"So, what's the word on those Maverick made Reploids we recovered?" This world's X asked Lifesaver. Lifesaver glanced down at a clipboard.

"None of them are infected. Three class C Akisha models, four class B Samuel's, and the last four are unique. Three of them are combat models, and the last appears to be an experimental prototype."

"Really?" X glanced into lab, where all the Reploids were still staying. The Samuel style Reploids had been built for heavy labor, but more intelligence than the average. They would probably have been used as foremen. The Akisha models weren't actually Akishas, but they were clearly built on the same lines… two attractive girls, and one attractive guy, most likely meant to blend in with the civilian population and spread the virus. But…

"Which one is the prototype?" X finally asked, after staring not at three, but four Akishas. All were extremely pretty, but Lifesaver had said three, so one of them was not as she/he appeared. Lifesaver pointed towards a female with butter-blond hair in two pigtails. She was tall and willowy, with eyes that were anime-huge for her face. X stared at her, and she turned her head to stare back. Her eye color was strange, but beautiful… a burnt umber that darkened to black at the center, and faded to gold on the edges. Then she suddenly smiled, and gave X a saucy wink. X blushed, and looked down.

"It looks like someone was trying out several experiments with her, and perhaps trying to create the 'ideal woman'." Lifesaver's tone showed what he thought of that. "There's no other reason I can see to build all these features into such a small package. Her frame, for example, is made out of an unusual but not unknown alloy. She's extremely light, yet extremely durable. Her muscles are wired in an unusual fashion, and her CPU is running extremely fast. She also has extra processors. I've tested her in several areas, and she's extremely intelligent, her reflexes are extremely quick, and she is very strong for her size. None of these innovations, by themselves, are surprising. But all of them in one Reploid is. Particularly one not otherwise designed for combat." X nodded thoughtfully. The girl had no built in weaponry, although she did have very strong armor.

That armor was actually quite strange looking, and X couldn't help but stare at it. Instead of the usual sections in different colors, all her armor was the same base color… the burnt umber of her eyes. But the base color shaded constantly, darkening to brown and lightening to gold, creating a mottled effect. The only exception to that was a starburst of gold on the center of her chest, surrounding the Maverick symbol. That symbol was removed, now, and had been replaced with a red jewel. The girl wore no helmet, but someone had pierced her ears and set them with dangling, gold and diamond earrings. The diamonds were large, and glittered like tiny stars.

"Does she have a name?" X asked, curious. Most of the others didn't. Only the big green one and the rat like ones had been programmed with their names… Duschane and Lagaroo. The others were nameless. But Lifesaver nodded.

"She says her name is Sigarni." That made X's eyes go wide as an idea occurred to him.

"She couldn't be Sigma's ideal woman, could she?" The names were similar. Lifesaver looked startled, then thoughtful.

"If so, he has good taste," Lifesaver said. That startled X even more than the thought of Sigma being lonely enough to make his own ideal sex partner. He had suspected for some time that Lifesaver was secretly gay. "But she seems rather… small for that." X blanched as he considered that. Sigma was HUGE…

"Um, nevermind," X muttered, shaking his head to get rid of evil pictures. "Does she want to join the Hunters? The alternates need people badly." Although he was curiously reluctant to let Sigarni go somewhere else. Lifesaver frowned.

"I think it would be premature to consider that. They need to learn more about the world and their places in it before they make that decision. I would suggest giving them a month, and putting them through vocational testing." That would help determine what their skills and aptitudes were. They had no idea what the Mavericks had been intending them for, except for the obvious ones like Duschane. And even he might choose to lead a peaceful life. X nodded thoughtfully, glancing one last time at Sigarni.

She met his eyes, and X felt an almost electrical shiver run down his spine. Then she smiled mysteriously, and turned away. X hesitated, then finally left… he had duties to attend to.

But for the rest of the day, he thought about huge umber eyes…

"Well, this is a whole load of suck." X said, tapping the ashes off his cigarette. Zero sighed softly, and shrugged.

"Not everything can be exciting," he said philosophically. X blinked, then tilted his head to look at the red Hunter.

"Have we switched bodies, or something? That's usually my line." Zero grinned, and shrugged, spreading his hands.

They had both been set to defending one of the jewel chip factories. Sigma had finally found about the chips, and had reacted fairly predictably. X grimaced as he thought about that. A chunk of the 13'th and some of the heavy weapons division had been overcome, and the facility gutted. Fortunately, Sigma had tried to attack too many points at once, and the weakened attacks on the other factories had failed. Some damage had been done, but jewel chips were still going out in a steady stream. So X and Zero from the alternate universe had been set to guarding one of the factories and were getting heartily bored with the process.

"What do you think of what your double said?" Zero decided to change the subject. "You know, about Sigma trying to figure out a way to defeat the jewel chips?"

"I wish he hadn't mentioned it," X said with a grimace, blowing a smoke ring. Zero gave him a questioning look. "I don't like the thought of someone messing with those things. You know what I think about it."

"You and Gate, but we've been using them for ages. Why are you both so pessimistic?" Zero found himself playing devil's advocate. He did have a good idea of what X's objections were, but he wanted to hear them.

"Because it's a damned virus, that's why, and it's as virulent as the Maverick Virus." X said flatly. "It's just harnessed. And Demodyne would never tell anyone who wrote it, or why, and there was no freaking record. They just appeared out of thin air, and that makes my skin crawl."

"Mmm… You think it could be another Maverick virus?" Zero's tone was neutral. "You know, it could have just been written by a genius with a yen for privacy." X was silent for a moment, then nodded with a sigh.

"To be honest, that's the most likely explanation. And we all know it wasn't Sigma's work… I just wish I knew for sure, you know? We have this thing inside us and no one understands it. If the alternative weren't worse…" X shook his head, taking a drag from his cigarette again.

"Well, there's no point in worrying about-" Zero stopped, his sharp eyes catching a hint of movement. "I think I saw something over there."

"Did you?" X murmured softly with a poisonous smile. "Maybe Sigma's sending saboteurs. Let's go see." He was looking forward to some action.

Both Alia's, Layer and Palette were in the Navigation control room, chatting and giving the alternate Alia pointers. She had been acting as a Navigator in her own world, sort of, but not on a full, professional level. With the Mavericks gone, her skills had often been rather useless. She couldn't hunt down criminals and terrorists in populated areas. So now, she was taking her double's shift and relearning her position, under their supervision.

Although Layer and Palette were there for the girl talk, not to look over her work.

"So how was your date last night?" Layer gently teased Palette, who blushed, hiding it by taking a deep drink from her coffee mug.

"It, um, was nice."

"Only nice?" Alternate Alia said with a grin, checking out some signals. "Zero must be losing his touch. Usually, it's 'oh god, it was so great!' That's what I said, anyway." Her double had been taking a drink of her own cup of coffee, and choked as she heard that, just barely managing not to spray it everywhere.

"Really?" Layer glanced at her Alia, then turned an innocent look onto the other one. "Our Alia is dating X… you're not?"

"His breath is too bad," Alia said absently, making everyone giggle. X's smoking was a standing joke by now. "Seriously, he's not really my type. He used to be so much sweeter, but all the chaos really soured him." Suddenly, a face poked into the room, then a second, identical face right under it. All four navigators laughed… the two Axl's were incredibly cute together.

"Hello, ladies! Do you want some doughnuts?" The Axl from their world, with the blue ribbons, said cheerfully as he held up a large box.

"Or tidbits?" The second Axl, the one with green ribbons, held up a second box with a grin. All the girls laughed again.

"You guys have the sweet tooth from Hell," Alia said with a grin, selecting a crueler. "But thank you." Palette took a chocolate dip, Layer an old fashioned glazed, and the other Alia took a handful of tidbits instead.

"You're welcome," Green ribbon Axl said with a smile, and they both ducked out.

"Those kids are just so sweet… eh?" Alia blinked at the monitor, hand stopping before a tidbit could reach her mouth. "What's this?"

"Hm?" All the Navigators became interested… and worried. Alia immediately paged X.

"X? There's something funny going on in Sector Tango…"

"You wanted to see me, great one?" Dynamo said lightly, hands on his hips, as he stood before Sigma. Sigma favored him with a look, but let the disrespect pass. He'd given up on making Dynamo regard him with the proper respect a long time ago.

From anyone else, Sigma wouldn't have tolerated it, but Dynamo was too valuable to have slowly taken apart. For now. That could eventually change, and Sigma rather looked forward to it. Dynamo was betting he could keep getting away with it, and so far it was working.

"Indeed. There is something I want you to go investigate." Dynamo managed to look intelligent and interested, tilting his head to one side. "We've lost contact with a research facility. I want you to investigate and find out why."

"Probably the Hunters. How deep a reconnaissance do you want?" They calmly discussed the details of the mission. Sigma resisted a bit, but finally allowed that Dynamo could make it a light recon mission… in, evaluate the situation, then out. Nothing that would be particularly risky. "So what exactly was this place researching?"

"The jewel chips." Sigma's voice dropped to a growl, and Dynamo was careful not to let a flicker pass over his face. By now, he knew all about the chips. It wasn't the first time someone had taken to selling something that was supposed to protect against the Maverick Virus. But all of those had been the modern version of snake oil, useless garbage. The difference between that and the jewel chips was that the chips really worked. They were no miracle cure, but they were better than everything else on the market… and Dynamo had quietly had one installed. He wasn't going to mention it to Sigma… there was every chance he would fly into a rage and execute Dynamo, useful or not… but Dynamo had decided he would rather be dead than a Maverick puppet, if things ever went wrong. Hence the chip.

"I see… even more likely it was the Hunters, then. I'll get right on it." Dynamo turned away. For all his intelligence and undoubted cleverness, his ego was vast. If he had looked back, he might have been unnerved by the thin, cold smile on Sigma's face.

But Dynamo didn't look back. He never did.