"We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know."-W.H. Auden

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MEGAMAN X OR ANY RELATED CHARACTERS. If I have forgotten to mention this in previous or future chapters, please keep in mind that I do not own ANYTHING.

WARNING: THERE IS AN INSTANT OF POOR LANGUAGE IN THIS CHAPTER! It won't happen often and it's not too bad, but changing what I wrote took away from the realism. They're teenagers. They are going to drop a few bad words every so often. I promise I won't be making a habit of this, but I figured once or twice every fifty thousand words (just under that amount, but close enough) wasn't bad enough to raise the rating.


It was official, he determined. Zero was a complete and utter asshole. Of course, X had yet to actually talk to the red reploid in person, but he'd caught snippets of Zero's conversations when he visited the maverick hunters for some business of Doctor Cain's in the hallways. There was no off switch. Zero did not work well with others. The only Commander he respected was Sigma, a trait every maverick hunter shared; all the other ones he flipped off and ignored. X had heard rumors of the amount of times Zero had been placed on house arrest. The number reached well beyond a hundred and Zero had only been activated for a couple of weeks. He probably owed time for the next few years.

The only good side about him appeared to be the fact that he could tear through an entire army of mavericks by himself and not break a sweat. He was a tank, the maverick hunters' triumph card. But it was also a problem, because once again, Zero could not work well with others. He grew impatient fast. He'd try to slow down and wait for anyone that was assigned to him, but most of the time, his impatience got the better of him.

Zero loved to taunt. It didn't matter who. If he didn't like you, he would taunt you until you were steaming from the ears in anger. Of course, nobody really knew how Zero would react to somebody he did like. Everyone agreed that Sigma's and Zero's relationship was more of a militaristic acceptance or equal. Not a friend. There were rumors that Storm Eagle had become on good terms with the red android, but no one knew for sure or even dared to ask. Zero scared people.

X sighed as he stared at the long list of maverick hunter casualties. The casualties were always high; government funding didn't exactly provide for the best equipment. Only higher class hunters got better gear.

Maverick hunters were divided into different classes. C class was the lowest, followed by B, and then A, the highest. There wasn't anything else above that, though there were talks of one being added. C and B classes represented nearly all of the maverick hunter population. "A" class maverick hunters took up maybe three percent.

It was depressing to see the casualty numbers so high, especially when the maverick hunters were the only ones standing between the mavericks and humans. Maverick attacks were increasing every day, slowly growing exponentially.

"You know, I see you around every so often, but not often enough to really be a maverick hunter. Are you an advisor or something? Didn't think reploids could hold those kind of positions," a voice stated from behind X. X blinked. He didn't quite recognize the voice, but it rang a bell, like he'd heard it before. . .

X turned. Ah yes, speak of the devil and he shall come, that's why the voice sounded familiar.

Zero was standing right behind him, giving him a curious look.

"No, I'm not a maverick hunter, but I work with Doctor Cain. He has me run up here to do errands sometimes," X responded. Zero nodded.

"Figured it was something like that. I didn't exactly peg you for the battle type. Your stance is too relaxed and weak."

X blinked. "And now I see why most of the maverick hunters really don't like you."

"My reputation precedes me," Zero said as he mock bowed. "But seriously, what did I do?"

"You're a quick judge of character. And if I actually did care about fighting prowess and had an ego, that statement might have been considered offensive ."

"Noted. But um, what's wrong with being honest? Telling them the problem would help them fix it."

X gave Zero an odd glance. "You really don't know how to interact with people do you?"

Zero stared at X. "Are you talking about social skills? . . . yeah, I don't have any."

X sighed. "There's nothing wrong with being honest. It's just sometimes the truth hurts and beating around the bush or just not saying anything at all could greatly increase your chances to having a remotely decent relationship with someone. Even if you are being honest, you can't go around insulting people all the time. People don't like that."

The red android narrowed his eyes at X in thought. "And what's the benefit to having decent relationships?"

X looked at Zero in bewilderment. "Other than the fact that it feels nice?!"

Zero blinked. "Yeah, I don't think its within my capacity to have feelings."

X face palmed. "I'm pretty sure it is, you dim witted, girly looking mechanaloid. What, did your creator label you as a failure and give you the dumbest design ever?!"

"OI! Where the hell is this coming from!? Don't insult my appearance! I happen to think its badass!"

"Baring the fact that you look like a pathetic girl? I bet that you can't even lift a dresser and your reputation is only based off of illusion and not off of actual strength! No scratch that! You couldn't even take down a fly!"

Zero narrowed his eyes in anger. If there was anything he was sensitive about, it was his appearance and his fighting skills. He'd just about had enough with people mocking him for his appearance. It wasn't his fault he just so happened to look so feminine. The little blue robot in front of him had just insulted both. That made him beyond pissed. Zero leaned over to him and was about to yell when the green eyed reploid in front of him smirked and held up a finger. Zero was about to blow up at him anyways, but X's calm voice cut through his anger and made him pause.

"See? Anger. You are too capable of feeling," X stated with a grin. Zero's anger immediately dissipated as he stared at the little blue android in shock.

"No hard feelings right?" X stated as he patted Zero's shoulder and walked away.

Zero continued to stare on in bewilderment for a while before snapping out of his trance and turning around frantically to try and find the brown haired, green eyed, reploid that had just spoken to him. Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight.

Grabbing the nearest reploid he could see and scaring the crap out of him, he stared at him desperately.

"Who was that reploid I just talked to?!" Zero demanded. The reploid 'eeped'.

"I-I d-don't know,sir!"

"He has brown hair, green eyes, wears a lot of blue, and works for Doctor Cain!"

"X?" the reploid asked nervously. Zero blinked.

"X? No, I want a name!"

"That is his name! X! He was built by Doctor Light! He's basically the father of all reploids. Our design was based off of his!"

Zero let go of the reploid and blinked as he trembled nervously before him.

"Ahh, errrr, sorry, uhhh, thank you?" Zero stuttered out, before briskly turning and walking away.

The reploid blinked as he left. Did the red demon, Zero, actually just say thank you to him? He screamed. The apocalypse was going to happen. The world was ending. He was going to go scream down this random hallway now.


"I can't believe you actually work here," commented Tony. "I mean, this is Cain labs!"

"I can," Sam commented. Tony frowned and sent a glare her way, which was countered by a sly looking smirk. The group had agreed to meet up with X at Cain labs, that way X didn't have to deal with the gawking bystanders when he visited them. The crowds had dimmed down when they got used to the idea of reploids walking among them, but the fact that X was the first hadn't quite gotten old to them yet.

"Um, Tony. It's really not all that surprising, and I don't really do much," X stated. "All I do is a few errands every once and a while for Cain and then my own personal projects. That and attempting to avoid all public appearances, but failing and getting wrapped up in the creations of government organizations and being surrounded by jerks that call themselves council members."

"Wow." Sam slow clapped. "You really don't like the council do you?"

"No, never have, never will. Politics are insane. It amazes me how many stupid ideas smart people can come up with sometimes."

"Speaking of government funded organizations, what do you think of the maverick hunters?" Mark asked.

"A good idea, I suppose. But I really would have preferred if the government spent more money towards figuring out why reploids go maverick," X answered.

"Would you join them?" Sam asked. X hesitated.

"Maybe, but I'm really not all that into fighting so I probably wouldn't last very long. I'm too hesitant and unwilling to kill."

"That is true. We all know X is just a big softie," Tony commented. Sam rolled her eyes and sent a crumbled up piece of paper in his direction.

"Hey! What was that for?!"

"Defending X because he's too nice to defend himself," Sam responded.

"He's a big boy! He can defend himself!"

"He's like not even a year old. He's a baby."

X frowned. "I don't know who to be mad at anymore," he commented. "Tony for calling me weak or Sam for calling me a baby."

The group laughed briefly. Sam leaned over to X and gave him a devious sort of look.

"So how often do you go out on your own?" Sam asked. X gave her a confused look.

"Often enough."

"Meet any pretty girls on those outings?" X decided he wasn't going to answer that question.

"WHERE IS THIS COMING FROM?!" Mark exclaimed. He was ignored.

"Sam, you said this before, he's not even a year old. Babies don't go on dates. If they do, they have some seriously messed up parents," Tony commented.

"Hey, I was just asking. He was designed to have the mentality of a teenager when he first woke up so you never know, he might actually be attracted to people."

"This is a really awkward conversation. Why are we talking about this?" X asked. He was ignored.

"Guys or girls?" Tony asked. X decided that now was a really good time to deliver that program to Cain. Mark face palmed and groaned into his palms. Nicole looked indifferent about the entire conversation and continued to listen.

"I don't know let's ask him. HEY X!" Sam shouted. She looked around the room and realized that the medium sized form of blue was missing. She stuck her head out the hallway. "X! ARE YOU GAY?!" He was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go?" Sam asked. The others shrugged.

"He's not hiding in the supply cabinet like last time. I checked," Tony commented. Sam shrugged.

"Eh, we'll ask him later."


X walked into Cain's personal lab, tossing the flash drive in his hand up and down and giving the other visitor in the room a strange look. You didn't usually see a maverick hunter in Cain labs. Particularly that maverick hunter. Shaking his head and deciding it wasn't any of his business, X slapped the flash drive down on the lab table Cain was working on and walked over to a nearby cupboard, grabbing a box of pocky down from the top shelf and sitting down in a rolling chair, sliding across the floor as he did so.

"I figured you were going to give me the program after your friends left," Cain stated, not looking up from his work. X placed a pocky stick in his mouth and replied.

"I was, but then they decided to have a really awkward conversation."

"Oh really? What about?"

X didn't reply, but instead stared at Cain blankly as he continued to eat. Cain spared X a glance from his work.

"That bad huh?"

"You have no idea." X then took notice of the red armored maverick hunter standing awkwardly in the room. "Do you ever go anywhere without your armor?"

The maverick hunter, Zero, looked at him, then down at his armor, and then back up before shaking his head.

"No, is that a problem?"

"It is if you're trying to be social. Pocky?" X asked, holding out the box to Zero. It took a little while before the blonde haired android realized what X was offering and he hesitantly reached out to pull a stick from the box. Zero stared at the food item curiously. "You eat that," X elaborated. Zero frowned and sent a glare X's way.

"I gathered that much," Zero responded as he tentatively placed the stick in his mouth.

"You ever eaten anything before?"

"Eating is not necessary for a robot's survival."

"You maverick hunters lead such depressing lives,'" X commented, shaking his head. "Humans eat for pleasure sometimes. Why can't we?"

". . . It's expensive."

"Everything is expensive. Prices have risen by almost fifteen percent in the last thirty years. Life is expensive. This flashdrive," X rolled over to Cain's table to pick up the flash drive he brought, "was thirty bucks. Thirty bucks!"

"How many gigs?" Zero asked.

"I don't even remember."

Cain snorted. "You remember the economy stats for the last thirty years, a time line you weren't even awake for and you don't remember the details of a purchase you made within the last month," the archaeologist commented.

X stared at Cain blankly for a moment. "Details aren't important."

"Says the guy who ranted about how the store manager didn't tell you where they bought their flower seeds from because it was a minor detail."

"That's different. I'm passionate about my plants," X commented. Cain paused in his work to turn to Zero.

"If you ever incur the wrath of X, which by the way, beware the wrath of a gentle giant, buy him a plant and he'll soften up on you," Cain commented.

"That is not entirely accurate," X argued.

"Fredrick pissed you off when he dyed all of your clothes purple because he was tired of your affiliation with blue and then bought you a cactus and you were fine!"
"It was a cactus! Who doesn't like cactuses?"

"Sane people."

"Oi!"

"And it's cacti not cactuses. Shouldn't you know that?"

X glared as his face turned red. "It just slipped out . . . . leave me alone."

"I'm joking X," Cain laughed. X stuck a tongue out at him and huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Still your adoration of plants isn't normal."

X stuck his tongue out at his caretaker. "Sue me."

Zero stared back and forth between Cain and X, completely lost.

"I have no idea what just happened," the maverick hunter admitted.

"You're not used to using your social processor, probably. This is the first time you're trying to understand what people are saying and it's probably getting overloaded. Give it some time. It'll get easier."

"No offense, Zero, but do you even have a social processor?" Cain asked. Zero shrugged.

"None taken."

"Oh he does," X commented. "It's just really glitchy." Cain stared back at X.

"How do you know these things?"

"I got skills," X stated. Cain rolled his eyes.

"No magic this time?"

"Nah man."

Zero continued to look lost.

"So why are you here?" X asked. Zero paused.

"I came to inform you that your insults are terrible."

X laughed. "I knew that. I'm too nice to come up with good insults. But that just proved my point."

"What?" both Cain and Zero asked.

"Social processor? That just proved that he had one!"

"X, you are too young to be going insane," Cain commented.

"Oh come on! He came all the way from Hunter Headquarters to inform me that I can't insult people!"

"It was actually more to sedate a burning curiosity," Zero commented. X glanced up at him.

"What about?"

"I don't understand you."

"I don't think you understand anybody just yet, no offense."

"That's not what I meant. Other people I understand, but you I just . . . don't," Zero commented. X gave the android a funny look, but said nothing more on the subject.

"I hate to break up this lovely conversation about Zero's social difficulties, but I need to take an important call. Unless X, you want to discuss with the council again," Cain said.

"NOPE! No thank you! I am leaving. Zero, we are leaving. Let's go. Out the door!" X answered as he half shoved half dragged the maverick hunter out of the room and threw the empty pocky box into the trash.

"I think I understood what was happening the first time," Zero commented.

"Ever heard of dramatic effect and humor?" X asked. Zero gave X a blank stare as the door closed behind them and then rubbed his forehead with a groan.

"This social stuff is more complicated than I thought."

"What did you think it was? A walk in the park?"

"What?"

"Sarcasm. Metaphors."

"Your words mean nothing to me. Speak English."

"I am."

X merely gave Zero an amused stare as the red android groaned and muttered something about regretting to come. Shaking his head, X reentered the room his friends were currently hanging out in.

"X! Where'd you go?" Tony commented as soon as X stepped into the room.

"Uh, delivered something to Doctor Cain."

"You sure that was it, or were you avoiding us too?"

"Oh, I was definitely avoiding you."

"Yeah, we kind of figured," Sam added. She paused as she caught a glimpse of Zero's figure in the doorway. "Who's your friend?"

"Eh, friend?" X gave a questioning glance towards Zero as if asking permission. The blonde haired robot shrugged in response. "His name's Zero."

"Zero? So who built you?" Tony asked, turning towards the maverick hunter, wondering, only because he did not want to be working for a company that decided to make an obviously male robot look so girly. The robot's appearance wasn't all that bad but it was concerning none the less.

"We have no idea," Zero stated. Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he asked. Zero nodded.

"Yep. They found me tearing apart maverick hunters over in Japan. Apparently I was insane."

Tony laughed. "No seriously."

"He is being serious, Tony," X commented. Tony paled.

"Then why-?"

"Got hit in the head and messed up my core programming. Apparently the part that made me crazy was the part that got damaged. For the time being, I'm not going to run around tearing people apart, but considering how well my systems seem to repair themselves, nobody knows how long that's gonna last. Long story short, the government recognized my power and wanted me to tear things apart for them, so here I am."

X blinked as the room grew very silent. "Zero, this is why people find you terrifying."

Zero shrugged after a moment's thought. "I guess I can see your point."

"The government is fucked up," Tony stated after a moment. Zero burst out laughing.

"TONY!" Mark exclaimed in response to Tony's curse.

"MARK! You go to high school. THIS SHOULD NOT BE SUPRISING TO YOU!" Tony retaliated.

"You know what, kid. I actually agree with you," Zero commented.

"Technically, he's older than you," X argued. Zero glared.

"Shut up. I could kick his ass any day of the week."

"That doesn't make him any younger than you."

"God, if I knew you were this annoying, I wouldn't have come."

X grinned innocently. Sam looked between the two of them and decided to restate her question from earlier.

"Seriously though X, are you gay?" she asked. X turned to her in alarm and mortification.

"No," X stated firmly. Zero just looked confused.

"What-?" Zero started. X cut him off with a bewildered look.

"Oh my god, you innocent little cupcake," Sam said. Zero gave her a curious look.

"Innocent? I murder for a living," Zero stated. Sam shook her head.

"You're still really innocent. How do you not know what homosexuality is?!"

". . . you didn't say that," Zero defended. "I wasn't designed for social interaction."

"Obviously not," Tony snorted.

"But seriously what-?" Zero started but what cut off again.

"I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!"

"Tony, that movie is over a century old," Sam commented. She was ignored.

"I will school cupcake about all the wonders of life," Tony said as he stood and pulled Zero to the corner of the room.

"You're going to scar him for life," X said as Tony did so.

"You're fine!" Tony reasoned.

"I was designed to handle social issues. Zero, however, was not."

"His name is cupcake now, catch up X, and he will be just fine."

". . . he only just started using his social processor."

"He'll be fine, X."

"Uhm, what's going on?" Zero asked.

"Hush child and listen," Tony commanded.

"Don't break him!" X exclaimed.

"Yes Mom!"

X sent a worried, yet amused glance in Zero and Tony's direction before turning back to face Sam and the others.

"So, what happened while I was gone?" X inquired. Sam shrugged.

"Nothing much. Mark decided that the trashcan was a good place to store Tony while we waited for you-,"

"Um, that was you," Mark argued. Sam looked unfazed as she continued.

"And then when you still didn't show up, Tony kind of flopped over, still in the trash can mind you, and chased us around, screaming something about trash taking over the government. That's why the trash can is over there in the corner. Tony's just lucky that there was nothing but papers in there, which by the way, we dumped all that on the desk over there."

X blinked a few times before looking at the said items she mentioned; the trashcan was indeed in the corner and the papers that he knew were supposed to be thrown away were indeed on top of the desk. He shrugged. He wanted to put those in the recycling bin anyways.

"Does our BS not faze you anymore?"

"Not really," X commented.

"This is completely off topic and yet sort of is, but what is your opinion on gay marriage?" Sam asked.

"Fine," X stated.

"Elaborate," Sam urged.

"I mean, it's not any different than a reploid and human couple and those are allowed. Either way, they can't have kids. There's nothing wrong with it and there's absolutely no reason why I should be allowed to go against it. It's only fair after all."

At the other's confused looks, he continued. "I mean, how could I argue for reploid and human equality, something that would allow a human and nonhuman to marry, if I couldn't accept a relationship between two humans."

The room was silent, even Tony and Zero were quiet and Tony was staring at X with a look of awe.

"The world needs more people like you, X," Sam finally stated.

"X, I freaking love you right now," Tony commented as he bounded over and latched onto X's arm. X gave the teen an annoyed look.

". . .lawyer," Nicole commented. The group shouted out an "aye!" in agreement.

"WAIT NO!" Tony shouted. "Then he'll become tainted by the horrors of life! No, X must remain holed up in his lab of innocence and not be exposed to the reality that is human arrogance and stupidity!"

"Uh, Tony?" Sam started. "X already knows more about human idiocy than you do."

Cain, who had apparently finished his conversation with the council rather quickly, walked in at that moment and looked at the group with a curious gaze.

"What are we all talking about?" Cain asked.

"X's future job!" Tony responded cheerfully as he detached himself from X's arm.

"Which is?"

"Lawyer," Sam responded.

"Oh, 100%. All the way," Cain agreed. X sighed. He had wanted to avoid the political section too. He gave Zero a concerned look; the maverick hunter was only paying attention to half of what was going around him.

"Zero, are you alright?" X asked. Zero snapped out of his stupor in an instant and turned to X.

"Yeah, I was just looking up the public opinion on gay marriage."

"And?"

"Well, especially after what you just said, people are idiotic assholes."

The group blinked.

"He's blunt," Sam commented.

"It's true," Tony responded. "We're assholes to each other. Did you know that the Aztecs treated the Spanish like gods when they first came? They let them take all their gold and food and put on this big celebration for them and guess what the Spanish did?"

"Left with all of their stuff?" Sam guessed.

"Nope! They killed them. Every last one of them. . . . Well they wiped out a city, that I know for sure."

The group winced.

"To be honest, that sounds just about right at this point, especially considering that we decided to just kill all of the mavericks instead of trying to find a cure. Well, we lock some of them up, but the point still stands," Sam commented. "Geez X, why do you value humanity so much when we do crap like that all the time?"

"Because every once in a while humanity does something that makes fighting for it worthwhile."

". . . He's so patriotic and half the world hates beings like him," Tony commented. X sighed. Somehow most conversations usually ended up with either his friends making fun of him or commenting on his apparent "greatness". X just wanted to be left alone.

Cain mentioned something about having to get back to work and left the room. Soon after, Zero received a furious call about "where the hell he went" and "why wasn't he back yet?". The maverick hunter teleported away in a blinding flash of light immediately following.

Which left X alone with his friends. Somehow he wasn't excited as he should have been, especially considering the way the last two conversations had went. Maybe he really was getting tired of their "BS".

Author's Note:

ALL OF MY STORIES WILL BE ON HIATUS UNTIL MY LIFE RETURNS TO NORMAL. One of my friends is considering suicide right now and that is placing a serious amount of stress on me especially because she considers me to be one of her only friends. Until this issue resolves, I am taking a break from writing. None of my stories will be dropped; I love them too much. But for the time being, I can't focus long enough to write very well and I don't have the time.

Yeah, this chapter was a bit later than what I had intended but it was still on time for the most part right? . . . New chapter is planned to come next month and I can't really guarantee any faster. Homework tends to come in spirts where every teacher suddenly decides that all the sudden, I don't have a life. On top of that, I'm easily distracted when I'm at home, which is the only place in which I'm comfortable enough to write. That and writer's block haunts me 25 out of 30 days of the month. Somebody please tell it to go away! And while you're at it, would you take care of the mutant plot bunnies too? They're distracting me from finishing my stories.

I'll stop making up excuses now. On another note, I don't bite! Feel free to criticize (within reason). I am well aware that I write a lot of filler. But you should all know the story behind Megaman X right? This fanfic focuses more on what you don't know.

I'm trying to shove the plot along. I really am, but there are a few things I need to take care of before I can get actual beginning of the video game. So far this doesn't really count because I've taken like five minutes of the game and a paragraph of official text and turned it into a 45K word story. (Its 50K on my word document which is why I keep saying so. I know its not really 50K because at least 3,000 of that is notes and little bits of the next few chapters.)

My editor said that this chapter was much better than previous ones in terms of writing quality. Personally, I think it about the same.

PLEASE DON'T BE OFFENDED BY ANYTHING MENTIONED ABOVE IN THE STORY. The jab at the government was unintentional. I didn't even realize what I have done until I was handing it to my editor. And I am well aware that gay relationships is a very sensitive topic, but I have gay friends, so of course I'm going to support that side of society even though I personally am not. There is nothing about that that makes them any less human than anybody else in the world. If anybody feels personally offended by this, you don't have to read this story. The topic won't appear very often, mostly because I am simply not a romantic person.