Dynamo slowly stroked Iris's hand, watching her face. She looked sweet, innocent, and vulnerable. A beautiful woman, sleeping soundly. But the monitors and life support systems gave the lie to that illusion.

Iris had gone into system failure twice in the first twenty-four hours of infection, and it wasn't looking any better now than it had right at the start. She was hooked up to full life support equipment, in case the viruses decided to battle over her vital systems again. The Sigma virus was strong, strong, but so was the anti-virus. It had counterattacked with mutating power and mindless ferocity, slowly forcing Sigma back. Dynamo glanced up at the monitor watching Iris' neural net, and winced. The battle was far from won. The Maverick virus might still turn the tide.

Dynamo gently touched her face, slowly stroking a cheek with his fingertips. He was exposing himself needlessly to the virus, and knew it, but didn't care. The chance of infection from casual contact was low anyway. It could happen, which was how most Reploids went randomly Maverick, but it wasn't likely. A good thing, or most Hunters would probably have been Mavericks a long time ago. They often had even more intimate contact with Mavericks, or rather, their body fluids.

"You care for her a lot, don't you?"

Dynamo nearly jumped out of his skin at that soft voice. He'd been concentrating on Iris, and had totally missed Zero entering the room. He looked up to glare at the red hunter, but his anger died at the expression on Zero's face. This had to feel like déjà vu to him, although it would at least be gentler. If the Sigma virus succeeded, they would just quietly pull the plug on her systems. She would never wake up. That thought didn't make Dynamo feel better, and he didn't think it would help Zero either.

"Yeah… I do," he admitted, looking into Iris' pale face. "You do too, don't you?" There was a short pause, then a faint sound as Zero took a seat on Iris' other side. This was an observation room, and it had plenty of seating for friends and family.

"…Yes." Zero finally said. "I hardly know her yet… but I knew my Iris, and they're so much the same…" He gently took her other hand, holding it in his. "It hurts to see her like this."

"Join the club," Dynamo muttered, then frowned. There was something he'd been meaning to ask someone. "How did those Maverick bastards catch Colonel with his pants down?" Dynamo wasn't willing to believe Colonel had been less that professional. Colonel's anal attitude towards duty could be a pain in the butt at times, but no one had ever accused him of being sloppy.

"We're not sure," Zero said, but his tone made Dynamo's ears perk up. His voice smoldered with anger. "But there were no sensors on the island." Dynamo understood what wasn't being said.

"So… they could have interrupted a Maverick exercise, maybe. Bad luck." He said quietly, and Zero nodded shortly. "Or… they knew our schedule and laid in wait for Colonel and Iris." Zero nodded again, and Dynamo sat back to contemplate the possibilities.

The only way for the Mavericks to know the patrol schedule was through a spy. Patrols were very vulnerable so the information was sealed tightly in the Hunter computers. Dynamo didn't think anyone could get at it without some kind of inside access. But who could the spy be?

An idea occurred to him, absolutely blinding in its simplicity. Of course Sigma would do it if he thought he could get away with it! A perfect way to plant ideal agents inside the Hunters…

"Zero, can you help me with something?" If his theory was right, he was going to need the help of someone with a bit of pull around the HQ. And he'd rather do the preliminaries with Zero than either X. Zero had a reason to be motivated and utterly silent on the subject. "We need to do a little… research. Find out which of us alternate Hunters has a Maverick double." Zero looked puzzled for a moment, and then an ugly look entered his eyes as he figured out where Dynamo's suspicions were going.

"I'll go ask Alia to look that up." Zero stood smoothly, like a panther getting ready to spring.

"Don't let her know why," Dynamo warned. In case his idea was wrong, he didn't want it getting spread all over the HQ. If he was right, it was going to be bad enough.

It didn't take long for Zero to get back with a short list of names.

"Wraith, Bicky, Montegron, Voodoo and Razor," Zero said, and Dynamo breathed a small sigh of relief. He'd been afraid the list would have twenty or thirty people on it. "That's if we don't count any of Repliforce."

"We can check them if these ones don't pan out," Dynamo decided. Repliforce hadn't really gone Maverick, so it probably wasn't any of them. "But I know how to get the one we want. The plan goes like this…" Zero listened intently, and halfway through, grinned ferally.

It was the kind of plan that usually worked.

A short time later, in the repair bay.

Lifesaver scowled at Dynamo and Zero. The bounty hunter was leaning against a wall, arms crossed, wearing a smug expression on his face. Zero was just intent and focused enough to sear holes through the wall.

"Let me see if I understand this right," Lifesaver said in a deadly reasonable tone. "You want me to make her-" He pointed to a nearby female Reploid. She was one of the alternate Hunters, and had volunteered after Dynamo and Zero had approached her with their problem. "Sick with a fungal infection on her connectors."

"You can do it, Lifesaver," Dynamo said in a wheedling tone. "You dealt with a case just last week-"

"And it was hell to get rid of!" Lifesaver snapped. "Why would you WANT me to inflict that on her? And why in hell does SHE want it?" Dynamo and Zero traded a glance. "And will you two stop that? You're acting like conspirators!"

"We are, sort of," Zero admitted, then sighed. "Lifesaver, I'll level with you, but this can't be heard by anyone else."

"I already checked the place for bugs, first thing," Dynamo offered. Lifesaver frowned at them both.

"What's so earth shattering?" His tone made it clear that he doubted anything could be.

His opinion changed rapidly as they explained the situation. Dynamo and Zero suspected that the Mavericks had taken advantage of the fact that a few Mavericks had doubles in the alternate Hunters. They had eliminated a Hunter, and replaced him or her with the Maverick double to spy on the Hunters from the inside. Lifesaver scowled, considering the options, and finally came to the conclusion that inflicting a fungus on the young Hunter was the lesser of two evils.

"Oh, very well! I'll bait your trap. But you had better catch this spy of yours." Lifesaver picked up some equipment, and motioned for the female to lie down. "So you want me to check for jewel chips?"

"Yes. There's no way a Maverick imposter could have gotten one, if he even knows about them." Dynamo grinned mirthlessly. "Which he might not. Who would mention it, and how could he ask?"

"And how will I signal you if I find one without a chip?"

"Just look at me and shake your head," Zero said. "I'll take it from there." His tone made it clear he wouldn't be helping the spy up and giving him a lollipop.

"No killing him," Dynamo warned, and scowled at the nasty look Zero shot him. "Look, we can't get info from a dead guy. Besides, we have ways to make them wish they were dead." Zero frowned at that, uncertain what Dynamo meant, but decided not to ask. They had to organize the trap.

It took a bit of time to organize things, and the unwitting help of Zero's alt double and the alternate X. Dynamo took a little time to say a brief prayer for his soul. When Commander X… both of him… found out what he and Zero had come up with without okaying it they would both be in shit. And knowing the way crap rolled, it would come to rest on Dynamo. Not that he really minded.

Soon, the alternate Hunters were all being checked over for a native fungus that was a bit different from the one in their world, and was already causing one of their friends distress. The young female Hunter suffered quite realistically on a nearby table, her connections exposed and clearly suffering from the fungus.

The suspect Hunters were interspersed with the ones they were sure were genuine. Soon, Lifesaver checked over one of them.

"No problems," he announced without a glance at Zero. Bicky surged to his feet.

"Thanks Lifesaver!" He said with a cheerful wave, and Dynamo breathed a faint sigh of relief. He liked Bicky and Micky. They could be counted on to help liven up a boring day with a good keg party.

Voodoo passed, and so did Razor. But when Lifesaver checked over Wraith…

"You have a slight infection. It could use some treatments." Lifesaver said calmly, and turned around to meet Zero's gaze. His headshake was firm, and Dynamo felt a stab of sorrow. Wraith had spent a lot of time training him to be a competent spy, and he'd really liked the guy. This… sucked.

In an instant, Zero's beam saber was pressing down on Wraith's neck. The startled spy stared up at the Hunter, then frowned.

"What is the meaning of this?" He said in an offended tone, as dignified as it was possible to be with half his chest open and a threatening Zero over him with a saber. But then, Wraith was a hard case in their world, and this one probably wasn't any different.

"Oh, it's just this funny thing we were looking for!" Dynamo said cheerfully as the rest of the alt hunters watched, stunned. "We should all have jewel chips, but gee, you don't seem to have one. Care to explain that?" Wraith's expression turned cold and blank. "You don't have the faintest idea what I'm talking about, do you?" No response. "Didn't think so. Lifesaver, can you put him out?"

"My pleasure." Wraith had more sense than to struggle when a single flip of the wrist could take off his head. But his gaze was poisonous as Lifesaver put him to sleep…