conditions are life-threatening still, I can see what we can do immediately."

Dr. Cain paused as he did careful examination with magnifying goggles over his eyes. "No, I was on finalization stages for them. Their bodies just need rehabilitation assistance. ...Shimmer can handle it, he was watching my work like a hawk the entire time."

"I can tell him you gave permission?"

"...Yes."

Pyrostrike ducked out of the room, clearly using private comms.

Tripwire finally raised his optics somewhat. "...If she dies, it's my fault."

Dr. Cain had to pause again, and gave Tripwire a stern grandfatherly glare over his goggles. "How is that now?"

"I wasn't with her. I knew something was wrong with Double's situation. I should have-"

"You should have trusted her, which you did. Cadis is one of our best, no one debates that except herself. You need to focus. Get yourself a grounding anklet from that third cabinet, and get over here to help me. If you want help her, now is the time. And it won't be easy."

Tripwire lit up with renewed purpose instantly. The guilt wasn't gone, simply replaced with urgency again. He bolted to the cabinet, scrambled through a few items, then applied the anklet once found. Without further word, he was at Cadis' bedside, taking Dr. Cain's orders as if his own life depended on it.

X finally dashed out into a larger chamber rather than another tight hallway. He paused, keeping his hands clenched, looking around, scanning with his various battle-ready sensors, in so much as they could work in a digital environment.

"These calculations... I spent so much time on them, and yet they have to be wrong..."

X tried to find the source of the voice, and then stopped as a digital warp started ahead of them, rapidly building out and flashing into a humanoid, Reploid-like creature, with a massive, bladed, peacock tail along his back.

The animate program floated down to his feet lightly, and frowned at X. "I'll have to analyze you directly after all. No one has truly infinite potential."

X remained grim. "Stand down, cease this network corruption, and allow yourself to be stored on a LAN drive."

The Maverick program smiled thinly. "I think not. Cyber Peacock never leaves a job undone!"

"So you were hired for this?" X narrowed his eyes with the question. In a digital environment, he couldn't trust the lack of cloud in the program's 'eyes' to truly indicate it wasn't infected.

"More or less. Now! For the final test!"

Cyber Peacock snapped his arms out, and floated back into the air. His tail-fan flashed with power, and then the digital space around X warped, tracking his coding with much higher detail and precision.

Feathers shot out of the expanded, glowing tail, and started to rip after X like bolts.

X immediately dove, rolled, and burst-dashed, watching the energy feathers trail after him sharply, clearly able to track his position after whatever kind of scan Cyber had used. Unable to really dodge them, X had to keep moving faster than they could accelerate. He imagined they were only so 'slow' due to the precision calculations required to keep tracking him so flawlessly.

With pure speed, X started to flicker and burst around the room, along the walls, even flicking across the ceiling. Once Cyber Peacock had filled the chamber with dozens of plasma feathers, he growled, and then his tail snapped into a different configuration. Three prongs up, three prongs down, and the center doubling up before he flashed out of existence.

Just as X was diving for part of his insane dodging spree, Cyber snap-materialized in his path, tail-blades slicing at him. X had to shout in exertion, wrenching himself in half backwards. His speed made him flip over himself just under the blades, and Cyber vanished again before his own feathers could hit him.

This became a new part of the swarm chasing X down. Cyber kept snapping from point to point, slashing X, leaving almost no chance to dodge... and yet X continued to do so, able to keep up with the fractions of seconds required to change his inertia, twist, or yank himself in different directions.

Cyber Peacock started to shout as he blinked from point to point, missing each time. "It's not possible! It's just. Not. Possible!"

/Alia! Can you send a spike through the network, strain his processing speed? I need a window!/

Alia scrambled her fingers over her datapad, her optics snapping from line to line of code she was pulling and drafting. /Ready! On your mark./

X yanked himself to one side, then the other, flowing with a veritable cloud of plasma feathers. Cyber Peacock snapped into existence, slashing yet again, and just as X swirled under the cut at his neck line, he signaled, /NOW!/

A dying drone filled the chamber as everything flickered, jerked, and slowed, Cyber Peacock himself crying out and clearly trying to focus elsewhere to regain full control.

X's colors changed back to Soul Body, and his body drew in masses of power, both in the digital realm, and in reality next to Alia, who jerked aside somewhat, watching in astonishment.

"Sometimes, you just need a little brain power!" X shouted, and wrenched his body outward, going rigid, as his optics in the digiscape flared with brilliant light.

A second body poured out of his original, detailed, clean, golden, and focused. To the new body, the entire battle chamber was moving at a snail's pace. Moving at such insane calculation speed, the new body flickered, dashed, swiped, kicked, punched, and body-slammed through the plasma feathers, tearing them apart, blowing them up, and discharging them all safely away from X's true body.

And just as Cyber Peacock was painstakingly trying to focus on the new body, only his core program able to process at even close to the speed, the super-charged soul-body leapt onto him. Both hands rammed into his head, and blazed this light

Cyber Peacock's presence in the network was severed, as only a computer mind could. Bit by bit, hub by hub, his network was cut, redirected, and dummy-blocked back onto itself. In Cyber's own perception, it was like a tsunami carrying his own power all the way back to his own mind, from every direction at once.

Meanwhile, Alia jerked, staring at her datapad, watching the entire corrupted code matrix be redirected forcibly into her dummy drive. Her eyes slowly widened. The sheer processing power and speed required to do that on such a scale...

Cyber Peacock cried out as he was condensed down into the much smaller drive, his presence wiped from the hub systems.

X's voice was the last thing he could process before being sealed up...

"You're not infected. You're just a jerk."

[Author's Note] Thank you for reading so far, folks! I noticed reviews and favs kinda died off (I really appreciate the ones that came through!), so just wanted to confirm that negative feedback is welcome, too! If the story lost you, I'd like to know why!

As for this chapter, I'm very fond of it for several key reasons. The switch-around of using Cadis to help move the Double storyline forward came to me early in the planning phase for actually writing chronicle 4, and I fell in love with the idea. You'll see how it pans out, and I hope you enjoy the ride. Also, the little exchanges between Alia and X on this 'partner mission' were a really fun change of pace for me, and it felt like it flowed naturally. Your mileage may vary, of course!