Chapter Three: Disaster Dinner
"Sorry I'm late!" Alia exclaimed as she hurried up to Max just as he was checking his watch. "Palette tried to dress me up again!"
"You're not late," he replied with a chuckle, quickly dropping his arm to his side. "I…was just checking the time 'cause I have lousy time perception."
Alia blinked; reploids usually had superior time perception due to their internal chronometers. Maybe his model wasn't given one? "Oh…okay."
"Well, you ready to eat?" he asked, indicating the nearby restaurant. "I've never been here before, but I've heard the food tastes great!"
She smiled as she put thoughts of time aside. "I'm ready."
They started toward the restaurant, but instead of going inside Max headed toward one of the outside tables. "You okay with eating outside? The weather's nice, so I thought it'd be…well, nice."
She looked at the clear, blue sky before returning her gaze to her date. "Sure, that sounds nice."
"Nice," he repeated, and they shared a chuckle as he moved to pull out a chair for her.
They settled into their seats, and it wasn't long before a young-looking female reploid with long, brown hair and equally brown eyes appeared next to their table. "Hi! I'm Tray, and I'll be your server this evening!"
"Nice to meet you, Tray," Max greeted with a friendly smile, causing Alia concern. "Could we have a couple of menus, please?"
"That's why I'm here!" she chirped. "Would you like tea to start with?"
"Please," Max replied, before looking to Alia. "Do you want any?"
"Y-Yeah…" Alia said in a low voice, then caught herself. "I…I mean, yes please!"
Max blinked at her sudden change in demeanor before looking back up to their server, who was still waiting patiently. "Tea for both of us, thank you."
"Of course!" Tray handed them menus, then bowed slightly before spinning to head back into the main eatery.
"You okay, Alia?" Max asked as their server disappeared through the door. "You seem upset about something."
"You…" She wasn't sure how to phrase her concern. "You just seemed awfully friendly with our server. Do you know her?"
"No," he replied with a single shake of the head. "But I try to be friendly with everyone. Unless, of course, they're hostile toward me," he finished with a lopsided grin.
"O-Okay," Alia managed. "Sorry, it's just…"
"Yeah…" He looked down at the tabletop. "I…think I understand."
"I'm sorry. If the clothing store lady hadn't said anything-"
"No, I understand," Max interrupted, raising a reassuring hand. "I get that it might take me a while to prove myself. I'm just asking that you give me the chance to…well, prove myself."
"Maybe… Maybe we should talk about something else," Alia suggested, forcing a smile to her face. "What are you researching right now? What 'truth' are you looking for?"
Max blinked up with an expression of gratitude. "Well, right now I'm trying to figure out how a man should be."
"How a man should be?" Alia repeated with a puzzled expression. "But you're a man, aren't you? Shouldn't you already know?"
He shook his head. "Not necessarily. See, the kind of man that I am right now is based on the experiences that I've had so far in my life. Does that make sense?"
"It does," Alia replied, leaning forward to rest her forearms on the table.
"But all that taught me is what men actually do rather than what men should do. Do you see the distinction?"
"I do."
He crossed his arms with a triumphant smile. "So what I want to learn is how I should be – ideally – and try to live those principles to the best of my ability."
"And the opinions and thoughts of others wouldn't necessarily help you with that…" she realized, her researcher's brain intrigued by her dinner companion's words.
"Right." He crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair. "While it can be helpful to gather opinions as a point of reference, as you've pointed out it doesn't necessarily help in discovering things outside of opinion, which is what I'm looking for: objective truth."
The navigator mulled this over. "That makes sense. I guess it would be a little different when researching character dynamics when compared to researching technology. Technology's pretty static, while personalities and their characteristics would have more variables."
She heard a light *thump* from the other side of the table and looked to see that Max's arms were no longer crossed, having dropped into his lap. "You…sound like you know what you're talking about," he said with noticeable awe. "Have you done research yourself?"
"I…was one of Gate's assistants back when…yeah." She cast her gaze to the table as the memories started to replay.
"You two were pretty tight, huh?"
"I…wanted to be more than just an assistant," she admitted. "And then he became infected, and…" she drew a shuddering breath, unable to finish her thought.
"Damn. I'm sorry." She glanced up to find him studying her. "I didn't mean to poke an old wound. You gonna be okay? Do you need me to take you home?"
"No," she replied with a shake of her head. "It was a long time ago; I guess I'm still recov-"
"What…is…the…mean…ing…of…this…?" Their conversation was interrupted by the loud complaint of another patron, and their attention was drawn to a large slow-speaking man at a nearby table. He was obviously an earlier-model reploid, as some of his body parts were clearly mechanical. Alia was surprised that such an old model would have a simulated digestive system.
"I'm sorry, sir!" Tray squeaked as she bowed repeatedly. "I must have mixed your order up with another! I'll fix it immediately!"
"You'll…do…" the reploid started to say, then his eyes widened, and he grabbed at his head. "What…are…you…doing…? …STOP!..."
"Sir, please calm down!" Tray cried out, nearly in tears. "I'll make it right, I promise!"
By that point the old reploid could no longer hear her. "NNNNNGGGGAAAAHHHHH!" he cried out, stumbling out of his chair to his feet. "What's…happen…ing…?"
"Oh, no…" Alia breathed.
"Wh-What's going on?" Max demanded, getting to his feet to head over to the distressed reploid. "Sir, please…let me-" He suddenly had to cartwheel to the side as their fellow patron took a swipe at him. "What the hell?"
Alia was at his side at an instant. "Max, he's…he's going maverick."
"What…?" Max breathed... "No…"
He started back toward the convulsing reploid, but Alia stopped him with a firm grip. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do to help him."
"Sigma?"
She nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, but at this point the only thing we can do is…put him out of his misery."
Max uttered a stronger swear word as he watched the reploid start to grow in size, beginning to tower over the terrified waitress. "Alia, call whoever you need to…and get our server away from him." He reached up and over his shoulders, drawing two T-shaped handles from under the upper part of his coat. "I'll try to keep him busy until help arrives."
Alia's eyes widened as a beam of light extended from each of the handles; they looked remarkably like Zero's Z-Saber, only Max's blue beams were straight compared to Zero's green curved blade. "Max, you can't be serious!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "You've never fought a maverick before, have you?"
"N-No," he said, and it was then that she realized that she could feel him shaking through her grip. "But a lot of people are going to be hurt if we don't do something. Now, please l-let go of me and call for backup."
She reluctantly obeyed and hurried over to grab their petrified server. "Hurry, ma'am!" she ordered, pulling on the girl's arm. "Help me get the others out of here!"
"We're going to die!" Tray wailed as she allowed herself to be dragged along by the navigator.
"Not as long as we keep our heads," Alia told her, taking her by the shoulders as they came to a stop. "Look at me! Grab everyone you can and bring them inside the building; do you understand?"
The server gulped as she nodded quickly.
"Good. Now, go!" Alia ordered, pointing. "You cover that side and I'll take care of the other."
"G-Got it!" Tray spun and hurried in the direction Alia had indicated.
Meanwhile, Max stood before Sigma's latest victim, unsure of what to do. The reploid had grown to the size of a small house, and its forearms had grown disproportionally large. They stared each other down briefly before the Maverick spoke: "Please…kill…me…"
"Wha-?" was all Max could get out before the Maverick roared, bringing its arms over its head and back down, clearly targeting Max's position.
He quickly rolled away and tried to counterattack, bringing one of his blades down on the maverick's oversized, partially-submerged arm. It roared again, pulling its arm from the ground to rub the darkened spot where Max had struck it. It then brought both of its arms over its head again, only this time it started to strike the ground repeatedly, causing tremors and setting off car alarms, as well as causing a few windows to shatter.
It also caused Max to lose his balance, falling on his butt and losing his grip on one of his swords. "Damn," he muttered as he rolled to retrieve his errant blade with a shaky hand. "This is going to be a real joy."
By the time he got back to his feet the giant maverick had its sights set on him again. "Please…stop…me…"
"I'm trying!" Max yelled as he reevaluated his unfortunate opponent. Fortunately, he'd been able to keep the thing's attention on himself, but he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to keep it distracted.
He saw an opening as he saw it raise its arms for another 'earthquake' move, and he charged forward to slice at one of the maverick's ankles and felt a sad sense of satisfaction as felt his blade sever something within. He then had to quickly roll away as the huge reploid started to fall forward, landing on its front and causing another tremor, this one considerably more intense than the first.
It roared again as it struggled to its feet, its oversized arms making it difficult for the top-heavy Maverick to recover its center of balance.
As she watched the fight unfold from the relative safety of the restaurant, Alia tapped the side of her head, activating her headset. "Alia to Maverick Hunter HQ; come in."
"Signas here. Enjoying your date?"
"Sort of, commander," the navigator replied as a frightened little boy attached himself to her leg. "I've just witnessed a reploid turn maverick. Requesting backup."
"Acknowledged." A short pause, then: "Backup is en route and will be at your position in approximately five minutes. Con you hold out that long?"
"I'm not the one fighting, sir," she reported as the other patrons cried out in terror and held each other. "An armed civilian has engaged. I repeat; a civilian has engaged the maverick."
"Acknowledged. Then let our hopes lie with this brave citizen."
Max dropped to one knee, exhausted. Even though he had been battered around, his chest still swelled with a bit of regretful pride at the sight of the maverick's severed arm, twitching and sparking on the ground. He had managed to cut it off after another of the behemoth's belly flops. "And Zero and the others do this for a living?" he gasped as he watched the maverick struggle to its feet again.
It roared for the umpteenth time as it got itself upright again, only this time it turned its attention to the building where Alia and the others hid. It wobbled a bit as it walked, likely due to the imbalance caused by the missing limb.
"Like hell you will!" Max roared as well as he also struggled to his feet. "My girl's in there!" Unfortunately, he had already pushed himself beyond his limit and, like his opponent, struggled toward the threatened building. "Hey! Face me! I'm the one you want!"
The maverick ignored him and brought its remaining arm over its head. Before it could bring it down, however, a spherical blue projectile slammed into the monster's shoulder and Max gaped, wide-eyed, at the sight of X, riding in some kind of VTOL craft, with his arm cannon still pointed at the maverick.
"Are you all right?" an unfamiliar voice came from behind him, and Max allowed himself to collapse into white-gloved hands. "Don't worry; the two of us can take it from here."
"He's all yours," Max wheezed, still trying to catch his breath. "Just save them."
Zero helped him over to a nearby wall to lean him against it. "Thanks for your help," he said, then gave him a grin and a thumbs-up. "Don't let him get past this point, got it?"
"Got it," Max said, still breathing heavily. "And it's an honor to meet you, sir."
Zero nodded briskly before turning to dash toward the crippled maverick, drawing his Z-Saber as his boot jets fired.
Between the X-Buster and the Z-Saber, it didn't take long for the maverick to collapse in a cluster of explosions. Max had to fight back tears at the sight of his former fellow patron lying face-down, a smoking pile of metal and synthetic flesh.
"Maverick down! Maverick down! Maverick down!" X finally announced.
Having finally caught his breath, Max pushed himself from the wall and slowly made his way over to his fallen opponent.
"I'm sorry sir, but it's not safe here," a rookie hunter said, stepping into his path. "I'm afraid I need to ask-"
"Let him pass."
The rookie suddenly stood ramrod straight, saluting as Zero walked up. "Y-Yes sir, Commander Zero, sir!" He dropped the salute and stepped aside, opening Max's path to the corpse once again.
Max nodded at the rookie hunter before slowly heading toward the maverick again. He stopped just inches from the poor creature and knelt down to slowly reach out and lay his hand on its head.
He felt, more than heard or saw, Zero approach him from behind. "Are you okay, sir?" the hunter asked. "Do you need mechanical attention?"
Max ignored his question, gently caressing the head of the maverick as tears started to spill over his cheeks. "It's okay to cry, you know?" he said, his voice thin and shuddering.
"Sir?"
"Any senseless loss of life is worth grieving over," Max said, still caressing the maverick's head.
"I know," Zero replied in a low tone, his own voice suddenly heavy with emotion.
"Commander Zero!" another rookie ran up to the senior hunter with a computer tablet. "Your report has just been processed. Here is Commander Signas' response."
Max rose to his feet as Zero studied the results. Finally, the maverick hunter looked over at the other swordsman. "For what it's worth, he's been designated 'Seismic Sloth'," he reported quietly.
"That's great," Max replied numbly, turning to kneel back down by the fallen maverick. "What I want to know is: what was his real name?"
"He was soooooo brave!" the waitress gushed into the reporter's microphone as the cameras rolled. "Of course, the Maverick Hunters are awesome, right? But they do this kind of thing all the time! And to think that I was serving a hero!" she finished with a blush.
Max sat not too far away, his head resting on his crossed arms, propped up on his bent knees. He was close enough to hear the interview but situated in such as way that put him out of her line-of-sight.
"Max?" Alia sat down next to him and held out a tall glass filled with a semi-clear liquid. "It's tea, compliments of the restaurant."
He chuckled humorlessly as he accepted the beverage. "Thanks. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied. "I've dealt with Maverick attacks before, but…this was your first time, so…"
He ran his fingers roughly through his hair several times. "I've just…never killed anyone before. Or anything. Except maybe flies," he finished, looking toward the corpse again.
"I'm sorry you had to deal with this," Alia said consolingly.
"It's fine," he grunted. "It'll just take some…some time."
"Alia!" The pair looked up to see Layer and Palette hurrying toward them. "Are you all right?" the smaller navigator wailed as she launched herself at her senior. "We were so worried about you!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Alia laughed as she tried to pry the reploid-sized accessory from her torso. "After we're done being debriefed, I'll be walking Max home."
"That won't be necessary," Max declared as he got to his feet. "I…need some time alone, anyway."
"Are you certain?" Layer asked. "The three of us would be willing to-"
"No…thank you," Max interrupted with a hand. "As much as I like the idea of being escorted by three lovely ladies, I need to be alone for a while."
"L-Lovely…?" Palette squeaked.
"Then we should help you get on your way," a new voice announced, cutting off any further dialogue.
"Commander!" The navigators quickly lined up before their commanding officer and saluted.
"As you were," Signas ordered, "with the exception of you, Navigator Palette; I expect proper decorum when on duty. Off duty, you may 'glomp' on your friends to your heart's content."
"Yes, sir," Palette giggled.
"Citizen," Signas intoned as he directed his attention to Max. "I understand that the Maverick Hunters owe you a debt of gratitude."
"Sir!" Max barked, as he hopped to his feet and saluted to the best of his ability.
The tall reploid gave a rarely-heard chuckle. "Please; you are not under my command and, as such, are not required to salute me. Quite the contrary, it is I who should salute you." Matching actions to words, Signas snapped his hand up, barely touching the brim of his 'hat' in a perfect salute.
"I'm just glad I could help," Max replied, awkwardly adjusting his hand to match the commander's gesture. "Sorry I couldn't do more."
"You saved a lot of people with your actions," Alia said as he moved to Max's side to take his arm. "Humans and reploids."
"I'm…just glad I could help," Max replied again, not sure what else to say. "So, you needed to talk to me?"
"Indeed," Signas said, gesturing to the restaurant. "Perhaps we could take a table in there?"
"Sounds good to me," Max replied and he, along with the three Navigators and two Hunters, followed the Maverick Hunter HQ commander through the half-shattered front doors into the restaurant.