April 17th, 21XX
Well, I can now safely say that things've changed quite a bit since last I wrote (which I realize was almost a week ago, wasn't it...?).
At this time of writing, almost the entire building is wrought with sudden happiness and youthful joy, which causes a healthy de-throning of the previous regime of fear, saddness, and consistent suicide attempts. And why, you ask? I'll tell ya why - Vile, that little plastic soldier fellah that Sigma repeatedly soiled his pants over for no good reason, was returned safely back to this godforsaken building. Now the Mavericks can take the little guy and do whatever they want with him, without having any fear of the Hunters converting him into one of their own.
And who did all these nice things for them? Well, me, of course. Pardon my cheekiness.
The operation worked out easily enough for me. I mean, I've done plenty of so-called 'spywork' during my years as a mercenary, and even more covert operations requiring a break-in or capturing of some kind. And Hunter security isn't any prize - not nearly as secure as some people would have you believe, really. When that purple guy, Agile, asked me to assist him with the job, I wasn't exactly willing to take it with any kind of enthusiasm. I mean, this was MHHQ, a place that could take eons to bust into. So I held out for a little while and decided to do some haggling with him, to my luck. Since he was no longer a combat Maverick, he was actually quite willing to fork over his prized double-edged beam saber over to me. Apparently, the goof only really used the saber against X during the second uprising, and was only skilled enough to use one side of it. I find that amusing... the thing is pathetically easy to use, actually, even with both edges activated. It also has this nifty magnet ability that lets it return directly back to the person who threw it, like a boomerang. I guess the job was actually worth it...
Oh, and not only that, but Agile also told me about how the other rookies - you know, those freakish animal things that I 'trained' with - were sent to do a covert scanning of the town in search for Vile. When they did so, however, they managed to screw the whole thing up royally by being spotted. Oh, and it wasn't just any old person they baited - it was X, actually. These people are seriously beginning to worry me with their incompetence - I mean, when I came here, I was just not very fond of the Maverick organization, though I knew very well that they were a force to be reckoned with. But lately, well... I just haven't been that impressed. Agile, Sigma and the others actually haven't taken notice of some unplanned blunders I've pulled off, like during the entire folder-snatching incident. Anybody could just walk up there and take their share of information, regardless of how important it was. I mean, what are these people thinking, I pray thee...?
Oy... my head. I keep on thinking that there's something important I'd like to change about this entire situation, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I mean, there some things that are blatantly obvious, but those are too minor to worry about. It feels like there's something pulling at my brain... something I've been dying to do for years but I haven't really had the guts to do. But still, it's not clear...
Dynamo paused for a moment, unable to think of anything else sensible to write down. He'd been sitting alone in his dormitory for hours now, and had recently started writing in his journal. For some reason, he could feel hinself entering into something of a brainspew-ish mode, in which he began to write things he either didn't mean or didn't really think of normally. It happened when once in a while during a writing session, and Dynamo had something of a disliking of them, since there were many things in his mind that he would like to keep there securely.
After recollecting himself, he continued. Anyways, I managed to get that damned file Mercutio was so anal about the last time I had a chat with him. Kind of funny when I got it, as it was just kinda laying outside of Sigma's office inside of a pile filled with other ones. Pretty lucky on my part, if you ask me.
Now, the only problem I have with this whole 'find the file' thing is the general purpose of the mission itself. I've read through all of the papers in that folder already, and I can't find a single one that has any kind of importance... maybe Mercutio is starting to lose it, or something. It's kind of weird that he never actually told me why I was looking for this godforsaken scrap of in the first place - I mean, he never usually keeps that kind of stuff from me when he assigns me something. Maybe this is why I'm starting to think differently about him and everybody else I'm affiliated with... what kind of important purpose do they serve, anyway?
"Oy VEY..." Dynamo almost shouted, letting go of his pen once again and tapping himself softly on the head with his knuckles. He wasn't exactly angry with the words he was writing down, but rather the feeling he was getting while writing them. It was sort of like being intoxicated, just not as bad; in layman's terms, in was an 'out of it' feeling.
Thinking this through, the grey-armored mercenary shut the book tightly, letting it fall to the mattress he sat on. Giving it time would probably be the best thing for him to do; he could tell that now was definitely not a great time for him to be writing, for some reason. Maybe he could go out and get some fresh air, or something of the sort... anything he could think of to get himself out of his sudden funk.
Cracking his neck a little bit, Dynamo lifted himself up from the mattress, grabbing his new double-edged lightsaber off of the ground. Keeping a firm grip on it with his right hand, he began to head for the exit when a faint yelling noise could be heard coming from the other side of the room:
"Dynamo!" it shouted. "Dynamo... do you read me?"
The mercenary was paralyzed with shock. He recognized the partially British voice immediately - that person calling could be none other than...
With sudden adrenaline, Dynamo dashed towards his bed, reaching under it and pulling out the handheld communication device he had always kept with him. Frantically, he took his original seat on the mattress as he did before, pulling the comm in front of his mouth.
"Mercutio," he responded to his boss, "Dynamo here... I read ya loud and clear."
"Oh, good..." the authoritative human said back with relief. "I was getting afraid that you were in the middle of something important when I contacted you."
"Oh, not at all, sir," Dynamo replied. "I never take this walkie-talkie thing around with me normally. I usually keep it hidden in here..."
"Well, that's a very smart move on your part, Dynamo," Mercutio stated. "Where exactly are you now? I don't want anybody listening in on this conversation, you know."
"My dorm," Dynamo hastily responded. "Nobody can hear us, trust me. The door is locked, and the windows're shut tight."
"Alright then, let's get down to business... I've been hearing a great deal of reports lately involving a break-in at Hunter Headquarters. I'm having suspicions that this was done by the likes of Mavericks, but I'd like to hear it out of you. Do you know what happened, exactly?"
Dynamo gulped a bit at this remark. He knew that if he told Mercutio that it was he who commited the essential deed for the Mavericks, his boss would not be very happy about it. Thinking fast, he decided to somewhat avoid talking about who released Vile, with hopes that the human would'nt think about it twice - and if he did happen to bring it up, he'd just lie.
"Well, the break-in actually relates to the incident involving Vile's escape," Dynamo explained. "You see, after Sigma decided to barricade himself from the rest of the universe, Agile and the other X-Hunters took over all operations here temporarily. One of their first actions was to deploy some spies to search Terencse and pinpoint Vile's location, and to execute this, they chose three rookies who were pretty willing to do the job. One of them found out that Vile was training at the Hunter HQ, so they sent a solo spy to break him out of there at nightfall. They just recently managed to get him back, and they have very ambitious plans in regards to his power."
Mercutio paused solemnly for a moment. "Guess they've finally gotten some power on their side, rather than the usual crap they dish out," he commented.
"Yeah, I guess," Dynamo half-heartedly agreed; Mercutio was one to always underestimate the Mavericks' power, for some reason. "I figure that the Hunters'll catch on about this whole thing soon enough, though. There always seems to be some way for them to figure out exactly what the Mavericks are planning on doing next, no matter how obscure the evidence is." Dynamo never actually considered the fact that a blunder he possibly could have made had graced the Hunters with substantial evidence, but who was he to really care?
"Yeah, I'd have to agree with that logic," Mercutio responded. "Do the Mavericks have much of a clue as to what the Hunters've been up to lately?"
"Hmm... naw, not really," Dynamo answered. "All that they really know about the Hunters as of now is that they had Vile, and may have been planning to do something with him. Otherwise, I don't think that they really know anything of the sort."
Mercutio chuckled a bit at that. "I'm not very surprised," he commented snidely. "I guess they never really thought that through. Maybe they should've hired some more reliable people to do their spywork, eh?"
"I guess so," Dynamo agreed again, realizing that he was partially insulting himself. "But I don't think they really care about that stuff anymore."
"Well, then let's just get our minds off of the Mavericks for a little while," Mercutio continued, obviously wanting to get down to more serious business (well, business that he personally considered serious). "There's a lot of other things that we seriously need to discuss..."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Dynamo agreed, now sounding a bit nerved. There was that feeling again... that same feeling he had gotten when he had finished writing in his journal just minutes ago. He knew that Mercutio was going to ask him about that damned file, and if Dynamo told him that he found it, well...
"I remember something we discussed several days ago, during our last talk," his boss began, "involving you searching for that old file Doppler and Sigma had chosen to store away during the last Maverick Uprising. And, as I may have feared, you were unable to get a hold of that particular file." He cleared his throat a bit, letting his words sink in. "Now, it really doesn't matter what kind of excuses you could come up with, Dynamo, but that was most certainly an example of your own incompetence, which surprised me quite a bit as you're usually perfectly competent when sent on an important mission. So then, Dynamo, could you please enlighten me about how you executed the rest of your mission...?"
Yup, this was it... no avoiding it now. Pausing for a moment, Dynamo reached for the large file that he had been trying to get a grab at for quite a long time - ever since he'd been at the fortress, to be precise. Could he really throw it all away, just like that, in a few words? Staring at that file, he could sense the feeling he had experienced before starting to seep back in again, like some kind of poison... it altered his thoughts, blocking out reason, and causing him to have a sudden change of thought that would either saved him or destroy him right then and there. What would he say now?...
"Dynamo?" called the voice on the other line once again, sounding a bit impatient. "Are you still there?"
"Err... uhh... yes, sir!" Dynamo responded, snapping back to attention. "Sorry about that, I was just... um... just daydreaming a bit."
"Whatever," Mercutio spat off. "I've got no time for daydreams, Dynamo. Just tell me - do you have that file or not?"
"NO," Dynamo almost yelled out, surprising himself beyond all limits. "I... I don't have it..." he muttered. What was he doing?
Mercutio paused for a moment, obviously in a small state of shock. "WhosajiggaWHA? You... you what...?"
"I don't have it," Dynamo repeated. "It... it was destroyed, actually. Yeah... I was too late, I guess. When I identified the file, it was in shredded pieces, completely unreadable..."
"You're kidding me," Mercutio continued, still in a complete state of shock. "Why the hell would they shred a file like that?"
"How should I know?" Dynamo snapped back. "I just found the thing that way. The right number and everything... only the folder itself was intact. Everything inside of it was completely destroyed..."
"DAMN! I should've known they would do that!" Mercutio shouted into the comm. "I bet they knew somebody was onto them, so they got rid of the thing. Of all the bad luck..." He paused for a moment. "You see what I mean, Dynamo? Had you picked up that damned thing earlier, we wouldn't be in this stinkin' mess!"
Now the mercenary was starting to get pissed off. "Wait a sec. How do you know this is my fault? They could've easily destroyed that thing way before I stormed my ass into here. And even if they hadn't, how would they know that I was searching for it?"
"Well, you probably screwed up and left some sort of marks!" Mercutio boomed. "When you went in there the first time, Sigma probably found out about it one way or the other and destroyed it. You obviously weren't doing your assigned duties..."
"'Assigned duties' me arse, buddy," Dynamo interrupted. "And what's all of the importance around this stupid file thing anyways? You never actually told me anything about it, so why the hell should I go looking for something if I have no idea what it is?"
"Forget about that!" the human exclaimed. "That's none of your concern, Dynamo. You're just there to get the thing, and I'm here to actually use it. You don't have the right to question my orders."
"Whatever, whatever," Dynamo let off, lowering his voice a bit but still pretty angry. "All I know is that it seems like you're making some big stupid fit over absolutely NOTHING AT ALL, and you're gettin' all pissed off at me. It seems like I'm always on the butt end of all your stupid-assed 'missions', and I'm starting to get tired of it." He brushed his right thumb over a small white button near the bottom of the walkie-talkie. "I think I'm just gonna end this little chat right now..."
"What the - no!" Mercutio shouted from the other end. "You are NOT turning this thing off, Dynamo, if you have any hopes of staying in this organization left."
"I fail to see the threat, Mercush," he mocked.
"Listen," Mercutio continued, his tone of voice slowly rising. "You press that button, and believe me, it's over for you. But if you've got that file with you, somewhere, then we will find you out sooner or later, and you'll be in quite an undesireable position, my friend."
"That's enough, Mercush... ta ta," the cocky mercenary finished, tapping his finger on the small circle just enough so that the transmission was completely disabled. Then, he surprised himself once again by pulling out his saber, igniting one end, and thrusting the pulsating blade straight through the middle of the communicator, slicing it completely in half. The two pieces fell lifelessly to the floor, both emitting a loud crackling sound as they contacted it. They crackled on for a few more moments before finally going dead, preventing any future conversations on the thing or the rest of Dynamo's days.
Finally, after all of the shock and the surprise had completely worn of, Dynamo realized that what he had just done was something he had been wanting to do for quite a long time. Though he may not have realized it at the time, the young mercenary had pretty much everything heneeded to do totally planned out in his head... it was almost like he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Those two broken pieces on the ground represented a new beginning for Dynamo that day, and he knew it.
Thinking about this, he opened his journal once again, flipping back to the page where he had left off. In it, he finally finished off his daily entry:
Maybe what I'm looking for is closer than I actually realize... it could be right under my nose.
Catch you later-
Dynamo
Magma Dragoon surveyed the small meeting room with the corners of his eyes, realizing how utterly cramped in the place was. Not that it really bothered him that much, since he really wasn't claustrophobic or anything... he just found it to be kind of awkward that Cain would choose such a run-down place to stage an important meeting with three of the most elite Hunter Units. It made him feel a bit unimportant, and he hated that feeling in all of it's forms.
"JEEBUS, is it cramped in here!" whined X, who unlike Dragoon disliked small spaces with a passion. He sat in a tiny chair in between Magma and Zero, both of which almost having their faces smooshed against the wall because of the space shortage.
"I don't know what you're complaining about, Mr. Pansy Boy," Zero snapped, obviously in something of a sour mood. "You aren't slammed against a wall like Magma and I."
"Well, I'm kinda squeezed in the middle here! It's not like I have any more space than you do," X snapped right back. The room was certainly small, with an extremely limited amount of space between the three commanders and the walls. It obviously wasn't a very comfortable position to be in.
"Well, Cain could of at least done something with the lights," Zero commented. "I mean, look at the things. They're all flickery and screwy... I can hardly see a friggin' thing."
"Just deal with it," X replied. "Cain'll be here pretty soon, and he'll probably have some kind of explanation for all of this. He usually does..."
"Well, if he knows what's good for 'em, he will," the Crimson One barked. "According to my watch, it's well past eight already... where is that guy?"
X scoffed. "Since when has that watch been reliable? The thing's busted... you've been carrying around for years. Remember that time we were an hour late for that meeting with Cain during the last war because that watch conked out on us at the last minute?"
Zero shuddered at the memory; that wasn't an easy morning for them. "That was just a complete fluke!" Zero claimed in defense. "My watch was just having an off-day, I guess... it usually works perfectly fine."
"Yeah, right," X said snidely. "So then I guess that thing wasn't responsible for the three other meetings you were late for?"
Zero rested a hand on his palm, looking the other way. "Well, I... shut up!" he muttered angrily, involuntarily admitting defeat. It was something that Zero never really did with much grace.
Suddenly, the small door in the corner of the room swung open, almost slamming against the other wall. Magma, X, and Zero all looked over to see the respectable Dr. Cain shuffling in, a support cane in his left hand and a few papers in his right, which was how Cain happened to look almost all of the time. Following right behind him was the ever persistent Wiedl, who strolled on in with a wave to the three commanders. The trio all grimaced at the same time, though the massive 'ploid couldn't see that.
"Hello, everyone," Cain greeted, pulling up a chair from the front of the room. "My apologies for not arriving here a little earlier, but Wiedl here and I had to go over some battle plans for tomorrow..."
"Wait just a sec," Zero interrupted. "You're telling me that Wiedl is going to be helping us out with battle strategies?"
Cain narrowed his eyes a bit in confusion. "Erm, well... yes, he is. Is that a problem with you, Zero?"
"Oh no, not at all, doc..." Zero went on, lying through his teeth. "I was just a little... err, curious. That's all..."
"I've got somethin' of a problem with it..." muttered Magma Dragoon silently from the other side of the room. He had kept something of an uninterested expression on his face the entire time, but hadn't said anything to anybody yet. This was the first time he had really spoken.
Cain looked over to the dragon reploid with concern. "Magma," he asked, "what was that you just said?"
The Dragoon scratched the back of his neck nonchalantly. "Nothing," he said, louder this time. "I just personally find it a little awkward that you're having some guy who's spent his time in an underground office since the second uprising 'help us out' with important military strategies like these. How can you tell that he's really reliable enough to work on an important mission like this?" He made a swift glare at Wiedl, snorting out his nose a bit with dissaproval.
Cain paused for a moment. "Well, Magma, I can certainly understand your concern. However, I believe that Wiedl here had proven himself to bean extremely dependent and hardworking ally during these rather harsh weeks. He's also a former general, you remember, so he's already well versed in combat strategies, and he's being reading op on them for quite a while now. I believe that, if all of you are willing to welcome him here, that we'll all be able to work well together as a team."
Magma huffed a bit, remembering coldly that Wiedl was actually part of the reason Vile got snatched in the first place. "Fine, then."
Wiedl, acting as if he were bathed in glory, beamed a large cocky smile. "Don't worry 'bout a thing, guys!" he belted out. "I'll be sure to tell ya some great battle strategies against those Irregies, or whoever you're gunna have to fight."
Cain nodded in agreement, obviously overlooking the utter disdain in the faces of both X and Zero. "Yes, but before we begin, I'd like to apologize to all of you for the immense lack of space in this particular room. Most of the other formal meeting rooms are under renovation, and are certainly in no condition to be used."
X shrugged. "Whatever, doc. I'd just like to get this meeting over with... I'm gunna need all the sleep I can get t'night."
"As we all do, X," Cain reminded him. "Don't worry, this won't drag on for too long. Wiedl, why don't you start us off?"
"Will do, doc," the ex-general responded with his usual gusto. "We're gunna need to elaborate everything a little bit for the three of you, so we'll need a diagram of the attack in itself. Lesee..." Turning around, he searched frantically for something to write on, finally discovering a discarded piece of cardboard near the back of his own chair. He then picked it up and displayed it to the three, drawing out a marker.
"Alright, then," he said as he began to draw. "First off, let's draw the fortress... that'll be this big circle at the top here. Next, we have the Units, and their placement. So, let's have them be... little dots, at the bottom here. There's one dot... there's a second... there's a third. Now, let's give them little arms and legs... oh yes, and torsos, forgot about that... voila! We have our commanders."
Confused out of their mind, X and Zero squinted as hard as they possibly could to get a good look at the board - but alas, Wiedl's sloppy art skills made the sketches almost completely nonsensical. Dragoon didn't even bother to look at them; he knew what to expect out of it. Instead, he just rolled his eyes a bit and looked the other way, wisely choosing not to be associated with it.
"Now, there'll be a full group of you, of course, so don't think it'll only be you three out there," Wiedl informed them, as if they had never known that. "There'll also be other Hunter Units involved in the attack, as Cain mentioned before. They'll be doing... uh... other stuff. So let's just draw some dots on the sides, representing the other Units... dot, dot, dot.... arms and legs... little smiley... hrmm, is that a good smiley? Oh well, I guess it's good enough." After finishing the smilies, he also began to draw little airplanes at the top of the board. "Now, part of the 7th Unit Air Cavalry will be assisting you, but mostly only for backup survelliance. Hmm... do those little airplanes work? I think maybe I should draw a..."
"Wiedl, we get the point," Zero snapped, tapping his foot impatiently against the floor. "If you don't mind, could you please start telling us a bit more on what we're going to be doing?"
"Oh, well... you're right, Zero," Wiedl humbly replied. "Lesee... alright, first off, we're going to have to enter the building through various entrances. This is where the Units will split up temporarily and search for Vile. Umm... so, let's just say that these little boxes in the circle will be the entrances. Let's make a guesstimate of four... yes, four entrances. So, all around the circle..." The diagram of the battlefield was now beginning to look like a kindergarten drawing of a carnival. "There we are... now, X's 17th will enter in through the front exit. This line, which I'm drawing now, will represent the direction X and his Unit will go. See this straight line that leads directly to the front box, X? This is where you're going."
X squinted a bit at the markings again, still a little confused. "Uhh... alright, I guess," he reasoned. "So my Unit's taking the front, right?"
"Right!" Wiedl replied, now turning to the Crimson Hunter, who was already half asleep. "Now for your Unit, Zero... uh, I guess Unit 0 will be taking the backside, no? So, if we connect Zero's dot to the back of the circle with this line... oops, a little crooked there, lemme fix that... there! You'll be entering through this little box... thingy."
"Gotcha," Zero lied, raising his eyebrows. The diagram was now starting to form the shape of a three-legged monster.
"Alright, now for Mr. Dragoon... we've got you're Unit entering from both sides, so you'll probably split up and meet with eachother later on. Let's draw two lines coming from Dragoon's little dot..."
"I get it, Wiedl," Magma rasped with sudden frustration. "Entering from both sides. Fine. Now move on already."
Wiedl stalled for a bit, surprised at Magma's sudden response. "Erm... alright, then," he said, his jubilant energy seeping back in. "There isn't just one building, as our scannings have shown us so far. There are about four other mini-towers surrounding the main complex, so we'll have to draw those out, too. Now, lesee..."
Using his 'unique' style of artistry once again, the massive reploid drew four small circles all around the building, meshing with the various lines that portruded from the three dots at the bottom. Now, the diagram was just one big garbled mess, and it was almost impossible to tell everything apart. "Alright, then," he started again, "these four towers are apparently connected to the main structure, so let's draw some lines connecting those... hmm, that's not very straight... aww, jeez, I think I drew over a smiley! Lemme just patch that up..."
"Wiedl..." Cain finally interrupted, setting a hand on his colleagues shoulder. "I think we've had the explanation drawn out enough for us to get something of an understanding as to what we're planning. So... would you mind if I just explained everything to them from here?"
Wiedl raised his eyebrows, looking a little crestfallen. "Err... oh, alright," he agreed some what remorsefully. "Whatever you say, doc." He then turned partially away from the group, occupying himself by flipping the cardboard over and drawing his own doodles.
"Alright, then," Cain continued, noticing the looks of relief on the faces of the three commanders. "I'm pretty sure that all of you know about the other Units involved in this invasion, and they include the 12th Assistance Unit, the 8th Desert Post, parts of the 7th Air Cavarly... and so on. They'll mostly serve as a backup party for you guys, however, so they won't really impact your duties too much as far as that goes unless an emergency arrises. Now, according to some of the scannings we've made of the fortress, we can tell that there are a total of five structures - one larger one, surrounded by four smaller ones. What we're going to do is have the three of you split your Units up temporarily and take different areas of the building at a time. X's 17th Unit will take the direct approach and enter in through the front area - which, may I remind you, may be heavily guarded - and search in as many places as possible. Zero's Unit will take the back end of the building, while Magma's Unit will take the left and right sides. Now, we can all be pretty certain that the occupants in the building may not have Vile stored in the main floor, especially if this is indeed a Maverick fortress. So, I'd like all of you to try and access the other floors in the building - it doesn't seem like there would really be that many.
"Now, there can be several outcomes to this invasion, which is why this enitre operation is somewhat risky. First off, the fortress could be Maverick territory - if this is so, I fully encourage you to try and put a stop to their activities as soon as possible, which may or may not be an easy task. Secondly, you might not be able to find Vile - though I believe that this may only occur if you find yourselves in a great deal of danger. If this happens, I advise you to evacuate for the time being and return to the HQ so that we may set up another plan. Another outcome - the one that I certainly fear the most out of anything - is that Vile will be altered once again, with his program fully removed, causing him not only to return to his old ways but to be a much more powerful killing machine than before. If this happens, well... you'll have to try and defeat him, I guess. Though I'm pretty sure that the combined power of you three will be enough to bring him down, we can never be too cautious about these things. I advise all three of you not to underestimate him."
X and Zero exchanged concerned faces; it wasn't really that they were frightened of what the new Vile could be like, but they really weren't liking the idea of a psychotic human-killer with big guns. Magma, however, didn't look very unnerved by the thought, and the look of indiffernece on his face refused to yield.
"Whelp," X said to break the silence. "Is there any more we need to know, doc?"
Cain shrugged. "I don't think there's much else to say, X," he responded. "This is the first time in a while that we've dived head-first into a situation that we know practically nothing about... but all I can really do is wish ya the best of luck. Just remember - whoever actually has the nerve to break through our security system and nab a potentially dangerous and maniacal repliod from us obviously means business, and I would expect that they'd be ready to fight against anybody that attacks them. So don't expect a cakewalk out there. If their goal is to cause mass chaos, don't go easy on them in any way. Make sure that they're stopped before any further problems arise." He paused for a moment. "Well, are there any questions? I know I haven't really elaborated all that much, so fire away."
"I've just got one," Zero chimed in. "Do you have any guess as to how long it'll take to get to the fortress itself? I remember that desert to be pretty large."
The Hunter leader thought for a moment. "Well... it's hard to say that it would take too long. I'd say that, from the beginning of the desert to the fortress, it would take about a half hour, forty-five minutes tops on foot. We'll probably be able to teleport you half of the way, but since our teleporters are somewhat limited, you'll have to walk the other half. Hmm... so, are there any other questions?"
Zero glanced at his two colleagues, who each seemed to be completely silent. "Doesn't look like it, doc," he stated.
"Alright, then," Cain finished, standing up from his chair. "I guess that's all for the time being, guys. Please relay this information to the other members of your Units as soon as possible. I advise you to get plenty of rest; I think the training you've been putting yourselves through lately has really paid off, and I want you to conserve some of your energy for tomorrow. I meet up with you again in the morning - I expect you to be ready with your Units by around 7:00. Good luck to you all."
With that final remark, Cain nodded to a partially occupied Wiedl, who was in the middle of doodling a large pony picture on his cardboard. After a few moments, the two had already filed out of the room, leaving the three commanders on their own.
X grimaced a bit. "Meh... I don't wanna have to walk," he whined. "I hate walking."
Zero shot him a baffled look. "Walking?" he asked. "Why, out of all things in this mission, would you be complaining about the walking distance?"
X shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "I'm just not fond of walking."
"Oy... whatever," Zero finalized. He decided not to bring up the fact that X had already ran constantly through various Maverick fortresses in the past, since it wouldn't really get him anywhere.
"You wanna get goin'?" asked X, who was beginning to lift himself up from his chair.
Zero looked back to Magma Dragoon, who wasn't paying attention to either of them. He had his hand placed on his chin, and seemed somewhat uncomfortable. "Naw, you can go on, X," he told his friend. "I'll catch up with ya in a minute."
X gave him a confused look, not quite understanding why his friend would want to say. He then looked to Magma curiously, and then realized somewhat why Zero would want to stay. He shrugged his shoulders a bit before leaving, keeping the door a crack open.
"Hey, Magma," Zero asked almost immediately after X had left. "You been feelin' alright lately?"
The Dragoon darted his eyes towards his questioner, not even bothering to turn his head. "I'm perfectly fine, Zero," he responded indifferently, not even curious as to why his colleague had asked it. "Maybe I should be asking you the same question. I hope you and X are ready for tomorrow... you may need to live up to your past expectations."
Zero smirked. "Yeah, X and I are both ready."
"That's good," Magma said in his usual tone. "I guess you and X'd better get to your other Unit members right about now."
"That's an idea," Zero stated, getting up from his chair and heading for the door. "You should do the same thing, I guess."
Magma still didn't budge from his seat; instead, he simply smiled and offered Zero a wave goodbye. "See ya round."
"You too," Zero replied, walking out the door and shutting it tightly behind him. Upon entering the hallway outside, he was a bit surprised to see X leaning against the opposite wall. Reading from the smirk on his face, Zero could tell that he had listened in on the little exchange of dialouge.
"Well, that certainly was interesting," X commented snidely. "What're you, Mr. Mediator now?"
"Eh, shut yer trap," Zero jokingly snapped, walking past him and back down the hallway.