There were few things (certain movies notwithstanding) that could actually scare Zack Martin. That fact made it all the more horrifying that a scene involving a robot carrying his own brother who himself looked… dead, was playing out right in front of him.

That sight would forever be etched into his memory.

Something snapped at that moment. He saw himself launch at X the second Cody stepped away in a very soulless manner.

"Zack… What the?! What are you doing?" X grunted as he struggled with him, but it fell on deaf ears.

The boy only got a few missed slashes in before Zero tore the two apart. It didn't stop the twin from seething with rage.

"You… What have you done to my brother, you bucket of bolts?!"

X didn't answer. The only thing stopping Zack from starting another altercation was Zero physically restraining him.

Meanwhile, all other activity in the nnavigation room had stopped and all eyes had fallen on the scene.

"Look, Zack," Zero forced his protégé to look at him. "I get that you're upset… But you'd better get over it."

Everybody, even X himself, were left open-mouthed at the callousness of the statement.

Bailey was indignant. "Zero, are you crazy?"

The long-haired reploid raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Am I? This is what war does. What war is. I don't know where you guys came from, but it certainly wasn't the battlefield."

He took out his saber with his free hand. "Once you've been fighting for your life for a while, you get used to it.

Horrified by this statement, X interjected. "Knock it off, Zero! These are kids, not career soldiers!"

"Should I cart them around like such?" Zero took a deep breath. "You're a great Hunter X, but sometimes, you're just too soft!"

"Maybe you're just too hard," X shot back. "And bitter. You may be an incredibly efficient Hunter, but… but this kind of brutality is uncalled for.

"You call telling the truth brutal, X?" Zero asked.

"There are better ways to…"

"Shut up!" Bailey shouted, her features tense with distress. The two Maverick Hunters froze.

"Yeah, um… I know this is a bad situation…" The understatement of the century echoed throughout the room. "… and I think there are at least better ways to have given the whole 'this ain't no playground' spiel…"

The girl took a breath.

"…but you two need to cool off!"

In response to this, the two Hunters stared at each other with intensity before backing off. Zero let go of his charge, who fell to the his knees immediately. He crossed his arms and, with a scoff, walked right out of the room.

Taking the opportunity to get up, Zack tended to his brother.

"Dude."

No response, except a vacant stare.

"Codes, come on. Snap out of it!"

He barely caught him mumble, "Adapt or die…"

Zack clapped his hands in front of his twin's face. That managed to bring him back to reality. Sort of.

"Um… Hi Zack."

Unsure of what to do next, he painted his best attempt at a friendly smile on his face.

"Hey, buddy!"

Cody stared at him incredulously, as if to say, "What could you possibly find worth smiling about in this situation?"

So he dropped the act. His hands dropped uselessly to his side.

"Are you okay?"

Zack heard a frailty in the reply that made him want to scream, launch himself at X, or hunt down Zero. Maybe he'd do all three.

"No. I don't think I'll ever be 'okay' ever again. Not after… all this."

Zack glared at X with palpable hatred. "Look at what you've done."

"I…" The Hunter closed his eyes tightly before opening them again with a serious expression. I'm not going to waste your time trying to rationalize what Zero said, nor how he said it, as he is partially right. If it makes you feel any better, I've been where your brother has…"

"I'll bet you have. Just… Leave me alone…"

Zack turned to walk away by himself before being dropped by X's voice.

"I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, and neither is Zero."

"Yeah? Well, Zero could've fooled me." Zack suddenly felt very tired for some reason. "I need to… to be alone." He asked Bailey to take care of his twin, but didn't stick around long enough for an answer.

Moments after Zack's departure and Bailey's along with it, The two more agile hunters walked into the room, fresh from their training and in the throes of yet another argument. It had gotten to the point that it was tough to determine whether Kylie, who had chosen to accompany them, was the child among the three.

"Just admit that you lost, Princess!"

Axl had taken to calling London "Princess" due to her rather interesting way of dealing with people, himself especially.

"Never! I don't care how many milk cartons I was 'off'. I hit more targets than you."

Kylie meekly spoke up. "I think it's called millimeters, London."

Axl put on a wily grin. "Yeah. Maybe that gold paint's leaked into your—"

She, exasperated, shook both Hunters as best as her tiny body could manage.

"Look, you dummies! Your friends are gone!"

Axl shrugged. "So? Maybe they're on missions."

"Something tells me that that's not it."

Kylie asked Cali what happened, but all she got were grim looks in return.

"Come on, What did we miss?"

Alia and Cali exchanged looks before answering.

"You don't want to know…"