Jennie was making her way through a maze. A very complicated maze, rife with enemies and concealed guns. She ducked behind a corner, then darted her arm out like a serpent, frying several mets.

She jumped out, activating her dash boots, and reached a fork in the road. She hesitated a moment, trying to remember which path was the correct one.

Go to the right! X's voice came through the communicator. Jennie started to do that… then paused again as the schematic she had viewed before starting the mission flashed through her mind. If she remembered correctly, the right led to a dead end. It was the left…

She finally decided to follow her own impulses, and jetted down the left passage. The simulation blurred, then went out. X was regarding her curiously from an observation deck.

"Why did you disobey my order?" He asked, his tone enquiring. Jennie threw back her hair.

"Because you were wrong. The schematic said that tunnel was a dead end." She stared up at him challengingly… and was surprised when he smiled.

"Yes, it was." She blinked at the agreement. "And that was your final test." X's expression turned serious. "Obeying a communicator all the time is just as bad as ignoring it. Sometimes, the person on the other end might be wrong or might not be up to date on the situation. You understand?"

"Yes." She said softly, nodding. She had come along way to controlling her furies. Now she could listen to her communicator, react to it, and even evaluate how good the commands were as she fought. That was a remarkable achievement from simply ignoring it.

X jumped down from the platform. "Your probation is over, and your friends, too. Feel free to go tell them… I'm sure they'll want to celebrate." Jennie blushed at his wry smile.

She had made up all the wages her friends had been docked from her own personal fortune, and X knew it. Or rather, he thought her creator had done so. The only one she had told about her origins was Axl, and surprisingly, no one else had figured it out. That was probably partly because it had taken her body two long months to finally die after she had been transferred. David had let everyone know that the transfer was lethal to the human body, but hadn't mentioned that the body could linger.

So the wages hadn't been an issue, and with probation finally over, they would be back in the groove for real combat assignments. It was a pleasing thought.

"Yes sir! Thank you, sir!" Jennie saluted X, then dashed off to tell her friends the good news…

Elsewhere…

A delicate, deeply tanned hand picked up a sheaf of papers. Black eyes scanned them quickly, bright red lips pursed into a moue of distaste. From her dainty toes to her long, lustrous black hair, she was a beautiful woman. Or rather, a beautiful Reploid. A thick, wine colored dress clung to her curves, modest yet revealing in its stark simplicity. Only her eyes hinted at her inner nature. They were cold, and blank, more reptilian than human.

A young Maverick stood in front of her, hands clasped behind his back. His armor was green with touches of lemon yellow, and his face was young and fresh. If it hadn't been for the Maverick symbol on his shoulder, he could have easily been mistaken for a young Hunter.

The last figure in the room was highly unlikely to ever suffer that error. A huge, hulking animal Reploid crouched by the side of the woman's desk. He was wolflike in appearance, but with a ratlike tail that lashed constantly. His fur looked ratty and diseased, and he constantly scratched at it. His unsavory appearance had always made him an outcast… to most people. The female Reploid lowered a hand to gently scratch his head, and he growled in pleasure at the touch.

"So… a way to transfer humans into Reploid bodies. How abominable." She chewed idly on one perfectly manicured, hard as rock fingernail. The Maverick in front of her said nothing. He privately agreed with her opinion, but that only made him less certain about it. He hated agreeing with someone he loathed in every aspect. "Hmm… and this." She picked up a second report. "The information on that new Hunter, the one who defeated Skie?" The Maverick nodded. He knew his mistress well, and knew what she would find interesting… but she wouldn't appreciate commentary until she had finished reading.

"An original creation by that same human… fascinating." She slowly placed the sheet back down on the table, gazing away as she thought. Then she began to pace. There was no sign of anger on her face, but it was there in the brisk way she moved.

The Maverick in front of her could guess the reason for it. She had once been a lab assistant. She had wanted to be more, but there had been no spark, no genius. He despised the truth of it, but most of the great Reploid designers were humans. There were only a few exceptions, like Doppler.

The fact that David Herkowitz was a thousand times greater at designing new Reploids, new inventions, was somewhere between mortifying and infuriating for her. Her subordinate carefully hid a smile. He despised humans just as much as she did, but still found the situation amusing.

"Still, this gives us an… opportunity." She said softly, patting her pet again and lightly scratching his muzzle. "It's vile, but still…" Her smile was ghastly, and the Maverick in front of her frowned to himself, then tensed as she began to explain her idea.

"It shall be done." He said mechanically when she was finished, but his mind was busy working through the implications… implications she obviously wasn't considering. Implications he shouldn't be considering, either. To even think them was close to betrayal of the Maverick cause.

But he had always prided himself on his honesty with himself. So he needed to think about it very carefully…

A few days later…

"And, here on the all Hunter all the time radiothon we are now playing-"

"Jeremy, get off the damn command frequency!" The platoon leader for the 16'th snarled over the communicator, and Jennie giggled softly.

She was standing atop the roof of a large industrial plant. In better times, it had been a jewel of the Chinese economy, employing nearly four thousand workers and acting as the centre of a small town. Now, the town was deserted. The shells of ghostly buildings still stood, just beginning to show the effects of neglect. The plant itself had been sealed neatly, and while parts had begun to rust it could still be refurnished and pressed into service.

Which was what they were there to prevent. This was a contested area, and they had gained information that indicated the Mavericks would make a play for this facility. It wasn't ideal, but it could produce low level Maverick drones with ease.

Jennie's mouth twisted as she thought about their mission. It wasn't critical, but it was almost solo and had a lot of potential to go wrong. They were bait in a gigantic trap.

China had written off this facility. With the legacy of their old Communist regime, Chinese companies were far more willing than many to accept the outright loss of contested assets. In return for some assurances of protection for its assets farther east, the company that owned this facility had given it over to the Hunters to do with as they would.

Twenty hunters from the 17'th had been assigned to 'defend' the facility. A platoon of eight from the 16'th had been chosen to lay a series of booby traps and explosives within the facility, as well as several carefully planned escape routes.

"The trick of this is going to be not to bite off too big a piece to chew." Sebastian observed quietly, hefting his new gun. It was another prototype weapon, courtesy of Jennie's brother. He had sent it for her, but she had decided it was just too large and unwieldy, but those characteristics made it perfect for Sebastian. It was a rail gun, shooting out slugs accelerated to hyper velocity. It was a cheap alternative to plasma rifles, but it still remained to be seen if it would be completely effective in combat.

"And that won't really be up to us." Jennie said quietly, and Sebastian nodded, scanning the landscape. It would all depend on how many Mavericks came in, how fast. The trick on their end would be drawing the Mavericks in while maintaining enough distance to break off and escape before the bombs went up.

"Ah, don't worry so much! We'll be fine." Came a very familiar voice behind her, and Jennie winced. She slowly turned around to regard… herself.

"Axl, please don't do that. It's somewhere between annoying and creepy." Jennie said wearily as the perfect copy of herself grinned.

Axl couldn't use his DNA copying power in most places anymore. As soon as the technique had become widespread, countermeasures had been quickly developed. By now, all the main installations on both sides were equipped with scramblers that made it impossible for Axl or any other copying Reploid to assume someone else's form. Even worse, perhaps, was the development of sensors that would detect some emanations caused by the DNA copying in action. Jennie had that enhancement, and right now Axl was rimmed with a reddish glow.

Of course, in the middle of combat, that sensor could go offline from damage or electronic countermeasures. So DNA copying wasn't entirely useless, but it was very daring to try. Right now, though, Axl could play with his abilities again.

"Oh, alright." Axl morphed back to his usual self, and Jennie smiled, giving him a quick hug. He returned it, then-

Kzzt… Jennie, you and your squad report back to HQ. Jennie blinked, taken off-balance by Alia's voice over the communicator.

"Huh? Why?" She asked inanely. "Is someone replacing us?" Her squad was herself, Axl, Sebastian and Dagger. The Hunters had fairly loose ranks, but it was basically arranged in squads of four, and larger platoons as the situations dictated. Lieutenants commanded the platoons and reported to the unit commander. Squads didn't really have a leader, but tended to be identified by one person and everyone had taken to calling hers by her name.

Replacements will be coming soon. Teleport back and leave the hoverbikes. Since the battle hadn't commenced, teleportation was still possible. Jennie glanced at Axl, mystified, and he shrugged.

"Yes, Alia." Jennie said obediently, and called over Dagger. But she couldn't help but wonder what was up…