***NA***
Harpuia let off a small sigh as he made his way down the halls. After the meeting the Guardians had with the Lieutenants...well, most of them anyways; it had been reported that a strike from a small rebel group had hit a supply store in the city.
He honestly wasn't surprised...though it had caught him off guard knowing that the particular location that the rebels had hit was run by humans.
That very fact had enraged him when he had heard the news. Harpuia wasn't quite sure if any humans had been hurt or not, but there had been Neo Arcadian soldiers that had been damaged from crossfire.
"Harpuia to Shadow." The air commander put a hand to his comlink, eyes narrowed. "I'm almost to the ships. Ensure that you have everything we need fo-"
Harpuia turned the corner and stopped in his tracks when he noticed Lumine slowly coming down the hall, a larger reploid tailing behind him.
"Copy that Commander Harpuia. Should we still bring-"
"Shadow I'll meet you there. Harpuia out." The air Commander cut off the transmission and narrowed his eyes as Lumine offered Harpuia a smug grin.
"Well well well...if it isn't Master X's little lap dog." Lumine hummed, hands behind his back and a smirk on his face. "And what do I owe the honor of gracing your presence?"
Harpuia frowned at Lumine and kept one hand on the handle of his weapon, but didn't bring it out...yet. "It's called loyalty to Master X. Something you wouldn't know about considering your...reputation."
Lumine chuckled and put up a hand. "Ah, must the sins of the past be brought up? I assure you, I want only the best for Neo Arcadia." The lavender haired reploid glanced over towards his 'partner' and chuckled. "Do you hear this, Vector? Commander Harpuia isn't very fond of letting the past go."
The larger reploid behind Lumine didn't respond. If anything, he was watching Lumine and Harpuia with a rather blank expression.
This didn't bother Lumine in the least, however, as he proceeded to casually make his way past the air commander. "Oh well. Let us continue our work. I'm sure Commander Harpuia has far more personal matters to attend to."
Harpuia glared at Lumine as he and his 'partner' passed him. "Tread lightly, Director Lumine." He warned, not allowing himself to break eye contact with Lumine...well...at ALL. Lumine was unphased, as he casually walked past Harpuia and waved a hand in the air.
"Oh of course, commander Harpuia…" he replied, glancing slightly over his shoulder, a slight smirk on his face. "I advice you...to do the same." With that much said, Lumine continued down the halls, Vector following behind him, while Harpuia glared at the departing mechs. Once they disappeared down the hallways, Harpuia slowly turned and continued down his own path, mentally making a note to have Falcon order some troops to keep a sharper eye on the creep.
Continuing on his own way, Lumine casually glanced behind himself to ensure Harpuia hadn't decided to follow them. Once he was certain, he turned and opened a door into his lab, allowing Vector to close the door behind them.
...before he let off an irritable sigh, gritting his teeth.
"That kid is so stupidly blinded by loyalty to X, he has so much predicability." He grumbled, walking over to his computer and typing into the keyboard. At his request, several pictures of Raven came up, each of them with her either fighting or guarding. Really, every time Raven even showed herself, she was always on guard, so there was no way of knowing what a possible weak spot would be…
...Unless he could somehow find a way to talk to Foxfire.
"Vector, tell me how often Lieutenant Foxfire is with Hidden Phantom." He mused, putting his hands behind his back and frowning. "There MUST be a way I can question her…" His eyes narrowed dangerously. "I NEED to be able to pin point the Raven's weak spots…With the Raven being the incarnation of the moon's powers...I MUST find out who her other is."
Lumine's eyes narrowed as Vector walked past him and started typing into the computer. Various security pictures showed that Foxfire was either always with Phantom, Harpuia, or one of the other Lieutenants. HECK It looked like Foxfire was even around either Anubis or Phoenix if not one of the elites!
Lumine crossed his arms and let off a small 'hmm'. "If I can't go to her...Then I'll just have to bring her to myself…" He glanced towards Vector and smirked wickedly. "If that worthless clone is as gullible as the original X was...then getting to the Raven by way of her once-ally should be no problem once I have Foxfire in my grip…"
Vector glanced towards Lumine with a questioning look, to which Lumine only smirked. "Patience is a virtue, my ally...I WILL get the Raven in my grip...because once I have the moon trapped…" His eyes narrowed and glowed. "I will finally be able to lure the sun...and drain his powers to be my own…"
***RB***
The sounds of typing at a keyboard could be heard filling the room. Many images kept appearing and disappearing, still others would reappear and be set to the side. Several files were being scrolled through and either put to the side or discarded altogether.
Raven narrowed her eyes in focus as she quickly scanned each file that had been presented to her. Some looked promising, others not so much. She didn't have a name for the mysterious reploid kid, so she had to go off of what she DID know.
Who had known X? Who had known Zero at the same time? Who had WORKED with them? Who had been close enough to make bucket head actually SMILE like he was in that picture she saw?
The kid had mostly black armor with red and white here and there...and his helmet looked like it had freakin' CAT ears of all things. However every time she even REFERENCED 'cat' in a search, she got 'category'...
...HOW she kept getting CATEGORY when she searched for 'Cat-like' was BEYOND her, but what the heck.
HECK! She had been kicking herself for not just going ahead and looking for who 'Dr. Wily' was, considering she actually had HIS name...of course since she was far more curious about the young kid in the picture with Zero and X; her stubbornness got the better of her.
Raven let off a yawn as she went through the 100th picture and profile of the night. Storm Eagle? No. Neon Tiger? No. Chill Penguin? NO. Axl? N-
Raven suddenly stopped in her tracks as she nearly set aside another profile and quickly looked over it to double-check the photo on the profile.
After a moment, a shout of elation left Raven's throat, a big smug grin leaving her. "GOTCHA!" she practically cheered, making the page bigger and looking over the information.
"Ok, kid, I've been looking absolutely everywhere for your information, you'd better not disappoint me." She cracked her knuckles and started reading.
"Axl...former member of the Red Alert Hunters...Ally of Megaman X and Zero…" Raven nodded slowly as she read ou tloud to herself.. "Ok...looks like he's a good guy so far. Lessee….Hotheaded...trigger happy...runs into things without thinking…" Raven smirked to herself and let off a small laugh.
"Sounds like he would REALLY get along with Zero." she mused to herself, continuing to scroll through the information.
"Lessee...got reprimanded by X a lot...highly regarded and trusted by Zero and X...Helped defeat the team Red Alert by disguising as Sigma...Became a full time Maverick Hunter but was ultimately killed in action by the director of the Jak-...wait…" Raven paused her reading and re-read that last part.
...Killed in Action…
Raven felt herself get solem...oh…
"...He was shot in the head by a stray blast from the Reploid they were fighting." A new voice came from the entrance. Raven almost jumped out of her armor, but glanced over towards the entrance, seeing Ciel standing there.
"OH!...Ciel...I didn't know you were-" Raven started to say, as the other girl slowly made her way inside, looking at the screen seriously.
"Axl was fighting a New Generation reploid alongside X and Zero…" Ciel explained softly, softly crossing her arms and looking up at the picture. "They had just won against him...but Axl went to go examine the body…"
Ciel glanced over towards Raven sadly. "...The shell of the enemy they fought shot something at Axl's head...X and Zero got him back to base for repairs...but he died the next day…"
Raven pursed her lips and looked down slightly, feeling sorry for the fact that Zero had lost a dear friend that he cared about...Something like that didn't need to happen to Zero; even if he WAS a stick-in-the-mud most of the time.
For a while, Ciel only stood there with her hands behind her back and a small sigh leaving her mouth. She turned to face Raven, reaching to the keyboard and shutting off the computer.
"Oh- Wait! I'm not done with-" Raven started to say, but Ciel had already shut down the system. "...that." Raven muttered. After a moment, she looked towards Ciel and crossed her arms. "Don't tell me you're going to give me the 'it's late, you need to go to bed' lecture, Ciel."
"Well considering that you're human, you need as much rest as you can get, due to the amount of missions you constantly grab like candy." Ciel let off a very small smile...before her face fell.
"...I was disappointed that Foxfire refused to talk to me while she was in our custody…" She said softly, taking a seat across from Raven and looking at her seriously. "...I was hoping I could help her systems...make sure her technology wasn't damaged...maybe even get her to understand...why we fight against Copy X….that he's not really the X she thinks he is…"
Raven let out a small scoff. "...I appreciate it, Ciel, but Foxfire is the most stubborn brat ever... probably even more than Copy X's whole reploid army!" She let out a sigh and glanced towards her side that Foxfire had bandaged up all those weeks ago…
"She's a lost cause."
"Come on Raven...I know you don't mean that." Ciel looked up and put a hand on Raven's arm. "I know she's infatuated with Hidden Phantom...but even Foxfire value's the real X's morals...morals that Copy X can't grasp...once she sees his true intentions...she'll know you were right."
Ciel stood from her seat and put her hands together. "...get some sleep, Raven. We have a busy week ahead of us."
Raven nodded slightly and watched Ciel head for the door...before putting a hand up. "Hey Ciel?"
"Yeah?" Ciel turned as she put her hand on the door, looking over towards Raven expectantly.
Raven was silent for a moment, before she motioned towards the computer. "I was going to look this up on the computer...but maybe you know...who exactly is Dr. Wily?"
Ciel's eyes widened slightly, looking perplexed at the question...before turning to face Raven fully. "...where...did you hear that name?"
"Foxfire mentioned that name when we were giving her back to the Guardians." Raven replied, taking notice of the sudden guard that Ciel was now putting up. "She had mentioned it to Zero...and he got REAL peeved for a while...but when I asked him about it...he slammed the door in my face."
Ciel was quiet, taking this information in; this didn't ease Raven, as it was MORE than obvious that Ciel was trying to choose the correct words.
"Do you know about this guy? Is he in the system?" Raven put up a hand. "Why does Zero get so pissed when that name is menti-"
"Raven, please don't mention Dr. Wily to Zero again." Ciel said quickly, putting a hand up. After a moment of silence, she winced. "Dr. Wily is...a very dark topic for Zero...if he wants to talk about it...he'll let you know when he's ready."
"Well that just makes me even MORE curious!" Raven put a hand in the air. "Is it really all that bad for me to find out about this guy?!"
Ciel looked to the side for a moment...before she looked back towards Raven. "...Have you told Zero the truth about what happened to you?"
Raven paused...and frowned. "...Ciel...That's different."
"Just as you have secrets that you don't want Zero knowing just yet...Zero also has secrets…" Ciel opened the door and glanced back towards Raven. "Once you're ready...you can tell him...likewise...you have to wait until he's ready to share his secrets with you."
Raven let her mouth hang agape for a moment as Ciel left the room, softly closing the door behind her. After a long moment of pondering, Raven let out a long sigh.
"...fine...I'll wait." She muttered to herself as she got up from the chair and headed out a different path.
***NA***
"And then once the rebels had the soldiers blinded, they were practically gone without a trace." The shopkeeper rubbed his head, looking over the damages and losses of his store, letting off a long sigh.
"Honestly...I can't for the life of me understand what those rebels wanted with my supplies."
Foxfire was typing into her datapad as the human surveyed the damages.
"Don't worry sir, the Neo Arcadian army will compensate your losses quickly." She replied patiently, typing in something else into her datapad, before looking back at the storekeeper. "You say this is a family owned supply store? Were any of your kin harmed in the raid, sir?"
"No, my wife and sons were upstairs when it happened." The man motioned over towards another yong lady who was at the desk, arranging herbs and flowers. "My daughter Daisy was in the shop when it happened...but she swears up and down that the rebels barely even LOOKED at her while they were pillaging."
Foxfire glanced towards the young woman, who was being interviewed by Shadow and Harpuia...the girl seemed flustered for some reason…
Putting her attention back on her work, Foxfire nodded towards the gentleman and handed him a small paper.
"Don't worry Mr. Spazz. Commander Harpuia will ensure your shop is recovered quickly while I give these reports to Commander Phantom." She ensured, a small smile on her face. "Count on us."
"Thank you Lieutenant." The man smiled towards her. "Master X is very fortunate to have wonderful reploids such as yourself as his soldiers."
"I appreciate that, sir." Foxfire smiled and made a small bow. "Please excuse me."
Foxfire exchanged a small handshake with the human citizen before she slowly took a few steps towards the door, still typing into her datapad. She sent a quick message to Phantom about the status of the current mission, as well as the details of the human's status condition, along with her own ETA back to base.
Once she received a ping of acknowledgement from Hidden Phantom, she resumed her reports, glancing up as Shadow slowly approached her.
"Foxfire."
"Shadow."
"The female human has no injuries, thankfully. Though she seems shaken by the event." Shadow took his place by Foxfire's side and put his hands behind his back, glancing behind himself to see where Commander Harpuia had gone to.
Harpuia was talking with other soldiers...though...for some STRANGE reason, he seemed to constantly be glancing over towards the human female.
For another odd reason, she seemed to glance towards Harpuia and try to quickly return to her work...over...and over again.
This pattern continued for a good five minutes, before Shadow tilted his head.
"...Hey Foxfire?"
"Hmm?" The purple fem kept her eyes on her datapad, her attention more on her work than anything else.
"Dose Commander Harpuia seem to be acting….strange...to you?" Shadow glanced towards his peer, before looking back towards Harpuia. The commanding officer was talking to his soldiers...but every now and then, he'd glance over towards the young female human who was tending to the shop.
Miss Daisy would quickly look away and act like she was busy keeping to the shop...before she also would glance in his direction.
Shadow found this...weird. Surely the human female was aware that they were there to protect her since she was a citizen...right?
"For that matter...the shopkeeper female seems on edge as well."
Foxfire didn't look from her datapad, more focused on her work than anything else. "She's probably still flustered. Humans don't handle stress as well as reploids do after all." she mused.
"Then why does she keep glancing towards Commander Harpuia?" Shadow looked towards Foxfire...before making a sarcastic face...and plain SNATCHING her datapad from her hands.
"HEY What's-" Foxfire paused when Shadow's other hand was set on her helmet and he firmly turned her head towards Miss. Daisy. Foxfire blinked and looked from Daisy…to Harpuia...to Daisy...and then back to Harpuia…
For a moment Foxfire could only stare...before a slow grin came to her face. "Oh...I see." She smiled...before plain SNATCHING her datapad back from Shadow's grip.
"It's simple. They like each other it seems." She replied casually, returning to her work.
"How can you tell?" Shadow looked towards Foxfire, a confused look on his face. "They're practically staring each other down!"
"Actually, they're carefully avoiding eye contact…" Foxfire looked back towards Shadow, a small grin on her face. "And keep looking back up. They're interested in each other…." She paused and looked thoughtful. "Though...that surprises me...considering the legion of rabid fangirls that Commander Harpuia has...i'm surprised that he's not over there basking in it…"
She seemed to grin in a slightly evil way. "...hmmm...this could be interesting…"
"Wait, what do you mean?" Shadow's face got more confused. "How can you tell if Commander Harpuia is actually interested? He's not even TALKING to her."
"That's exactly my point." Foxfire made a motion towards Harpuia. "He keeps glancing towards her, but not strutting his stuff. This means he's carefully weighing his options."
Shadow only looked more confused. "...what?"
"Oh my word…" Foxfire put a hand to her face...before she took Shadow's wrist and dragged him over towards Harpuia and the rest of the soldiers.
"Wha- Foxfire! Wha-" Shadow protested.
"Commander Harpuia!" Foxfire called out, causing all soldiers to suddenly stop talking to the air commander, in favor of allowing the Lieutenant to speak. Foxfire stopped walking when she was beside Harpuia and allowed Shadow out of her grip, who slightly rubbed his wrist, giving Foxfire a bewildered look.
"Commander Harpuia." Foxfire repeated, putting her hands on her hips. "About the reports."
Harpuia looked towards Foxfire, before glancing back towards the shop keeper. "Uh-huh?"
Foxfire suddenly had a smug look on her face that made the rest of the soldiers nervous. "...Well about the reports, I'm thinking that we can give them to the kitten squadron."
She suddenly got weird looks from the rest of the soldiers, however she continued to get a distant reply from Harpuia.
"Yeah?"
"Once those kittens get the reports, they'll tear them to shreds and kick the leftovers to the puppies."
"Ok."
"Once the puppies are finished, we can throw them out of the unit and shove them up Director Lumine's aft." Foxfire rose her eyebrow, crossing her arms...though Harpuia wasn't even LOOKING at her. This only made Foxfire smirk. "...Don't YOU think so Commander Harpuia?"
"...Huh?" Harpuia suddenly blinked and finally looked at Foxfire fully, who had her arms crossed and was giving him an expectant look. He noticed all the soldiers around her were giving weird looks in their direction. One of which looked like he was floored at her suggestions. Harpuia made a small face.
...what exactly did she say?
Harpuia quickly cleared his throat and stood up straight, placing his arms behind his back. "Yes, that sounds very good, Lieutenant Foxfire. You do that."
Foxfire's face suddenly had a smug smirk on it, which made Harpuia second guess himself.
"...But-...just for reference...repeat what you just said."
SMACK!
Harpuia paused and glanced towards Shadow, who had facepalmed.
Foxfire uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on her hips, looking from Harpuia over towards the shopkeeper female, and then back towards Harpuia.
"You uh...You checkin' her out?" she asked casually, making Harpuia blush lightly.
Harpuia quickly cleared his throat and turned to face Foxfire fully, a serious look plastered on his face. "Uh- Lieutenant Foxfire. I trust you have all the details you need for your reports?"
"Yes sir." Foxfire smirked for a second, before returning to a professional stance. "All the information of what the humans have lost, as well as the damages will be filed and compensation will be made. All I need to do is work on this with Shadow back at base."
"Very good." Harpuia looked at both of the Lieutenants, his serious stance finally coming back to him. He glanced towards Shadow and made a motion with his hand. "Get the vehicles ready to return to base. I want compensation for the humans made as quickly as possible."
"Yes sir." Shadow nodded, turning and heading for the vehicles, motioning the rest of the soldiers to follow, who did so.
Harpuia moved to follow Shadow, however Foxfire took a step in his way and put a finger to his chest, making him pause. "Wha- Lieutenan-"
"Whoa whoa, Commander Harpuia." Foxfire looked up at him, smirking. "Where do you think you're going?"
Harpuia paused...was Foxfire...getting onto him? Here of all places? Before he could make a retort, Foxfire made a motion to her datapad. "Human compensation reports are a Lieutenant's job, are they not?"
"Well...yes...but-"
Harpuia paused and his eyes widened as Foxfire put her hands on his shoulders, turned him around and started pushing him back towards the shop.
"GOOD! Then Shadow and I will get to work on these reports, while YOU go introduce yourself to that sweet shopkeeper lady!" Foxfire replied.
Harpuia made a face and quickly looked towards Foxfire, a spooked look on his face. "L-Lieutenant! Wha-" He quickly turned around and grabbed Foxfire's wrists. "What do you mean, 'introduce myself'? I JUST got through interviewing her with Shadow!"
Foxfire gave Harpuia a sarcastic look. "No, genius. Go over there and actually TALK to her." She took her wrists away from Harpuia and put her hands on her hips. "Go introduce yourself! Make small talk. Ask her what she likes about working here." She smirked. "Ask her if she'd like to go for a stroll sometime."
Harpuia blinked...and winced slightly, before crossing his arms and scowling at Foxfire. "Lieutenant Foxfire, I am here strictly on business-"
"Which has already been taken care of!" Foxfire shrugged and made a motion behind her. "Who's job is it to handle the reports back at base?" She made a motion towards herself. "The Lieutenants. Your job is already over, Commander Harpuia. I'd say you have a couple of free moments, wouldn't you agree?"
Harpuia once again made a face, a very small blush coming to his cheeks. "Wha- But- I-"
"Commander Harpuia, you're always getting onto be about my crush on your brother." Foxfire crossed her arms and rose an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'm just going to stand by and allow you to pass up a chance to talk to a sweet human-girl?"
Harpuia placed his hands on his hips and frowned at Foxfire. "...you've got a lot of nerve…"
"Yes! Yes I do!" Foxfire smirked at Harpuia, before pointing towards Daisy. "Go say hello! Now." She turned and made a casual wave. "Shadow and I will handle the rest! Later!"
Harpuia watched Foxfire leave, slightly gawking as she directed the rest of the soldiers to move out. As they left he couldn't help but wonder HOW THE HECK….he had just allowed himself to be ordered around...by PHANTOM'S Lieutenant of all reploids.
Clearing his throat, he slowly turned and re-entered the shop.
***NA***
"There….That's it…"
Lumine studied the screen carefully, the image of Raven coming into light. Almost every picture of Raven that he got, there was almost always a picture of Zero as well.
"Hmm….I never took Zero for a reploid that would get tied up with legends…" Lumine chuckled lowly. "This just makes things more...interesting…"
As Lumine studied the image, he glanced towards the door where Vector was coming into the room. "Ah Vector...do you know where our sweet Lieutenant Foxfire will be stationed next?"
Vector slowly approached Lumine, handing the purple haired reploid a datapad. Lumine looked over it for a moment and smirked.
"Ah...paired with Lieutenant Shadow and Commander Harpuia right now...while tomorrow she'll be with Phantom…"
Lumine's smirk widened and he started typing into the keyboard. "...I'm sure it would be no problem to...have Phantom working with Shadow instead, don't you think?" He smirked as the layout of the next day's orders began changing. The screen glitched for a moment, before the order changed. Shadow was now paired with Phantom...while Foxfire was paired with Lumine.
"Once I finally have sweet Foxfire's information on the Raven…" His eyes narrowed and he set his gaze on Raven's picture. "I will hold the moon in my hands...and the sun will not be far behind….and that wrecthed clone of X will fall at my feet..."