Chapter 13

As everyone looked on, Zack reappeared in the navigation room of Hunter Base. An indiscernible look dressed the teen's features. Most of the room seemed to be holding its collective breath, as if waiting for a break in the tension.

Zero, however, remained composed and calm. "Well, it seems you made it back in one piece."

Everyone in the room immediately looked to Zero, appalled by his apparent insensitivity. Zero either didn't notice this shift, or didn't care.

In response to this, Zack's fists instinctively clenched, as if he was ready to punch him. This body language certainly wasn't lost on the lighter red robot, who gave him a look that practically dared him to try something. Luckily for everyone, Zack backed down, remembering Zero's recent threats. His posture relaxed, and he started to walk away, but not before giving the swordsman a very dirty look.

Cali opened her mouth to say something, but Zero cut her off.

"Don't bother saying anything. He needs some time to himself."

…

After wandering around a bit, Zack found himself at an observation deck. He didn't know how he'd gotten there, as his thoughts had taken his attention. It had been a three-ring circus of fury, sadness, and abject frustration. It was bad enough that he had to fight a maniac like Dragoon alone. Adding on Zero's casual reaction to him surviving disturbed him even more. It had taken a last-second pang of reason to stop him from charging the long-haired robot. What was worse, Zero's calm demeanor also raised a terrifying question: was this fighting so common that it was nothing more than routine here? And what did that mean for Bailey? London? Cody…

"A penny for your thoughts?"

The foreign, western-accented voice took him back to reality. He turned his attention to a black-armored reploid that Zack supposed would be around his 50s if he was human. His white hair was long, albeit shorter than London's or Zero's.

"Who are you?"

"Just a friend." The man said it as if he were talking to an old friend. "You seemed rather troubled, so I thought I'd stop by."

Zack stared down the other reploid, as if looking for some sort of code in his features, his mannerisms. Unlike his twin, Zack wasn't one for immediately rolling out the red carpet to greet others. Anyone new passed his test before he'd even consider rolling out the welcome wagon.

The man merely chuckled in response. "Problem, bud? If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you don't trust me."

Zack raised an eyebrow. "You could say that."

"To think, your brother said you wouldn't be the most… welcoming. Can't say I was prepared for this."

The mention of Cody put Zack on edge even more. Just what was this guy's game?

"Don't worry 'bout it though. I'm… used to it."

He could've sworn that he saw the old man's face fall briefly as he said that last part.

The man's jovial demeanor returned "I consider it a nice change of pace, compared to the others."

Zack felt his attention span ebbing away by the moment. "Get on with it. Who the heck are you and why are you here?"

"You may call me Black," The old man paced around Zack, seeming not to have a care in the world. "And I'm here on a special request. The Maverick Hunters requested your presence. X said he had something to show you."

The young reploid rolled his eyes. He couldn't ignore the others forever, after all.

"Fine."

"I could escort you back…"

"I'll find my own way, thank you." He walked off in a manner similar to a child told to clean his room.

Black went to follow him, but not before delivering a message.

"I've arrived. I've already made contact with Zack. He's suspicious… I need to be careful."

A deep voice emanated from nowhere in particular. "Good. Make your presence known to the others, and keep an eye on all of them, especially that X."

…

Ten minutes earlier…

"Hold still, please. This'll only take a second."

Alia had Cody stand in front of a scanner of some kind welded to one of the walls of the navigation room. London and Bailey stood there, for once equally bewildered at what was going on.

Bailey raised the obvious question. "So… what's this for, again?"

"I'm scanning Cody's internal systems. I'll need a good readout for what I'm about to do next."

"Uh…" is all the taller twin could manage in the face of that explanation. Bailey visibly shuddered. London just looked disgusted.

"Okay…"

"Ew… Just, ew."

"It's not as creepy as it sounds," Alia assured. "It's just a scanner. Besides, if we're gonna get your weapons ready, we'll need to know your systems inside and out."

"Weapons?" Cody asked.

"Yeah. I'm… not the best person to explain that to you," The navigator gestured towards X. "X, why don't you take this one?"

X, who had been silent for some time, quickly obliged. "Yes, weapons. You see, being New Generation reploids, you have the ability to copy the shape or abilities of others. Based on what we've observed from you three, we guessed that you might have a variation on my Variable Weapons System."

While Cody and Bailey were not only intrigued, but enraptured by this topic, London rather lost. Thankfully, Zero caught on to this and simplified things.

"Basically, you defeat an enemy, you get a power or ability based on the enemy."

"Remember when Zack beat Magma Dragoon?"

Cody cringed at the reminder of the still fresh incident. Zack still hadn't even come back yet. Nobody else seemed to notice this, however.

X continued on without an answer. "Just before he left, he picked up glowing red orb. It was sent to the R&D lab. Or finished here, it will be denaturized, digitized, and molded to your specific DNA code, resulting in your different powers and abilities."

"Wait," Cody interrupted. "How would that work in me and Zack's case? We're identical twins. Our DNA's… well, identical. And yet we clearly have very different powers as is."

Good question, Bailey thought.

X didn't have an answer for this one.

"If I may, I have a theory."

A black armored reploid walked in at that moment. An odd mixture of confidence and control radiated off of him. He didn't look particularly well off, but he brought an air of status, of power, with him as he moved. In fact, it reminded Bailey how London usually portrayed herself (or, at least tried to). While all four teenagers were awed, Cali herself looked rather anxious, her eyes darting back and forth between the man and everyone else.

Zero wasn't impressed in the slightest. "And you are?"

"Just an old man, wanting to help out his fellow reploids. Call me Black."

"Oh, you mean, like the color?" London blurted out.

"Uh… yeah."

Black let the moment lie there and turned his attention to X. "Nice to meet you, X. I've gotta say, you do look much taller on TV."

"Well, the camera does add on a few pounds…" London mumbled absentmindedly.

"Likewise." X shook the old man's hand. "What brings you here, exactly?"

"Like I said, I'm here to help. I'm here to study the psychological effects of combat on Reploids. I see you've already met up with Cali and Kylie. They're with me."

Zero batted an eye at this. "Funny. I didn't hear anything about you until…just now."

"Me neither," Axl added, bolstering his point.

"I assure you, this is on the up and up," Cali promised, perhaps a little too quickly. "We cleared this with Signas and everything."

"Where's he been, anyway?" Bailey questioned aloud. "Haven't seen him much since we got here."

Black cleared his throat. "If I may…"

This quieted down the room.

"Er, anyway, my theory was that your different abilities might've had something to do with your personalities. Twins as you two might be, There must be distinctions there, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Cody answered matter-of-factly. "Under normal circumstances, Zack would be off with Woody doing who-knows-what."

"Woody?" Alia questioned.

"A friend of ours," Bailey provided.

Black asked the obvious next question. "Speaking of the other twin, where is he now?"

"We're not sure," Alia replied, putting her hand to her chin. "After the incident with Magma Dragoon, he had a brief stare down with Zero and then took off. We haven't seen him since."

"Maybe he wound up at the observation deck," X suggested. "It's where I go to figure things out."

"Okay. I can go fetch him if you want…"

"You know your way around?"

The black reploid waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'll have you know that I have a natural sense of direction. I'll find him."

"In that case, be my guest. He needs to hear this stuff."

"Besides, he can't hide from Zero forever," Axl remarked.

Black had turned to leave when Cody stopped him.

"Hold on."

"What?"

"My brother's not particularly welcoming to strangers, and considering what's happened… Well, just don't take anything he says personally, and don't be surprised if it take some convincing to get him down here."

"Will do." With that, Black left.