Demented-Demon: Boss from before? Don't worry, Mr. Clean will return. Along with a fan favourite that has beenmissingfor some time now :P ...

Thanks to the three reviewers for your comments! Keep them coming!

-- Chapter 02: Seconds --

- SUB-ZERO SNOWFIELDS, 0710 hours -

Accel came to a halt outside the pod. It had a huge hole in it, he observed... Obviously something big had been here. Looking around, he noticed the dead bodies of the rookie Maverick Hunters. They had all been from the 4th Unit. It was a pity to see young, promising rookies go to their death...

Accel suddenly noticed a detail that troubled him. He trudged over to one of the bodies and examined it. It had been pierced by something large, probably a claw of some sort, judging from the shape of the hole. The body was only a few wires away from being completely detached from the legs. Did this have something to do with the former contents of the pod? Evil was afoot here, Accel was sure of that, and he didn't like it.

Accel looked around. He gathered up all the rest of the bodies and laid them together, before beginning to examine them.

"Hmmm... death by multiple plasma shots to the stomach and chest area... this is one powerful gun. Not pretty. Poor kid. Let's see now... this one... plasma shot, right through the head and beyond. Neural circuits fried... fatal. Even if he HAD survived, I doubt he'd be in fighting condition... optics decimated, audial circuits out... whoever did this was accurate. Next... death by stabbing, right through the gut... instant death. Another one... dagger wound, not nearly as deep, but he'd have died in a couple seconds anyway. Plus the plasma shots aggravating the injury..." Accel sighed and stood up. Then he noticed something glittering in the snow, out of the corner of his eye. He went over to it and picked it up.

"A Maverick Hunter Rank D badge? Odd, normally they'd have seven or eight people... but I only see five, and they rarely assign hunters of different ranks for routine patrol..." Accel raised his hand and sent a transmission back to the Maverick Hunters HQ. "Accel to HQ, requesting information on the rank D Maverick Hunter group on routine patrol in the Sub-Zero Snowfields."

A few seconds later, he received a reply. "Rank D Maverick Hunter group on patrol in the Sub-Zero Snowfields, lead by rank D Hunter Azure, 7 members, lost signal at 0604 hours, status unknown, presumed dead."

"They're dead all right... Accelerando signing off." Accel narrowed his eyes.

7 members... where were the other 2?

As he was thinking about this, he heard someone call, "Hey, you there!" As he was turning, the voice, now laced with a threatening tone, said, "You! Yin Reploid, stop right there!" He disregarded the threat and turned to face the caller. It was a swordsman Reploid with an oversized blade, which had a moon-grey hilt and was gripped in white gloves. He had blue hair and dark shades. He wore a light blue trenchcoat with matching pants that barely covered dark boots with a gold top. The Reploid, with a loud cry, started his charge at Accel...

Accel raised his sabre with a speed born of desperation, and managed to block the mysterious assailant's blow. Seeing his chance as the foe had to use both hands to wield his mighty blade, Accel raised his right arm and fired a shot at point-blank range, which forced the swordsman back. "Rarghh... I cannot be beaten by this Yin Reploid!" The enemy said to himself, before charging at him again.

Accel was seriously confused now. What was this new foe talking about? What Yin Reploid was he after? And why did he perceive Accel to be his target? Sidestepping the enemy's dash, Accel shouted, "Wait! Who or what is this Yin Reploid you're talking about? Why are you attacking me?"

"Stop pretending, spawn of Yin! You know very well that you are the Yin Reploid, come to bring chaos and doom to this world! I must stop you!" The opponent fished out a set of kunai and hurled them at Accel, who got a scratch from one of them. He now charged at Accel once again. Although still startled from the assailant's outburst, Accel recovered quickly and decided to counter instead. He said to himself, 'Let's go... time to go back to my roots." He cried out as a surge of electricity entered his left hand and started criss-crossing merrily. "THUNDERHAND!" With a shout, he thrust the hand forward into his foe's chest and let the energy course through the swordsreploid's body, paralysing it. The foe collapsed to his knees in defeat.

"Now, speak! Who are you?" Accel asked the foe, who was paralysed and unable to fight. Prodding him with an index finger, Accel waited for a reply.

The Reploid spat at him, and missed.

"Hm? Looks like I'll have to force it out of you." Accel placed his hand on the Reploid's head, his hand still crackling with the lightning energy. Immediately, another electric current flowed through the Reploid's body, causing him to cry out.

Accel removed his hand. "Feel like speaking yet?" The Reploid didn't answer.

Accel sighed. "Oooooookay, here we go again..." He was about to administer the shocking treatment again when he received another transmission... from Signas.

"Huh... this is Accelerando, Commander. I read you."

"Accel, we've lost another Hunter group's signal. It died out in the same way- sudden energy spike, then nothing."

"What?! You didn't tell me about the sudden energy spike earlier."

"We noticed it only later when re-examining the signals."

"Well, it might have been important!"

"In any case, we want you to check it out. Again."

Accel looked over at his... "captive". "Could you send someone else? I'm kinda... busy... here."

"Sorry, no can do. We're not sending anyone rank GA or below, too risky. Best to send a rank UH... and all of them are out on missions."

Accel's eye twitched. "What... KIND... of missions?"

Signas looked over at Zero, who was currently singing some old folk song and thumping X on the back, who appeared to be in depression and was downing another mug of beer, as well as the other rank UH and PA ranked Hunters "partying" in the background, as well as some of the lower ranking ones. "Ummmm..."

Accel sighed. "They're DRUNK, aren't they."

"Umm, you could say so..."

Accel facefaulted. "Fine, fine, I'll go check it out, but gimme a sec..." He turned and spoke to his "captive". "I'll force your secrets out of you NEXT time..."

"No, you won't!" The Reploid said, lunging forward as the paralysis wore off, but Accel gave him a third dose of the Thunderhand, though much weaker and meant to merely halt his assault. He collapsed again, twitching slightly.

"Curse you, Yin Reploid... I'll be back to make sure you die!" The Reploid said before stumbling to his feet and warping off into the sky.

"Well, that's that." Accel returned to his transmission. "Okay, so... What's the coords, Signas?"

"Um, well... another reason we wanted you to check it out is because it's the former base of the Red Alert Syndicate."

"WHAT?! You mean they've somehow risen from the ashes?!"

"Quite possible, if Red is anything like Sigma. You know the coords... just warp straight over."

"Understood... I'm heading over there now. Accelerando, signing off." Accel's face was grim. The Red Alert Syndicate, back? And attacking the Hunters? This couldn't be good...

"Goddamnit," Accel muttered for the second time that day, just before a black warp laser shot off into the sky.