Zero was running. He had no idea how, no idea why, no idea where, no idea when... all he knew was that he was moving his legs as fast as possible, his breath running short and his entire mind and body in some kind of haze. It seemed almost as if he'd been running for miles; it surprised him to see how fatigued he was at the time, especially considering that he was a reploid and was designed for this kind of strain. But there was some other force tugging at him, pulling him back...
Even in this unstoppable haze, Zero managed to figure out where he was - a narrow corridor, one that he remembered having walked through many times in the past. But something was different about it this time around; the walls looked like they were painted with red, throbbing and closing in on him as he ran. The hall also looked much longer than he remembered, as if it stretched into eternity. Maybe his mind was just playing tricks on him, but he just couldn't tell - all he could think about was that he couldn't stop running, and if he did-
He stopped. By instinct, he noticed that the seemingly endless hallway he had been charging through had reached its end; to his left was another passageway. Breathing fast and trying his hardest to ignore the physical fatigue he endured, Zero peered down the other passage. But it was no use, and he knew it - all red, it was just more and more red haze, and he couldn't interpret what was going on...
...then, finally, something appeared. At first, all Zero could see of it was an outline in a slightly darker shade of red than the rest of his surroundings; but eventually, it started to take a shape. Desperately trying to shake away the crimson blur, Zero rubbed his eyes and squinted as hard as he possibly could. But still, all he could see was more and more red... he was about ready to give up at that point, to fall to the floor in a lifeless heap, hoping a good slumber would jolt him back to his senses somehow...
Then, finally, something clicked; even in the midst of this haze, Zero remembered something that made sense for the very first time since he was there. He couldn't completely decipher what this memory was, exactly - but he knew that he needed to act on it as soon as possible. His body almost acting automatically, the Crimson Hunter's boot thrusters suddenly came to life, and soon enough he found himself barreling down the other hallway, completely focused on reaching that figure, whoever it was. Something was telling him that he NEEDED to catch this figure, to stop whatever he was doing...
"Braunwood!" Zero heard himself shout, feeling himself start to lose control. The figure was much more visible now than before; he wore a small black coat, with even darker black hair and very pale skin. Even if he couldn't get a very good look at this mysterious man, Zero knew deep down that this was his target, this was the person he had been running after, THIS was the man that forced him into this haze. All he could think about was that he needed out, he needed to catch this man if it was the last thing he did.
But the task would prove much more difficult than Zero imagined - obviously sensing the impeding danger, the man had sprinted away from Zero as fast as he possibly could, pumping his legs with incredible strength and speed. Still, nothing could quell Zero's determination at this point; seeing him run just energized the Hunter even further, the red haze now serving as aid rather than a hindrance. He was right on the man's heels when he heard himself shout "BRAUNWOOD!" once again, pushing every ounce of energy he had left into his legs, forcing them to propel him towards this figure. He was now closer to him than ever before, and could almost sense the fear in his soul...
That is, until both of them were suddenly forced to stop right there - they'd finally reached a dead end.
The man spun around, facing Zero for the first time. His entire figure was now completely distinguishable - young and lean, with very dark hair and clothing to match. His skin looked even paler than usual, with fear coursing through every vein in his body. Trapped against the wall like a mouse to a cat, looked into Zero's eyes with his own - both a cold and unnatural black. Zero stared right back at him; he himself was leaning over, gasping for air, his senses enflamed with that same reddish catalyst that somehow wouldn't go away. His body seemed to have automatically come to a halt when this other man did; if it hadn't, then he probably would have collided against the wall, taking the figure with him. As odd as it was, he couldn't focus on it right now - he was fixated on this shady-looking man, still trying to figure out why he pursued him, only to be met with more and more of the evil redness...
"So," the man said with a callous voice, despite the fearful look on his face. "What... do YOU want from me?"
"What's going on, Braunwood?!" Zero suddenly spouted out - he now realized that not only was he unable to control his body, but his words as well. His body was beyond his control, save for his mind, which was completely in the clouds. "I come out of training to see three of my friends struggling to live, and then I see you dashing through the halls like a madman, and then this haze... what the hell are you doing?!"
The man's response was immediate; a cool, wry smile formed on his lips, shoving his fear aside. His eyes almost looked excited, and for what reason Zero didn't want to know. His entire body trembled as he felt himself starting to stand upright, finally at even height with the stranger; looking at him now, it seemed like he enjoyed watching Zero struggle, like an artist admiring his masterpiece.
"Braunwood! Damnit, SAY something!" Zero heard himself shout, breathing heavily. Without hesitation, he converted his right arm to a buster cannon and leveled it directly at the man's face, his arm visibly weaker than usual. He could feel his blood boiling angrily throughout his entire system. "Just tell me what's going on, and we'll make a clean break, alright? Don't make me hurt you."
Even with the imposing threat, the man hardly seemed phased; he started straight into the mouth of the cannon, his eyes narrowed, as if daring the Hunter to take a shot. Zero himself didn't know why he needed to threaten this man - he just wanted to leave this haze, and he didn't see how killing this guy would help him in that department. But his body refused his commands, and he stood there as rigid as ever, ready to attack but finding it difficult to do so.
"Hurt me?" the man said almost comically, his smirk more apparent than ever as he bored into Zero's enraged eyes once again. The man was so determined at this point, it frightened the Crimson Hunter to the bone; what was this psycho up to now? "Oh, no, Zero. I don't think you're going to be hurting me anytime soon."
"Pshh," Zero replied coarsely, charging his buster to its first level. "I'll be the one to decide that, Braunwood. Now come with me, and nobody'll get hurt, okay?"
"That isn't necessary..." the man said even more gleefully than before. Zero wondered why until, at long last, his answer came in the form of a horrible pain searing through his entire body - out of seemingly nowhere, the red haze became a thousand times more powerful than before, completely clouding his vision and ripping him apart from the inside-out. He toppled to the ground, hitting his spine hard against the tiled flooring; Zero was starting to think that he'd be encased in this red hell forever until, miraculously, it subsided.
Or so he thought. It didn't take long for Zero to realize that the haze had drained away a great deal of energy - so much so that he found it a daunting task just to lift his head up. Not to mention that he was in one of the worst mental states of his life; he still couldn't figure out who this man was, let alone why and how he was so ruthlessly attacking him. He just wanted to go to sleep, to wake up in peace in some far off land, to get away from the red-
"Just like that," he heard the man say, "and I could have you killed in an instant."
"No..." Zero whimpered; the tone of his voice indicated that he had just discovered something, something horrible. Mustering every ounce of strength he had left in him, he lifted his head up to meet the evil face of this man, a look of extreme anger imprinted on his own. "You didn't... you stole it from..."
"Cain," he replied with a terrifying amount of scorn; for the first time, he said something that Zero could understand, even in the state he was in. "Yes, it was certainly easy to subdue HIM... but you might require a bit more work."
"Wha... no!" Zero yelped, attempting to push himself upward but being forced back by constant shots of pain in his spine and arms. "You won't... get away!"
"Oh, I will. And here's why." He raised his arm high, high enough so that Zero had an almost perfect view of it; horrified, the Crimson Hunter saw a stream of red mist forming a barrier around his arm, undoubtedly the same red mist that had been torturing Zero for what seemed like an eternity. But before Zero could do a thing to defend himself, the redness had again taken over his body, much worse than before - pain surged throughout every crevice of his systems, unlike any he had ever endured. Redness had drowned his senses out, allowing him no room to live; his attempts to scream in agony were pointless, as the fog was choking him, entering his throat and sucking the lifeblood out of him like a leech. All he could see was red, more and more red...
...until, finally, it faded to black. Zero lay on the invisible ground, frozen with fear; the pain had disappeared somehow, and he was now alone. He could still hear something, though - laugher, a maniacal laugh that sent infinite chills down his spine. Suddenly, the Hunter found himself falling through the floor, venturing deeper and deeper into the darkness. Very faintly, he heard these words as he fell:
"I'll let you off easy this time around. But just remember that the Hunters can't keep up this charade for long. As long as I'm alive, I'll help make sure that your dream is never to be seen. I promise that.
"Oh, and next time you see Cain, tell him this: I HATE him. You hear that? I HATE HIM!!"
Soon, all Zero could hear were the words "I HATE HIM!" over and over again, this hateful voice in his ear that just drove him insane. He needed to awaken from this nightmare, or else he knew that he would die right then and there. Gaining mobility once again, he covered his ears, but it was no use; the voice became louder and louder, pounding at Zero's brain like a jackhammer, drilling into it and infecting it as he continued to fall into oblivion...
And then, there was silence.
Zero awoke with a start. Still in a state of shock, it took a minute or so for him to realize that he was lying in a small, semi-comfortable bed inside of a tent-like structure. The darkness was gone, the evil laughter was gone, the horrible pain was gone; observing his surroundings, he saw that he was in his assigned Repliforce tent, with some books and supplies strewn all around him. Most reassuring, the light of day shone on him from the tent's opening, something he almost thought he'd never see again.
"A dream..." he muttered with a strong sigh of relief, still breathing heavily from his nightmarish vision. "I knew it."
Despite the relief he felt being back in his bed, Zero was still chilled by his dream - he wanted very much to just erase it from his mind forever, but he knew he couldn't do that, especially with a nightmare of this magnitude. The pain that he had felt before was real - too real. For a second he considered the possibility that he might have something wrong with his internals, but a quick inner CPU scan showed nothing out of the ordinary. Was it some kind of foretelling of the future, or was it some odd fantasy intermingled with some bad memories...? Or was he just going out of his mind?
As much as the thought of the dream frightened him, Zero knew that it would be wise for him to at least TRY to shrug it off for a time - there were more important things to take care of. His clock indicated that it was already well past seven, even when he had already set it to four last night.
"Damnit, does this thing EVER work?!" he cursed, grabbing the electronic and angrily tossing it across the room. Constant, sweltering rage wasn't something Zero harbored most of the time, but memories of the horrible pain in his dream still seemed to be affecting him. As much as he tried, he still couldn't get that feeling of pain out of his head, so much so that it felt like he couldn't even find the energy to lift himself out of bed. What the hell was going on with him?
Before he could come up with any kind of logical answer to this, an enraged yell sounded from outside the tent:
"I HATE HIM!"
He froze. For a fleeting moment, he thought that he still hadn't awoken from his nightmare; that the man who he had envisioned was right outside, ready to encase him in that red haze once again. But that feeling faded away surprisingly fast when he realized that the voice he heard outside couldn't possibly have been that man - it was much, MUCH more feminine sounding. Still a little woozy, he wasn't completely sure whom the voice belonged to until his answer walked right into the tent.
"God, I hate him so MUCH!" the new figure bellowed, blocking out some of the daylight shining in; Zero rubbed his eyes a bit to see a short, pretty female reploid standing in front of the tent's flap. She wore what looked like a Repliforce uniform, made up of a yellow blouse and shorts that extended below the knee. Her hair was much more tangled and uncombed than usual, and she had a very bemused look on her face, which Zero noticed almost immediately. He knew it was never a good sign.
"Iris," Zero said, weakly trying to sit up in his bed. "Uh... things going well?"
"Hi Zero," the reploid known as Iris groaned, conveniently ignoring Zero's question. "I haven't come in at a bad time, have I?"
"Well, actually, I was just about-"
"Good," she tersely cut him off, moving out of his sight and sitting on a chair on the other side of the tent. "I've honestly had ENOUGH of people's attitudes this morning, and I don't need any more of it. Just makes me sick."
"Hrm?" Zero muttered, lifting himself up to meet Iris's eyeline. "Something wrong, I figure...?"
"To say the least," she huffed, resting a cheek on her open palm. "My brother's being a dick."
The Crimson Hunter couldn't help but laugh a little at that remark, but quickly stopped after a dead serious glare from Iris. "Oh, sorry," Zero apologized, still trying to wipe the smirk off of his face. "So there's been a tiff between you and Colonel, eh?"
"More than that! I was VICTIMIZED, Zero. He always does that."
"...uh, right. Maybe I should just let the two of you iron this one out yourselves."
"Oh, come on, Zero!" she said pleadingly, a look of desperation mixed with anger on her face. "I want you to listen to me, okay? Maybe you can help me out, since you and Colonel seem to be good friends. Right?"
"Well... I guess," he submitted. "Not too serious of a problem, is it?"
"That probably would depend on your definition of 'serious', but that's beside the point," Iris explained, sounding somewhat less frazzled that before. "See, I was talking to him in his tent after this morning's scouting mission had been called off, and he mentioned that-"
"Wait - what?" Zero butted in, looking puzzled. "The scouting mission was called off? Is THIS why I wasn't woken up before?"
"I think so," Iris said nonchalantly. "Anyway, while I was talking to my brother, he mentioned that tonight there's gonna be another... scouting... thing. I forget what it was exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was important. So, long story short-"
"WHY was it called off?" Zero interrupted again, still caught in the dark. "Did he tell you?"
"I'll get to that LATER, Zero!" Iris scolded. "Can I finish my story already?"
The Hunter rolled his eyes; he knew that once Iris was focused on something, she would stay that way for a good long while and there wasn't much one could do to stop her. "Fine, fine. Go on," Zero said with reluctance. "So you were talking to him in the tent. What did he say?"
Iris beamed in triumph. "Oh-kay. Well, we were talking like normal, and he mentioned the second scouting thing tonight. So I asked him if I could go, right?"
"Right."
"And guess what? He says NO!" she exclaimed, waving her arms around as she spoke. "I couldn't believe it! He knows how well trained I am for missions like that, but he still treats me like I'm his little sister. I HATE him when he acts like that."
"Well, you ARE his little sister, aren't you?" Zero reasoned.
Iris narrowed her eyes. "Well, I guess, if you want to get all technical," she admitted. "But we were activated only a few minutes apart! And besides, I'm MUCH more mature now that I was back then. Colonel wouldn't believe that, though."
"Mmm hmm," Zero agreed, finally pushing the bedcovers off of him and getting his armor strapped on. His hair, mangled from the unpleasant sleep he had just awoken from, quickly became a nuisance; every time he tried to get his helmet on, the long golden strands would refuse to straighten out. "Gahh. Anyway, was there anything else Colonel said that I should know?"
"There's one last thing, I think," Iris pondered, stroking her hair a bit - the sight of Zero's bed-head made her more self-conscious of her own. "He told me that the mission would start around seven-thirty, and probably last overnight. Then, in the morning, they'll head back at 9:30 - around the time X should be arriving at our building, I think. Anyway..."
"Uh huh - WHA?!" Zero blurted out, hoping that his ears weren't packed with gauze. "You just - wha - guh - hold on a minute! Did you just say something about X going to your building? The REPLIFORCE building?"
"Well, yeah!" Iris said. "He's leaving tomorrow morning, and he's staying for a couple of days. I thought you knew about it...?"
"Nobody ever told me anything about that!" Zero barked, getting up as fast as he could and quickly putting on the last parts of his armor. "I don't get it - why is he going?"
"He's gonna give a speech, last I checked."
"SPEECH?! Oh, GOD, this is worse than I thought!"
"What? What's the problem?" Iris questioned, looking as confused as ever. "You seem really... uppity about this."
"Well, I think I have a right to!" Zero panicked. "This isn't gonna turn out good. There's just... no way. X is gonna get eaten alive if he's by himself."
"Eaten alive? What?"
"Iris, he's not exactly well-liked back at your home. If he stays there for too long... agh, I don't even wanna THINK about what'll happen."
"Oh, Zero, you're overreacting!" Iris scolded, lifting herself from the chair and crossing her arms. "X has already faced PLENTY of abuse in the past - actually, he's probably faced more violence in the past 5 years than most humans AND reploids have faced in their entire lives. Don't you think he could defend himself pretty easily by now?"
"Yeah, but that's PHYSICAL abuse you're talking about. And X can take that, sure," he reasoned. "But that's not the problem here. I'm talking about MENTAL ABUSE. No offense to him, but X is a little unbalanced in the old noggin, and he has a pretty short fuse because of it. One little insult could set him off, and without somebody there to calm him down... hoboy, that won't go well. Something needs to be done."
"What, YOU'RE gonna do something?" Iris challenged, scowling. "Come on, Zero. Stop worrying about it. There's nothing you can do from where you are now..."
"Like HELL there is!" Zero rebuttaled, finally managing to get his hair back into its standard ponytail. "I'm not sitting here while my friend gets chewed into baby food. The poor kid needs my help."
"So what're you gonna do?"
"What do you think? I'm gonna ask Colonel if I can get to the Repliforce building around the time X arrives."
"What?! Are you CRAZY?" Iris exclaimed, flailing her arms madly. "My brother's in a bad enough mood already - do you REALLY expect him to let you leave in the middle of a mission?"
"It's worth a try, isn't it?" he said, shrugging. "I don't care at this point. All I know is that I've gotta get to your HQ by tomorrow morning, and I'll keep begging your poor brother until he lets me go."
"Ugh..." Iris huffed, sitting back in her seat and burying her face in her hands. "Okay, fine! Go ahead. But believe me, if you end up getting sliced down the middle and melted into a thousand tuna containers, don't come crying to ME, alright? I've warned you enough." She sighed audibly as Zero began to exit the tent. "Jeez. I've had enough rejection this morning from my brother - why do I need it from you, too?"
Zero paused, observing Iris's downtrodden state - as much of a hurry he was in, he couldn't help but feel some pity for her. "Hmm..." he muttered. "Err, do YOU wanna come too?"
Iris stared up at Zero with disbelief. "Wha?"
"Yeah, that's a GREAT idea!" Zero exclaimed, complimenting himself. "I mean, think about it - you don't wanna hang around this place with nothing to do, and I wanna get to the Repliforce building and make sure X doesn't go insane. It'll be killing two birds with one stone! PERFECT."
"Um... well," Iris pondered. "Zero, I think you're getting a little over-ambitious. I wouldn't mind leaving, but Colonel wouldn't-"
"Don't worry, I can convince 'em!" Zero beamed with pride. "Colonel's my friend, he'll listen to me. Besides, you'd love to go back home, right? Yeah, this'll work out great! Come on!"
"Wait, Zero, hold on a-" Iris pleaded before Zero grabbed her arm and pulled her with him out of the tent, where the sun greeted both of their sullen eyes.
"You disgusting arrangement of decaying metal. The Gods spit on you!"
X stared his attacker down, his eyes as narrowed and focused as a hawk's. He didn't flinch - he refused to.
"What's the matter, Mr. Hunter Altar Boy? You afraid? Come on, stand up to me! That is, if your mamma'll let ya."
Hah - easy one. X still didn't flinch. This wasn't half as bad as he thought.
"Ah, I see how it is now!" the attacker mocked. "You must be busy thinking about your BOYFRIENDS back at home! All thirty of them! I bet you're FANTASIZING about them as I speak!"
Ohhhh no. Not the Generic Gay Insults. If there was anything that struck a nerve in X's systems, it HAD to be insults that falsely shoved him into a gay relationship. His main problem with it was that he had NO idea why people would think he was gay in the first place... but still, he refused to flinch. One gay joke wasn't enough to bring HIM down.
"Wussie reploid! Traitorous moron! You want Dr. Cain to give ya a sponge bath?!"
As much as he tried to hold back, he could now feel parts of his head twitching - this was starting to get rough. But he knew he could hold out, just for another minute or so...
"I bet ZERO'S your lover! Haha! Yeah, Mr. Prissy Boy, I bet you've got a crush on that guy. You love him. You wanna have, like, ten thousand of his babies..."
"GAHH! SHUT UP!!" X shouted, standing up on his bed and staring at his attacker menacingly. It was over. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, DAMNIT! YOUR MOTHER SUCKS WALNUTS!"
"Ahhh..." murmured Glacier Dragoon, X's "attacker", who sat on the carpeted floor with his legs crossed. He quickly pressed a button on a small stopwatch he held in his hand, and checked the time.
"Oh, jeez," X huffed in defeat, sitting back down on his bed to catch his breath. "Uh... well, did I improve this time?"
Glacier shook his head. "Not quite - you lasted about 27 seconds this time. A small improvement, I guess, but still not enough to last you for 2 days. Sorry."
"What? Gimme that!" X barked, snatching the tiny watch out of Glacier's hand and squinting to read the results. "Great, just great. Just how the hell am I supposed to take the insults from a bunch of Repliforce soldiers when I can't even take YOU jabbing at me?"
"You know, I think you're just taking this way too seriously," Glacier said casually, biting at one of his claws as if it didn't pose a threat at all. "Do you honestly expect everybody to be making fun of you like this? I've heard that most of the Repliforce is perfectly sound in the mental department." A wry grin formed on his somewhat elongated face. "And just out of curiosity - what IS it with you and gay jokes? They've never bothered me, or most reploids AND humans that I know."
X groaned at that question. "I'm not THAT affected by it," he reasoned. "But I just think it's stupid. I mean, how do I, in ANY way, act effeminate?"
Glacier stared straight into X's eyes after that comment, sniggering a bit. His actions spoke more that his words ever could.
"Rhetorical question," X emphasized, huffing a bit. "Don't you even start."
"I didn't say a word!" Glacier pleaded, holding his hands up to prove his innocence. "Not my fault if you're delirious. And another thing - I think we need to work on your comebacks, my friend. 'Your mother sucks walnuts'? I mean... wow."
"Ah, shut up," X said, looking positively miffed. "And I'm sure YOU could do better?"
"Oh, I KNOW I could do better than something involving mothers and walnuts," Glacier said assuringly. "Hell, ANYBODY could come up with a better comeback than that! If you brought that comeback to the friggin' Pope, he'd spit in your face and write up about 20 better ones so you could learn something. Seriously."
"Alright, that's enough," X scowled. "Jeez. You know, I thought you were gonna HELP me, Glacier. Not make fun of me."
"I am helping you," Glacier corrected. "It's called criticism. If you want to improve, you need to be able to handle it and use it to your own advantage. But I think it's obvious that you're not very good at taking critique."
"Critique. Pshh." X ripped his azure helmet off of his head, revealing a huddled mass of black hair consuming the top it. His eyes looked worn out with time. "I can't keep this up anymore. Maybe I'll just hit the hay or something."
"X, it's 3 P.M.," Glacier said, pointing at the digital clock sitting on a nightstand on the other side of X's dorm. "You woke up at 11, and you've been sitting around all day, so I don't know why you would be so tired already."
"I'm MENTALLY tired," X said groggily, pointing lamely at his head. "You wouldn't understand."
"'Mentally tired'. Pshaw." Glacier shook his head. "Jeez, if only Zero would here. He'd put a boot up your ass and shout insults at you while you cried like a little girl."
"I would NOT cry," X scolded, sounding even more pathetic than before. "And Zero would whoop my ass, sure. But he's not HERE. So unless you'd like to take a stab at injuring me, you're at a loss."
"Yeah, I guess you're right there," Glacier said with amusement, biting at another of his claws. "Speaking of Zero - you think he heard about us going to the Repliforce building tomorrow? Maybe Cain wants to keep it private, but I'm not sure why he'd want to do that."
"Oh, I'm SURE Zero knows," X huffed, falling down backwards on the bed and stretching out his limbs. "No way it could be kept a secret, right? But I honestly don't think he would give a crap."
"Ahh, come on. Don't say that..." Glacier said. "Zero's your friend, right? I think it would be natural for him to be at least a little worried."
"HAHA. Right!" X laughed. "Trust me, I know Zero. When he's out having fun slashing up Mavericks or going on scouting missions or whatever, he really, REALLY enjoys it. Eventually it gets to the point where he loves it so much that he doesn't give a shit about anybody who isn't with him at the time. So no, I doubt he would care."
"Uh huh," Glacier recognized as his eyes widened a bit. "Well, you think that he's not worried about you going because he thinks that you can defend yourself on your own now?"
"Nah. He would never buy into that."
"Or because I'm going with you?"
"Nah. You suck."
Glacier snorted audibly. "This is true," he admitted. "But still - you never know what Zero could be doing. Maybe he's trying out something to help you, right now, as we speak." He took a moment to reflect. "But I guess my main question would be this - do you really WANT him to help you out?"
X sat up, looking Glacier straight in the eyes; it occurred to him that he hadn't really thought about that before. "Err, well..." he muttered. "To be honest? No, I really don't."
"Really?" Glacier asked, raising his synthetic eyebrows. "Well, then why were you getting all upset over Zero not caring just now?"
"Well, lemme put it this way..." X explained. "I'll give you one thing I want from Zero, and one thing I don't want. The thing I want is for him to give a damn about his friends once in a while. The thing I DON'T want is for him to treat me like I was built yesterday. Simple as that."
"So you don't want him to be overly callous, but you also don't want him to treat you like a kid?"
"Yeah. That sounds about right," X confirmed. "I mean, he did that during the first war - which was pretty justified, since I was a helpless puppy back then - but he still does it once in a while, and it gets annoying. I mean, imagine if he were to show up at the Repliforce building suddenly, and then spend the time there walking me to the bathroom and all that stuff. That would just be... creepy."
Glacier nodded. "Well, I don't think anybody would want that."
"Okay, let me get this straight," said a commanding voice. "What you're asking me to do is give you a temporary pardon from your duties here, starting tomorrow morning."
"That's right."
"And included in this pardon, you want me to give you permission to stay at the Repliforce building for a full two days. You want to monitor X's activities."
"Yep."
"...and Iris wants to go with you, too."
"She seems willing."
"Hmm." The Repliforce Colonel leaned back in his chair and thought about Zero's proposal once again - but the more he thought about it, the more it perplexed him. Just yesterday night, it didn't seem as if Zero had any intention of leaving the small Repliforce squad at all. Now, he seemed as eager as ever to completely ditch it. Where was the sense in that?
"Well, Zero," he addressed, looking down at the Maverick Hunter from his desk; the Colonel's formal black, white, and red Repliforce battle armor made him appear a bit bulkier than the Crimson Wonder, especially from the angle he was at. "It's an interesting proposal, no doubt. Still, though, I'm kind of confused as to why you would want to do this in the first place. My apologies if I'm a little slow, but..."
"Nah, don't worry about it," Zero assured him, adjusting the position of his chair. "I know it's pretty rushed, considering that X's visit is just tomorrow, but it's only been since this morning that I even heard about it."
"So X is at the core of this?" Colonel concluded, rubbing his chin. "I see."
Zero gulped. He knew well that Colonel wasn't a big fan of X at all - despite his military victories against the Mavericks, Colonel viewed X as more of a reluctant pacifist who got lucky a few times rather than a savior of mankind. "Well, yeah, X has a key part in it," Zero admitted. "I figure he might need some support."
"Hmph. Support." Colonel straightened the black-colored Repliforce hat atop his head. "This is what confuses me. If X is such a decorated and skilled warrior, why does he need so many aides to surround him at all times while he's at our building? He should be able to take care of himself."
"Well, I'm not worried about him in the fighting department, to be honest," Zero said defensively; he had a feeling that the Colonel wouldn't let him off lecture-free. "It's more emotional support, really. He could use a friend or two. X and loneliness don't breed well."
"I'm sure that my soldiers back at the HQ won't be hostile towards him."
"I didn't mean it THAT way. I mean that he could use some company, you know? And no offense to him, but I'm a bit more respected over there."
"Hrm..." Colonel said for the umpteenth time. Still thinking, he turned to his tired-looking sister, Iris, sitting to Zero's left. "Iris? You agree with him?"
"Yeah..." she said groggily; after arguing with her brother, Zero tugging her across the field, and having to wait for an hour or so just to see her brother once again, she just felt like falling onto the floor and taking a nap right then and there. "I pretty much agree with what he said. That, and I'd like to have SOMETHING to do."
Colonel rolled his eyes a bit, straightening out some papers on his desk. "I see."
"Oh, don't give me that look," Iris huffed, narrowing her eyes at her brother.
"Iris, calm down. Your brother isn't out to kill you," Zero assured her.
"Well, I don't know about THAT," Colonel said, sounding amused. "But kidding aside, Zero... I've decided to make good on your proposal. It seems kind of fishy to me, and I'm upset that you won't be able to join me on our next mission, but I do trust your judgment."
"Whew! Thanks," Zero said gratefully. "Trust me, I'll be a good boy."
"Just some guidelines," Colonel butted in, still with his serious tone. "For one thing, keep an eye on Iris. I don't want her getting into any trouble over there."
"It's my HOME! I'll be fine!" Iris blurted out.
"Second," Colonel continued, ignoring his sister's outburst entirely. "Make sure X isn't... well, remiss in his duties. He's there for a reason, and I'll be damned if he starts goofing off or something."
"I know. I'm sure he'll be fine, especially if I'm around," Zero agreed.
Colonel gave a wry smile, one that unnerved Zero a bit. "Well, just be prepared. You never know what might come up."