Chapter Three
I arrived at the base a few minutes later, finding Doc Cain, Crysto, and
Skyler all waiting for me.
"We heard you were involved in a little scrape with a giant Maverick," Cain
greeted me.
"Indeed I was. Good to see you too, sir," I said, smiling only after he did.
"Wraith has already taken control of several auxiliary power plants around
the city," Skyler said. "He's trying his best to drain the entire city of energy."
"Thankfully, for now the generators are holding out. He hasn't been able to
hack the systems himself just yet."
"That's good," I said. "We've got time, then?"
"We've got time...but not an extraordinary amount. Wraith has positioned
eight Mavericks at each of the eight control stations for the power plant within the
city."
"And we need to eliminate each one, just like always," I said. "Correct?"
"Absolutely correct, Zero," said Skyler. "We need to do this and train the
newbies at the same time."
"So, we've decided put a number of newbies in with the teams that go to
each station."
"How many newbies, per squad, are we talking here?" I asked.
"We've had an enlist of about thirty new Hunters," Skyler said.
"That doesn't answer my question, Skyler. How many are we going to have
to stick into each team?"
"Probably about four or five in each team," Cain answered for him.
"Have you assigned any to Unit 0 yet?"
"No. We were waiting for you to get back before okayed anything."
"Wise of you," I said, smiling. "Are we allowed to choose our team?"
"You are," he said. "And since you had that scrape with Sigma last time,
and were prominent in destroying his battle body, we were going to let you choose
first."
"Thank you, sir. I'll do a little field-training with the newbies tomorrow
morning."
"And there's something else you want to talk about, I'm sure," he said,
drawing an "X" in the air with his index finger.
I nodded. "Indeed I do, sir. Let's move into your lab, if you don't mind."
"Certainly not, Zero," he said, leading me into his lab-office. "Now, what
exactly is it you want to know?"
"Sir, I can't believe you let X go out of the base by himself when you knew
that there was a new virus on the loose!"
"He pleaded with me, Zero. I'm not so sure you wouldn't've done the same
thing."
I took a pause. "Sir, I've been through this discussion already with myself. I
know I probably would've done the same thing X did, but I also might've been
more inclined to take him along with me."
"You do both work very well together," Cain acknowledged. "It would have
been a better idea."
"It makes me nervous that X didn't think to take me. It makes me think
he...that he's beginning to lose his trust in me because of the immunity I show to
the Sigma virus."
"Zero, if you showed any sign that you shouldn't be trusted, the Hunters
would be the first to do something about it, believe you me."
"I know that, sir...it's just that X is my best friend...closer than that,
even...and when it seems like he's lost his trust in me before anyone else..."
"It makes you wonder whether your friend knows you as well as you think he
does," he finished for me.
I held my head in my hands. "Yes."
"Zero, this is just a misunderstanding between you two. I'm sure there's
some other reason why X wanted to go alone."
"But why wouldn't he tell me?"
"Because maybe he didn't want to involve you. Maybe he just didn't want to
upset your vacation."
"But he knows I would've gone with him in a half-second, Doc!"
"...Then maybe it was for that reason that he chose not to tell you. Maybe he
just wanted you to enjoy your vacation."
I lowered my head. "Maybe..."
"Listen, all I want you to do for tonight is to get a good battery recharge, and
then wake up tomorrow, rested, refreshed, and ready to pick out your unit's
newbies. Clear?"
"Clear, sir."
"Zero..." he said as I walked off, somewhat slump-shouldered.
"Yes sir?"
"Don't stress over this. It was just a simple misunderstanding."
All I offered back to him was a short grunt, then turned back with a sigh to
head toward my room.
* * *
I lay restlessly awake in my bed, tossing and turning, and not making any
progress in relaxing myself. Dammit, I thought, why did my vacation have to end
so early? I really needed more time than this.
And what of X's decision to leave without me? Had it seriously been as
innocent as Doc Cain had suggested, or had X had a deeper motivation to not tell
me about his trip?
I mulled it over in my mind for hours, never finding any answer. If I had just
not been a Maverick in the first place...none of this would be such a problem for
me.
And that was mostly true, I knew. I was still more aggressive than X, when
it came right down to it (he was of a Hunter rank two degrees below my own), but
he was more powerful by far. If he were ever to attack me full-force with no
holding back, he'd certainly walk away, not me.
Somehow, I was able to go to sleep, amidst all the questions running about in
my mind. It made me feel hurt if X was unable to trust me...my very dearest friend,
X...
The figure leered over me, a silhouette in the doorway of some unknown lab.
His arms outstretched in a victorious pose, he laughed a hearty cackle and raised
one arm. My capsule's glass snapped up, and I stepped out, holding my head, as if
I had just awoke from a three-day nap.
"Get up..." the figure ordered. His hair, what of it still grew, was brushed
into two tufts which sat on the sides of his otherwise-bald head. His mustache and
his great white lab coat were his only distinguishable features to me through the
bright light behind him.
I found I could not control my own mouth, nor my own limbs. My mind,
however, was alive and well... "Who are you?" I said as I rose from the capsule I
lay in.
"My masterpiece..." the voice rasped.
"Who--who are you?" I asked again, this time somewhat uncertain.
"You are my greatest work. Fighting against him is what gives me
motivation in life. Now go! Destroy him! That's an order!" he barked.
"Wha--Wait!" I pleaded. I felt...so alone... Who exactly was it he wanted me
to destroy...?
And then came an insufferable and painful buzzing at my temples, a noise so
silent, it cut into the very depths of my mind...
Images flashed before my eyes, barely recognizable...
A diagnostics screen, with what looked like my wireframe on it...
The Reploid Sigma, screaming. Whether in pain or terror, I had no idea...
Corpses of countless Reploids, slashed and gouged to death...
And then I looked at my hands in a somewhat longer vision...they were
covered with blood!...
I awoke from the grisly dream that had plagued me for years, bringing my
hands into my view quickly, again making certain it had only been a dream. I had
done it hundreds of times before...the dream had started coming less and less, but
other feelings that had not been there before now bled past the dream. I had nearly
forgotten about it this time...
...Perhaps...SOMEONE...had made the dream reappear, forcing me to
remember what I had done...
It was a perfect time for someone to strike at my emotions...that someone
being none other than Sigma, I thought...
"So what do you want me to remember with this dream, Sigma?" I asked
myself, rubbing my head, and wiping the sweat from my forehead with a towel in
my quarters. "What part of my past are you trying to impose on me now?"
And from within me, through a kind of speech that could not be
distinguished to me in any scientific way, Sigma (or rather, what of Sigma was
inside me) spoke to me: I have always been eager for you to learn the truth about
your past, Zero.
"That's bull, Sigma. The only reason you want to know anything about my
past is because you think you can turn me back to your side with that knowledge."
Oh, bravo, my friend. Very astute of you, I must say. Yes, I do indeed think
that your past could well influence your future.
"I know something from my past is destined to affect my future," I said. "As
little as I know about my past, something will most assuredly return from it
eventually to alter my future. What it will be or how it will affect the order of
events that happen after it are impossible to say."
For you, perhaps. I can guess how it will affect you, my dear Zero.
"And--let me guess--you see me as coming over to your side and helping you
take over the Earth with the Maverick race, n'est pas?"
In a nutshell. Rather, that you would become one of my highest-ranking
officers in the grand Maverick army of the future.
"I wouldn't send out your enlistment paperwork just yet," I said. "I think
you've got a ways to go before you get any upper hand on the Hunters. You're
even weaker now than when you attacked us last, Sigma," I pointed out.
Oh, am I? he asked with a sense of absolute calm. We'll see about that.
"Are you suggesting that we may have to deal with you again before this
skirmish with Wraith is over?"
Perhaps I'm saying that...perhaps not. I'd just warn you and say perhaps
I'm not as easy to destroy as I may seem.
"You've proven that 5 times," I said. "You're a great escape artist, if nothing
else."
Better than Houdini ever could have hoped.
"And modest too."
I see you're getting irritable. I'll submit to your own processes again. You
always were a good conversational partner, when you weren't slashing away at
me.
"If this war hadn't've separated us, Sigma, I think we could have been good
friends, actually..."
But your Reploid half was never able to formally meet the real Sigma, he
said. And you shall never meet him now, I fear.
"There's hope yet for the Maverick race," I said. "You wait. Perhaps
someday you'll see the light again, Sigma."
And perhaps you will see the light again as well, Zero. I will go now.
And with that, his consciousness disappeared once again into my own, with a
sigh and a verbal nod of admitted frustration.
Remembering what Sigma and I had said to each other, I had formulated
another idea of my own: "If this war hadn't've separated us, I think we could have
been good friends..."
I smiled to myself. I'd deal with it tomorrow morning.
* * *
I awoke the next morning, refreshed and feeling much better than I had the
previous night. Stretching my limbs thoroughly, I yawned absentmindedly and
strode over to a mirror. My hair stuck out at nearly- unmanageable angles. I smiled
in spite of my bed-head. I had something to ask Dr. Cain about...something that
could prove to be very, very interesting, if it turned out like I thought it would...
I walked to a table aside of my sleep capsule, picked up a brush from it, and
began undoing what one night of sleeping had done to my long blonde locks. After
perhaps thirty strokes or so, I felt my hair looked straight enough to be seen, as long
as I kept it in a ponytail. Wrapping the red band I had used before around a tuft of
hair, I tightened it and tied a knot, setting my ponytail. Nodding at my reflection in
the mirror, I smacked the end of my Z-Saber, sitting on my nightstand, and flipped
it up and into my hand. I placed it on my belt loop; I still hadn't bothered to change
into my armor since I had returned from the train. I liked the normal
clothes...perhaps more so than my armor, and for me, that was strange. I was
probably the Hunter who was most comfortable in his armor, and yet...somehow,
this little ensemble of black and tan seemed to suit me. Maybe I was getting soft.
Anyway, I strolled out into the hall beyond the door of my quarters, finding
my way immediately to the commissary and a cup of black coffee. The extra
caffeine, while unnecessary for a Reploid's nervous system, did enough to wake me
up and keep me on edge. As I glanced around the room, I felt like a few people
were casting glances at me, like I didn't belong, perhaps...
Presently, Chakra strode up to me and greeted me warmly. "Hello there," he
said, with a somewhat puzzled tone. "May I ask your name and your business here
at Hunter Base?"
I smiled. He didn't recognize me without my armor, I realized. I'd have
some fun with him. "My name is David Giles, Mr. Reploid, and Dr. Cain asked me
here to the base for an exclusive interview for the local paper concerning his
thoughts on the new Wraith virus."
"Really?" he asked. "That's funny, I don't remember him saying anything
about having anyone meeting with him today..."
"It was kind of a last-minute thing," I said. "But inquiring minds want to
know, and Cain is something of a quiet man."
"Indeed I am," came the old man's voice from across the room. He walked
over, smiling to himself. As he approached, Chakra began speaking animatedly:
"Sir, this Mr. Giles says he's here to see you on a matter of the press. He
said you scheduled an appointment yourself."
He and I both tried our best to hold back our laughter, but I cracked first,
then he joined.
"What? What's the meaning of this?" Chakra asked, completely lost.
"The disguise worked rather well," Cain remarked as he and I began to
recover. "Even your own unit member didn't recognize you."
"Sir?" Chakra asked hesitantly. "Who is this man?"
"Please tell me you're not that dense, Chakra. I'm just glad you finally got to
live out some of that vacation time I owed you."
His face lit up with realization. "Zero?"
"Very good, Chakra," I said, hugging him. "Got it on the first guess, too!"
"Sir, you look exactly like any human! I'm impressed!"
"Tell him that," I said, motioning to Dr. Cain. "He made the disguise."
"Without the armor, you definitely look out of character, sir," he said.
"Is that necessarily a bad thing, for once?" I asked.
"I wasn't sure you ever washed that armor, sir," he joked with a smile.
"Very funny," I shot back. "Any luck with finding a new troop of tech
engineers?"
"Just one really promising one," he said. "And he's about as good at fighting
as he is at computers. You should consider him for your unit's attack, Zero."
"Maybe I should. Does he have a name?"
"His name's Hale, sir. He's almost a dead ringer for another of our
engineers, that one guy--can't ever remember his name--"
"You mean Douglas?"
"That's it!" he recalled suddenly. "Douglas...right... Hale looks like a
smaller-scale version of him, only with yellow armor. And he packs a mean energy
gauntlet, too."
"Oooh!" I said in excitement. "Those are new...I've been meaning to train
with one."
"We've got a couple of recruits in with force staves, too," he declared
offhand. "Those are pretty new to the Hunters, too."
"Just a glaive with a Z-Saber attached to it," I said. "For those who need the
extra distance. I'm definitely a close-quarters fighter, Chakra. That's why the
gauntlet and my dear saber appeal to me so much more than the arm cannon. That
weapon's been done and redone."
"I daresay, sir, Hale may be as good with his gauntlet as you with your
saber."
"For such a claim, Chakra, he'd better be good," I said in a playfully stern
tone. "I'll train for awhile with him personally."
"And we've got a veritable plethora of energy-saber users," he said, noting
his clipboard, no doubt holding important information on each of the recruits he had
in mind for Zero Unit. "About fifteen...that's about half...have signed up with the
saber as their main weapon. I suppose they're gaining popularity, sir."
"Any promising finds there?"
"There is one, sir...but he's rather--shall we say--disagreeable..."
"His name?"
"Drex, sir. He has absolutely no respect for authority, and thinks nothing of
insubordination. However, when we took the newbies out for training the other
day, he did a masterful job of showing off his skills with his blade...he's something
to look into, sir."
"Indeed. It sounds like there's something bothering the kid outside of the
Hunters. I'll be able to find out what without a problem, I'm sure; I have access to
all his personal and confidential records."
"On to cannons: two of the recruits stuck out in my mind, and they seem like
A-1 Zero Unit material. Their names are Kyte and Chrysalis. She prefers 'Chrys',
to her friends. Kyte has a standard arm cannon..."
"A solid weapon to begin with," I remarked. "Go on."
"...And Chrys uses a pair of palm-mounted cannons, like Iris did."
I nodded. "I'll review these four myself," I said. "They may well be the
assets we need for this operation. Until you find a time that's written in stone on
when we have to train, I'll be around the base. Contact me when you find
something out."
"Will do, sir," he said with a friendly goodbye. "Be expecting a call."
* * *
"Doctor!" I greeted Cain as I entered the office. "I have something I meant to
mention to you earlier..."
"Yes, Zero? What is it?" he asked, his form blocked by a stack of boxes and
electronics paraphernalia.
"I...spoke with my Sigma virus's root last night...and I realized something
that I should have thought of a lot sooner."
"And that is...?"
"That Sigma and I could have been great friends, if not for his infection by
the Maverick virus."
I walked around the boxes and saw him working on a cleaning robot, laid out
on a table. He wiped his hands with a towel, and shook his head. "And what do
you propose I do about that?"
"You still have Sigma's Hunter records on file, don't you?" I asked.
"As far as I know," he said. "We do a good job of keeping records up here at
the base. We've got at least three copies of everything: one hard copy, one
computer copy, and one copy on the Hunter Intranet."
"So...if you were to look up Sigma's blueprints and tech specs, could you--
theoretically--rebuild him?"
"I could rebuild his body, of course," he said. "But his personality...that was
what made him Sigma."
"I can help you there," I said. "How about this: if you were to make a copy
of my Maverick root onto a computerized workspace, could you delete the virus
half of it and then implant the rest into the Reploid body you built?"
He paused, rubbed his chin in thought. "It could be done, theoretically...but
I'd have to make sure I got every last scrap of the Maverick out of the root without
damaging Sigma's personality archives."
"Sir, if you'd do this for me...I'd take along as many of the newbies as you
needed."
He sighed dramatically, pausing for a moment. "Before I even begin to do
work on this project, Zero, I need to you to promise me something."
"Yes sir?"
"If, in the course of Sigma's work with your unit, he shows ANY strange
characteristics or anything resembling Maverick behavior, bring him back here so I
can figure out what went wrong, if anything. He's a good Hunter, but extremely
risky to bring back. You must agree to this if I am to even begin work on the
Sigma project."
"I agree, sir," I said. "I will bring him in if he shows any strange signs. I
don't want another situation to arise like Sigma's possession of X last time we
fought him."
"Then I will agree to work on this for you, Zero...as a favor. I think you've
done the Hunters enough favors to make up for this."
"Thank you, sir," I said. "I promise you won't regret this!"
And I left the lab, with a smile plastered across my eager face. "You will live
again, Sigma," I said, touching my chest with the palm of my hand. "Mark my
words."
I arrived at the base a few minutes later, finding Doc Cain, Crysto, and
Skyler all waiting for me.
"We heard you were involved in a little scrape with a giant Maverick," Cain
greeted me.
"Indeed I was. Good to see you too, sir," I said, smiling only after he did.
"Wraith has already taken control of several auxiliary power plants around
the city," Skyler said. "He's trying his best to drain the entire city of energy."
"Thankfully, for now the generators are holding out. He hasn't been able to
hack the systems himself just yet."
"That's good," I said. "We've got time, then?"
"We've got time...but not an extraordinary amount. Wraith has positioned
eight Mavericks at each of the eight control stations for the power plant within the
city."
"And we need to eliminate each one, just like always," I said. "Correct?"
"Absolutely correct, Zero," said Skyler. "We need to do this and train the
newbies at the same time."
"So, we've decided put a number of newbies in with the teams that go to
each station."
"How many newbies, per squad, are we talking here?" I asked.
"We've had an enlist of about thirty new Hunters," Skyler said.
"That doesn't answer my question, Skyler. How many are we going to have
to stick into each team?"
"Probably about four or five in each team," Cain answered for him.
"Have you assigned any to Unit 0 yet?"
"No. We were waiting for you to get back before okayed anything."
"Wise of you," I said, smiling. "Are we allowed to choose our team?"
"You are," he said. "And since you had that scrape with Sigma last time,
and were prominent in destroying his battle body, we were going to let you choose
first."
"Thank you, sir. I'll do a little field-training with the newbies tomorrow
morning."
"And there's something else you want to talk about, I'm sure," he said,
drawing an "X" in the air with his index finger.
I nodded. "Indeed I do, sir. Let's move into your lab, if you don't mind."
"Certainly not, Zero," he said, leading me into his lab-office. "Now, what
exactly is it you want to know?"
"Sir, I can't believe you let X go out of the base by himself when you knew
that there was a new virus on the loose!"
"He pleaded with me, Zero. I'm not so sure you wouldn't've done the same
thing."
I took a pause. "Sir, I've been through this discussion already with myself. I
know I probably would've done the same thing X did, but I also might've been
more inclined to take him along with me."
"You do both work very well together," Cain acknowledged. "It would have
been a better idea."
"It makes me nervous that X didn't think to take me. It makes me think
he...that he's beginning to lose his trust in me because of the immunity I show to
the Sigma virus."
"Zero, if you showed any sign that you shouldn't be trusted, the Hunters
would be the first to do something about it, believe you me."
"I know that, sir...it's just that X is my best friend...closer than that,
even...and when it seems like he's lost his trust in me before anyone else..."
"It makes you wonder whether your friend knows you as well as you think he
does," he finished for me.
I held my head in my hands. "Yes."
"Zero, this is just a misunderstanding between you two. I'm sure there's
some other reason why X wanted to go alone."
"But why wouldn't he tell me?"
"Because maybe he didn't want to involve you. Maybe he just didn't want to
upset your vacation."
"But he knows I would've gone with him in a half-second, Doc!"
"...Then maybe it was for that reason that he chose not to tell you. Maybe he
just wanted you to enjoy your vacation."
I lowered my head. "Maybe..."
"Listen, all I want you to do for tonight is to get a good battery recharge, and
then wake up tomorrow, rested, refreshed, and ready to pick out your unit's
newbies. Clear?"
"Clear, sir."
"Zero..." he said as I walked off, somewhat slump-shouldered.
"Yes sir?"
"Don't stress over this. It was just a simple misunderstanding."
All I offered back to him was a short grunt, then turned back with a sigh to
head toward my room.
* * *
I lay restlessly awake in my bed, tossing and turning, and not making any
progress in relaxing myself. Dammit, I thought, why did my vacation have to end
so early? I really needed more time than this.
And what of X's decision to leave without me? Had it seriously been as
innocent as Doc Cain had suggested, or had X had a deeper motivation to not tell
me about his trip?
I mulled it over in my mind for hours, never finding any answer. If I had just
not been a Maverick in the first place...none of this would be such a problem for
me.
And that was mostly true, I knew. I was still more aggressive than X, when
it came right down to it (he was of a Hunter rank two degrees below my own), but
he was more powerful by far. If he were ever to attack me full-force with no
holding back, he'd certainly walk away, not me.
Somehow, I was able to go to sleep, amidst all the questions running about in
my mind. It made me feel hurt if X was unable to trust me...my very dearest friend,
X...
The figure leered over me, a silhouette in the doorway of some unknown lab.
His arms outstretched in a victorious pose, he laughed a hearty cackle and raised
one arm. My capsule's glass snapped up, and I stepped out, holding my head, as if
I had just awoke from a three-day nap.
"Get up..." the figure ordered. His hair, what of it still grew, was brushed
into two tufts which sat on the sides of his otherwise-bald head. His mustache and
his great white lab coat were his only distinguishable features to me through the
bright light behind him.
I found I could not control my own mouth, nor my own limbs. My mind,
however, was alive and well... "Who are you?" I said as I rose from the capsule I
lay in.
"My masterpiece..." the voice rasped.
"Who--who are you?" I asked again, this time somewhat uncertain.
"You are my greatest work. Fighting against him is what gives me
motivation in life. Now go! Destroy him! That's an order!" he barked.
"Wha--Wait!" I pleaded. I felt...so alone... Who exactly was it he wanted me
to destroy...?
And then came an insufferable and painful buzzing at my temples, a noise so
silent, it cut into the very depths of my mind...
Images flashed before my eyes, barely recognizable...
A diagnostics screen, with what looked like my wireframe on it...
The Reploid Sigma, screaming. Whether in pain or terror, I had no idea...
Corpses of countless Reploids, slashed and gouged to death...
And then I looked at my hands in a somewhat longer vision...they were
covered with blood!...
I awoke from the grisly dream that had plagued me for years, bringing my
hands into my view quickly, again making certain it had only been a dream. I had
done it hundreds of times before...the dream had started coming less and less, but
other feelings that had not been there before now bled past the dream. I had nearly
forgotten about it this time...
...Perhaps...SOMEONE...had made the dream reappear, forcing me to
remember what I had done...
It was a perfect time for someone to strike at my emotions...that someone
being none other than Sigma, I thought...
"So what do you want me to remember with this dream, Sigma?" I asked
myself, rubbing my head, and wiping the sweat from my forehead with a towel in
my quarters. "What part of my past are you trying to impose on me now?"
And from within me, through a kind of speech that could not be
distinguished to me in any scientific way, Sigma (or rather, what of Sigma was
inside me) spoke to me: I have always been eager for you to learn the truth about
your past, Zero.
"That's bull, Sigma. The only reason you want to know anything about my
past is because you think you can turn me back to your side with that knowledge."
Oh, bravo, my friend. Very astute of you, I must say. Yes, I do indeed think
that your past could well influence your future.
"I know something from my past is destined to affect my future," I said. "As
little as I know about my past, something will most assuredly return from it
eventually to alter my future. What it will be or how it will affect the order of
events that happen after it are impossible to say."
For you, perhaps. I can guess how it will affect you, my dear Zero.
"And--let me guess--you see me as coming over to your side and helping you
take over the Earth with the Maverick race, n'est pas?"
In a nutshell. Rather, that you would become one of my highest-ranking
officers in the grand Maverick army of the future.
"I wouldn't send out your enlistment paperwork just yet," I said. "I think
you've got a ways to go before you get any upper hand on the Hunters. You're
even weaker now than when you attacked us last, Sigma," I pointed out.
Oh, am I? he asked with a sense of absolute calm. We'll see about that.
"Are you suggesting that we may have to deal with you again before this
skirmish with Wraith is over?"
Perhaps I'm saying that...perhaps not. I'd just warn you and say perhaps
I'm not as easy to destroy as I may seem.
"You've proven that 5 times," I said. "You're a great escape artist, if nothing
else."
Better than Houdini ever could have hoped.
"And modest too."
I see you're getting irritable. I'll submit to your own processes again. You
always were a good conversational partner, when you weren't slashing away at
me.
"If this war hadn't've separated us, Sigma, I think we could have been good
friends, actually..."
But your Reploid half was never able to formally meet the real Sigma, he
said. And you shall never meet him now, I fear.
"There's hope yet for the Maverick race," I said. "You wait. Perhaps
someday you'll see the light again, Sigma."
And perhaps you will see the light again as well, Zero. I will go now.
And with that, his consciousness disappeared once again into my own, with a
sigh and a verbal nod of admitted frustration.
Remembering what Sigma and I had said to each other, I had formulated
another idea of my own: "If this war hadn't've separated us, I think we could have
been good friends..."
I smiled to myself. I'd deal with it tomorrow morning.
* * *
I awoke the next morning, refreshed and feeling much better than I had the
previous night. Stretching my limbs thoroughly, I yawned absentmindedly and
strode over to a mirror. My hair stuck out at nearly- unmanageable angles. I smiled
in spite of my bed-head. I had something to ask Dr. Cain about...something that
could prove to be very, very interesting, if it turned out like I thought it would...
I walked to a table aside of my sleep capsule, picked up a brush from it, and
began undoing what one night of sleeping had done to my long blonde locks. After
perhaps thirty strokes or so, I felt my hair looked straight enough to be seen, as long
as I kept it in a ponytail. Wrapping the red band I had used before around a tuft of
hair, I tightened it and tied a knot, setting my ponytail. Nodding at my reflection in
the mirror, I smacked the end of my Z-Saber, sitting on my nightstand, and flipped
it up and into my hand. I placed it on my belt loop; I still hadn't bothered to change
into my armor since I had returned from the train. I liked the normal
clothes...perhaps more so than my armor, and for me, that was strange. I was
probably the Hunter who was most comfortable in his armor, and yet...somehow,
this little ensemble of black and tan seemed to suit me. Maybe I was getting soft.
Anyway, I strolled out into the hall beyond the door of my quarters, finding
my way immediately to the commissary and a cup of black coffee. The extra
caffeine, while unnecessary for a Reploid's nervous system, did enough to wake me
up and keep me on edge. As I glanced around the room, I felt like a few people
were casting glances at me, like I didn't belong, perhaps...
Presently, Chakra strode up to me and greeted me warmly. "Hello there," he
said, with a somewhat puzzled tone. "May I ask your name and your business here
at Hunter Base?"
I smiled. He didn't recognize me without my armor, I realized. I'd have
some fun with him. "My name is David Giles, Mr. Reploid, and Dr. Cain asked me
here to the base for an exclusive interview for the local paper concerning his
thoughts on the new Wraith virus."
"Really?" he asked. "That's funny, I don't remember him saying anything
about having anyone meeting with him today..."
"It was kind of a last-minute thing," I said. "But inquiring minds want to
know, and Cain is something of a quiet man."
"Indeed I am," came the old man's voice from across the room. He walked
over, smiling to himself. As he approached, Chakra began speaking animatedly:
"Sir, this Mr. Giles says he's here to see you on a matter of the press. He
said you scheduled an appointment yourself."
He and I both tried our best to hold back our laughter, but I cracked first,
then he joined.
"What? What's the meaning of this?" Chakra asked, completely lost.
"The disguise worked rather well," Cain remarked as he and I began to
recover. "Even your own unit member didn't recognize you."
"Sir?" Chakra asked hesitantly. "Who is this man?"
"Please tell me you're not that dense, Chakra. I'm just glad you finally got to
live out some of that vacation time I owed you."
His face lit up with realization. "Zero?"
"Very good, Chakra," I said, hugging him. "Got it on the first guess, too!"
"Sir, you look exactly like any human! I'm impressed!"
"Tell him that," I said, motioning to Dr. Cain. "He made the disguise."
"Without the armor, you definitely look out of character, sir," he said.
"Is that necessarily a bad thing, for once?" I asked.
"I wasn't sure you ever washed that armor, sir," he joked with a smile.
"Very funny," I shot back. "Any luck with finding a new troop of tech
engineers?"
"Just one really promising one," he said. "And he's about as good at fighting
as he is at computers. You should consider him for your unit's attack, Zero."
"Maybe I should. Does he have a name?"
"His name's Hale, sir. He's almost a dead ringer for another of our
engineers, that one guy--can't ever remember his name--"
"You mean Douglas?"
"That's it!" he recalled suddenly. "Douglas...right... Hale looks like a
smaller-scale version of him, only with yellow armor. And he packs a mean energy
gauntlet, too."
"Oooh!" I said in excitement. "Those are new...I've been meaning to train
with one."
"We've got a couple of recruits in with force staves, too," he declared
offhand. "Those are pretty new to the Hunters, too."
"Just a glaive with a Z-Saber attached to it," I said. "For those who need the
extra distance. I'm definitely a close-quarters fighter, Chakra. That's why the
gauntlet and my dear saber appeal to me so much more than the arm cannon. That
weapon's been done and redone."
"I daresay, sir, Hale may be as good with his gauntlet as you with your
saber."
"For such a claim, Chakra, he'd better be good," I said in a playfully stern
tone. "I'll train for awhile with him personally."
"And we've got a veritable plethora of energy-saber users," he said, noting
his clipboard, no doubt holding important information on each of the recruits he had
in mind for Zero Unit. "About fifteen...that's about half...have signed up with the
saber as their main weapon. I suppose they're gaining popularity, sir."
"Any promising finds there?"
"There is one, sir...but he's rather--shall we say--disagreeable..."
"His name?"
"Drex, sir. He has absolutely no respect for authority, and thinks nothing of
insubordination. However, when we took the newbies out for training the other
day, he did a masterful job of showing off his skills with his blade...he's something
to look into, sir."
"Indeed. It sounds like there's something bothering the kid outside of the
Hunters. I'll be able to find out what without a problem, I'm sure; I have access to
all his personal and confidential records."
"On to cannons: two of the recruits stuck out in my mind, and they seem like
A-1 Zero Unit material. Their names are Kyte and Chrysalis. She prefers 'Chrys',
to her friends. Kyte has a standard arm cannon..."
"A solid weapon to begin with," I remarked. "Go on."
"...And Chrys uses a pair of palm-mounted cannons, like Iris did."
I nodded. "I'll review these four myself," I said. "They may well be the
assets we need for this operation. Until you find a time that's written in stone on
when we have to train, I'll be around the base. Contact me when you find
something out."
"Will do, sir," he said with a friendly goodbye. "Be expecting a call."
* * *
"Doctor!" I greeted Cain as I entered the office. "I have something I meant to
mention to you earlier..."
"Yes, Zero? What is it?" he asked, his form blocked by a stack of boxes and
electronics paraphernalia.
"I...spoke with my Sigma virus's root last night...and I realized something
that I should have thought of a lot sooner."
"And that is...?"
"That Sigma and I could have been great friends, if not for his infection by
the Maverick virus."
I walked around the boxes and saw him working on a cleaning robot, laid out
on a table. He wiped his hands with a towel, and shook his head. "And what do
you propose I do about that?"
"You still have Sigma's Hunter records on file, don't you?" I asked.
"As far as I know," he said. "We do a good job of keeping records up here at
the base. We've got at least three copies of everything: one hard copy, one
computer copy, and one copy on the Hunter Intranet."
"So...if you were to look up Sigma's blueprints and tech specs, could you--
theoretically--rebuild him?"
"I could rebuild his body, of course," he said. "But his personality...that was
what made him Sigma."
"I can help you there," I said. "How about this: if you were to make a copy
of my Maverick root onto a computerized workspace, could you delete the virus
half of it and then implant the rest into the Reploid body you built?"
He paused, rubbed his chin in thought. "It could be done, theoretically...but
I'd have to make sure I got every last scrap of the Maverick out of the root without
damaging Sigma's personality archives."
"Sir, if you'd do this for me...I'd take along as many of the newbies as you
needed."
He sighed dramatically, pausing for a moment. "Before I even begin to do
work on this project, Zero, I need to you to promise me something."
"Yes sir?"
"If, in the course of Sigma's work with your unit, he shows ANY strange
characteristics or anything resembling Maverick behavior, bring him back here so I
can figure out what went wrong, if anything. He's a good Hunter, but extremely
risky to bring back. You must agree to this if I am to even begin work on the
Sigma project."
"I agree, sir," I said. "I will bring him in if he shows any strange signs. I
don't want another situation to arise like Sigma's possession of X last time we
fought him."
"Then I will agree to work on this for you, Zero...as a favor. I think you've
done the Hunters enough favors to make up for this."
"Thank you, sir," I said. "I promise you won't regret this!"
And I left the lab, with a smile plastered across my eager face. "You will live
again, Sigma," I said, touching my chest with the palm of my hand. "Mark my
words."
