Back with Axl...

One could tell a lot about any Hunter in particular by simply taking a look into their barracks.

For example, aside from a picture of Iris and a couple of mounts for his older blades, Zero kept his accommodations pretty spartan, having little more than a bed and recharging station. X, being more of the sentimental type, had a few helmets and other artifacts specifically from Mavericks that he felt particularly bad for (even the former vigilante himself knew that there were more than a few reploids that went bad more out of necessity than anything else, sadly similar to humans) as well as fallen comrades.

As for himself, he collected trinkets from his adventures. A habit that was a holdover from his Red Alert days, he would collect scraps from enemies of every kind and store it in places that would vary due to certain...cleaning ordinances that the Hunter Organization handed down.

This time, the collection happened to be in the closet. Being far from and just outside the view of the door and any potential intruders, it was relatively easy to hide.

This was what London had been silently staring at. In fact, she had to put all her energy into doing that. If she didn't, she would start thinking about...other things.

Things like what that "other her" had said. Was she *really* that dumb? Sure, everyone else was smarter, but...

She slammed her eyes shut to force away the thoughts of her father before she could even dwell on those.

Her fears shifted to what she'd just done.

She glanced back at her mentor. He was talking about the places where he got all this junk (as she saw it). Whatever he was saying, he sounded pretty into it. She couldn't make herself pay attention, not that she was good at that anyway, but it was even harder now.

"Can I ask you something?"

The navy blue reploid walked up beside her, one look at him telling her that he was more concerned that he let on.

"What is it, Princess?"

"Why aren't you scared of me? I'm not safe! I can hurt you…"

"I'm pretty sure that I can handle you. I have experience." The smirk he'd been wearing then faded into a more serious, compassionate look. "Besides, I've…fought my friends before. Even my mentor."

This story piqued her interest. "Really…?"

He nodded solemnly. "They were like my family, before even the Hunters… Red Alert."

Axl got her to sit down next to her as he told her the whole, sordid story, starting with his being found and taken in by the group, his gradual bonding with them (excluding Splash Warfly, who loathed him with the feeling being mutual), and later learning of their increasingly underhanded and lethal methods. His protege did speak up when Crowrang was mentioned, her voice lacking its usual fire.

"Bird Brain. He talked about you a lot. Called me your lackey…" The childish distaste he'd grown so familiar with was faint, but clear. He decided to use this to his advantage.

"Maybe you are. After all, you complain enough to fit the bill. Besides, titles mean something, don't they, Protege?"

Her voice fell to a shame-filled whisper. "What's that mean?"

"Just a fancy word for 'student'…" It didn't escape his notice that she found her feet much more interesting than him at the moment.

"Stupid," escaped her lips, but when he tried to reassure her, she just told him to pick up where he left off.

He went on to detail his escape from Red Alert, his and Zero's battle with Mega Scorpio, and subsequent capture by the Maverick Hunters.

"X kinda only saw me as a nuisance back then."

"Wait a minute, weren't you a Maverick? Why didn't they kill you?"

To be honest, grateful as he was that things turned out the way they did, he never had given this particular question much thought.

"I guess if X had his way then, I really wouldn't be here. I'm lucky he was retired then, and I'm glad I managed to convince him that I could pay the dues for my crimes by becoming a Hunter. It wasn't like they didn't need me then. After all, as much as Zero likes to act like he's this one-man army, he isn't and he needs help once in a while."

He went through the many familiar faces he had to face in combat, trying his best to gloss over the specifics for his own sake mostly. Eventually he got to the point where he had to face the Reploid who had become a father to him, Red.

"You had to fight your own father?"

To the girl, it was extra unnerving too watch her mentor fall completely silent.

He finally spoke again after what seemed like forever. "We were on opposite sides. Nothing more could be done. All that was left was a final test between master and student. Father and son."

"Wow. That's... Deep."

"I have to tell myself something to be able to sleep at night after…doing it. Anyway, it turns out Sigma was behind the whole thing, as usual, so we wound up beating him again and for the most part, here we are."

The duo sat in silence for a bit before the girl opened her mouth.

"You must have really loved him..."

"Red, he... He taught me a lot."

"I wish I had a daddy like that..."

"What?"

She seemed to cut herself off, as if she'd said more than she was supposed to. Instead, she swiftly changed the subject.

"What's... what's gonna happen to me?"

Axl honestly didn't know what to say here. Many times, any attack on a Hunter was dealt with swiftly and severely. There was no way that they could afford to risk anything after that one time that one of X's recruits turned out to be a Maverick moving in to take him out. They were lucky to catch that one before he could kill him in his sleep like him and his buddies had planned.

What could he say? The situation was different, sure, he wasn't naive.

"We'll do everything we can to fix whatever the creep did to you."

London didn't dare look him in the eyes. He couldn't promise that, and she knew it. "And what if you can't? I'm just another Maverick--"

"Not to us."

Her head shot up to meet the source of two very familiar harmonizing voices.

Zack and Cody, with Bailey not far behind.

"'Sup."

"Hey."

"You guys...are all okay, and friends again?" Their nod was all the confirmation she needed. She steadily got up and as if her actions weren't her own, she practically threw herself at the twins, enveloping each of them in what would have been a pretty suffocating hug had it not been for their current forms.

Bailey couldn't help but laugh at the scene. "What am I, chopped liver?"

The rich girl looked at her oddly. "No... You're one of those super-smart reploid thingies."

The farm girl shook her head in disbelief, and as she joined in on the hug, she found herself unable to stop a grin from forming. Despite everything...

"I know, London. I know."

In Zero's room…

The red swordsman's sleep did not come easy that night.

Granted, his late girlfriend's ghost make sure that most nights were fretful, and that wasn't even getting into the other presence that haunted his nightmares.

He was up for entirely different reasons this time.

He had seen enough of that girl. What had appeared here just days ago as some screaming, childish brat turned out to be an odd, yet fighty and brave individual.

...and that's just based on what the others had apparently experienced.

It was when they sparred that he learned firsthand of her more cunning side, seeing her manipulate her into spilling his guts like that.

Annoying, but impressive.

The logical part of him argued that regardless of what he felt, she was no different than someone with a bomb strapped to their chest.

That being said, she was far from the only one affected by this. Those kids...her friends, would not just sit there and take what might have to happen.

He remembered the argument he'd had with his lifelong friend after they'd managed to talk alone in the mess hall...

"This is ridiculous, Zero! She's scared enough of us as it is. Keeping our weapons to her head is only going to make the situation worse!"

"Right now, she's a danger to you and everyone on this Base!"

"A danger we're pretty well equipped to manage!"

His arms crossed, Zero's question was as precisely aimed as his meticulously honed slashes.

"Tell me, X, what happens when this backfires and that girl comes for any one of us? You've been targeted before. Do I even need to bring up all the times that Sigma's used our friends and allies against us...?"

The Azure Hunter quieted down after that. He couldn't help but be given pause by that. The swordsman kept talking.

"You're not your student, X. You are well aware of what we have to do to traitors, especially armed ones."

He took the glare that was sent back his way casually. It might have been enough to intimidate recruits and people who didn't know him, but not Zero. "She's not a traitor! if anything, she is a victim, a reploid shield for Lucien."

"The fact remains, when this 'shield' goes haywire, something is going to need to be done. Something decisive. She might not seem it, but she's...smart enough to understand. I can tell..."

He readjusted his stance before pushing his point forward.

"We can't let your feelings and empty optimism get in the way of our duties as Hunters."

"Okay, then. What did you do when Iris 'went haywire'?"

The red warrior's tone turned dark. His blue friend had definitely hit a sore spot. "She has absolutely nothing to do with any of this. Leave her out of it."

"Not so easy when it's somebody you care about on the chopping block, is it?"

"T-That's different. You barely even know this girl!"

"I know that she has three friends that would be beyond consolation if we jumped right to the 'scorched earth' solution now."

Now Zero was the one on the defensive.

"...and before you try it, don't bother saying that you don't care about those kids. You wouldn't waste time going out of your way to spar with and protect people you felt nothing for."

"I'm doing my job. That's all."

A smirk lit up the blue Hunter's face. Keep telling yourself that..."

Those had been his friend's final words to him before he'd left in a huff, them both ending up going to their rooms.

As much as he wanted to deny it, X had a point. He glanced at his lone decoration.

He didn't even need to ask his late girlfriend what side of the argument she would've chosen. Her programming practically sealed in her the soul of a pacifist.

"Didn't work out for you so well, did it?" His words were just under his breath as he finally contemplated turning in...