The house they traveled to was more of a mansion. Low slung and sprawling, it was built of what looked like dark stone and wood, but Zero suspected it was actually some kind of composite. It was at the very edge of the Reploid section of the city, and had a great deal of land around it. The landscaping was spectacular, if a trifle odd, by Neo Arcadian standards. Zero blinked as he saw the beautiful stone pathways, going through the gardens… and the delicate little fruit trees, some in bloom, some already fruiting. And also other food plants, interspersed with the flowers… from where he stood, he could see a very large tomato plant. It was full of little green tomatoes, and bigger red ones.

"The one thing I've always admired about Vile is his gardens," Axl said with some approval. "It's not a waste of space, like so many rich people have." Much of the garden was given over to flowers, but much of it was fruits and vegetables. Axl stalked up to the door, and a guard moved to stop him. He was a generic, fairly low level Reploid with Ratha marks, but his armor had been painted very nicely in dark blue and gold.

"Excuse me. What is your business here?" His tone was polite, but he frowned at Ema. A human of the merchant caste really had no business in the Reploid quarter.

"I'm Axl, from the Bad Penny. I'm here to see Vile on a business matter." Axl said firmly. The Reploid hesitated, then opened the door.

"Come." He led them into the lobby of the mansion. The flooring was wood flooring, polished to a bright shine, and the walls were quite plain except for a few tasteful paintings. There was a large reception desk in the lobby, almost like one would expect from a hotel. The Reploid woman working there looked up with a frown. She was tall, with long black hair in tight braids, and her armor perfectly matched the Reploid who had brought them in. It looked like that paint job was a kind of livery. She wore a caste mark Zero had never seen before, a red starburst on her right cheek. Her eyes flicked over them, assessing, and her lips tightened.

"Do you have an appointment?" She said frostily. Axl smiled mirthlessly… they were violating perhaps a dozen of Tartoga Bay's inflexible social conventions with this visit, and he didn't care a bit.

"Not hardly. But I need to see Vile now." Her face congealed, but before she could speak, Axl leaned over her desk. "And if you don't take us to him, I'm going to stand outside and try to shoot up this house. And when the authorities come, I'll tell them everything I know about the little… errands we've run for Vile." There was a long pause. The receptionist didn't actually know what Axl was talking about. On the other hand, even if it was all lies… the current administration was not known for moderation. The receptionist gave Axl a look of loathing, then picked up a headset.

"Master Vile? A person called Axl is here. He demands to see you immediately." A pause. "Yes, he did. Yes, sir." She set the handset back down, and looked at the guard, who was hovering nervously. If Vile had decided to kick them out, he would have been expected to start with enforcing it… and he didn't like the looks of Axl and Zero at all. "Take them up to Vile." With faint relief on his face, the guard took them up out of the room.

The room they were taken too looked like an executive office. The Reploid behind the mahogany desk was dressed in purple armor, with no helmet… his face was quite handsome, with olive skin and one golden eye. His other eye was a brilliant red, and Zero stiffened at the sight of him, tensing sharply. Memories welled up in him, and for the first time, he could really remember…

He was hurrying through the ruined city. X was ahead of him, he had to reach him in time… the kid was just a rookie, even if he had the potential to be so much more. It could all end here if he didn't get there in time…

There! Zero charged his buster as he dashed forward, seeing the robot ride armor and the purple Reploid inside squeezing the life out of X. He released a charged off shot, severing the armor's arm…

Zero shivered and touched his head. He had finally remembered something, but it evoked feelings of hatred and rage, directed towards this stranger in front of him.

"You hurt X…" Zero said softly, and Axl looked over at him, startled. Vile frowned, unable to tell who Zero really was. Axl quickly gripped Zero's arm.

"Zero, that was a long time ago. Vile was purged of the virus after the last war with Sigma, and he fought with the good side against Weil." Axl explained, and Vile's eyes widened as he heard the name.

"Zero?" He looked the new version up and down, then raised an eyebrow. "Fascinating. I would never have expected this." Then his expression turned cool, as he looked at Axl. "What do you want, Axl? I don't care for your threats."

"Sorry, Vile, but we need help and we need it now." Axl leaned over the desk, his face intense. "X, Ciel and Leviathan… you wouldn't know them, they're from Neo Arcadia… have been taken as spies. We need to get them out. You've been in and out of that palace like a flea on a dog, you must know a way in!"

"I might," Vile said mildly. "But I fail to see why should help you."

"Your help in exchange for your life," Axl said bluntly, and Vile's face went very still. He slowly stood, and Axl tensed but didn't move back as Vile planted his hands on the desk and leaned forward until their faces were almost touching.

"Do not presume to threaten me in my own home, my own office. You have no idea what protections I have here." That sent Zero's eyes darting around the room, as he tried to identify threats. With a sinking feeling, he managed to find several well concealed sensors… and he didn't think they were hooked to anything non-lethal. Axl and Vile continued their staring contest for a long moment… before Vile straightened with a thin, cold smile. "As it happens, I have some personal reasons to wish the current Tyrant ill. If we can think of a good plan, I'll help you… but if not, my help is over. I didn't survive this long by backing losers."

"I seem to recall you dying a lot working for Sigma." Axl said with a small grin, relaxing slightly. Vile snorted and shook his head.

"I meant voluntarily. I had no choice in backing that loser." Vile's expression turned serious. "My knowledge might be slightly out of date. I was banned from the palace by the previous Tyrant, which was probably all that saved my life from this one. But I haven't been welcomed back."

"What happened?" Zero asked. "And what was your personal reason…?" He was really quite curious about that. Vile gestured them towards the chairs in the room.

"Take a seat… this will take a while to explain." When everyone was comfortably seated, Vile sat as well, and folded his hands together as he thought for a moment. "For a very long time, I was in the previous Tyrant's good graces. I'm a very wealthy merchant, and I often procured very exotic toys for his children. A harmless way to gain influence, normally. However, that arrangement ended quite abruptly," Vile smiled humorlessly, and bit off the next words. "When I proposed marriage to a girl of the Amaru caste." Ema frowned, and carefully examined Vile's caste markings.

"Your markings are the Amartasu caste, although you're retired… correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that be an acceptable cross-caste match? Unless she was an only child?" Vile shook his head.

"You are correct, and she was a third child, although the only daughter. She was also the Tyrant's niece." That made Ema and Axl blink. "I thought the relationship was distant enough to be acceptable. He thought otherwise."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ema said sympathetically. "I take it she's… gone?"

"She died when the current Tyrant purged the clans." Vile said plainly. He had no use for euphemisms. "I have no particular grief, but I am offended. When I first heard about the coup, I was glad." That made everyone blink in surprise. "I thought that without her meddling uncle around, we would soon be married. Any normal Tyrant wouldn't have bothered with a mere niece… she should have been disgraced, almost penniless, but not killed."

"This Tyrant is really wacked, isn't he?" Axl said softly, and Vile shrugged.

"Many Tyrants have been this ruthless. But he doesn't seem to know about or care for the tools a Tyrant can use instead of violence. And because he uses violence to generate terror, only violence will serve him. I estimate he'll last a year at the most, even if we don't intervene." Vile's tone turned cynical. "And when he dies, there will be a civil war."

"I really don't care." In Zero's opinion, whatever Tartoga Bay got would be what it deserved. Vile smiled nastily.

"Then let's get started." Axl nodded, and they began to plan…

"X." Ciel sounded like she was on the verge of crying. "X, please talk to me!"

She'd been trying to keep Copy X awake and alert, afraid he was in danger of going into a coma. In his current condition, with no medical attention, that could be dangerous. But despite her attempts, he had been steadily sinking since the beating. Ciel was deathly afraid some of his internals had been damaged, and he was leaking coolant into his chest cavity. The blood that he was still coughing up supported that diagnosis, and auto-repair systems could only do so much with such terrible injuries.

"Ciel, there's no point. He's unconscious." Leviathan sighed, slumping in her chains. "I don't think he's going to live, unless they give him some attention soon." X was very tough, and so was his angel armor… but there were limits.

"But he did it for me," Ciel said, slowly starting to cry. "He did it to keep that bastard away from me… and I, I thought of him as a failure…" The humiliation she had felt when this first Copy X had left Neo Arcadia had colored all her interactions with him. She'd never dreamed he might sacrifice himself for her, and it made her feel low as a worm. Leviathan was silent for a moment.

"He's a good man," she said softly, looking over at X. His chin was on his chest, his face slack and empty. A thin line of blood oozed from the corner of his mouth, onto his armor. "Even if he tries to seem worse than he is." X took a great deal of pride in his image as a womanizer, pirate killer, wandering merchant and general ne'er-do-well, but Leviathan thought he had far more morals than he let on.

Two Reploids came into the room, and Leviathan and Ciel looked up. They were wearing the caste marks of common soldiers, and seemed to be generic flunkies.

"You're being taken to see the Tyrant," One of them said in a businesslike tone, pulling out a ring of keys and glancing at his friend. "Which one first?" His friend frowned at X's motionless body.

"He's out of it… let's get him first. If he's dead, Shiima will want to know right away." The first guard nodded, and Leviathan watched silently as they undid X's chains. Ciel scowled.

"Don't let him fall to the ground, he's suffered enough." She snarled at them. They both glanced over at her, annoyed… which proved to be a fatal mistake.

X's head suddenly snapped up, his red eyes opening wide as he flashed into Seraphim form in a blinding flash of light. X's hands moved with blinding speed, the giant claw/fingers of his left hand slamming through the neck of the Reploid to his left. His right hand closed on the second, muffling any scream as it crushed his head.

"What… the… hell…?" Leviathan managed to say, staring, as X turned back to his angel armor and grinned at them. Ciel also stared, round eyed and wondering.

"They must have been new. The old Tyrant's jailers would never have relaxed their guard like that." X grabbed the keys off the one who had released him, and started working on Leviathan's shackles. "By the way, that was just so sweet of the two of you. I'm touched. So, does this mean I can have a kiss for good luck before we get started?" X said with a grin.

"No!" Leviathan yelped as Ciel stared, still in shock. "You… you were faking the whole time? You bastard! He didn't hurt you at all, did he?" X's grin faded around the edges, and he shook his head as he undid Ciel's collar. Leviathan rubbed her wrists with a scowl, watching him.

"Yes and no. Yes, I was faking. No, he really hurt me bad." X turned his head away, and spat a wad of viscous coolant onto the floor. "I had to make it look convincing, and that meant getting hurt." He gave Leviathan a thin smile. "I'll do my best, Fairy, but the rest might be up to you."

"Well, if that's the case…" Leviathan phased in her weapon, to X's surprise and appreciation.

"I didn't know you could do that-mrph!" X staggered as Ciel suddenly hugged him, and gave him a kiss. She pulled back a moment later, wincing as she wiped away a bit of coolant from her lips.

"A kiss for good luck," she explained with a blush as they both stared at her. X grinned and laughed, hugging Ciel back.

"Thanks, Ciel. That makes my day. C'mon… let's get out of this pus hole." They didn't have a plan and probably wouldn't survive, but it was better than just waiting for death. At the very least, they would make their captors pay.

The cobwebs were thick in the secret passage. Zero used his beam saber to clear them away, and raised the glowing green weapon over his head to illuminate the passageway. Vile was right behind him, directing him. He would have been ahead of him, but Zero had insisted on taking point. No one had felt like disagreeing.

They had left the three Rebellion soldiers behind, to help with another part of their plan… a frontal assault by some forces loyal to Vile. It seemed Vile had been taking steps to secure loyalty in some interesting places, using several cut-outs and more paranoia than Axl and Ema would have believed possible. Understandable paranoia… if the Tyrant had heard about his efforts, Vile would have been killed, probably gruesomely.

They reached an end to the passageway, and Zero let Vile push past him, quickly doing something to the stone. According to Vile, these passageways were as old as the Tyrant's palace, and most had been put in place by the very first Tyrant. Vile almost seemed nostalgic as he recalled her, and described her as the most cold-blooded, Machiavellian woman he had ever met. Axl secretly suspected they might have been soul-mates.

For this part of the plan, it was only the three of them. Ema had gone back to the Bad Penny to get it ready for a quick departure. She would only have been a hindrance at this point, and knew it.

The door opened, into a beautifully appointed bedroom. Vile stepped in, eliciting a small surprised sound from someone on the bed… but nothing more. Zero and Axl followed him, glancing around. The room had the strangest bed they had ever seen… it was round, with red silk covers. And unfortunately, had a naked human girl on top of it. She was quite beautiful, with thick black hair almost as long as Zero's and deep brown skin. The caste mark on her forehead was a golden, swirling tattoo. She was sitting up, giving them an incredulous look.

"Amarie said to prepare for something unusual, but isn't three a bit much? Unless some of you are bi?" She said hopefully. Zero blushed, and Axl choked on a laugh. She peered past them, and frowned. "What is that doorway thing?" Vile stepped up to the bed and reached down to touch her hair, making her flinch away slightly, then give him a professional smile.

"We're not here for that, my dear. Co-operate and you won't be hurt, except perhaps your dignity. Axl, the tape." Axl nodded, pulling out a thick roll of duct tape from his backpack. The girl was starting to look rather uneasy.

"That's a little kinky…" Vile shook his head, and started to bind her up. She went along with it, semi-willingly. "Hey, if you tape my legs together I can't-mrph!" Vile put the last piece of tape over her mouth, and Axl gave up his battle against absurdity and started to giggle hysterically.

"Axl, hush. It's not that funny." Vile stepped back as the girl stared at them, horribly confused.

"Yes, it IS." Axl choked out. "She really thought we were here to-"

"We gathered. Come on." Vile led the way out, cautiously looking right and left. They weren't too close to the dungeons, but this was the closest secret entrance they had easy access to.

There was suddenly a loud explosion, and the floor seemed to shake.

"I think our distraction just started. Run!" Now that there was an attack going on, a few more Reploids running through the halls wouldn't attract as much attention as it might otherwise. After all, the enemy was OUTSIDE. Reploids inside would be running to combat stations.

Finally, the burst into the dungeons… and despite a very thorough search, they didn't find Leviathan, X and Ciel. But they did find two suspiciously dead bodies, along with two empty sets of Reploid shackles and a human collar.

"They escaped." Vile said after a quick examination. "Wonderful." Ordinarily, it would have been commendable. Right now, it was very inconvenient for their plans.

"We have to find them." Zero said firmly. Axl looked down at the ground.

"Follow the blood trail?" He suggested brightly, and they both noticed a thin trail of coolant. Someone had been bleeding.

"Good idea." Zero led the way, ready to cut apart anyone who got between him and his friends…