"So, tell me again, why no one saw this happen?"

X's tone was enough to make all four Guardians look off in different directions. All different compass directions, as it so happened. If he wasn't so livid, he would have found it rather funny. Instead, the blue Reploid turned away, running his small hands over his face, until he was peeking over his fingers at where his motorbike was supposed to be parked. Parked in its snug, protected—and most importantly hidden—compartment.

"I asked you all to watch her…" He resealed the compartment, wringing his hands and turning to step past them all, staring at the garage doors. They were opened wide, further evidence of where Gamma had decided she was getting rather tired of waiting around in the tower. "We must fetch her at once. She's not built for combat. There's no telling the amount of trouble she could get into. And she will get into trouble. Harpuia, I need—"

"To calm down, Master." Phantom had intervened quickly, putting a steadying hand on X's shoulder, his firm grip locking him in place. "You have told us to put trust in her, so we must do so. Though... I do apologize for… letting her get away from me," he had neglected to mention Gamma had practically knocked him down. He'd save face as long as he could before that little tidbit of information got out. However, Phantom could see X would not be soothed, pulling his hand away as the shorter Reploid shook himself free.

"I trust her, Phantom, oh I do… it's everything else out there that I don't."

=xXx=

Her eyes had never taken in so much all at once. To call this cataclysmic crater stretching before her a city would take far more imagination than she thought herself capable of. But, without really realizing it, Gamma was already reconstructing the rubble around her from memory, memories she really hadn't wanted to access this way.

Highways sprang forth from twisted metal spires, the roar of human-driven vehicles racing along its surface, and from the nondescript skeletons of stone and steel, skyscrapers stretched endlessly upwards, brushing the clouds with their peaks. At night, she recalled how everything seemed to glow, like millions of neon fireflies caught in dark bottles. You could never have seen the stars now like she could for that very glow, swallowed up by the light pollution. Here and there she'd see where once a business had stood, or some sort of repair shop, and any number of local attractions like arcades and restaurants, now and then picking out a broken or buried sign, many of which she recognized. Above her, even the sky had turned dark, the pure blue now a choked shade of gray.

The most difficult of her discoveries were the old human neighborhoods. What had once been rows of neatly kept, perfectly styled homes were now little more than dust, and the drive ways now overgrown with browning plant life, barely sustained by whatever rare drops of rain they could get. Playgrounds, power lines, schools—none of it had been spared the devastation. Gamma's pilfered bike passed all of it by, the sound of its humming engine the only noise in this lonely place. Her hands clenched weakly at the handlebars, and she chewed her lip, struggling with the emotions her brain could barely register.

It was all gone. Everything. All of the places she and her comrades had once visited. Everywhere she had answered a call, the men, women, children, and Reploids alike the Hunters protected… all of it.

Overcome with that realization, Gamma halted, letting the motorbike cycle down to a stop in what she assumed had once been a park, its trees long since torn from the earth, as well as any structure present. Hands shaking and eyes unfocused, Gamma wrapped her arms tight about her chest.

"I-I knew… I knew it would be this bad but…" She told herself, "I knew it wouldn't… be home." Flinching at her own words, Gamma steeled her resolve once more, eyes falling on what she assumed had been a statue, or monument at the park's heart. A lump of melted metal was more like it now.

Once she trusted herself, Gamma was on the move again, making her way through the destruction, and into the heart of the city itself. She tried not to notice her surroundings much, keeping her eyes instead on her internal radar, which showed little to nothing when it came to electronic signals. X had warned her that this was a nest for Mavericks… but if that was true, where were they? No matter how much, and how far she sent out her scanners, she found nothing but dust and echoes. It was almost suspicious, but she didn't have time to worry about it, her path beginning to slope slowly downwards. She was concerned momentarily, but the cause of it became clear quickly, and it forced her again to jerk the bike to a halt.

Gamma's ultimate goal, and the reason she had disobeyed X's strict orders, lay before her in the very heart of a deep crater; Maverick Hunter HQ. The symbol of the most powerful force in the world, the pillar of justice, had been torn asunder, struck down by the very same missiles that had wiped Abel City from the map. The blast had been centered here, leaving nothing left of what had once been Gamma's, X's, and many other Reploid's home.

Heartsick,Gamma took in the sight with dread, the discs of her eyes having widened impossibly, and her hands clamped down on the bike's brake to keep it, and her, from falling forward.

Everything was gone.

With exaggerated care, she climbed from the motorcycle, her heeled feet crunching into the earth as she made her way to the crater's lip. Her view there did not serve to make the ache in her chest lessen, only increasing it tenfold. Gamma's hands were now clasped at her throat, trying in vain to lessen her shaking. If Reploids were capable of crying, she knew she would be, but as it were, that was one human aspect none of them could ever hope to achieve. Her sorrow would have to go unseen. Whimpering softly, she slid down to sit, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her forehead against them. Gamma remained this way for an amount of time not even she cared to count, gently rocking on the balls of her feet.

"Is this really what became of it...?" The former hunter whispered, her voice dying on the stale wind. "Were all of our efforts, our struggles...?"All of the power, and the analytical skills at her disposal failed her, leaving Gamma confused and lost. And heartbroken, if that was even possible. She supposed it was, burying her face further into her knees. "Everyone's dead and there's nothing I can do... I was supposed to help. But I couldn't even do the only thing I was built for..."

She became absorbed in her grief, so overcome by it, that she did not hear a pair of soft footfalls approaching from the shadows at her back. Her radar picked up the intrusion, squealing an alarm in her ear, but she just wasn't fast enough. Her turning head was greeted by a fist slamming into her temple, throwing her world into darkness.