Note: This fic was spawned because I read State of the Art by Aisu The Spiffy. All I'm using, though, is the general premise of her story so I don't think I'm infringing. It's an interesting concept! Anyway, on with the story.

"I'm beginning to see that there's a problem," Zero growled at Signas. "You don't have to rub it in."

This was the monthly executive staff meeting. All the other unit commanders were looking embarrassed, and so was Alia, who was there representing the Navigators. The only ones completely sanguine with the current conversation were the commanders of the internal and external affairs. They both had full military rank, although one was actually a logistics specialist who oversaw everything from the laundry to the kitchens, and the other was in charge of media relations. Both had seen combat, but not a lot, and they no longer had any part in the active military affairs.

X, in particular, was looking guilty and ashamed. Zero did want to throttle him a bit, but mostly because he was being so damn diffident and tentative about the whole thing. It wasn't his fault that HE didn't have the same problem, but he seemed to feel like he should.

"It's not that you're outdated, Zero," Signas said, fumbling. "It's just that… uh…"

"You're not very upgradeable," The commander in charge of external affairs said smoothly. She was a beautiful human woman, but with a slightly strange face. Zero knew that it had been fully reconstructed after her final battle. "Sort of like my mom's old Mac."

"Oh, thank you, that makes me feel so much better." Zero said sardonically, but with the knawing pain of hearing an uncomfortable truth.

His missions had been growing steadily more difficult. He'd noticed the change… he just didn't seem as fast, as strong as he'd used to be. But the change wasn't in him, everyone else was improving while he… wasn't. He'd gotten by this long by being the same old, canny warrior he'd always been. New combat models could get pretty damn full of themselves, but experience would usually win out.

Usually. But Zero had recently been forced to accept that his experience was failing to bridge the gap. Not by a Maverick, thankfully, but he could have cheerfully shot the rookie bitch who'd gotten him. It hadn't helped at all that she had been so apologetic about it. She'd run over to help him up, and make sure he wasn't hurt! It was mortifying.

Zero gritted his teeth, and tried to think good thoughts about her. Hell, she was nice, pretty, and one of the best rookies they had gotten in ages! It wasn't her fault she was a brand new model, and not infected with arrogance… she'd listened to ALL her training, and taken it to heart. She was pretty too… what was her name again? Steel Rose. A pretty name. She'd be good in his unit…

No use. He still wanted to brain her for forcing him to admit his weakness. She was just so damn fast, so damn strong and smart, too. The kind of rookie he had been, way back…

He glared at Signas, who looked excruciatingly uncomfortable.

"So what? Am I going to be retired?" There were winces all over the table. "Not like a Maverick! Put out to pasture. Like some elderly human guy who can't remember his name anymore. Is that it?"

"No, of course not!" Signas said hastily. A little too hastily. "We just need some time to analyze your plans and figure out how to upgrade you."

"You have all the skills, it's just the hardware." The unit commander of the 19'th, Gold Surge, said. He probably meant to be encouraging. A lot of people never got the skills, but the hardware could be fixed… usually. "They'll whip something up in no time."

"For my systems to reject, just like the last three attempts?" There was silence around the table, and X in particular looked like he wanted to crawl under it. Zero finally couldn't take it, and snapped at him. "X, stop looking at me like that! I'm not going to rip your head off just because you were built to be upgraded and I wasn't." That was the crux of X's guilt. His systems had been built by Dr. Light, who had made X to be a civilian but anticipated that he might need to fight someday. Even though there were dark mysteries about him, things the scientists had never fully understood, they could easily adapt new weapons and upgrades to him. In fact, Dr. Light did it himself, with all the capsules X found! Everyone suspected he must be alive, somehow, in some fashion.

But whoever had made Zero had done nothing like that for him. In fact, it seemed he'd been remarkably short sighted… or egotistical. While his body was easily more mysterious than X's, he didn't take upgrades well at all. In fact, his systems tried to violently reject them. Only one upgrade had ever taken, and it wasn't that invasive, just a pathfinder thing. Which was sort of useful, but not the dramatic improvement he needed.

"Zero, I'm sorry…" X started, but Zero scowled and waved it away. What was he apologizing for?

"Oh, forget it X. So who's going to take my place?" What they had suggested was a six month, paid vacation for him. Zero didn't like it in the least. Leaving aside the fact that X would be going on without him, it would make it far more possible for them to ditch him if things didn't work out with the upgrades. And he did NOT want to be put out pasture like a damned cow! The rest of the table looked a little relieved that they were getting back to practical issues.

"We were thinking Jambalaya might do," The commander of the 15'th, Wraith, put in. He was a slender male in jet black armor, with bright red crystals and silver trim. Zero smiled thinly, and nodded.

"She'll do good by them." Jambalaya would have been his personal pick. She was effectively his second in command, and everyone in the 0'th unit loved her. Compared to Zero, she was a bit of a straight arrow, but she cared for all of them and it showed. The rest of the unit would have walked through fire for her just as quickly as they would have for Zero. Zero pushed himself up from the table. "If that's the only part about me, I'll go inform her and the rest of the unit, and go pack." He really wasn't interested in staying for the rest of the meeting if he was leaving for six months. Although, he never liked the meetings anyway, so that was more of a plus.

Zero walked out, and didn't look back.

So, a pretty young Reploid girl typed quickly at her computer. Any news from Hunter HQ? News you can tell me?

She had long, thick red-gold hair. It reached her buttocks, and was held back with tiny jeweled clips. The clips were gilded silver, and studded with green swarovski crystals. They twinkled brightly above her ears, giving her a festive air. Her face was slightly plain, with wide hazel eyes, an overly large nose and a wide mouth. But that mouth smiled easily and often. Her skin was very pale, and sprinkled artistically with freckles, across her nose and cheeks. Her body was willowy, slender and lovely, and right now she was wearing a white t-shirt and green shorts.

Maybe maybe, her friend teased her. What will you give me if I tell you?

A kiss? smootch

Oh, how sweet! ------ She grinned at the strange rose. Okay, there's been a lot happening. She read all the interesting tidbits she had available.

She was curious about Maverick Hunter HQ, but there was nothing sinister about that. It was the interest of a groupie, of someone who rather wished she could be a Hunter but knew better. She had no particular physical skills, and had not been intended as a combat model… so the best she could have done was to become a research scientist with Hunter HQ.

And events had made even that impossible.

Zero is leaving HQ because he's obsolete? That's terrible! She typed, immediately feeling sympathetic with the red Hunter. How many times had SHE been derided as inferior hardware? Where's he going?

I hear maybe Hawaii. He's always wanted to go there.

Do you think maybe you could talk him into taking a side trip to Seattle? She typed in, feeling rather wistful… and thinking of something more than just meeting the famous Hunter. Maybe… they could make use of him. Although it would be a mutually beneficial relationship, on many levels. Ophelia and I would love to meet him.

Hmm… well, maybe, Jaz. Could you guys send me some pictures? That'd get him a bit interested. Jasmine grinned, and immediately started to send several files.

Thanks, Jambalaya, I'd appreciate it!

Hey, it's the least I can do for my little sister. Jasmine smiled, a touch sadly, as she read that. She and Jambalaya were the personal creations of a very good Reploid designer. But while Jambalaya had been the first of a powerful combat line, Jasmine had been created from spare parts. Her processors and mind were absolutely excellent, but the rest of her body was distinctly inferior. So much so that refurnishing her to combat standards would have been prohibitively expensive.

It looked nice, though, and she had good coordination. That was about all that she needed to be a research scientist and repair tech. And she had a definite knack for it. So maybe, just maybe, she and her sister could succeed where Hunter HQ had failed.

Holy crap on a stick! You want me to show THESE pictures to Zero?

You don't think it'll catch his attention?

Maybe too much attention. He'll think you want to, ya know. Do him.

Who says we don't?

…Wow, sis, can't you at least keep your perversions straight? What will you do to the poor guy? Jasmine giggled, grinning, and kept typing.

She loved talking with her sister…