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-- Chapter 5: Premonition --

- MAVERICK HUNTER HEADQUARTERS, 0859 HRS -

Zero warped into the receiving room and immediately collapsed to his knees. X immediately ran over and asked concernedly, "Zero! What did this to you?!"

Before the crimson devil could reply, however, Lifesavor walked over and said, "X, I think we should wait for Zero's wounds to be taken care of first before we ask him any more questions. Come, help me take him to the medical centre."

- MAVERICK HUNTERS HEADQUARTERS, 1334 HRS -

After Zero's wounds had been treated by Lifesavor, he had been instructed by Signas to come to his office to report on the situation at Crimson Palace. "So, Zero, you were the only one of us to go to Crimson Palace and make it back. Even Accelerando was incapable of that feat. Come, tell us what caused such grievious wounds," Signas said.

Zero hesitated for a moment, then said, "I went to the Crimson Palace and ran into this black-armoured Maverick with a wolf-shaped helmet who called himself Kardina Zendarquor. He stated that the reason why he joined the Mavericks was because he saw X leave the city Sky Lagoon crashed into, the city where his late charges lived. Before I could tell him the truth, he decided to attack me. So we fought. I was amazed by his power. For a common factory-built Reploid to rival me, indeed no small feat at all. We fought to a standstill, though it appeared that he had the upper hand at the end of our fight. Before he could finish me off, however, his master chose to intervene.
It was a huge, limbless three-storey tall Reploid with a horned dinosaur-like head. The distraction gave me enough time to ready my teleportation device and escape."

Signas considered this. "Well, it does sound like an emergency we have here..." He turned on the intercom."Alia! Recall all Hunters that are not on top-priority missions and have them assemble at the Great Hall."

"Acknowledged, sir," Alia replied.

Cutting off the intercom, Signas sighed and said to himself, "We can't afford to not take every available precaution..."