A/N: Read the note at the end of the chapter if you want to know stuff.

Also, please excuse any kind of error/mispelling/whatever. My works are not betaed.

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Something was wrong.

He had no idea what it was, nor why he felt like things were about to snowball down the precipice, but he knew. His instincts were screaming at him that peace wasn't going to last much longer, that soon enough they would have to deal with a world-wide-scale attack. One that would put Sci-Lab, the Net-Police, and him to the test.

Physically, he could handle it. Mentally, he also could do it. Emotionally... Netto wasn't so sure. True, he wanted to rain fire and destruction on Dark Mu, but he also wanted to be left alone and sleep until everything was back to being normal. Or just happy.

He could go for happy.

I have no indication of something is happening, Forte mused. Since the moment Netto became worried, he had started to search for any anomaly. Perhaps we are too far.

"Perhaps," Netto conceded. He was looking at a map hanging from one of the walls in Yaito's treehouse, trying to pinpoint with decent accuracy the location of the enemy's base somewhere in Amerope. A hard task to accomplish when he was being so distracted.

"Or perhaps... it's something that has to do with all that Murian stuff crammed in my head," the boy continued with a sigh. "There's so much that I don't understand... I wouldn't be surprised if I had some sort of hidden connection with... with..."

With the Undernet? Forte supplied after a few seconds of silence. Honestly? I'm surprised that the Undernet is actually a Murian Server. And only one of many scattered around the world.

It was rare for him to be honest with himself and the others, but yes. Forte was genuinely surprised. He had always thought that the Undernet had been created by some sort of shady human organization for their less than legal operations. Instead he got thousand of years old technology and... aliens. Birds aliens.

And he was not going to think about Netto hinting that there was another Murian race out there. Something about creatures descending from a wolf-like lifeform that supposedly were the opposite of the birds in all regards. He was not ready to open that can of worms yet. He had enough stuff to deal with already, and that was not important.

It is not like we can check on the Undernet right now, Forte continued after his musing ceased. Your friend, that kid with the white hair... he said there was nothing strange in it.

Netto frowned and finally decided that the map was not going to be of much help. He turned away from it and lazily floated towards the door, planning to go out and do something else for a chance. "You mean Enzan?" he asked. "I know he said nothing's wrong, and I believe he found nothing weird. But... I don't know... I think that the Undernet is more complex than just what we saw. Especially after whatever I did there."

He gave a shrug after that, because as much as he tried to give an explanation, there simply was no getting to it. Netto had long since given up trying to, and Forte had learned to accept it. Frustration would get them nowhere, after all. Nor thinking in circles and always getting onto the same topics that had no solution at the moment.

"Still... Maybe I should talk to him..." Netto muttered, reaching for the door absentmindedly. "See how other things are going. If things are going to be bad soon, then I want to know what kind of help we can get."

Netto was a capable fighter, able to think on his feet and always ready to surprise his opponents with his stubbornness and some harebrained scheme. Sometimes he might let his ego get to his head too, but he was not stupid. If he could get help in taking down an evil organization, he was very happy to let anyone tag along regardless of their age.

Not that his friends would want to stand back...

He sighed, deeply, and pulled the door open to let the cold night air in.

And came face to face with an exhausted Ijuin Enzan. Blues was behind him, looking as worried as his shades would let him, but resigned to the fact that his operator was too stubborn to listen to reason.

"Woah," Netto muttered, floating back and staring at the tired boy. "Enzan!"

Enzan looked like he was ready to collapse and was hanging onto consciousness with his will alone. "Netto," he muttered, shoulders slumping if relief upon having found his friend so easily. "We need to talk."

Netto frowned. "Wha..." he muttered stupidly. He was so caught off guard that it took him a while to snap out of it. "Look. I know how you feel because I do the same thing, but there is a limit. And you obviously crossed it. Is this really something that can't wait?"

He moved to the side and watched as his friend trudged inside, feet dragging onto the wooden floor. It was weird, because it was like watching someone walking out of their tomb after a resurrection gone wrong.

The taller boy dropped onto the nearest chair and took a long moment to relish in the fact that there was no effort being involved in sitting. "You probably know most of the stuff I'm going to say." He placed a folder onto the table and stared at it in deep contemplation. "But considering you haven't said much of what happened to you during the past months, humor me."

"There isn't much to say, Enzan," Netto replied, perhaps a bit too harshly. He realized it quickly after that, and floated closer to his friend while Blues closed the door behind him. "Sorry. Still... I'd rather not go into details. Besides, it's true. There isn't much to say beside the fact that I've been on a run since my escape. I..."

He paused and let his hands flail wildly into the air for a few moments, hoping that Enzan would just catch onto his inability to express himself in a clear manner. Then he just gave up, because there were no words in existence, nor arm movements, to describe what he wanted.

"Let's just..." Netto landed on the floor with barely a sound, his injuries either a memory of the past or barely bothering him now. "Show me what you have."

Enzan opened the folder and pointed at a photo, and judging by his friend's sudden scowl he knew that the boy in front of him knew who it was. "I was looking for the mole," he said. "And I narrowed it down to two. While both could very well be our culprit, I'm betting on this one. He disappeared about the same time when I realized there was someone selling information to Dark Mu."

"What about this Alpha?" Netto asked, arms crossing over his chest and deciding to ignore the man that caused so much pain to him and Forte in the recent past. "Dad and Doctor Cossack went pale as a ghost as soon as I said that name. They refuse to explain."

Perhaps they do not wish to speak out of fear, Forte murmured in his head. Human emotions have always been a hindrance...

Netto could agree with that, but he could also disagree. While fear was preventing his father and Doctor Cossack from revealing the truth so that they could be better prepared, the human emotions were what pushed him into doing what others refused to do.

Like befriending and trying to help a supposedly evil navi.

I consider you an exception to the rule, kid, Forte said offhandedly, causing Netto's lips to slightly curl upwards. Drop it.

"Alpha..." Thankfully Enzan broke the two out of their inner conversation, drawing their attention back to him. "Netto... I will be honest. I dug a lot for this, and broke several protocols, firewalls, and laws. What I found was not much, but it is enough for me to say that we're in a lot of troubles."

Netto leaned forwards to the point he almost had to start floating again to prevent himself from face-planting to the ground. "So? What is it? Or who? Or... you know... why is it so bad?" he asked eagerly. After weeks of being stumped, this was the first serious lead he had. "Come on, tell me already!"

Even Forte was eager to learn more. He knew that Alpha had been the reason for his troubles ten years ago, but he had no idea what or who it was, or what kind of abilities it had. Now that it was involved directly, he cursed his inattention for details.

"Alpha..." Enzan took a deep breath and glanced up at his navi. Blues was always nearby, reassuring him with his presence and being a pillar where he could lean to when he needed it.

And just like always, Blues caught onto his operator's distress. "Ten years ago Alpha was developed to be a network controller. An artificial intelligence that would help administer and regulate the ever increasing flow of data. However, it backfired. Instead of regulating it, it started to absorb everything without end. This caused countless glitches and data corruption."

Netto blanched, feeling faint the moment he heard what kind of thing this Alpha was. Even Forte was taken aback for the briefest of moments. "Go on," the smaller boy muttered, eyes narrowed.

"Alpha was never destroyed. Back then there were no means for it, and judging from what we gathered, we still can't do that. All that could be done was to..." Blues stopped and glanced at his operator, then gave a small sigh of resignation. "Overfeed it until it froze momentarily, giving Sci-Labs enough time to contain it and put it into stasis."

"Until now." Enzan's words rang heavy in the air, causing everyone to frown in worry. "If they decide to release Alpha into the world..."

This was bad. This was beyond bad. Netto felt his heart sink to the bottom of his feet and die where it landed. With Alpha running loose, the network would be eaten away, piece by piece. All the data, all the knowledge stored in the archives, all the information, the navis... everything would be lost, plunging the whole world into a time comparable to what it was before computers and technology in general became a common feature in everyday life. It would cause chaos, incidents, confusion, terror...

And while humanity in general would survive, people would still die. A lot of them, too.

After that, Dark Mu would have an easy time in taking over the world. Thanks to devices like the Materializers, they would encounter little to no resistance.

"Enzan," Netto muttered, sitting down on the nearest chair and holding his head in his hands. "For the love of everything you hold dear... please. Tell me you have a plan. Please."

The taller boy leaned forward and held up several sheet of papers, waving them in front of his friend's hidden face. "Not yet, but if you could help us decipher this, we might stand a better chance."

Netto looked up, frowning in confusion. Then his eyes landed on the papers and his frown deepened. He could recognize every line and every Murian scribble drawn on it. "Aren't those..."

Your diagrams for that strange PET seems to have caught your friend's full attention, Forte was looking on in interest, trying to make sense of the alien language accompanying the schematics.

"Guess it's worth a try..." the boy mumbled, reaching for the papers.

It was better than sitting around doing nothing anyway.

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The mental effort needed to answer to the call was immense.

Not physically.

No. Physically he was one hundred percent functional.

It was the will that was faltering.

Since the day he had been created, Paladin had followed his Emperor's every wish and order without questioning. Always loyal like he had been programmed to be.

Yet things were different now. He was less eager to please his master, less willing to harm people. Instead he loitered, wasted time so that the enemy could have a chance to save themselves.

But above all, the more time he spent thinking about his wayward emotions and ideals, the more he realized how wrong Osamu Michiro's orders were. It was a never ending spiral, one that he wished with all himself to be relieved of. But instead of descending into despair, he felt like he was trying to soar with a huge weight chained to his body.

That thinking would surely get him into troubles. Perhaps even result in his deletion. It scared him deeply that his thoughts would lead him to his demise. Still... still...

He couldn't stop.

He had gone too far to stop now, and if he had to be honest with himself, he didn't want to.

It felt right, and it was worth it.

"I would not enter if I was you."

Paladin halted, frozen by the voice that caught him so off guard. He realized that his hand was raised, hovering an inch away from the sensor that would open the door to the main control room. He had been so caught up in his thoughts that his body had moved automatically, bringing him to his destination without him realizing it.

"I was summoned, brother," he said, turning around to face the familiar black figure. "It is not wise to make the Emperor wait."

Ninja gave a curt nod of understanding, but he remained where he was and looked at Paladin with his piercing yellow eyes. "True," he conceded. "But it would be a wiser decision if you listened to me first."

The white navi frowned, confused and perplexed. His brother and partner was not one of many words, preferring to act rather than speak. That he now wanted to talk meant that there was something of immediate importance he should know.

"Then speak," Paladin said. "Before the Emperor is angered by my hesitation to answer his summon."

Yellow eyes closed, and for a moment Ninja seemed to disappear into the darkened background. "If you seek freedom, then follow me. I believe you are ready for the truth."

The rush of emotions that assaulted him made Paladin falter to the point his back touched the heavy door behind him. Disbelief, confusion, eagerness were the first, then came a hint of doubt and suspicion. "Is this... a trick? Are you testing my loyalty?"

"None of the sort, brother." The yellow eyes returned and they were focused solely on the white figure in front of them. "This is about you and who you truly are."

Paladin still felt a sliver of doubt. This was all too sudden, all too... convenient. Yet... he couldn't let this opportunity slip through his fingers. If this was a trap, then he would willingly walk into it and fight to the end for his dream. Even if it meant his complete destruction.

"Lead the way."

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A/N: I could go on and on about how hard it was, how little inspiration I had, or that I had no time to sit down and just write. Truth is... I have no decent excuse.

I'll be honest. I've been struggling with this fic because I've lost most of my interest in the Rockman fandom (I still like it, but it's just not in the forefront of my mind), and sitting down to get back onto something after so long is a really, really daunting experience for me. Mostly because I don't remember everything and I had to repeatedly go back to reread stuff I wrote to avoid repeating plot points I had already established.

And the characters always feels... off. It's as if they grew up and I wasn't there to witness it...

That's why I struggle so much.

Thankfully, once I actually sit down I get things done right in a decent amount of time (like, two or three days). I won't say that this is a chapter I especially like, but if I try to modify it further, it'll get worse.

And I'm done with my inner critic being... not cooperative at all.

And yes. Things are starting to move. Slooooowly slooooowly, but we're getting there. Yay me!