It took me long to write this one, but I'm really busy these days. For those who read my other story, a new chapter is 2/3 ready. I also want to thank everybody who reviewed.
Chapter 3: Aspirations
"Each decision, however small, shapes the tapestry of reality to its liking."
Soon after the reploids that attacked the conference were subdued, Stroganoff's guards found and neutralized the blocking net emitter. Mere seconds later, a team of eleven hunters teleported in, a young-looking reploid in black armor in their lead. As soon as the figures solidified, they instantly scrambled away from their arrival point, weapons ready and poised, but soon afterwards they calmed down. While the rest of the squad remained back to keep an eye on the captured reploids and calm the crowd down, their apparent leader walked towards X and Zero, stopping abruptly soon afterwards and vainly trying to stifle a laugh.
The two veterans looked at each other questioningly, then regarded their attire. While no weapon had so much as touched their formal clothes, the delicate fabric that was never meant for such treatment was torn and damp in many places.
"Yeah, yeah Axl. It's very funny indeed" started Zero bored, but then his tone and expression changed at once. "Junior captain Axl Red! Stand attention and report!" he exploded.
The effect was almost instant, the redhead in question growing stiff and saluting formally. "Yes sir! The navigation center pinpointed the jamming net at 1242 hours, sir! A team was dispatched right next to it, sir! They are currently securing the perimeter, sir! My team remained standby until the net went down, sir! Then we came here, sir!" he bellowed much louder than it would ever be necessary, falling silent afterwards.
Zero rolled his eyes, then turned to X. "Although I'm not sure what exactly happened, our work here is done. Let's move along before the 'leeches' remember their 'duty'" he exclaimed, indicating the still-shocked crowd of reporters and frowning.
X went to respond, but Axl piped in. "So, was my report good or what?" he asked in anticipation.
X smiled faintly. "Well, you should keep it a bit lower and you'll do well, although..." he answered calmly.
"Although?" echoed the black hunter gingerly.
"Although I never said 'dismissed', you twerp!" responded Zero half-seriously, smacking at Axl's helm. "You were supposed to wait!" he added, now chuckling.
The two veteran hunters proceeded to swap their ruined costumes for their armors in a flash of light, Zero silently thankful that removing the articles was much easier than putting them on.
"So?" asked Axl, somewhat impatiently. "Are we going to teleport these losers back home?" he inquired, pointing at the seven surviving reploids, whose hands were trapped in constricting, green jelly-like spheres.
X and Zero looked, then smirked at each other, as if sharing an inside joke.
"As per ordinance 22/D..." started X, his voice flat.
"... and due to previous unfortunate incidents..." recited Zero, not missing a beat.
"... all subjects of potential Irregular status... " followed X, causing Axl's eyes to grow.
"...are to be transferred a kilometer away from the edge of the command center's shield..." added Zero smirking.
"... if possible away from residential areas..." continued the blue hunter, eyeing Axl's face that had started to assume a pinkish hue.
"... and to be relocated to the holding facilities by mundane means" finished the red hunter, nodding with mock fervor.
Both X and Zero faced each other again, then regarded Axl critically. "Any instant transportation of such subjects through the aforementioned shield, regardless of direction, is thereby strictly prohibited!" they added, speaking in perfect unison.
The black hunter reacted by hanging his head downwards in shame. "Sorry guys, I forgot that" he muttered.
X stopped laughing at once, his face revealing very real anger. "Axl! Despite my better judgement, Signas has decided to promote you to junior captain! You are not supposed to forget such things! You are responsible for everyone below your rank and you know it!" he snapped.
Axl was dumbfounded by the otherwise calm hunter's outrage, not able to conjure a retort. Luckily for the junior captain, Zero decided to intervene. "No need to get all worked up, X" he offered. "I'll personally escort Axl tomorrow to the library for a direct input of whatever he has missed" he added, causing the black hunter to pale.
"No!" he exclaimed horrified. "Last time I did that, it caused me a terrible headache that no repair system could fix" he added horrified.
X sighed, now calm again. "That's only natural Axl. It happens while your processor tries to create the synapses between old and new data. We all had to do that one time or another. That's why we don't know everything there is to learn, it's painful. But in this case, you must learn the protocol!" he finished, somewhat critically.
"Look, I promise I'll try harder" started Axl trying to avoid X's gaze. "When I'm not training, I'll study all that bull...um protocol."
"A good hunter is not merely a good warrior, Axl" preached X, his face and voice devoid of emotion. "I hope you do realize that" he added, turning and walking away with long strides.
"He's right, you know" said Zero to his apparently pensive companion. "Try at least to learn the basics."
"How can you two remember them so well?" inquired the junior captain, feeling pretty miserable.
Zero grinned. "Why, we've written most of it ourselves" he replied cockily, turning and leaving Axl stranded.
"That's not fair!" whined the black hunter childishly, running behind him.
The heavy, wooden door opened at once, allowing him to pass through its frame without stopping. He casually ignored the neo-classic marble statues along the corridor and the expensive exotic wooden floor, the blue hemispheres above him illuminating his surroundings with their soft glow. Reaching his desk, he immediately pressed a succession of characters on his keyboard, causing the silk curtains to withdraw and reveal the morning blue sky outside. After making sure his office was sealed from the outside world, he opened a secure line on his screen and inputted a number from memory. His call was soon answered.
"Heya, boss. You look pretty blue today."
The human scowled at the words. "Shut up, idiot! You know what happened! You are the one that's supposed to warn me about this kind of things. They almost got me this time!" he snarled.
"I'm doing the best I can, boss" replied the male voice innocently. "It's not like your little friends publicly declare their plans."
"Whatever" groaned the human, already weary of the exchange. "At least make yourself useful and clean the remains. By any means possible. Also, retrieve what you can. We might learn something new."
"Ro-ger!" sang the voice at the other end of the line, cutting the connection afterwards.
"Damn reploids" muttered Stroganoff, then proceeded to compile a letter. Halfway through, a blink on his screen indicated another call.
"I hope this is important" he snarled as soon as he accepted it.
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but we have a problem with subjects #33 and #34. I fear it's a sabotage sir. It happened while you were attacked" reported a female voice.
The CEO frowned at the news. "I'll be there as soon as possible, Lyn. Until then, tell everybody to stay put" he ordered, cutting the line afterwards and mumbling some more as he rose to leave again.
The transporting vehicle appeared right where the frightened crowd had been standing half an hour ago, hovering a meter above the ground. Its design seemed alien, a cockpit at its lower point with levitation engines tucked underneath and a much larger bulge above it, several directional ion thrusters at its sides.
It slowly touched down, opening like a flower soon afterwards. The surviving attackers were forcefully loaded on the circular platform in the middle, where a forcefield extended to keep them in position. Then the petals retreated again, forming the almost spherical main part of the transporter. It soon rose to simply vanish a moment later, reappearing above a secluded park close to the Hunter's base. It then started floating slowly towards the Headquarters' direction to deposit its load.
The reploid inside the cockpit was not really in a hurry, guiding his vehicle to glide smoothly towards its destination. He was blissfully distracted, his helmet forgotten by his side, earphones in its place. Music resounded in the otherwise silent chamber and his body lazily followed the merry tunes of his liking. He never noticed the blue saber, until its tip plunged in his back and reappeared before him, filling his field of vision for a second before the world went black...
The chamber was spherical and made of a whitish-blue metal, many inches thick. Numerous inconspicuous light sources were hidden among the complex machinery, giving its interior a clear if sharp visage. From the narrow balcony that was perched by the sphere's equator, the center, the focal point of the area, was clearly visible. A smaller sphere, translucent and as if made of the thinnest of glasses. And inside the contained bluish liquid, two humanoid forms were suspended, floating freely back to back and apparently oblivious to the world around them.
"Is there any way to restore them" inquired Stroganoff, gazing at the two subjects.
A petite woman in her late thirties next to him shock her head. "Unfortunately, sir, the damage is permanent" she replied, smoothening her white lab coat without making eye contact. "The sabotage disrupted the power during a very delicate moment. Their skillsets were corrupted, but that can still be fixed. What we can't fix is the apparent damage to their logic circuitry and neural pathways" she added casually.
The businessman frowned. "In English, Lyn" he snapped impatiently.
The researcher sighed. "We can't be sure of all the effects, but they will be unstable, perhaps emotionally weak, even prone to become mavericks. Of course, there might also turn out to be geniuses. We can't fix the error now, mainly because it has affected their whole bodies" she clarified.
Stroganoff appeared bored. "Too bad, then. Just throw them to the recycling cycle and start over" he ordered flatly.
Lyn's eyes went wide at that but she managed to retain her composure. "We can still treat them like ordinary subjects" she quickly proposed. "We don't know if they are any good in combat, what with their scrambled skillsets, but they'll still make decent civilians."
The older man sneered. "If you want to keep them alive so much, you may do so" he agreed. "But I want you to start building the next pair as soon as possible" he finished, turning and leaving without expecting a retort.
"Heartless bastard..." muttered Lyn under her breath, but then sighed, turning and looking at the sleeping forms, a sad smile on her face.
"... and this is how it happened" finished X, locking eyes with his superior. He and Zero had been summoned by Signas as soon as they had entered the headquarters.
The supreme commander appeared thoughtful, absentmindedly tapping his antique pen on his goldfish's tank. "That was most peculiar, if not disturbing" he responded at length, sitting straighter. "Even if Vile and Dynamo had nothing to do with the attack, their presence there means Sigma has his eyes set on Mocpac industries. We must be more careful" he deducted seriously, but then let a smile to form on his face. "Although you did a very good job nonetheless" he chuckled, indicating his terminal's screen. "You have no idea how many are interested to buy your battle's video rights"
X scratched the back of his head in embarrassment while Zero simply leaned back on his chair, smiling faintly. Before anyone could add another word, the base's general alarm went off, the piercing siren sound penetrating the walls and causing everybody to jump. Signas immediately pressed a button and opened a line to the navigation center.
"What is the situation!" he demanded.
"We have detected a security breach, sir" responded Palette through the line. "Somebody attempted to exit the complex without authorization. Whoever it was, it is not registered in our databases."
Signas was already running towards the command center, having patched the line in his personal comm. and being followed by X and Zero.
"We will be there in twenty seconds" he responded, then turned to his commanders. "This could be bad. We never noticed the intruder entering."
Vile and Dynamo, now in full armor, entered the grant chamber gingerly, the first kneeling, the second slightly bowing to acknowledge the room's other occupant.
"There had been some implications, master" started Vile, still kneeling. "An unknown group attacked during the conference."
A large figure of a reploid nodded. "We managed to highjack some of the hunter's low security bands. So somebody tried to get rid of that Stroganoff, correct?" he stated more than asked.
"That's right, boss" responded Dynamo. "However, two certain hunters saved him at the last moment" he added nonchalantly.
Sigma chuckled. "That's very good news, indeed" he started. "We have every reason to keep that man alive" he added, causing both of his subordinates to gasp.
"But... but.." started Vile, but the maverick leader simply rose a hand to stop him.
"You don't need to know everything, Vile" he half-laughed. "Just know that Stroganoff has already benefited us much and continues to do so" he finished, turning around without waiting a retort and entering his private chambers.
The maverick general and the mercenary looked at each other incredulously, then remembered to return their jaws to a natural position.
And that's chapter 3. I await your comment people. On the review answers:To PhiloWorm: glad you liked the action but don't hit the readers:P tSoaH will remain at the same length as always, no worries...
To SylentStryke: Glad to hear from you. Keep Vile away from violence and you get a very unstable maverick. From what I hear, even IHX justifies that...
To isis2k2: Welcome! Of course they have different personalities, just think what future Zero saw when he woke up. The MMZ world is much darker then the MMX.
To MyGBAcanTalk: Reviewers make a story great;-D
To Renne: Of course I'll keep up. I try to avoid mistakes, but English is still my second language...