A/N: A short chapter. But I had difficulty getting it longer…
Chapter 2: A walk around HQ
Signas sighed and dropped the stack of papers onto his desk. He hated getting information from Dr. Cain – the old human kept insisting on using a pencil and paper to jot down notes, rather than using one of the more technical and modern means of noting. Such as a computer… And, because Dr. Cain had a light shaking of the hands, his handwriting was nearly illegible – the Reploid commander had never thought that it would be so tedious and straining on his processors to figure out if the old man wanted three scores of pink-frosted doughnuts or if there were signs of a new maverick virus breaking out… Cain had never forgiven him for the time he had mixed up the two, and had sent out troops to take down these mavericks instead of sending the doughnuts.
Leaving the room that he had labeled as 'Office' – even though it had affectionately been dubbed 'The 666th Floor of Hell' by the Hunters – Signas decided to take a walk around the headquarters and get some change in his surroundings. After all, it had been weeks since anyone had heard anything from any mavericks, and although security had not been slacked yet, there was truly no rush in getting anything done. Besides, Cain could wait another half hour for his doughnuts…
However, when he entered the room that served as a cafeteria for the humans employed at the HQ, he stopped and blinked, wondering if his optical systems had begun to malfunction. Quite a lot of people had gathered at the cafeteria's doors, although keeping a respectful distance to its center. Clinging onto the electrical wires from one of the large lamps hanging from the ceiling, Signas could easily spot the forms of both Commander X and Commander Zero. Beneath them, and what kept others at a distance, stood a group of five females – three reploids and two humans – and shrieked a multitude of curses and threats at the two Commanders in the lamp.
Commander Zero appeared to be utterly unaffected, hanging upside down from the wire and his attention directed at a small box within his hands – some form of primitive digital game that Signas had seen in old photographs – while Commander X was trying to explain something to the raging females over their screeching.
Turning his attention to the side of the cafeteria, Signas spotted Douglas, Lifesavor and their respective crews, each busy preparing for what appeared to be a massive reploid reconstruction. The other reploids and humans at the room were also busy, making bets on who of the two Commanders that would fall down first, who of the females that would cause most damage, and, with the highest odds, who of the male reploids who would manage to make it furthest away before getting caught and trampled.
"Put my money on X dropping down first and making it to the cafeteria door," Signas murmured to one of the bookmarkers, before he turned on his heel and disappeared from the scene of crime.
It appeared that this would be another usual day at the Hunter Headquarters…