The following morning…

The entire group was in the Navigation Room. This time around, the briefing was even more unsettling, as impossible as that seemed.

They were staring dead-on at several new Maverick readings. This wouldn't have been so bad, or even unusual, had they been identifiable or even stayed in one place.

Zero summed up the situation best. "So basically, we don't know what we're fighting, nor where they are? That's just great..."

"That's the long and short of it," was Bailey's reply.

"Likewise, we don't have any proper visual on the areas affected, so we're completely in the dark."

It was enough to almost make everyone wish that Lucien had actually appeared as promised to taunt them. At least then, they'd have something to work off of.

Suddenly, static appeared over the hovering screen before a familiar face popped up on it.

It was Alia!

"Hunters, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Alia," X responded. "Speak on."

"There seems to be random, harsh weather effects occurring at various areas."

"That's probably related to the unknown Maverick readings we're seeing on our end."

The navigator's professional facade cracked. "Brings...back memories, doesn't it, X?" The hesitation was clear for all to see.

The blue Hunter saw what was going on with her immediately and sought to redirect. "That was a long time ago, Alia. Focus on the mission at hand. How're things going back at Point Oasis?"

"As fine as they could be considering..." She trailed off. The two shared a look before the reploid forced formality back into her tone along with the most phony attempt at a smile the teens had ever seen. "Good luck, Hunters!"

The transmission cut off abruptly.

Cody, naturally concerned, couldn't stop himself from asking the obvious question, but before he could vocalize it, his mentor cut him off with a subtle, yet visible shaking of his head. Palette spoke up from there.

"Since we don't know what we're getting, we'll have to play it as safe as possible. You'll all likely need our help here this time around, so don't leave without a Navigator. Also..." Looking to the main Hunters in particular, she said, "...we need those three in particular armored up. They need to be prepared for the worst."

Without delay, the petite girl ushered them all to the Armory.

-000-

Upon arrival at their destination, Layer got to work typing on the console of the machine that previously gave them their weapons.

"So you use this thing for armor, too?"

The darker-toned woman regarded the shorter of the twins. "Yes. For missions that require more than your standard armor sets, multiple sets attuned to the circumstances are necessary. Generally speaking, this armor switching is done before missions as most armor can't be swapped in the field."

"I'm pretty sure I already had armor to start with, before he took it from me and put me in... that." Zack couldn't help but shudder at that last word and everyone knew why. On instinct, his twin shot a comforting look his way.

"Indeed, but we do have a replica on file if you ever feel the need to use it. It's common practice to have multiple copies on hand to be manufactured if necessary..."

She looked at Zero, immediately blushed, and then looked back down. Her colleague had to take over and do what she didn't have the heart to.

"We only have to make these copies because certain Hunters rip through them like tissue paper, even during training!"

The target of her pouty rant merely rolled his eyes, clearly not remorseful about his actions.

"Regardless, we're short on time, so it might be better to show you how this works rather than just tell you..."

"I'll go first," the taller twin volunteered. His brother wasn't about to stop him, given that he'd been first originally.

One brief, blinding flash of light later, Cody was decked out in completely new plating.

Despite his hatred for conflict, X had to force back the urge to smile as a touch of nostalgia hit him.

It was based on the Falcon Armor Dr. Light had given him, wing-like fenders on the back and all. It had seen him through many fierce battles, including the loss and reclamation of his best friend, who might as well have been his own brother.

The boy himself couldn't help but feel somewhat bulky and uncomfortable in it, however.

"Eh, you'll get used to it," Zack remarked with something approaching one of his old carefree grins and patting his little brother on the back. His mirror image couldn't help but respond in kind.

A little bit of experimentation revealed an increase in air mobility at a slight cost to ground speed.

In the shorter twin's case, he already had his set, and he could get that modified to suit him better whenever he needed to.

As for London...

-000-

Throughout the whole ordeal, London Tipton, for the first time that she could recall, was quiet. Completely and utterly silent.

It was a night and day difference (literally) from how good she'd felt when the rest of her friends had visited her the previous evening.

She had her reasons for wanting to bury her most recent meeting with her own personal evil twin. She had thought about telling the twins or Bailey, but something deep inside kept her from talking.

She'd thought that no matter what Dark London said, she could just fall back on the fact that her friends...her family...loved her just the way she was.

The previous night, she'd learned how wrong she was.

-000-

"Do they?" she'd said. "Or do they 'love' having a walking, talking wallet that they can do whatever they want with? To the short brat, you're nothing but a meal ticket. The taller one and his girl have a pretty little punching bag to make fun of."

"They... They wouldn't do that." Even as she said it, though she wasn't so sure she believed it anymore. Something about how she said these things made them seem so…real. "B-Besides, you already called me dumb. For some crazy version of me, you sure suck at insulting."

It was then that her doppelganger appeared in front of her for the first time, all decked out in black clothing that gave off a distinct "goth" feel.

It was a Hot Topic rag so tacky it made the rich girl want to vomit.

"Okay then, how about this: no amount of money's going to bring mommy back or make daddy actually care about you. Being his airheaded little trophy model isn't gonna do jack either."

That knocked the wind out of her, and her voice started breaking unbidden. "We don't talk about 'that woman', nor do we give a toss what happens to that...that...wench!"

The witch just laughed in response. London automatically flinched back. "Speak all the fake British you want, it's not going to turn Moseby into your daddy no matter how much you want it to. Not that you could live without the money the old man brings in. I'd bet you'd get that mirror of yours to chew your food for you if you could..."

The rich girl was now up in her opposite's face, hoping beyond all hope that her anger did a good job of concealing her desire to break down and cry. "I can take care of myself!"

She found herself looking back at a smug smirk slowly turning into a venomous grin as time went on. "Did that old bat tell you that? Ha! Get real! We both know you'd just die if...or when...Daddy disowns you!"

With that remark, something in her snapped, and she launched herself at her foe.

Predictably, the girls were evenly matched. That is, except for their mind and heart. It wasn't hard to guess who would wind up getting the upper hand in the end...

Dark London laughed manically as she forced her opponent into submission. "Too easy!" Her laughter steadily wound down. "Although...having fun inside your empty skull's getting kinda boring now. Hmm... I know. How about we take this outside? I could pay those organic brats you love so much a visit..."

"No!"

With echoed laughter, the evil girl left her good counterpart in the lurch yet again.

-000-

"London? London!"

The Asian girl was snapped from her memories by a chorus of familiar voices.

They looked worried, but she wasn't about to give them the chance to pry. What was the point?

She started to go through the motions of going through the machine, only to be stopped by X, who pulled her aside and into the nearby hallway.

Forced to acknowledge him, she gave him what he clearly wanted. "What?!"

His voice was soft, dripping with practiced, yet genuine worry, as if he had not only had to do this here, but had done it in the past regularly. "You seem...distracted. What's the matter?"

She quickly looked aside, attempting to scoff. "Nothing that concerns you."

The Blue Hunter saw right through it. His words were calm, yet firm, designed specifically to catch and keep the hearer's attention. "Listen to me. Everything regarding my coworkers, my friends, concerns me."

"You don't know me."

For a split-second, beneath the attempted air of dismissiveness, he caught a glimpse of a certain look that flickered on her features. One that he knew all too well.

It was one that spoke to a certain kind of mix of fear and exhaustion…

He had to mentally stop himself from putting an arm around her. She'd probably throw it off anyway, and there was no sense in further agitating her now.

"I've gathered enough from you and your friends to know that you're incredibly clever and brave..."

London cut him off, for once in her life not interested in basking in someone else's praise of her. "...and a lie...a lie..."

"A liability." X didn't even bother arguing that point. As far as they knew right then, she was. "But not for long. We'll get Alia to help figure out how Lucien's controlling you and break it."

"That's nice." She began to turn around towards the Armory. "Maybe while she's at it, she could make me less of a freak."

"London, where...?"

She pretended not to hear him as she left him to his worries that something was very, very wrong here.

-000-

Soon enough, the group was handed their assignments, and 2/3 of them would be heading out.

It was with a very particular purpose that X and London were left behind. It was in part to put the latter's situation to rest.

After a quick run through another scanner, the very same one that she had to be tricked through days prior, it was discovered by Alia that the tie she had been using for her hair had indeed been transferring data and inputting what she termed a "sleeper agent code" into her systems, ready to be activated anytime its maker wished.

Quickly removing it from her hair and pounding it to dust did not help her feel any better. When the others asked why, she kept her reply simple.

"She'll be back."

Everyone was put off by how detached the normally eccentric heiress was acting. Bailey, especially.

In a bid to change the subject and maybe brighten her mood, the farm girl pulled up some images on her tablet.

"So, we were thinking," she began, scrolling through what appeared to be clothing options. "With your fashion sense in mind, we would opt for a different style than the boys when it comes to your armor."

Despite her attempts to ignore this and her, she found it nearly impossible to not follow along.

They certainly looked like suits of armor, she thought. Just boring...

That was when she caught herself. What was she doing?

Then, agonizingly, she forced out three words that she'd never, ever imagined she'd say on this subject.

"I... I don't care."

If it were possible, the gray reploid teen would've turned pale. Hitting a few buttons on her tablet, she pulled up Alia.

"Yeah, wanna run her through the scanner again? I'm suddenly not entirely sure I'm dealing with the 'real deal', here..." Her gaze flickered anxiously from London to the tablet and back again.

To be honest, the rich girl didn't blame her at all.

She didn't even know who she was...

"I'm just gonna go," the gold girl mumbled, with a newfound resolve to hold onto her true feelings.

Unfortunately, the farm girl just wouldn't leave her alone. She finally exploded.

"Let me go, NOW, Farm Girl!"

Her friends and family had heard her snap out of frustration before, but this was a whole different ball game. The volume and fury contained in the shout alone forced the country girl to back pedal as if she had been hit.

It even drew the momentary attention of the two Navigators that were currently busy monitoring the boys. It also brought out X, who had apparently been looking something up.

After faltering for a moment, the person making the noise was able to regain her composure. "Don't start thinking that any of you are my friends. We're not and never could be. Just… let me go."

She forced herself to turn around and take off sprinting. Maybe then she could outrun her own slowly rising tide of self-loathing…

The duo left in the lurch just stood there, dumbfounded.

"Do you have any idea what happened here, by any chance?"

The girl shook her head. "Not a clue. I was just showing her some of the armors we made for her and she just kind of exploded out of nowhere."

Bailey quickly ran down what happened, with X slowly nodding in thought.

So, what you're saying is that she's been acting out of sorts this whole time and this is the worst of it?"

"I hate to say it, but yes. Fashion is like her reason for being! Back home, it's really all she does with her time, whether shopping constantly, or reading fashion magazines. Why would she ever say no to essentially designing her own clothes?"

"Hmm..." That didn't exactly flow with a girl that he'd seen up to now. Maybe it was the intensity of the situation, but... "Perhaps there's more to this than meets the eye... I'll go have a word with her. In the meantime, I'd like you to help Alia take care of something. May I see your tablet?"

She gave it to him and he punched in what he needed to before giving it back to her.

He took a last glance at the transformed teenager as he headed for her friend's location.

Watching her, he had to admit that she was a rather quick study...

-TBC-

Looks like our favorite heiress had quite the rough night. I really wanted to channel Juri Han from Street Fighter to some degree when writing for Dark London.

On your way out the door, be sure to ask questions, comment, review and show your support in any way available if you liked what you've read here. Also, keep tabs on this story and profile for more. Goodbye until next time!