Axl was hooked to dozens of scanners and dozing off lightly. He had never seen any point in staying awake for boring procedures, and after all the times Red Alert had examined him for his copying ability he was a master at quickly falling asleep. It was one of the things about him that had always driven Red nuts. He had thought it was very unprofessional.
He awoke instantly as Lifesaver touched his shoulder, and sat up, looking at the medic expectantly. Then he tilted his head as Lifesaver's expression registered. The serious medic was looking… puzzled.
"If you'll come with me, I think X and Zero should here this report." Axl opened his mouth to question that, and then shut it. Lifesaver wouldn't answer, if he had decided the results were important enough for everyone to know. It was frustrating, though. Axl was left to uneasily wonder what could be bad enough for this kind of meeting.
At least it's not a virus. Axl felt some relief at that. If it were a virus, he would be in quarantine. Certainly not exposing X and Zero to it.
X and Zero were both waiting as they left the observation deck. Axl guessed Lifesaver had assembled them before waking him up, so everyone would be conveniently present for his report.
"So what's wrong with him?" X asked without much concern, and Axl wilted slightly. He had the general feeling that X didn't really like him, probably because of his methods but not stopping there. Something about him just seemed to rub X the wrong way. Lifesaver frowned.
"It's very peculiar," He said, and turned on a monitor which showed a display of a Reploid's neural net… Axl's neural net. "You see this activity here? Highly unusual. That structure doesn't even exist in most Reploids." Lifesaver paused, and then cracked a small smile. "Actually, this structure is in your plans, X." X looked slightly startled.
"Really? What does it do?" He stepped closer, interested now. Lifesaver shrugged.
"As far as I can see, not much of anything. I always assumed it was a backup system. As you know, much of Dr. Light's work is still not understood. Many Reploid designs copy this structure but most omit it entirely. I've never seen this kind of activity in it." The model rotated to display another part of Axl's neural net. "And here. This structure is also very peculiar and one he shares with both of you. But in Axl's mind, it seems to be undergoing a radical expansion and restructuring. I couldn't begin to explain why but it may be activating new abilities," Lifesaver frowned. "The other activity in his cortex is all heightened. It's not at damaging levels but it's… unusual, to say the least. I would say his processing power is functioning at the level of Dopplers' or Gates'" X blinked, and Zero looked concerned.
"Will that damage him?" Doppler and Gate had been designed to process at very high speeds. But Lifesaver shook his head at Zero's question.
"From what I can determine, he was designed to handle this." He hesitated, his gaze drifting over to Axl. "You can remember nothing of your origins?"
"No… Red just found me in a building. The first thing I remember is his face." Axl stared at the scans. Then he suddenly turned to X and grinned. "Hey, if I'm built with all this neat stuff… could I have been built by Dr. Light? That would make us brothers!" Zero smothered a laugh, as X looked like he'd swallowed a bug. "Brother!" Lifesaver just rolled his eyes.
"Unlikely, unless he built you after his death. You're not that old." Lifesaver smiled faintly. "But then… Light must exist in some form, or he wouldn't be able to provide X with new armors and other upgrades." X winced.
"Don't encourage him. And I haven't found any active capsules since he joined us." That hadn't been as much as a hardship as it might have been. The inventors working for the Hunters had tried to fill the gap. "So this isn't related to his DNA copy ability?"
"I didn't say that." A new structure filled the screen. "DNA copying is even less understood than those other structures, but it's showing an unusual amount of activity as well. And again, this structure seems to be restructuring and evolving. What exactly it's turning into, I can't guess." X and Zero both regarded the structure suspiciously.
"And this isn't being caused by a virus?" X voiced both their thoughts, and Axl winced. But Lifesaver shook his head.
"No. There were some odd readings, but nothing I would call a virus and certainly not the Maverick virus. There's no mistaking that." Axl felt a moment of relief, but it was gone with Lifesaver's next words. "I would like to keep him here for observation. I would especially like to monitor his mind during one of the mirror episodes."
"That would be good." X said before Axl could get a word out. "Keep him as long as you need to."
"X!" Axl said, appalled. "There are things to do, Mavericks to fight! I don't want to be stuck here for weeks!" It was boring as hell and reminded him a little too much of Red Alert, and how they had used him for his copying ability. X scowled at him.
"You'll stay here if I tell you to." Axl stared back, mutinous, and X softened his voice. "It's for your own good, Axl. What if this growth becomes unstable? You might need help."
"Hey, I thought of something," Zero broke in. "Lifesaver, could you just remove those structures from his neural net? You said they don't do much of anything." The medic scowled at the red hunter.
"Concentrate on killing people and don't try to tell me my job. That would be like giving a lobotomy with a chainsaw. Those structures might not be functioning in most Reploids, but they are integrated with everything around them and Axl's are worse. If that kind of operation didn't kill him, he'd wish it had." Zero looked abashed at the harsh correction, and Axl sighed.
"Well, X… if you say I have to. But only for a week," Axl said reluctantly. He didn't want to do this, but X was his commander. That didn't mean he wouldn't disobey, but right now X had a point. "And can you bring me lots of books?" If he was going to be trapped in the medbay, he at least wanted to be entertained.
"I'll handle it." Zero volunteered, and then grinned. "I'll bring you my collection of Mercedes Lackey books." Axl smiled at him gratefully.
"Thanks, Zero. You're a good friend." Then he stepped back into the observation deck, Lifesaver following. He might as well make himself comfortable.
Later…
Axl was sitting in a chair, reading a book. Scanners had been attached to almost every part of his body and were constantly feeding information to the computers, noting any change. So far, all they had registered was low blood sugar, and it had been nearly a day.
But finally they started to register something, and Axl looked up with a blink to find his reflection glaring at him.
The expression on his face in the mirror was frustrated, disgusted and furious. Axl tried to remember an occasion when he might have looked like that, but nothing could come to mind. He rarely got angry with anyone.
For the first time, his reflection spoke.
What are you doing sitting there? You have things to do!
"You mean, kill Mavericks?" Axl answered without thinking, not considering the strangeness of speaking to a mirror. He glanced up at a camera in the corner of the room, which was catching everything. His mirror self snorted.
The Mavericks are unimportant. You know you have more important things to do! Didn't you read the tablet? Don't you understand?
"Understand WHAT?" Axl said, frustrated. "That was just a crazy poem left by crazy aliens! How could it mean anything now? It was 2 million years old!" His reflection just stared at him for a long moment, the rage fading away, replaced by… sadness?
If you really don't know, then I can't tell you. I'm just your reflection. But please, you have to think… you have to remember.
"Remember what?" Axl said urgently, sensing that there was a great revelation close. But it would not be easy to get at and pull into the light.
Remember your origins. Remember where you came from… body, and soul. Before he could ask another question, the reflection changed to match him, and he could tell the episode was over.
It had only left questions.