Jet struggled to stay concious. The scorcher took far too much energy to use. But he knew it had been necessary, and that he'd be fine after they returned to base. The others were moving around, investigating the base. He heard Zero on the com, saying to guard the base and to guard the area. "He's not expecting more mavericks is he?" Jet thought. He heard a low rumble in the distance. "Dammit, guess he was. I can't fight like this, my energy is nearly depleated."

Reaver stood up shakily and examined the lab with the other hunters. He heard Zero's message and looked around at the remaining troops. Jet was down. Lixi was still down from the grenade earlier. He and Giga were hurt but not bad. Ace and Zo still seemed ok but Reaver doubted their fighting abilities. Standing up and picking up his weapon, he listened as the rumble got stronger...

As another rumble shakes the foundation, the hunters edge closer to the slightly ajar door. They see a shadow approaching and ready their weapons. Even Jet, lying on the ground has the strength to point his cannon in the direction of the door. The door opens and Axl walks in.
"Hey guys," he says cheerfully with a huge grin on his face. His eyes widen as he sees the many weapons pointing at him. "You guys don't have to be so serious all the time," he said with a laugh.
"Axl what are you doing here?" Reaver asks.
"Zero asked me to come get you guys and let you know the shuttle is ready, you can leave now. My squad will take over," replies Axl.
Everyone relaxes boards the shuttle back to Infinity.

Within the hour everyone is back at base, X and Zero are no where to be found. Signas is standing at the helm of the group adressing everyone. "Alright hunters," he begins, "Mission complete, base was secured and our team of operatives are investigating the disturbances down there. As some of you already know we have recieved a large shipment of supplies from Hunter HQ, this includes subtanks, some minor weapon upgrades, and a few other interesting trinkets. Hunter HQ has also sent word of new armors for you which will be ready in a few days. They are exactly like the ones you have now except they are more advanced and contain some new abilities which will be explained at a later time. As for now you need some rest relaxation. So go and take some time of for a while, though there is a mission I'll want you to take care of after that. But for now don't worry about it."
Signas finished his speech and the hunters turned and left the command room, back into the main hall of the space station Infinity.

Reaver wandered around, trying to figure out who that maverick was that he had encountered in the jungle. Why did he call him a friend? It didn't made any sense... Looking down the hallway, he sees the armory and heads over, hoping to find some useful items.

Jet wakes up in the med center back in the hunter base. He sees X himself standing in front of him holding his lance and a scowl in his face.
"Where did you get this?" X demands.
"I... I found it in the armory of the hunter base back on Earth. I know I probably should've asked before taking weapons but-"
X cuts him off. "This happens to be the weapon of a very dangerous maverick. Years ago he almost brought destruction to the world, I lost many good hunters in defeating him. They say half of his power came from this lance, nobody knows what it is capable of. The fact of the matter is its dangerous and I can't let you have it back." X walks out of the room unsatisfied.

"Did he say what he was doing with The Dagmor's lance?" asked Zero.
"He claims he found it in the base back on Earth." replied X. "That's got to be the worst lie ever, why would Dagmor's lance be in our armory? Especially without our knowledge? I don't trust him."
Zero frowned, "He's a good kid, I can't see why he'd lie. Do you think there's any chance he was telling you the truth?"
X laughed at Zero, "How could it have gotten in our armory? It hasn't been seen for years."
Zero looked troubled. "I don't know but somethings not right about this... I'm going to think long and hard about this one. For the time being, make sure that lance is locked up in our vault."

X walked to the upper levels of hunter headquarters and stopped in front of a large vault with inches of armor plating. "I'm depositing this lance into Vault 017 of classified articles. X authorization."
"Very good sir," replied the guard. "The scanner is broken so we'll have to enter the record of it tomorrow. But you may deposite it at this time."
With that the door swung open and X was allowed access to Vault 017.

As Signas finished up, Giga went out with the other rookies. "Dang, Axl scared the bi-jesus outta me!" he said with a grin and went to the armory to suit up and pick up some spare items he may need. "After I restock, it's the training room for me. Hopefully some of the guys are feelin' up for some training later." he thought excitedly. " I'd love to take them on!" Once there he met Ace and they sparred togather for awhile.

Later that day Jet was released from the med bay. "I wonder what the deal is with X?" he wondered, "He seemed really mad at me, and not just for taking a weapon without permission." He shrugged. "Whatever, may as well hit the training room, and some other rookies while I'm at it."

Along the way he ran into Zero. "Nice work on those missions so far, you're doing better than I expected. Listen Jet, I've been wanting to talk to you about what X said the other day, he-"
"He thinks I'm lying," Jet finished for him.
"I'm not accusing you or anything but are you sure you found it in our armory back on Earth?" Zero asked.
"I told X exactly what happened." Jet said.
Zero looked troubled. "I want to believe you kid. But X does make sense, there is no reason why that lance should have been in our armory. And X is convinced you're working for Dagmor. I told him that's stupid, you're still only a rookie. But until this is settled we're giving you a leave of absense. No missions until then. X and I are leaving on a mission of our own with a group of hunters. We've recieved word that Sigma's back again and needs his skull bashed in. Once that's settled we'll look into your situation more fully but for now just stay here and relax."
Jet walked off muttering. "Fine! I can see nobody believes me. I'll prove I don't work for Dagmor."

Jet went to the hunter's library and brought up all the information he could find on Dagmor. He was a tall black maverick who was feared by all. He had risen above the rank of maverick general and was one of the few maverick lords. He was known to carry 2 weapons, a scythe and a lance. The computer had a picture on file. Sure enough it was the same one Jet had taken from the hunter's armory. His power was so great, many of his own troops feared him. Years back X and Zero defeated him. But it seemed as though his troops had been reactivated and some hunter's on a reconocance mission had reported glimpsing a "black shadowy figure." "He's back? How?" Jet wondered. "And X doesn't trust me... I have no place in the maverick hunters now, I can't return while everyone suspects me. I have to get Dagmor..."
With that he uploaded the coordinates of a city called Lancing, which was rumored to be Dagmor's base of operations and headed to the teleporter.

Reaver roamed through the armory, not really sure what to take, until his eyes see two daggers lying around. He activates both, revealing a medium sized blade humming silently, glowing with and eerie red glow, he decides to take them. Suddenly, he hears a voice behind him:
"Aha! So you took that scythe from the base back on Earth!"
Reaver turns around, seeing another hunter.
"Yeah, so?" Reaver asks.
"That sure is a quality weapon you got there, found it in a base we were send to destroy, probably some new generation weapon or something, only drawback is the fact it cannot be used in conjunction with maverick general weapons, but instead it uses chips, like elemental and extra damaging, etc."
"A base you were send to destroy? Tell me, where was this base you were talking about?"
The hunter suddenly slaps his hands in front of his mouth, as if he told something he wasn't allowed to tell.
"N-n-n-nothing, just forget about it." the reploid looks scared, suddenly leaving the armory. Reaver, now alone, shrugged and left the armory.
He turned the corner and saw Jet disappear in a flash of white. "There wasn't a mission announced was there?" Reaver wondered confused. Curious, Reaver walked over and examined the teleporter. It was set to a city called Lancing.
"Follow him," said a voice behind Reaver. Turning around, Reaver saw X standing there, arms folded and a scowl on his face.
"Wha-," starts Reaver.
"Follow him," X says again, "And watch him. Tell me what he's up to. But be careful, don't trust him."
Reaver was shocked but he decided to see what the deal was. He jumped on the telepad and disappeared in a flash.

Late that night at the hunter base, a silent alarm was tripped. It indicated a forced entry in Vault 017 but upon investigation there was no intruder and the records showed nothing was missing. It was a flawless system, everything that had been scanned in was accounted for.

END OF CHAPTER 4