Chapter 7: Step It Up

Hane, Delta, Sheik, Shadow, Rock, three more members of unit Zero, and myself were lined up in front of everyone in HQ who had come to see us off. Five minutes before we'd finished debriefing and I had the whole maze (quite literally, it's a maze of mirrors) memorized. After an hour of staring at a map of the weaponry (how did she turn it into a mirror maze in a mere few hours?) I had it down. I stared out at the crowd, looking for a familiar blonde. I wanted to apologize, but I'd found Zero wasn't in the room we shared nor his office. I sighed heavily.

Hane put a hand on my shoulder and sent me a small smile. I nodded and stared out again. I didn't see Six or Zero. I saw everyone else, giving me scared, hopeful, and confident looks. "Hunters?" Signas asked, turning to us. Hane nodded and grinned at the crowd. "LET'S DO THIS!" she cried, causing the crowd to go into an uproar. Many threw their fists into the air and I followed suit. I grinned at the crowd too, but I couldn't still feel the strain on mself. Hane grinned at me and the others, and Rock looked absolutely thrilled as he waved at a small blonde 'bot in the crowd.

I nudged his arm and he scowled at me slightly. I laughed, a hard edge in my voice, and signaled Signas I glanced at the eight others with me. Will we come back as a whole? I wondered as I began disappearing in a silver streak. I glanced at all the others one last time as I disappeared.

Or will some of us not come back at all?

I, of course, landed ever-so gracefully on the flat of my face. The others looked at me and ducked down, Hane sending me a small smile. "Good idea, we don't want to be spotted," she stated as she began scoping the area. I made a face. Does she think I landed like this purposely...? I chuckled weakly. Oh boy, she's in for a shock later on.

Rock glanced at Shadow and nodded, causing the reploid to nod back and sink into the shadows. I brought my scope to my eye and looked out. I blinked and zoomed in. Nothing. No Mavericks, no laser cameras, no nothing. I turned to Hane and Rock, who both shared similar looks. "Something's not-"

I wasn't even done with my sentence when one of our members from the Zeroth unit were sucked into the shadows. Laughter echoed around as Rock, Hane, and the rest went back-to-back. "Ambush," Hane hissed. I nodded. "They knew we come! This isn't right!" I said in agreement. Dammit! Not again! They knew we'd come! How? This can't be the work of Sigma, he's never been this ordered. There's something much bigger than Sigma going on here-

"Shadow!" Rock cried as I held his arm. Shadow's eyes were dull as he stumbled from the trees. I narrowed my eyes at the small glint of light I saw as my helmet reflected light from a skylight. "Shadow!"

I turned Rock around. "That's not Shadow!" I hissed as I shot at the mirror, causing it to crack. "We're in the maze already!" I stated as the others who were left nodded. "Move guys! Move! Move! MOVE!" I cried as I rushed forward. I glanced around. Jungle portion, right, so we're already close to the middle.

"The Mavs must have disrupted our transfer signal!" Rock cried as he whipped his eyes. I felt for the little guy, he was one of the few friends I had and he just lost one of his own. "Shadow's probably lost in the maze, now come on, Rock! Move it!" Hane assured and I sent her a small look. Chances were, Shadow was gone. She shook her head as she began speaking into her com.

"Alia? Signas? If anyone can hear us, we've been ambushed! We're in the middle of the maze and we have no idea how we got here! We've already lost two members-" Rock hiccuped and shook violently. "-and we're not sure what to expect next. This can't be the work of Sigma! If anyone can hear us, do not send backup!" she hissed into the com. "No one is to come after us." I sent her a soft smile as I cut her off.

"Yeah; we've got this Signas. When we get back, first order of business; we get new Rookies." With that, we ended our transmissions as we all smiled sadly at each other. "Who knew taking on our first major Mav would be so befuddling?" Sheik asked. I shrugged. "I'm not too sure why you even used the word befuddle. Now come on; we've got a Maverick to trash."

I navigated our way through the mirror maze, being careful to avoid stray reflections and not to spread out. Rock sent me a watery smile as I shot at a mirror Maverick. "Come on," I stated. "We're almost there." They're my responsibility, I realized suddenly, stumbling a bit before Hane grabbed my arm and pulled me along. Whether I want to lead or not, I'm their leader. I smiled loftily. Huh, who knew I could do leadership?

We stopped, all back-to-back as we waited for the sign of Copy Kat as we stood in the center of the maze. Mirrors surrounded us and glinted brightly. Using mirrors, a very clever move for a copier. "Come on out, Copy Kat!" Sheik called as I twirled my A-Gun. So quickly I'd adjusted to my brother's weapon. So quickly I seemed to forget his name for his weapon. I fought a grimace as I glanced at Hane and nodded. She did too. "Rock, I need you and whoever's left to watch our backs as we fight Kat. Mavericks could come crawling out"- Hane was interrupted.

BANG!

I shot down a mirror Maverick. "How ironically fitting," I stated.

"-like that."

"Leave the Maverick to you two!?" Delta cried in shock.

"Yes, that's what I said. Now no arguing and do it!"

Rock hesitantly turned around as he aimed his buster into the trees. Sheik took out some plasma needles of some sorts (I don't know the guy too well, 'kay?) as Delta pulled out some grenades. Don't know where he got them, but okay! Hane fished out her sabers; oh yes. Sabers. One thing she differed from Axl was the fact she was a double-bladed warrior. She used two smaller sabers that could combine into two and become (quite literally) a double-edged sword. She was plain destructive.

I heard a purr from my left and fired, only to hear a chuckling. What was I waiting for? My weird transformation? I know I shouldn't rely on that but... well... it'd be helpful to kind of gain my much-needed confidence boost. I didn't relies my hands were shaking until Hane called out, "Calm down, A. We can't have our leader have a panic attack on us, can we?" She smiled as she got into position. I copied her and nodded. Maverick fighting was a time of bonding I guess.

I saw a light from the corner of my eye and shot at it. I cursed. Mirror. This was going to h-

BANG!

I hissed in pain as Hane cried out, both of us reaching for our shoulders. We'd been knicked. This was a warning: turn back or be sorry. Or dead, either-or.

A giggling echoed around us as we held our cuts. I glanced at Hane. "Well, we weren't trained for nothing," she called, trying to keep herself calm. Conversation took the tense feeling of battling away. "I know. Might as well put what Gemma said to good use," I agreed. Gemma was the Commander of the sensory unit. Her eyes were permanently damaged so she was blind-no amount of programming could fix that error unless she switched bodies and she absolutely refused to do that. In turn, her hearing and other sense were top notch. Signas had requested her to choose five Hunters to train personally and she ended up choosing Hane, Six, Rock, Delta, and Opal (a nice reploid Hunter from the 17th Unit-she was co-commander). Hane had taught me what she learned everyday so I was just as well trained. Sort of. Ish.

I shut my eyes as Hane had taught me. I couldn't stop the sudden pounding pain in my heart as everything got louder. I heard nine pairs of breathing surrounding me as my training kicked in. I heard the dripping of sweat onto the floor, the sound of the plasma echoing from the sabers that were held mere feet from me. I heard everything. "So," a voice purred. "You think closing your eyes will help?" To the left, up twelve feet, five degree angle. I didn't move. "Well sorry, Ms. I'm-the-one-who-will-"

A faint buzzing. A heavy sigh. "Oh all right, Jun," Copy Kat pouted. "I'll finish them off quickly." The next instant I was sent flying. I yelped in shock as I collided with a mirror and my eyes snapped open in from the shock. Giggling echoed around as I landed chest first on the ground, still too stunned to catch myself. I groaned as I began trying to push myself up. Another fail, seeing as some invisible weight landed on my back. I gasped in pain as claws scratched into my back and tore through my armor like nothing was there. I felt someone breathe on my ear as a voice purred, "No armor can shield from these claws."

Suddenly, an explosive went off as I was thrown back again and the weight on my back disappeared. My shades broke, just like my originals, and I winced as glass imprinted itself on my eyelids as I went slamming into another mirror. "Sorry!" Delta cried. This whole time, Hane had just stood frozen in her spot. I stared at her, trying to understand why she hadn't moved to help me when I noticed something. Despite my new bad eyesight, I noticed a... "Oh my god..." I breathed. Hane's hazel eyes were...blank. Through her gut was one of her duel sabers, causing her wires and systems to spark dangerously. "Hane!" someone from the zeroth unit called. "You bastard!" another hissed.

I heard a tingling laughter as My body began quivering. Is Hane... dead? The thought froze me from the inside and only caused my shoulders to shake harder. "Hane..." I whispered hoarsely. I could tell the others had glanced over. I could also tell they were in stunned silence. My heart throbbed. My head pounded. My thoughts became cluttered and useless as everything died away. Is it going to take over? I wondered vaguely. The enigma...? But all I heard was a navigational system.

Emotions: 70% uncontrollable

Systems: 40% damaged

Computer: Scanning: Access granted

My vision suddenly disappeared as the sound of Rock screaming reached my ears. Everything stopped. My vision pixelized as I heard one single reploid breathing. My head rocketed up as words appeared in my vision:

UPGRADE ACCESSED... DOWNLOADING

Suddenly my body felt heavy as the glass from the mirrors cracked and shattered. My head hung as I stood shakily. Blood flowed through my armor. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. MY hair was suppose to grow and I was suppose to become the ultimate swordswoman. Yet I just stood there as some... some... upgrade downloaded. "W-What's going on?" a voice stuttered. Everything dulled as my vision darkened.

"Arain, I am so sorry." Who's there? "I just wanted to heal you. You were going to die. I didn't mean to... curse you, the way I did. I just hope that you can forgive me." Who are you? "If you can hear me, then I guess RA1N finally decided your body could take hold of your first upgrade. I've never felt this way towards anyone, in all honesty. But you're asleep, so you can't hear me." But I can hear you. Who are you? What are you? How do you know me? "You know, you'd probably start laughing again if I ever tried talking like this to you again. You always said I was weird. You said I should stay as a doctor and not a father. But you wormed your way into my heart..." Father? But, how... I... What's going on?! Where am I!? Who are you!? Why won't you listen to me!? I don't understand.

"Arain... I love you so, so much. I just want you to know that. I know I won't always been with you. The only thing to even remember me by is that god-awful virus that I placed in you... I had no right to do that and I'm so, so sorry. Good bye for now... little A." Wait! No! Don't go! Don't go! Who are you!? Who am I?! What's Rain? Please, don't go! I just want to know who you are to me? How could you be my father? I never had one. Why are you sorry? What virus? Where am I? I have so many questions, don't go! DON'T GO-

"-GO!"

My head throbbed as I shot up, hand shooting outwards for the unknown voice. I saw nothing but darkness. My hand fell loosely to my leg as I looked around. The Medical Bay. I was in the Medical Bay. I was alive. I...

Hane was dead.

I was blank at the thought. All emotion drained from me. Every human and reploid quality seemed to fade at the realization. All this time Hane had been my best friend and I never told her. She died thinking she was just a friend and not my best friend. I didn't do anything to save her! I just... I just...

What did I do?

The door to my room slid open to reveal a distraught Alia. My eyes watered as she stepped in and walked up to me. "A?" she whispered quietly. I broke as I began sobbing. Alia just held me, letting me cling to her, like a mother to child. I wailed and screamed, but the Medical Bay was sound proof, so no one would hear me luckily. I just held the person I considered my mother and cried. "A..." she whispered. "Hane... she isn't not exactly... dead." I stopped and hiccuped. "What...?" I breathed. Alia held me tighter. "Her core was struck, but Douglas was able to do immediate work on her the moment Rock came running through, you in Sheik's arms and Hane in Delta's. She's just in some strange death-state sleep." I froze.

"BROTHER!?"

I shook my head. "Y-you mean l-l-like Brother?" I mumbled. She winced, but nodded anyways. "Only her injuries are far more sever than Axl's were, so we're not too sure what'll happen. Her circuits were pretty busted. In fact, she needs a whole new body to live in." I blinked and pulled away, looking into Alia's blue eyes.

"She was... that bad?" I choked out. Alia nodded and petted my hair as I shook. "I failed them," I mumbled incoherently. "Shadow... Hane... I failed them. What kind of mission leader am I if I get all my teammates killed!?" Alia gazed at me as another voice stated, "A normal one, A. Every mission leader has to go through this kind of pain." I began shaking harder. "I did. And so did X." His name was like a bullet. I turned my head as I stared at the red Hunter.

"I'm sorry, Zero," I said. He waved his hand off. "You just needed to vent some steam," he stated. "I understand. I use to do it with X." I held back a wince. "A," Zero started. "This is going to happen. You need to be ready to loose some men and friends. You can't save everyone. You need to learn from their losses and move on. Okay?" I nodded as I stood up, ignoring Alia's distressed look as I did so. I clenched the bed I'd been laying on as support as I stood as straight as I could. "Commander Zero," I stated. He rose an eyebrow. "I have a request." He motioned for me to continue. I took a deep breath.

"Sir, could you please train me?"

My god that was so mixed and emotionful. I need to stop doing all these touchy-feely moments, but they just keep popping up. I suck at fight scenes, I'm sorry. But good news is we still have eight Mavericks left (we still don't know if Kat was defeated), all more difficult than the last. Also: What upgrade was A given? Who was that man talking? Her father? *gasp* I thought A didn't have a father that was known! Just what happened during those first five years of A's life?

Find out next time on Chapter 8!