MegamanX, Zero, Cain, Rock Forte, Blues, Gospel, Rush, Sigma and the Mavericks belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai and Blind belong to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^

XP Yes, now SCREAM at me for making you wait nearly half a stinkin' year for this chapter! ... ^_^ *halo* Then praise me for getting it out at all.

And thank Nemi. XP Her and her tantalizing lil bribery pieces.

Chapter 7



"Aroo!"

A determined expression fell into a curious one as Forte looked down at the red dog. "Find him again?"

Rassu nodded and burned up his engine, quickening his speed. It was time to finally catch up to his master.

Yakasa and Rock were huddled down in a nearby alley when Zero rejoined the group. A dazed shine glinted in his ultramarine eyes, giving him the look of a lost puppy. Both the blue robots looked up at him when his shadow fell across the partially lit space, both giving identical expressions of worry to the Hunter. "Saa, Zero," X said softly, beckoning as Zero fell to his knees beside him. "Daijoubu?"

Zero nodded, wearily and sighed, resting his head on X's shoulder. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Because you're pale and sweating."

The blonde chuckled quietly and leaned against the wall, still using X to support him. His eyes closed for a moment and took the time to collect his thoughts; now that his lover was beside him, it was much easier to push aside what had happened within the old building. But the seeds of fear were figuratively planted by the reccuring images and tingling reminder of what had happened only a minute ago. "Don't worry, Yakasa." His eyes drifted over to the red bioroid partially in X's lap. "Save it for Sleeping Beauty."

X frowned, suddenly concerned with their next step of action when his sight locked onto Blues. He did seem fast asleep, completely lax and breathing like one should.

On X's other side, Rock was silent, processing every possible problem and solution that could associate with his brother's condition. His mind was also at odds with two results. I don't want to hand him over to some future medicant without Dr. Light's supervision.... but he's long gone in this time period, so what am I gonna do?

Gospel snuffed at some piece of paper which passed by and stood up, stretching his legs like any dog would. It was a quirk the wolf didn't mind, but the thought of replicating a real canine annoyed him to no end. ...Then again, he would conclude, loyalty was also an aspect of the common dog... and his loyalty lay in those he knew would remain loyal to him.

Forte...

Treble's ears perked up then. Something was coming this way.... by air. Rush? Could it be? The jet propulsion system sounded identical. Maybe....? With a howl, the lupinoid had shifted to his own jetmode, ignoring the cries behind him.

Rock got to his feet instantly, calling out Gospel's name. The roof! There was an impulse that took him by surprise and for a brief moment forgot existance as he jump-kicked up the alleyway walls and into the light above.

"Aw, kuso!" X stood, watching both of the older-model bots head upwards. "Rock!"

"I've got him, Yakasa." And Zero was scaling the height before the blue reploid could blink...

...and he scowled, shifting Blues in his arms unconsciously. Dog runs away, little boy wants to find it and big brother helps. And I'm left babysitting the one with the cold.

He sighed once and looked down at the still figure's peaceful face; it disturbed him to no ends at how history described a cold and feared warrior, yet the face under the visor looked nearly identical to Rock. How could it be possible that a meer child--... No. A sudden depression and sadness shone in his eyes. This one will never be a child. He'll sacrifice himself and die when the time comes.

Time and history sucked at times like these.

The mild lessons young humans learned in school about the Wily Wars were spared of the horrid details. They described the main participants as being either ruthless, deceitful, heroic, a genius, loyal, or heartless. Blues possessed all of those traits and then some, as the authoress Kalinka Cossack put into words. But then again, Ms. Cossack claimed she, her father, and their robots had been involved in the fourth war. That information was hard to swallow, but all of her books went along perfectly with the history records, so maybe it was true.

I'll ask.. discretely, of course.

His next thoughts of just leaving and waiting for the others to return were cut off by a distant shout and the low sound of a plasma blast. The voice didn't sound like either Rock's or Zero's.. and the blast didn't sound all that powerful, so what in the Nine Hells was going on up there??

Hope this doesn't screw you up even more, Blues, but this could be important.

"Gospel!"

The lupinoid came rushing up to them, pushing his thrusters into overdrive; never had Treble been this excited in seeing his master... or Rush. And he wasn't the only one that was pleased. Once Gospel was close enough, Forte transferred himself over to Gospel's back and everything seemed normal for a minute...

"Gospel!"

...until he released what the picture lacked. But Rush sped down to the rooftop of the building Rock was on, intending on pulling the picture into completion.

Rock's heart skipped a beat when he saw that the object falling towards him wasn't a languid purple, but the rusty red of his own companion. He didn't even get a chance to cry out in joy before Rush plowed into him, sending both of them ground and Rock receiving a special delivery of doggie kisses. The Blue Bomber laughed, squirming below the wet assault. "Okay, okay! Matte yo! Stop, you crazy mutt! That tickles!"

"Hey, Rokku! Are you--" As soon as the red reploid touched both feet to the gravel-covered surface, a sweatdrop formed on the side of his head. "--...alright?" It was either his imagination or did Treble change colors??

Wait, that was impossible. Besides, this one didn't have the crest the lupinoid had. Rush... Wow. They didn't beat around the bush calling him happy-go-lucky, did they?

So, if that was Rush (who now let up his thorough face washing to let Rock hug him), then where was Treble?

The answer came hovering down, a new passenger on his back.... and it didn't take a genius to figure out this was the last piece they needed. And it was staring directly at him. "Forte."

The cobra-crested robot's eye twitched; Zero didn't have a clue why. The Crimson Hunter had expected either slight surprise or nothing at all, not agitation.

But Forte's gaze shifted, falling on the blue bot with his dog, who were looking back at the dark pair. "Rock, get over here."

Zero tensed defensively, but Rock stood up and walked over to Forte, like it was the most natural action in the whole world. The black bot kneeled down on Gospel's back, bringing himself to near eye level with the Light bot. "You okay?"

Rock nodded, surprising touched that Forte would even care. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

A roguish smile crossed his face and a warm, amused glint sparked in his violet eyes. "Been better. M'just glad your still in one piece." But then, all that disappeared, replaced with the mask of coldness he normally donned. Forte stood back up at full height and stared at the blonde on the other side; his intent was intimidation, but you couldn't intimidate someone who loomed over you like a shrub to a redwood. "And who in the bloody hell are you?!"

Zero's lip quirked up humorlessly. "I'd ask you the same thing, but you /know/ I know the answer to that. So instead, I'll ask you to kindly step off your support unit and surrender yourself to the Hunters' custody."

Forte's look was smoldering. You just can't trust anybody.. "I will do no such thing unless I get some answers, starting with you."

"Bass!" hissed Rock. "Don't be rude! I've spent the last few days with them. They won't hurt you."

But Rock's words had gone unnoticed by either of the roof's occupants. Zero straightened and shrugged nonchalantly. "My name is Zero Omega, Class A Maverick Hunter and leader of the Special Unit #00. Would you like my rank and serial number too?"

"Oh please," said the cobra, with mock enthusiasm. "It would just make my day if you did. Now I want answers. What the fuck is going on around here?!"

"If you want to know so badly, you'll come back with us."

"I WILL NOT!" The outburst was typical, but the ferosity and hurt behind it nearly sent the red reploid and the blue bioroid reeling. "I want to know who the hell to trust around here! Those damn animal creatures nearly /killed/ me--" Thoughts of what the purple humanoid had said came crashing back. "--and how will I know you won't do the same thing?! For Kami's sake, I will not believe this is our future!"

A wild shot went off from his buster. The plasma ball, unknowingly created, harmlessly hit the building's rim.

Both of Zero's eyebrows shot up. To himself, he murmured, "Mavericks got him first. He could be infected with something."

"Forte...." Rock said quietly. "What happened?"

That he heard and the cobra jumped down from Gospel's back; Rock could see the weariness and fatigue in Forte's eyes when he looked at the blue robot. "....I'll tell you later, Rokku. I'm just.... tired."

Rock blinked and gathered Forte into his arms, expecting his rival to pull himself away and scowl. But he didn't. Forte, shockingly, buried his face into Rock's neck, muscles lax and limp. "I hate it here, Rock. I know things I don't want to know, I've seen the terrors of this time... I want to go back home.."

"Yeah... I know how you feel." I feel lost, scared. If Blues doesn't wake up, we'll be flying this one solo... but then again, how would he handle this? How /could/ he?...

"Can anyone explain what the heck is going on up here??"

Heads whirled around to see Yakasa watching them hawkishly, frowning slightly. Zero sighed in relief, wiping away a drop of sweat from his brow. "What you see is what you get. We've located Forte and Rush."

"Lovely." The comment wasn't snide, but it wasn't too kind either; the whole day had been tedious and it was beginning to show. But he kept his eyes on the two bioroids curiously. Rock was blushing faintly and staring at the ground, reality coming back to the situation. Forte, however... He was staring at X like he was seeing a ghost or a double; funny part is, he was.

Dilated violet eyes shot between between Rock's face and the full form of the blue reploid. It lasted a minute, with Zero growing agitated, the sweatdrops on X's head multiplying, and Rock seemed to blush harder every time Forte looked at him.

"Alright, who THE FUCK IS HE?!?!"

"Depends on who you are refering to," muttered Zero, crossing his arms. "I'm sure you know who /one/ of them is, at least."

"Huh--" Oh... oh no. His heart rhythm abrupted skipped a few beats as he finally identified the mass that laid in X's arms. Oh gods, no. "......."

"He's alive, Forte, just....." Rock bit his lip. "...in a stasis lock."

"Which is why I want to get him back to Cain and the Lifesavor and run a diagnostic on him, so if we could get moving, please? We can answer your questions back at the base."

Zero's brow arched. He didn't blame X for being a bit snippish, but not only was a vital piece of history in his arms locked down, but the whole adventure they were having with the bioroids seemed exhausting. And to make things worse, Forte has just come from the Mavericks. He could've been followed, for all they knew. And Blind might be snooping around-- he repressed a shiver. Something was very wrong in the town of Tokyo. The blonde took steps towards the edge. "Let's go. And when we get there, I'm putting us all under a virus scan."

"Why?"

The Hunter looked over his shoulder at Rock, his eyes hard and serious. "Because something smells fishy about the whole situation... and I ain't talkin' about the time Volt Kraken dumped sturgeon guts all over me."

"...And it ends." Sigma sneered, closing the book. It wouldn't write anymore, but that was fine. He knew what prizes the Hunters had in their possession now. Forte wasn't re-discovered! He's the original! Time slipped... But how? "It probably has to do with the location they were in..." he mused.

The Maverick leader tapped his wrist com. "Vile. I need you to run a one-man scout."

"To where, sir?" came the reply.

"West district. In the perimeter of the Genshin and Nasagi buildings."

There was a short pause. "What am I looking for, sir?"

Sigma blinked questionably at his wrist, taken aback. Did he just sound.... happy??

But he quickly dismissed it, concluding that Vile was at least glad to be of some service; the blue-purple reploid hadn't recieved many missions outside of the base as of late. Probably just bored out of his mind. That might be why he's been going into town on acquired leave time. He's a scientifical nutcase. "Report anything suspicious you find to me. Anything."

"Copy that, Vile out."

Cain pinched the bridge of his nose. Four pairs of eyes watching him with a sliver of hope didn't help his conscience; it only played with his guilt. A stasis lock was tricky to undo if the robot put itself in one, but impossible if the creator put it in one. That was also a puzzler. Wily and Light are both dead, so they couldn't have put it on him. But if Blues put it on himself... he could take himself out of it at any time. ....... But why would he in the first place?

One of the Lifesavor medics handed him a read-out and he sighed in relief after skimming over it. "Okay," he said, readjusting his glasses. "You can breathe now. I have good news and bad news."

The robots stayed silent, waiting.

"He's clean of any viral program and the lock is self-made. There are no systematical malfunctions and everything is green."

Rock fidgeted. "And the bad news...?" he asked, timidly.

"Well... From what we can gather on his blueprints-- what we got was vague compared to what he'd updated himself with-- there's something up here," he tapped his forehead, "that seems to be an extra file case, encrypted with nonsense. It could be why he's not able to break out... We'd like to remove it incase it's purpose is damaging."

The gaijin doctor walked around the occupied medical table, making his way to the small group, but more specifically, over to the pair of bioroids. "But, we have our priorities. He's not of this time, as are neither of you, so I want permission from the /both/ of you for this."

Forte and Rock exchange glances. "But why from both of us?"

Cain looked sternly at the cobra. "Are you or are you not his brother by creator as well?"

Forte started, then looked down at the floor. Technically, Blues was his half-brother, but there were no emotional attachments. The only time the maroon and grey robot ever called him 'brother' was when he wanted to annoy the ebony bot. But... "Yeah, I am." Following, Forte grabbed Rock's arm and pulled him over to the corner of the room to animately discuss it.

"Now, as for you two," said Cain, poking the chests of the reploid couple, pulling them out of their silent gazing on the older models. "I want to know what you found out in the west district."

It was their turn to exchange glances.

"We found... um.." Zero rubbed the nape of his neck. "We didn't find much. Just a stray reploid."

"Oh?" Cain found himself interested. "And what happened."

Please... Yakasa, if you have any compassion in your wee little golden heart, you will pick this up in your very mature and reportive voice.

"Dr. Cain, we went there and discovered nothing in the building. It was clean. And apparently, a rogue reploid- Blind, sir- took shelter there. He obviosuly knew something, because not only was he unsurprised about Rock's presense, Blind knew who Rock was. And he was also the one holding Blues captive. We fought him, or more or less, Zero did, while Rock, Treble, and myself worked to get Blues down from the ceiling."

Yakasa, I /love/ you!

Cain scratches his chin, puzzled. "So this reploid was blind?"

X shook his head. "No, he calls himself Blind, because he wears some yellow material over his eyes. ...But he fights very well for someone who impairs his vision purposefully."

"And... who won the battle between ...Blind and Zero?" He looked between the two, landing his eyes on Zero finally when X did. Both expected either anger or gloating, but all Zero did was take a calming breath. "I did, sir, but he was not terminated. On account for that he does contain information, he might be useful in the near future."

"....And why didn't you get what we wanted, Zero? You heard the bargain he gave us." X blinked.

The Crimson Hunter shook his head. "Blues' safety seemed a bit more important at the point."

"And what makes you think we'll see him again?" inquired Cain, casting a glance over his shoulder to double-check the Lifesavors' work.

His blood ran cold. Going on instinct that Blind will remain there wouldn't please either Cain or X... or even Signas if he catches wind of just how loose of a cannon Zero really is. Losing Blind was not an option or it could cost the bioroids everthing. He was in some deep shit.

"Alright, we have your stinking answer, doctor."

...Scratch that. He was saved by the bioroid. Zero resisted sighing in relief. Thank Kami for small favors.

Before Forte could tell Cain off with what they could do with that case file when they were done, Rock said, "Dr. Cain, we'll let you do this--"

"--but if you screw up, your head will be on a silver platter so fast--"

"Forte!"

"What?!"

Whoever couldn't tell that Forte was agitated over the situation had to be denser than wood. But Cain, as well as the two Hunters, knew very well that the program in the bioroids prevented them from killing humans, no matter what time period they were in. "It's alright. I plan to make sure he stays safe. ...And if anything does go wrong, the operation will be cancelled."

Zero huffed, some of his normal behavior leaking in. "Are we dismissed yet?"

"...Fine. Go ahead."

The red and blue Hunters were out of there in a heartbeat, the other two robots lagging behind to strike up the rest of the compromise.

"Zero, what is it?"

Two minutes hadn't even gone by since Zero had dragged X from the labs. But this was important and it was much-so that it shouldn't be talked about in the hallways. The blonde continued his dragging. "There's more to Blind than what we said."

"..... Huh?" X blinked and stayed silent for a moment, before Zero literally kicked open the door to X's room and tossed them both inside, locking the not too damaged door behind him.

"You have got to stop doing that," said Yakasa, exasperated. "Someone is gonna one day get a clue and ask why my door constantly needs fixing!"

"Yeah well... We can worry about that later."

"Exactly, because you have some explaining to do, Z." X took a seat in the chair by his desk, staring up at his lover.

Zero sighed and removed his helmet, tossing it thoughtlessly on the bed. "Blind knows a bit more than he's leading on. I /did/ beat him, no doubt about that, but in the end... he won. Some.... something snapped. In /me/! I... I had him against the wall, and he asked me to take what I wanted with this little purr. And I wanted him! Him! It was like this... domination lust! That's what snapped. The whole feeling of him winning was unacceptable and I /had/ to win. And I did.

"But... then... he started all this weird mumbo jumbo shit! Like he was trying to suduce me by pinpointing what I felt and then he goes ranting off about opening eyes and when I will kill someone like that person was special to me. And then..... He kissed me.."

Green eyes were widened as all this poured out into the open. He could see why Zero was... upset, if that was the word, but there was something deeper hiding in those blue eyes. X stood up and crossed the room, letting Zero slump against him. "I was afraid... Kasa-chan I was scared."

"It's okay... Yoshi desu da yo." X felt around his partner's chest, flicking at the armor recall. The feared armor disappeared in a flash, leaving behind the civilian clothes Zero kept under it. X did the same for himself and pulled him over to sit on the bed, gathering the blonde into his arms and lap. "He won't hurt you... He can't, I won't let him."

"......Domo arigatou..."

And suddenly, there was a scream.

He came across his choosen one laughing maliciously at the view in the distance. "It's the Siren's call. It's begun."

"This is it, isn't it?"

"Mmm, definitely." The prophet turned around and sauntered over to him. "After tonight, it should all be over."

"Casualties?"

"Everyone but our key players," he purred.

"And us?"

His partner smirked and kissed his cheek. "Alive and in bed, fucking like rabbits before the sun even rises."

He matched the smirk of his lover, shivering in delight. "There is a god."

The other laughed with amusement this time, a rare sound nowadays. "You, my darling koibito, are a horny bastard."

"And what was that you were saying a night or two ago? You, my little sooth sayer, are equally, if not more, horny than I."

"Mmm hmm.. But come on. We have business to take care of...and it doesn't include jumping each other."

A chuckled. "If you say so. So what's out role?"

"Guardians, of course. We keep your slave driver busy and get them to the rendez vous point. They go through and I release Judgement... leaving only them, us, and him on the battlefield."

"Positive it won't be, them, him, and /me/? Judgement's going to pull some chords and I don't want you fighting if you'll be hurt."

"Hey, I'm taken care of myself for years now. Everything will be alright. But your concern is appreciated."

"It better be, dammit.."

His mate smiled and brought him for a sweet kiss, one that was gratefully accepted and returned. The Judgement would commence... They would make sure of it.