A.N/ Sorry, can't post much right now, have to get my ass to school, and this was all I could edit. More to come soon, let us know what you think about this runoff

Gimp- going to miss the bus!

"NO!" Rock cried, practically throwing a tantrum. "I don't wanna go talk with Signas! I want to see Dynamo!" He was squirming and writhing as X carried him down the hall over his shoulder. "He needs me! X!" He was freshly awake, and had been planning on making a trip down to the repair ward before X had stomped that idea out with his announcement of Rock's 8am meeting with the general.

X yawned loudly, avoiding Rock's knee and he squirmed, patting him lightly. "Rock, stop it. You're making a scene." He ignored the strange looks he was getting from the other hunters, and turned right, down a brightly-lit hall. "It won't take long. I'm sure they're not done repairing him anyway." His mouth opened wide into a yawn- he'd hardly gotten any sleep, waiting to see if Zero returned. Now he was irritable and worse yet, he was worried about the bastard.

Rock quieted down at that, hearing his brother's exhaustion in his voice, and allowed himself to be carried the rest of the way with as much dignity as he could muster with his little ass up in the air. He wasn't nervous about seeing Signas, he'd seemed nice enough when he'd met him, however, he was worried about the kinds of questions he was going to have to answer.

Suddenly Rock was set on his feet, and X kneeled down on one knee in front of him. "Good luck." He kissed Rock's scraped and bruised cheek softly, brushed his hair back, then stood and ushered him into the room, shutting the door lightly behind himself.

As Rock stared around the room, all the nervousness he should have felt crashed down on him- He felt like a prisoner in this windowless, white washed room. He felt small, smaller than he remembered feeling in a long time.

"Ah, there you are, Rock." Signas entered the room, seeing Rock jump slightly at the intrusion and turn slowly around to stare up at him. "I understand there was...an incident yesterday?" A small nod. "Care to tell me about it?"

Rock shifted around, feeling terribly nervous, and his mouth worked silently for a minute before he finally blurted out, "I- I was scared!" He whimpered, eyes watering. "There were two people and they brought me to this man, Sigma...and..." Signas waited calmly. "H-he hurt Dynamo." Rock finished miserably.

"And not you? Did you tell them anything that they asked?"

"He was going to hurt me, but Dynamo stopped him. And he didn't tell them anything either!" The response was vehement, Rock totally convinced that his friend hadn't told the mavericks anything. He stared up at Signas, the man before him seeming so tall and imposing, so calmly disbelieving that he wanted to cry. "I...want to see him. He saved me."

"I'm sorry, but we have to ask Dynamo questions as well. If he was indeed...captured, even for a short time, we have to know if..." Signas trailed off. Rock was sniffling sadly, those wide eyes staring up at him as if it had hurt Rock personally to think that Dynamo might have... Signas sighed. He believed Dynamo would say anything under duress. "I'm sorry, but it's necessary to..." Rock whimpered and rubbed at his eyes. With growing unease, Signas shifted where he stood. "...Perhaps you could speak to him for a bit..."

A huge grin broke out on Rock's face. "Thank you!" He said cheerily, flinging himself at Signas to wrap the man's waist in a huge hug. "Can we go see him now?" Signas smiled softly and nodded. "Thank you so much!" Rock grinned. He could see Dynamo!

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Zero was stinking drunk, pissed off for no reason, and he was staring at the ceiling of X's room for reasons he couldn't discern. Why was he in here? X wasn't in his room, and he felt like he was going to pass out anyway. Life...sucked.

He know Rock was X's brother, and he trusted him, but try as he might, Zero couldn't remember ever seeing Rock until he had arrived at X's doorstep. Dynamo had said Rock was severely damaged when he had found the boy, and he had probably been confused and frightened when he had first seen Zero. It was easy to understand how he could come to such a conclusion about him with his memory so muddled, Zero must have looked rather intimidating to him at the time. Yet, Rock was still insisting that Zero had done something horrible to him, and it upset him. He hated being wrongly accused, and the fact that X believed every word about it simply because Rock was his brother... Well, it bothered him.

"Don't you dare puke on my couch."

Zero turned his head sluggishly to stare up at X, who was looking back down at him rather dryly. He opened his mouth to give him an earful, then shut it quickly, in fear of doing just what he'd been ordered not to. "Hey, babe." he finally risked, giving him a drunken smile.

X sighed, rolling his eyes, and found himself caressing Zero's face softly. "What am I going to do with you? Honestly, Zero..." He stopped his lecture, seeing the hurt Zero had almost succeeded in hiding, and instead hopped over the couch, and pulled him into a sitting position, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Alright, you drunken ass." X muttered, leaning on him. "Let's hear it."

Zero stared at him momentarily, as though to decide whether it was worth talking or not, then blurted everything out. "What the hell, X. I know he's your brother and everything, but Christ, you've known me a lot longer than him. Why are you taking his word over mine? I know he doesn't like me, but he started it, and-"

X stared at him incredulously. "Zero, that is the most childish thing I've ever heard you say!"

"You love him more than me." He finished with sardonically, and X could swear he saw him pout. Ah yes, he had almost forgot. There was something worse than Zero drunk. Zero drunk and irrational.

"What are you talking about?" He asked finally, at a loss. "I'm not taking sides, I just want to get everything sorted with Rock, that's all. I don't want him to think poorly of you." He ran his hand through his hair gently; knowing Zero was too drunk to fight back. "So you can relax... Alright, Zero? ... Zero? Zero had passed out, leaning on him heavily. "Great... Glad we had this talk." X mumbled, giving his sleeping buddy the thumbs up.

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"Dynamo!" Rock cried before he even made it past the doors. He scrambled through them quickly, scanning the area for Dynamo's tall self, then finally found him in a far corner, still unconscious. His armor and skin had been opened up, and spare chips rest grouped around each wound, awaiting insertion. He remembered how Dynamo had looked the night before, images flashing before his eyes, and he found himself crying again, turning quickly from Dynamo's prone form to prevent shorting a circuit.

Signas clapped a hand on his shoulder, finally caught up to him, and sighed, seeing the grief on the boy's scrunched up face. "Perhaps we should go, Rock." Obviously this had been a bad idea- The sight was too much for the innocent child.

"No." Rock whispered hoarsely, shaking his head. "I don't want to go yet." He forced himself to stop crying, and stared down at Dynamo silently. "He got hurt like this because of me." Reaching out, he fanned his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, Dynamo..." He whimpered, then ran a hand down his side slowly. His hand hit a chip, and he caught it before it slid off Dynamo's chest.

He knew this part. Slowly, he reached into Dynamo's body and pulled a destroyed chip out, then slid the one in his hand into place, replacing it. Signas grabbed his wrist quickly, stopping him, and leaned down. "Don't do that, okay? You don't want to break him." He offered gently, but Rock refused to budge.

"No, don't. I know what I'm doing. The set up is the same as X's was, when I built him." He blurted thoughtlessly, and pulled his hand free, starting in on Dynamo immediately. It took him several seconds to realize he'd slipped information he shouldn't have, and it didn't occur to Rock that he'd said something wrong until he heard Signas' surprised voice.

"Who are you?"