Cody awoke from what seemed like a dreamless sleep with a start. Naturally, he took note of his surroundings.

Let's see… I'm in a tube in some sort of laboratory with four robots staring down at me.

It took him a second to process what he'd just thought before coming up with a resounding WHAT?!

Just as the shock was setting in, the blue robot with a red jewel on its forehead spoke up first.

"It looks like one of them is finally awake."

With that, the tube Cody was in was opened and he managed to stand up despite his current less-than-ideal mental state. Instinctively, he stretched his arms, then and there realizing that whatever he was now, he certainly wasn't human. His body was encased in an indigo-colored armor. His feet (or at least, what took their place) were two hoof-like boots that seemed to be a part of his body. His hands appeared to be blue plated "gloves" of a sort with a white underside. His left arm had some sort of attatchment that he couldn't make heads or tails of at the moment. Looking back up, he found the blue one speaking again.

"Hello, Cody. My name is X. Nice to meet you."

This "X" seemed friendly enough, though that did little to assuage the younger Martin twin's fears and the general overwhelming nature of this whole thing. He managed to calm himself down just enough to ask…

"W-What am I? Where am I? What's going on here?!"

"You're at Hunter Base, and you're what's known as a 'Reploid'."

Cody's shock and confusion was giving way to a much more welcoming sense of curiosity.

"Meaning…?"

"A highly advanced robot, to use an older term," supplied the red, pony tailed robot beside him. This one was male, like X, despite his appearance. "Able to think, feel, and act of its own accord."

The boy listened in rapt attention to the brief history lesson X, and the red reploid he learned was named Zero, gave. It was obvious that his personality and memories were still there. He was essentially still him, just in a strange robotic shell.

"So, let me get this straight," Cody started, "X here was the first in a line of robots that are pretty much human in every way except physically?"

"Yup, pretty much," came the voice of a lighter red female reploid currently sitting at a computer desk. "The name's Alia, by the way."

His eyes lit up with excitement, but before he could gush about how cool all of this was, a very familiar groan snapped him out of it.

"Ugh… Where am I..?"

On instinct, he went to his brother's pod, noticing his more "physically built" construction in the process.

"Zack?"

He recieved a half-smile in response, more dazed than anything, but clearly he was relieved to see his twin. "Cody?"

"It's a long story, bro," he returned the smile before looking to X to start explaining. "We'll get you up to speed…"

--BREAK--

Axl had stayed strangely silent throughout the whole thing, more focused on the irritation he felt due to being stuck in his current situation. Eying the last unopened pod with relative disinterest, he noticed that the gold-plated girl within, apparently sleeping peacefully (to use the human equivalent of Reploid "offline time") this entire time.

Honestly, it was seeming like a pretty good idea, but then he noticed her start to stir. Then her eyes snapped open.

The piercing scream that emenated from her, akin to one out of a horror movie, was enough to shatter the glass of the pods (no easy feat, given what those were designed to withstand) and force the others to pay attention.

"Where am I? You better not have kidnapped me! Wait until Daddy hears about…" Now sitting up, she was shrieking, a mix of anger and genuine fear.

Zack and Cody rushed over, clearly worried about the girl's outburst. They both asked to be excused and led the girl to an empty room nearby.

--BREAK--

"Are you okay now, London?" Cody asked after they finally seemed to settle her down. Though she nodded yes, she was shaking like a leaf, more akin to a frightened child than the young adult she was physically.

"Good," Zack sighed, relieved. "Now, I'm sure you're probably pretty freaked right about now…"

London momentarily broke from her fear to give the elder Martin twin a "no, duh" sort of look.

"That's all right. We are, too, actually..."

He motioned for Cody to pick up where he left off, but the displaced heiress beat him to the punch.

"C-can't we just get Daddy to come and rescue us?"

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room. The boys exchanged looks in silent conversation, unsure of what to tell her. They knew that their friend's last name of Tipton would carry none of its usual weight here… Wherever "here" was. They'd have to break it to her…

"Sorry, London. We can't," the taller twin stated, unwilling to lock eyes with her crestfallen expression, but speaking as gently as he could. "We don't even know where we are. I highly doubt those guys out there would even know who your dad is…"

Zack stepped in to sum it up. "Here, to them, you're not Billionaire Heiress London Tipton. You're just… London."

She hung her head, clearly unsure what to think. They both tried to think of something to say to uplift her.

In a nowadays rare show of their "twin telepathy" they harmonized, mirroring each other's concern, "Don't worry, we'll get you through this…"