Chapter 1: Defenders of the Earth

X quickly ducked his head back down behind the trench wall as another wire-thin laser bolt zinged past his location. He cursed lowly as he flattened himself against the barren earth – if he'd been slow by half a second, the sniper's shot would've certainly pierced his head.

"Damn…I hate being pinned down like this…"

The chase had started out innocently enough – raiding Mavericks had struck one of the more lightly guarded weapons depots built a short distance away from Maverick Hunter HQ, making off with quite a few valuable pieces of artillery. X and his two back-ups – Getero and Markinson – had pursued them into south Talara, only to be ambushed by the snipers once they were in range of Saratoga Tower and Melbourne Suite. Getero and Markinson had been several yards ahead of X, and they were picked off easily. It had been fortunate that he'd spotted the wide crack in the road – if he hadn't, he would've been sprawled on the dirt road, as lifeless as her two partners.

He crept left along the wide, rock-covered trench that sat a short distance away from the dilapidated towers. He kept as close to the slanting rock wall as he could to stay out of firing range of the snipers, seriously considering whether or not to just jump up and charge the towers outright and hoped that their aim was bad.

::But their aim wasn't bad when they picked off Getero and Markinson…dammit, why did they have to be so reckless?::

X decided to stay put for the movement, sitting up against the trench wall as another laser struck the ground in front of the ditch. They were taunting him, daring X to make the fatal mistake of exposing himself as his teammates did.

He activated his internal radio, sending another signal back to Alia at the HQ. He hoped that it would get through as far off as they were.

"This is X calling Maverick Hunter HQ, somebody please respond!"

He got nothing but static at first, which worried him – without any back-up, he was as good as dead as long as the snipers had the patience to wait for him. Thankfully, after a second try at it, X heard Alia's voice replying through the static.

"This is Alia; report your status, X," She told him.

A few more rounds hammered into the opposite wall of the trench, and X instinctively crunched himself up even more against the dirt barrier – they were just watching and waiting for him to expose even the slightest inch of his body, and X certainly couldn't afford any type of injury in this sort of stand-off.

"We've tailed our two Maverick weapon thieves into the heart of South Talara, sector nine-beta. But they had reinforcements waiting in some of the remaining towers– a team of Maverick snipers picked off Getero and Markinson; I'm currently pinned down in a trench and I require assistance."

Alia kept her demeanor even, speaking clearly and with concentration into the radio.

"How many of them are there?"

X heard more laser bolts striking the ground above him, driving his logic circuitry further into panic mode.

"At least three, maybe more, I can't really tell from where I'm situated. And there's no way I'm going to get a clear shot at them without exposing myself. Are there any units scattered within this vicinity?"

There was brief silence over the link; he assumed that Alia was double-checking a few of the mapping grids for the sectors assigned to the dispatched Hunters. X felt his wiring beginning to twist itself into knots as he silently urged Alia to hurry up.

"Okay, I'm going to put out a distress call over the HQ's main transmitter; there's a few roving Hunters in sector nine-delta that can be there shortly. Could you relay your coordinates again?"

X sighed with relief.

"Not a problem; my coordinates are South Talara, sector ni--"

A sudden explosion from behind him nearly blew out his audio receptors and sent X soaring high into the air, a sudden wall of flame scorching his back, searing his circuitry. Seconds later, he felt himself crashing on his side on the dirt road above the trench, chunks of earth and rubble dropping down on the area surrounding him. X attempted to pull himself to his feet, his vision blurred and his audios ringing. His internal radio had been damaged, and now he couldn't even get as much as a piece of static.

"Plasma…grenade… damn…" X grunted, realizing that the explosion had sent him clear out of his hiding spot. As quickly as he could regain his senses, he rolled back toward the ditch, which was still his best chance for cover. He hadn't counted on any secondary weaponry from the Maverick snipers – it had probably been tossed by one of the first Maverick thugs that his team had chased to the towers.

His body collapsed back into the ditch as a few laser bolts impacted the ground where he had just landed. Using his remaining strength, he managed to drag himself against the wall, breathing heavily.

"Internal systems breached…" He gasped as he attempted to keep from passing out. "I hope Alia makes the right guess at those coordinates, or I'm finished…"

* * *

"Wow, nice shot with that thing, Reteks!" The short, pudgy Maverick congratulated his companion in a boisterous tone, his disgusting, oil-leaking form hanging nearly halfway out of a gaping hole in what used to be a sales office on a high level of Saratoga Tower. The late afternoon sun was the only light source in the crumbling office – the electricity had long since been disconnected from the ruined structure after the Maverick riots destroyed it.

Reteks - a slender, shabbily armored Maverick – lowered the high-powered grenade launcher, smirking with satisfaction at the smoldering mess below them.

"It was too easy," He growled through a pair of silver fangs. "Imagine the rep we're going to get after this one! The legendary Maverick Hunter X will make a hell of a trophy!"

"I wonder if I can squeeze into that skinny blue armor of his?" The fat Maverick guffawed as he repositioned the sniper rifle on his right shoulder. "Now, let's just wait until he pops his broken head up, and I'll blow it clean off his shoulders!!"

"Not if I can explode him first!" Reteks got down into a prone position with the grenade launcher, carefully taking aim at the trench X was hiding in. Another shot would surely finish him for good. "I got dibs on his X-Buster!!"

Suddenly, a crashing noise interrupted Reteks's concentration, and the snarling Maverick suddenly caught a glimpse of his corpulent partner tumbling out of the tower and plummeting down ten stories to his death, screaming all the while.

"What the…?!" Reteks glanced up where his companion was recently roosting, gasping as he caught a glimpse of the figure that had knocked him out the window.

"An M-P56 Plasma Grenade Launcher," The red-armored soldier shook his head as he studied the make of Reteks's weapon. "Boy, when I heard you clowns raided the arsenal, I only thought you'd be after rifles or pistols. I like your taste!"

Reteks quickly brought the weapon to bear on the Maverick Hunter, who deftly stomped onto the slender Maverick's back, cracking some of his faulty armor. The grenade launcher came loose from Reteks's hands and clattered onto the floor as he yelped in pain.

"But the only problem is that you nearly blew my buddy down there to pieces," He snapped in an angry tone, drawing a modified green laser saber from a sheath on his back. "And because of that, well…"

He raised the flaming green sword above his head as Reteks croaked out a few words.

"No…stop…I don't deserve this…!!"

The armored Reploid nodded his head in mock sarcasm.

"Sorry, but I think you do," He replied. "By the way, when you get down to Hell, tell them Zero sent you, and tell them to keep saving my seat for me."

With a quick motion, Zero brought his sword down, slicing Reteks's head in half in a spray of motor fluids and sparking wiring. As the dirty Maverick's cranium spilled oil onto the floor, Zero – as an afterthought – spun his Z-Sabre above his head and plunged it into the corpse's heart, tearing through its chest cavity on the way out.

As the corpse sparked and convulsed a few times before finally falling completely stiff, Zero casually picked up the grenade launcher with his free hand.

"Good taste in weapons, though," He remarked to himself as he tested the weight of the piece and aimed it around the wrecked office. "I won't argue with that."

He glanced out the massive hole that had been torn through the building, scanning the adjacent towers for the two Mavericks' companions. They'd stopped firing on X's location since the Maverick grenade had nearly scrapped him on the spot, and they'd no doubt seen their fat partner take a tumble out of his sniping roost. Glancing down now, Zero was satisfied to see his round hide splattered on the dusty roadway, his limbs motionless.

After several more seconds of searching the crumbling towers around him, Zero finally spotted the remaining trio of Maverick bandits directly across from him. One sniper was positioned on one of the highest floors of Melbourne Suite, and two of his brethren were just below him, their rifles fixed on the trench where X was recuperating. Obviously, they hadn't thought much of their partner tumbling from his perch – considering his disgusting appearance and raspy, annoying voice, Zero couldn't blame them.

::No time to hurry over and take them out…X's probably hurting bad down there right now…::

He re-sheathed his Z-Sabre, gazing at the grenade launcher thoughtfully. It wasn't often that he got to use some of the heavier weaponry, but now seemed like a good time. Carefully taking aim at the upper-most Maverick with the cylindrical launcher, Zero squeezed the ring-like trigger of the gun.

The results were, needless to say, spectacular. The flaming red plasma grenade screamed across the sky in a parabolic course, impacting the area of the building right below the Maverick's sniper perch. As the explosion roared outward from the structure, Zero watched with satisfaction as the floor that the unsuspecting Maverick was standing on gave way, crashing directly onto his two companions. If that wasn't enough, the collapse set off a domino effect, and the floors began to collapse one after the other until all of them – along with the very dead Mavericks – crashed onto the ground, leaving a gaping vertical stripe of a hole on the ruined tower.

Zero lowered the launcher, quickly double-checking the Melbourne Suite for any straggling snipers. Finding none and having already ascertained that the two Mavericks he'd just killed had been the only occupants of the Saratoga Tower, he turned and hurried back to the stairwell. Given the power of the M-P56, who knew how badly X had been damaged.

* * *

The deafening explosion drew X out of his hiding spot despite the obvious danger. He gazed with astonishment as he saw the entire central section of Melbourne Suite collapsing bringing down three of the Maverick snipers.

::Could it have been some kind of gas leak that triggered when the rifles went off?::

X pulled himself over the trench, stumbling toward the site carefully, keeping his X-Buster leveled on the windows of the towers in case any more Maverick snipers were still around. As he approached the entrance to the Saratoga Tower, he was surprised to find a repulsive-looking Reploid's remains dashed on the ground, oil and fluids splotched everywhere. A sniper rifle – now broken into several pieces – was next to him.

::He took quite a fall…but how could he have been so careless…?::

"I wouldn't get too close if I were you," A familiar voice called from inside the dilapidated structure. X smiled brightly as a figure emerged from the dank lobby with a grenade launcher gripped in his hand. Zero nodded toward the flattened corpse. "He hasn't had an oil-bath in who-knows-how long. I can't imagine what rusting's going to do to him."

"Zero…" X panted in relief, dropping down onto his battered knees in fatigue. "You saved my life…after that grenade hit, I thought I was done for."

Zero shrugged casually, kneeling down next to his friend.

"What're partners for, eh?" He play-punched X in the shoulder, glancing over the Hunter's injuries. "Looks like they gave you a run for your money. Can you make it back to the base?"

"I think a few of my internal systems were breached," X answered hoarsely. "It's tough just to stay standing."

"You're lucky you were able to stand at all," Zero remarked as he helped X to his feet, albeit shakily. "I swear, you have some kind of guardian angel watching you sometimes. No matter what comes your way, you manage to luck your way through it."

"Luck?" X protested, standing on his own power. His auto-repair systems were finally beginning to kick in, and his vocal circuits began to recover their power. "I'll have you know that if you had been a few minutes later, I would've--"

"You would've been a nice little collection of tin shreds on the road," Zero laughed aloud and he slapped X on his scorched back. The Hunter yelped in pain as Zero's hand connected, and the red Hunter drew back in embarrassment. "But we'll ignore that for now. Let's just get you and your teammates back to HQ for repairs."

"It's too late for Getero and Markinson," X sadly glanced back at the two prone bodies that were lying motionless on the road. "They got picked off earlier, when we were first ambushed by the snipers. Getero took one in the temple, and Markinson was shredded by the other two from his legs up."

Zero cursed under his breath, noticing the two dead Maverick Hunters.

"Damn Mavericks…" He muttered as they walked across the way to the two corpses. Markinson had been a well-built, honorable Maverick Hunter with above-average abilities. "He'd just transferred to your unit, didn't he?"

X glanced down at Getero's smaller body, fluids dripping from the open wound on his head.

"Yeah…he was really excited that he finally made it to the elite units," X told him. "And now this puts Unit Seventeen under capacity. I've got to arrange some transfers with General Signas once we get back to HQ."

"Well, no sense in dragging two corpses all the way across town," Zero suggested. "Think you can hold out while a med team gets out from HQ?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling a bit stronger than I was when that grenade hit," He replied. "But my radio was damaged in the battle; Alia's probably worried sick."

Zero flashed X a mischievous glance, laughing a bit as X reacted to his look with a sense of confusion.

"Oh, I'm sure she is, X, I'm sure she is…"

"What's that about? What are you laughing at?"

Zero clamped his hand on the smaller Maverick Hunter's shoulder, shaking him as he nodded.

"Oh, come on, haven't you noticed the way she looks at you since we came back from Gate's lab?" Zero said into X's face as the blue Hunter stared back in confusion and astonishment. "She's got something for you, X; I don't know how much, but she definitely feels a lot stronger about you than she did during the Eurasia incident."

X couldn't help but laugh himself at that one, collapsing onto the ground and leaning back on his arms as Zero took a seat on a large rock.

"Now you're starting to imagine things," X retorted. "Alia's mind is set in her work; it's been the same way since she became the head coms officer for my unit. I mean, she hardly ever works a shift without staying at least two hours overtime. Plus, she's been occupied with Gate's purification ever since I brought him back from his lab."

"She was quite grateful to you for that, if I remember correctly," Zero nodded roguishly, causing X to roll his eyes. "Come on, if she had something for you, tell me you wouldn't pursue it as an off-chance."

X shook his head with a smile.

"Alia's married to her work, Zero; you know that as much as I do," X replied to him. "As am I. I'd rather not go the other route. I've already seen enough of it from a few of the guys from Unit Four. Good luck trying to motivate that bunch to train and make their shifts on time."

Zero grew silent for a moment, the mirth draining away from his face until he finally clicked on the side of his helmet, activating his internal radio. X stared at him in a bit of bewilderment – Zero's humorous mood had seemingly vanished in the blink of an eye after that last remark.

"You okay?" He asked.

"She's coming through now," Zero answered, his gaze shifted away from X. "Alia, this is Zero; I picked up the radio traffic between you and X…No, he's fine, I managed to bail him out of yet another mess. What would he do without me?"

X rolled his eyes again as Alia was speaking through the radio link. He couldn't hear any of her dialogue through Zero's internal radio, and he couldn't gather anything from Zero's expressions – he assumed that things were back to business as usual, no inside jokes involved.

"No, we managed to cap all of them, but we lost Getero and Markinson in the process, and X got a little banged up from a plasma grenade. That's what threw off your conversation earlier. Can you get a med team over here and get us back to HQ?"

He gave X a confirmation nod as Alia relayed a response. But seconds later, he scowled out of nowhere. Alia had obviously had some kind of reprimand for him.

"Yes, Alia…I know that…I…Fine, whatever…I'll stick to my planned route next time, alright? Okay, Zero out." He clicked the radio off, glancing back at X. "The med teams and our ride'll be here in about twenty minutes."

"Everything okay?" X sat up, suddenly becoming suspicious of his partner's activities. "What was Alia telling you?"

"Nothing important, just a bit of friendly advice that I'm going to make a point to ignore in the future," He replied, standing up and walking back toward the towers, staring out at the waning sun. X was about to let the point drop when Zero abruptly answered his question. "You were lucky that I was in the area when you transmitted that message – I was originally assigned to patrol sector twelve-gamma, over in the east section of Talara."

X stood up, walking over to join him, questions brewing within his logic circuitry.

"That's quite a way off from here," He pointed out as Zero continued to stare out at the afternoon skies. "Any particular reason why you decided to venture out into this part of town?"

"Do you really want to know?" Zero asked, letting out a heavy sigh. "To be honest, I needed a place to think for a while, and this part of town is usually a quiet enough place for it…It's those nightmares again. They came back to me about two and a half weeks ago, and I haven't had a peaceful night's sleep since."

X tensed up as his friend spoke, sensing the discomfort in Zero's voice and motions. He'd told him about his strange dreams – which seemingly involving his origins – on a few occasions in the past, and X knew that they wore heavily on Zero's mind at times. He'd always tried as best as he could to empathize with the issue, but it was difficult considering that X at least knew scraps about his past and his enigmatic creator. Zero, on the other hand, only received details about his beginnings through his nightmarish dreams, all of which were extremely violent and filled with cryptic portents.

"Was it the same ruined lab as before?" X guessed, choosing his words carefully. "You know, the wrecked robots and bloody hands?"

Zero shook his head, the large blue gem on his forehead reflecting the sunlight.

"No, it's been a lot different this time around, but no less disturbing," He reported, hesitating for a few seconds before continuing. "Most of them are pretty similar to each other…I'm stuck in some kind of a hazy purple world, kinda like the inside of the Zero Virus crater, which was the first thing that freaked me out."

"And the other thing?"

Zero's discomfort became even more obvious as he paced back and forth across the dirt-covered road, his voice getting shaky and anxious.

"When the dreams started and up through the end of the first week, I was just…fighting. I didn't know why I was there, or why they were attacking me, but I would always end up in a gauntlet of ghost-like Mavericks – hollow white-blue forms with empty eye sockets. They almost looked like ghost versions of Reploids. And for every enemy I managed to cut through, another would materialize in its place, ready to fight. And the same battle would continue for what felt like hours…sometimes if I was damaged by one of the ghosts, I would snap out of it, but after I went back to sleep, the same scenario played out again."

"No wonder I haven't seen you at HQ after hours lately…" X concluded. "You probably have been going for quite a while without sleep."

"Two days at this point; that's only because I've experienced the worst of them lately…" He trailed off, shaking his head as he shivered almost feverishly. X paid close attention – his friend's dreams had never given him this much anxiety before; upon closer examination of Zero's face, X could see thin lines extending around the edges of his eyes, giving him a bit of a maddened look. "You see…up until a few days ago, the enemies I'd been fighting didn't resemble anybody in particular. I figured that my mind had just cobbled together some random images from expectations and experience. But a few nights ago, a vision appeared in that gauntlet dream that I never wanted to see again: the Colonel."

X gasped, his eyes widening.

"Colonel…what happened between the two of you?"

"At first, it was a simple stare down. Initially, I wanted to say something, but instead I simply drew out my Z-Sabre and attacked him like I did any of the others. It was strange…I was watching myself fight as hard as I could against him, but that was all I was able to do. I didn't even feel like I was moving my limbs or dodging his counter-attacks. And all he did was stare back at me through a pair of cold eye sockets…I'm telling you, X, he looks much more intimidating dead than he ever did while he was alive."

X scratched his chin as he listened to Zero, trying to make sense of his strange dream.

"I don't get it…you couldn't feel any control over yourself?" He wondered aloud.

"It was like that with all the others, too," Zero confirmed. "No matter how much I wanted to back off and regroup, my body wouldn't let me. It just kept throwing me back into the fray as new enemies appeared for me to mow down."

"Do any of the dreams ever have an ending?"

Zero was slow to answer, obviously not wanting a particular memory to resurface in his mind. X waited for his friend patiently – if there was one particular subject that Zero had a difficult time discussing, it was the Repliforce, especially his splintered friendship with the Colonel. It was the confrontations with him and his late sister that Zero had agonized over for weeks after the destruction of their space station, the Final Weapon. It was only slightly before the Eurasia incident when X had noticed his friend's attitude returning to normal. Before then, he'd been a haunted, tortured shell of himself, racked with sleepless nights and dread feelings of guilt.

"The first gauntlets were endless, only stopping after I woke up, but the one with the Colonel had an ending; it was quite decisive," Zero finally answered him, his eyes swimming with grief. "I struck him once on his left shin; once he stumbled back, I clipped him on his sword-arm and plunged my sword through his chest, down to the hilt. As the Colonel slumped backward, I caught a glimpse of his dead face, and I felt myself beginning to laugh, slowly at first, but it quickly turned into a cackle. I didn't think I was capable of making that noise…"

"The same way you finished him at the launch site all that time ago…" X nodded in understanding, though it certainly didn't make things any easier for Zero. What he'd just described to X reminded the blue Hunter of something Zero's Maverick form would've done, taking so much pleasure in each shot of pain delivered to his enemies. Thinking about the setting for the nightmares – a look-a-like model of the Zero Virus crater – made X cringe. Zero's psyche was definitely playing a cruel, symbolic joke on him, and looking at his fevered gaze now, X was sorry that he brought up the subject.

"I don't know; it just makes me wonder…" He absently said, not looking at X directly. "Maybe I didn't have to wait until the Eurasia incident to bring the Maverick out of me; maybe Sigma was right when he accused me of enjoyment when I killed Colonel…and Iris…"

"Still thinking about her?" X nodded at the mention of Zero's deceased girlfriend. "I know it's never left your mind since the end of the Repliforce War…but she was crazed, Zero. She attacked you and you defended yourself the best way you could. She didn't give you much choice."

Zero lowered his head thoughtfully, folding his arms tight to his chest. X stepped in front of him, trying to catch his attention.

"At least she died happy, like her brother," he offered with a tone of optimism. "She was next to you, and she was smiling."

Zero shook his head doubtfully.

"But did I have to be so eager to kill them …" He murmured to himself. "I could feel it within me, the need to…"

"What did you say?" X asked as his friend turned away from him, heading back toward Saratoga Tower.

Zero glanced back at him with a smile, his confidence looking somewhat restored.

"Don't worry about it, X," He reassured him. "Sorry I brought this up and put a damper on things; I just think too much sometimes about things I can't change. But thanks for listening – I think I'll be sleeping a bit better tonight. I'll check back in the tower just in case we missed any stragglers. You'd better wait out here and keep resting until the med teams arrive."

"But…!" Before X could get any more words out, Zero had disappeared through the elegantly carved entrance to Saratoga Tower and was gone. "You could at least think of a better excuse to go off on your own…"

He dropped down next to the corpses of Getero and Markinson, his own thoughts buzzing. As charismatic and arrogant as Zero's outward attitude showed at times, he was fuller of more personal questions than most Reploids that X knew.

::First, the visions about the wild-haired man and the bloody lab, and now his more recent history's scars are beginning to rear themselves…::

He felt powerless to help Zero out of whatever funk he'd fallen into, but X still found it very strange that Zero's feelings about the Repliforce would seep out of his consciousness now, so many months and two larger crises after the organization crumbled.

The humming of an approaching motor brought X back to reality for the moment, and as he glanced down the tarnished and broken road, he spotted three armored hover-transports soaring toward them, each of them bearing first aid symbols. He breathed a sigh of relief – the Maverick Hunter Medical Division was always exceptional at their jobs, especially with response time.

He frowned one more time as he glanced at the corpses of Getero and Markinson, scowling at the constant frustrations surrounding him. X decided to put away his grief for the moment – he had some parts to replace and a capacity conflict to file with General Signas.

* * *

Signas tapped his foot impatiently, glancing up at the ornamental clock fixed above the far wall of the conference room. He scowled, realizing that only two minutes had passed since the previous time he'd checked but feeling like two hours had gone by.

"I hate diplomacy sometimes," He casually said to the female Reploid sitting at the polished oak table that stretched the length of the furnished, air-conditioned room. "I've got more important things to do than this."

Alia laughed lightly as she glanced up from the files she was studying.

"You say that exact same line every time the delegate from the Cerebra Group comes by," She informed him, shaking her head slightly. "This sort of work comes with the job description, right? Besides, without their help, who knows how far behind in the aid department we'd be."

Signas supposed so. He certainly wasn't a philanthropist like the members of the Cerebra Group were, and as such he knew next to nothing about the humanitarian concerns that they addressed throughout the dying world. With the humans residing in the Underground attending to their own needs and with the Earth in ruins after the Maverick riots during the Eurasia crisis, someone had to look after the concerns of the remaining Reploid civilians that were residing on the surface. The Cerebra Group had taken charge of that responsibility since the Nightmare Crisis had passed, becoming the largest supplier of aid to the crumbling cities of Earth.

He supposed that he could respect the efforts of the organization – they'd donated over one hundred thousand zenni's worth of aid in the forms of checks and energy supplements through the Maverick Hunter Civilian Protectorate Division over the past six months. The general could definitely sense a difference in the morale of the citizens of Talara ever since the aid packages had started coming. With any luck, the entire city that sprawled for hundreds of miles around Maverick Hunter Headquarters would be fully functional within another half year.

::But there must be an easier way to go about this…this is the third meeting that's taken place this week.::

Signas glanced over at the communications officer, nodding toward the extensive paperwork laid out in front of her. From what he could gather, they were radio logs from the previous day's recon teams. He never knew how she could continually study those reports without losing her mind – all of the technobabble submitted from the survey teams alone would be enough to make his CPU explode.

"Things could be worse, I guess," He said to Alia with a friendly smile. "I could have your job."

"Very funny; you'd be surprised at what kind of information I can drag out of these reports," She answered. "I've still got another cache of logs to go through after this one. Then, I'll finally be caught up on everything."

Signas shook his head in minor trepidation.

"You're going to burn your logic circuitry out if you keep this up," He suggested to her.

"You're not the only work-aholic in this organization, Signas," Alia replied. "But, if it'll make you feel better, you'll be happy to know that I do have other plans for later today. X is due out of the repair ward late this afternoon and we're going out on the town for a bit as soon as I finish my progress reports."

"A little recreation for a change?" Signas was genuinely surprised, considering her consistency of staying overtime during all of her shifts. He admired her for that persistence; that was why he always wanted her expertise and level-headed nature on even the greatest of crises, including the Eurasia incident and the Nightmare Crisis. But another reason for his astonishment was that this meant Alia was finally taking some time off from a smaller side-project she'd devoted her remaining energies to. "Then I trust that Gate's purification is proceeding better than expected?"

Alia dropped the sheet that was in her hand onto the table, a solemn look crossing her face. Obviously, the uprising he'd tried to lead six months ago was still fresh in her mind.

"It's going slow, actually," She informed him. "The Zero Virus has dug deep into his CPU and life support systems and doesn't want to let go. For every hour of restructuring that the med-teams try to do to his programming, we're lucky if we can extract a tenth of a percent of the viral-ridden code. I finally decided to let Gate rest for today…let him keep sleeping."

Signas patted Alia on the shoulder reassuringly.

"If there's a chance that we can scrape that virus out of him, then I'm more than willing to take it. He was a great scientific mind once, and from the way you spoke of him upon his recovery by X, I feel that he can be a great asset to the recovery effort upon his reactivation. It would certainly allow him to redeem himself after his past transgressions."

Alia smiled with a bit more optimism as she shot Signas a mischievous look.

"And was that the only reason you granted me permission to oversee his purification? Or was it a favor to X for having dragged his limp body from the wreck of his lab?"

"Oh, come on, you know that your group holds a special place within me," The general laughed. "We've been nearly to the depths of Hell and back again during the last months, and I don't think I'd trust our Hunters with any other support team should another crisis arise."

"I'm sure Douglas would be happy to hear that one," Alia continued, glancing back down at her files. "By the way, what's this about a few new Hunters being transferred to X's unit?"

Signas nodded briskly, remembering the datum.

"The Forge brothers, yes," He answered her. "Since Getero and Markinson were taken out in the sniper ambush yesterday, X's unit is below operating capacity. Gavin and Richter Forge will be taking their places."

Alia blinked her large eyes in bewilderment.

"Reploids with double designations? Is there any particular reason for that, or was it a personal quirk of their creator?"

Signas shook his head as he glanced at Alia, amused by her constant curiosity of any incoming Hunters. It seemed to be one of her more natural characteristics, always asking questions.

"The two were originally meant as human relations Reploids, and they were designated with names similar to humans just as a personal comfort to help them blend in a bit better," Signas explained to her, his memory of their files nearly photographic. He always made sure he perused such documents multiple times when considering new Hunter candidates, especially in the elite units. "They served the Repliforce during its glory days – once the war began, they were remodeled into combat attire and trained in the fighting arts to be used in their elite units."

"Hold on a second," Alia's head snapped up, the mention of the defunct organization stirring emotions within her. "Repliforce…?"

"I know, that's what I thought at first, too," Signas replied. "But the story behind these two is quite interesting. According to speculation from a few background reports, Richter was scheduled to act as a right-hand man to the Colonel once his training was complete. His size and potential were comparable, and he possessed the killer instinct common in most Repliforce elite warriors."

"What stopped that from happening?" Alia asked, rotating the chair around to face Signas directly. "Besides, I thought that most of the survivors of the Repliforce collapse found their way onto the mercenary circuit after the destruction of the Final Weapon."

"Those two never lasted that long into the war," Signas told her, sparking more interest in Alia's large blue eyes. She rested her head on her hand, staring up at Signas with even more curiosity. "Soon after their remodeling and the Repliforce's formal declaration of war against the humans, Richter and Gavin rebelled against their directives and defected to our organization. It was with their assistance that we were able to pinpoint the tropical and arctic Repliforce weapon sites."

Alia looked utterly amazed.

"That's a rare case…there was no inducement within their circuitry besides their own free will?"

"Apparently not, which astonished our senior staff at the time," Signas nodded his head in agreement with Alia's disbelief. "After so much prior experience with the humans and working side-by-side with them on so many joint initiatives, they couldn't bring themselves to betray them by following the Repliforce's claim to war against them. They didn't see it as justified."

"What about the accusations of the Repliforce turning Maverick? They didn't carry any grudges against us or the humans for the claim?"

Signas shook his head, leaning casually on the oak table. The delegate was running a few minutes late, so it wasn't worth staying completely formal for the moment.

"The Sky Lagoon Massacre was felt by everyone, but while most of the Repliforce lost their heads and went with their tempers when the accusations began flying, Gavin and Richter suspected Maverick involvement from the beginning. But even just attempting to make a case out of it nearly got them scrapped on the spot, as were any other Repliforce troops that objected to the bold decision for whatever reason."

"I was in training during the outbreak of the Repliforce War," Alia added. "The General and the Colonel were both pretty much war-crazy as far as I can remember. Sigma's 'influence' probably assisted them in that regard – before the Sky Lagoon Massacre, they seemed a bit too level-headed to pass that kind of a levy on their own troops."

"That's the rumor, anyway," Signas replied. "But after the information they provided us, we were more than happy to offer them a place within our ranks. They've been serving with the Eighth Unit since then, and I think it's time we placed them in the upper units, where their skills would be better appreciated and utilized. Under X's leadership, they will only become more powerful."

Signas glanced back at the clock, nodding back toward the communications officer.

"In fact, you may run into them on your way out this evening. They're due to report in a few hours."

"I can hardly wait," Alia replied with little enthusiasm. Signas could understand the com officer's slight mistrust – even before the war, Repliforce and the Maverick Hunters had never existed on the best of terms, mostly because of professional jealousy. But he cast aside his doubts about moving the brothers up into the Seventeenth Unit. Their stellar performances under their previous assignment had been more than enough to convince Signas of their potential. As much as he hated to admit it, they would be better supports than Getero or Markinson ever were. Richter had received training commendations in several hand-held weapons, and Gavin's accuracy with a sniper rifle was unparalleled by any Hunter in the regular units.

The call button suddenly chimed at the triangular-pointed doorway. Signas immediately straightened himself and cleared his throat. It was time to play diplomat.

"I suppose that's my cue," Alia said as she hastily gathered up her papers and shoved them into her folder. "I'll probably head over to the lounge and get some quiet work space there. Good luck, Signas."

"Enjoy your evening, Alia," Signas courteously bowed his head as Alia stepped out into the corridor and hurried off. Seconds later, a tall, slender humanoid Reploid strode into the conference room, a broad smile on his well-groomed face and an air of confidence in his steps. He was dressed in a finely tailored suit and carried an organized, paper-clipped manilla folder under his right arm. He greeted Signas with a firm handshake.

"A pleasure that we meet again, general," He cordially said in a well-tuned voice. "Forgive my tardiness; I did not expect to be bogged down in security clearances for so long. I should have allotted some more time."

"I wouldn't worry; I expected as much," Signas replied in an equal tone. "But welcome back to our base, Delegate Thell; I envy your humanoid make – it allows you to don other more stylish apparel other than body armor."

"A fortunate pleasure for me, general," He replied mirthfully. "And please, call me Saren."

"Very well, Saren," Signas motioned for the elderly delegate to take a seat at one of the discussion table's cushioned metal seats. "I am most interested in the latest aid proposal from the Cerebra Group."


* * *

The meeting was going well, as anticipated. Saren's diplomatic prowess seemed to visibly impress General Signas to a large degree. It was well-known that the Maverick Hunter supreme commander had distaste for negotiations and diplomacy, but as Saren continued to fluently go on about the predicted mortality rates of certain sectors of Talara, he could sense that he had Signas completely at attention.

::Just as well.:: He mused as he kept his audio receptors finely tuned. The internal radio installed within his cranium was fully functional and ready to receive any short-burst radio messages from the opposite pieces within the skulls of the two bodyguards who'd escorted him inside the Hunter base. The dutiful general would not hear anything, but Saren would hear it all, loud and clear. And if past performance was any indication, Scorpulos and Terrahawk would be releasing the package momentarily. While they certainly weren't as qualified as Dynamo for jobs like infiltrating the HYBRID organization – a task that Saren planned to have the arrogant bounty hunter undertake within the next forty-eight hours – they had been faithful and very efficient as his right and left hand men as long as they received their weekly allowance of zenni.

"…and so I firmly believe that the southeast quadrants of Talara could benefit from increased rationing of energy supplements."

Signas glanced at him thoughtfully, tapping the table with his thick fingers.

"And how can you justify this? We certainly can't play favorites with the donations."

"As a humanitarian, I would consider such an act to be blasphemous if unjustified," Saren agreed, folding his hands. "But as my colleagues have indicated a significant absence of Maverick Hunter protection and irregular visits from the aid dispersal groups, the quadrants could benefit greatly from some boosted donations…"

Saren continued on in his speech, laying out explicit and detailed information from his mental subject knowledge and from several reports that his subordinates had prepared for the meeting. It seemed to at least keep the general asking inquiries, which was all Saren needed for the time being. He nearly laughed aloud on a few occasions as Signas blurted out question after ridiculous question.

::A great mind for the military, but nothing more. How typical of the brash Maverick Hunters – only built and bred for war; why can they not have appreciation for some of the finer qualities of this planet?::

In truth, the entire complex was as good as one absurdly large barrack for housing soldiers. Aside from the wealth of information technology stored within the walls of Maverick Hunter Headquarters and the immense, double-decker fountain that sat in the middle of the main Hub, there had been nothing to give any kind of life to the facility. As Saren and his two assistants had entered the base earlier, his processor almost turned inside out at the incredible lack of decorum he'd witnessed. It was a personal quirk, he had to admit, but it gave Saren even more of a reason for hating all of the soldiers that worked within the facility, even more of a reason for destroying every last one of them.

Moments after Signas's eighth redundant, asinine question concerning the job descriptions of the aid workers, Saren's internal radio blared within his head. He remained calm and continued discussing the contribution details with General Signas as Scorpulos's raspy voice rang in through the radio link.

"Sorry about the delay, sir, but security's been tightened since our last drop-off. Terrahawk's got the surrounding Hunters distracted with a bit of an aerial show, and I've located the correct access panel. The micro-bugs will be within the system in minutes."

"Are you okay, Saren?" Signas noticed the delegate trailing off slightly in his speech. Saren cleared his throat, feigning exhaustion.

"Forgive me, sir," He forced a small cough, mentally cursing for nearly casting suspicion upon himself. "It has been a busy week in the organization, and I have not had sufficient time to sleep in the past two days."

"I understand what you mean," Signas chuckled with empathy. "Tell me, Saren, this Cerebra Group has donated considerably to the restoration of this city over the past months…forgive my curiosity, but where have these funds been coming from? Surely, even the Cerebra Group must be feeling the impact of the Great Collapse."

Saren laughed, pleasantly surprised to find another subject to occupy Signas with. There wasn't much to hide, really – Saren had built the group from the bottom up slowly and patiently, collecting monthly funds from the local government after claiming their status as a rising philanthropist function. After participating in the recovery of the surrounding cities after six separate crises and collecting bonus fees from the government because of their efforts, the company had soon grown into a poster child for the charitable, self-made millionaire. He had geared roughly ninety-five percent of the Cerebra Group's wealth toward its outward function, but that extra five percent had been carefully concealed from the records, being meant for the Cerebra Group's 'side' projects, which would ultimately spell doom for Signas and his precious army.

As Saren explained more about the Cerebra Group's origins to the intrigued general, he received another radio call from Scorpulos, who was sounding confident and assuring. Saren was pleased – despite his shadier history among the Reploid bounty hunting circuit, Scorpulos knew how to deliver when presented with enough zenni.

"Delivery complete, Saren. Five hundred more micro-bugs are inside the defensive arrays; there's no sign of their detection at the moment. I believe that this operation is a complete success."

Saren smirked inwardly, letting his pride show on his sharp facial features as he led the general on. They had made it too easy, really – even the great supreme commander of the Maverick Hunter army had no idea of the true purposes of the aid negotiations. Here he was, so eager to listen to the Cerebra Group's history like a brainless schoolchild while his own interior defenses were secretly being triggered for later compromise. It would only take a few more visits to completely infest the entire Maverick Hunter defensive and communication networks.

He relaxed his body and leaned back in his chair leisurely as he addressed the curious General Signas. He basked in his ingenuity – these 'legendary' warriors were so embarrassingly easy to deceive, especially if one played the correct part to the hilt.

::'Up and down, up and down; I will lead them up and down: I am fear'd in field and town.
Goblin, lead them up and down.'::
* * *

X stepped into the hangar, his side still aching from the surgery he'd received upon his return to the base the previous evening. His body would take a few days to break in the new components, and until then, he would be forced to deal with the tension.

The pain and weariness that had seemingly left X's system after Zero bailed him out of the sniper ambush had returned by the time the med teams had brought them back, and Lifesaver had ordered him placed in the Infirmary Wing as soon as he'd looked at the Maverick Hunter's disheveled condition. As for Zero, he'd slipped away from the medics during X's hospitalization, and he hadn't heard from him since their small chat near the sniper towers, which was very unusual. Whenever one of them was laid up with injuries, the other was there most of the time to provide some company. Since his absence, X had to be content with making cheap small talk with the protocol-driven medical staff.

::Probably still obsessing over those dreams of his…:: He mused as his boots echoed on the grated floor of the plain, expansive Hangar TG-2. He still wished that he could've given Zero some better advice on how to cope with the pain he was still feeling regarding those past events, but his friend was as stubborn and prideful as he was tenacious in battle – Zero would sort the visions out on his own, and he would hopefully be back to normal shortly. And until he did, there was no sense alarming any of the others – Zero's recent nightmares would remain a safely guarded secret.

X shook it off, remembering his own plans for the evening and glad that the strict, perfectionist Lifesaver had cleared him from the Infirmary Wing in time to attend them. Alia had left him a message during his surgery to meet her in the old hang-out spot for the Seventeenth Unit, and from there they would take a trip around the rebuilt areas of Talara for some downtime. Alia seemed to feel somewhat forward when she first asked X about doing anything in the off-hours, though as he thought about it, Zero's mocking inferences echoed within his skull. He shook his head with an internal smirk as he slipped through the array of parked Gunner Cycles and Assault Runners – X still maintained that Alia was more interested in analyzing radio code than starting something with a fellow Hunter, even if X had been interested. In his mind, she just wanted something to break from her stressful schedule of acting as Unit Seventeen's chief communications officer and attempting to revive Gate to his former self.

Weaving around another half-repaired Assault Runner, X spotted Alia sitting on a large metal storage cube. She was chatting with Douglas, who was busily performing some welding on the wing of another sleek-looking Assault Runner. X shook his head at the mechanic's one-track nature – since the production of the tiny gunships had been green-lit from the R & D technicians, he'd become obsessed with keeping Unit Seventeen's assigned models in peak physical condition. X supposed that it would be to their benefit if the Assault Runners were ever to come into use, but he would certainly hate to lose one of them on the battle ground – it would probably cause Douglas to suffer an emotional overload.

Alia noticed X sauntering toward them, smiling and waving him over to them.

"You're late, X," She greeted him, hopping off of the box. "What happened, did Lifesaver keep you imprisoned for a bit longer than you expected?"

"You're good at guessing these things, Alia," He replied, nodding in friendly greeting to her and Douglas as the mechanic turned from his work, returning the gesture. "He wasn't satisfied until all of my circuitry was at one hundred percent functioning capacity and in perfect alignment with all of my current body parts. He also devotes every bit of energy to me whenever I'm held up in there – you'd think he doesn't have anything better to do."

"He's just trying to keep the best Hunter in the army in peak condition," Alia explained teasingly, glancing at some of X's new armor plating. "Lifesaver did a splendid job on you – you look brand new."

"I'd still rather keep my old parts and not nearly get blown to bits by a plasma grenade," X admitted.

"I'd agree with that one any day," Douglas nodded as he flipped his ruby-shaded goggles down over his eyes and continued welding a fresh piece of armor plating onto the orange-reddish wing of the parked Assault Runner. He laughed aloud, his good humor always in high form. "But you did succeed in giving us quite a scare yesterday, X, especially Alia. You should've heard her when your radio link got cut off – she was nearly hysterical trying to get you back on the line."

Alia responded by walking over to Douglas and smacking him on the back of his head. The startled mechanic fumbled the welder in his hands, burning one of his fingers with the powerful flame jet. The instrument clattered onto the floor as Douglas clutched his red-hot finger tightly with his other hand, yelping out loud and blowing on it.

"I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, Douglas," she grumbled toward him, picking up a coolant spray from the nearly toolbox and spraying down Douglas's burning appendage. He breathed gratefully, letting the gel-like spray solidify on his finger. "Of course I was concerned; X is part of my unit, and he's one of our best Hunters! I don't want to imagine what would've happened if we'd lost him."

Douglas mumbled a curse under his breath, but peeked back at Alia with a smirk.

"You mean if YOU lost him…"

"What was that?"

Douglas picked up the welder, returning to his work with a small smirk on his face.

"Oh, nothing; it was nothing at all." He replied, clicking the welder on and resuming his work fastening the panel. "So where are the two of you headed tonight? There's not exactly much to do around town these days."

"Just a friendly night out, Douglas," X said, motioning toward Alia. "We were probably going to take a walk around the north sectors for a while, check out the local nightlife. Both of us could use it after all this time."

"That's right, neither of you have taken any leave since before the end of the Nightmare Crisis," Douglas noted. "And I think it's the least they could give you after the sniper ambush yesterday. I was sorry to hear about your back-ups…I knew Getero well; he was getting a side-education in basic mechanics before he was taken out."

"That reminds me," X turned to Alia. "Sorry to put this off any longer, but I did promise to meet up with the new transfers from the Eighth Unit before I checked out today; they're probably in the transfer briefing with the general now. Signas told me that these two held some kind of special potential."

"What, the two Repliforce defectors?" Douglas glanced back at them with a pseudo-nasty look on his face. X felt his processor twisting – even with more upbeat Reploids like Douglas, old grudges never seemed to die with the Maverick Hunters, especially since the brutal confrontation with the Repliforce had cost the Maverick Hunters more soldiers than any other previous Maverick uprising.

But X didn't want to be deterred; he was, after all, a commander of an elite Hunter unit, and he was obligated to act as such, without hostilities or prejudice. He addressed both Alia and Douglas.

"They've survived in our ranks since then, and once they register for active duty within this unit, I want them to be respected by every member of the support team, just as you would respect me."

"Whatever you say," Douglas replied nonchalantly. X didn't take too much offense to the indifference – despite any rare qualms he had with X's leadership of Unit Seventeen, Douglas usually followed his orders to the letter once the opportunity presented itself to do so. "But I wouldn't trust them so much in the elite units. After all, they walked out on the Repliforce; what's to stop them from doing the same to us?"

"Would you care to say that a bit louder, grease-monkey?" A thick, rumbling voice rang out from behind X and Alia. Douglas suddenly looked awfully nervous as the bellowing tone reached his audio receptors. The three Hunters glanced toward the voice's origin, and X heard Alia gasp slightly as they spotted a large armored Reploid standing no more than thirty feet away. His massive arms were folded across his broad chest, and his deep steel blue eyes were shooting a very irritated glance toward Douglas.

He looked amused at the mechanic's awe-filled stare.

"Maybe you'd like me to give you a nice tan with that welder of yours…"

Douglas drew back at the sight of the black-haired sentinel, throwing up his hands and pasting a goofy smile on his face as his welder once again dropped onto the floor, the escaping fire nearly burning his foot.

"No, no, no, that's quite alright!" He guffawed, jumping away from the searing flame. "You must be one of the Forge brothers; I'm the unit's engineer; welcome to Unit Seventeen!!"

The burly Reploid nodded more approvingly, his long black mustache nearly touching his silver-colored armor. The ensemble he was donning was covered in multi-colored sigils that blended in nicely with the circuit relays lining his lower chest. Strapped diagonally across his back by a tight strip of durilium was appeared to be a slender silver laser pike, the spearhead deactivated with the weapon in safety mode. His jet-black hair was slicked back and well kept; it probably would've been shoulder-length had he not tied it back in a ponytail.

"That's what I thought," He replied as he approached X. The blue Hunter looked upward at the imposing figure, suddenly feeling incredibly small. It seemed to fit with a joke Zero had thrown at him as of late – a few of the Reploid developers were going with bigger and better models as a cynical shot toward X, who, aside from the powerful X-Buster on his arm and his reputation, never appeared as the most threatening Hunter on the force.

"Lieutenant First Class, Richter Forge, reporting for duty. It's an honor to meet you, sir," The soldier stood at attention, saluting him and speaking clearly and distinctly. X was taken aback slightly at the show of good manners after the exchange with Douglas, but he nonetheless returned the gesture. Considering the differences between the two, X felt a tad unfit to command such a huge, gallant-looking warrior.

Before the Unit Seventeen commander could introduce himself, a smaller Reploid about X's size appeared from behind Richter, donning light tan armor with smaller, dark markings covering him. It looked more like camouflage armor than standard field defense, a type meant for more rugged Hunters, usually snipers and trackers. The soldier's more boyish, clean-shaven face, and carefully trimmed dark hair set him apart from typical Hunters in that field. His serious eyes were filled with intelligence, giving him the look of an out-of-place scholar rather than a soldier. He nudged Richter aside a bit, saluting as sternly as the first Reploid had.

"Lieutenant Third Class, Gavin Forge, reporting. It is a privilege to serve you, Commander X," His voice was rich, respectful, and mature; X didn't expect it for someone of his young appearance.

X saluted what he assumed to be the younger of the Forge brothers as he had done the first, glancing over the duo with intrigue. Both of them looked capable enough and well committed, the Maverick Hunter emblems carefully polished on their left shoulders. However, as X examined them more closely, he noticed another familiar logo emblazoned on their opposite shoulders. He shook his head, motioning to the large, star-encrusted 'R' on Gavin's upper right arm.

"I didn't know that the Repliforce logo was standard regulation for Maverick Hunters in the Eighth Unit," He said to Gavin, who remained unfazed as he replied to his commander.

"It is not against regulation, sir; as long as the Hunter emblem is clearly visible, we may wear our creators' sigil as a decorative addition to our attire."

X heard Alia snuff slightly; he couldn't help but agree a bit with her. Keeping the logos of their old group was a move that reeked of either arrogance or fierce loyalty – despite their misgivings with the Repliforce, Gavin and Richter apparently still held strong to the old name. X could imagine that they'd suffered a few insults because of it.

But the young Gavin had presented a valid point – there was no regulation against using the sigil as a decoration on their armor. Besides, they had an equally prominent Maverick Hunter symbol on their designs anyhow, and their orderly manner somehow made up for the unwelcome blemish.

"Very well…" X stepped back, trying to remember the files he'd studied in the med ward in preparation for their arrival. "At ease. Tell me, Richter, how much combat experience do you possess?"

The Forges relaxed, though they maintained a straight stance with dignified speech. X was impressed – Repliforce had taught them well. They seemed a bit taken aback as X addressed Richter by his first name, but most new recruits reacted similarly – X's command structure was a bit more relaxed than most unit leaders.

"I participated in the civil defense of Talara during the Eurasia incident and the Nightmare Crisis," Richter explained, drawing out his pike and igniting the spearhead, which flared to life in a blazing silver flash. He stepped back to get some space and casually twirled the pike, performing a few basic thrusts, slashes, and combination moves without much effort. Zero would've been impressed – not too many of even the larger Hunter veterans could wield that weapon without expending a great deal of energy. "During the time, I earned a Class A Hunter license and a Master certificate in this baby. There's no better weapon than this!"

X motioned to Gavin, who responded by igniting a pair of laser daggers, the weapons jutting out of his knuckles. Alia and Douglas reacted with surprise – it was a new weapon on them. Gavin made a few random cutting motions across the air, speaking to X at the same time.

"Repli--" He froze, clearing his throat. "My old training included mastery of small melee combat, and since the end of the war, I've been training as a sniper. My scores on the annual proficiency tests were among the highest on the force."

X nodded, smiling approvingly as both of the brothers sheathed their weapons.

"Welcome to the Seventeenth Unit, Gavin and Richter," He bowed his head courteously. "I'm looking forward to having you as my supports."

"Do you have any current orders for us, sir?" Gavin abruptly said, his stern, rigid form restored.

X shook his head.

"If you're down here, then I suppose you've already had the formal interview with General Signas?"

"He was very busy in a meeting, actually. It was something about aid dispersal or something along those lines," Richter replied a bit more casually. "We recognized you when we saw you heading into the Hangar area from the Hub. We figured we'd introduce ourselves to our new commander during our wait."

X was a bit surprised – not many had taken such initiative to seek out their unit commanders before the general's opening brief with them, mostly because it was common knowledge that Signas was to give them a low-down of everyone involved with their assigned units. However, X did know that if Signas had become freed up during their time spent in the Hangar area, the desk clerk would be in a frenzy attempting to locate them.

The other reason that X was a bit astonished by the news was that the aid negotiations were taking much longer than usual – the Cerebra Group delegate usually ended his talks by about an hour ago. It was unusual for an organized schedule-keeper like Signas to receive any guest that long either.

"Very well, then report to the brief for further instructions," X ordered them. "I'll be taking leave for the rest of the evening; if you have any questions about your transfer, feel free to ask Signas."

"Thank you, sir!" Both Forge brothers echoed at the same time.

"Dismissed."

Richter and Gavin bowed lowly before spinning on their heels and marching out of the hangar.

* * *

As soon as they were out in the hall, Richter turned back to address his brother, who looked to be contemplating something. He always rolled his eyes at that – Richter didn't think that there was time where Gavin WASN'T thinking critically about something.

"Well? What did you think of him?" He asked in a friendly tone. Gavin usually got nervous around the first day of meeting a new commander, and today had been no exception. Richter had been surprised with the professional manner in which the studious brother of his had conducted himself.

Gavin glanced up at Richter's towering form, shrugging his shoulders.

"He certainly wasn't as enormous as his reputation makes him out to be," He replied as the two Hunters exited out into the Hub. "At least not physically. He looked…more ordinary, more modest than I ever would've imagined, and his personality was definitely not as crass and tactless as his fighting style. He also seemed very young considering his status within the organization."

"I asked what you thought of him, not for a character analysis," Richter laughed. "You've been spending way too much time with your nose in the research files again. Maybe under X, you'll finally learn to lighten up for once. He seems to be more informal than Commander Valasko, more personable."

Gavin snuffed, stopping momentarily and leaning on the gold-colored railing.

"I suppose you're going to let that detract from your loyalty programs?" He said as Richter glanced around the gigantic, spacious Hub. The triple-decker fountain – which by far dominated the room, standing three stories tall – added a lot of life to the room, and the ring that stretched around the monstrous fountain was well-polished and possessed a rich gold shade. Being in the Eighth Unit, Richter and Gavin had been stationed at a satellite outpost several miles outside Talara, which wasn't nearly as lavish as the main HQ. He was curious to see what their quarters would look like.

"No, but it should make our careers a bit easier to endure," He replied to Gavin. "Besides, I don't think either of us have a right to talk about loyalty programs. I'm still amazed that we got a chance to make it in the Maverick Hunter force, let alone into the elite units."

"At least he wasn't as objecting to our sigils as Valasko was," Gavin said optimistically. "I figured he would've had us tear them off as soon as he saw them."

"And I would've torn his head off if he had tried," Richter grumbled. "I may have our loyalties with the Maverick Hunters, but my creators were of the Repliforce guard. Despite their ill turns before the end of the empire, they did give both of us life, and we owe them in that regard."

"Calm yourself, brother; I didn't mean it that way," Gavin held up his hands, trying to assuage his older sibling's irritation. "I merely made the point in support of our commander's honor and respect for our own personal beliefs. I have a feeling he won't try to patronize or downcast us like Valasko and the Eighth Unit soldiers did."

Richter glanced over at him, smiling confidently again.

"Then you will pledge your loyalty to him?" He asked. "And so soon? It took you weeks and some begging on my part before you would even acknowledge Valasko as a commander."

"Valasko was a prejudiced, belligerent arm-chair commander," Gavin shot out, pushing away from. "For the moment, I will pledge myself to someone with the integrity and respect showed to both of us by Commander X."

"As will I," Richter saluted Gavin twice, first with the common salute that the Maverick Hunters followed, and then by the extended arm salute of the Repliforce. Gavin replied in like kind, smiling at his brother. Richter motioned for him to follow. "Now let's see if we can't get in touch with General Signas – lord knows, it's been long enough."
* * *

"Huh, poster-childs for the model soldier," He observed moments after Richter and Gavin had stepped outside into the hallway, finally reclaiming the welder from the grated floor. "They look tough enough – if Repliforce had two guys like that on their side when you and Zero took them on, you might've had a tougher time of it against them."

"Richter was supposed to be a right-hand man to the Colonel," X informed him, causing Douglas's eyes to brighten in amazement. "Anybody worthy enough to be picked for that is worth having on our side."

"I'd agree; I may just get used to those two over time," Alia said, approaching X. "Are you ready to go, X? I'd rather not get out too late. I've got to report early tomorrow."

"Sure, not a problem," X waved back toward Douglas. "You up to joining us, Douglas? You look like you could use a break!"

X thought he heard Alia take a sharp breath, and Douglas glanced quickly over at her before replying.

"Sorry, X," He motioned to the Assault Runner behind him. "I've got three more of these babies to overhaul, and I'm supervising the refueling of Unit Five and Unit Three's Gunner Cycles. I won't be done until the morning hours, if I'm lucky."

"Well, good luck," X responded. "You're too much, Douglas – sooner or later, you're going to wear yourself out of this trade."

"I wouldn't make any bets on that," Douglas laughed, waving them off as he returned to the tool shelf to retrieve a few more smaller parts. "You two have fun! Enjoy yourselves for a change!"

X and Alia exited the hangar, proceeding through the steel-lined corridor that led back to the Hub.

"Are you okay, Alia?" X noticed that she was being unusually quiet, especially since the introduction of the Forge brothers. "You look…tired."

Alia shook her head, blinking her eyes rapidly.

"Between the theft at Arsenal Number Nine and several other survey reports, this has been a busy week," She informed him. "It's also been getting the crews to perform maintenance on the equipment and trying to decrypt a ton of transmitted text data; I haven't had much room for sleep."

"Well, look at it this way: we'll at least be enjoying a night off for the first time in--"

A sudden beeping interrupted his sentence, and X groaned as he activated his internal radio. He was getting a call from somewhere in the base. He felt his power core sinking – he knew what was coming.

"This is X," He spoke aloud, the radio's small link picking up his voice.

"X, this is General Signas with a Priority One message. Sorry, commander, but we're going to have to cancel your shore leave for the moment – we've just intercepted some critical information on a case you've been following for some time."

X's eyes lit up as Alia watched him, curious to know what was going on.

"General…" X smiled confidently. "Don't toy with me here…are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Signas laughed through the other of the communicator.

"Fortunately for you, I'm about to make your evening a lot more interesting," He reported. "Yes, we've finally made a breakthrough in the HYBRID weapons organization case: bring Alia and meet us in the front of the Hub for further details. Signas out."

X felt elated as Signas closed the link, smiling broadly. He'd waited since before the Nightmare Crisis to get something solid on the elusive black market group; if it was a Priority One message, then it had to be something that could lead to finally being able to find the group's main base of operations.

"Somehow, I think we're going back to work tonight," Alia said with a bit of disappointment.

X turned to her, feeling a bit embarrassed after his outburst.

"Sorry, Alia; I'll take a rain-check on that tour," He motioned for her to hurry down the hall after him. "And you're right – we do have some work to do."