A few minutes later, X found himself touching down at an eerily familiar metallic wasteland overlooking a tower that looked just as decrepit. Of course, he knew that he'd actually caused most of that destruction in the first place. He preferred not to think about it during his "waking" hours, as he had enough of these kinds of thoughts during his nightmares. Still, I he forced himself to put on a brave face and press onward.

"With any luck," he tossed back to his student as he trailed behind him. "We'll be able to resolve this peacefully and bring our friend back."

"…and if we're unlucky?" Cody's apprehension had been palpable through his voice ever since they'd left the base, in spite of everyone's (excluding his unconscious brother's) assurances that they'd keep a sharp eye out on things and that there was very little chance of anything serious going wrong, he didn't seem to feel very reassured.

Considering what had taken place with Zack and Dragoon, he honestly couldn't blame him.

Instead of answering, the lighter blue reploid urged him forwards. "Come on. Watch my back."

They warily progressed, narrowly dodging the few lasers that were still active and destroying any straggling enemies. Next up was a large elevator. He made sure to warn his pupil.

"Watch the spikes ahead. They're lethal to us."

"Really? How does that work, exactly? Aren't our bodies designed to resist even small RPG fire? I mean, I took a few rockets to the face, even…"

"You're asking way too many questions for my liking," X said a bit roughly, frustrated with this impromptu press conference. "Let's keep going."

It was a tense few minutes that passed as they dodged the spike sets descending upon them as they went up.

Upon approaching the outer wall, they began climbing up the now rusting ladders to get to the final chamber. This last climb was done in near-silence, as the enemies had thinned out to almost nothing by this point.

"Um… X? Mind if I ask you another question?"

Curiously, the Hunter didn't object this time. He waved a free hand, encouraging him to go ahead.

"How…how do you do all this?"

He searched through his mental cue cards for some kind of answer he could give the boy.

"I… I fight for peace."

"How often?"

"Not that often," X rattled off a bit too quickly. The real answer was uncomfortably close to "perpetually", of course, but he wasn't about to drop that on the head of an idealistic teenager. "Save your questions for later. We're here."

Thankfully, the commanding tone in his voice stopped Cody from asking any more unanswerable questions.

The darker blue reploid didn't need to be told to brace himself. Somehow, they both knew that what lay beyond the gray doors in front of them wouldn't be nearly as easy as X had claimed it to be…

-000-

Meanwhile, the Navigation Room and Hunter Base were abuzz with activity. Mainly, that activity involved keeping an eye on the active Hunters running around. Alia kept her eyes on the screen and radar in front of her, while Bailey and Sapphira handled data configuration, with the blonde navigator helping wherever she could, even as she was being peppered with inquiries into the boys' welfare. From what she could tell, though, they were doing pretty well. A brief eavesdropping on their communications saw X giving little more than first time advice while Cody asked questions…some more difficult to answer than others.

If nothing else, she respected the teen's curiosity.

As she thought about this, the automatic doors of the room opened to reveal Zero and a now-awake Zack, fresh from training at Troia Base. While the former was stoic as ever, the latter looked as if he'd been put through the wringer, wearing a scowl that she would have thought was his natural state had it not been for that story of Cody's…

She didn't exactly blame him, though. There was a reason they rarely let Zero near the new recruits.

"Well, look who's back," she greeted. "How'd the training go?"

"Fine," the ponytailed blonde answered flatly, much to his partner's chagrin.

"Fine? You call redefining the word 'torture' fine?!"

The swordsman replied with a rolling of his eyes.

"Don't be such a baby. You're on the other side of it, aren't you?"

Zack grumbled, but didn't say anything more, not that the mentor was paying him any more attention…

"Are the girl and Axl still out shooting?"

"As far as we know," Bailey took the liberty of answering. "From what we've seen, those two are still going at it. Axl really doesn't want to let what happened back there last time go."

The shorter blonde realized that two people were absent from that assessment. "What about Cody and X? Where'd they go?"

Bailey practically froze. Honestly, she had been intentionally busying herself in part as to avoid thinking about this exact scenario. "Um…"

Alia finished for her. "They're out dealing with Boomer Kuwanger."

"They're what?!"

Back in the field, the two blue reploids entered a rather large and empty-looking chamber, marked by various cracks and scattered bits of debris, presumably either from age or the Azure Hunter's visit here.

The smart twin glanced at his mentor, who wore a steely glare that communicated the message of "stay sharp" with crystal clarity. It didn't take long for him to feel another presence in the room, however: a stealthy, speedy one that seemed to pass by and through him at the same time. They clearly weren't alone. While he was already nervous, X remained completely unfazed, not even seeming to move.

Then again, Cody supposed, he'd probably been doing this longer than he'd even been alive. He had absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

"Long time no see, X."

The foreign voice nearly caused the pupil to jump out of his metaphorical skin, but his mentor stayed as still as a statue.

"Likewise, Boomer," came the cool, emotionless reply as he unsheathed his arm cannon.

Images, no, *afterimages* of a red stag-beetle surrounded the duo before coalescing into one solid being in front of them, with the boy taking out his Buster reflexively just as the creature appeared in his face, eyeing him curiously.

"So, this is the rookie I hear you've been carting around… I expected more."

Cody was too busy being freaked out to be offended by that remark. "Just who are you?"

Boomer managed to chuckle somehow despite not having an actual mouth. "Man, you're *green*. I always knew X had a soft spot for stragglers, but dragging kids into this is ridiculous…"

X brought the beetle reploid's attention back to himself.

"How are you even back in one piece? Who rebuilt you?"

"Someone who's closer than you think," Boomer said cryptically.

"It can't be…Sigma again, can it?"

"Who?"

The thing laughed, as if the boy had asked the stupidest question in the world. "You're hopelessly out of the loop. Don't worry, though. Should either of you survive this, I'm sure X will tell you all about it."

Cody found himself actively stepping back now, his aim shaky. "Survive?! What are you talking about? We're only here to take you in!"

X, however, stepped forward. "Yes. You can see that he'd rather not fight. Truthfully, I wouldn't either, especially when it comes to someone like you, Boomer. This is your only warning. Please stand down, or we won't have a choice about what happens next."

"Now, now X. We both know that that's not how this works. The guy who rebuilt me sent me to test you and while I'm here, I might as well see what that kid over there is made of. Enough talk. En Garde, Hunters!"

Without another word, the fight began.