Chapter 5: Dark Eagle Strikes

"So, it seems that we've lost the Nightshade Mach-2," said Dark Eagle, drumming his fingers together.

He was a massive Reploid, easily ten feet tall. His armor was similar to that of a Reploid military officer, and it was a mixture of black and red. His feathers were dark gray, and he had ghostly white hair that was styled like a Mohawk on top of his head. His left eye looked like a targeting sight. He was sitting on his throne in his secret lair, his black wings folded up behind him, his eyes fixed on the three Reploids in front of him.

The one that responded was the highest ranking of the three. He was a dragon-like Reploid named Tao. His armor was light, and it was a mixture of white and black. On the chest was a yin-yang, and a short, white piece of cloth was in the back, hanging from his belt. Jets were mounted on the sides of both legs. His face was covered by a helmet/mask that had small, wing-like attachments on the sides. His long black hair hung down his back.

"From what we can understand, something in Zero's data caused the data transfer to backfire, frying his memory and directives," said Tao, his voice soft, but still reflecting the power and respect that he commanded from his men. "The only way to bring the Nightshade back to our side would be to try to capture him and bring him back for reprogramming."

The Reploid on Tao's right spoke next. She was a snake Reploid known as Speed Viper. She was green with yellow eyes and armor, and shoulder-length red hair. Up to her waist, she was constructed in a humanoid fashion, but the rest of her was composed of a snake's body, green with a white underbelly. She was coiled up slightly so that she looked like she was sitting.

"I can round up a team of my best soldiers at your convenience, my Lord Dark Eagle," she said, her voice soft and deadly. "We will retrieve the Nightshade and bring him back to you."

Dark Eagle raised his hand, shaking his head as he stood up from his throne. "No, we are not going to bring back the Nightshade," he said, causing the other three to look up at him in surprise. "Nightshade was merely an experiment, a test to determine if we were successful in developing a perfectly functional Quantum Circuit. Now that we know it was a success, we have no further use for him. Let the Maverick Hunters keep him for all I care."

The third Reploid, Saber Wolf, spoke up. His silver gray fur went well with his white and navy blue armor. "My lord, if we are not going to be retrieving the Nightshade, what will be our next step in experimenting with the Quantum technology?" he asked, his clawed hand drumming on his other arm.

Dark Eagle smiled wickedly, and it seemed as if his smile made the throne room suddenly grow dark. "Tell them to proceed with their proposed ideas," he said. "Once we have finished our research, no force on Earth, not even Repliforce or the Maverick Hunters, will be able to stop us!"

Nightshade drummed his fingers on the surface of his new desk. Three days after the battle in the city park, he finally had his own workspace, and he loved it. True, the paperwork was kind of a pain, but the other Hunters had been very helpful and friendly. Some of them had been suspicious of him at first, but after the smuggling incident, as well as the park battle, everyone had welcomed him.

He had just finished filling out another form when a call came through on the computer monitor on his desk. Curious as to who would be calling him, he pressed the ENTER key to bring up the message. A small window with Alia's image appeared.

"Hey, how are things going for you, Nightshade?" she asked him warmly.

"Oh, I'm adjusting okay, I guess," he said, putting his elbow on the desk and resting his chin on his hand. "Still, I wish I could be doing something besides filling out forms right now. You know, I want to stake out a real son of a bitch in the middle of nowhere, eating take-out food every day and crap like that. You know what I mean."

Alia nodded, and Nightshade could see why Gadget had a thing for her. The new design she had had since the Eighth Maverick War really brought out her beauty, something she was really shy about at times.

"I've always wanted to see what it was like in the field," she said to him. "But, I'm perfectly content to be a Navigator for now, and even if I don't get to go on field assignments, it's no big deal."

Nightshade nodded understandingly. "Anyway, what did you call about, or were you just shooting the breeze?" he asked, raising his head off his hand so he could grab his coffee mug and take a sip.

"Oh, crap, that's right! I nearly forgot about that!" she said, shaking her head quickly. "I was calling to tell you that there's someone here to see you. She said you told her to come here around now to meet you." She gave Nightshade that look that says they have an idea what's happening. "You know, you two have been spending a lot of time together, Nightshade," she said in an almost teasing way.

Nightshade just frowned at her, his eyes half-closed. "Very funny, Alia, I forgot to laugh," he said sarcastically as he got up out of his chair. "Tell her I'll be down there in a few minutes." He cut off the message and headed over to the lift, entered it, and pressed the button for the lobby. The door closed and the lift began its speedy descent.

When the lift reached the lobby, Nightshade quickly stepped out through the doors and entered the main area. He looked around, wondering where she was.

"Nightshade, over here!"

Nightshade turned in the direction of the voice, and smiled when he saw Aries by one of the front desks, waving to him. As he approached, he saw that she was talking to Alia. 'Damn, no wonder she pulled that crap up there,' he thought to himself. As intelligent, serious, and dedicated as she was on the job, he knew that Alia loved making jokes just as much as anybody.

"Hey, Aries, I'm here," he said cheerfully when he reached her.

"Hi, Nightshade, I'm glad you made it," she said. If the smile she had wasn't enough proof that she was happy to see him, the hug she gave him certainly was. Nightshade returned the hug, blushing slightly.

"So, Aries tells me you two are going to that new café that just opened up near the park," said Alia. "That's awfully 'romantic,' don't you think?" She raised her eyebrows a few times, as though making a "hint, hint" gesture.

"Well, we'd better hurry, Aries," said Nightshade, quickly steering the female Reploid towards the entrance. As he did so, he scowled at Alia, as though he were saying, "Keep your pie-hole shut!"

The Café Reploid was one of those few places in the city that specifically catered to the needs of Reploids. At first, it was thought that the Humans wouldn't be too kindly disposed towards a place that was targeted at Reploids, but instead, they had taken it as a sign of the eroding barriers between Humans and Reploids.

"Boy, it sure is a beautiful day," said Aries, taking a sip of her peppermint tea. "Days like this haven't exactly been very common."

Nightshade swallowed the bite of cake he had been eating. "Yeah, not since that Dark Eagle creep took Sigma down and took control of virtually all worldwide Maverick activity," he said. "Still, enough about things like that. I was wondering if you could tell me about when you became a Solo Hunter, and what that exactly is."

Aries set her cup down. "Well, Solo Hunters are basically independent Maverick Hunters, meaning that they are not officially appointed Maverick Hunters. They first began surfacing after the Third Maverick War, a few months or so before Repliforce was formed. Maverick attacks were pretty rampant around that time, so it's no surprise that some non-Mavericks were considering going to battle themselves," she said.

"So, they are like freelance Maverick Hunters, so to say," said Nightshade, leaning forward so he could hear better. Aries followed suit before continuing.

"At first, the government was worried about these vigilante Hunters, thinking that they might start to take the law into their own hands. However, after a while, they realized that the Solo Hunters were only attacking those who had been officially declared Mavericks. Since then, the government has pretty much stayed out of the affairs of the Solo Hunters, although both sides still work together."

Nightshade let out a low whistle. "That is what I call plain fascinating," he said. "When did you decide to become a Solo Hunter?"

Aries looked like she wasn't sure she wanted to answer that question, but she did. "It was right after Dr. Wilcox died, during the Third Maverick War," she said quietly. She was blinking quickly, hoping that she didn't start crying. She lost all focus on that, however, when she felt Nightshade put a hand on hers. She looked at him, seeing his face expressing the most genuine sympathy.

"I'm sorry for that," he said. "When I think of the suffering caused by Black Zero, my very predecessor, I can't help but feel that I have an even greater responsibility as a Maverick Hunter. I don't want anybody to have to go through that suffering, especially after hearing about what you went through."

Aries blushed at Nightshade's kind remarks. She remembered that Nightshade had said that some of his personality aspects had come from Zero, but even so, she could see that this wasn't Zero she was talking to. This was Nightshade, a Reploid created in the image of evil, for the purpose of committing evil, but whose sole desire was to protect and serve in the cause of peace.

"Thank you, Nightshade," she said, looking down at the table. "That was very kind of you to say."

Nightshade looked at the small clock on his arm communicator. "Hey, it's almost time for me to report back to HQ," he said, standing up and leaving a few Zenny on the table as payment. "Do you want to walk through the park together?"

Aries smiled and stood up. "I would like that, Nightshade."

The two of them walked side by side, chatting about various topics. Mostly, however, Nightshade would listen to Aries' stories about her life. He was a good listener, probably because he didn't really have much of a story to tell, considering he hadn't been around that long. It didn't matter, though; he was perfectly content to listen to everyone else's story.

As they neared the section of the park that joined the grounds of Maverick Hunter HQ, Aries pulled Nightshade off to the side of the trail behind a large tree.

"What's the matter, Aries?" asked Nightshade, thinking something was wrong.

"I was just wondering, if you're free anytime tomorrow," she began, blushing again, "would you like to meet again?"

Nightshade put his hand under her chin and raised her head until he was looking her in the eye. "If I am, you should know that I'll be available," he said, giving her his famous smile, the one he always saved for her.

"Okay, then I guess I'll see you then," she said, sliding her hands up his arms. 'This is it, Aries,' she thought. 'This is the moment you've been practicing for the last two days.'

She closed her eyes halfway, tilted her head slightly and began standing on her tiptoes, her blush intensifying. Before Nightshade could ask what she was doing, she gave him a soft kiss on his lips, which lasted for only a few seconds. She pulled back from his face and saw that his face had turned almost completely red; the only things she could really see were his eyes and his face marks.

Suddenly, his communicator beeped loudly, catching both his attention and Aries'. He held his arm up and said, "Nightshade here, go ahead."

A holographic image of Alia suddenly popped up. "Nightshade, we've got a problem!" she said, clearly in a panic. "We just received a distress signal from X, saying that he's run into some of Dark Eagle's soldiers! You need to get over there and help him!"

"I copy, Alia," said Nightshade. "Where did the signal come from?"

"It came from somewhere in the vicinity of Sector E12, North America," replied Alia. "I've already transmitted the coordinates to your field computer."

Nightshade raised his eyebrows slightly. "Okay, I'm on my way there! Nightshade out!" he said, shutting off the communicator.

"Nightshade, are you going there alone?" asked Aries, who had heard the whole thing.

Nightshade looked at her as though he didn't understand the question. "What do you mean, Aries?" he asked.

"Do you think that there's room for one more?" she asked, clarifying things.

Nightshade grinned and said, "Hold on tight, because it's going to be a bumpy ride!"

The two Reploids held on to each other and teleported off to save X.

X ducked back behind the boulder as more shots whizzed past him, some of them even hitting the boulder.

He looked around the other side, which fortunately was right next to a large pine tree. There was just enough room between the two so that he could successfully see the mass of Mavericks still trying to shoot him. He could make out about 25 of them, those that still remained after he had been forced to take almost permanent cover out here.

"Damn it, I hope Nightshade or somebody gets here," he growled, whipping around the side of the boulder long enough to squeeze off a full-power charge shot. The shot took two of the Mavericks in the chest, destroying them. At the same time, one of them shot at him, the blast grazing the right side of his helmet.

X spun back around to the back of the boulder, slipping and landing in the snow. He hated winter with a lot of snow, especially in Colorado. He could stand having snow on Christmas, and maybe going on into New Years, but at any other time and place, it was nothing but a complete pain.

He suddenly heard and saw the flash of light that indicated that a Reploid had teleported behind him. He turned around to see who his backup was.

"Nightshade…and Aries?" he asked, looking confused. "Not to sound ungrateful, Aries, but how did you get here?"

"Honestly, did you think I was going to let you and Nightshade have all the fun, X?" asked Aries, arching an eyebrow at the blue Hunter.

Nightshade stole a quick glance at the Mavericks. "Crap, looks like you have your work cut out for you," he said, looking at X as though surprised that he was still alive.

"Yeah, but now that you two are here, we should be able to take care of this," said X, checking something with his X-Buster. "Okay, I've set my Buster to Rapid Fire, and I'll use it to keep them busy for a while. You two can give them the Samurai Special, if you want."

Nightshade and Aries both grinned wickedly and drew their sabers. "Leave everything to us, X," they said together.

"Okay, here I GO!" yelled X, running from the cover of the boulder and firing at the Mavericks. Just as he'd hoped, they were too busy trying to dodge his shots and shoot him to notice that Nightshade and Aries were dashing towards them at top speed, their sabers held in attack positions.

"Aries, you take the right flank! I'll take the left one!" yelled Nightshade as they closed in on the unsuspecting Mavericks.

"You got it, Nightshade! Let's kick these pigs!" responded Aries, splitting away from Nightshade and slicing into the Mavericks, who realized too late that they had been fooled.

X watched as the two Reploids weaved and slashed about their enemies. It was like watching a ballet, the two lead dancers practically moving in rhythm with each other as they battled their common foe. "Now that is what I call incredible," said X to himself as he watched them. "It's too bad Aries isn't an official Maverick Hunter, or I'd recommend that those two become partners."

With a quick slash, Nightshade took down the last Maverick. "Well, that takes care of that," he said, striking a victory pose.

"Yeah, who's bad? Uh-huh, I'm bad!" said Aries, also striking a victory pose.

"Awesome work, you two," said X, coming up and giving Nightshade a high five. "You saved my bacon out here."

"X, what were those Mavericks doing in Colorado?" asked Aries. "Was there something out here that they were looking for?"

"Yeah, there's a military research facility a few miles from here," said X, pointing somewhere in the distance. "Apparently, they were going to invade the facility and steal some equipment. Unfortunately, even though I kept them from getting to the facility, some of them ambushed a convoy that was headed in that general direction."

"So, they still got away with some supplies," said Nightshade, putting his saber back. "So, were any of Dark Eagle's commanders here?"

X frowned, and said, "Weirdly enough, I didn't see any of them. They probably split with the soldiers who bagged the convoy."

"Well, now that we've completed the mission and all, can we please go back home?" said Aries, shivering slightly. "I'm starting to get cold here."

"Sounds fine to me," said X. "Let's go home."

Up in the sky above where the three Hunters had once stood, Tao hovered in the air. He grinned wickedly as he replayed their conversation in his head. He held up and tapped his arm communicator.

"What is it?" said Dark Eagle's voice, slightly distorted by the weather interference.

"Mission accomplished, my lord," said Tao proudly. "The convoy we intercepted had more than the necessary equipment we needed. The troops should be back at base within the hour."

"Excellent work, Tao. I'm very pleased with you," said Dark Eagle. "Report back to base immediately for a debriefing."

Tao shut off the communicator. "At last, the time of the Reploid is about to begin," he sneered before teleporting.