"I can't believe we just ripped off Sigma," Marcus said, awed. "Spider, you are god. Can I kiss your feet?"

"No thanks," Spider said with a grin. "I'm not into that. But you can treat me to a meal sometime."

"You're on." Marcus grinned, looking at the haul of money, valuable objects and items. Bags of money were spread out across the floor, and Reploids and humans were investigating all the bags to see what they had. Some even had clipboards, and were trying to keep a rough tally.

Spider had led them to a Maverick supply depot. It was a concealed one, hidden deep inside a block of civilian buildings. While Sigma mostly took what he needed, he often bought, through carefully concealed agents. So there had to be supply depots in most cities, to exchange money for high tech parts and other items on the black market.

They had hit one of the largest of such depots. It had been full of riches, and best of all, much of it had been hard cash. It would be easy to move it to secured bank accounts. The rest…

"Enough processors, much?" Arcana laughed as she let the colorful computer chips drip through her hands. "Someone doesn't have enough good Reploid manufacturing centres, I suspect!"

"Well, that only stands to reason," Jolene said, looking over the parts. "The Hunters don't let those fall into Maverick hands. They blow them up first. We don't have much use for those, though." She frowned. "Well, not immediately." Their long term goals meant that eventually, they would be making many Reploids to join their new society. They were hoping for immigration as well, but couldn't count on that. "Can we sell them?" Tamaa shook her head.

"A bad idea. We'd have to put them back on the black market, and that quantity of chips would be noticeable. Sigma and his goons would come down on us like a load of bricks." She glanced over at Spider, smiling. He was sorting through one of the money bags with Marcus, and they were both obviously enjoying the feel of crisp, fresh money. "Spider? I'm curious… how did you know about this place?" He'd been very mysterious earlier, probably just to surprise them. Which had been fine, since they hadn't needed to take on any of the guards. In fact, it had been the easiest theft Tamaa had ever been part of.

Someone had built a tunnel. It had been carefully excavated, reinforced, and concealed. It had gone straight into the treasure room on one end, and out into an empty room in an apartment complex nearby. A room that, as it turned out, Spider was paying the rent for. But somehow, Tamaa didn't think he'd been the one to built the tunnel. It seemed more than a bit out of character. So how had he learned about it?

"Ah, that happened a long time ago." Spider said with a smile, picking up a bundle of money and ruffling the bills. "I was hunting down a wily little Maverick, back when. Well, I caught him, and he offered me some information for his life. He had created that tunnel so he could skim a little off the top before shipments went to Sigma. No one noticed a few thousand dollars here, a few thousand there."

"What a clever little bastard," Marcus said approvingly. "So, did you kill him?" Spider smiled… and it wasn't a pleasant smile.

"Oh yes." There was a harsh, approving laugh from the listeners. They might all despise the Federation, but they had no love for Mavericks either.

"I guesstimate we just nailed fifty million. Not counting the Reploid components." Tamaa's eyes glittered with amusement, then she glanced around, her tone turning brisk. "All of you, remember… absolute secrecy! If Sigma finds out about this, he won't rest until we're all dead." It would be a matter of pride to him. Being defeated by X and Zero was par for the course, but being humiliated by a theft was another matter. He'd work out some of his rage by executing the guards who had been watching over the depot, but… Everyone nodded solemnly. They knew how to keep secrets.

"Tamaa, that idea with the moving vans was a stroke of genius," Spider said, changing the subject. The main flaw of their massive raid had been getting the loot out of the apartment and back home. They had finally used fake moving vans, painted with the logo of a major company… but actually, recently bought by them, used. The Maverick guards hadn't seen anything odd about a couple of moving vans, and some Reploids loading them with boxes. "It worked like a charm."

"Thank you, Spider." Tamaa kissed his cheek, smiling. "Have I told you that I love you?"

"Frequently. But you can tell me more… and I love you, too." They kissed, ignoring a few whistles around the room. After a moment, the embrace became slightly savage, and they both broke off breathlessly, staring at each other. Then Tamaa smiled, nuzzling Spider lovingly.

It had been a very, very good day.


"Mmm, Spider?" Tamaa yawned, then smiled at her lover. It was night again, and they were back in bed. Tamaa loved talking to Spider after they did other things. They always seemed to come up with the best ideas in the wee early morning hours. Spider smiled back, running a hand down her side. "I was thinking… it would be good if we could open communications with the Hunters. Jolene's been gone too long and doesn't really have any contacts left, but if you know someone you can trust-" Tamaa broke off, surprised, as she saw Spider wince. "Spider?"

"Tamaa…" He sighed, looking away. "I didn't leave the Hunters on good terms. In fact, they probably thought my resignation letter was a bizarre joke." Tamaa frowned, sitting up a little.

"What happened?" Tamaa had heard enough of the incident to know that Spider was also Redips, but the rest of it had been so garbled that she hadn't been sure about anything. She frowned slightly as Spider explained the whole sequence of events. "…Spider, that doesn't make any sense at all. What on earth were you thinking?"

"I… really don't know. It made sense at the time." Spider said slowly, thinking about it. He really had no explanation for his actions. But he could remember the way he felt, when he was making his choices. "I thought the Force Metal would give me the power I needed to take over the world…" Now that he looked back on it, that seemed ridiculous. The double cross he had arranged for the Hunters had been clever, but not nearly sufficient to eliminate them. And even if he had, he was only a single person. How could he have kept his grip on the world… without destroying it?

For that matter, why had he wanted to rule it in the first place? Spider puzzled over that, and said what he was thinking to Tamaa.

"I don't know what I was thinking. I felt like… like I was better than everyone. Like things would turn out the way I wanted just by wanting it." Spider flushed lightly. That was an embarrassing thing to admit. Tamaa looked concerned.

"You don't think that now, do you?" Spider seemed well-grounded in reality, but on the other hand, he was an excellent actor. Spider shook his head.

"Oh no… I'm not delusional anymore." Spiderfrowned, remembering. "I think I was suffering from megalomania." From what he remembered, he'd had all the classic symptoms, back then.

"Hm... maybe Dr. Light should have a look at you." Tamaa chewed her lip, thinking. "How did you survive the final battle?"

"I have no idea. I just woke up in a meadow, almost a thousand miles away. And… I wanted to see you." He smiled at her, touching her cheek. "The first two e-mails you didn't respond to were so very nerve-wracking."

"Ah, you needed the practice writing love letters," she said playfully, then kissed him. "And speaking of love… will you show me some more?"

"Again? You'll kill me, woman."

"Maybe, but won't it be fun?"


"Ah, it's perfect!" Tamaa clapped her hands, grinning. They were exploring several islands in the Philippines. The local government had proven to be extremely receptive to the idea of a private sale. They were in the grip of an economic recession, and every bit of cash was welcome. The tiny islands had no natural resources and no worth, compared to the larger islands.

This particular island was nearly flat, unlike many of the others. It also wasn't volcanic. Tamaa wasn't interested in setting their primary headquarters on an island that might become another Krakatoa. It wasn't too large, but it would do… although they would have to keep typhoon season in mind with everything they built. That wouldn't be a problem, though. The alloys they were intending to use had been tested against hurricanes before.

"We'll have to get a full survey and engineers… but it does look good." Spider allowed cautiously. "And there are five other islands nearby. Perhaps we should buy them as well." Tamaa nodded. They would eventually need room to expand, although it was possible to actually build out over the sea.

"How much is it, Marcus?" Marcus was handling all the financial arrangements with the Philippine government, because he was human and a good bargainer. Marcus grinned, then named a figure that was pleasantly low… but still almost half their total cash reserve. Tamaa winced, then nodded.

"If the survey pans out, we'll get this one," she decided. "Then we can all move and start construction." For the construction, they would be hiring some very good firms. It wasn't something they could do for themselves.

Soon, this pretty tropical island was going to become a mechanical mecca, whether it liked it or not.