In a humid cavern in the midst of a damp jungle...

To the naked eye, Alia supposed, she looked like she belonged here, from her professional, practiced strides to her weapon carefully holstered out of the way at her side.

Even her gaze belied the illusion of calm composure.

That illusion broke for just a moment as she cleared out the cluster of robotic bats swarming her.

Why was she even out here in the first place as opposed to...literally anyone else? Honestly, she was still asking herself that same question throughout her entire journey here.

It wasn't as if she couldn't have just had X and London come down here to check this out. They had been right on Base...

She knew the answer deep down.

it was Gate.

She had known it from the second he'd gotten a message containing what was without a doubt his voice. The rational part of her mind was immediately skeptical of this.

The problem was, ever since Lucien had mentioned him and that incident with Wolfang, she hadn't been, especially after seeing him. She could mask her true feelings well enough to function (something that just had to be done in their line of work), but deep down she knew the truth.

Despite what she told herself and her comrades, she never truly got over the incident with Gate and how that played out. No matter how many times she went over the facts of the matter that her friend was lost the second that he was taken over by the Maverick Virus, deep down she knew she'd give anything to be able to rewrite history so that things played out differently.

That was why she was here. Irrational and emotionally driven as the decision to come here was, it was tied to her last shred of hope of going back to the good old days...

It's not like the others would know about this little fit of insanity. She'd gone completely no contact for this little mission, a stunt which she would deal with the consequences for later.

All that mattered now, though, as she braced herself for the inevitable, was making her way to Gate...

She managed to pantomime her way through the usual platforming challenges. Those were little consequence to her given her training, even though she had less field experience than the boys. What made Alia raise an eyebrow was the realization that the usual bat, bird, and insect like bots were beginning to fall away, only to be replaced slowly but surely by a bevy of disturbingly familiar faces.

Given her past experiences with returning foes, she was ashamed to say that she still did a double-take upon seeing the first of what she called "apparitions", this one being of a cowboy-themed Maverick by the name of Dynamo. She was so caught off guard that she tried to roll to the side of some incoming plasma too late...

She did manage to return fire even with her now smoking leg, however. Instead of simply exploding like she had been prepared for, her enemy just...vanished. As if he'd never been there.

She lowered her gun slowly, but didn't have the time to dwell on it as that one was only a prelude to more blasts from the past. An older model of Vile, Magma Dragoon, and Storm Eagle were among the many that made appearances.

At some point in all this, she began to hear an amused chuckle seeming to reverberate off of and bounce around the very stalactites.

"Huh?" She had no idea where the source was, so she didn't know where to aim.

"Quite curious, quite curious indeed," The voice had a droning quality to it, much like a clergyman, though with a touch of condescending mirth to it that brought a chill down the Navigator's spine.

"You! You're..."

She felt like she remembered him, but his name just wouldn't come to her unnerved mind.

"Go on now, young lady. You know who I am. If you're need a hint or two, there have been oh so many laid out all around you!"

"You... Metal Shark Player?!"

Another chuckle, this one somehow more unnerving than the last. "Indeed. It seems that fate has given me another chance to defy it! Poetic justice at its finest, wouldn't you agree?"

Alia narrowed her eyes as she stood. "Let me guess: Lucien revived you?"

"It is as you say, child. Imagine my surprise when I learned how much new data had appeared over the many years it has been since my demise... So much to analyze!"

She knew full well that the word "analyze" had a completely different meaning to him than it did to sane individuals. "Where are you keeping Gate?"

"Ah, my former master. Well, you'll have to wait and see, won't you, young one?"

With a growl, she pressed on down the path.

As she went on, needing to use a built-in flashlight to light her way forward, she was serenaded by Metal Shark's attempts at conversation.

It made her want to puke, even though she lacked the ability to do so.

One question was nearly her end, as it almost caused her to pause during a particularly difficult jump over a bed of spikes.

"The young reploid, Axl. I hear he's a seed of that 'New Generation' I've been hearing about. What do you think his data looks like?"

Alia masked her concerns, which were never far away, with confidence in a Hunter that had truly grown so very much from the vigilante and blind hero worshipper that had first arrived on Base as fallout from Red Alert. "You'd never survive long enough to find out, so who cares?"

"You seem quite sure of his skills. Let's see if my old friend can test yours."

His tone of good humor was lost on her. She didn't dare respond to his goading regarding her true mission.

Eventually, the terrain leveled out, and Alia couldn't help but tremble in anticipation (or was it fear?) at what she knew was coming next.

She finally found herself on a raised platform surrounded by nothing but the jagged formations that she'd long since gotten used to.

Without warning, a greenish tear in reality appeared that Alia recognized from the last time he'd seen him alive.

It was a good thing that instinct kicked in, because she wouldn't have had the heart to aim her sights at her longtime friend, Maverick or not.

Gate, with Lucien's colors, floated over him, but not with the smug superiority as she had been used to seeing as an enemy, not the incredible, practically all-consuming passion he showcased beforehand with his research.

His soulless eyes showed no recognition of her, and he looked...lifeless, comparable to the less sentient Mavericks.

"Gate?"

The prodding yielded no results, however. It was as if she hadn't said a word.

"You will be delayed," He spoke emotionlessly and entered his combat form with a fling of his lab coat.

Instead of gold, his armor was a grayish cream color with black highlights here and there. The coat now flew behind him as a cape would.

"Fight me."

Trembling, she acquiesced. It wasn't like she was being given a choice...

The fight, if one could call it that, was an absolute slog. Shot after shot she took wasn't merely blocked but was sent into a portal of the former scientist's own making.

What was more, when it came time for him to fire back, he would often instead choose to hover just out of her somewhat shallow jump range (she wasn't exactly made for combat per se) and lazily fire multicolored energy balls mixed in with the occasional massive horizontal energy blast...

...that was itself easily dodged.

At a certain point, her feelings swung from conflicted and afraid to bored and irritated. Just as she was contemplating ways to end this as quickly as possible, the fight seemed to stop entirely as he suddenly became preoccupied with a call from someone remote.

"Mission complete. Farewell." He said suddenly before warping away.

She just stood there, mouth agape, trying desperately to figure out what just happened more than anything else.

What appeared in his place was what appeared to be...

"Signas!"

She ran to the reploid, but just as she went to pick up his fallen body...

SPROING!

The head turned out to be part of a spring-loaded toy. This whole errand had been a trick.

"How unfortunate..."

"I DON'T NEED ANY MORE OF YOUR COMMENTARY!" Alia shouted, letting her emotions bubble to the surface and shouting in what she hoped was Metal Shark's direction. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Off somewhere," he said cryptically. "But right now, you might just have bigger problems than me. After all, while you were gone from your post, something might have happened..."

Her eyes widened in realization as he laughed maliciously.

"No!" She warped away as quickly as she could.

Finally slipping out from his hiding place, the shark grinned. "That was...entertaining. I see now what appeal Lucien gets out of that. One step closer to all the data I could possibly want to analyze..."

-TBC-

This was a great place to give Alia a little time to shine. Also, movie references!

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!