Ch.11
All's fair...
"There we go, finally found that last circuit," Light proudly proclaimed as Zero's body twitched back to life.
"No offense, Doc," Zero stated while getting up " But one of these days, you're gonna have to make it so I can move a little easier when the suit's at a loss for power."
"We'll see, maybe some day."
"Anyway, thanks again, Doc."
Zenton, X, and Toronto all watched from the table and chairs that were set up. The moment Zero had started to move, Crystal had got up from her seat and moved so she would be in front of him when he turned to look at them. Zenton watched and then leaned over to whisper to the other two. "Watch this, you two, this should be entertaining, I had to deal with this everytime we came back from a scouting mission."
Zero finally stood all the way back up, and looked around. Crystal stood, just looking at him, her hands behind her back. He stood and looked at her, while she did the same, though with a somewhat still confused look on her face. Zero flashed back to his human form, hoping that maybe that would confuse her less. Zenton leaned back over to Toronto and X once again. "3...2...1...boom!"
"Seero!" And with that cry, she proceeded to do what only Zenton had expected. She tackled Zero so hard that he hit the ground backside first. Had it not been for her slight weight pinning him down, he probably would have bounced. Zenton proceeded to fall over sideways out of his chair laughing, while X chuckled, and Toronto's rumbling chortle chimed in several times.
"Eh...nice to see you too, Crys...can I have my neck back so I can breathe again?" Zero asked from his somewhat compromising position on the floor underneath her. Toronto leaned over to X as Zenton regained his seat, and his composure.
"Do we even have to breathe?" He asked quietly.
"Not really, but it's a good way to get rid of the few little particles of exhaust that our system gives off."
"Oh...so should we mention that to those two?" Toronto asked, a grin playing the corners of his mouth. Zenton started chuckling.
"Probably not," he told his brother. "Otherwise we'll probably never get Zero out of her grip. Not that he'd have a problem with that, but we might need him again." Light merely watched from his numerous monitors.
"Ummm...Crys..." Zero stammered out as he lay there. "It really might be a good idea if you let me up now, otherwise somebody's going to make a remark about where we're at."
"But," She started to stutter out.
"No buts, I just think we might wanna get off the floor." Zero stated once again, attempting to sit up with Crystal still in his arms.
"Is she always like this?" X asked Zenton. "I mean, Zero is supposed to be a fighter. It might be kinda difficult for him to fight if we can't get her to let go."
"Give her an hour or two, then she should be fine." Zenton answered, grinning the whole time, happy to see his friend together with Crystal again. Toronto shot an eyebrow up questioningly. "She was always like this when we would get back from one of our trips into the surrounding caves. We'd be gone for three or four days. She always reacted like this when Seero got back. Once she's had enough time to make sure he's not going anywhere for a little while, she'll get back to her normal self."
"And just what is her normal self like?" X asked, obviously trying gain as much information ahead of time as he possibly could.
"She's frighteningly intelligent when she's not like this. Probably more intelligent than me or Zero, that's for sure. And emotional as all hell. She's got red hair for a reason. Speaking of which, don't let the hair and cute looks fool you, she can fight too. She used to be able to match me at times."
"Used to be able to?" Toronto rumbled.
"Well, I sincerely doubt she can compete with my body now that Light changed me."
"You may have a point, if for no other reason than because hitting you would break her hand."
"Bah, she's tougher than that. I just don't know if she'd be able to keep up with my speed now."
In the meantime, Zero was finally in a sitting position, with Crystal firmly wrapped around him still. It wasn't that he minded her wanting to cuddle, but at the moment, he'd have preferred if she'd waited until they were out of the sight of the others. *Then again, when has she cared about that before?* He thought laughingly. A new sound intruded upon his hearing. As he sat there for a moment, he realized Crystal's body was racked with sobs. "What's wrong, Crys? Come on, you can tell me," he said as he pulled her closer. She looked up at him. Tears ran freely down her face as she sniffed. It was all Zero could do to avoid getting lost in the emerald sea that was her eyes.
"I, I, didn't think I'd see you again after they took us. I was so afraid. I didn't want to be alone." She said in between sniffs, starting to wipe away the tears with the back of her hand.
"It's okay. I'm right here. I swear, I'll never leave you alone. Didn't I promise you that once already?" She nodded at him. "Then what were you worried about? You know I keep my promises." He pulled her back into his chest, his free hand running through her hair. She balled up in that spot, wrapping her arms around his chest. He thought back to last time he had held her like this.
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Seero had finally gotten back from a four day hike in the caves. He looked around, expecting Crystal to be near. Somehow she always knew when he got back. But, for some reason, he hadn't seen her yet. He went to the building known commonly as the Barracks, although he knew that was just a nickname for what was otherwise the living quarters of the place. He and Crystal shared a room, although they kept two beds there, just in case anyone should think anything indecent of them. Not that aforementioned thinker would be far off the mark, but as far as Seero was concerned, that was between him and Crystal. As he dropped his stuff on the spare bed he walked over and laid down on the other one for a few minutes, marveling in the feeling of a mattress again, not to mention the whole bed always smelled like Crystal's hair, a smell Seero was rather fond of. As he laid there he thought about what he might be able to do to surprise her when she came back to the room. Flowers were kinda sorta out of the question, since they didn't grow too well down here where there wasn't much sunlight, not to mention rain. He hadn't found any quartz or any of the other prettty rocks that he knew she was fond of. This sucked. Suddenly Seero felt a cold spot in between his shoulder blades,and heard a slight rumbling sound. Mere moments passed before the door to his room slammed open.
"Seero!" a smaller man stormed in, obviously out of breath from running "We've got a problem." Seero was up in a moment, not even wanting to ask what the problem was as the man led him down the hall. They both ran through the middle of the encampment towards where the immense noise had come from.
"Shit!" thought Seero as he raced through town, his lean fighter's body quickly outpacing the other man. "That's where the women were supposed to be cleaning out one of the side tunnels for our escape routes! I hope she's all right!" Seero only quickened his pace. When he got there he found Zenton and several of the others already digging. Zenton had turned to see him coming and waved him over, then immediately went back to hauling rocks out of the way. As Seero joined him Zenton only heard one word out of him. "Crystal?"
"In there bro, and you know I'm no happier about that than you are. Last thing I need is to see you two get separated. I've suffered through that, and I won't let it happen to my friends." Zenton talked more to encourage himself than Seero, though he didn't know that Seero had stopped hearing him after the first three words. Zenton re-doubled his efforts, not wanting to see Seero's face should something happen to Crystal. As he worked, remembered pain brought tears to his eyes.
Seero meantime, was just lifting and tossing rocks that even Zenton wasn't going to attempt. Visions of what might have happened on the other side of that rock wall were starting to take their effect on him. Anyone who had dared to get close enough would have seen the madness in his eyes. Only Zenton was brave enough to face Seero when he was like this, and even he preferred not to have to. But as he looked over at Seero he noticed something else. Seero's madness was evident, but the utter control being kept on that madness drove him into even more of a frenzy than Zenton had seen. This madness had only one purpose, one goal.
Seero stopped when the rock he was pulling on wouldn't budge. Zenton would've gone to help if he hadn't noticed the muscles in Seero's arm suddenly gain a new definition as they strained against gravity's hold on the rock. "CRYSTAL!!!" Seero yelled for the one thing that would give his mind solace. As the rock came free, it caused a slide of rocks from above it, putting a large hole in the wall of debris. Seero tossed the boulder aside and ran through the hole it left. "CRYSTAL!"
"Seero?" He heard faintly further back in the tunnel, serving only to increase his haste. As he rounded a corner he found her, the madness leaving his eyes at last. As she ran toward him, she tripped as a pain in her ankles threatened to send her face-first into the dirt. He caught her and dropped to his knees.. She looked slightly the worse for wear, though she tried not to let it bother her.
"You hurt yourself again?" He asked, an amused tone thick in his voice.
"Well it wasn't my fault this time." She half-pouted at him.
"Did I say it was?"
"No."
"Then let it drop, okay silly?" He smiled down at her. "Can you walk back?"
"I think so." She said as she tried to stand, and then cried out as her ankle gave way once more.
"Looks like you thought wrong." Seero said, his voice somewhat laughing, but still thick with emotion."Come on." And before she could argue, he had picked her up and started back. Seero wasn't worried about the other women in the tunnel. He knew that the other men had rushed in right after he had. As he carried Crystal back out the hole, he looked over to see Zenton pressed up against the side of the tunnel. Zenton merely gave him a thumbs-up before walking into the tunnel to help with the others.
As Seero and Crystal neared their room. Seero noticed that Crystal hadn't said anything the whole walk back. As he walked in their room, he sat her down on the bed, and turned around to close the door. By the time he got back to the bed there were tears running down her face. As he walked over he sat down on the bed next to her and pulled her over to him. "What's the matter, babe?" He asked, hoping to get her attention.
She tried to stop her crying, but she still ended up with sniffles in her sentences. "When,when the rocks came down, all, all I could th-think about was that I'd never get to see you again." And with that she started crying with renewed strength. Seero just pulled her a little further over until she was nothing but a ball, with her arms wrapped around his chest.
"Shh, it's okay. Remember, I'll never leave you alone. There may be some distance between us, but I'll never leave you alone. You got that?" He tilted her head up to look into his eyes.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
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X looked away, getting almost embarassed by the situation. He could think of several times when he and Alia had almost ended up like that. Losing one of their best friends hadn't been easy on the two of them, and there had been quite a few times they'd ended up in each other's arms, though consoling each other wasn't always the main reason for the two of them being together.
Zenton leaned over and muttered to X. "Hey, Blue Boy, you're starting to turn a few shades of pink there, got something on your mind?" X jumped as he realized what Zen was getting at. He started to laugh sheepishly.
"Ha, caught by my own memories I guess." He laughed, putting one hand to the back of his head. "Yeah, seeing those two just reminded me of Alia."
"Old girlfriend I'm guessing?" Zenton asked.
"You might say that," X answered evasively.
"You'll have to tell me one of these days."
"Hopefully I can one-up you on that and introduce you to her." X grinned. Sudden curiosity caught the better of him. "Doc?"
"Yes, X?" Light answered, swinging his monitor to face X.
"How good are your scans above ground now?"
"Up to a 93% efficiency or so, why do you ask?"
"What's the possiblity of you finding a group of two, possibly three Reploids?"
"Added factor, Maverick or non?"
"Non."
"Special insignia or anything?"
"Maverick Hunter, command line, and Maverick hunter communications. As if it really makes any difference."
"Oh, it'll make a difference. That 7% of my scans that is inefficient is only in underground areas."
"Holy shit!" Zenton dropped his jaw. "Wait a minute, then how long did you know our group was hiding in the caves?"
"Since you moved in, so to speak." Light answered.
"Damn....then how did you avoid us discovering you for so long?"
"The only natural rock wall out there was the one you all started digging through." Zenton's jaw dropped again.
"The only natural...then just what the hell were the rest of the tunnels!?!?!" Zenton burst out.
"Tunnels of my creation. Actually parts of the base I've been working on for years. With some assorted help from Caine when he was around and had spare time."
"But they all look completely natural...and the holes in the ceilings?"
"All holographic imagery." Light smirked on his screen, while a progress bar ran up to 50% next to him. "Allow me to put it this way Zenton. By the time the others were captured, I had all of your brainwave patterns on file, and could locate any one of you within nano-seconds, from just those brainwave patterns."
"Good lord...then you know what happened the day of the slide?"
"Yes." The progress bar had moved up to 65%.
Zero had finally retrieved himself from the floor, still holding the now silent Crystal in his arms. "So you knew we were out there, but how is it we didn't discover you until the day I did?"
"The same holographic images that kept you all from discovering me also allowed you to do so Zero. I chose that moment to allow you to find the main lab. I'm amazed I was able to make you all believe those walls were there for so long though."
"How did you do that, because I remember those walls being very solid." Zero asked, while the progress bar slid up to 75%.
"Same way I was able to scan everyone's brainwaves, just reversed."
"So you made your probes or whatever emit the wave patterns to make us think the walls were solid? Why do they still work on me then?"
"Because I had to adjust the probes to emit a pattern individual to every person that came into those tunnels, which is why I'm surprised it worked as long as it did. It's also another reason why I'm glad you never sent out huge search parties."
"And what about Zenton and Toronto?" They haven't had any problems with running through walls yet."
"Same deal as with you. X has known though. His mechanical mind for some reason is very hard to set in the same patterns." Light continued to conversate as the progress bar slid up to 90%.
"So it doesn't work on Reploids? Well, real Reploids."
"Oh, it works, it's just that it takes an entirely different wave pattern, and it's very difficult to find one that will work for both humans and Reploids. I'm rather glad this came up though."
"Why's that?" Toronto rumbled, still seated next to X.
"Because, now that you know about it, and there's nobody else out in the caverns, I can finally let the holograms and wave emitters down. Which will free up my memory quite a bit." Crystal perked up in Zero's arms. After a moment she set her head back down on Zero's chest.
"You mean you've been running this whole time on less than your full capacity?" X asked.
"Yes, X, I've only been running on about half of my full capacity." The bar slid up to 95% as he was talking.
"No wonder you forgot to put up the teleportation shield and the auto- cannons." X commented, starting to chuckle. Zero turned to head out the door, still carrying Crystal
"Crys and I will be out in the main camp area if you need us." He tossed back over his shoulder, his golden mane swinging along behind him. X turned back to look at Light, only to see the larger screen in the wall to have turned on.
"Well, X, I've found a couple groups of Reploids who are non- Maverick, but only one of them happens to be out of the Maverick's grips."
"Is that group who I'm looking for?" X asked, getting closer to the screen.
"Showing visual scans in one moment." X's grin grew to a full blast cheshire cat affair. The screen showed a rather bright pink Reploid with blonde hair, and another military style Reploid, both of whom had obviously seen better times. The Maverick Hunter insignia showed on both of their shoulders, with slight differences to show where they had been stationed.
"And thus," X spoke almost reverently. " Is my second reason for fighting shown to me once more. Dr. Light?" X asked, a new shine coming to his eyes.
"Yes, X?"
"Can you lock onto them and teleport them in here? They've wandered around out there long enough I think."
Alia and Signas wandered through the trees that surrounded them. Though Alia had never been intended to be a Reploid of war, her position within Maverick Hunters had placed her in the enemy's sights, and Signas had been smart enough to take her with him when he had gone underground. She stopped where she was and sat down on a nearby log. Signas remained where he was, carefully watching for any sign of their pursuers. They hadn't seen them for several weeks now, but he was never relaxed as long as he was in the wild. He knew all too well Alia's face was one of hurt, of a lost cause. Her hope was nearly gone, and Signas knew it. He himself was beginning to waver. After all, they'd been at this for quite a few years now, despite having gone underground and shutting down for quite a few of them as well.
"Come on, we have to move on." Signas speech was clipped, almost short, very much like Colonel's had been, only his seemed to be able to hold a fuller range of emotion.
"Why bother? It's not like there's anything left that's worth fighting for..."Alia hung her head in her hands. She started to push herself off the log when a confusing feeling took over, moments before she realized what it was. A pink and black beam shot up through the Colorado wilderness.
X stood in front of the screen, facing away from it. He had asked Toronto and Zenton to put themselves, and the furniture, off to the side, as he wasn't completely sure how Alia and Signas were going to react to being teleported in all of a sudden. As he watched they materialized, Signas landing with a grace marred only by years of non-practice. Alia was not quite so fortunate, as she had been getting up when caught in the beam, and now went the opposite direction from what she intended. She landed unceremoniously on her Reploid rear. Much to X's surprise however, she was up in an instant. Light had turned down the lights to where there was actually very little light in the room.
"Who are you? Show yourself, I command it." Signas yelled into the apparently empty darkness. X did just that as he walked forward into the circle of dim lights that surrounded them.
"X, commander of the 17th unit of Maverick Hunters, reporting for active duty, sir!" X said, saluting while still grinning his best cheshire cat impression. An unplanned factor suddenly intruded upon his performance. The door behind Signas suddenly opened up revealing Zero, with Crystal walking in behind him. As he had heard X, and now saw Signas, he immediately flashed into his armor.
"And Zero, commander of 0 unit, reporting, sir." He merely crossed his arms, Zero's memories filling him in on Zero's usual habits.
Signas stopped and stared at the two greatest hunters his HQ had ever been priviledged to see in action. "X? Zero? How?" Signas stopped and shook his head. "No, this can't be real, they blew each other to hell years ago. You must be the enemy. And it is my mission, as the last remaining commander of the Maverick Hunters, to put a stop to you." Signas eyes went wild as he spoke. His right arm shot out to the side, a handle shooting out from the bottom of his arm to his hand. A black bar extended from it, white energy crackling around it. A Mark II saber. "And you, will be the first to fall," he stated, pointing the now energized saber at Zero. And he rushed to the attack.
Zero pulled his saber, shooing Crystal away from his side as he did so. He easily blocked Signas' first stroke, and used his free hand to lock down Signa's other hand, knowing that the commmander fought as he did, with a one hand weapon being used with only that hand, leaving the other free for combat. He brought one huge foot up and shoved off of Signas' chest with it, sending Signas backwards as he backflipped.
"I have no desire to fight you Signas. Just as I had no desire to fight Iris. I didn't want to fight Colonel, but he forced the issue. As you do now. Don't make me kill another friend Signas." Zero heard himself speaking, even though they were not his words. The old Zero had come back, if only for a moment.
"If what you say is true, then power down your weapon." Signas said as he allowed the bar on his saber to dissipate. Zero flipped his wrist, bringing his saber to rest in it's casing on his back. As he put the saber up Crystal moved back to his side, snuggling her way under his arm.
"Your actions prove more than your words Zero...as they always did. No Maverick could stand to be so close to a human. Signas held his arm up so his saber handle could drop back into it's place. "Alia, it seems we've somehow found ourselves in old company." Signas said, turning around to find a rather statuesque Alia, looking at X with something akin to fear, and yet, her face seemed to have a softness to it that Signas hadn't seen for years. "Alia?"
"But if that's really Zero, who died stopping X, who also died, then that means that that must be X as well. Who are both suddenly alive, and right in front of us, after all these years." She stated. Signas noted that she was trembling.
"Yes." He responded after a moment. He looked up at X for help. X stepped over to Alia and put one hand to the side of her face. Alia started to cry and did the only thing that she apparently could manage. She fainted.
All's fair...
"There we go, finally found that last circuit," Light proudly proclaimed as Zero's body twitched back to life.
"No offense, Doc," Zero stated while getting up " But one of these days, you're gonna have to make it so I can move a little easier when the suit's at a loss for power."
"We'll see, maybe some day."
"Anyway, thanks again, Doc."
Zenton, X, and Toronto all watched from the table and chairs that were set up. The moment Zero had started to move, Crystal had got up from her seat and moved so she would be in front of him when he turned to look at them. Zenton watched and then leaned over to whisper to the other two. "Watch this, you two, this should be entertaining, I had to deal with this everytime we came back from a scouting mission."
Zero finally stood all the way back up, and looked around. Crystal stood, just looking at him, her hands behind her back. He stood and looked at her, while she did the same, though with a somewhat still confused look on her face. Zero flashed back to his human form, hoping that maybe that would confuse her less. Zenton leaned back over to Toronto and X once again. "3...2...1...boom!"
"Seero!" And with that cry, she proceeded to do what only Zenton had expected. She tackled Zero so hard that he hit the ground backside first. Had it not been for her slight weight pinning him down, he probably would have bounced. Zenton proceeded to fall over sideways out of his chair laughing, while X chuckled, and Toronto's rumbling chortle chimed in several times.
"Eh...nice to see you too, Crys...can I have my neck back so I can breathe again?" Zero asked from his somewhat compromising position on the floor underneath her. Toronto leaned over to X as Zenton regained his seat, and his composure.
"Do we even have to breathe?" He asked quietly.
"Not really, but it's a good way to get rid of the few little particles of exhaust that our system gives off."
"Oh...so should we mention that to those two?" Toronto asked, a grin playing the corners of his mouth. Zenton started chuckling.
"Probably not," he told his brother. "Otherwise we'll probably never get Zero out of her grip. Not that he'd have a problem with that, but we might need him again." Light merely watched from his numerous monitors.
"Ummm...Crys..." Zero stammered out as he lay there. "It really might be a good idea if you let me up now, otherwise somebody's going to make a remark about where we're at."
"But," She started to stutter out.
"No buts, I just think we might wanna get off the floor." Zero stated once again, attempting to sit up with Crystal still in his arms.
"Is she always like this?" X asked Zenton. "I mean, Zero is supposed to be a fighter. It might be kinda difficult for him to fight if we can't get her to let go."
"Give her an hour or two, then she should be fine." Zenton answered, grinning the whole time, happy to see his friend together with Crystal again. Toronto shot an eyebrow up questioningly. "She was always like this when we would get back from one of our trips into the surrounding caves. We'd be gone for three or four days. She always reacted like this when Seero got back. Once she's had enough time to make sure he's not going anywhere for a little while, she'll get back to her normal self."
"And just what is her normal self like?" X asked, obviously trying gain as much information ahead of time as he possibly could.
"She's frighteningly intelligent when she's not like this. Probably more intelligent than me or Zero, that's for sure. And emotional as all hell. She's got red hair for a reason. Speaking of which, don't let the hair and cute looks fool you, she can fight too. She used to be able to match me at times."
"Used to be able to?" Toronto rumbled.
"Well, I sincerely doubt she can compete with my body now that Light changed me."
"You may have a point, if for no other reason than because hitting you would break her hand."
"Bah, she's tougher than that. I just don't know if she'd be able to keep up with my speed now."
In the meantime, Zero was finally in a sitting position, with Crystal firmly wrapped around him still. It wasn't that he minded her wanting to cuddle, but at the moment, he'd have preferred if she'd waited until they were out of the sight of the others. *Then again, when has she cared about that before?* He thought laughingly. A new sound intruded upon his hearing. As he sat there for a moment, he realized Crystal's body was racked with sobs. "What's wrong, Crys? Come on, you can tell me," he said as he pulled her closer. She looked up at him. Tears ran freely down her face as she sniffed. It was all Zero could do to avoid getting lost in the emerald sea that was her eyes.
"I, I, didn't think I'd see you again after they took us. I was so afraid. I didn't want to be alone." She said in between sniffs, starting to wipe away the tears with the back of her hand.
"It's okay. I'm right here. I swear, I'll never leave you alone. Didn't I promise you that once already?" She nodded at him. "Then what were you worried about? You know I keep my promises." He pulled her back into his chest, his free hand running through her hair. She balled up in that spot, wrapping her arms around his chest. He thought back to last time he had held her like this.
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Seero had finally gotten back from a four day hike in the caves. He looked around, expecting Crystal to be near. Somehow she always knew when he got back. But, for some reason, he hadn't seen her yet. He went to the building known commonly as the Barracks, although he knew that was just a nickname for what was otherwise the living quarters of the place. He and Crystal shared a room, although they kept two beds there, just in case anyone should think anything indecent of them. Not that aforementioned thinker would be far off the mark, but as far as Seero was concerned, that was between him and Crystal. As he dropped his stuff on the spare bed he walked over and laid down on the other one for a few minutes, marveling in the feeling of a mattress again, not to mention the whole bed always smelled like Crystal's hair, a smell Seero was rather fond of. As he laid there he thought about what he might be able to do to surprise her when she came back to the room. Flowers were kinda sorta out of the question, since they didn't grow too well down here where there wasn't much sunlight, not to mention rain. He hadn't found any quartz or any of the other prettty rocks that he knew she was fond of. This sucked. Suddenly Seero felt a cold spot in between his shoulder blades,and heard a slight rumbling sound. Mere moments passed before the door to his room slammed open.
"Seero!" a smaller man stormed in, obviously out of breath from running "We've got a problem." Seero was up in a moment, not even wanting to ask what the problem was as the man led him down the hall. They both ran through the middle of the encampment towards where the immense noise had come from.
"Shit!" thought Seero as he raced through town, his lean fighter's body quickly outpacing the other man. "That's where the women were supposed to be cleaning out one of the side tunnels for our escape routes! I hope she's all right!" Seero only quickened his pace. When he got there he found Zenton and several of the others already digging. Zenton had turned to see him coming and waved him over, then immediately went back to hauling rocks out of the way. As Seero joined him Zenton only heard one word out of him. "Crystal?"
"In there bro, and you know I'm no happier about that than you are. Last thing I need is to see you two get separated. I've suffered through that, and I won't let it happen to my friends." Zenton talked more to encourage himself than Seero, though he didn't know that Seero had stopped hearing him after the first three words. Zenton re-doubled his efforts, not wanting to see Seero's face should something happen to Crystal. As he worked, remembered pain brought tears to his eyes.
Seero meantime, was just lifting and tossing rocks that even Zenton wasn't going to attempt. Visions of what might have happened on the other side of that rock wall were starting to take their effect on him. Anyone who had dared to get close enough would have seen the madness in his eyes. Only Zenton was brave enough to face Seero when he was like this, and even he preferred not to have to. But as he looked over at Seero he noticed something else. Seero's madness was evident, but the utter control being kept on that madness drove him into even more of a frenzy than Zenton had seen. This madness had only one purpose, one goal.
Seero stopped when the rock he was pulling on wouldn't budge. Zenton would've gone to help if he hadn't noticed the muscles in Seero's arm suddenly gain a new definition as they strained against gravity's hold on the rock. "CRYSTAL!!!" Seero yelled for the one thing that would give his mind solace. As the rock came free, it caused a slide of rocks from above it, putting a large hole in the wall of debris. Seero tossed the boulder aside and ran through the hole it left. "CRYSTAL!"
"Seero?" He heard faintly further back in the tunnel, serving only to increase his haste. As he rounded a corner he found her, the madness leaving his eyes at last. As she ran toward him, she tripped as a pain in her ankles threatened to send her face-first into the dirt. He caught her and dropped to his knees.. She looked slightly the worse for wear, though she tried not to let it bother her.
"You hurt yourself again?" He asked, an amused tone thick in his voice.
"Well it wasn't my fault this time." She half-pouted at him.
"Did I say it was?"
"No."
"Then let it drop, okay silly?" He smiled down at her. "Can you walk back?"
"I think so." She said as she tried to stand, and then cried out as her ankle gave way once more.
"Looks like you thought wrong." Seero said, his voice somewhat laughing, but still thick with emotion."Come on." And before she could argue, he had picked her up and started back. Seero wasn't worried about the other women in the tunnel. He knew that the other men had rushed in right after he had. As he carried Crystal back out the hole, he looked over to see Zenton pressed up against the side of the tunnel. Zenton merely gave him a thumbs-up before walking into the tunnel to help with the others.
As Seero and Crystal neared their room. Seero noticed that Crystal hadn't said anything the whole walk back. As he walked in their room, he sat her down on the bed, and turned around to close the door. By the time he got back to the bed there were tears running down her face. As he walked over he sat down on the bed next to her and pulled her over to him. "What's the matter, babe?" He asked, hoping to get her attention.
She tried to stop her crying, but she still ended up with sniffles in her sentences. "When,when the rocks came down, all, all I could th-think about was that I'd never get to see you again." And with that she started crying with renewed strength. Seero just pulled her a little further over until she was nothing but a ball, with her arms wrapped around his chest.
"Shh, it's okay. Remember, I'll never leave you alone. There may be some distance between us, but I'll never leave you alone. You got that?" He tilted her head up to look into his eyes.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
X looked away, getting almost embarassed by the situation. He could think of several times when he and Alia had almost ended up like that. Losing one of their best friends hadn't been easy on the two of them, and there had been quite a few times they'd ended up in each other's arms, though consoling each other wasn't always the main reason for the two of them being together.
Zenton leaned over and muttered to X. "Hey, Blue Boy, you're starting to turn a few shades of pink there, got something on your mind?" X jumped as he realized what Zen was getting at. He started to laugh sheepishly.
"Ha, caught by my own memories I guess." He laughed, putting one hand to the back of his head. "Yeah, seeing those two just reminded me of Alia."
"Old girlfriend I'm guessing?" Zenton asked.
"You might say that," X answered evasively.
"You'll have to tell me one of these days."
"Hopefully I can one-up you on that and introduce you to her." X grinned. Sudden curiosity caught the better of him. "Doc?"
"Yes, X?" Light answered, swinging his monitor to face X.
"How good are your scans above ground now?"
"Up to a 93% efficiency or so, why do you ask?"
"What's the possiblity of you finding a group of two, possibly three Reploids?"
"Added factor, Maverick or non?"
"Non."
"Special insignia or anything?"
"Maverick Hunter, command line, and Maverick hunter communications. As if it really makes any difference."
"Oh, it'll make a difference. That 7% of my scans that is inefficient is only in underground areas."
"Holy shit!" Zenton dropped his jaw. "Wait a minute, then how long did you know our group was hiding in the caves?"
"Since you moved in, so to speak." Light answered.
"Damn....then how did you avoid us discovering you for so long?"
"The only natural rock wall out there was the one you all started digging through." Zenton's jaw dropped again.
"The only natural...then just what the hell were the rest of the tunnels!?!?!" Zenton burst out.
"Tunnels of my creation. Actually parts of the base I've been working on for years. With some assorted help from Caine when he was around and had spare time."
"But they all look completely natural...and the holes in the ceilings?"
"All holographic imagery." Light smirked on his screen, while a progress bar ran up to 50% next to him. "Allow me to put it this way Zenton. By the time the others were captured, I had all of your brainwave patterns on file, and could locate any one of you within nano-seconds, from just those brainwave patterns."
"Good lord...then you know what happened the day of the slide?"
"Yes." The progress bar had moved up to 65%.
Zero had finally retrieved himself from the floor, still holding the now silent Crystal in his arms. "So you knew we were out there, but how is it we didn't discover you until the day I did?"
"The same holographic images that kept you all from discovering me also allowed you to do so Zero. I chose that moment to allow you to find the main lab. I'm amazed I was able to make you all believe those walls were there for so long though."
"How did you do that, because I remember those walls being very solid." Zero asked, while the progress bar slid up to 75%.
"Same way I was able to scan everyone's brainwaves, just reversed."
"So you made your probes or whatever emit the wave patterns to make us think the walls were solid? Why do they still work on me then?"
"Because I had to adjust the probes to emit a pattern individual to every person that came into those tunnels, which is why I'm surprised it worked as long as it did. It's also another reason why I'm glad you never sent out huge search parties."
"And what about Zenton and Toronto?" They haven't had any problems with running through walls yet."
"Same deal as with you. X has known though. His mechanical mind for some reason is very hard to set in the same patterns." Light continued to conversate as the progress bar slid up to 90%.
"So it doesn't work on Reploids? Well, real Reploids."
"Oh, it works, it's just that it takes an entirely different wave pattern, and it's very difficult to find one that will work for both humans and Reploids. I'm rather glad this came up though."
"Why's that?" Toronto rumbled, still seated next to X.
"Because, now that you know about it, and there's nobody else out in the caverns, I can finally let the holograms and wave emitters down. Which will free up my memory quite a bit." Crystal perked up in Zero's arms. After a moment she set her head back down on Zero's chest.
"You mean you've been running this whole time on less than your full capacity?" X asked.
"Yes, X, I've only been running on about half of my full capacity." The bar slid up to 95% as he was talking.
"No wonder you forgot to put up the teleportation shield and the auto- cannons." X commented, starting to chuckle. Zero turned to head out the door, still carrying Crystal
"Crys and I will be out in the main camp area if you need us." He tossed back over his shoulder, his golden mane swinging along behind him. X turned back to look at Light, only to see the larger screen in the wall to have turned on.
"Well, X, I've found a couple groups of Reploids who are non- Maverick, but only one of them happens to be out of the Maverick's grips."
"Is that group who I'm looking for?" X asked, getting closer to the screen.
"Showing visual scans in one moment." X's grin grew to a full blast cheshire cat affair. The screen showed a rather bright pink Reploid with blonde hair, and another military style Reploid, both of whom had obviously seen better times. The Maverick Hunter insignia showed on both of their shoulders, with slight differences to show where they had been stationed.
"And thus," X spoke almost reverently. " Is my second reason for fighting shown to me once more. Dr. Light?" X asked, a new shine coming to his eyes.
"Yes, X?"
"Can you lock onto them and teleport them in here? They've wandered around out there long enough I think."
Alia and Signas wandered through the trees that surrounded them. Though Alia had never been intended to be a Reploid of war, her position within Maverick Hunters had placed her in the enemy's sights, and Signas had been smart enough to take her with him when he had gone underground. She stopped where she was and sat down on a nearby log. Signas remained where he was, carefully watching for any sign of their pursuers. They hadn't seen them for several weeks now, but he was never relaxed as long as he was in the wild. He knew all too well Alia's face was one of hurt, of a lost cause. Her hope was nearly gone, and Signas knew it. He himself was beginning to waver. After all, they'd been at this for quite a few years now, despite having gone underground and shutting down for quite a few of them as well.
"Come on, we have to move on." Signas speech was clipped, almost short, very much like Colonel's had been, only his seemed to be able to hold a fuller range of emotion.
"Why bother? It's not like there's anything left that's worth fighting for..."Alia hung her head in her hands. She started to push herself off the log when a confusing feeling took over, moments before she realized what it was. A pink and black beam shot up through the Colorado wilderness.
X stood in front of the screen, facing away from it. He had asked Toronto and Zenton to put themselves, and the furniture, off to the side, as he wasn't completely sure how Alia and Signas were going to react to being teleported in all of a sudden. As he watched they materialized, Signas landing with a grace marred only by years of non-practice. Alia was not quite so fortunate, as she had been getting up when caught in the beam, and now went the opposite direction from what she intended. She landed unceremoniously on her Reploid rear. Much to X's surprise however, she was up in an instant. Light had turned down the lights to where there was actually very little light in the room.
"Who are you? Show yourself, I command it." Signas yelled into the apparently empty darkness. X did just that as he walked forward into the circle of dim lights that surrounded them.
"X, commander of the 17th unit of Maverick Hunters, reporting for active duty, sir!" X said, saluting while still grinning his best cheshire cat impression. An unplanned factor suddenly intruded upon his performance. The door behind Signas suddenly opened up revealing Zero, with Crystal walking in behind him. As he had heard X, and now saw Signas, he immediately flashed into his armor.
"And Zero, commander of 0 unit, reporting, sir." He merely crossed his arms, Zero's memories filling him in on Zero's usual habits.
Signas stopped and stared at the two greatest hunters his HQ had ever been priviledged to see in action. "X? Zero? How?" Signas stopped and shook his head. "No, this can't be real, they blew each other to hell years ago. You must be the enemy. And it is my mission, as the last remaining commander of the Maverick Hunters, to put a stop to you." Signas eyes went wild as he spoke. His right arm shot out to the side, a handle shooting out from the bottom of his arm to his hand. A black bar extended from it, white energy crackling around it. A Mark II saber. "And you, will be the first to fall," he stated, pointing the now energized saber at Zero. And he rushed to the attack.
Zero pulled his saber, shooing Crystal away from his side as he did so. He easily blocked Signas' first stroke, and used his free hand to lock down Signa's other hand, knowing that the commmander fought as he did, with a one hand weapon being used with only that hand, leaving the other free for combat. He brought one huge foot up and shoved off of Signas' chest with it, sending Signas backwards as he backflipped.
"I have no desire to fight you Signas. Just as I had no desire to fight Iris. I didn't want to fight Colonel, but he forced the issue. As you do now. Don't make me kill another friend Signas." Zero heard himself speaking, even though they were not his words. The old Zero had come back, if only for a moment.
"If what you say is true, then power down your weapon." Signas said as he allowed the bar on his saber to dissipate. Zero flipped his wrist, bringing his saber to rest in it's casing on his back. As he put the saber up Crystal moved back to his side, snuggling her way under his arm.
"Your actions prove more than your words Zero...as they always did. No Maverick could stand to be so close to a human. Signas held his arm up so his saber handle could drop back into it's place. "Alia, it seems we've somehow found ourselves in old company." Signas said, turning around to find a rather statuesque Alia, looking at X with something akin to fear, and yet, her face seemed to have a softness to it that Signas hadn't seen for years. "Alia?"
"But if that's really Zero, who died stopping X, who also died, then that means that that must be X as well. Who are both suddenly alive, and right in front of us, after all these years." She stated. Signas noted that she was trembling.
"Yes." He responded after a moment. He looked up at X for help. X stepped over to Alia and put one hand to the side of her face. Alia started to cry and did the only thing that she apparently could manage. She fainted.