Ok, before I begin, I would like to thank Seta for his review. And thanks for describing your force for me. I'll keep an eye out for him after I get a GC modem first.

Last time: Jeni had to get bailed out from WORKS hands with the help of Ash and the mechanized ranger, NL0026. When NL went to the mines to get medicine for Jeni, Ash took care of the Newman until she woke up with a hangover. NL returns with medicine for the hangover, but appeared to have been severely damaged in the mines retrieving it. Jeni rested for an hour more while Ash escorted NL to Montague's lab for repairs.

Episode II: Stories, Hunters, and a Deadly Surprise

"My, my, my." Jean Carlo Montague looked at NL's shield arm, which had to be disconnected to repair. "I've never seen any android this beaten up before." NL glared at the doctor. He was supposed to be in idle mode, but he long ago removed all equipment essential for recovery while idle. The one arm still attached to his shoulder clenched and unclenched a fist.

"Well esssscusse meee forr piiiikin a fiiiiight withhh WORKKKS." NL's speech centers were still damaged, so his voice was horrible.

"Ash," the doctor began, "Open up the helmet and fix the speech circuits. He sound like an old toy. Eh heh heh." Ash knew what to do, this was the tenth time that NL's circuits have been messed up. "Eleanor, how's his D-Parts."

The pink machine looked up from the table she was working at. "A mess. It will take some time to fix." She picked up a tool near by and continued to try and repair the armor. Bhirava beeped, making Eleanor turn away from the armor to speak with it. "His Bhirava noted that everything that he owned was smashed up pretty badly." She listened to it beep some more. "Also, his weapons were damaged pretty quickly. And..." she listened as it droned some more. She then started to dig through her pack.

Ash looked up from removing the speech circuits. "And... what?"

She took out a sol atomizer and gave it to the mag, which practically scarfed it down. "He forgot to feed his mag." Ash started to laugh, before evading a wild item that was too close to the one armed machine and getting back to work. The door to Montague's lab opened, and the person entering dove out of the way as the stray equipment flew through it. Jeni peeked her head out from the door edge.

"Jeese, Montague," she huffed. "Next time you make a defense system, make sure it recognizes friend from foe."

Montague looked at Jeni. "Ah, Jennie. I see that your back and feeling well. And, Eh heh heh, why make a defense system when he (Montague makes a gesture towards NL) practically smashes anything that ticks him off here."

Jeni acted that she understood. 'I'll never understand him.' She looked around. 'Doesn't seem that the lab changed all that much.' Everything basically was where it should be. The one corner was loaded with metallic armors and endoskeletons of the hunter androids, where Montague and Eleanor were working to repair the armor and arm. In the other corner was a computer that linked up directly to the bulletin and Pioneer 2's computer. Several stasis pods were visible in the other corner, where Eleanor and her sister, Ult, normally spent their days to recharge. One was currently locked, containing the remains that were salvageable of Ult when a Photon Blast of unusual strength erupted in the ruins. "How's Ult?"

Montague looked at the pod. "It'll still take some time to repair her entire body, but at least her memory is still intact."

"I see." She looked at NL and Ash, who were already in the middle of the room. NL was sitting on what looked like an operating table, with another table of tools near him. Sato charged in and started to try and play with Bhirava, which tried to stay away from the energetic mag. "Anything new happen Eleanor?"

The android looked up. "Not really. It's good to see you back." Sato beeped again, getting Elenor's attention. "Looks like your mag's doing well with you. It's soo cute."

Jeni couldn't help but smile. "Thanks. Sato is great, but gets a little overprotective at times." She lured her mag back by pulling out a sol atomizer of her own. The kitten mag dashed back to its owner, snagged the medicine, and started to down it. "At least I can start to understand it now."

Eleanor would smile, if her mouth could actually move (does it, I don't know). "What have you been up to for the past month anyway?"

Ash interrupted. "Don't bother. She says that the government has classified her mission over the past month. You'd have better luck with taking down the entire ruins at once."

"Eh heh heh, on the contrary," Montague stated, putting down the arm. NL looked like he was yelling at the force, but the lack of his speech circuit prevented him from making a peep. He started to make nasty gestures. "Calm down, calm down. I'll fix your arm in a jiffy. Lets just see what Jeni's been up to." He walks over to his computer and starts to work on it. "Unless she feels like speaking about it herself."

Jeni huffed. "You'll have a tough time hacking the system. It's got a major fire..." a beep was heard as Montague accessed a restricted area of the computer system, "...wall."

Montague read the screen. "Eh heh heh heh. Says here your that hunter that went to the mystery island, Gal Da Val. That appeared to be where the Olga AI was housed." He continued to read the screen. "It appears that the installation housed a great deal of knowledge on the occurrences there. Including," his eyes widened, "the fact that Heathcliff Flowen was there up until the explosion at the Dome."

Ash, NL, and Eleanor stared at the doctor with a blank expression. "HEATHCLIFF FLOWEN!!!" Jeni tilted her head down, letting her hair cover her eyes.

"Now this is interesting," Montague continued. "It appears that Flowen was contaminated by D-cells, which were used to produce many creatures and corrupt machines that now exist within the facility. The island was deemed an extreme hazard zone and sealed off by teleporter in all locations excluding the main lab, due to an encounter with a," he looked at the screen carefully, " 'two-legged giant armed with a sword twenty times larger than a caliber.'" He looked at Jeni. "These are your words. Care to explain them."

Jeni sighed and took a seat in the computer area. "Fine. You win. The creature mentioned I believe was the fusion of the Olga AI with the corrupted body of Flowen. I battled the creature with Sato and discovered the truth myself upon defeating him. Flowen is now dead. I had no choice but to kill him by destroying the creature. I would have been back in a week, but my wounds were too extensive. I was forced to spend the rest of that month in their hospital wing until I was feeling allot better."

The lab went silent, excluding the clenching and unclenching whirr of NL's gun hand. Sato rested itself on Jeni's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Ash was the one to break the silence. "Well...that explains the secrecy."

Montague clasped his hands together. "So, shall we get started on fixing NL."

Jeni looked up. "Good idea. He may chuck something again if we don't." The mags started to play with each other, often going to one of the hunters in there to get fed. Within a matter of hours, NL was back to 100% efficiency. However, his Custom Barrier was too badly damaged in the fight to use again.

"What are you going to do for a shield, NL?" Jeni asked the machine.

"No problemo. I got an Attribute Wall in my recent excursion."

Ash stood up and looked into NL's visors. "Now, how about telling us how you got badly damaged in the first place."

NL stared at the human before standing near a corner. "It started when I entered the mines..."

Flashback: Mine area 1 (NL0026 perspective)

"Hey. This area is restricted by order of WORKS. Leave or you will be put down." NL ignored the soldier's orders and proceeded through the grounds. He had already defeated many of the machines in the area, but had no luck finding medicine for Jeni's soon to arrive hangover. "LEAVE OR YOU WILL BE DESTROYED!" the soldier screamed. NL stepped forward ever more so into the base. That's when all hell broke loose.

"THAT'S IT. THIS DAMN MACHINE'S GOING DOWN!" One of the rangers in the army armed his photon cannon and fired at NL. He didn't even move as he got hit on the side of his head, sending him spiraling into the floor. "Yeheheah. Suck on that, asshole."

NL's visor display went red with immense anger. He got up onto his feet and drew his Final Impact. "What in the..."

"SUK N THIS, ASSSHOLLLLLLE!" He pulled the trigger, sending five photon rounds out of the large barrel. The cannon shooter was immediately swept away with the shot, finally sprawling out a short distance away. NL continued to advance.

"TAKE HIM DOWN. NO ONE MACHINE CAN TAKE ON THE ELITE OF WORKS." With that, a hail of photon bullets snaked their way towards the android, striking him from all directions. The entire barrage froze him in place, making it difficult to fire. Yet fire he did, as he let loose another volley of Impact rounds, knocking five more soldiers off their feet. But the removal of six soldiers wasn't enough, for their were still about ninety-four more to go. He struggled to get a lock on several more soldiers before firing another shot.

That's when an explosion shook his body as a WORKS force showed up and used a Rafoie on him. Bhirava, who had eaten too many trimates on the way there, got angered with being burned, but couldn't do anything to harm the soldiers. It can't use its photon blasts on a fellow hunter or soldier. Another shot jammed the Final Impact, making it inoperable. NL slapped it on his back before drawing his Hell Beam. Taking aim and arming the special rounds, he started to fire. One by one, the soldiers fell, but NL was taking excessive damage. Another shot from a rifle took the beam out of NL's hands. He drew his Vice and tried to move around, only to get triple pronged by Foie, Zonde, and Barta attacks all at once. Getting up, he popped open a dimate, effectively restoring his combat ability, but couldn't eliminate the damages he was being inflicted. His barrier began to fizzle and fade as more rounds smashed into it, and his plate armor was now being hit with a lack of protection from his now damaged D-Parts armor. He started to return fire, taking on and taking down several more. He was shooting at such a speed that his Photon generator couldn't keep up. He fired and fired, taking down a good portion of the rangers and a few forces, until the generator gave out. He dropped it and thought. His Guilty Light was the only gun left, but there was no way he could get them all before it also gets shot out of his hands. And the hunters were now getting close. He drew the Stag Cutlery and began the gruesome melee.

The forces continued to use their techniques on him as the hunters hacked him up. His barrier finally gave up, having been hit far too much by WORKS weapons, leaving him vulnerable. Luckily, there were only ten WORKS guys left. Finishing off the hunters in close quarters, he draws the Guilty's Light and takes the forces down.

END Flashback

Jeni looked at the machine, noting the new scars that were still visible from the repairs. "So WORKS gave you a workout."

"Indeed. I knocked them all out, making sure the wounds I inflicted weren't lethal. But they pissed me off so much, I couldn't help but shove their hands in their pants and give all the men wedgies."

Ash and Jeni stared at him in shock. "You mean there were women there?" they said at the same time."

NL looked at them. "Correct. But it doesn't look right having them follow suit with the men." Jeni breathed easier. "Instead, I stole their robes and shoved them into item boxes." Ash's mouth hung open, while Jeni's fist shook in anger. "They only have their underclothes on, if they wore any."

Jeni's rage was let loose. Her eyes turned a dull violet as her fist connected with NL's head. "YOU PERVERTED ANDROID." The hit sent the android right into the wall, a good twenty feet away from where Jeni hit him. Everyone in the room was startled by the blow, for Jeni was never able to hit NL without hurting her fist. Yet her fist was unharmed and she wasn't wearing any fist weapons. NL got up and froze after taking a single step. Eleanor also froze. Montague noticed this, and knew that they both had sensed something just then.

"Eleanor. NL. What's the matter?" the doctor asked.

"4bOrL r3z{3 D3T3{T3d IT-! L4B," NL started, apparently with his speech circuits damaged again. "Lo{4T!o {o F!R/3D! (translation: Abnormality in the lab. Current location unknown.)

"Eh. What was that?"

Eleanor spoke up. "Something was wrong. An unusual presence was here, but it disappeared when NL hit the wall."

Ash looked at Jeni, noticing she was in a dazed state. He also noticed her eyes. "Jeni??"

She snapped out of her daze, her eyes looking normal as she looked at Ash. "Yes, Ash."

"Are you feeling OK?"

"Why of course I'm fine." She made a look to prove it. "Why wouldn't I be?" She then noticed NL at the wall. "Hey. What the hell are you doing messing up Montague's lab?"

Everyone looked at Jeni with shock. NL glared with unseen anger. "D4 Z joo t-4T Z/4s-3D / !2 D4 4LL." (Translation: It was you that smashed me into the wall.)

Jeni tutted. "And you smashed your Speech circuit again? My god."

Ash tapped her shoulder. "Jeni, you smashed him over there."

"WHAAT?"

"Eleanor and I agree. We all saw you punch him in the face." Montague chimed in.

"! 4gr33." (translation: I agree.) A beep caught all of their attention, with all heads turning towards the computer. Jeni got there first and read the new message that just popped up onto the screen.

"Hey guys, I think this is more important than whatever just happened." Jeni started.

"j34 r!t." (yeah right.)

"It seems that a whole lot of Hunters have been disappearing down on Ragol, and the government wants them found." She read the lists of hunters. "Yikes. There's allot of them." She started skimming through the pages. "Here we go. 'Most Recent Disappearances.' Kroe, Sue, Anna, and..." She stopped as she read the last name.

"Well, whose the fourth?" Ash asked.

"Anzu," she said under her breath. "Sato. Come here. We're leaving." She got up, intending to leave. She barely took a step, though, before she shrieked and fell down onto the floor in pain a second later. Sato got close to her, but then backed off and hissed. The others went to her side.

"Jennie, what's wrong?"

She moaned in pain. "My back." she said softly. "There's something wrong with my back." She yelped as the pain intensified as she tried to get back up. Sato continued to hiss at her.

"Quickly," Montague yelled. "Get her onto the table." Eleanor, Ash, and NL complied and got her there within seconds. Her moans didn't cease or intensify, which wasn't a good sign. Montague started to remove her jacket and shirt to get to her back.

"Any idea what's wrong with her?" Ash asked with worry.

"Right now, Ash, it could be anything. She could be suffering from an illness, she could be dying, she..."

"DYING. HAVE YOU LOST YOUR SENSES MONTAGUE? SHE'S ONLY 18!" Ash yelled.

"But she is a Newman," Montague stated. "Our lifespans aren't predetermined like yours." He struggled to get her shirt off. "We could live anywhere from mere seconds to centuries before we die. Hell, I could be dead myself tomorrow from natural causes. In her instance..." He succeeded in removing her shirt, leaving her torso bare with her flesh. The two men shared shocked faces upon looking at her back. "...She's dying from a scar?!?"

A dark black and purple mark was visible form her back, shaped like a blade had cut her up and down her spine. "What the hell is THAT?!?" Ash yelled.

Eleanor scanned the still moaning girl. "Doctor, the mark consists of material matching that of the creatures in the ruins. I'd say that she had been badly wounded by such a creature."

Ash turned to Eleanor. "But none of them left marks like that!"

"But one creature could," Montague said as he started to try and study the wound. "Those files claimed that Flowen encountered a creature that destroyed his entire battalion and left him for wounded. His wounds were infected and he was sent to Osto to be studied. It was confirmed that the particles that existed within him were D-cells." He looked up. "And Jeni just told us that she had to take his mutated form down, as well as getting herself badly wounded by him."

"What are you saying doctor?" Ash asked with anger in his eyes.

"What I'm saying is that Jennie," he looked at her, "now shows signs of being infected with D-cells. And it's only a matter of time before she may not be amongst the human or Newman race, while still existing." He turned back to Ash, "Just like Heathcliff Flowen."

That's the second episode. Questions? Comments? Then review. Don't forget that your PSO character can play a part. (refer to chapter one for details)